November, 1906 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



289 



The wainscot is surmounted by a silk frieze of lions on a 

 pink background, of Italian origin, a modern reproduction 

 of an antique design, which gives a brilliant note of color to 

 the rich dark walls. The beamed ceiling, also of mahogany, 

 is designed in deep rectangular coffers. Over the carved 

 wood mantel is a built-in portrait of Mr. Thomas C. Proc- 

 tor, the father of the owner of the house. Doors at the end 

 admit to the loggia, which is sometimes used as an outdoor 

 dining-room, and which, in winter, is inclosed with glass for 

 the safe keeping of the bay trees used for external decoration. 



The service wing, which adjoins the dining-room, is 

 planned with great completeness. The pantry is arranged 

 between the dining-room and the kitchen; beyond is a second 

 pantry, with the servants' dining-room at the extreme end. 

 On the opposite side of the back hall is a cleaning-room and 

 clothes-closet, a storage-room and a cold room. The latter 

 is floored with asphalt and contains a large ice box. 



The main hall, of course, completely separates the two 

 parts of the upper floor, although connection is had by means 

 of the balcony. This adds to the convenience of the house 

 rather than detracts from it, since one wing is thus occupied 

 by the family and the other by the guest-rooms. One end of 

 the latter wing, but completely shut off from the guest-rooms, 

 is given up to servants' rooms. The family wing contains 

 rooms for the owners, with connecting dressing- and bath- 

 rooms, and an extensive children's suite, consisting of a 

 maid's room, nurse's room, night-nursery, day-nursery and 

 children's bathroom. The day-nursery overlooks the hill, 

 being at the end of the wing, and is a delightful room, 

 paneled throughout, and with a gaily colored tapestry frieze. 

 There is an abundance of closets in both wings, closets deep 

 and capacious in dimensions, veritable delights to the house- 

 wife, and greatly facilitating the administration of the house- 

 hold affairs. 



Mr. Proctor's estate includes a hundred and twenty-five 

 acres. There is, therefore, ample space for outdoor de- 

 velopment. A vast law r n lies between the house and the ap- 

 proaching driveway; but the other near-by grounds are 



charmingly treated in a formal manner, with splendid beds 

 of flowers. There are, in fact, two formal gardens: one 

 outside the wall of the service yard and the other beyond the 

 entrance forecourt. The latter is inclosed within a he 

 and is regarded as Mrs. Proctor's own garden, and is the 

 object of her especial care and attention. 



The house-stable, near the base of the hill ami below the 

 house, is a spacious and handsome structure, of a style com- 

 pletely in harmony with the house. It is brick below and 

 half-timber above, with a broad, sloping root, whose some- 

 what severe lines are broken by large dormers. In plan it is 

 I. -shaped, with two wings of different length. It is ob- 

 viously a place of deep concern to its owner. Its great car- 

 riage house contains almost every imaginable kind of trap, 

 carriage, coach and pleasure wagon. The stable contains 

 stalls for twenty-eight horses, blooded stock, most of them 

 beautiful animals, beautifully housed and tended by an army 

 of attendants. 



Close at hand are two comfortable houses for the butler 

 and head gardener. The head coachman and his men have 

 rooms in the stable. Across the hill, in another part of the 

 grounds, is the power-house. It is a pleasant little structure 

 of stone, with a low, flatly-pointed roof. Here are the en- 

 gine and dynamo for the electric light. They are operated 

 only at night, storage batteries affording the day service. 

 Here also is the pump from which water is pumped from the 

 wells and spring close at hand, and which is forced up into 

 the tower of the house. Not far off is the automobile house, 

 abundantly furnished with motor cars. And at quite some 

 distance from these house buildings is the farm-barn and 

 vegetable gardens. Farming is not carried on on the estate 

 save to harvest the abundant crops of grass. But the 

 vegetable gardens are of ample size, and this group of 

 structures rounds out the completeness of this highly organ- 

 ized estate, every part of which gives evidence of its owner's 

 intelligent care and thought, and which must, to him, be a 

 source of constant delight and satisfaction. He has spared 

 no effort to completely develop it. 



The Old-Fashioned Flower Garden of M. H. Wagar, Esq 



Montclair, New Jersey 



R. WAGAR'S garden was 

 started a year ago last 

 spring on a bit of bor- 

 rowed land just for the 

 love of seeing flowers 

 grow. 



Seldom has a garden been started under 

 more discouraging conditions. The only 

 available ground was a vacant lot about 

 seventy feet wide with a dilapidated barn 

 on the rear. The ground was marshy and 

 covered with swamp grass, wild raspberry 

 bushes and the empty bottles and tin cans 

 of two or three generations of picnics. 



At the upper end of the lot was a spring 

 which supplies the water for a small lily 

 pond in the center of the garden. 



A basin was dug about twenty-five feet in 

 diameter and lined with cement. Pipe was 

 laid from the spring to the center of the 

 basin, from which it leaps like a little foun- 

 tain. An overflow pipe is connected with a 

 small ditch lined with ferns and forget-me- 

 nots. 



A Look into the Garden 



