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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



February, 1910 



low book-shelves. Its purpose is distinct. It gives a sense 

 of size to the room, and repeats many agreeable objects, 

 even when looked at from an angle. If one uses mirrors, 

 nothing is more important than the study of their reflec- 

 tions. This one when framed cost $7. 



The small study (Fig. 5) where it hangs is only seven 

 by eight feet, and illustrates what can be done in a limited 

 space by an arrangement of furniture. The divan runs 

 the entire length of the room, with the desk against the 

 opposite wall, which is broken by the door. In front of 

 the window is a table for odd books, and at least 200 

 volumes fill the shelves. 



I must claim the credit of having given, many years ago, 

 the first idea of a divan with springs, and provided with 

 a box for dresses underneath. Before then, divans were 

 made of upright wooden pieces finished with broad linen 

 bands to hold a mattress. They were most uncomfort- 



able. The boxspring of the bed gave me the idea for 

 these, and if one cannot afford a divan with a box, one can 

 always get a boxspring and nail small blocks of wood un- 

 derneath not only to keep the dust away, but to bring the 

 seat up to the required height. I find sixteen inches the 

 most comfortable when seated. This divan cost $18 un- 

 covered. Separate padded ends and backs were ordered 

 extra, for the sake of comfort. These come only to the 

 level of the divan, which can then be pulled out from under- 

 neath. They are secured by strong upright iron strips 

 about an inch wide, and twenty inches long, pierced with 

 holes through which the strips are screwed to the base- 

 board. No other support is necessary. In ordering these 

 padded sides and back, one must study the head level, so 

 that in leaning back, one's neck is at ease. 



I hope to take up the treatment of the dining-room in 

 the next issue of American Homes and Gardens. 



Hints for the Household 



By George E. Walsh 



N OUTDOOR stove, either for home or 

 camping use, can be quickly and conveni- 

 ently made with an old barrel and a little 

 cement or even with wet clay. Put the 

 barrel on the ground and cover it with 

 wet cement, except for one end, and a 

 place through which a piece of stove-pipe 

 is inserted. Give the cement two days in which to harden, 

 and then fill the barrel with kindlings and start a fire. 

 The barrel will burn up, and leave a stout shell of cement 

 as a good stove for future use. Campers sometimes em- 

 ploy this method by burying the barrel in a clay bank, and 

 using the clay for the stove. If the clay is of the right 

 consistency, it will bake hard and make a perfect stove. 

 Not many may appreciate the fact that an excellent 

 winter plant for pots is furnished whenever we purchase a 

 pineapple at the grocery. Select a fruit with a good top, 

 one with the prickly stalk leaves well developed and not 

 rotten or broken. Cut this top off about one inch down 

 in the fruit, and plant it in a pot of rich soil. If moisture 

 and heat are then liberally supplied, the top will thrive 

 and spread out a head of leaves like a big cactus plant. 

 Such a plant, carefully cultivated, will within a few months 

 present not only an odd but very handsome sight. It is 

 particularly suitable for hanging baskets and rustic boxes, 

 along with trailing vines and foliage plants. 



A great many people press flowers and autumn leaves 

 to keep, and others have adopted with success the trick 

 of dipping them in white paraffine and then pressing them 

 with a hot iron. The preservation of ferns in this way is 

 even more satisfying. If large stalks of ferns are gathered 

 fresh from the swamps and woods late in the season, and 

 dipped in melted paraffine, they will keep Indefinitely. 

 They make excellent ornaments then for vases and mantel- 

 pieces. They must be thoroughly dipped, however, stalk 

 and fronds, for the secret of the process consists in ex- 

 cluding the air entirely. If properly treated, the parafline 

 will not show, and there is no suggestion of "waxed 

 flowers." 



One of the best uses to which pressed and paraffined 

 autumn leaves can be put is to make ornamental picture or 

 photograph frames of them. Make flat, square frames 

 of pine wood, and glue the autumn leaves on the sides. 

 Pretty effects are easily obtained with a variety of leaves. 



To give a rustic effect to the whole frame, nail on the 

 outside and Inside unpeeled sticks from the woods. Al- 

 most any kind of straight green wood will answer the pur- 

 pose, and even if a few knots and short branches are left, 

 no harm will be done. When finished, the whole frame 

 should be gone over with two coats of white shellac. This 

 will exclude the air and tend to preserve the color of the 

 green wood. The shellac must be applied on all sides of 

 the frame, back, front and sides, or else the air will get 

 inside and spoil the work. 



A use for old newspapers not well known is to use them 

 for filling cracks, crevices and openings in old floors or 

 around the base of a room otherwise quite airtight. Take 

 some newspapers and tear them up into small pieces, and 

 boil them In water until reduced to a pulp. When thus 

 softened, add a little white glue that has been previously 

 melted. Stir thoroughly, and then permit the mixture to 

 cool. While still soft and pliable, fill floor cracks and 

 holes with the paper pulp, and as It dries and hardens, 

 smooth off evenly. When the paper pulp has dried and 

 hardened, It will take paint and stain well. A floor can 

 thus be tightened up, and when painted and stained It will 

 appear a hundred per cent, better. Where the wall base 

 does not join evenly with the floor, fill in the cracks with 

 the same material. This will make cold and draughty 

 floors comfortable. 



A waterproof canvas for covering articles placed outdoors 

 is a fine thing to have around. Ordinary canvas coverings 

 are far from being waterproof. When the rain has had 

 time to soak in them, they will leak steadily. If such a 

 canvas, old or new, light or heavy, is treated with parafl'ine 

 and gasolene, it will be rendered absolutely waterproof. 

 Melt paraffine In a kettle until near the boiling point. 

 Then mix twice the quantity of gasolene with it, taking It 

 away from the stove, of course, before adding the gaso- 

 lene, and after a good stirring apply vigorously with a 

 paint brush. When nearly dry, run over the canvas with a 

 warm Iron, so that the parafl'ine will soak Into the fibers of 

 the cloth. Such a treated canvas will not be sticky or oily, 

 and only slightly stiffer and heavier than the untreated. 

 It is so waterproof that It can be laid in water without 

 absorbing any of it. Boat covers of ordinary canvas or 

 sailcloth are treated in this way for general use in rainy 

 weather. 



