November, 1910 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



IX 



The Editor of American Homes And Gardens desiies to extend an invitation to all its readers to send to the Conespondence Department inquiries on any matter 

 pertaining to the decorating and furnishing of the home and to the developing of the home grounds. 



All letters accompanied by return postage will be answered promptly by mail. Replies that are of general benefit will be published in this Department 



Problems in Home Furnishing 



By ALICE M. KELLOGG 



THE "DAISY FIELD" BORDER 



(4X TOTICING in a descriptive article 

 1^ in your magazine for February, 

 an illustration of a room with a 

 picture border showing a field of daisies, I 

 write to inquire for some particulars. 

 Where and by whom is this border made? 

 Would it be appropriate in a small recep- 

 tion room with a nine foot ceiling? What 

 kind of paper would you suggest below the 

 frieze? How could pictures be used?" — 

 L. K. E., Trenton, N. J. 



The picture border referred to was made 

 by Birge & Company, of Builalo, a few 

 years ago, and is not now on the market. 

 While there are similar decorations to be 

 had. they would not suit a room of rather 

 small dimensions, giving a closed-in efifect 

 instead of the more desirable appearance 

 of space. As a border of this kind is really 

 a continued picture it would be unwise 

 to further decorate the walls with framed 

 pictures. The most pleasing tone for a 

 reception room of limited size is champagne 

 printed in two shades of either the glazed 

 or matt surface. Mahogany looks well 

 with this color, and figured brocades, tap- 

 estries and moquettes will contribute a 

 variation of color and design. Pictures, 

 too, would lend an interest to a room that 

 is too often stiff and unattractive. 



INEXPENSIVE FLOOR COVERING 



A correspondent who is slowly acquiring 

 Oriental rugs for her home (Mrs. M. F. 

 J., of Indiana) asks for some inexpensive 

 floor covering for bedrooms until the time 

 comes to lay hardwood floors. 



Ingrain carpet in plain covers laid over 

 a lining paper makes a neat and attractive 

 foundation for small rugs. The carpet 

 costs about ninety cents a yard, the lining 

 paper ten cents a yard. With the flowered 

 papers on gray grounds so much in vogue 

 for bedrooms now, the gray filling would 

 be an appropriate choice. With yellow - 

 flowered papers, or green and blue color- 

 ings, an oak-toned filling could be used, and 

 green, with pink and violet papers. 



While the possession of Oriental rugs in 

 meritorious designs and harmonious colors 

 is an advantage to the home maker, 

 there is much to be said for our own do- 

 mestic rugs which this season show a 

 marked advance, artistically, over former 

 years. 



IDEA FOR A WINDOW SEAT 



An "Apartment Dweller," has a peculiar 

 problem in her sitting-room, for which she 

 asks a solution. "The only windows in 

 this room," she writes, "are in the form of 

 a bay — a wide center window, with a nar- 

 row one at each side. The recess is fitted 

 with a seat, but this is twenty inches from 

 the floor, and with a cushion of the usual 

 height it would be impossible for comfort. 

 Then, too, our apartment is on the twelfth 

 floor and with the windows open it seems 



a perilous place for a person to attempt to 

 sit. Would you leave it bare ? Or can 

 you suggest any way to bring it into some 

 kind of usefulness aside from a sitting 

 place?" 



With the conditions described, the built 

 in seat may have a small handwoven rug 

 laid across the top, and a jardinere hold- 

 ing a foliage plant placed in the center. 

 This will leave a space at either side on 

 which books or magazines, sewing basket 

 or smoker's tray may be kept. 



INGLE NOOK IN A CLUB HOUSE 



It has occurred to one of the committee 

 on furnishing a Country Club house that 

 the space around the cozy fireplace in the 

 main room could be arranged for informal 

 companies of ladies. This suggestion came 

 through studying the illustration of ingle- 

 nooks in American Homes and Gardens, 

 but some further information has been 

 asked for, to carry out the idea. 



The angle of wall at each side of the 

 fireplace may have a corner settle with a 

 shelf along the top for holding some pieces 

 of copper and brass. If the seats are 

 boxed in they will make a useful receptacle 

 for holding firewood. A "nest" of tables 

 may be kept near the seats and a special 

 low stand be in readiness for the tea- 

 service. Two comfortable arm-chairs, a 

 fireside rug, and seat pillows will complete 

 the inglenook furnishings. A positive fac- 

 tor in the success of the inglenook is 

 the coloring of the stationary fittings — 

 fireplace facing and hearthstones, wood fin- 

 ish and lighting fixtures — which should har- 

 monize with the tones in the curtains, pil- 

 low covers, rugs and wall decorations. 



A DIFFICULT WINDOW 



Three windows in a library are arranged 

 in such a way as to make the problem of 

 their curtaining more than ordinarily diffi- 

 cult. These windows are described as be- 

 ing close together but divided by six inches 

 of woodwork. "The middle window," 

 writes this correspondent (Mrs. T. R. E., 

 of Ohio), "is forty-five inches wide, and 

 those at either side are thirty inches wide. 

 Above these windows are stationary tran- 

 soms of colored glass in dark uninteresting 

 colors. Now, I do not know if it is better 

 to treat the transoms and windows as one 

 entire window or as separate features. As 

 the library is on the front of the house, I 

 shall use thin net curtains over the glass to 

 correspond with the other windows, but 

 would like some suggestion for an over 

 curtain for the winter months." 



The best way to treat a window of this 

 kind is to have a straight valance to cover 

 the transoms, and hang two curtains under 

 it, one at each side. If the material is to 

 show a pattern it will not need any trim- 

 ming. If a plain material is used, a tap- 

 estry border should be sewn along the 

 lower edge of the valance and down the 

 inner sides and across the bottom of the 

 long curtains. 



Garden Work About the Home 



By CHARLES DOWNING LAY 



KEEPING TENDER PLANTS THROUGH THE 

 WINTER 



CL. R. asks several questions about 

 keeping tender plants through the 

 * winter. 



The best way for you to keep dahlia 

 roots through the winter is to put them in 

 boxes of sand in the cellar or in sand on 

 the cellar floor. The sand keeps them from 

 drying out too much. If the cellar is warm 

 and very dry it may be advisable to water 

 them once or twice during the winter and 

 a covering of coal ashes two or three inches 

 thick on top of the sand would keep the 

 sand moist for a longer time. Celery 

 should be buried in sand or earth in a cool 

 cellar or it may be buried outdoors, but it 

 is better to have it in the cellar. 



Gladioli bulbs can be allowed to dry out, 

 but should be kept from freezing. Cannas. 

 tube roses, and other tender bulbs should 

 be taken up as soon as the tops are killed 

 by frost and treated as directed for dahlias. 



The hardest part of growing bulbs in 

 the house in winter is to keep them in a 

 proper place before they are ready to be 

 brought to the light. 



In the city it is almost impossible to keep 

 pans of tulip in just the right condition, 

 because city cellars are almost always too 

 warm and too dry. 



Sometimes the pans can be put on the 

 floor of the cold closet and covered com- 

 pletely with the buckwheat chaff that the 

 bulbs come in, or with coal ashes. A layer 

 of newspapers on top of the chaft' or ashes 

 will still further prevent evaporation and 

 will keep out frost if the room is very 

 cold. The pans must be looked at and 

 watered at least once a month in any case. 



The ideal root cellar has an earth floor 

 and on that anything can be kept in good 

 condition. 



Tender hydrangeas in tubs should be 

 kept moist and not too cold. A little frost 

 will not hurt them as much as dryness, so 

 if the cellar is dry see that they are watered 

 frec|uently. 



GROWING SHRUBS AND TREES FROM SEED 



We are pleased to hear another echo of 

 our suggestions, published two years ago 

 in American Homes and Gardens, about 

 propagating trees and shrubs cheaply. 



This time our correspondent wants to 

 know about raising them from seed. 



Any tree or shrub except the freak hor- 

 ticultural varieties can be raised from seed. 

 but it is not always the easiest way, though 

 I think in every case it is the cheapest 



The seed should be gathered as soon as 

 it is ripe, freed from its pulpy envelope or 

 from its pod and planted at once in row.^ 

 in a seed bed. 



Some seeds, as the hawthorns, do not 

 germinate for two years but most of them 

 will come up the first spring and be readv 

 to transplant the second. 



This year there is a large crop of white 

 pine seeds and as they only bear abun- 

 dantly once in six or eight years this will 

 be a particularly favorable time for grow- 



