xvi 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
January, 1909 
Fresh-air heating 
All fathers and mothers iii i, ih: 
agree that if any of the hg 
family deserve or need a 
room that is just right to 
sleep in and to play in, it 
is the children. It means 
so much to their futures 
to surround their youth 
with the pure and healthful 
conditions which come 
from well-warmed and 
ventilated rooms. 
for Hot-Water and Low-Pressure 
Dt AL Steam Heating warm the air without 
robbing it of its purity. There is no 
MERICAN 
x scorched air, no ash-dust, no coal- 
RADIATORS BOILERS = 
gases, or cellar-gases to work injury 
to the health, as arises from the use of old-fashioned heating methods. 
In many cities and in some states the law now compels that all newly built schools 
shall be warmed and ventilated by Steam or Hot Water. If your child is thus 
wisely, sanitarily protected in school, why not yourself adopt this right way of 
heating your home, since the prices are now so reasonable, and the outfits can 
iia ey so simply be put into homes already built? 
IDEAL Boilers and AMERICAN Radiators are a 
substantial paying investment, as they will outlast 
the building. Their purchase will increase the sales 
and rental value of the building, and they will soon 
repay their cost in savings of fuel, labor, repairs, and 
in the lessened house-cleaning and wear on carpets 
and furnishings. 
A No. 020 IDEAL Boiler and 262 ft. of 38-in. AMERICAN 
Radiators, costing the owner $185, were used to Steam 
heat this cottage, at which price the goods can be bought 
of any reputable, competent Fitter. This did not include cost 
of labor, pipe, valves, freight, etc., which installation is extra 
and varies according to climatic and other conditions. 
Write today for valuable book (free). Five months ofcold weather still ahead! Sales Offices and Ware- 
houses throughout America and Europe. 
AMERICAN RADIATOR COMPANY 
PEPPERS SPSS HSS SPSS RSS 
THE GORTON QUICK-OPENING 
RADIATOR VALVE 
FOR LOW PRESSURE STEAM, VAPOR OR VACUUM 
SYSTEMS OF HEATING 
IT SAVES COAL 
Send for Circular and Prices 
GORTON & LIDGERWOOD CO. 
96 LIBERTY STREET, NEW YORK 
T.H.BROOKSECO. cLEvELAND.O: 
Pe LORS IDEWALK LIGHTS. 
DEPT. 6 CHICAGO 
} Our well-equipped Relating to Archi- 
tecture, Ceramics, 
Decoration, Rugs, 
Furniture, etc. :: 3: 
NEW YORK 
Book Department 
His prepared to rec- 
| ommend & supply 
MUNN & CO. 
thawing, it is just as well to put the protecting 
material on after the ground is frozen. 
Strawberry plants do not suffer from the 
cold, but from heaving, and all they need is a 
light covering of straw, pine needles, or the 
old bean and pea stalks from the vegetable 
garden. 
Anything which makes the snow drift in 
and stay is good because there is no protection 
equal to that of snow. 
Deciduous shrubs and trees are better with- 
out protection, as it serves as a hiding place 
for mice which sometimes gnaw off all the 
bark for a space of three or four inches above 
the ground. 
Rhododendrons and other broad-leaved ever- 
greens should have a heavy mulch of leaves 
every autumn. It is better not to rake the 
leaves off in the spring, but to allow them to 
rot and make more good soil. As a summer 
mulch to keep the ground cool and moist in a 
dry time they are very desirable. . 
The protection for bulbs varies according 
to their hardiness. “Tender ones should have 
covering enough to keep the ground from 
freezing and others like the narcissi will do 
very well without anything. The covering 
must be taken off the bulbs early in the spring 
or their growth will be forced and weakly. 
The flower garden needs protection, but the 
operation must be varied more or less to suit 
each plant. ‘Things which have green leaves 
and a crown above must not be covered too 
deeply or they will rot. A light covering of 
strawey manure to keep the ground shaded 
is sufficient. Paeonies, platycodon and large- 
rooted plants of that sort may be given a 
heavy dressing of manure which can be forked 
in, in the spring. For small herbaceous plants 
pine needles are the best protection. 
THE SASSAFRAS 
S. W.—The Sassafras is another neglected 
tree, partly, I think, because it is difficult to 
transplant and hard to manage in the nursery. 
It grows rapidly while young and can be col- 
lected in the fields without great loss when 
two or three feet high. 
The typical shape of a good specimen is 
broadly oviform with the large end at the bot- 
tom. Other specimens under different condi- 
tions may be tall and narrow. 
The leaves are large, soft, irregular in 
shape, sometimes ovate and entire and some- 
times two or three lobed. The color is rather 
a dark green; the texture is not smooth and 
the modeling is bold. 
In blossom it is one of our effective trees, be- 
cause it blossoms early before the leaves, and 
the tree is covered with pure yellow which 
lasts a week or more. It is the most con- 
spicuous tree in the landscape in April. 
On young trees the branches have a finely 
furrowed bark that in color and texture is like 
corduroy. 
The season’s growth of twigs is a deep 
green, spotted as they grow older, and they 
are smooth and spring from the larger twigs 
without a joint, like the branches of a stag’s 
antlers. They seem as if molded in clay and 
cast in bronze which has taken a beautiful 
patina. All parts of the tree are aromatic. 
even the cork-like reddish bark on an old 
tree has an enduring fragrance. The tender 
branches and the buds are mucilaginous and 
pleasant to eat. 
Sassafras tea (a wonderful color) is made 
from the roots. 
In the autumn the dark berries borne on a 
deep red fleshy stem attract the birds. The 
tree turns a good yellow, slightly bronzed. 
The bare branches seen against the winter 
sky are like the delicate traceries and filigrees 
made by goldsmiths! 
