58 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
10—The hall of Mr. Thayer’s house has a central staircase 
side of the fireplace. The walls of both the inglenook and 
the dining-room have paneled wainscoting to the height of 
five feet, above which they are covered with a medallion wall 
covering in a two-tone green. 
The pantry is provided with sink and dressers. ‘The 
kitchen, of large dimensions, is amply provided with a pot 
closet, store pantry, range, sink and lobby large enough to 
admit an icebox. 
The arrangement of the bedrooms of the second floor is 
the best possible for light, air and convenience, as each room 
is exposed on two sides. Each bedroom has a white-painted 
trim and walls of one particular color scheme. There are 
February, 1909 
as eaiaae ah ee 
11—The entrance porch of Mr. Thayer’s house 
four bedrooms and two bathrooms in the main part of 
the house, while there are two bedrooms and a bathroom 
over the kitchen extension for the use of the servants, who 
have a private staircase to the kitchen. Three of the bed- 
rooms have fireplaces, finished with brick facings and hearths 
and mantels. The bathrooms are wainscoted with tiling and 
are furnished with porcelain fixtures and exposed nickelplated 
plumbing. 
There is one bedroom, trunkroom and a playroom on the 
third floor. ‘The cellar under the entire house has a cemented 
bottom, and it contains the heating apparatus, fuel rooms, 
cold storage and pantry complete. 
Plant Breeding 
(emg) ) HE world notoriety which has come to Mr. 
Burbank from breeding new sorts of plants 
has lifted him out of the ranks of com- 
mon horticulturists. The ordinary farmer, 
however, can carry on the same lists of 
experiments, just as well, and in a small 
way as successfully. There is not a farmer 
in America who can not do something toward improving 
fruits and vegetables or forage plants. Our agricultural 
colleges are all at work on these lines. ‘The New York 
college at Cornell is creating new and improved varieties of 
grasses. Some of the western colleges are co-operating with 
Mr. Burbank in establishing edible cacti. But none of these 
co-operative efforts surpass in results the work done by Mr. 
Munson with grapes, or Mr. Hansen with plums. The 
enthusiasm is spreading, so that every summer I receive more 
and more plants or fruits from some out-of-the-way farmer, 
who has either cross-bred or selected. 
The principle is very simple, and the process requires 
nothing too scientific for boys and girls. ‘The crossing of 
two sorts, of vegetables or fruits, is accomplished by trans- 
ferring the pollen from one variety to the other. The wind 
does a good deal of this work, in a reckless sort of way, 
while bees carry the pollen on their bodies. All sorts of in- 
sects are liable to do the same kind of work. If you are 
not very particular as to what you shall produce you can 
leave this matter of crossing entirely to nature—only remem- 
bering that no flower exists which has not been more or less 
already crossed in its ancestry. As a result the seeds of 
every fruit will contain the vitality and the peculiarities of 
two or more parents. However well established any grape 
or bean may seem to be, it is very likely to show in its chil- 
dren some oddity from the crossing of its ancestors. 
If now, in addition to this sporting or natural crossing, 
you wish to obtain more accurate results, you may remove 
the pollen from one flower, and in the place of it sprinkle 
the pollen from some other variety—having selected per- 
haps a hothouse grape to be crossed with a hardy Concord. 
When this bunch has come to fruitage you will select the 
seed and sow it. The resulting vines will give you grapes 
with more or less of either parent. This will be shown in 
leafage, in growth, and in fruitage ; but every seed, in every 
grape, will give you a new variety. An apple containing ten 
seeds will certainly give you ten new sorts of apples. Many Pes 
of these will revert to old types, but the chances are that we 
shall get one or more improvements in fifty reversals. ‘Alva Bs 
one who works at this problem must learn that nature is 
not over prodigal with the good things she has in store: 
Gradually, however, we are overcoming this tendency to go 
backward, and will ‘finally overcome it altogether. : By and==.” 
by the condone will be very strong to improve, so . that. ‘we 
shall have fifty better things to one reversal. ; 
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