XIV 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
May, 1909 
Problems in Home Furnishing 
(Continued from page xtit) 
rugs that can be made in several shapes and 
sizes, the bungalow, and an imitation of the 
Scotch rug, and some new weaves in the cot- 
ton or rag rugs. Fiber rugs are light in 
weight, and clean-looking. A single large 
rug is the best choice for the living-rooms, 
and small-sized rugs for the chambers. 
Furniture for a cottage that is to be rented 
is a difficult problem. Some new kinds of 
porch furniture, made after the Colonial lines, 
is suitable also for the interior. Made with 
rattan seats it is light enough to be easily 
changed from one place to another. A Morris 
chair, made on plain lines, is a good selection 
for the living-room, and one or two chairs for 
children may be included in the outfit. 
On the porch a swinging settle may be 
provided, or a canvas hammock with a wind 
shield at the back. A kitchen settle, that can 
be turned into an oblong table of good size, 
is also recommended. 
A SUBSTITUTE FOR BURLAP 
“In the house I am building, in a suburb 
of Boston,” writes IT. C. E., “I am using in 
the dining-room a chair rail, about four feet 
from the floor. In the hall there is a semi- 
paneled wainscot; that is, there are upright 
spaces left in the woodwork in which some 
kind of wall covering is to be fitted. I had 
thought of using burlap until noticing in your 
descriptive articles on houses the names of 
other materials. Will you kindly suggest 
something for my own use?” 
Burlap has been so commonly used that 
new coverings have lately been devised to 
take its place. “These show a rough weave, 
or raised effect, and some have a metallic fin- 
ish. Japanese grass cloth and Japanese leather 
paper are not novelties, but each year there 
are different colorings and patterns. For the 
hall of this correspondent a Japanese leather 
paper in dull, copper tones, would be interest- 
ing if it suited the upper wall. In the dining- 
room the new Hofi cloth is suggested, in one 
of the wood tones that is like the finish of the 
woodwork. 
COLOR SCHEME FOR A VIRGINIA HOME 
The wall colors for a southern home is 
asked for by F. D., of Virginia. ‘“The house 
faces east. [he parlor and dining-room are 
connected, and are on the northern and north- 
western side, both well-lighted. A wide hall 
is carried through the house. ‘The living- 
room and library are connected, and are on 
the eastern and southern sides. “The hall has 
mahogany furniture, which needs recovering. 
What is the best coloring? ‘The parlor rugs 
are small Oriental ones, in old pinks, browns, 
and greens. I also must have a new furniture 
covering here. ‘The library and living-room 
have walnut furniture. I need new rugs for 
these two rooms. I am especially anxious 
about the wall decorations.” 
Taking the hallway as the keynote of color, 
and lacking much direct lighting, an orange- 
colored paper, printed in two tones in a small 
pattern, could be used. “The mahogany fur- 
niture may be covered with green-and-blue 
tapestry, in the small, set designs that are in 
use now. In the north parlor a warm buff- 
colored paper, in satin finish in a flowered 
effect, may be chosen, and in the north- 
western dining-room a figured paper, showing 
predominating tones of yellow. One of the 
English patterns is especially good for this 
exposure. ‘The library and living-room, hav- 
ing the sunny outlook, may have one of the 
brown texture effects in one room and a green 
and blue mixture in the other, according to 
their setting of woodwork. The heavy wool 
rugs, made in this country in Oriental pat- 
terns, would suit these rooms. For the fur- 
niture covering in the parlor there is a linen 
damask in a small pattern, at $4.50 a yard, 
that would harmonize with the rugs and wall- 
paper. 
Garden Work About the Home 
(Continued from page xti2) 
It is for the forester to determine the period 
of renewal, and to plan for the yearly cuttings, 
fixing the size and number of treeh to be cut, 
selecting the varieties which are to be encour- 
aged and those which are to be weeded out. 
He must provide for the reseeding of the for- 
est by leaving seed-bearing trees of the de- 
sired varieties, and seeing to it that the sur- 
roundings give proper conditions for the 
germination and growth of the seeds. 
The forester must also study the market, 
and know what sizes and qualities of lumber 
are most valuable. Shall the small saplings 
be cut for cord wood or puddling poles, or 
allowed to grow large enough for railroad 
ties? Are ties more profitable than spiles? 
what by-products can be saved to pay ex- 
penses ? 
The arrangements for getting the lumber 
out of the forest are important, whether they 
be roads to streams or railway connections. 
The greatest waste in the forest to-day is 
that of fire, which is far larger than the waste 
due to careless lumbering, for a fire not only 
injures the present value of the timber, but 
may burn out the soil and destroy its future 
value. 
The forester himself should be extremely 
careful and conservative in his plans and esti- 
mates for the future, because he may never 
see the full results of his labor, and he should 
leave his successor, who may be called in at 
any time, in five or ten or twenty years, in no 
doubt as to his intentions, or of the basis for 
his deductions and plans. 
The reforestration of barren parts of small 
farms is not only a paying thing, but, in this 
case, has the added value of protecting the 
soil from erosion, shielding good meadows 
from the winter winds, and, in such indirect 
ways, increasing the productivity of the farm. 
The forest as property seems excellent. 
The income should be regular, and might even 
increase slowly, and if we never see the fru- 
ition of our plans we may rest assured that a 
growing forest has a definite value, which a 
proper survey will show. 
The fire risk is becoming less and may some 
day be eliminated. The price of lumber is 
advancing faster than that of labor, who 
knows how much greater the proportion may 
be? 
Some states encourage reforestration by re- 
mitting taxes, as in Connecticut, where lands 
growing 1,200 white pines, six feet high, per 
acre may be taken from the tax list for twenty 
years. 
There are many books and pamphlets on 
forestry, but the best is Gifford Pinchot’s 
“Primer,” Published by the Bureau of For- 
estry of the United States Department of 
Agriculture. 
REFORESTING WASTE LAND 
In the northeastern states, white pine is the 
most valuable forest tree for box boards and 
lumber, but for cord wood one of the oaks 
should be used. 
Seedling pine trees, two years old, can be 
bought for $10-$12 a thousand. They should 
be planted five feet apart, or 1,700 to the acre. 
Planting costs $4.00-$4.50 per thousand, or 
about $8.00 per acre. “They are planted with 
a mattock. A sod is first taken up, then the 
mattock is stuck in the exposed earth, twisted 
to make a hole, and the tree put in. May is 
the best time for this work. At forty years the 
pine will be ready to cut for box boards, and 
should produce $150 per acre. 
Red oak seedlings, two years old, can be 
bought for $20 per thousand, and planted for 
about the same price as the pines. The red oak 
will grow well mixed with the pines, though I 
think such mixed planting is of doubtful ad- 
vantage. 
The oak can be sold for cord wood, spiles, 
staves, etc. It is hardly likely that it will 
bring as high a price as the pine at forty years. 
There may be local conditions which will 
make its growth more profitable. 
Seedlings for forest planting can be grown 
very cheaply, and there is great advantage in 
having them on the place when they are 
needed, but for a small job it is better to buy 
them. 
OILING ROADS 
A correspondent in Connecticut asks about 
oiling roads. 
The term is a loose one and is indiscrim- 
inately applied to roads which are really oiled 
with petroleum, to roads which are roughly 
sprinkled with tar, and to roads which are 
impregnated with a hot tar or asphalt, which 
acts as a binder. 
The latter method is the best, and, for the 
best results, should be done when the road is 
built. The hot tar is spread on top of the 
road after it has had one dry rolling on the 
top course. ‘The tar is brushed in as it is 
spread, sprinkled with screenings, and rolled. 
A road so treated will outwear any ordinary 
macadam road twice over, and will be nearly 
dustless. . 
Sprinkling an old road with tar is a bar- 
barous custom. While it is wet and sticky the 
road is almost impassable, and because it can- 
not be spread evenly on the dust some spots 
get more than others, and the road wears un- 
evenly. 
Sprinkling with petroleum is not much 
better. 
The best way to oil is to make an emulsion 
of the petroleum, and sprinkle the road lightly 
with that many times. ‘There will then be 
no pools of oil, no soft place in the road, and 
no dust. ‘This treatment will have to be 
given two or three times in a season, but it is 
not expensive. 
Sprinkling with a solution of calcium chlor- 
ide, which is hydroscopic, keeps the surface 
damp, and hence dustless. It is an excellent 
way to treat a dirt or macadam road when the 
trafic is light, and dust an objection. Al- 
though the calcium solution will probably 
have to be applied more often than an oil 
emulsion, it will be much cheaper than plain 
watering, and is a _ treatment especially 
adapted to replace the old way of having a 
watering cart lay the dust for an hour or two 
twice a day. 
THE BEECH 
The American beech (Fagus atropunicea) 
is a lighter green than its English relative, 
and it is lighter, too, in effect, just as the 
American elm is a more graceful tree than 
the robust English elm. 
The beech has a compact and regular head, 
and when grown in the open branches near 
the ground. ‘The bole is large, smooth and 
delicately modeled, and the silvery gray bark, 
mottled and spotted with lighter patches, 
looks particularly well in winter against a 
background of dark pine trees. The branching 
is irregular, and the sprays taper gently to the 
cigar-shaped buds. 
The beech casts a dense shade, and for 
that reason, as well as because it is shallow 
rooted, grass seldom grows under it. In a 
grove this does not matter, for there the 
beeches make their own soft carpet of light- 
yellow or brown leaves. 
(Continued on page xxtit) 
