XV111 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



January, 1908 



Do you live in the country ? 



Or in the suburbs ? 



Or anywhere away from a city water supply ? 



How is your house supplied with water ? 



Every one must have water. 



Water is necessary for animal and man; and nature 

 demands it too for irrigation. 



The success of your home as a comfortable and sani- 

 tary abiding place, depends largely on your water 

 supply. 



Artificial heat is required only in winter — artificial 

 light only at night. 



Water is required during all seasons — day and night. 



Impossible as it may seem, the subject of water 

 supply had been almost entirely neglected until recent 

 years, while great improvements had been made con- 

 tinue lly in lighting and heating methods. 



Th s water supply problem is now completely 

 solvi i by 



The Kewanee System of Water Supply 



The Kewanee System insures every convenience, 

 comfort and protection offered by the most up-to-date 

 city water works system. 



This means an abundant supply of water with ample 

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 night. 



The Kewanee System will enable you to have that 

 water delivered to the bathroom, kitchen, laundry, 

 barn, garden, lawn — anywhere, under strong pressure. 



The Kewanee System does away with the drudgery 

 of carrying this water in buckets, a task which men 

 shirk and women detest. 



The Kewanee System obviates the old style elevated 

 tank, which is expensive, unsightly and unsafe— 

 which may leak, freeze or collapse. 



And no leaky and inefficient attic tank need be 

 used. 



Use the water from your own well, cistern or other 

 natural source of supply. 



The plant may be placed in the cellar, located in a 

 special pump house— or under ground if necessary — 

 out of sight and thoroughly protected. 



Kewanee Systems are easy to install, easy to operate 

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The Kewanee System is not an experiment by any 

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Over 8000 Kewanee Systems in successful operation. 



Complete plants furnished to supply any require- 

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Kewanee Systems are now supplying country and 

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Our engineers can solve your water supply problem; 

 and no charge will be made for preliminary prices and 

 plans. 



Every Kewanee System is fully guaranteed— we take 

 all the risk and responsibility. 



Let us show you what we can do for you. 



Write for our complete 64-page illustrated catalog 

 which explains everything. 



Ask for catalog No. 36. 



Kewanee Water Supply Company, Kewanee, Illinois. 



No. 32 Broadway, New York City. 820 Marquette Building, Chicago. 



404 Equitable Building, Baltimore, Md. 





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■Philosophy of Protective Paint- 



A practical treatise on the subject of protective paint by a practical 

 paint man of long experience. Write for free copy No. 106 B. 



Joseph Dixon Crucible Co., Jersey City, N. J. 



Details of Building Construction 



A collection of 33 plates of 

 fcale drawings with Introduc- 

 tory text. 



This book Is 10 by 12£ In. 

 In size, and substantially bound 

 In cloth. 



By CLARENCE A. MARTIN 



Assistant Professor, College of Architecture, Cornell University 



rice, 



S2.00 



For Sale by 



MUNN & COMPANY, 36 1 Broadway, New York 



tree can thrive, but that grass has some 

 actively malignant effect on the tree, some 

 action on it akin to that of direct poisoning." 

 Further, "it is no exaggeration to say that if 

 the surface soil were entirely hidden from 

 view, every tree which is grassed over could 

 be identified with the greatest ease; the early 

 bursting of the buds in spring, the green of 

 the leaves in summer, their yellowish hue in 

 autumn, the color of the bark and the color 

 of the fruit are all equally distinctive. Wher- 

 ever the grass even approaches a row of trees, 

 then we get some telltale tints, as if the trees 

 were feeling the contagion of their diseased 

 neighbors." In summing up the whole 

 matter, they say, "We can not yet even hazard 

 a suggestion as to whether the poisonous action 

 of the grass is a direct one or only an indirect 

 one, operating through the agency of bacteria; 

 for it is possible that the grass may remove 

 certain bacteria necessary for the growth of 

 the trees, or foster the growth of others pre- 

 judicial to tree growth." 



In the report for 1905 this question was 

 considered still further. It was pointed out 

 that the presence of grass around the trees 

 did not appear to affect the leaf-size, but that 

 the leaf color was a direct indication of the 

 presence of grass. The fruit of the grassed 

 trees, normally green when ripe, or "occasion- 

 ally tinged with red, were brilliant red in 

 color, with the shaded parts showing a light 

 green, transparent hue ; indeed, nothing could 

 be more remarkable than the appearance of 

 these two rows of trees laden with their bright 

 red crops in the midst of fifty or sixty rows 

 of similar trees with their loads of the ordinary 

 green fruits." The authors suggest that the 

 deleterious effect of the grass causes a degene- 

 ration of the chlorophyll of the fruit, result- 

 ing in the waxy light green or deep red color. 

 They observed that the grassed trees bore quite 

 uniformly a larger crop of fruit than the 

 normal ones and offered the explanation that 

 this is an example of the well-known fact 

 that any check of the growth of a tree, if not 

 too severe, causes an increase in the crop. "In 

 fact, the whole results observed are but an 

 illustration of how a form of treatment, which 

 when carried to excess is highly injurious, 

 may, if adopted in moderation, lead to bene- 

 ficial results. It is a case of a poison proving 

 to be valuable in minute doses ; but the bene- 

 ficial dose is a very small one in this case." 



An investigation was made into the question 

 of what fraction of the entire root system of 

 a tree had to be subjected to the grass treat- 

 ment in order that the effect should be ob- 

 served. The grassed area began five and a half 

 feet from the stem of the trees studied. A 

 trench was subsequently dug along the line 

 separating the grassed from the ungrassed 

 area, and all roots which extended outward 

 beyond this trench were carefully removed. 

 It was found that the air-dry weight of the 

 roots which had penetrated into the grassed 

 soil varied from 0.9 ounce to 2.4 ounces, while 

 the thickest root cut was three-sixteenths inch 

 in diameter in one variety and seven-six- 

 teenths in another. "It will thus be seen that 

 the roots entering the grassed area are almost 

 infinitesimal in amount and can not represent 

 more than one one-thousandth or one two- 

 thousandth part of the whole root system of 

 the trees. Yet they must have conveyed 

 something to the trees which has been suf- 

 ficient to modify the whole character of the 

 crop. This points strongly to the view that 

 the action of the grass is due to some active 

 poison, and it is equally conclusive against 

 the view (if, indeed, further evidence on that 

 point were necessary) that the action can be 

 explained by the grass depriving the trees of 

 the necessary moisture or nourishment." 



A number of different varities of grass tried 

 seemed to have about the same effect. Clover, 



