January, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



IX 



personal qualities of these gardens in a faith- 

 ful and artistic manner. The book is beauti- 

 fully made in every respect. 



Our Country Home. How we transformed 

 a Wisconsin Woodland. By Frances 

 Kinsley Hutchinson. Chicago : A. C. 

 McClurg & Co. Pages 16+278. 



Mrs. Hutchinson has prepared an entirely 

 new kind of a book on the making of the 

 country home. Most persons who write on 

 this theme do so from the point of view of 

 self-support, or at least of getting the largest 

 possible return for the smallest possible 

 amount of expenditure. Some one, sooner or 

 later, was bound to write on this subject from 

 quite the opposite point of view, namely ; given 

 a large amount of land and quite unlimited 

 money to spend on it, what was the result? 

 Mrs. Hutchinson has seized on this opportunity 

 and has written an eminently readable and 

 entertaining book about her country home in 

 Wisconsin. 



Apparently it is exactly the kind of a coun- 

 try home every one would like to have, and 

 which only the very wealthy can possess. 

 Fancy, if you can, dumping fifty thousand 

 loads of dirt upon the site of the house, in 

 order to raise its terrace fifteen feet above 

 the level of a lake! As for the house itself 

 we are spared statistical details, but from the 

 various views presented of it there can be no 

 doubt it was on the same splendid scale as the 

 earth-dumping. It must have been fine to 

 have proceeded with the making of a country 

 home under such conditions, and every page 

 of Mrs. Hutchinson's book breathes the joy 

 and delight with which everything was done. 

 And seemingly with never a thought of the 

 cost! 



But money was not spent for the sheer pur- 

 pose of spending money. Every part of the 

 estate was carefully planned and developed. 

 If the cost was great the value was well es- 

 timated in advance, and everything that was 

 done was done with the end in view. Of 

 course, this is precisely the plan on which all 

 good country estates are developed every- 

 where ; but the writers who are intent on 

 telling how much money can be made from 

 the land have so pre-empted the field of 

 country book making that the point of view 

 taken by Mrs. Hutchinson has been well- 

 nigh overlooked. It is just as well that her 

 point be made clear, and she will win the 

 thanks of many readers by the saneness of 

 her position, the soundness of her procedure, 

 the charm of her narrative. 



There is, however, a distinctly practical 

 value to every home maker, large and small, 

 in this book. It begins with the vacant land, 

 describes it as it orginally existed, describes 

 the betterments put upon it, describes the 

 transformation of the wilderness to the home 

 of civilization in every detail. It is well to 

 know, for once, just how this result is accom- 

 plished by intelligent people on a large scale. 

 And the book abounds with hints and sugges- 

 tions of great practical value, especially on 

 ornamental planting of gardens and grounds. 

 Mrs. Hutchinson is evidently a true plant 

 lover who has acquired useful practical knowl- 

 edge of her plants. Of this she gives an 

 abundance, and from this aspect alone her 

 book has great value. The photographs, mostly 

 made by the author, are both numerous and 

 interesting. Especially valuable are those 

 showing the house and grounds at various 

 periods, say of one or two years. It is thus 

 possible to accurately estimate what may be 

 done within a given period of time with intel- 

 ligent planting, and sufficient means to plant 

 intelligently. It is a book well worth reading 

 and studying. 



FLOORS 



iARYLAND INSTITUTE, BALTIMORE, MD. 



Pell & Corbett, Architects, New York 



Henry Smith & Sons Co., Builders, Baltimore, Md. 





SYSTEM C, TYPE 1, 



ID IN THE ABOVE BUILDING l: V f=gs:j 



Clinton Fireproofing System used throughout for floors, 

 roof, landings and coverings of pipe conduits. 

 The continuous bond of Clinton electrically welded 

 wire is the ONE best reinforcing for concrete. 



Clinton Wire Cloth Company 



CLINTON, MASS. 



FIREPROOFING DEPARTMENT 



ALBERT OLIVER 



1 MADISON AVE.. NEW YORK 



Seattle: l. a. norris, 909 aiaska building 



st. lou is : hunkins-willis lime & cement co., south end 18th st. bridge 



syracuse, n. y.: paragon plaster co. 



san franciso: l. a. norris, 835 monadnock building 



washington: rosslyn supply co. 



Our No, 3 Wood Turning; Lathe 



can be speeded from 1 ,000 to 2,000 

 revolutions a minute with perfect ease. 

 Stopped or reversed at will of operator. 



WRITE FOR PARTICULARS 



W* F* & John Barnes Co* 



567 RUBY ST. 



ROCKFORD, ILL. 



