XIV 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



February, 1908 



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Modern I 

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'lumbing 

 -ated 



SOME OF THE SUBJECTS TREATED 



Connections, sizes and all working data for all 



Plumbing Fixtures and Groups of Fixtures 

 Traps — Venting 



Connecting and Supporting of Soil Pipe 

 House Trap and Fresh-Air Inlet 

 Floor and Yard Drains, etc. 

 Rain Leaders 

 Sub-soil Drainage 

 Floor Connections 

 Roof Connections 

 Local Venting 



Bath Room Connections [etc. 

 Automatic Flushing for Factories, School Houses, 

 Use of Flushing Valves 

 Modern Fixtures for Public Toilet Rooms 

 Durham System 



Plumbing Construction without use of Lead 

 Automatic Sewage Lift — Sump Tank 

 Disposal of Sewage of Underground Floors of 



High Buildings 

 Country Plumbing 

 Cesspools 



The Electrolysis of Underground Pipes 

 Septic Tanks and Sewage Siphons 

 Pneumatic Water Supply, Rams, etc. 

 Examples of Poor Practice 

 Roughing — Testing 



Continuous Venting for all classes of Work 

 Circuit and Loop Venting 

 Use of Special Waste and Vent Fittings 

 Cellar Work 



House Drain — House Sewer — Sewer Connections 

 Plumbing for Cottage House 

 Plumbing for Residence 

 Plumbing for Two-Flat House 

 Plumbing for Apartment Houses 

 Plumbing for Office Building 

 Plumbing for Public Toilet Rooms 

 Plumbing for Bath Establishment 

 Plumbing for Engine Houses 

 Plumbing for Stables 

 Plumbing for Factories 



Plumbing for School Houses, etc. [by Electricity 

 Thawing of Underground Mains and Service Pipes 











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By R. M. STARBUCK 

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55 Full Pages of 

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<| Many of the subjects trea 

 trated follow in the next coi 



MUNN & COMI 



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ted in the text and illus- 

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>ANY, Publishers 



, 365 Broadway, NewYork 





THE SOWING OF SEED 



By Ida D. Bennett 



TO enter intelligently upon the sowing 

 of seed, so that it shall make for suc- 

 cess, one must first understand the 

 nature of the seeds to be sown. There are 

 certain seeds which call for the careful nur- 

 ture of the greenhouse — or its substitute, 

 the seed flats in the warm window, those 

 more vigorous seeds which may safely be in- 

 trusted to the hotbeds, and the ordinary gar- 

 den seeds which may be planted directly in 

 well-prepared beds in the open ground. Still 

 other more hardy plants do even better if 

 their seeds are planted in the open ground 

 in the fall, and left to ripen and mature dur- 

 ing the cold and snows of winter, germina- 

 ting and appearing above ground during the 

 first warm days of spring. Among these are 

 the poppies, the columbines, and the fox- 

 gloves, all of which may, with advantage, 

 be sown in the fall. 



Such tender seeds as those of greenhouse 

 plants — calceolarias, cinerarias, primrose, 

 fuchsias, ferns, begonias, and the like — must 

 be sown in flats in the house or greenhouse. 

 Small shallow flats — which, in case of very 

 small seeds, may be fashioned from cigar boxes 

 of the shallow kind — or seed pans are most 

 suitable to use as they are easily handled, and 

 each variety of seed may be given just the en- 

 vironment and conditions they require. The 

 soil is of first importance with this class of 

 seed and fine black leaf mold incorporated 

 with a little sharp sand should be used ; this 

 should be sifted and the boxes filled to within 

 a half inch of the top and the soil pressed 

 down with a smooth piece of board. 



On this smooth and even surface the seeds 

 should be evenly sifted and, in the case of such 

 fine seeds as begonias, be merely pressed into 

 the soil with the board. Somewhat larger 

 seeds may be lightly covered with fine soil or 

 sand sifted over the surface so as to merely 

 cover the seed and the whole pressed down 

 with the board. 



Still larger seeds may be sown in drills of 

 from one-eight of an inch to a quarter of an 

 inch deep, the earth drawn back over them 

 and pressed down. The flats should then be 

 covered with a sheet of white paper and a 

 glass and placed where they will receive a 

 steady heat from below, but before placing 

 they should be set for a few moments in a 

 pan of luke warm water until the soil looks 

 dark, but not wet, on the surface, the pan 

 should then be lifted and the surplus water 

 allowed to drain off and the flat then placed 

 in position. It will be necessary to notice 

 these flats of tender seeds several times during 

 the day, that they may neither become dry 

 nor suffer from too much moisture. 



Larger seeds — as the aster, pansy, morn- 

 ing glories, cobaeas and the like may be 

 started in the house boxes, such as the florists 

 sell, but which may be constructed at home 

 by any one, at all handy with tools, in an 

 hour's time. These little boxes constitute in 

 themselves a miniature greenhouse, being 

 built about eighteen or twenty inches long 

 by a foot wide and about three inches deep 

 in front and five or six in back and fitted 

 with a glass lid attached to the back by hinges. 

 A notched stick at the front holds the lid at 

 the desired height when open, and affords 

 means of ventilation. 



All seed flats should be carefully labeled, 

 and where the time of germination of seeds is 

 known it will be well to add this to the label. 

 The period of the germination of seeds varies 

 from a few days to several weeks, and in some 

 cases to a year, and whenever seeds that have 

 the peculiarity of prolonged inactivity are 

 planted it will be well to plant them where 

 they will not be disturbed, so that if germina- 



