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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



July, 1908 



CORRESPONDENCE 



The Editor of American Homes and Gardens desires to extend an invitation to all its readers to send to the Correspondence Department inquiries on any matter 

 pertaining to the decorating and furnishing of the home and to the developing of the home grounds. 



All letters accompanied by return postage will be answered promptly by mail. Replies that are of general benefit will be published in this Department. 



Problems in Home Furnishing 



By Alice M. Kellogg 

 Author of "Home Furnishing: Practical and Artistic" 



SEVERAL PROBLEMS IN WALL DECORATION 



A 



MONG 



the in- 



quines 



received 



L during 



the past 



month 



by this 



- 



department on wall 

 treatment, the following 

 will be of general in- 

 terest. M. R. O., of 

 Kentucky, writes : 

 "Please give some in- 

 formation about borders 

 and friezes and their 

 proper use. I hear a 

 good deal said about 

 crowns. Are these dif- 

 ferent from the bor- 

 ders?" 



Borders, crowns and 

 friezes, in widths vary- 

 ing from twelve to 

 thirty-six inches, are a 

 means for dressing up, 

 or decorating, the upper 

 part of a wall, leaving 

 the lower part as a back- 

 ground for furniture 

 and pictures. Usually a 

 plain or a two-toned 

 paper is hung below the 

 border. The two spaces, 

 to look well, should be 

 covered with the same 

 material. For example, 

 if a plain grass cloth is 

 applied to the lower 

 wall, a figured grass 

 cloth would be selected 

 for the upper space. 

 This rule, of course, 

 does not apply to a wood 

 paneled wainscot, as the 

 space above could be 

 filled with any material 

 that was appropriate in 

 color and design. 



The difference be- 

 tween a crown and a 

 border is that the latter 

 is printed in a long strip 

 that is pasted horizon- 

 tally on the upper wall, 



while the crown is printed in the opposite way, and each figure is 

 detached from the roll and hung at the top of each strip of wall 

 paper. In the finest grade of paper the crown is printed at the top 

 or end of a length of wall paper that forms one complete roll. In 

 this way the crown is a part of each strip, and not pasted over the 

 paper, as in the cheaper goods. In the illustration a graceful festoon 

 of blossoms forms the crown for a moire paper of French manufacture. 



As a crown or border does not add to the apparent height of the 



ceiling, but seems to lower it, neither one should be used where the 



ceiling is less than nine feet high. Its width should be suited to the 



general proportions of the room. Sometimes the casings of doors and 



( Continued on Page x) 



A Finely Printed Crown 



I 



Garden Work About the Home 



By Charles Downing Lay 



MOLES 



AM rather discouraged, as nearly all my bulbs have been 

 eaten up by the moles. It is a continuous fight to raise any- 

 thing, and I feel at times like giving the whole thing up. 

 Can anything be done to get rid of moles?" 



This from a melancholy gardener in Sayville, who shows a com- 

 mon misconception of the relations of things in nature. If he knew 

 more he would probably ask how he could get more moles to live on 

 his place. 



We are slow to appreciate the value of birds and animals in keep- 

 ing the different pests of worms and bugs within bounds. The crow 

 has at last received justice in a bulletin of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, and may some day have a monument in his honor, like the gulls 

 of the Salt Lake which saved the wheat from a swarm of grasshoppers. 



The toad also is in high favor now and welcome in every garden, 

 but for the mole there are few kind words. 



It is commonly supposed that moles eat grass, roots, vegetables 

 and seeds, but (we quote Hornaday) "a mole supplied with vegetable 

 food alone soon starves to death. Moles do not eat seed, corn or 

 garden vegetables, but they do eat grubs." 



Field mice, which sometimes run through moles' burrows, do oc- 

 casionally eat seeds or bulbs, as doubtless happened to our correspon- 

 dent quoted above, and the mole is blamed for it. 



In France they are more discerning. There the value of the mole is 

 recognized by law, and the killing of one is punishable by a fine of 

 five francs. 



In the garden moles eat cutworms and grubs, which is certainly a 

 benefit. The only harm they do is the infrequent burrowing under 

 a row of seeds and raising the earth they are in, so that the seeds 

 dry out, or if they have started to grow the new roots may be broken 

 or separated from the soil below. 



This is easy to remedy in time, if the garden is looked at every 

 day or so, by treading down the burrow. 



But it is in the lawn that moles are most useful, for there they 

 eat the white grubs, or larvae of the June bug, which in turn feed on 

 the grass roots, and if not checked in some way, will ruin the lawn. 

 The bare patches, sometimes as much as a square yard in area, and 

 which look as if brine had been poured there, are caused by these 

 grubs. 



As Comstock says ("Manual of Insects," p. 561) : "The larvae of 

 the different species of May-beetle (June bug) are commonly classed 

 together under the name 'white grubs.' They are often great pests 

 in meadows and in cultivated fields. No satisfactory method of fight- 

 ing this pest has been discovered as yet. We have destroyed great 

 numbers by the use of trap lanterns, but many beneficial insects were 

 destroyed at the same time." 



The lawns of a cemetery near Boston were once ruined in appear- 

 ance by these grubs, so the superintendent had acres of the land dug 

 over, the soil sifted, and the grubs picked out by hand. Barrelsful of 

 them were destroyed, but the cost was enormous. 



The burrows and hills that moles throw up on the lawn are only 

 slightly objectionable and are easily trodden down and scattered. 



The presence of moles is a pretty good sign that they find an at- 

 tractive diet, and they should be encouraged to stay until the dainties 

 are exhausted. 



MOWING THE LAWN 



There are several ways of mowing a lawn, but the best and cheap- 

 est way is to mow so often that raking need not be done. If it is 

 mowed when the grass is of a height to make the clippings an inch 

 long, then the clippings will fall into "the pile of the green carpet" and 

 will be hidden at once and raking will be unnecessary. Mowing 

 twice without raking will, I think, be found to cost little, if any, more 

 [Continued on Page xii) 



