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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 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" 



THE SELECTION OF FLOWER HOLDERS 



ANEW JERSEY correspondent, L. E. A., asks: "Can you sug- 

 gest something suitable for holding cut flowers that would not 

 . be very expensive, yet would be more artistic than the highly 

 decorated vases that I find in the department stores? We 

 have lately bought a suburban home, and our garden is giving us a 

 great deal of pleasure by supplying us with quantities of flowers for 



A Group of Flower Holders 



the house. As I have heretofore lived in the city, my attention has 

 only just now been called to this item of furnishing, and I am quite 

 at a loss what to use for my bouquets." 



In selecting vases or jars for cut flowers one may keep in mind that 

 they are usually in permanent view as ornaments, even when they are 

 not in active service. Their shape, color and decoration should, there- 

 fore, be carefully considered from the two points of view — as an 

 ornament for mantel shelf or table and as a background or frame for 

 the flowers. Usually, in the best china and glass shops there is a 

 special corner devoted to flower holders, and here one may select in 

 plain green glass a vase for sweet peas, and a taller shape, suitable 

 for the long stems of carnations, in iridescent glass (Nos. 1 and 3 in 

 the illustration). In a finer glass with gold decorations one may find 

 pretty baskets and low vases for holding violets, pansies and lilies 

 of the valley. At the Japanese stores, by avoiding the counters filled 

 with over-decorated, crudely colored vases and jars, the discriminating 

 buyer will be rewarded with the discovery of some plain green pottery 

 (No. 4 in the illustration) that is specially suited for pink or red 

 roses. Another contribution from Japan is the gray and green mug 

 at the extreme right of the illustration that seems especially adapted 

 for holding nasturtiums. Brass and copper are now very much in 

 demand for cut flowers, and yellow, orange or bronze-colored blos- 

 soms are the best to associate with these metals. No. 2 in the illustra- 

 tion is an antique copper jug made in Russia, its generous opening 

 making it useful for chrysanthemums, dahlias or tulips. 



For supporting the stems of flowers there are various devices in 

 glass, lead and brass wire. These are worth buying. 



A QUESTION ABOUT THE PLATE SHELF 



"Is a plate shelf ever used on a part of the dining-room wall?" asks 

 E. B., of Michigan. "I have wanted a shelf between two windows 

 to hold some old pitchers and platters, but I understand that such a 

 shelf, or rail, should extend entirely around the room." 



Although a plate shelf is usually carried around the four walls of a 

 dining-room, this rule need not always be followed. Oftentimes it is 

 the variation from the regular plan that gives interest to interior fur- 

 nishing. In filling the space between the two windows with a shelf 

 (Continued on Page x) 



Garden Work About the Home 



By Charles Downing Lay 

 INEXPENSIVE PLANTING 



A LETTER has recently come to me asking about the cost of 

 planting a place of five acres with an interesting collection of 

 . trees and shrubs, and asking further if this cost (which my 

 correspondent supposes to be considerable) can be reduced in 

 any way. 



But let me quote the letter: "The place is now almost bare. The 

 old cherry and pear trees about the house are dying, and on the rest 

 of the place there are only a few apple trees which bear fruit that is 

 worthless except for cider. The old house which is on the place we 

 shall use for a few years until we have become accustomed to the 

 place and have had time to decide on the best site for the new house. 

 So you see we are in no hurry to make a show at once, but shall enjoy 

 doing the work slowly and watching the trees grow. Can we buy 

 small shrubs and trees, a few at a time, and complete the planting 

 in five or six years?" 



The idea is a good one, and it will be fun to carry it out. You 

 should begin by preparing a small plot of ground for a nursery, select- 

 ing the best land and preparing it with great care and thoroughness. 

 It may happen that this nursery plot can be used afterward for part 

 of the gardens so that the labor spent on it now will not be wasted. 



In October you can begin planting small stock which can be bought 

 at very low prices from nurserymen and collectors, and the cost of 

 packing and transportation will be very little compared to the charge 

 on larger stock. The percentage of loss on such stock will be negligi- 

 ble. The only difficulty is that as they must be bought in lots of ten 

 or more to secure low prices you will probably have more trees than 

 you can use, but you may be able to sell them or to give them away to 

 advantage. They must be grown in the nursery as crops are grown 

 on the farm, cultivated and fertilized, and their growth will be 

 astonishing. 



Some of the things will be big enough to move to permanent posi- 

 tions after one season's growth, and others will need a longer time. 

 Having the stock growing on the place in this way there will be no 

 excuse for unseasonable planting ; which must often be done when 

 the plants come by freight from a distance. 



Another advantage of this way of doing the work is that the plant- 

 ing can be made very thick at first and afterward thinned out, since 

 the cost of the plants has been little and the labor required is so 

 much less than with larger trees. The chance to thin gives an op'- 

 portunity to save the largest and most flourishing of many individuals. 

 If an accident happens to a young tree there is another quite near 

 to take its place. 



On my own small place I have followed this scheme in a way. 



From Robert Douglas I bought seventy-five white pine seedlings 

 two years old. They came by mail, postage prepaid, for a dollar. 

 They were three to four inches high when set out in my nursery, and 

 after several transplantings and perhaps five years' growth they were 

 five to six feet high and ready to set out permanently. 



Berberis thunbergi I got in the same way, fifty plants for a dollar. 



From collectors in Pennsylvania and the South I got : 10 Euony- 

 mus americanus, 2 feet high, for 20 cents; IO Cornus plorida, 2 feet 

 high, for 20 cents; 10 Liquidamber styraciftua, 2 feet, 50 cents; 10 

 Castanea pumila, 2 to 3 feet, 75 cents; 10 Ilex verticillata (this I 

 could have collected just as well), 2 to 3 feet, 25 cents; 10 I. opaca, 

 I to 2 feet, 30 cents; 10 /. glabra, 1 to 2 feet, 50 cents; 10 Chionan- 

 thus virginica, 2 feet, 40 cents; 10 Diospyros virginiana, 3 feet, 75 

 cents. 



In the pastures and woods nearby I have collected, the only cost 

 being labor: Red cedar, iy 2 to 15 feet; juniper, 8 feet wide; hem- 

 lock, 2 to 3 feet; laurel, 2 to 3 feet; vaccinium, 3 to 4 feet; Viburnum 

 ( Continued on Page xi ) 



