xxiv AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
May, IgI1 
FLOORS Bs ae ed ROOFS 
A concrete tank erected on estate of Edmund Tatham, 
Katonah, New York 
Frederick J. Sterner, Architect - - New York 
De Lancey A. Cameron, Builder - - New York 
Tank designed for storage supply of 15,000 gallons, 
built entirely of concrete reinforced with Clinton welded 
wire. Before roof was placed over tank, and during 
winter months, ice 10 inches thick formed on water 
stored therein. No cracks or leakage have developed. 
Clinton Wire Cloth Company 
CLINTON, MASS. 
‘Filreprooting Departments: Parti- 
Cellings| ALBERT OLIVER, 1 MADISON AVE., NEW YORK d 
Washington: Rosslyn Supply Co., Colorado Bldg. San Francisco: L. A. Norris, 835 Monadnock Bldg. tions 
Chicago: Clinton Wire Cloth Co., 30-32 River St. Seattle, Wash.: L. A. Norris, 909 Alaska Building 
Buffalo, N. Y.: Buffalo Wire Works Co., Ince 
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LANE BROTHERS COMPANY, Manufacturers 
434-466 Prospect Street, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
—_ ams 
About Thanksgiving Day, when roses 
receive winter protection, cover the lilies 
too, with four to six inches of litter. Un- 
cover with the roses in the spring. 
Lilies really call for a background of 
green to show their beauty. Trees, 
shrubs, vine-covered trellises or walls 
not only give the air of an exclusive 
court with the queenly lily as sovereign, 
but supply the verdure that lilies lack 
and all flowers need. Evergreens make 
the best background, cedars for choice. 
But if tall shrubs be used, by all means 
have white-flowering shrubs. The lilies 
of color, while quite amicable among 
themselves, will war fiercely with the 
colors of many flowering shrubs. 
A REMARKABLE VEGETABLE 
POISON 
ECENT experiments have demon- 
strated the existence of a poisonous 
substance of very remarkable quali- 
ties in the seeds of so well known a plant 
as the ricinus, or castor-oil plant, a com- 
mon ornament of our gardens. 
It has long been observed that these 
seeds frequently proved fatal to animals 
who fed upon them, or to children who 
swallowed them by accident, but the toxic 
principle has first been isolated, as yet in 
very impure form, by Prof. Robert of 
Bostock, the process consisting of macera- 
tion in a solution of sodium chloride. Even 
now the pure preparation cannot be obtained 
because of the small amount of the poison 
and the difficulty of separating it from as- 
sociated albuminoids. 
Even so its terrible potency is shown by 
the figures of Prof. Ehrlich of Frankfort- 
on-Main, who estimates that one gramme 
of ricinus is sufficient to kill one and one- 
half million guinea-pigs. This tremendous 
death-dealing power surpasses that of all 
other poisons known to us as enemies of 
living matter; such, for example, as strych- 
nine and cyanide of potassium. 
According to Dr. B. Rewald in Kosmos, 
this quality alone would make the new 
poison of interest to scientists, but this in- 
terest is increased by the discovery of a 
very unique “poison stability” in this pro- 
duct. That is, if a quantity of poison be 
injected into an animal insufficient to kill 
but enough to cause severe illness, the 
animal upon recovery is capable of endur- 
ing a second dose sufficiently large to kill 
a fresh animal instantly. Moreover, the 
dose may be increased gradually a thou- 
sand-fold or even ten thousand-fold with- 
out causing unfavorable symptons. 
This can, of course, be done to some ex- 
tent with other poisons, such as arsenic and . 
morphine, but in these the possible dose al- 
ways remains in very moderate proportion 
to the death dose, and corporeal disturb- 
ances are always manifested, while these 
are absent with the ricinus. 
Another striking peculiarity is that in 
the blood of these immunized animals an 
antitoxin is formed. This likewise has not 
yet been isolated in pure form, but it has 
been possible to work with it as a fixed 
quantity. 
When this antitoxin, found in the blood 
serum of an immunized animal, is injected 
into a freshly poisoned animal, it will pre- 
vent the development of toxic symptoms, 
and will also cure one which has already 
become ill. A similar action is of course 
well known in the case of bacterial infec- 
tions, such as diphtheria, tetanus, etc. 
Moreover, this vegetable poison shows 
another similarity to bacteria. We know 
that the blood serum of animals which have 
- 5a 
= SA 
