August, 
IQII 
Rustic fence and pergola above a stone retaining wall 
den hospitality. There is no home life equal to the garden 
home life, for with its naturalness, harmony and simplicity, 
it lifts one out of the mercenary, restless, quarrelsome 
5 
a Se ere 
3 
Rustic table of graceful design made of pepper wood 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
Brick makes an effective topping for cobblestone walls and pillars 
grooves of thought, to higher platforms, where views of life 
are clearer and broader; in fact, a good-natured garden is a 
sort of rejuvenating moral and mental battery that fairly 
makes one tingle with good intentions and healthy ambitions. 
After the home builder has furnished his house and 
planted his garden, he usually considers that he has done his 
duty to himself and friends, or, if he does realize what a gar- 
den seat or two might mean, he may have exhausted his 
funds, and finds that furnishing the outdoors is quite beyond 
his powers. In such cases, the suggestion of home-made 
rustic furniture may be happily received, for it is a type 
inexpensive, and quite appropriate for use in any garden, 
except in the dignified, formal garden, where only concrete, 
iron, brick or factory-made seats look and feel at home. If 
a man is even moderately clever with hammer, saw, chisel 
and nails—for these are all the tools required—he can make 
tables and chairs and benches himself, and derive both ex- 
ercise and fun after office hours by so doing. When he has 
equipped his outdoor drawing-room with comforts, and he 
sits down cozily with his evening or his morning paper, or 
settles himself for a Sunday afternoon siesta, while good old 
Nature fans him, bathes him with perfume and inoculates 
him with music, he will wonder how he lived and endured 
the old, close, stuffy life between four walls, and his thoughts 
and heart will reach out in sympathy and regret to the lost 
years that were empty of this wonderful species of new- 
found rest. 
Few practical suggestions can be given for designing and 
making rustic furniture, for it is an entirely personal mat- 
ter with the builder, who should make the best of his in- 
dividual taste and ingenuity. A curve or an angle in branch 
or limb will suggest some scheme, and as there are scarce 
two tree forms alike, there can hardly be exact similarity in 
the design of two pieces of rustic furniture, the size and 
shape being entirely dependent on the form and character 
of the material to be used. If possessing artistic notions, 
the builder can produce most graceful, attractive and com- 
fortable results. A tree limb with a wide double curve will 
make an admirable top for a tete-a-tete chair. The fork of 
a tree will make an interesting back for a bench, or if con- 
sisting of three branching limbs, will answer for the legs of 
a table. A pleasing top for a rustic table is a thick round 
slab cut from a tree trunk. In making rustic furniture, in 
choosing the wood and putting it together, one should not 
overlook the fact that strength and durability are essential, 
for being constantly exposed to the weather, and in many 
cases the rompings of children, it is subject to considerable 
rough usage. Great care should be taken to nail the con- 
nections firmly. The wood should really be used when it is 
green, as at that time its natural dampness will rust the nails. 
It is claimed that a rusty nail will hold tighter than a smooth 
one. If the home builder lives near a forest, or if he is for- 
