96 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



March, 1907 



built at each end of the lowest pergola from the win- 

 dows of which the whole of the lower garden is overlooked, 

 as well as much of the outer world as the wall of arbor vitae 

 and the surrounding trees will permit. 



It is a garden of pronounced individuality, yet its merits 

 have been obtained by the simplest means. The chief factor 

 in giving it interest has been the spaciousness of the site. 

 There was ample ground here, ample room on which to grow 

 plants and lay out an interesting type of garden. So far as 

 ground plan went, therefore, it Avas possible to proceed on a 

 scale of real magnificence. 



But here the magnificence stopped. Grandeur in a garden 

 is too hazardous a matter, particularly in our trying Ameri- 

 can climate. Good plants and plenty of them; good planting 

 and ample seems to have been the motto here. Very enjoy- 

 able, therefore, is the variety of the plants and shrubs here, 



but which, save in number and spaciousness of arrangement, 

 do not differ widely from the contents of many a less preten- 

 tious garden than this. 



With the pergolas somewhat more latitude was permissible. 

 Here again was space, ample and of generous quality. The 

 pergolas were designed to cover a liberal quantity of ground 

 and were built in a generous manner. Yet they, too, are 

 simple and unadorned, appealing to the spectator by reason 

 ot their size, their arrangement— a great open square which 

 they completely surround — and their position. And year 

 after year their bare frames are being covered closer and 

 closer with foliage, and year after year the whole garden, the 

 upper garden with its pergolas and the lower with its lawns 

 and flower beds, increases with that loveliness and interest 

 which age gives to gardens more completely than to anything 

 else. 



The Kitchen Furniture 



Bv Sarah Adams Keller 



^S^^^^^S^ O ROOM is so sparsely supplied with furni- 

 »?/llSv^^^M^ ture as the kitchen. The permanent fixtures, 

 ^sllv^^k^^S^ range and sink, the boiler and wash tubs 

 ^^1^^^^^^ consume so much room and require so 

 y) much space for their use that there is often 

 ^^i^^tof^^^^^ barely enough room left for the most neces- 

 sary pieces of furniture without which the 

 kitchen would be incomplete and all but unusable. Furni- 

 ture of a limited kind is, however, needed for the kitchen, 

 and it must be well adapted to use. 



A kitchen closet is apt to be a very miscellaneous receptacle 

 indeed, into which everything is thrust and where nothing 

 can ever be found. Systematic arrangement and distribution 

 of all utensils, supplies and other articles will add greatly to 

 the convenience of the kitchen, and will be found, in the end, 

 to fully repay any effort put forth to establish it. This 

 becomes a comparatively easy matter where there is room, but 

 the ingenuity of the housekeeper will be tested when it comes 

 to arranging kitchen tools and foods within narrow compass. 

 If the house contains a pantry matters will be much simpli- 

 fied, since in that case the china and table ware will be kept 

 there, as well as supplies in bulk. 



But whatever the size of the kitchen some system in ar- 

 rangement and disposition of the utensils is imperative. The 

 dresser is intended for dishes and small supplies, such as tea, 

 coffee, and spices and the like. Narrow shelves are to be 

 preferred to wide ones, for they facilitate use. Wide shelves 

 are standing temptations to overloading, and it is almost 

 impossible to prevent articles from being stood two or three 

 deep, a method that is quite destructive of ready use, and 

 which sooner or later falls into positive confusion. The 

 dresser may consist of shelves built into the wall or be a sep- 

 arate article of furniture. It should be enclosed within glass 

 doors. The topmost shelf should always be within easy 

 reaching distance. It will be found very helpful to have a 

 definite place for every definite kind of article that is given 

 place in the dresser, and this systematic arrangement of con- 

 tents should be insisted upon as an essential feature of the 

 kitchen economy. 



The pots must be placed by themselves and must have 

 sufiicient room, so that each can hang or stand free and inde- 

 pendent. Sometimes the space under the dresser is set aside 

 for this purpose: sometimes a separate closet is used for the 

 pots. The closet beneath the sink, which in old time kitchens 

 was used for this purpose, is, of course, no longer available 



{Concluded 



in the modern kitchen, and should not be used even if present. 

 Kitchen cabinets, which partake of the character of a 

 dresser, are now made in a variety of forms, many of which 

 are compact and convenient and are well adapted to kitchens 

 of modest size, where space is valuable and the equipment 

 comparatively slight. The styles range from simple to com- 

 plex, the latter containing a number of divisions and devices 

 for the convenient handling of materials. 



The kitchen table is indispensable. Its size will be deter- 

 mined by the size of the room, for no kitchen table was ever 

 yet too large for the demands that will be made of it. A 

 simple wood table, covered with oil cloth or enameled cloth 

 and provided with a drawer, in which may be kept the kitchen 

 knives and forks and similar utensils, will be found sufficient 

 in many kitchens. If the table has a zinc top it will be found 

 useful for washing dishes when the sink is not available; 

 when the zinc wears out its utility will be lengthened with a 

 covering of table oil cloth. A more convenient table is a spe- 

 cially built affair, of a height adapted to the height of the 

 person who has to work at it, so arranged as to avoid stoop- 

 ing. This condition, of course, avails only when the table 

 will be used indefinitely by the same person. It should be 

 mounted on castors so as to be readily moved, and may 

 have the lower space entirely filled with drawers and cup- 

 boards. Facility in use will be obtained by making these of 

 different sizes, depths and heights. 



If the laundry work must be done in the kitchen, as is the 

 case in many small households, some special provision must be 

 made for it. This is a matter that will require utmost in- 

 genuity in crowded quarters and is always an affair of more 

 or less difficulty. The ironing boards, stands and cloths 

 should be kept together. It may not be possible to have a 

 separate and special closet for them, but if other articles are 

 kept in the same closet it should be so filled that the Ironing 

 boards, etc., can be readily reached without the necessity of 

 taking other things out. 



The clothes horse, while one of the most difficult of house- 

 hold articles to store, is one of the most useful. It is difficult 

 to offer advice on this article, for its disposition is entirely 

 dependent on space, and the housekeeper can only do the 

 best she can. Several patented devices are made as substi- 

 tutes for the old fashioned article, including apparatus which 

 depend from the ceiling, and hence take up no floor or wall 

 room. Ropes and cords stretched across the kitchen are 

 poor substitutes for wooden bars. If not Immediately re- 



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