April, 1907 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



155 



Aquilegias, white, red, blue, and yellow 

 ought to have a place in e\ ery collection. 

 They are early bloomers. They should be 

 grown in masses, near the front row. 



Iris is to the garden what the orchid is 

 to the greenhouse. Its colors are of the 

 richest — blue, purple, violet, yellow, white, 

 and gray. In many varieties two or more 

 of these colors are so combined as to pro- 

 duce most striking results. We have no 

 more magnificent flower in the perennial 

 list. 



Pyrethrum uliginosum is a full bloomer. 

 Its common name of "Giant Daisy" gives 

 a good description of it. Excellent for 

 back rows. 



The herbaceous spir;Eas are most charm- 

 ing plants. Alba, white, and rosea, pink, 

 produce great feathery tufts of bloom on 

 stalks six or seven feet tall. They are ex- 

 ceedingly graceful, in an airy, cloud-like 

 way, and never fail to attract the attention 

 of those who would pass by an ordinary 

 flower without seeing it. 



The florists have taken our native asters in hand, and we 

 now have several varieties that make themselves perfectly at 

 home in the border. Some of them grow to a height of eight 

 feet; others are low growers. The rosy-violet sorts are in- 

 describably lovely. They bloom late in the season. Their 

 long branches will be a mass of flowers with fringy petals 

 and yellow center. The soft, pale blue varieties are exquisite 

 in coloring. They bring the charm of Indian summer into 

 the garden, and hold it prisoner for several weeks. By all 

 means have a few roots of this most delightful plant put into 

 your border this spring. 



In setting out your plants allow for development. Don't 

 crowd them. Don't try to have a little of everything. Don't 



Creeping Phlox 



overlook old-fashioned kinds because they happen to be old 

 kinds. 1 hat proves that they have merit, or they would 

 have been dropped from the list long ago. 



Keep the ground between them clean and open. In spring 

 manure them well, working whatever fertilizer you make use 

 of into the soil about them. Stir the soil occasionally during 

 the season. Keep them from producing seed, as far as pos- 

 sible, for that exhausts their vitality more than anything else. 



Once in three or four years divide old clumps. Break their 

 roots apart, and discard all but the strongest, healtliiest por- 

 tions of them. Reset these in rich, mellow soil, in spring or 

 in fall, after the work of the season is over, and the plants 

 are at a standstill. 



Sewage Disposal for the House 



Couiinucd fj-oi/i page 1^2 



which permit the outflow of sewage and prevent the inflow 

 of water; by discharging the sewage intermittently and only 

 during low tide, and by providing constant outflow by steam 

 power pressure. 



Another simple way of disposal of sewage is to burn it. 

 The water waste is permitted to drain oft and the solid re- 

 sidues are destroyed in suitable crematories. Sewage is also 

 disposed of by precipitation, in which the liquid is drained oft 

 and the solids used for commercial purposes. This precipi- 

 tation is done by natural process or by chemical means. 



In soil filtration the sewage is purified and oxidized by 

 being passed through a porous soil. 1 he filtration should be 

 intermittent and the soil porous and well drained to accom- 

 plish good results. Sewage is also utilized for land irriga- 

 tion, the organic and other useful parts being used for fer- 

 tilizing purposes. 



Subsurface irrigation is sometimes used by small towns 

 and is available for isolated dwellings if ample land is avail- 

 able. In this system pipes with open joints are run through 

 the grounds, and the sewage allowed to percolate through 

 the soil. A flushing tank, to carry the sewage to all parts of 

 the system, is necessary in this method. 



The Cameron septic tank system is one of the most mod- 

 ern and most eftective methods of sewage disposal. This, says 

 Dr. Bergey, is a complicated system which utilizes the dis- 

 solving and liquefying system of anarrobic species of bacteria 

 in one portion, the so-called septic tank, and the oxidizing 



action of arrobic species of bacteria in another portion, the 

 filter beds, several of which are arranged in series. The sys- 

 tem, in brief, consists of discharging the sewage into 

 settling basins, and thence transferring it into the septic tank. 

 In some works this is closed; in others it is open. The solid 

 matter having undergone solution and liquefaction in the sep- 

 tic tank is discharged into the first of the first series of filters, 

 where the anarrobic and arrobic bacteria perform their task 

 of breaking down the intermediate dissoh ed bacteria. The 

 filters operate automatically, one after the other. The oxi- 

 dation process is completed in a secondary series of filters, 

 which, however, are omitted in some w'orks. The filters are 

 made of clinkers and coke. The pathogenic bacteria do not 

 appear to be removed by this process, and further filtration 

 by means of a sand filter has been suggested as a final step in 

 the process. 



Another method of sewage disposal by bacteria is known 

 as the bacteria or contact bed system. In this, says Dr. Ber- 

 gey, the sewage is treated in an open tank containing a bed 

 of coke, cinders and clay to a depth of one to two meters. On 

 the floor of the tank are open-jointed collecting pipes. The 

 contact beds are usually operated in pairs, the first or primary 

 bed acting on the sewage for several hours and then discharg- 

 ing its contents on to the second bed by gravity, where the 

 sewage is treated for the same length of time. The action is 

 intermittent. The system has been tried to some extent in 

 England. 



