XXII 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GA 



RDENS 



April, 1907 



Sun- Dials with Pedestals, Complete 



By utilizing our Koll's Patent Lock Joint in the con- 

 struction of the wooden pedestals furnished by us, we 

 are enabled to offer this most attractive feature of the 

 formal garden at a price that places them within the 

 reach of all. 



A special booklet showing a number of designs of 

 pedestals, pergolas, etc., with prices, will be sent free 

 upon request. Ask for Ciri'ular "A-26." 



HARTMANN BROS. MFG. CO. 



MOUNT VERNON, N.Y., U.S.A. 



New York Office: 1123 Broadway 



Western Factory: Henry Sanders Co., Chicago, III. 



MAM'FACirKEHS OH 



KOLL'S PATENT LOCK JOINT COLUMNS 



I'or Pergolas, Porches, or Interior I'se. 



CARPENTERS 



in these days of close competition 



Need the Best 

 Possible Equipment 



and this they can have in 



BARNES' 

 Hand and Foot Power 

 Machinery 



W.F.& JOHN BARNES CO. 



567 Ruby Street ROCKFORD, ILL. 



Our New 

 Foot and Hand Power 

 Circular Saw No. 4 



'^HE stronijest, most 

 powerful, and in e\er\' 

 way the best machine of 

 its kind ever made. For 

 ripping, cross-cutting, bor- 

 ing and grooving. 



Send 

 for 

 our 

 New 

 Cata- 

 logue 



The Varnish that lasts longest 



Made by Murphy Varnish Company. 



I Plant for Immediate Effect | 



$ NOT FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS 3| 



Start with the largest stock that can be secured! It takes over twenty years to Jp 



St grow such trees and shrubs as we offer. 



mE We do the long waiting — thus enabling you to secure trees and shrubs that give an S|k 

 j| immediate effect. Send for descriptive and price lists. 



» Andorra Nurseries, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pa. m 



3C _ _ WM. WARNER HARPER, PROPRIETOR — — 



PLANTS FOR THE TERRACE 



By Ida D. Bennett 



A CERTAIN degree of formality, of 

 amenableness to pruning and train- 

 ing in the way it should go, is desir- 

 able in the plant of the terrace that is not 

 found in plants of lush straggling growth 

 but has its highest expression in the little bay 

 trees — -those prim, self conscious little up- 

 starts that so many persist in admiring 

 through a mistaken idea that what is costly 

 must necessarily be also admirable. I wish 

 some one would propagate a variety of bay 

 tree that was practically indestructible and 

 self propagating so that they might become 

 so common that we would see the last of them. 

 There is, however, a happy medium between 

 the supercilious primness of the bay and the 

 wanton luxuriance of the fuchsia or other 

 half trailing plant that is found in the hard 

 wooded shrubs with evergreen wax leaves 

 and beautiful flowers such as the various 

 oleanders and others of their class. The 

 oleanders alone have so many varieties, are so 

 beautiful in flower and leaf, so readily trained 

 into symmetrical form that they should be 

 prime favorites for the terrace or steps. 



Some twelve or fifteen of the neriums or 

 oleanders are to be had, ranging from pure 

 white through the most delicate peach blow 

 and pink to dark purplish red and shades of 

 \ellow. When used for terrace work they 

 should be kept trimmed back to a rather dwarf 

 form and not allowed to grow tall and lank. 

 The old-fashioned double pink — splendens — 

 will bear comparison with any of the later, 

 rarer sorts and there is a variegated foliage 

 variety of the splendens that is striking 

 whether in flower or not, the foliage being 

 variegated with cream, pink and white. 

 Madam Peyre is a showy sort with large 

 creamy yellow blossoms with pink centers; all 

 are well worth cultivating. 



One of the most beautiful of the hard 

 wooded greenhouse shrubs is found in the 

 Chinese hibiscus. This, in its many varieties, 

 with its beautiful waxy leaves and great 

 s^orgeous flowers is an object of admiration 

 wherever seen. There are numerous varieties 

 of the plant all of which are well worthy of 

 cultivation, but the Magnifica — an immense 

 double rosy scarlet — is of all varieties the 

 linesr, the flowers measuring about five inches 

 in diameter and being produced in the great- 

 est profusion ; the foliage of this variety is 

 especially waxy and handsome. There is also 

 a very pretty variegated foliage sort that is 

 worthy a place in a collection of hibiscus, 

 though as a pot plant it does not make the 

 robust growth of many of the other varieties. 

 The hibiscus is a little whimsical in its re- 

 quirements; grown in too much shade it de- 

 \elops a quantity of beautiful foliage, but 

 will not bloom, while in too hot sunshine the 

 leaves are inclined to burn, but the sun, es- 

 pecially in the morning, is necessary to bring 

 out the bloom, which it does in abundance. 

 The plant should never lack for water but 

 should be given it in abundance; it will, also, 

 be well to supply it during the growing sea- 

 son with an occasional dose of liquid manure; 

 it blooms better when somewhat root bound 

 and, for this reason, does better in tubs and 

 pots than when planted in the open ground. 



Several varieties of the bamboo may be 

 used with good effect on the terrace; the best 

 of these is, probably, B. metake, the largest 

 leaved of the bamboo family, though one of 

 the dwarfest in stature, rarely exceeding ten 

 feet in height. It is an especially rugged con- 

 stitution and may be grown as a tub plant on 

 the terrace during summer and as a corridor or 

 drawing-room plant during winter and in any 

 and all of these situations will do itself credit. 

 It may even be grown In the open ground the 



