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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



June, IQ07 



Brush Up Your 



Paint Knowledge 



No matter who your painter may be, for your own protection as 

 a ])roperly owner, you should know the vital and interesting 

 facts set forth in our book, "Paint and Painting." 

 This little book contains a fund of all-round paint knowledfje — 

 downright, tangible, ])ractical information — for layman, architect, 

 builder, painter and painter's employe. 

 And it proves in a clear, convincing way ivhy 



Lowe Brothers 



High Standard Paint 



Gives Best Results 



— Spreads better, covers more surface to the gallon, wears longer and retains 

 Its beauty better, why it is most economical and most satisfactory. Thirty-tbree 

 years of scientific uaiiit study and practical paint-maliing, with constant and 

 consistent tests, have given us what we know to be the most rational and correct 

 formulae in use today. 



"HIGH STANnARD" LIQUID PAINT is ground superfine— and perfectly 

 mixed liy llic new, powerful and delicately adjusted machinerj — contains more 

 particles to the gallon— forms the smoothest, besb-working paint-lexture. 



Write today for the book "Paint and Painting." We will gladly mail It free, 

 together with the name of your nearest "HIGH STANDAliD" Paint dealer. 



The Lowe Brothers Company, 450-456 East Third;st.,Dayton,0. 



Pamtmakers, Varnishmakars New York Chicago Kansas City 



"The Little Blue 

 Flag'' 



— Your 

 Protection 



KING MANTELS 



ef are tlie graceful, artistic and high-grade product of a house 



expert in its line, using perfected, up-to-date machinery, located 'I 

 in the hard wood lielt and favored by excellent labor conditions. 



IF YOU ARE GOING TO BUILD 



don't you think it is worth while to investigate our claim that we make the 

 best high-grade dependable mantels for the money in the country. FREE: Our 

 proof book called "Evidence." 



SEE WHAT OTHERS SAY 



A handsome 64-page (12 x 14 in.) catalogue sent for 12c. to help pay postage : 

 (it costs us 50c, to deliver), including our book "Colonial Beauties." If you '; 

 write, state number of mantels required. Do it now ! fj 



KING MANTEL CO., 519-521 W. Jackson Ave.. Knoxville.Tenn. , 1 



MM. 



THE LIVING-ROOM FIREPLACE 



Pseally adds to the happy sense of comfort in every home : 

 and it will readily add to the beauty of the home as well. 

 Q We show a wide variety of patterns of true Colonial 

 Fireplaces in our large, illustrated Design- Book — FREE 

 at your request. Shall we send it to you? 



COLONIAL FIREPLACE COMPANY 

 2537 West 12th Street,, Chicago, III. 



Beautiful — and Cheap 



Soft, velvety colors, that will wear as long 

 as colors can, and cost 50 per cent, less than 

 paint to buy and apply, come from using 



Cabot's Shingle Stains 



Made with the best pigments, the best fixatives, 

 and Creosote, "the best wood preservative 

 known," The only stains made of Creosote 

 and without petroleum. 



StjinrJ-U'OitJ snmrlts nnd color chart sent frie. 



SAMUEL CABOT, Sole Manufacturer 



Milk Street, Boston, 



Js'Xti .It .(// ,,-ntr.il ro,nls. 



Mass. 



Claude & Starci. Archt^s. Madison, H'is. 

 Roof stained moss-green, walls silver-gray, and lined ihroughiut 

 uith Cabot's Sheathing Quilt for txarmth 



TWO VALUABLE REAL ESTATE BOOKS 



By" CHAS. J. FUESS 

 HOW TO BUY PROPERTY AND HOW TO CARE FOR PROPERTY 



NOT advertisements, but volumes of real instruction and inspiration by an expert, on how to go 

 about buying real estate, and how to care for the premises and tenants after the purchase. 

 Nearly 200 pages. $1.00 for both ; cents each. .Sent anywhere postpaid for price. 



UTICA ADVERTISING COMPANY, Utica, N. Y. 



WINDOW BOXES 



By Ida D. Bennett 



The best time to begin the planning for 

 window bo.xes is early in March, when mater- 

 ial may be gathering for their filling and lum- 

 ber or boxes for the boxes themselves. They 

 will not be placed outside until all danger of 

 frost is passed and the nights are warm, but 

 if they may be started inside early and car- 

 ried out later they will present a much more 

 finished appearance than those started at the 

 last moment and sliowing more or less evi- 

 dence of haste. 



The window box should be long and nar- 

 row — the length of the window frame, and, 

 for ordinary windows, about nine inches wide 

 by ten deep, for oriole windows a somewhat 

 deeper and wider box may be used. They 

 should be painted to match the color of the 

 house or trimmings and supported in the most 

 convenient way — brackets to match the porch 

 trimmings or the cornice are e.xcellent; but 

 whatever form they take they must be de- 

 pendable as the weight upon them is consid- 

 erable. They should be placed immediately 

 below the window sill and, where no screens 

 are used in the windows, they may be cared 

 for from within. 



The boxes should be made water tight but 

 be provided with a plug to allow the escape 

 of surplus water in a rainy season. A loosely 

 constructed box allows the fertility in the soil 

 to leach away, and, as there is, by midsummer, 

 a mass of roots formed which the water will 

 not readily penetrate, it will run down be- 

 tween the earth and the sides of the box and 

 be lost. It will, therefore, be well in settling 

 the plants in their place to make the soil some- 

 what lower in the center than at the sides and 

 ends, this will induce the water to settle about 

 the roots of the plants. 



The soil will depend somewhat upon the 

 plants to be grown. For all west and east 

 bo.xes a good garden loam, enriched with old, 

 well-rotted manure may be used, but for north 

 window boxes where a quite different class 

 of plants will be grown, a mixture of loam 

 and leaf mold will be found more satisfac- 

 tory. This, too, may be enriched with old 

 manure, as the demands upon the soil in the 

 window box is considerable. The boxes should 

 not be filled full, but an inch or two of space 

 left for watering. 



Almost any plant may be grown in the 

 window box that one's fancy dictates, it only 

 being necessary to avoid those which make 

 so high a growth as to obscure the windows, 

 or if for any reason tall plants are adopted 

 to keep them well within bounds by constant 

 trimming. 



For the sunny west windows there are no 

 better plants than the geraniums in their 

 various colorings. On white, gray or green 

 houses the scarlet varieties are charming, es- 

 pecially when combined with white and helio- 

 trope. For the colonial yellow house, how- 

 ever, one should avoid the bright scarlets, 

 adopting the soft pinks and rose shades instead. 

 For the gray house there is nothing more 

 charming than some of the magenta shades 

 and there is a single petunia which makes de- 

 lightful window boxes and needs no other 

 flowers but a few graceful vines. Double 

 pink and white petunias are very attractive as 

 window plants, and, when combined with the 

 graceful, feathery bloom of the wild cucumber, 

 are charming indeed. 



In the east window boxes plants which do 

 well under the morning sun but find the light 

 too ardent at the south and west, may be 

 grown. Among these are the fancy-leaved 

 caladiums, the tuberous begonias, ivy-leaved 

 geraniums and many others. On the north 

 side of the house may be grown all the tender, 



