XIV 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



September, 1907 



This 



Book 



Tells how to 

 beautify your 

 home at little 

 expense. 



Discriminating, home-loving 

 sons are enthusiastic in their praise 

 of this, the most elaborate, practical 

 hook on ivood-finishing ever published. 



FREE 



Don't wait 

 for it now. 



write 



Consult this book and you 

 will save time, money 

 and worry. 



Contains ideas worth $25 

 or more to discerning 

 persons who enjoy and 

 desire a beautiful home. 



Write us now for above book, "The Proper Treatment for Floors, Woodwork 



and Furniture," and learn how easily and inexpensively you can beautify your new or 

 old home. You can easily and economically accomplish remarkable results in refinish- 

 ing your furniture, woodwork and floors by the Johnson Method explained in this 

 book. It is a simple, interestinij and fascinating work. You can easily change the 

 color of the wood and finish in any late shade, such as Weathered, Mission, Forest 

 Green, Flemish, Mahogany, etc., at little expense with Johnson's Electric Solvo, 

 Johnson's Wood Dye and 



Johnson's Prepared Wax 



==" Complete Finish and Polish for all Wood'''' 



For Furniture, Woodwork and Floors 



If your furniture dues not harmonize with your woodwork, or your floors are 

 sciatched and marred, or the woodwork looks bad, you can easily refinish them to look 

 like new. 



Johnson's Wood Dye for the artistic coloring of wood (all shades), ^'i-pint cans, 

 30 cents; pint cans, 50 cents. 



Johnson's Electric Solvo (for removing- paint, varnish, shellac, etc.), pint cans, 

 40 cents; '^-pint cans, 25 cents. 



Johnson's Prepared Wax — a complete finish and polish for all wood — 10-cent 

 and 25-cent packages and large size cans. Sold by all dealers in paint. 



I^DITIh* f^'f f ov* f Send to-day for our new 4S-page book on 



V/llCI » vvood finishing — "The Proper Treatment 

 for Floors, Woodwork and Furniture" — and refinish a piece of furniture. Mention 

 edition AH9. 



S. C. Johnson & Son, Racine, Wis. 



"r//^ Wood-Finishing Authorities'''' 



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 Circular "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. 



MANUFACTURERS OF 



KOLL'S PATENT LOCK JOINT COLUMNS 



For Pergolas, Porches, or Interior Use 



GARDEN WORK FOR 

 SEPTEMBER 



Eben E. Rexford 



THERE are many flowers that win our 

 friendship. One of these likable plants 

 is Ten-week Stock, which used to be 

 known in our grandmother's day as Gillyflow- 

 er. It has many good merits. It grows sturdily 

 with most ordinary care, and in all kinds of 

 soil. It blooms in late summer, but it is at its 

 best in fall, after frosts have put an end to 

 the beauty of most annuals. It comes in sev- 

 eral colors — red, pale yellow, purple, pink, 

 and white — and it has a delicious fragrance 

 quite like that of the Carnation. Its flowers 

 are produced in spikes, and are therefore well 

 adapted for cutting. They last well, if the 

 water in which they are placed is changed 

 daily. 



Stock is easily grown from seed. But many 

 seedlings will produce single flowers, and these 

 are not particularly desirable. As soon as 

 buds are formed, one can tell which plants are 

 going to have single flowers, by their long, 

 slender appearance. Such plants should be 

 pulled up at once, and all the strength of the 

 soil given over to the development of double 

 varieties. So hardy is the plant that we fre- 

 quently find it in full bloom after we have 

 had severe frosts. 



Cosmos is always admired, when seen in 

 full bloom, but it is so late in flowering that 

 the frosts of October are pretty sure to cut it 

 down before it reaches its prime. This can be 

 prevented by covering the plants on cold 

 nights. Drive some tall, stout stakes about 

 them, and over these spread sheets or thin 

 blankets. In this way the frost can be kept 

 from injuring them till late in the season. A 

 large plant covered with bloom is a magnifi- 

 cent sight. If the plants can be started in a 

 hot-bed, and kept going well during the sum- 

 mer, they can be coaxed into bloom by the 

 middle of September. For backgrounds, or 

 hedges, or screens, we have few better plants, 

 as it grows rapidly, is extremely bushy and 

 compact, and has a pretty, finely-cut foliage 

 which would make it well worth growing if it 

 had no flowers. 



* * * 



The annual Aster is another late-flowering 

 plant which deserves mention. Nothing ex- 

 cels it in floriferousness, and few plants can 

 show richer colors, or a wider range of them. 

 Red, carmine, rose, blue, purple, white — there 

 is variety enough to suit all tastes. And va- 

 riety is not confined to color. We have tall 

 ones, and dwarf ones, "branching" varieties, 

 and some that are almost little shrubs in their 

 compact, bushy growth. We have som.e that 

 resemble the Rose in form, some that take the 

 name of "Peony flowered" because of their re- 

 semblance to that favorite of the border, and 

 others that are so like the finest Chrysanthe- 

 mums in nearly every respect that dealers 

 often dispose of them for that flower. The 

 branching Aster, with blossoms borne on stalks 

 a foot or more in length, is one of the finest 

 of all flowers for cutting. It lasts for two 

 weeks, if the water in which it is placed is 

 changed daily. The pure white, the pale pink, 

 and the soft, delicate lavender varieties ought 

 to be grown in large quantities to cut from 

 for house, and church, and all forms of deco- 

 ration where substance, and lovely form, and 

 beautiful coloring are desirable. Anyone can 

 grow this flower. Sometimes the black beetle 

 attacks it, and often ruins it in a short time, 

 if left to do its deadly work, but a few appli- 

 cations of ivory soap suds will soon rout this 

 enemy. While the Aster comes into bloom 

 in early September, it will be found in its 

 prime when frosty weather comes, and it will 



