XX 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



November, 1907 



The Varnish 

 that lasts longest 



Made by Murphy Varnish Company. 



Fall settini,' - time is here. Order now our hardy, thrifty, Pear, 

 Peach, Apple Trees, Berry Bushes, Roses, California Privet — anything in 

 the nursery line. Millions of plants and trees ready. Handsome catalogue 

 contains prices, pictures and reliable spraying chart. It's free. Send now for it. 



ARTHUR J. COLLINS. Box 410. MOORESTOWN. N. J. Qi 



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Man of the Hour . . . Octave Thanet 



The Lightning Conductor 



C. N. & A E. Williamson 



Little Book of Tribune Verse . Eugene Field 



Brewster's Millions 



George Barr McCutcheon 



Graustark . . George Barr McCutcheon 



Rose of Old St. Louis . . . Mary Dillon 



Lady Rose's Daughter 



Mrs. Humphrey Ward 



Wings of the Morning . . Louis Tracy 



Hearts and Masks . . Harold MacGrath 



The Deluge . . David Graham Phillips 



The Blazed Trail . Stewart Edward White 



Woman in the Alcove 



Anna Katherine Green 



The Clansman .... Thos. Dixon, Jr. 



Audrey Mary Johnston 



Hearts Desire .... Emerson Hough 



The Jungle Upton Sinclair 



The Spenders . . . Harry Leon Wilson 



Princess Maritza . . . Percy Brebner 



The Virginian Owen Wister 



Call of the Wild .... Jack London 



Evelyn Byrd . . . George C. Eggleston 



D'ri and I Irving Bacheller 



Her Mountain Lover . . Hamlin Garland 



House of a Thousand Candles 



Meredith Nicholson 



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tree and a top which in its season of bloom is 

 a thing of beauty. 



As a hedge plant nothing more highly orna- 

 mental could be desired for the boundaries 

 of lots or for a division between different parts 

 of the grounds. Set plants three feet apart in 

 the row, training to stakes as for plants on the 

 lawn. Top when at the desired height and 

 allow to grow and droop sufficiently to form 

 a screen. If it is desired to use it as a hedge 

 to confine chickens or farm animals it may be 

 grown against wire netting or fencing of suf- 

 ficient strength. Nothing finer for a perma- 

 nent screen for the poultry yard could be 

 desired and the shade afforded will prove most 

 grateful to the poultry. 



Once established there will be no danger 

 of the chickens injuring the stems and roots, 

 as would be the case with more tender plants, 

 and there will be no occasion to worry about 

 its safety, be the winters ever so severe and 

 the summer's droughts however trying. 



Where the plants have been allowed to seed 

 freely, every spring will see many new plants 

 springing up around the yard which may be 

 taken up and set out for a hedge. Do not, I 

 beg, dig them up and throw them away or cut 

 them off with the lawn-mower, but find some 

 place where they may be given care and 

 trained into some form worthy their great 

 possibilities. 



Although able and willing to grow with a 

 modicum of care and trouble, they well repay 

 the outlay of time and care, and when grown 

 as an ornamental plant they should receive it. 



Plant in good mellow loam, dug deep, that 

 they may send their roots well below frost 

 line. Give a heavy mulch of old manure in 

 the fall, which may be dug into the soil in 

 the spring. If there is any bare ground 

 around the stem a mulch of lawn clippings 

 will be of benefit during the hot weather, and 

 an occasional showering during a protracted 

 dry spell will in no wise injure it. Like all 

 plants, keeping the foliage clean will greatly 

 enhance Its beauty. 



Not the least of the bignonia's good quali- 

 ties is Its attraction for the humming birds, 

 which flit around it from morning to night, 

 diving head-first Into its deep rosy throats, 

 gathering honey for their nestlings, or sit on 

 the branches preening their feathers as fear- 

 lessly at home, In spite of my presence, as 

 though I, not they, were the intruder. 



Some variety of the bignonia is Indigenous 

 to nearly all countries. Our native variety 

 has Its habitat In Florida and as far north as 

 the Carollnas, where It disputes possession 

 with the corn and thrives under the cultiva- 

 tion which seeks to eradicate it. 



Under the name of Tacoma Stans, Florida 

 furnishes another variety of handsome shru'i 

 covered in the autumn with handsome yellow 

 flowers, while from Australia comes a lovely 

 white variety with rose-colored throat — the 

 Tacoma Jasmanoides ; this is said to be en- 

 tirely hardy at the South, and possibly with 

 proper protection might prove so at the North. 



South Africa furnishes a magnificent variety 

 with a large, showy, trumpet-shaped flower 

 of a bright, rosy lilac and darker pencilings 

 and a blotch of yellow in the throat; the in- 

 dividual flowers are larger than the Bignonia 

 radicans, and are borne in great panicles a 

 foot or more in length. This, too, is hardy 

 In the South, and in the North can be lifted 

 and stored during winter in the cellar, con- 

 servatory or greenhouse. 



Another interesting species from Australia 

 is T. Smithii. This grows in a dwarf form 

 like a geranium, and is well adapted to grow- 

 ing In pots. It is covered with flowers, two 

 inches or more in length, of lemon and orange. 

 This variety can be grown from seeds, and 

 under favorable conditions is said to bloom 

 the first summer. 



