IV 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
January, 1914 
MINERAL WOOL 
The 
Modern 
House 
Lining. 
Samples 
and 
Circulars 
Free. 
U. S. MINERAL WOOL CO. 
140 Cedar Slreet New York City 
JUST PUBLISHED 
Popular Handbook for Cement and Concrete Users 
CEMENT 
,c°<r s 
HANDBOOK 
I FWIS and 
CHANDLER 
V 
By MYRON H. LEWIS, C. E. 
Octavo (6'/z x 9'/ 2 inches) 500 Pages, 200 Illustrations 
Price, $2.50, Postpaid 
HIS is a concise treatise on the principles and methods employed in 
the manufacture and use of concrete in all classes of modern work. 
The author has brought together in this work, all the salient matter of 
interest to the users of concrete and its many diversified products. The 
matter is presented in logical and systematic order, clearly written, fully 
illustrated and free from involved mathematics. Everything of value to the 
concrete user is given. It is a standard work of reference covering the 
various uses of concrete, both plain and reinforced. Following is a list of 
the chapters, which will give an idea of the scope of the book and its 
thorough treatment of the subject : 
I. Historical Development of the Uses of Cement and Concrete. II. Glossary of Terms Employed in 
Lenient and Concrete Work. Ill Kinds of Cement Employed in Construction. IV. Limes, Ordinary and 
Hydraulic. V. Lime Plasters. V I. Natural Cements. VII. Portland Cement. VIII. Inspection and 
IcstniR, IX. Adulteration; or Foreign Substances in Cement. X. Sand. Gravel, and Broken Stone. 
XI. Mortar. XII. (.rout. XIII. Concrete (Plain). XIV. Concrete (Reinforced). XV. Methods and 
Kinds of Reinforcements. X\I. Forms for Plain and Reinforced Concrete. XVII. Concrete Blocks. 
d'i ' V vt 1 ,Iic )? Stone. XIX. Concrete Tiles. XX. Concrete Pipes and Conduits. XXI. Concrete 
vvfr ' Concrete Buildings. XXIII. Concrete in Water Works. XXIV. Concrete in Sewer Works 
AX'. Concrete in Highway Construction. XXVI. Concrete Retaining Walls. XXVII. Concrete Arches 
vvv r* mcn,s ' • XXVIII. Concrete in Subway and Tunnels. XaIX. Concrete in Bridge Work. 
XXX. Concrete in Docks and Wharves. XXXI. Concrete Construction Under Water. XXXII. Con- 
cre ! c »« the Farm. XXXIII. Concrete Chimneys. XXXIV. Concrete for Ornamentation. XXXV. Con- 
crete Mausoleums and Miscellaneous Uses. XXXVI. Inspection for Concrete Work. XXXVII. Water- 
proohng Concrete Work. XXXVIII. Coloring and Painting Concrete Work. XXXIX. Method for 
finishing Concrete Surfaces. XL. Specifications and Estimates for Concrete Work. 
MUNN & CO., Inc., Publishers 
361 Broadway, New York 
I H.BROOKSeCo.CU^LA^’O- 
Structural OrnamentalSteel Work 
Floor&Sidewalk Lights. 
SENDf 6 f*CATALOGUE. 
YARDS OF BEAUTY 
1 T he 5 V en ' 0T of '* far more important than the interior. It is seen first ai 
asl. and by more Whether large or small, old or new, the attractive yard takes tl 
leading part of a charming hom^ making it rent for more, sell for more and commai 
a larger loan. ANYONE CAN BEAUTIFY THEIR OWN GROUND 
beyond fondest expectations, by following my simple instructions. Send 10c. for bo< 
of photo engravings, taken from T ards of Beauty." 
State size of your house and grounds. 
C. HETTINGER. — Landscape Architect. McHenry. II 
For Beautiful Homes 
SEE THESE TWO NEW PLAN BOOKS. 
“The DRAUGHTSMAN" g “PLAN KRAFT” 
For one atory homes. V For two story homes. 
1913 editions, contain exteriors and interiors of ad- 
sancsd designs of homes featuring the new modifi- 
ed Swiss Chalet and Japanese Architecture. 
PRICE 25c EACH POSTPAID 
DE LUXE BUILDING CO. 
623-0 Unltn League Building. Los Angeles, Cal. 
Bartlett, Clapp’s Favorite, Seckel, and 
Winter Nellis. Plums and Prunes — 
Abundance, French Prune, Burbank, Kel- 
sey, and Wickson. 
Prune trees need heavy thinning. All 
superfluous growth should be cleaned out 
for there will be plenty of new growth in 
the Spring. All other fruit trees should be 
examined and, whenever a limb is found 
that interferes with another, it should be cut 
off. Keep the trees shaped up too. 
A lawn pest that is prevalent especially 
in Southern California is the Devil grass. 
This can be exterminated in only one way 
with real satisfaction. Instead of spading 
up the lawn and trying to remove all the 
roots of the pest (which is almost impos- 
sible), mow the lawn just as closely as pos- 
sible and then sprinkle a mixture of sandy 
loam and fertilizer over the surface half an 
inch deep. Sow white clover on this layer 
and rake it in well. The clover seed will 
start, even if it is cold and will keep ahead 
of the devil grass. You will have to do this 
same thing next year and every year, but 
it is the price for a really good lawn. 
Cabbage and tomato plants may be pur- 
chased later on, but there is a great deal of 
pleasure in raising them yourself. If you 
wish to raise many, build a hotbed. If you 
need but a few, you might grow them in 
a small box in the house, unless the cook 
objects to having them in the kitchen. To- 
matoes, peppers, eggplant, and cabbage — 
yes, and cucumbers may all be sown now in 
a hotbed. By giving the cucumbers a start 
in the hotbed you gain considerable time in 
securing the crop. 
A hot bed consists of a hole four feet 
deep that is filled with manure and well 
tamped. Over this is put a layer of sandy 
loam about four inches deep and the bed is 
covered with a glass sash that rests on a 
frame that holds it about eight inches above 
the bed at the foot and twelve inches above 
at the top. This should be located on the 
south side of a building where it will re- 
ceive plenty of sunlight. 
Beets, carrots, lettuce, and radish may be 
sown out of doors for early crops. 
When the soil is not so wet that it will 
stick to the spade, give the space around 
the shrubs on the place a good coating of 
manure and spade it in. Let the soil re- 
main rather lumpy to allow the entrance of 
air for about a month. 
If you want the best of aster plants, sow 
the seed now in your hotbed. After the 
young plants are nearly two inches high, 
transplant them into small pots or into flats, 
or even to another position in the hotbed. 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, INVENTOR 
“ A MONG the inventions on file at the 
Patent Office in Washington is 
one by Abraham Lincoln,” says The Youth's 
Companion, “designed to enable freight- 
laden flatboats to work their way over the 
sand-bars of the Mississippi River. Lin- 
coln conceived the idea when, as a young 
man, he was himself a boatman on the Mis- 
sissippi, and met the obstacles that his in- 
vention was meant to overcome. As de- 
scribed in the Pathfinder , the invention con- 
sists of one or more huge bellows attached 
to each side of the boat. When the boat 
sticks on a shoal, the bellows are to be in- 
flated by means of a windlass connected with 
upright poles attached to the bellows. The 
idea is that the air in the bellows increases 
the buoyancy of the craft, and makes it 
draw less water. The practical river-men, 
however, did not receive the invention with 
any enthusiasm, and the dredging of the 
river soon made such cumbersome and 
costly contrivances altogether unnecessary.” 
