The Utility and Beauty of Mosaic Floors 
they used for their favorite mosaics, materials abso¬ 
lutely unaffected by the elements. 
As has been said the needs of our modern life are 
different; our ideas of comfort and convenience have 
extended and our 
problems of guard¬ 
ing against changes 
of temperature are 
more difficult to 
solve, but the princi¬ 
ples which have been 
enumerated as guid¬ 
ing the old Roman 
in his day, apply as 
forcibly to us of the 
j 
present time. In 
planning our homes 
to-day, we often in 
the multiplicity of 
considerations that 
crowd upon us, for- 
get some detail, 
which perhaps in 
their simpler life was 
more obvious to 
them. This would 
in a measure explain 
the perfection that 
they were able to 
ca rry out in their 
houses. The tiled 
wall and floor in con- 
juncti on wi th the 
bath-room are now so common that their advantages 
hardly need to be pointed out, still many people look 
upon the tiling of this apartment as a luxury rather 
than a necessity. Nothing contributes more to the 
endurance of the house against decay, which starts 
from decomposable floor and wall material, resulting 
from moisture and warmth, than the protection of 
tiling, and the expense should not be considered. 
For the porch of the suburban or even the large 
city house which is exposed so that the rain may beat 
upon its floor, no more effective and certainly, as the 
Romans have proven, 
no more durable 
floor could be used 
than tile. In the 
bea uti f ul houses of 
the country estates 
which are springing 
up throughout 
America, much 
money is spent in 
beautifying as well as 
in building for the 
future; therefore this 
most attractive and 
permanent material 
is growing in favor. 
Marble in the form 
of [tile or tesselated 
pavements is not as 
practical with us 
now as it was with 
the Romans, we must 
use something hard¬ 
er, for they walked 
in sandals and in 
bare feet, while our 
floors to day must 
withstand the tread 
of more heavily shod 
feet. This harder substance can be found in the 
ceramic materials which the art of to-day has 
given us in tile and mosaic stones. I hese furnish a 
great range of color in burned clays and at less cost, 
it may be pointed out, than the marbles which the 
Romans used, although that was cheap with them 
and answered their practical purposes sufficiently. 
ROMAN MOSAIC WORK 
THE IMPORTANCE OF EXPERT ADVICE IN PLANTING 
N OWADAYS, people have come to realize that 
an architect is a good thing, that he is profit¬ 
able to engage, but they have not so univer¬ 
sally come to acknowledge that the setting of the 
house in its surroundings, the working up the lawn’s 
surface into pleasing effect and particularly the 
selection and distribution of trees and shrubs is a 
matter not to be settled offhand. 
Advice from a landscape architect or from an 
architect who has had some experience in planting, 
should be sought. Given even a village lot, it can 
be made to look broader or narrower, deeper or 
shallower, by means of the planting. Furthermore, 
the selection of material is of the greatest importance, 
because one ignorant of the characteristics of trees 
and shrubs may select a lot of inferior kinds that as 
years advanceget less attractiveoroutgrow the allotted 
space instead of a selection that grows more beautiful 
as years go by. If one goes about this the right way, he 
can frequently get some guiding information from his 
architect. This, of course, will not be as good as 
employing a landscape architect, but it will be far 
better than allowing the inexperience of one’s own 
ideas to recommend how the grading should be done, 
where the paths and roads should go and what trees 
and shrubs should set oft the grounds. 
Even the most modest cottage cannot afford to 
lose this last touch of the designer’s skill. 
77 
