60 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
FLINT’S FINE FURNITURE 
FOR CHRISTMAS 
THE “RIGHT” GIFT AT THE 
“RIGHT” PRICE 
“Back of the gift stands the giver 
The things we send to our friends at Christ¬ 
mas time, like the homes in which we live, are 
expressions of our own selves whether we will or 
no, and the furniture gift which is “built Flint & 
Horner Quality is worthy of your card enclosed. 
In our Special Holiday Exhibit of Furniture, 
Rugs and Draperies, will be found exactly the 
“right” remembrance for each individual friend, 
and at the price you had planned to pay, 
ORIENTAL AND DOMESTIC RUGS AND 
DRAPERIES 
FLINT & HORNER CO., inc. 
20-26 WEST 36tli STREET 
NEW YORK 
Give a Bird House 
Dodson 
Weather - vane 
Feeding Table, 
complete 
with 8 foot 
turned pole, 
$6.00. With all 
copper roof, 
$7.50 f. o. b. 
Kankakee, Ill. 
Dodson Cot¬ 
tage Martin 
House, 28 
rooms, 
$12.00. With 
a 1 1 Copper 
Roof. $15.00 
f.o.b. Iv a n- 
kakee. Ill. 
A GIFT THAT BRINGS 
HAPPINESS for a LIFETIME 
There is no gift in the world that will 
give more happiness than a Dodson Bird 
House or Feeding Device. Every year 
birds will bring to your friend the mem¬ 
ory of your loving thoughtfulness. 
Dodson Bird Houses and Feeding Devices 
win the birds. There is a difference between 
them and the commercial bird houses. I have 
spent twenty-two years of loving study of how 
to attract the song birds around my home. If 
you love birds set out feeding devices and 
shelters for them now. You will save the lives 
$5.00. With all 
$6.00 f.o.b. Kankakee, Ill 
Dodson 
Feeding 
Car. 
Can be 
stocked 
in all kinds 
of weather. 
C omplete, 
ready to put 
copper roof. 
Dodson Wren 
House, Copper 
Coping. $5.00 
f.o.b. Kankakee, 
IU. 
of many birds. 
Dodson Sparrow Trap —now catching spar¬ 
rows in every state. Wonderful success. No 
other trap like this. Automatic drop trap and 
double funnel trap combined. Strong—elec¬ 
trically welded wire. Price $6.00 f. o. b. 
Kankakee, Ill. 
Nature Neighbors —the best set of books 
about birds. Beautiful color plates; articles 
by leading authorities. No bird lover should 
be without these splendid books. 
FRFF The illustrated Dodson Book, telling how to 
1 1XL ll - < win native birds to your gardens: a descrip¬ 
tive folder about Nature Neighbors illustrated by birds 
in natural colors—a picture worthy of framing. Write 
to “The Man the Birds Love.” 
Joseph H. Dodson 731 KANKAKEE!TLL. Ve ' 
Mr. Dodson is a director of the American Audubon 
Association. 
A Home For Your Car 
T HERE are many things to be considered. Should it harmonize 
with the house and grounds-or be apart by itself? How 
should it be heated? What makes the best sort of floor? What 
devices are made for automatically opening and shutting doors, 
for storing tools? 
A well-equipped garage is a delight. We can help you make it practical. 
If you do not see advertised in this number just what you want, write us. 
State approximate price you wish to pay, whether it is to be portable or 
permanent, what make your car is, and all other essential details. Then 
we will see that information especially pleasing and helpful is sent you 
promptly. Address 
Information Service, House & Garden 440—4th Ave., New York City 
What of Your Trees’ Health ? 
(Continued from page 31) 
Courtesy American Forestry Co. 
Its right side was nearly paralysed by 
decay , but a careful operation with 
cement instead of stitches saved it 
across others and rubbed 
them, should be removed 
entirely; cut back just as 
close as possible, which 
will usually necessitate a 
slanting cut parallel with 
the parent branch or limb. 
Any growth which threat¬ 
ens the symmetry of the 
tree by outstripping its 
neighbors may be short¬ 
ened back, unless it is a 
tree of such character that 
picturesque, uneven shape 
is desired. All cuts should 
be made clean with a sharp 
knife or shears, and if the 
branches are any size, 1" or 
more in diameter, paint 
them over with coal-tar. 
Another cause of failure 
in tree planting is the poor 
selection of varieties for 
the conditions present. Ex¬ 
posure, drainage, soil, cli¬ 
mate, etc., should all be 
considered before you send 
your check to the nursery¬ 
man. Where you are in 
doubt, write him for all 
the information you can. 
One thing which practical¬ 
ly all trees must have, 
however, is fairly good 
drainage ; look out for that. 
Especially where a new 
house is being built, there 
are often trees already on 
the ground, many of which 
are generally cut down in the course 
of events. In many instances trees 
are thus lost which it would take 
years to replace, and which with a 
little trouble could have been saved. 
Saving Nature’s Plantings 
In the first place, where trees have 
been allowed to grow up as they 
pleased in a wild condition they 
should be cleaned out, keeping only 
the few that give promise, and cut¬ 
ting all the others, as w.ell as the 
brush, clean to the ground. Then 
those remaining should be pruned up 
clean to healthy, live branches. It 
will generally be necessary to go 
through a second time, to remove the 
least desirable and give room to the 
others to develop as they should. 
It is often necessary to “grade,” 
and trees which happen to be in the 
way are either sacrificed, injured, or 
killed outright by having the earth 
filled in about their trunks. There 
is a simple way of saving the trees 
under such circumstances. A “well” 
of brick or stone, sufficiently large to 
allow for future growth and still have 
a foot or two of radius to spare 
around the circumference of the 
trunk, is built up to the grade level, 
the top sloping in the same direction. 
The sides of the well at the bottom 
should not be cemented, so that any 
surplus of water which might collect 
in it may have a ready escape into 
the surrounding soil. 
The Treatment of Injuries 
The whole life of a tree is cen¬ 
tered in the two layers of bark—the 
outer or protecting coat, and the in¬ 
ner, living tissue. The “wood” is 
nothing more than layer upon layer 
of dead material which, like the 
skeletons of the coral insects, form 
the structure which we know and use. 
In these respects trees differ from 
other plants like flowers and vege¬ 
tables ; and this accounts for the fact 
that a grand old tree, still apparently 
in the full flush of health and glory, 
may be found, when it finally crashes 
down, to be nothing but a hollow 
shell. Thus, too, when some ignorant 
person girdles it for a strip of its 
beautiful white bark, the lusty young 
birch dies even though its wood may 
not have been touched. 
Horses, deer and some other large 
animals, besides a number of the 
rodents, often work serious injury 
by eating and gnawing the bark. 
Where trouble of this sort is ex¬ 
pected, it may be prevented by wire 
or iron guards; by seeing to it that 
no accumulation of grass or litter is 
allowed to surround the base of the 
trunks, where the smaller intruders 
can work unmolested and unsus¬ 
pected ; and by heaping earth up 
around the trunks in late fall to the 
height of 1' or so. 
Tree Operations 
Often, however, the damage is done 
without our having had any reason 
to anticipate it. In this case, with a 
stout, sharp knife cut the injured 
edges of the wound back to live, firm 
bark which has not “started” from 
the wood beneath it, and cut out any 
wood which may have been splintered 
or bruised. Then paint over the 
whole with coal-tar. The reason for 
so carefully cutting out any loose bark 
is that, beneath it in the moisture, 
shade and partial decay, germs of all 
kinds find ideal conditions for de¬ 
velopment. And by that same token, 
never let any well meaning but ig¬ 
norant friend persuade you to put 
a bandage over a tree wound. 
In nine cases out of ten rot holes 
are the result of formerly neglected 
primings where, had the cut been 
coal-tarred over at the time, no rot 
germs or fungus spores could ever 
have found entrance. Broken limbs, 
woodpecker holes and neglected bark 
injuries are other sources. The treat¬ 
ment is much the same as that de¬ 
scribed above. Scrape and cut out in 
all directions right down to clean, 
hard, firm wood and bark. If the 
resultant cavity is large, it may be 
filled with cement (one part cement 
to two or three of sand) or even 
with concrete faced with cement. 
But paint over the wood first with 
coal-tar, and then tar over the sur¬ 
face to prevent the possibility of 
weather cracking. Fill out with the 
cement only as far as the level of the 
(Continued on page 62) 
