I HOUSE AND GARDEN 
February, 1912 
Murphy White Enamels 
Made in three Finish Effects, High Gloss, 
Semi-Gloss, and Dead Flat. 
Semi-Gloss Enamel 
Needs no rubbing. Dries to the Half Gloss 
finish. 
Snow-White Enamel 
Being absolutely free from tint, is especially 
adaptable to Coloring. Is made with Murphy 
Japan Colors, into perfect Ivories, new or old. or 
into any shade or tint of any Color for a Decora¬ 
tive Scheme. 
In the room shown in the picture this same 
enamel is used on wood trim and furniture. The 
effect is restful and harmonious. 
S EMI-GLOSS Enamel is the most 
inexpensive fine finish on the 
market. If you contemplate finishing 
even one room of your house, or the 
entire interior with enamel, it will repay 
you many times to procure the best. 
Write today for descriptive booklet. 
Any samples or information regarding 
the finish and decoration of your house 
promptly supplied upon request. 
Murphy Varnish Company Wood 
Stains, Nogloss Varnish for standing 
woodwork. Floor Varnishes and other 
architectural finishes will be of interest 
to you. 
Address Department of Decoration 
Murphy Varnish Company 
FRANKLIN MURPHY. President 
The Varnish NEWARK. 
That Lasts Associated CHICAGO! 
Longest u,it/i the ILL. 
Dougall Varnish Company, Ltd., Montreal, Can. 
SunDialShop 
\ ^ 
^antiquejtf 
intetrtoc Decoration 
MRS. HERBERT NELSON 
CURTIS 
22 Elast 34 th Street 
NEW YORK CITY 
TELEPHONE 2970 MADISON 
in a flat of sand, and given full light. 
Plant in furrows four inches deep. 
Onions, until quite recently, were never 
started under glass. An early start, how¬ 
ever, makes more difference in the de¬ 
velopment of onions than of any other 
vegetable. They are not transplanted be¬ 
fore being set out—you simply have to 
start them. Put a little manure in the bot¬ 
tom of a deep flat (% inch), cover to 
within an inch or less of the top with rich 
soil, and then cover with half an inch of 
clean sand, in which plant the seed thinly 
in rows about three inches apart. Two or 
three times during growth, the tops should 
be cut back about a third, and the roots 
cut back about two-thirds, when setting 
out in the held. They should be sown 
early in February, and will be ready to 
go out in April. 
All this will assist you in getting that 
desirable early start. But one word of 
warning. Don’t counteract it all by at¬ 
tempting too much. Go slow until you 
know your way thoroughly. 
A Skirmish for a Garden 
{Continued from page 38 ) 
larkspur five feet high with fifteen plumes 
fit to ornament a queen’s crown. We had 
tiger lilies, white lilies, golden glow, sun¬ 
flowers, a white flower and a bell-shaped, 
saffron-hued flower, whose names we did 
not know. We had them, that was 
enough. They were ours. We planted 
them. They came smiling up to us from 
the hopeless red clay and the flinty rock 
and the despairing prophesies of well-in¬ 
tentioned friends. 
We had our butterflies and bees, as well 
as the flowers. Humming birds came to 
feed about the blossoms and robins 
searched for the worms we dug. One of 
them came every morning, a little shyly 
at first, to get the fat worm we un¬ 
earthed for him. With continued visits 
he became gradually more friendly until 
we could dig within two yards of him, 
toss him a worm, which he would eat, and 
then another, with which he would fly 
away, each time in the same direction. 
One morning I took my telescope rifle — 
no, not to shoot, but to watch him. Being 
an old hunter and sportsman, I rather like 
the use of the telescope rifle now, to watch 
with. I haven’t shot with it at a living 
thing since that morning when I looked 
through the telescope and saw the robin 
fly off to a tree in the neighborhood and 
feed its young with my freshly dug worm. 
I guess I am growing old. maybe, for 
shooting with the rifle doesn’t seem as at¬ 
tractive as it used to be. 
Anyhow, I am getting to enjoy using my 
quick, fine sighting eye, skilled to deadly 
aim, in practising on watching the life of 
birds, and butterflies, and bees, and flow¬ 
ers— and insect pests. It requires a great 
{Continued on page page 60 ) 
$ 5000 . 
?RIZE 
Sweet Pea 
Quartet 
Plant Them This Year 
Over In London last July in the great Flower 
Show, held at the Crystal Palace, Mrs. Fraser won, 
with this Sweet Pea Quartet, the one thousand 
pounds sterling prize for the best vase of blooms. 
There were over 10,000 exhibitors competing. 
This shows the tremendous popularity there is in 
England for these exquisite, fragrance-laden flowers. 
As a result, sweet peas will be grown over 
here more than ever this year. This means you 
will surely want some of the seeds of this Prize 
Quartet to plant along with your others. 
It will be intensely interesting in growing them, 
to find in their blooms the excelling points that 
brought them into such prominence. 
There is going to be a lot of good-natured, 
neighborly competition in growing them—a com¬ 
petition in the pleasure of which you will want 
to join. 
So order your seeds early and plant them early, 
for much of their success, as you know, depends 
on a good, deep root growth before the hot 
spring suns come. 
Here are the varieties in the Quartet— 
Paradise Carmine—clear, lovely, carmine, waved. 
Constance Oliver—delicate pink, suffused with 
cream, waved. 
Arthur Unwin—rose shaded with cream, waved. 
Tom Bolton—dark maroon, waved. 
1 packet of the above four prize winners for $ .35 
3 collections, or 12 packets in all, for. 1.00 
Postpaid. With your <i''der we will send along 
BODDINGTON’S 1912 GARDEN GUIDE, 
which contains a complete description of the con¬ 
test. It is a beautifully illustrated book of 152 
pages, and is a decided departure from the usual 
so-called “Seed Catalog.” 
The “tell you how” cultural directions are told 
in a matter-of-fact, interesting way by suceessful 
gardening lovers. 
Whether you buy the Quartet or not, we will 
be glad to send you this Garden Guide. 
Get it now — -and plan your garden now — pick 
out your seeds now—and so get things started 
Paint Without Oil 
Remarkable Discovery That Cuts Down the 
Cost of Paint Seventy-Five Per Cent. 
A Free Trial Package Is Mailed to Everyone 
Who Writes. 
A. L. Rice, a prominent manufacturer of Adams, N. Y., 
has discovered a process of making a new kind of paint 
without the use of oil. He calls it Powdrpaint. It 
comes in the form of a dry powder, and all that is re¬ 
quired is cold water to make a paint weather-proof, fire¬ 
proof and as durable as oil paint. It adheres to any 
surface, wood, stone or brick, spreads and looks like 
oil paint and costs about one-fourth as much. 
Write to Mr. A. L. Rice, Manuf’r., 43 North St., 
Adams, N. Y., and he will send you a free trial package, 
also color card and full information showing how you 
can save a good many dollars. Write to-day. 
In writing to advertisers please mention House and Garden. 
