HOUSE AND GARDEN 
May, 1912' 
76 
W: 
BLIND AND AWNING COMBINED 
For town and country houses. Very dtirable and artistic. Easily 
operated from inside. Admit air; exclude sun rays. 
SPECIAL OUTSIDE VENETIANS 
for porches and piazzps, exclude the suq: admit the breeze. Virtu¬ 
ally make an outdoor 
room. Orders should be 
placed NOW for Summer 
delivery. 
Write for Venetian 
Catalogue No. 3 
Also Inside Venetians 
Rolling Partitions, Roil¬ 
ing Steel Shutters, Burg¬ 
lar and Fireproof Steel 
Curtains, Wood Block 
Floors. 
JAS. G. WILSON 
MFG. CO. 
1. 3 and 5 W. 29th St. 
New York 
Wilson’s Porch and Piazza Blinds 
T he finest and most durable roofing 
in the world is cement-asbe tos 
shingles when properly mad and 
homogeneous. Ask for Asbestos “Cen¬ 
tury” Shingles by name. 
The reinforcing asbestos fibers are 
evenly distributed through the cement. 
Not a weak spot anywhere to break 
down under fire or weather. 
Write us for booklet “Roofing: A Prac¬ 
tical Talk.” 
KEASBEY & MATTISON CO., Factors 
Dept. C, Ambler, Pa. 
Branch Oflices in Principal Cities of the 
United States. 
200 
Building 
Plans 
MacLagan’s Suburban Homes is 
a big book of over 200 Building 
plans of Bungalow, Suburban and 
Country Homes, actually erected 
costing from $400 up to $10,000. 
Price 50c. The best book pub¬ 
lished for the home Builder. 
P. I, MacLagan, Architect, 
45 Olinton Street. • Newark, N. 
THE CLIPPER 
There are three things that destroy 
your lawns. Dandelions, Buck 
Plantain and Crab Grass. In one 
season the Clipper will drive them 
all out. 
CLIPPER LAWNMOWER CO. 
Dixon, Ill. 
lintel Puritan 
COMMONWEALTH AVENUE, BOSTON 
100 yards from Massachusetts Avenue Car Lines 
€hr 2Di^5tinctibc 23oieiton i^ou-efc 
One of the most inviting hotels in the world 
for transient and permanent guests who de¬ 
mand the best. Attractive booklet of the hotel, 
including guide to Boston and vicinity, will be 
mailed on request. E. D. COSTELLO, Mgr. 
Garden Furniture 
ARTISTIC, COMFORTABLE & DURABLE 
OLD ENGLISH GARDEN SEATS 
RUSTIC WORK GARDEN HOUSES 
ROSE ARBORS & OTHER ACCES¬ 
SORIES FOR THE ADORNMENT 
& COMFORT OF THE GARDEN 
Send for New Catalogue of Many Designs 
NORTH SHORE FERNERIES CO. 
BEVERLY, MASS. 
{Continued from page 74 ) 
The average quality of loam offered for 
sale will be poor. When this condition of 
loam scarcity is fully understood the value 
of the compost pile will assume large pro¬ 
portions, for through it is possible the sal¬ 
vation of worn-out soils. 
A compost pile is either large or small, 
but it is always an accumulation of vege¬ 
table matter that is piled up to be reduced 
by decay to a friable mass, in which con¬ 
dition it is suitable for plant food. To 
reduce the mass to this state will take from 
six to twelve months, depending, of course, 
on the varying conditions. 
The compost pile should receive all the 
rakings during the year, the grass from 
the lawn, old sods, clippings from flower 
beds and edgings with occasional sprink¬ 
ling of bone meal and manure. Water at 
intervals. 
By saving all these things and putting 
them back into the ground you are giving 
back to the soil what you took from it, 
thereby insuring nourishment for what¬ 
ever growing things may be put into the 
ground. Commercial fertilizers are excel¬ 
lent up to a certain point, but they avail 
but for a short time in a soil deficient in 
humus. Humus is the life of the soil, and 
the decayed product of the compost pile 
is humus, or plant food. 
Suggestions such as the above may seem 
to apply directly to very large places where 
there is plenty of room, but they are just 
as pertinent for small places where but a 
few house plants are to be considered. To 
make leaf mold where room is a considera¬ 
tion a number of methods may be followed. 
If possible, dig a large hole in the ground 
and into this put everything raked up. 
Tramp down hard and soak with water. 
After the pit is well filled cover with loam 
and leave for some months, or until decay 
is complete. Where it is not even possible 
to dig the hole use barrels, proceeding just 
as in the pile or pit by piling in leaves and 
raking and allowing to decay. A few bar¬ 
rels will give enough mold for repotting a 
number of good-sized house plants, and 
it will more than repay you for the trouble. 
While leaves are excellent for the soil 
in a decayed state, they should never be 
dug into the gi'ound as raked up where 
planting is to be made. They will heat 
and injure any plants put in with them. 
Have you noticed while walking in the 
woods the soft springy feeling of the 
ground on which you walked? Have you 
attempted to pick up a log and had it fall 
to pieces in your hands? That is the way 
Nature puts back into the ground what 
she takes from it. You can do the same 
by making a compost pile, and it will pay 
you. L. J. Doogue 
Japanese Lanterns 
T O prevent Japanese lanterns from 
swinging when they are hung out¬ 
doors, put some sand in the bottom of each 
one. This weight will keep them from 
swaying if a breeze comes up and they will 
be less likely to get on fire. O’C. 
In writing to advertisers please mention House and Garden. 
