January, 1913 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
construction, in general use throughout the 
country, and should need no particular de¬ 
scription here. 
Other methods of flat roofing are either 
too costly to come within the purse of the 
ordinary home-builder or are so little in 
general use as to require no especial men¬ 
tion here. Technical or trade names have 
also been avoided in order not to confuse 
the casual reader. Neither have any state¬ 
ments as to the exact costs of roofing in 
the various materials been made. This 
was intentional, as such statements are 
both confusing and misleading. Costs of 
materials and labor vary in different local¬ 
ities, while always the design and arrange¬ 
ment of the roof are tremendous factors 
in the expense of the roof covering. Steep 
slopes, irregular ridges, many dormers or 
chimneys, much valley and hip cutting, all 
add considerablv to the cost “per square” 
of different kinds of roofing. The differ¬ 
ent metals specified for flashing — and the 
various amounts required on different 
roofs—and nailing, make further varia¬ 
tions in these prices, so that a cost given 
for covering “a square” (i. e., 100 square 
feet, an area ten feet by ten) of roofing, 
without ridges, valleys, dormers, and other 
details inseparable from actual construc¬ 
tion, bears little relation to costs under 
practical working conditions. 
For such information the owner should 
consult his architect, contractor, or both. 
The practical advice of either can give 
him more information applicable to his 
own particular problem in five minutes 
than he can get from books in five hours. 
In this article I have attempted to set down 
those certain consideration that will assist 
the owner to determine in his own mind 
the kind of roof best suited to his house 
or its location. If this article may cause 
the reader to regard the next few roofs he 
passes with a “seeing eye,” it will have 
started within that reader the beginnings 
of a questioning mind, that should ulti¬ 
mately lead to his becoming a more intel¬ 
ligent critic in color and materials. 
An Experience with Elder Bushes 
T HE most interesting matter I find in 
garden magazines of wide circulation 
is the vastly differing experiences people 
have to record in different sections, with 
the same variety of plants. One writer 
describes an arrangement of plants in a 
hardy border in some part of Wisconsin. 
Her background was formed of twelve or 
fifteen large shrubs of “elder—with its 
creamy blossoms, and later, great clusters 
of berries.” Now, I wonder how our 
Wisconsin friends persuade the elder to 
keep its place as a shrubby background? 
Do they know the noble art of dwarfing 
in Wisconsin as well as in Japan that they 
can persuade their plants to “stay put”? 
Two years and two months ago a neigh¬ 
bor bought and started to build up a new 
place. . This place was bare of any growth, 
excepting one elder shrub growing on the 
bank of a wide creek, which bordered one 
side of the place. This shrub or small 
tree was probably two years old from 
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TRUE ORIENTAL 
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L. B. LAWTON, MAJOR U. S. A., Retired 
181 CAYUGA STREET, SENECA FALLS, NEW YORK 
In writing to advertisers please mention House and Garden. 
