56 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, 1915 
THE 
HEART 
OF THE 
vplant/ 
Electric Lights for the Country 
Homes, Schools, Hotels, Churches 
and Shops not reached by Elec¬ 
tric Lighting Companies are now 
made practicable by the Reliable, 
Steel=Encased, Non=Acid 
EDISON NICKEL=IRON STORAGE BATTERY 
Maximum Life, Minimum Care — Maximum Durability, Minimum Trouble 
Complete Plants or Batteries Only. Whatever the system Edison Batteries may be installed. Specify 
Edison for New Plants and for Battery Renewals. Hundreds of Thousands in daily use for House 
Lighting. Electric Passenger Cars and Trucks, Automobile Ignition and Lighting, Yacht Lighting, 
Wireless Telegraph, etc. Wrte for terms of our Jp-year guarantee and address of nearest distributor 
EDISON STORAGE BATTERY CO., 173 Lakeside Avenue, ORANGE, N. J. 
Distributors Everywhere—New York, Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, San Francisco, etc. 
EVERYTHING for the GARDEN 
is the title of our 1915 catalogue —the most beautiful and complete horticulture publication of the day 
—really a book of 204 pages. 8 colored plates and 1000 photo engravings, showing actual results 
without exaggeration. It is a mine of information of everything in Gardening, either for pleasure or 
profit, and embodies the results of over sixty-eight years of practical experience. 
To give this catalogue the largest distribution we make the following liberal offer: 
Every Empty Envelope Counts as Cash 
To every one who will state where this advertisement was seen and who encloses Ten Cents we will mail 
the catalogue 
And Also Send Free of Charge 
Our Famous 50-Cent “HENDERSON” COLLECTION OF SEEDS 
containing one package each of Ponderosa Tomato, Big Boston Lettuce, White Tipped Scarlet Radish, 
Henderson’s Invincible Asters, Mammoth Butterfly Pansies and Eckford Giant Flowering Sweet Peas, 
in a coupon envelope, which when emptied and returned will be accepted as a 25-cent cash payment on any order 
amounting to $ 1.00 and upwards. With the Henderson Collection will be sent complete cultural directions together 
with the Henderson Garden Plans. 
ft 
tm 
35 &37 CORTLANDT ST. 
• New York city. 
PETER HENDERSON &C 
FREE 
Mr. Dodson s Book 
s Tells you how you can win native 
birds—wrens, bluebirds, purple 
martins, tree swallows, etc.—to live 
in your garden. The best time to 
set out bird houses is Winter. Birds 
P re fer houses a little weather worn. 
Dodson Purple Martin House 
—;26 rooms and attic. Price, $12— 
with all-copper roof, $15.00. 
Dodson Bluebird House —Solid 
oak, cypress shingles, copper coping, 
$ 5 . 
Bird Feeding Shelves and 
Sheltered Food House — $1.50 to 
$ 10 . 00 . 
Flicker Houses, $2.50 to $5.00. 
Solid oak, cypress Tree Swallow House, $3.00. 
shingles, copper Flycatcher House, $3.00 — either 
coping. Price, $5.00 one with all-copper roof, $4.00. 
Many other bird houses, bird baths, bird shelters 
and food houses are illustrated in the free book. 
The Famous Dodson Sparrow Trap 
Catches as many as 75 to 100 sparrows a day. Automatic, strong, elec¬ 
trically welded wire — adjustable needle points at two funnel mouths. 
"A us get rid of this enemy of our native birds. Price, $5.00. 
The Dodson 
Wren House 
Write today for Mr. Dodson’s free illustrated book about Birds 
JOSEPH H. DODSON. 714 Security Bldg., Chicago. Ill 
Mr. Dodson is a Director of the 
Landscape Gardening 
A course for Homemakers and 
Gardeners taught by Prof. Beal 
of Cornell University. 
Gardeners who understand up- 
to-date methods and practice are 
in demand for the best positions. 
A knowledge of Landscape 
Gardening is indispensable to 
those who would have the 
pleasantest homes. 
2 SO-page Catalog free • 
Peof. Bbal Write to-day. 
THE HOME CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL 
PT. 226. SPRINQFIELD, MASS. 
RUGS WORTH 
LIVING WITH_ 
Why not buy the kind of floor covering that 
gives lifetime satisfaction 3 Choice Oriental Rugs, 
which I buy and sell at reasonable prices, make 
the most economical floor covering. 
My aim is not to sell you one rug, but to make 
of you a friend and customer for life. For that 
reason I am careful in my selections of rugs and 
I am willing to send you a selection of rugs which 
you can look over carefully and return, at my 
expense, if you then so wish. 
I pay express both ways. Send today for a little 
brochure I have prepared on rugs. It is free. 
L. B. LAWTON, MAJOR U. S. A., Retired 
3 LEI1CH AVENUE, SKANEATELES, NEW YORK 
Storage Battery Lighting for the 
Country House 
(Continued from page 39) 
dynamo rather than from the battery. The 
fundamental reason underlying these facts 
is the consideration that every change of 
energy involves loss. We have a certain 
amount of energy locked up in the gaso¬ 
line. When this is converted into mechani¬ 
cal energy by the engine we lose some¬ 
thing. When this mechanical energy is 
converted into electric energy by the dyna¬ 
mo there is another loss. And, finally, 
when we “store" energy in the battery and 
use it as current later on, we lose once 
more. A good grasp of this principle will 
make for the most economical operation. 
With regard to the first cost of a plant, 
much depends upon the service required. 
The gasoline engine may be an item 
already possessed. Or, there may be 
available some other source of mechanical 
energy capable of operating the dynamo. 
The following statement will give the costs 
of the various items for a plant capable of 
maintaining twenty-four 16-candle-power 
bulbs. The battery is one of the best on 
the market: 
1 2 l / 2 horsepower gasoline engine. . . $72 
1 30-32-volt dynamo. 70 
1 storage battery containing 24 cells.. 192 
1 switchboard. 50 
Total. $384 
A smaller plant, capable of maintaining 
half the number of bulbs, is estimated to 
cost, if we include a 2-horse-power engine 
at $60, a total of $308. 
The storage battery does not, perhaps, 
actually store electricity; but it does the 
equivalent. To get this clearly fixed in the 
mind it will be well to consider what takes 
place in the battery while being charged 
and while being drawn upon. A battery 
consists of a number of cells electrically 
joined so that the whole is in effect one 
cell. It will be sufficient, therefore, to give 
an account of a single cell. 
In one of the most prominent types the 
cell is encased in a water-tight container 
made from nickel-plated sheet steel. The 
principal joints are made by welding the 
edges of metal and allowing the material 
to intermingle. This is accomplished by 
the oxy-hydrogen or the oxy-acetylene 
torch, and the seams are accordingly very 
tight. Inside the container are two groups 
of plates interleaved with each other. One 
group is in efifect a single positive plate; 
the other, a single negative plate. The 
two compound plates are immersed in an 
alkaline liquid. At no point of sub¬ 
mergence are the plates in electrical con¬ 
tact with each other or with the container. 
The liquid consists of distilled water in 
which potassium hydrate has been dis¬ 
solved. The positive and negative plates 
consist essentially of extensive total sur¬ 
faces of nickel hydrate and iron oxide. 
In writing to advertisers please mention House & Garden. 
