HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, 1910 
In the Middle Ages they lighted the fire in the middle of the hall 
and listened to the minstrels in the gallery 
that it can be remedied. The fireplace expert represents a 
new profession that thrives on the follies and ignorance of past 
and present builders. Here, however, is something to try, first. 
Many fireplaces smoke for the reason that the flue is too small 
for the opening. You cannot increase the size of the former 
but you can easily decrease the latter. Take a pair of thin 
boards, six inches wide and cut to fit snugly into the open¬ 
ing along its top. Wedge one in at the top, light a fire, and 
draw the other board down over the outside of the first until 
A fireplace about 2 ft. 6 in. high by 3 ft. in width will give greater 
efficiency than a very large one 
the opening is reduced sufficiently in area so that its flue 
can take care of the smoke. Perhaps you will not need even 
the six inches reduction. When the working combination is 
found, have a copper or sheet iron curtain made to replace 
the boards. 
Still another common fault is a throat that is too wide. 
Remedy it by laying across the top of the throat opening an iron 
plate that can be pulled back and forth, until the throat is the 
proper size. 
Screening, Revealing and Emphasizing Objects or Views 
JUDICIOUS PLANTING WILL DO ONE OR THE OTHER OR ALL THREE, MAKING 
EVERY OUTLOOK A PLEASING ONE WHETHER THE PLACE BE LARGE OR SMALL 
by Grace Tabor 
Photographs by Thomas W. Sears, landscape architect, and others 
[The fourth of a series of articles by Miss Tabor on the subject of landscape gardening as applied to the American home of moderate size, preceding 
titles being “Utilizing Natural Features“Getting Into a Place,’ and ‘ Formal or Informal Gardens. ] 
While distance is the primary consideration in planning a 
screen — not the distance of the object to be screened, however, 
but the distance between it and the screen — this is determined by 
the relative size of the object and the place from which it is 
desired to hide it. So these demand attention first. 
Let us suppose that the small building at the right in the 
diagram is to be cut off from the window of the house only; then, 
in order to be made up of the least number of shrubs possible, 
the screening group must be placed close up to the house. But 
if the same building is to be planted out from the entire porch it 
will be necessary to set the shrubs of the screen as close up to it as 
they may go in order to use the least possible number—therefore 
at the greatest distance from the porch. So we find the rule to be 
that when the object is larger than the space from which it is to be 
screened, economy is served by shortening the distance between 
the screen and the observation point; but when it is smaller than 
the region from which it is to be excluded, the reverse is true, and 
fewer shrubs will be required if the distance between screen and 
observation point is extended to the fullest degree. 
The material to be planted cannot be decided upon until the 
position of the screen is thus determined, as its selection depends 
greatly, of course, upon the amount of space allowed. Naturally 
evergreens are the things ideally adapted to screening, for they 
A BARRIER of living verdure makes an unpleasant prospect 
practically non-existent, whether space be measured in 
acres or in feet. Therefore it does not seem an exaggeration to 
say that the possibilities which lie between what is termed “plant¬ 
ing out” and “planting in” are the greatest boon of the garden 
builder, wherever he may be working. Nothing need be endured, 
for even the tiniest of snug little places has room for a screen 
of one sort or another, and in all probability needs it. 
