68 
House & Garden 
Only Three Steps in 
the NATCO Wall 
Quickly erecting the tile. 
Applying attractive stucco outside. 
Applying plaster inside. 
OUSE BUILDER ! Note the speed and economy, 
and above all, the safety of construction with 
NKTCO HOLLOWTIIJE 
Frank Chouteau Brown, the noted architect, says: “Stucco houses, 
with walls of Natco Hollow Tile, are the most permanent and sat¬ 
isfactory.” 
Nat CO construction is cheaper than 
brick or concrete, and, while more 
expensive than flimsy and danger¬ 
ous frame, the resulting economies 
in maintenance and insurance will 
in the course of a few years pay for 
this initial increased outlay. 
Natco should be used, not only 
for walls, but for floors and par¬ 
titions— throughout the house. 
Natco is cooler in summer and 
warmer in winter, saving coal bills, 
thanks to its blankets of dead air 
contained in the cells of the tile. It 
is vermin-proof, damp-proof, and, 
most important of all, absolutely 
fireproof. Think of Natco as a ser¬ 
vice, free to all architects, engineers, 
contractors,'and to you. 
Send ten cents for the interesting 32-page 
book, “Fireproof Houses.” It will show 
you how other discriminating people have 
erected beautiful houses ^ith Natco—for 
comfort, economy and safety. For your 
protection, look for the imprinted trade 
mark “Natco” on every tile. 
NATIONAL FIRE-PROOFING COMPANY 
492 Federal Street, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
Natco Residence 
at Plainfield ,NJ. 
Architects 
Marsh & Gette 
New York 
nd insect- 
proof, $4.00. 
THE C ALL o/SPRING 
HAS COME and the 
GARDEN LURES US 
ONCE MORE 
We recommend rustic 
cedar furniture to add 
harmony and comfort 
and a quaint charm to 
your gardens and lawns 
The articles illustrated can be shipped direct to you by us. 
Catalogue B-3 shows various styles of rustic cedar furniture, 
from which you may be able to get many suggestions. It 
is free, write for it. 
JERSEY KEYSTONE WOOD COMPANY 
TRENTON, NEW JERSEY 
Robin house, a 
perfect home for 
this delightful 
bird. Only $1.00 
Blue Bird house, 
waterproof and 
just the thing 
for this charm¬ 
ing summer bird, 
$ 1.00 
What a Fifty-Foot 
{Continued fr 
gradually fills up with cultivation, 
which must be regularly and thor¬ 
oughly given so the bed will be kept 
free from weeds. Not until the sec¬ 
ond year should the stalks be cut, 
and then for only about three weeks 
from the date of the first cutting; 
otherwise the plants will be weak¬ 
ened. The following season, and 
afterwards, the cutting period may 
last from six to eight weeks, and the 
bed, if properly cared for, will last 
twenty years. 
The other side of the garden may 
be given over entirely to annual 
vegetables. Beginning at the end 
nearest the house, plant three rows 
of early peas, following them with 
celery when the peas are gone, the 
rows 2j4' apart. The next three 
rows, the same distance apart, may 
have beets, carrots and turnips, with 
lima beans in the following four 
rows, the hills apart. Eighteen 
tomato plants, 3' apart each way, 
may occupy the next space, with 
early peas between the rows, which 
will he gone before the tomatoes 
would shade them too much. Plant 
string beans in the next two rows, 
followed by late sweet corn in hills 
2/4' apart. Early sweet corn, fol¬ 
lowed by late bush beans in the 
remaining rows, finishes the vege¬ 
tables, except for squashes and 
cucumbers which are planted be¬ 
tween the back fence and rear line 
Garden Will Grow 
om page 66) 
of fruit trees, squashes on one side, 
cucumbers on the other. 
A garden so planted should yield 
$30 to $40 worth of vegetables the 
first year. When the rhubarb, aspar¬ 
agus and fruit begin to bear, the 
receipts will be more than doubled. 
Rhubarb, strawberries and raspber¬ 
ries will hear well the second year, 
asparagus the third j-ear; but it takes 
from three to five years for peaches, 
pears, plums and grapes to bear full 
crops. But when they do, the period 
of waiting is forgotten in the pleasure 
of gathering perfect fruit from your 
own trees. 
Rhubarb plants may he had for 10 
cents each or three for a quarter; 
asparagus roots for a cent apiece; 
strawberries for $1 a hundred; rasp¬ 
berries and currants, 10 cents apiece; 
grapes, two for a quarter; peach 
trees for 10 to 25 cents; plums and 
pears, 25 to 35 cents each, accord¬ 
ing to size and age. Vegetable seeds 
cost very little—$2.50 would buy all 
required for a 50' garden. The total 
outlay for the first year would 
amount to approximately $25. Fif¬ 
teen dollars of this would cover the 
cost of the hotbed and permanent 
plantings, expenses which would not 
be incurred again, leaving the ex¬ 
pense for the ordinary kitchen gar¬ 
den $6.50. This does not include 
the price of any labor except carting 
manure and early spring spading. 
The Delicate Beauty of Chinese Porcelains 
{Continued from page 29) 
reigns of Yung Ching and his cele¬ 
brated son, Ch’ien Lung, who lend 
name to tlie period from 1723 to 1795, 
sustained the perfection of Chinese 
porcelain. The decadence of the art 
begins with the Modern Period, from 
1796 to the present. 
The marks on Chinese porcelains 
are various in character and come 
under one or more of the following 
divisions: marks of date, hall-marks, 
marks of dedication and good wishes, 
marks in praise of the piece of por- 
celain inscribed, symbols and 
other pictorial 
marks and pot¬ 
ters’ marks. It 
is not necessary 
here to go into 
the intricacies 
of these, but 
they furnish a 
fascinating 
study. 
This, too, is 
true of the de¬ 
signs that are 
to be found on 
the decorated 
pieces of Chi¬ 
nese porcelain. 
The casual ob¬ 
server will pick 
up a piece and 
admire or dis¬ 
miss it on the 
judgment of 
the general im- 
pression it 
makes upon his 
artistic sensi¬ 
bilities. Not so 
with the con¬ 
noisseur who takes into consideration 
color, texture, glaze and, quite as 
much as these (so far as intellectual 
interest is concerned), the story the 
design tells. 
The porcelains of China, like the 
sword-guards of Japan, offer the 
native artists a vast wealth of mytho¬ 
logical and folk-lore subjects. Then 
symbolism and occasion are closely 
cemented in Oriental thought and if 
the collector of old Chinese porce¬ 
lains finds their decoration puzzling 
at times in its significance, how ab¬ 
sorbing are its 
imravelings! 
Since the 
time of Queen 
Elizabeth the 
western world 
has recognized 
the beauty and 
the decorative 
value of the 
porcelains of 
China, and at 
no time have 
they sunk in re¬ 
gard. Rarities 
are no longer 
apt to be found 
hidden away, or 
acquired for a 
posy. At the 
same time the 
possession of a 
single obj ect 
and some 
knowledge of 
the evolution in 
ceramics that 
led to it are in¬ 
teresting. 
A bottle vase of gorgeous gold 
tawniness, with lights like old 
mahogany. Yung Ching Period 
