78 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
Cowee’s Gladiolus 
include only the varieties that I have 
selected from twenty-five thousand or 
more sorts tried at Meadowvale 
Farms. This is the reason why I can 
assure you that you will not be dis¬ 
appointed when you grow them in 
your garden. 
The Glory of the Garden 
is the title of my booklet for 1916. It 
contains cultural directions, many illustra¬ 
tions, and descriptions of nearly a hundred 
choice varieties of Gladioli. Send for a 
copy today—I will gladly mail it without 
cost to you. 
Arthur Cowee, Meadowvale Farms 
Box 173, Berlin, N. Y. 
Every Home-owner can now afford 
Meehan s Own-root American grown 
Japanese Maples 
We offer this season an Americanized, acclimated, 
absolutely hardy strain of the popular Japanese Maple in 
all its charming varities—the crowning success of 40 years 
of careful selection and effort. 
These Maples are broad, bushy, symmetrical specimens, 
are all growing on their own roots and are essentially dis¬ 
tinct in other desirable particulars from the ordinary, 
imported, grafted kind. 
Last year grafted Japanese Maples. 2 to 5 feet high, 
sold everywhere at from $3 to $10 each. This year, you 
can get from us the choicest, most brilliant sorts, of our 
American grown. Own-root strain, 2 to 3 feet, at from 
$1 to $5 each. In Tree-form up to $7 each. 
Your address on a postal card will bring you a descriptive price-list of all varieties and fc 
illustrated in natural colors. Better write today. 
THOMAS MEEHAN & 
6740 Chew Street Germantown 
SONS 
, Philadelphia, 
They 
Come in 
Bundles 
Creosoted, 
Stained 
No Waste 
Write for Book of Homes 
and Sample Colors on Wood 
Name of Architect and Lumber Dealer Appreciated 
STANDARD STAINED SHINGLE CO. 
1012 Oliver St. No. Tonawanda, N. Y. 
Factory in Chicago for Western Trade. 
Y OU cannot improve upon the 
value of “old-fashioned-quali¬ 
ty” shingles preserved and 
stained by our new process. 
CREO-DIPT 
STAINED SHINGLES 
17 Grades 16, 18, 24-inch 30 Colors 
TVRAWN by one horse and operated by 
^ one man, the TRITLEX will mow 
more lawn in a day than the best motor 
mower ever made, and cut it better at a 
fraction of the cost. 
TOWNSEND’S 
The Greatest 
Grass Cutter on 
Earth. 
Hundreds sold dur¬ 
ing 1915. 
TRIPLEX 
Cuts a Swath 
86 Inches Wide. 
Send for Catalogue 
of all types of 
mowers. 
Drawn by one horse and operated by 
one man, it will mow more lawn in a 
day than any three ordinary horse- 
drawn mowers and three men. 
S. P. TOWNSEND & CO. 
17 Central Avenue Orange, N. J. 
The Way Davenport, Iowa, Did It 
(Continued from page 31) 
Perhaps the proudest of the win¬ 
ners in last year's contest was the 
young colored woman who had con¬ 
verted her cottage into the show place 
of her quarter of the city. Her home 
is located on a street which runs 
along the bottom of a ravine, and the 
conditions with which she struggled 
were not the most encouraging in the 
world. Rut she cooped up her chick¬ 
ens and set her husband at work 
building a new walk around the 
house. Then she planted the vines 
and flowers which speedily converted 
her home into one of the most attrac¬ 
tive places in the city. 
The interest in the contest over in 
the wealthy residence section was 
just as keen. One wealthy woman 
whose home was regarded as the 
most beautiful in a district where 
none of the residences cost less than 
$40,000, employed a landscape artist 
and force of gardeners to make over 
her lawn. It soon became the most 
beautiful yard in the city, and for 
several Sunday afternoons she threw 
her grounds open to the public, per¬ 
sonally conducting the visitors 
through the dreamland of flowers and 
shrubbery. 
A new spirit of co-operation has 
existed in the city as one result of the 
yard and garden contests. Those 
who do not have the money to buy 
the seed and shrubbery plants needed 
to beautify their homes are supplied 
with the articles required by members 
of the club. The cost of the contest 
averages about $1,300 a year, practi¬ 
cally all of which is raised by Rotar- 
ians. 
One little girl grew such beautiful 
sweet peas that her garden became 
the mecca for visitors from all parts 
of the city. There was no special 
prize for her class, so members of the 
club contributed enough money to 
buy her a handsome watch. Another 
enthusiastic winner last year was a 
ninety-year-old man whose little gar¬ 
den was a marvel considering his 
age. The fact that he was one of 
the fifty-eight prize winners in a con¬ 
test in which 2,500 homes were repre¬ 
sented made him the proudest man 
in the entire city as he marched 
across the stage to receive his money 
and the certificate of award. 
What Oth er Towns Can Do 
The yard and garden contest has 
proved highly contagious in the short 
time it has been tried out in Daven¬ 
port. In one small Iowa town the 
women, stirred to activity by the river 
city’s work, built a bandstand and 
equipped their park with tables, seats, 
swings, and an enclosed sand pile. 
Later they built and equipped a tennis 
court for the young people, and en¬ 
couraged the planting of flowers and 
shrubs by the awarding of several 
prizes each year. Free seeds were 
supplied to all of the contestants. 
Soon they began offering prizes to 
the students in the schools who could 
write the best essays on “Streets and 
Alleys,” “The Playgrounds,” “Civic 
Pride,” and “Flies and Flowers.” 
Equally important has been the 
work of the women of Boone, Iowa, 
a city of 10,000, where a system of in¬ 
spection of streets and alleys has been 
inaugurated. A vigorous cleanup 
campaign has accomplished wonders 
in beautifying the city. Sentiment 
for the planting of better trees and 
shrubbery has been fostered, and the 
creation of a fifteen-acre park has 
been attributed to the activities of the 
women who got their inspiration 
from Davenport’s example. They 
have provided playground equipment 
for several of the schools and have 
enlisted the support of the city offi¬ 
cials in laying out new streets on 
city beautiful lines. The Young 
Women’s Christian Association was 
the winner of the special prize for 
the greatest yard improvement made 
last year. 
An echo of the Davenport con¬ 
test has made itself a factor in the 
beautifying of Charles City, another 
Iowa city. The club women rented 
a vacant, unkempt lot and converted 
it into one of the town’s most beauti¬ 
ful parks. They utilized the county 
prisoners in the jail in the work of 
cleaning up the square and installing 
the playground equipment. One of 
the prisoners, a good carpenter, was 
given the job of making the benches 
and seats. The club women have 
undertaken the task of beautifying 
the banks of the river which runs 
through the city, and already have 
succeeded to such a degree that their 
work has attracted favorable atten¬ 
tion over the entire State. 
Perhaps the most important move¬ 
ment, the origin of which may be 
traced hack to the Davenport yard 
and garden contest, is that under¬ 
taken by the Iowa State Federation 
of Women's Clubs. Beginning this 
rear a survey will he made of the 
natural beauty spots of the State, and 
then will follow the launching of a 
movement to have these places pre¬ 
served for future generations. More 
than 15,000 women have given their 
pledge through the State Federation 
to get hack of this movement, and 
important results may he expected 
within the next few years. 
The Non-Hunting Bird Dog 
It is an old axiom that the special¬ 
ized dog, bred and trained for genera¬ 
tions to do some particular task and 
do it well, is at his best when busy 
at his own peculiar vocation. We 
find this to be true in many in¬ 
stances, but whether or not it is the 
case that this concentrated effort 
along one line has developed and im¬ 
proved the dog’s character and intelli¬ 
gence, it is also true that certain of 
the specialized breeds also produce 
excellent general-purpose dogs. 
Prominent among the examples of 
this fact are the setters, especially the 
strains of the English breed which are 
known to gun men as the Laverack 
and Llewellyn. Bred primarily for 
field work on birds, the English setter 
is also one of the best family dogs 
imaginable. Highly intelligent and 
with a disposition at once gentle, 
courageous and aboundingly cheerful, 
he is an ideal companion and play¬ 
mate for children and grown-ups 
alike. In the matter of appearance he 
takes second place to none, his size, 
coat and bearing being a fit ornament 
to any place that is large enough for 
anything hut a toy. Those who are in 
search of an ideal dog of good size 
may well consider the setters, on 
whose qualities an interesting side¬ 
light is thrown by the staunch parti¬ 
sanship of all who have come to know 
them well. 
