78 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
106 Garfield Avenue, - WYOMISSING, PA. 
Planning the Garden. So many customers and friends have asked me to help 
them plan their garden that 1 have found it necessary to form a special de¬ 
partment in charge of a skillful landscape designer and plantsman. He will 
be glad to assist you in any way desired, either suggestions or by advice, 
which will be cheerfully given. For the preparation of detailed planting 
plans a charge to cover actual cost must be made. 
BERTRAND H. FARR, Wyomissing Nurseries 
Wyomissing Irises 
Win the Gold Medal 
M y collection of 
IRISES exhibited at San Fran¬ 
cisco received the highest award— the 
Panama-Pacific Exposition Gold Medal. 
The collection embraces the cream of the 
standard varieties, the finest European 
novelties, and my own seedlings raised 
here at Wyomissing pronounced by critics 
to be of distinct and rarest beauty. You 
can have a display of equal beauty in 
your own garden, if you make your selec¬ 
tion from my catalogue, which describes 
hundreds of kinds. 
I offer a carefully selected list of de¬ 
sirable Roses, especially adapted for out¬ 
door culture, including the best of the 
novelties, Hybrid Perpetuals, Hybrid Teas, 
Wichuraianas, Ramblers, Baby Ramblers, all 
in two-year-old field grown plants. 
Farr s Hardy Plant Specialties 
(edition of 1915-16) accurately describes the Irises, Roses, 
the most complete list of Peonies in existence, Idardy Asters, 
Phlox, Anemones, Delphiniums, many other perennials, and 
the finer shrubs, especially Lemoine’s new Double and Single Lilacs, 
Philadelplnis and Deutzias—in fact, the best herbaceous perennials 
and shrubs for general planting. If you do not have a copy of 
the 1915-16 book write for it today. 
The New Roses 
Do You Want A Dog? 
There is no companion and protector like a faithful and good-tempered dog. 
Glance through The Dog Show in this number. The very dog you wish may be 
there. If not, write us, stating your preference as to breed, the approximate amount 
you wish to pay and we will put you in touch with just the dog you desire. We 
recommend trustworthy animals of many breeds. 
The Dog Show. House & Garden, 440 Fourth Arc., New York, 
Garbage Receiver 
The Sanitary Way to Keep Garbage 
It is buried in the ground close 
to the kitchen. Only top and cover 
is exposed, is convenient but never 
unsightly. It is water tight—snow 
and frost proof—emits no foul odors 
and keeps away flies, mice, dogs and 
cats. Always closed, can easily lifts 
out for emptying. Dumping door 
opens with foot lever, closes itself. 
Protects the House and Grounds 
It prevents your house, lawn, 
walk, flowers and shrubs from being 
littered up and ruined with coal dust 
and stray lumps. A glass door serves 
as a window, when coal is not being 
received. It locks from inside and 
is absolutely burglar proof. Can be 
put in already built home or built 
into a new one. 
Write for Catalog of These Two Home Necessities 
These two Majestic specialties meet the present day demand 
for sanitation and cleanliness in the home. Send for the catalog 
and get the whole Majestic story. Ask your dealer to show you 
Majestic Specialties. 
The Majestic Company, 603 Erie St., Huntington, Ind. 
Manufacturers of Coal Chutes, Garbage Receivers, Milk and Package Receivers, 
all-metal Basement Windows, Rubbish Burners, Street and Park Refuse Cans, 
Metal Plant Boxes, Pipe and Pipeless Warm Air Furnaces, Hose Reels , etc. ) 
Collecting Italian Maiolica 
(Continued from page 32) 
bino, etc., were taken there for the 
luster embellishment. 
In Urbino the manufacture of mai¬ 
olica reached its culminating point 
in 1540, in which year Orazio Fon¬ 
tana, Urbino's greatest maiolica art¬ 
ist, entered the service of the Duke. 
Passeri states that Orazio Fontana 
had no equal in the execution of his 
paintings for maiolica, the distribu¬ 
tion of his colors, and in the calcu¬ 
lation of the effect of the fire upon 
them in the production of his wares. 
From 1580 Urbino Maiolica declined. 
There are exceptionally fine ex¬ 
amples of early Italian maiolica in 
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 
New York, and in other public and 
private collections in America that 
the collector may study to advantage. 
While the pieces of supreme import¬ 
ance, like the canvases of the old 
masters, are not to be had for a song, 
still “finds” are possible, and evert 
later pieces of maiolica are beautiful 
and fully worth while. Such pieces,, 
too, with the interesting history of 
the earlier objects that inspired them,, 
should appeal to the collector. Per¬ 
haps if Italian maiolica were more: 
studied and understood in this coun¬ 
try it would be more popular with 
collectors, but just because so few of 
them are versed in its evolution the 
advantage accrues to the collector 
who is wide-awake enough to look 
about him in time. In passing it 
should be noted that there is much— 
one may well say quantities—of mod¬ 
ern maiolica to be found in the shops. 
Much of this is very beautiful, but 
the collector will soon have no trouble 
in distinguishing it from the old, 
even when the modern happens to> 
reproduce the forms and designs of 
the early pieces. 
Answers to Inquiries 
Readers of House & Garden who are interested in 
antiques and curios are invited to address any in¬ 
quiries on these subjects 
ment. House & Garden, 
York, 
J. B. W.—An 1864 Confederate 
note is not rare, and can be bought 
for 1 cent. The 1838 $1.25 note is 
also not uncommon and also exists 
in quantities. Its value averages 
from 5 cents to 10 cents. A card 
case such as you describe of tur¬ 
quoise shell inlaid with mother of 
pearl if in perfect condition would 
only have a value of from $2 to $5, 
as there is no demand for articles of 
this kind, except as a relic or curio. 
A. D. M.—The story that explains 
the Willow pattern used on old Eng¬ 
lish china is as follows: 
In this design a castle is shown 
on a hill surrounded by beautiful 
gardens and nearby a tower is seen, 
severe in outline and suggesting' a 
tomb. 
In the castle is supposed to have 
lived an old man of great wealth 
and power and his daughter, and in 
an adjoining castle the daughter’s 
lover lived. He acted as secretary to 
the lord of the estate, and when not 
serving him devoted his attention to 
the daughter in ardent lovemaking 
when her father was asleep. 
Their meeting place was a grotto 
in the garden and all went happily 
until a mischiefmaker told the old 
father of the lovers’ rendezvous. He 
then surprised them at one of their 
meetings, and took his daughter and 
locked her in the tower a prisoner. 
Her lover undaunted by this suc¬ 
ceeded in sending a note planning 
her escape to his sweetheart in the 
tower which she drew up on a silken 
cord, and likewise a silken ladder 
was sent her in this way by which 
means in the dead of night she es¬ 
caped from her prison. The lovers 
then went to the foot of the hill where 
an old woman aided them in their 
escape. They soon sailed out in a 
small boat down the river until they 
came to a beautiful garden, and here 
they landed and built a cot and lived 
happily for many years. 
But the irate father after persistent 
search found out where the lovers 
had gone and pursued them. When 
he came upon the little house un- 
to the Collector's Depart- 
440 Fourth Avenue, New 
n. y. 
discovered he set it afire, and in the 
fire the lovers perished. From the 
ashes, however, two beautiful white 
doves escaped symbolizing the pur¬ 
ity and consistency of their affec¬ 
tion. The old man then disappeared. 
This is the myth as it is told in the 
poem entitled “The History of the 
Willow Pattern,” by A. N. Burgess, 
publisher unknown, and is no doubt 
the rhyme which you referred to in 
your letter. 
Hobson and other experts on Chi¬ 
nese porcelain and old English china, 
however, claim that the willow pat¬ 
tern as shown in the old Stafford¬ 
shire wares was simply the English 
adaptation of well-known Chinese 
decorative motifs—the willow tree 
signifying long life, and the land¬ 
scape and river being also exten¬ 
sively used as significant Chinese 
decoration. 
E. H. D.—An exhaustive search 
through Brayley’s “Complete History 
of the Boston Fire Department, from 
1630-1889,” in which the names of 
all its members appear, shows no 
reference to B. Burke. 
The number on the bucket, No. 1, 
is the number of the engine, and 
it was also required that the first 
letter of the first name should ap¬ 
pear with the surname of the fireman. 
No doubt B. Burke was a member 
of a volunteer fire company, in some 
other New England city or town, 
such as Salem, and that you have 
been misinformed. 
Should you still wish further in¬ 
formation, we would suggest that 
you write to the Bostonian Society, 
Boston, Mass., or the Massachusetts 
Historical Society, Boston, Mass., 
where there may be data in which 
the name of B. Burke may appear. 
We cannot tell whether your table 
is a duplicate of the table said to be 
at the Hermitage near Nashville, 
without seeing it, but would suggest 
that you send a photograph to the 
Her nitage for comparison. As the 
table you describe is evidently an 
extension table, it was probably made 
about 1810, when tables of this type 
were quite common. 
