October, 1917 
35 
for the grain is fine, smooth and works well. 
Oak is best adapted for sturdy, massive fur¬ 
niture, and when quarter-sawed or otherwise 
rightly used, possesses a wonderful grain or 
figure. Walnut also has beautiful markings, 
and takes a wonderful soft brown finish. 
Wicker furniture in various forms may be 
used in nearly every well furnished home. It 
possesses rare grace and cosiness, and with 
cushions of printed linen or gay cretonne it is 
adapted for an unlimited number of decorative 
schemes. Painted or enameled furniture is 
also attractive. 
In choosing furniture, look first 
to the design, to the lines, bearing 
in mind that simplicity is an essen¬ 
tial. The finish is equally impor¬ 
tant. The rich, dull shellac finish 
is usually preferred, as it is “open,” 
showing the wood or stock beneath, 
allowing no imperfections in sand¬ 
papering or in the stock. Poorer 
stock may be used when “filled” 
and “stocked up” with varnish. The 
shellac finish is more easily cared 
for and does not show marks and 
scratches as much as varnish. 
Neither does it “cloud” as much as 
the varnished finishes. 
Construction Details 
The construction of the furniture 
about to be purchased is the next 
point to consider. In the case, for 
example, of a mahogany bureau 
with a bowed or serpentine front, it 
is best to have this curved surface 
veneered—in fact, nearly all good 
furniture is veneered on the curved 
surfaces. Veneering when well done 
will endure for years, and has been 
the common practice of master 
craftsmen almost as long as good 
furniture has been built. There has 
been much misunderstanding about 
veneering, and probably with rea¬ 
son, for it is most unsatisfactory un¬ 
less well done. But you need have no fear or 
hesitation when the furniture is guaranteed by 
a reliable house. 
If the bureau has wide flat ends and top, 
it is better to use built-up stock, that is, stock 
made of several thicknesses, with the grain 
running in opposite directions so that warping, 
expanding, or cracking is practically an im¬ 
possibility. In fact, wherever great strength 
or toughness is desired, this building-up pro¬ 
cess of naturally tough, strong woods has been 
so highly developed that the wooden articles 
are often stronger, lighter and more elastic 
than steel, and practically indestructible. 
In buying a coat or dress, you are sure to 
examine the style and fabric, then turn it in¬ 
side out and look at the lining, the stitching 
and the other details of workmanship. Do 
the same thing with furniture. In buying a 
bureau or sideboard, pull out the drawers, see 
that they work easily and smoothly, that they 
are dustproof, or as nearly so as possible, that 
the lining is made of mahogany or oak—the 
best woods for this purpose—and that they 
are well braced and secured. If a 
chair is being selected, look for 
strength as well as comfort. Sit down 
in the chair; if it is comfortable when 
first tried, it fits you. If the first im¬ 
pression is not one of comfort and re¬ 
laxation, better try another model. 
Buying for Comfort 
Have you not frequently heard the 
remark, “I haven’t a comfortable chair 
in my house”? Unfortunately such a 
sad state of affairs exists in many 
homes. This fact naturally leads to 
the matter of selecting overstuffed or 
upholstered furniture—a luxurious 
sofa or large easy chair. Here confi¬ 
dence in the dealer is absolutely neces¬ 
sary, for beyond the design and cov¬ 
ering, one must of necessity depend 
entirely on the word of the dealer, as 
in buying a watch or other article 
where the inside construction or works 
cannot be seen, tried and tested. It is 
a good rule to pay a fair price for 
upholstered furniture, for the expen¬ 
sive sort is the only kind that will 
prove satisfactory in the long run. 
The best upholstered furniture is filled 
with horsehair, sometimes having 
cushions or facing of down to give ex¬ 
treme softness and comfort. 
Period furniture is a study in itself, 
but to understand the subject fully re¬ 
quires much time. 
The success of furniture will depend on its selection 
and placing in the house. Here, for example, is inex¬ 
pensive furniture that is wholly pleasing. The table 
is lacquered in Chinese yellow, the mirror has deco¬ 
rated enamel frame and the lamp base is lacquer 
AUTUMN HAZE in the GARDEN 
Planning a Flower Border that Will Furnish a Well Balanced 
Succession of Bloom for the Fag End of the Flower Season 
HELEN WILSON 
A SEPTEMBER garden—what a varied 
and unattractive collection of flowers 
that brings to mind; what glaring colors and 
gone-to-seed plants usually greet our eyes. 
Perhaps you too have returned from a sum¬ 
mer at the seashore or in the woods with vis¬ 
ions of purple and gold fall coloring to come, 
only to be welcomed by rows of scarlet sage 
against the porch, red and yellow cannas on 
the lawn, and “choice mixtures” of petunias 
under a hot summer sky. You can think of 
a dozen such gardens if you try. Your own 
is not among them, of course, but let us be 
uncharitable and talk about our neighbor. 
First of all he probably does not know that 
there are flowers of soft, cool colors that will 
bloom in September and October. He has 
overlooked them in his search for a “tidal 
wave of bloom in June.” Doubtless his tulips 
were lovely, his foxglove and sweet William 
border a thing of beauty and his larkspur and 
lilies beyond reproach. Then he closed his 
suburban home at the end of June and went 
away trusting to chrysanthemums or the sad 
remnants of some midsummer annuals to tide 
him over until frost. 
If he had been a wise man he would have 
saved some space near the porch, where one’s 
September days are usually spent, for his 
autumn garden. He would then take his best 
book on perennials and several plant catalogs 
and do some deep thinking. First the aston¬ 
ishing discovery would be made that nature 
offers us few red and yellow flowers for fresh 
bloom in September and October. Those that 
we see are usually the dusty survivors of a hot 
summer and have lose their pristine freshness. 
A September Border 
A border that would come into its own in 
September could be made by using at the 
back some of the new hardy asters—Michael¬ 
mas daisies, as the English call them. 
Climax and Feltham Blue are both good. 
Monkshood (Aconitum napellus), Salvia 
azurea in large colonies, and the lovely blue 
shrub spirea brought well to the front of the 
border, where its bushy form of growth breaks 
the line of the bed. In front of the tall plants 
in irregular groups put Eupatorium coelesti- 
num, a lavender plant which looks like a large 
ageratum and remains in bloom for weeks; 
a fact which should cause one to forgive its 
weedlike tendencies of growth. 
Among these violet and blue flowers put 
pink and white ones, or both, for the supply 
is unlimited. Salmon pink zinnias and white 
petunias, very distant cousins of the magenta 
mixtures, are lovely in groups along the edge 
of the bed. These may be sown late in order 
to have fresh, large flowers in the fall. 
There is a new violet blue petunia offered 
by a few seedsmen that is the color of a single 
violet. It is extensively used in Germany in 
white window boxes with pale pink geraniums, 
and they might be good companions in the 
border. 
Gladioli, needless to say, are valuable both 
{Continued on page 86) 
