74 
House & Garden 
O RNAMENTAL Stone Furniture 
can be used to excellent ad¬ 
vantage in furnishing the sun parlor, 
conservatory, enclosed porch or 
foyer. A few pieces chosen with 
care will make the usually ugly city 
back-yard an altogether delightful 
place. 
Our collection of over 1500 models 
includes practically every variety of 
garden furniture which we repro¬ 
duce in Pompeian Stone, an inex¬ 
pensive composition resembling 
stone in color, texture and durability. 
Send for illustrated catalogue. 
Our wide experience is at your com¬ 
mand to help you make a selection 
suited to your requirements. 
THE ERKINS STUDIOS 
Factory 226 Lexington Ave. 
Astoria, L. I. New York City 
Largest Manufacturers of Artificial Stone 
z Fencing 
the home grounds ^ 
As you can see from the illustration. 
FENCE r M 
is quite sturdy, yet graceful and pleasing in design, \ 
It has wonderful rigidity and strength because of the Vi 
overlapped loops, interlaced wires and the Excelsior ' 
patented steel clamps which hold vertical and horizontal 
t wires firmly together. AFTER being made it is dip- 
A galvanized, which not only makes it rust proof and long 
lasting, but firmly binds the whole together. 
fpjgk Send for catalog C and you will have complete and 
interesting information. 
iillillk Ask y0Ur hard ware dealer for EXCELSIOR garden 
necessities, such as 
Rust Proof Tree Guards, Tennis Rail- 
ings, Gates, Bed Guards, Trellises, etc. / 
Ills, WRIGHT WIRE CO. A 
Bag'S, Worcester, Mass. 
The Civilized Framing of Pictures 
(Concluded from page 72) 
This matching frames to pictures 
costs effort. Granted. It is as diffi¬ 
cult, I admit, as interpretative dancing, 
where one first feels the music and then 
gives the feeling a new expression by 
employing an art which, when all has 
been said of resemblances, is quite a 
different affair from melody. To suc¬ 
ceed takes genius. But what says George 
Eliot? “Genius is patience.” 
Patience, Sue ! Patience ! The divine 
Isadora did not create her interpretation 
of “Iphigenia in Aulis” immediately 
after first hearing those exquisite strains 
of Gluck’s. You did not plan your 
last gown immediately after discovering 
what manner of girl you were. To suit 
anything to anything else requires long, 
attentive, thoughtful, observing diligence 
and an unwearying exercise of imagina¬ 
tion. Take your time. Think. Feel. 
Wait. By and by—without guessing 
how, probably—you will see with your 
mind's eye the lovely frame that will 
“become” the lovely picture, precisely 
as your gown becomes you. 
Ferns That Flourish in the House 
( Continued, from page 47) 
The adiantums or maidenhair 
ferns come in wide variety 
temperatures too low, and on shelves too 
much shaded, nearly all the plumy 
fronded nephrolepis sorts revert toward 
the old, normal type. Any check to their 
growth, as from poor soil or insufficient 
watering, ends in the same thing. The 
secret of success with nephrolepis, adian¬ 
tums, and, indeed, most ferns, is to keep 
them in continual growth through their 
growing season and to give them all the 
light possible without their standing in 
direct sunshine. The idea that ferns 
could be grown only in north windows, 
or in positions heavily shaded, has large¬ 
ly vanished. Commercial growers give 
their nephrolepis and some other stiff 
fronded ferns full sunlight except in the 
warmer summer months. It is safer for 
beginners in fern culture to place newly 
purchased or potted ferns in shade, mov¬ 
ing them gradually toward the light. 
The Importance of Moisture 
Should the soil in which adiantums 
are growing ever become quite dry the 
fronds immediately wither and their 
beauty is gone for the season. The best 
we can do for them then is to give them 
an inconspicuous place and keep them 
in as good condition as possible until 
new growth starts in the spring. Deli¬ 
cate ferns of this character love moisture 
in the air, but drops of it standing on 
their fronds in dull weather soon cause 
black spot and decay. To keep the leaves 
clean and free from insects occasional 
syringing is necessary, but this is work 
for bright days when the moisture will 
soon dry from them. 
Because ferns love moisture in the air 
it does not follow that they like more 
moisture at the roots than most plants. 
Freshly potted ferns revive more quickly 
if put in a fern case, or if a large box 
is turned over them for a day or two. 
This insures a moist, reviving atmos¬ 
phere. There is danger in giving ferns 
too much water before their roots have 
become established in new quarters, or 
when they are not actively growing. A 
safe rule is to water thoroughly when 
potting and afterward only when the top 
of the soil begins to look dryish on the 
surface, showing that water is needed. 
There ’is a happy medium between dry 
soil and soil water-jogged and sour that 
all ferns love. Window ferns need more 
water than those growing in the conser¬ 
vatory because of the drier atmosphere. 
A good scheme to keep fern roots cool 
is to pack the space between jardinieres 
and pots with damp moss. 
Pests, Composts and Potting 
In too dry atmosphere insects some¬ 
times infest ferns. Their presence is 
always a sign that conditions are wrong 
in some way. Syringing the under side 
of the fronds with clear, tepid water will 
rout red spider and mealy bug. The 
thrips can be destroyed with either Paris 
green or a contact insecticide. 
Neither peat nor sand is so much used 
in the culture of ferns as formerly. 
Nephrolepis and other strong growing 
ferns thrive in the same sort of compost 
that we give geraniums—a mixture of 
turfy loam and well decayed manure. 
All ferns like leaf mold in the soil and, 
if it is not sufficiently porous, add sand 
enough to make it so. A good fern soil 
can be pressed firmly into pots and still 
be so porous that water poured on the 
surface sinks rapidly. Good drainage 
is an item to be emphasized. Be sure 
that the pots for ferns are washed per¬ 
fectly clean and then fill in about one- 
fourth their depth with broken pots or 
charcoal. A layer of moss or cocoa fibre 
above this prevents soil from washing 
down into and clogging the drain. The 
soil is screened only for seedling ferns 
nowadays. The larger ones like the com¬ 
post to be in rather rough lumps, but 
not clods—flakes, we will say. Turn 
one of your most flourishing young ferns 
from the pot upon your hand and you 
will find most of the roots running be¬ 
tween the flakes of compost and down 
among the drainage, rather than dis¬ 
tributed through the bulk of the soil. 
It is both interesting and delightful to 
study the quips and cranks of ferns and 
watch how they respond to your care 
with increasing beauty. 
The stems of most adiantums 
are dark, wiry and glossy 
