House and Garden 
Free Advice 
on Decoration 
T he unprecedented growth of the Correspondence 
Department of “ House and Garden” has necessi¬ 
tated the opening of a new Department which will 
be devoted to the interest of those who are building, dec¬ 
orating or furnishing their homes. Beginning with the 
new year “ House and Garden ” offers its readers a House 
Finishing, Decorating, Furnishing and Purchasing Service 
which is complete in detail and thoroughly practical. Full 
color suggestions for the exterior of the house will be 
supplied with recommendations of proper materials to 
obtain the results. For the interior, the treatment of 
standing woodwork and floors, the selection of tiles, hard¬ 
ware and fixtures will be considered and specifically 
recommended, with the addresses of firms from whom 
these goods may be obtained. Samples of wall coverings 
and drapery materials will be sent and selections of rugs 
and furniture made. When desired, the goods will be 
purchased and shipped to the inquirer; the lowest retail 
prices are quoted on all materials. 
This Department of Decoration is under the direc¬ 
tion of MARGARET GREENLEAF, whose successful 
work as an interior Designer and Decorator is well known. 
Address all communications to Editorial Department 
rm 
Winston Building 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
Thread & Thrum 
Rugs 
are different from all other rugs, as you can 
have the color scheme made to harmonize 
with your requirements. Wool or camel’s 
hair weft, heavy and durable. If yoiir 
dealer does not sell them, write for color 
card and price list to 
Arnold, Constable, d; Co., Distributing Agents, 
New York. 
THE THREAD & THRUM WORKSHOP, Auburn, N. Y. 
_ J 
SPECIAL 
OFFER 
$8.50 worth of Magazines for $4.75. 
McCLURE’S 
1 
DELINEATOR 
$8.50 value 
WORLD’S WORK 
1 
i for $4.75 
J 
Send us at once $4.75 
and we will send you 
each of the above magazines for one year 
Winston Building, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
ular shocks. The result is a history 
of earthquakes on the Pacific Coast, the 
disturbances being arranged chronologi¬ 
cally and briefly discussed in an intro¬ 
duction. As many of the earthquakes 
of California are very local phenomena, 
which depend upon local causes for 
their production, no very definite con¬ 
clusions can be found with reference to 
them. An arrangement of the shocks 
according to seasons shows that for 
California, Oregon and Washington at 
large shocks occur with about equal 
frequency in the wet and in the dry 
seasons. The records indicate, how¬ 
ever, that in San Francisco and San 
Jose shocks are ii'.ore frequent in the 
rainy season than in the dry. Dr. 
Holden suggests that in any future study 
of California earthquakes,special regions 
ought to he selected for examination, 
with the object of determining the origin 
of the local shocks. The data he has 
obtained seem to indicate that the greater 
number of California earthquakes have 
been the result of faulting in underlying 
strata, rather than due to volcanic causes 
directly. With regard to damage to 
life and property caused by the earth¬ 
quakes recorded it is concluded that the 
earthquakes of a whole century in 
California have been less destructive 
than the tornadoes or floods of a single 
year in other parts of the States.— 
Nature, 1898. 
DO TELEPHONE WIRES MITIGATE 
LIGHTNING STROKES ? 
Td has long been held from practical 
experience that the network of 
wires now found in many towns pro¬ 
tects those places from the effects of 
lightning, and probably also prevents 
many thunderstorms from breaking over 
them. An official inquiry has been 
recently made in Germany as to the 
influence exerted by telephone wires on 
atmospheric electricity, with a view to 
set at rest the question whether danger 
from lightning stroke is increased or 
diminished by a close network of wires. 
The inquiry has shown that the wires 
tend to weaken the violence and dimin¬ 
ish the danger of lightning stroke. 
Returns obtained from three hundred 
and forty towns provided, and from 
five hundred and sixty not provided, 
with a telephone system, show that the 
danger varies in the proportion of i to 
4.6 between the two cases.— Invetition. 
8 
In writiny to advertisers please mention IToush and Garden. 
