House and Garden 
If any carpentry work has to be done it may be 
well to have some extra shelves put up in the store¬ 
room, the pantry, or some unused closet. Perhaps, 
too, a window seat may be built or a fire-side settle. 
Built in furniture can be made very attractive and 
exceedingly serviceable. It is especially desirable 
to have such work as this done in September before 
new draperies are purchased, or new furnishings 
supplied, in order that all upholstery work can be 
done at once and an entire scheme of color carried 
out. 
In September, moreover, it is wise to decide what 
new furnishings will be required—how each room is 
to be treated—and what expenditures will be war¬ 
ranted. These are, to be sure, the expedients of the 
“comfortably poor” but it is they, alter all, who are 
the home makers, and even by the wealthy, little 
economies are not despised. Caring for a house and 
planning its arrangement are the real pleasures of 
ownership. 
THE GARDEN 
pANSY and larkspur seed should now he sown. 
Erom the seed of the pansy now sown the 
earliest spring blooming can be had. With the 
larkspur early spring growth is secured and blooms 
before the middle of summer. 
d'here are many attentions the garden should 
receive during the month mostly, however, with 
regard to effects for next year. There will he days 
during the month when exercise in the garden will 
be real pleasure. 
It is now the best time of the year to make a lawn 
where it is to be made from the seed. Eall sowing 
^ ^ O 
of seed will give a good covering of grass free from 
weeds; the spring growth will develop before the 
weeds get out of winter (juarters. The established 
lawn must be given plenty of irrigation to keep it 
looking well during the fall months. 
The ground should he kept stirred lightly about 
plants of all kinds. I'his treatment will produce 
marked increase of fall growth. 
If there is any budding to be done it should not 
longer be delayed. The stock and buds are both 
now in the best of condition, the former containing 
the requisite sap while the latter are sufficiently 
matured for good results. Budding in the spring is 
seldom successful as the buds are then too tender. 
Last month we had something to say about the 
beauties of the peony for home cultivation and 
promised suggestions this month as to their planting 
and cultivation. 
First of all it must be borne in mind that the 
peony is an extremely gross feeder. The bed where 
planted cannot be made any too fertile while a 
moderate degree of moisture is essential to the stron¬ 
gest stems and most desirable flowers. 
Assuming that the finest flowers are desired, like 
any other desirable result, adequate preparation is 
necessary. A good plan is to make an excavation, 
the desired size of the bed, some eighteen or more 
inches deep. A layer of from four to six inches of 
well-rotted or pulverized cow-manure should be put 
in the bottom, and well spaded in. The soil taken 
out should be lightened by the addition of sand, 
leaf-mould, and well-rotted manure in bulk about 
one-third of these to two-thirds of the soil. This 
should then be turned over sufficiently to thoroughly 
mix and incorporate all the ingredients in the mass. 
Fill up the excavation with the prepared soil, drawing 
it to an elevation in the center of some six or eight 
inches above the level of the surrounding earth. 
In setting out the plants, allow sufficient room for 
their development into large clumps. At least 
three feet of space should he allowed to each plant 
for proper development. Place the crowns two and 
one-half or three inches below the surface, and firm 
the soil well about the roots. This being done the 
bed should he covered with a mulch, three or four 
inches thick, of strawy manure, or a mulch that 
contains a large percentage of decayed forest leaves. 
The time for planting the peony is as early after 
the middle of August as the bulbs become ripened. 
While the planting can be continued as long as the 
soil can be cultivated in the fall, it should he finished 
by the first of November. The early planting is 
best; the late planting will lose a year in reaching 
full development. If the planting is delayed until 
very late it is perhaps better to wait until spring and 
then get them out as early as the soil can he properly 
worked. But all late planting as well as spring 
planting requires an additional year to develop into 
full normal growth. 
The peony requires hut little attention in the way 
of cultivation. It thrives and increases in beauty 
surprisingly every year with the attention which with 
many other plants would amount to neglect. By 
the third year after planting all the ground will he 
occupied and densely shaded by the foliage which 
will prevent any decided growth of weeds. 
It will he well to see that sufficient moisture is 
supplied during spring months, April and May, 
when there is liable to be more or less drouth, d he 
bed can he thoroughly saturated once or twice a 
week to a depth of twelve or fifteen inches by 
turning on the hose and allowing the water to run at 
will. The number of blooms will he greatly increased 
while the quality and size of the flowers will be much 
improved by these frequent drenchings in the spring 
months. 
In the fall, after the ground has frozen cut the 
plants off about three inches above the surface of 
{Continued on page 15, Advertising Section.) 
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