House and Garden 
States it grows in the greatest profusion 
in the swamps and lower woods, but is 
unappreciated, only enough being pre¬ 
served for use in making plane-stocks 
and other tools requiring a hard, durable 
wood that does not shrink, warp or split. 
The cherry-woods, especially the Pru- 
nus Pennsylvafztca (red) and the P. 
serotina (black), are esteemed highly in 
cabinet-making, and are equally beauti¬ 
ful and desirable for flooring. The 
garden cherry, P. cerasus, is often used 
as a cheaper substitute, but can be read¬ 
ily detected by the odor and taste as well 
as by the general appearance. This is 
not an ideal wood for dancing floors, hut 
for dining-rooms it cannot be excelled. 
Both the red and black varieties are 
beautifully grained, and often can he 
found curled, and even bird’s-eyed. 
To properly select the boards, and lay 
the body of the straight-grained and the 
border of the curled, nothing could make 
a prettier floor. 
Now it is clear from the above that the 
uses, the furnishing and the window- 
space of a room should determine the 
kind of wood to be used. 
The laying requires not only a good 
carpenter but an expert judge of woods, 
and of the individual boards, because 
only by carefully selecting and placing 
like planks can we get a permanently 
even surface. Suppose a plank of heart 
and one of sap should be placed side by 
side: no matter what the wood, when a 
rainy season may come the sap will 
swell more and rise above the heart. 
Even when they come from like relative 
positions in two like trees their texture 
may dilher so widely as to make them 
undesirable companions. 
In spite of the nicest workmanship and 
the best judgment in selecting, some in¬ 
equalities of surface will be present till 
removed by the most thorough sand¬ 
papering. This should be done with 
enough care to avoid scratching; then 
comes the polishing or finishing.— The 
American Architect and Building News. 
THOUGHTS ON WORK AND WORKMEN 
A T present many of the larger rail- 
^ road systems have reduced their 
dividends to their stockholders, and in 
some cases the stockholders are in hard 
lines, for there is no greater mistake in 
business matters than the belief that the 
stockholders of railroads are all million¬ 
aires. Many of them, indeed, are parties 
GREENHOUSE BUILDING MADE A PLEASURE 
By that we mean, with our method of get¬ 
ting out all materials at the factory, and 
cutting and fitting them there, ready for 
immediate erection—the usual vexatious 
building delays and difficulties are overcome. 
Your work goes ahead rapidly. 
Send for illustrated collection of variou.s houses 
we have built. 
Hitchings Sl Company 
1170 Broadway New Nork 
Mercer Boiler for Steam and Hot Water Heating 
Our Heating Boilers 
and Radiators 
are made for the home 
where the Architect 
and Owner demand 
uniform heat in all 
weather. 
The efficiency of our 
apparatus makes this 
always possible. 
MILLS SAFETY BOILERS 
THE H. B. SMITH CO. 
Factory, Westfield, Mass. 
728 Arch St., Philadelphia 
P ERSONS who admire simplicity and 
appreciate refinement may select at 
moderate cost furniture adapted to 
meettheir requirements for dining-room, 
living-room and bedroom. Furniture 
may be obtained from us in the unfin¬ 
ished state to be finished to match 
interior decorations. Postal request will 
bring pictures of 150 distinctive pieces 
to assist in making a selection. Visitors 
are requested to inspect specimen pieces 
displayed in our warerooms. 
WILLIAM LEAVENS & CO. 
MANUFACTURERS 
32 Canal Street, Boston, Mass. 
Magazine Stand 
Another Suggestion 
Our Specialty Is Cottage 
Furniture 
19 
In writinfj to advertisers please mention House and Garden. 
