p 
ANUARY, 
I 9 I 4 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
75 
For Windows and Piazzas 
I DEAL Combination of Blind 
and Awning for town and 
country houses. More artistic 
and durable than unsight¬ 
ly fabric awnings. Very 
easily operated; slats open 
and close to admit air, yet 
exclude sunrays; can be 
pulled up out of sight if 
desired. Add unique 
architectural distinction to 
a house. 
For Illustrated Booklet 
specify "Venetian 8" 
Jas.G. Wilson Mfg. Co. 
1-3-5 West 29th Street 
New York 
Patentee and Manufacturer of 
Inside and Outside Venetians, 
alp Porch Piazza and Veranda Ve- 
•wvj$ netians. Rolling Partitions, Roll- 
iftP^ing Steel Shutters, Burglar and 
‘Fireproof Steel Curtains, Hygi¬ 
enic Wardrobes. 
STRAWBERRIES 
(Summer and Fall Bearing) and 
All Small Fruit Plants m 
Strawberries and all Small Fruit Plants mean 
big and quick profits for you at small outlay 
of money. 
We are headquarters for Summer and Fall 
Bearing Strawberry Plants, Raspberries, 
Blackberries, Gooseberries, Currants, Grapes, 
Fruit Trees, Roses, Ornamental Shrubs, Eggs 
for Hatching, Crates, Baskets, Seed Potatoes, etc. 
Best varieties, lowest price. 30 yrs. ’ experience. 
Our free catalogue is 
brimful of valuable 
information. Write today. 
L. J. FARMER 
Box 492 , Pulaski, N.Y. 
Old English Hutches 
Hand-made by Scotch and Austrian cabinet 
makers in the Erskine Shops —- men trained 
from boyhood to uphold the best traditions of 
their craft. The front panels open and disclose 
numerous sliding trays that offer a thousand 
uses. Made in Mahogany. Old Walnut, Antique. 
Oak and Holly, inlaid with Ebony and possess 
the characteristics of fine old imported pieces 
made lustrous without varnish. Reasonable in 
price. Photographs and complete information 
on request. 
Also name of 
nearest dealer 
who handles 
Old English 
and Colonial 
furniture from 
our Shops. 
Shop of 
RALPH 
ERSKINE 
Tryon, N. C. 
New York 
Representatives, 
Mountain Community, Inc., 143 Madison Avenue 
beyond is a red-bud tree from Arkansas, 
and in a sunnier place along the east side 
of the garden are planted the Nebraska 
and Vermont golden-rod and asters, crow¬ 
foot violets, buttercups and a few field 
daisies from Massachusetts, and the com¬ 
mon brake fern from Missouri. Then in 
the extreme southeast part of the wild 
corner is a splendid thicket of wild plum, 
bird-cherry and choke-cherry, sumach, 
elderberry, wahoo, a flowering dogwood 
from Missouri, and a mountain ash from 
Colorado. All through this thicket are 
wild phlox, anemones, ferns and violets. 
Along the south side is a hedge of In¬ 
dian currant and wild gooseberry vines, in 
front of which was the original attempt at 
a wild garden. Here are violets of all 
kinds and colors—yellow, blue, purple and 
white, adders’ tongues, Dutchmen’s 
breeches, Jack-in-the-pulpits, May-apples, 
partridge berry and twin-flower vines, tril- 
liums and bloodroot and seven different 
kinds of ferns ; clambering through the big 
elm over this part of the corner is a bitter¬ 
sweet vine. 
Near the outer edge of the wild garden 
is a bonny brier bush, which a dear old 
Scotch grandmother brought with her 
when she came to this country to visit her 
children and grandchildren. She went 
back to her home when the visit was over, 
but the poor little bush had to stay, and it 
has not been very happy so far away from 
its old home. It has been in our garden 
for five years now, and as far as we can 
see it has not grown an inch; still it lives, 
and every summer puts forth four or five 
sickly little pink blossoms. 
Nearly everyone has the souvenir habit 
more or less severely in some form or 
other, and this wild garden is my souvenir 
collection. Every time I go on a trip, I 
carry along an old trunk or valise, and the 
last thing before leaving for home I go 
out into the woods and along the roadsides, 
and either dig myself or do it by proxy, 
until I have enough roots, plants, vines and 
shrubs to fill the trunk or valise. I pack 
the precious roots carefully in moss, wet 
papers and rags, and just as soon as they 
reach our premises out in the wild corner 
they go. I try to make them feel as much 
at home as possible. Nebraska soil is 
naturally a heavy, rich loam, so for New 
England or Southern plants I mix in a lot 
of sand and gravel; sometimes I beg small 
stones that have been sifted out of the 
sand where a new house is being con¬ 
structed. For ferns and wood plants, I 
work in leaf mold (I always have a pile 
of it on hand in the kitchen garden), and 
if the vine or fern has been growing right 
on a rock, I buy, beg, or perhaps even steal 
a few rocks from where a stone founda¬ 
tion is being laid in the vicinity, for rocks 
and stones are an unknown quantity in 
this part of Nebraska. 
During the winter, I cover most of the 
wild things with fine brush, then leaves, 
and over that, coarser brush, as we have 
no blanket of snow to keep them comfort¬ 
able all winter. The fine brush keeps the 
Burpee’s 
Seeds 
which is now being mailed at the 
rate of more than ten thousand 
copies every day, is a Bright New 
Book of 182 pages and is known as 
the “Silent Salesman’’ of the world’s 
largest Mail-order Seed trade. It 
tells the plain truth about 
Burpee - Quality 
Seeds that Grow 
With hundreds of illustrations from 
photographs and carefully written 
descriptions of Vegetable and 
Flower Seeds, it is a safe guide to 
Success in the garden and should be 
consulted by every one who plants 
seeds either for pleasure or profit. 
We are pleased to mail it free to 
every one who has a garden and asks 
for it. Shall we mail you 
a copy ? If so, kindly men¬ 
tion “House and Garden” 
write to-day. 
W.ATLEE BURPEE & CO. 
Burpee Buildings 
PHILADELPHIA 
“I never saw a book of travel that tells so much in 
so little space, and tells it so accurately and well. 
I took a copy with me through Brittany.” 
—Edwin L. Shuman of the Chicago Record-Herald. 
A Little Book of Brittany 
By ROBERT MEDILL 
A graphic and enthusiastic portrayal of 
the principal towns of Brittany — their 
people, customs, and buildings. Illus¬ 
trated. 75 cents net; postage 6c. 
McBRIDE, NAST 6r» CO., New York 
In writing to advertisers please mention House & Garden 
