120 
Slate Roof on Model of “Home Stveet Home,” at Washington, D. C. 
Slate Helps to Perpetuate 
“Home Sweet Home” 
It is significant that the model of the original 
“Home Sweet Home” erected at Washington, 
D. C., and dedicated in June by President Hard¬ 
ing at the beginning of “Better Homes Week” 
and Shriners conclave, is roofed with slate. 
This house, a memorial to the writer of that 
immortal song, is dedicated to the perpetuation 
of the American home. What more fitting than 
that it should be roofed with the stone which out¬ 
lasts the centuries. 
Look to your own “rooftree.” Make your home a home¬ 
stead —a place of shelter for posterity—a monument to 
your good taste and foresight. Roof your home with slate. 
Replace less permanent roofs with this once-and-for-all 
covering. 
I'he smooth, even surface and beautiful colorings of 
slate also adapt this enduring rock for countless uses in 
home equipment. 
You will be gratified to learn from your contractor how 
readily and reasonably a slate shower bath may be installed 
anywhere such a bath is needed. Septic tanks of slate are 
most efficient where municipal sewerage systems are not 
available. 
Consider These Household Uses for Slate 
Shower Stalls 
Sinks 
Laundry Tubs 
Kitchen Slates 
Table Tops 
Flower Boxes 
Septic Tanks 
Fire Places 
Hearths 
Floors 
Sills 
Wainscoting 
Shelving 
Base Boards 
A booklet devoted to the varied Home 
uses of slate will be mailed on request. 
NATIONAL SLATE ASSOCIATION 
757 Drexel Building Philadelphia 
House & G a r d e nf 
ON HOUSE ^ GARDEN’S BOOK SHELFl 
(Continued from page 118) 
and is manifested in the “bleeding” of 
grape-vines in spring, in the exudation 
of sap from many trees, in the excretion 
of water from the tips of grass-blades 
during the night, and in many similar 
occurrences. In this connection it is 
also puzzling to come upon the state¬ 
ment that excessive transpiration does 
not increase the rate of ascent of sap. 
One wonders whence the extra mois¬ 
ture comes. 
It is difficult, also, to reconcile with 
the observed facts the statement that 
the ascent of sap is most active in the 
cortex. By standing any young shoot in 
colored water for a time, the path of 
ascending water will be indicated by the 
stain and this is always most noticeable 
in the vessels of the wood or xylem 
showing the path of greatest movement 
to be here. Nor does the removal of a 
ring of bark or cortex retard the ascent 
of sap. The process of “ringing” cer¬ 
tain plants to increase the size of the 
fruit recognizes this. Moreover, it has 
frequently been shown that water will 
rise in stems that have been recently 
killed, proving that here at least, pul¬ 
sating cells are not necessary. The very 
presence of vessels in the wood may 
be assumed to be for the transportation 
of water. It must be added that the 
vessels of many plants have a lining of 
protoplasm and that this lining has 
often been assumed to have some in¬ 
fluence on the ascent of sap. The idea 
that pulsating cells have no part in the 
movement cannot be summarily dis¬ 
missed though their activities may not 
prove to be of the first importance. 
It is not likely that the statements 
made in the book will go unchallenged 
by students of plant physiology, but 
they cannot fail to interest them. The 
advocates of physical processes will now 
re-examine the evidence in the light of 
these new discoveries. Whatever the 
final outcome, all will be indebted to the 
author for the many ingenious methods 
he has devised for studying the problem. 
In most cases the plants have been 
made to record their own responses and 
nearly a hundred photographs of such 
records and of the machines employed 
in securing them are included in the 
book. That responses to stimuli occur 
in plant parts that are usually regarded 
as lacking in motion now appears to 
be an established fact. The author 
deserves much credit for the fertility of 
invention with which he has attacked 
the problem and for the painstaking 
manner in which he has carried the 
work through. 
Willard N. Clute 
G arden Planning, By W. S. 
Rogers. Doubleday, P.age & Co. 
This is a book on gardening planning 
for the amateur, to be read with a 
bundle of stakes under one arm and a 
measuring tape in the free hand. Still, 
there are passages in it to be read over 
whenever he pauses to rest in the shade. 
There is this, for example, which con¬ 
tains the essence of garden design: 
“It is well for the gardener to start 
with an open mind. He should look for 
suggestions from the site, not omitting 
to take into account its immediate en¬ 
vironment. The best gardens are per¬ 
sonal: they take their character from 
their makers. I am sometimes asked 
‘WTat style of garden would you sug¬ 
gest for my plot?’ and I am tempted 
to reply, ‘The commonsense style.’ The 
exact treatment for a given plot is not 
to be laid down by rule. The gardener 
may not recognize the possibilities of the 
site at first glance, but he will do so 
when he has carefully studied it.” 
Now, if every beginner in garden plan¬ 
ning were to weigh the wisdom of those 
words and put them into practice gar¬ 
dens would grow which might be on 
friendly terms with their situations and 
be rid of the stiffness and the affectation 
and the self-consciousness which charac¬ 
terize so many gardens today. “Suit¬ 
able” and “sensible” are homely words, 
perhaps, but they represent the most 
desirable traits a garden can have. For 
instance, as Mr. Rogers says elsewhere ] 
in his book, “One frequently hears the- 
term ‘a natural garden.’ I might state 
here that a natural garden within the 
limits of four square boundary walls in 
the sense of a garden which shall de¬ 
ceive the spectator into believing that! 
he is looking at a piece of pure nature, 
is unattainable. Nor is it desirable that 
we should strive to make that sort of 
a garden. Yet nature cannot be left 
out of the question. The gardener pro¬ 
vides the home and the occupant and 
there his work ends. He must rely on 
the hand of nature to fill in the outlines, 
which she can do far better than he can 
tell her.” 
That is the truest kind of talk, and 
every amateur, before he plans his gar¬ 
den, should consider it seriously in re¬ 
lation to his own problems. It is 
splendid advice, but, unfortunately, good 
as it is, it is not enough from which to 
design a beautiful garden. To do that 
something has to be felt. Some almost 
inexpressible feeling for form and for 
the right use of materials has to be 
acquired before a gardener can make 
a garden which lies on the level above 
the commonplace. This is not said to 
discourage the amateur but to remind 
him that the designing of grounds and 
gardens is not all a matter of rules and 
regulations. The imagination has to 
get into it somehow. It softens one 
theory of design here and hardens an¬ 
other there, and as it receives assurance 
from repeated experiences it becomes 
bolder. Then, when its owner comes 
upon the warning, which Mr. Rogers 
makes repeatedly in his book, to avoid 
symmetry, he will say, “But in this par¬ 
ticular place perfect symmetry seems 
to me the only thing to have; at least, 
I’ll try it.” And the chances are he 
will be right. At any rate he will have 
used his own judgment against a con¬ 
trary opinion. 
In the matters of practical construc¬ 
tion Mr. Roger’s advice, while it does 
not sparkle with originality (it is prob¬ 
ably his intention to avoid the unusual) 
is sensible and sound. When he illus¬ 
trates certain details of design, however, 
such as the shape and the arrangement 
of flower beds, and the disposition of 
trees, paths and water, the good taste 
of his examples is very often question¬ 
able. On page 80 of his book there 
is offered as a design for a flower bed— 
a star; on the following page an array 
of shapes equally absurd. 
Toward the back of the book plans are 
shown of small plots varying in size and 
shape and including almost every type 
which might be found in the average 
suburb. The planning is generally not 
good. In fact, the remark made above 
that the designing of gardens and 
grounds is not all a matter of rules and 
regulations is pretty well substantiated 
by the solutions of the various problems. 
Theoretically the arrangements are 
sound enough, but actually they are stiff, 
pointless, and, in the location and ar¬ 
rangement of flower beds particularly, 
of a “geometrical” and quite ridicu¬ 
lous artificiality. The drawings them¬ 
selves are masterpieces of cruel and un¬ 
sympathetic rendering. 
Briefly, the good points of the book 
are outweighed by its bad ones. It is 
a pity; for much of the text, as has 
been noted above, contains excellent 
instruction. 
{Continued on page 122) 
