Rugs for the Country House 
for hedges or in groups and they even submit 
with patient fortitude to that cruelty to shrubs 
called topiary work and disguised under the name 
of a celebrated Roman landscape gardener who 
practised it. Their slow growth, however, deprives 
the hollies of a more extended popularity, but it 
should not, for they richly reward the care and time 
required to develop their beauty and usefulness. By 
this slow growth their wood becomes so close grained 
as to be a rare imitation of old ivory in texture and 
color. Also light in weight and tough in quality, 
the wood of many of the arboreal species is susceptible 
to a high polish. This makes it valuable to art and 
craft workers and these should unite with the arbore- 
alist as well as the gardener to further a more ex¬ 
tended cultivation of the hollies. 
America has fourteen native species, but the one 
European species {Ilex aquifohum) of which there 
Rugs for the 
By H. 
HOSE interested in the decoration and fur¬ 
nishing of the country house will like to know 
of a new type of rug recently put on the 
market. In fact, there are several different styles of 
rugs hand woven in the workshop ot a certain guild 
of workers, which fill the requirements lor durable, 
artistic, and simple effects in floor coverings, and 
are well within the reach of the most modest pocket- 
book. 
The original idea of this fabric was taken from New 
England and some of the rugs are patterned alter the 
colonial rag carpet, though some show Arts and Cralts 
decoration. These are made on hand looms and 
finished either in wool or cotton, or partly oi both, and 
present a great variety of shade and weight. 
Many of these are particularly appropriate for 
colonial rooms, and also for interiors ol the German 
artisan as well as the modest English type oi cottage. 
Like other artistic household furnishings these rugs 
are the result of woman’s thought. The weave is 
somewhat different and decidedly superior to that 
of our ancestors, and while adopting what is the best 
in their work in color and design, those made to-day 
leave little to be desired. 
One other important characteristic ot this weave 
is that the colors are sun proof. From the workshop 
one may obtain cards showing the numerous colors 
and various shades of each in which these rugs may 
be had. They can be made in almost any size de¬ 
sired, and are carried in regular sizes Irom two leet 
three inches by four feet six inches to twelve feet by 
eighteen feet. This stock comprises carefully selected 
shades ot plain brown to tan, green, blue, and dull 
are more than one hundred and fifty distinct varieties, 
is far the most beautiful. The holly, especially the 
English species, has delicate white blossoms that 
appear in June and ripening into brilliant scarlet 
berries that mingle with its lustrous evergreen foliage 
it becomes a conspicuous figure in a winter land¬ 
scape. 
Some of the foreign species are hardy as far 
north as New York and Boston and there should 
be no prejudice against giving many of these worthy 
foreigners full naturalization papers after a while and 
making them a valuable addition to America’s great 
republic of trees and shrubs. 
Ilex opaca, native American or white holly, is an 
evergreen found in moist woodlands from Maine to 
the Gulf States, west to Missouri and southwest to 
Texas; it adapts itself well to the dry, sunny and even 
(Continued on page 6, Advertising Section.) 
Country House 
CONNOP 
old rose to mulberry. Any shade of color which 
is necessary to harmonize with the decoration and 
furnishing ot the house can be secured on special 
order in about ten days time. The rugs weigh four 
pounds to the square yard. 
The charm, variety, and harmony of coloring 
cannot be achieved in any other rugs at so low a price. 
From the several styles made in this workshop suit¬ 
able selections can be found for every room of the 
house and for the porch as well, and one of the serious 
difficulties the amateur encounters in house furnish¬ 
ing may be entirely obviated by using these hand 
woven rugs throughout, allowing the floor covering 
to strike the dominant color note for all rooms. 
The rugs best suited to the porch are made from 
camels’ hair in the natural color and are reversible. 
These rugs can also be made up in any color combina¬ 
tion required if it is desired to use them in the interior 
of the house. They will be found especially ser¬ 
viceable for hall use. 
A den in which the paneled wainscot and beams of 
the ceiling are of yellow pine stained a dark and soft 
green, and given a dull finish, could have the rough 
plaster walls above the wainscot painted in a shade 
of yellow tan,—this to be finished at the ceiling line 
with a paper frieze showing green trees against a 
yellow sky line. At the casement windows hangings 
of self-colored flax, stenciled across the lower edge 
in a row of quaint little green trees, would be effec¬ 
tive. The furniture in a room of this kind should 
be on simple straight lines after the so-called mis¬ 
sion or craftsman type, and with this the camels’ 
hair rug would look exceedingly well. 
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