HOUSE AND GARDEN 
IOO 
February, 1911 
The Newcomer’s tomato tables resulted in heavier vines and 
tomatoes that were free from blemish 
Captain Ball’s old-style tomato poles were far behind in their 
quantity and quality of the crop 
sand pile was revealed. He dug long trenches about a foot wide 
and eight inches deep. Into these he wheeled his sand and 
filled them with it about level with the surface of the ground. 
On the sand he pulled a few inches of garden earth, making 
low, broad sweet potato ridges, and then went off about his 
other work until the earth settled. He had reached the con¬ 
clusion that sweet potatoes do best in sandy soil, and he thought 
that if half of it were composed of rich river soil, with enough 
heavier soil above to keep the moisture down, they would do 
still better. Another thing he determined to do was to keep the 
vines pruned back, leaving them not more than eighteen inches 
in length. He had learned that if permitted to grow longer too 
much of the substance went to the vines at the expense of the 
potatoes themselves. He found, however, that this was easy to 
start but difficult to keep up. In the growing season sweet pota¬ 
to vines seem to lengthen a foot in a night. 
The Captain looked over the fence and inspected the prepa- 
ations for the sweet potatoes and shook his head. “I don’t believe 
that'll pan out,” he said. 
“Ever try it?” the Newcomer replied. 
“No, but your sand'll dry out, and it'll fail sure.” 
(Continued on page 112 ) 
What Can Be Done With the Radiator 
VARIOUS WAYS IN WHICH ITS STRICTLY UTILITARIAN AND BEAUTY-LACKING 
CHARACTER MAY BE IMPROVED OR AT LEAST MADE LESS OBTRUSIVE 
by Sarah Leyburn Coe 
T HE designer of a really beautiful radiator will not only 
confer a favor on the rest of the world but will doubtless 
make a fortune for himself. Just at present, as he has not yet 
materialized, a radiator is a radiator, and whether it is in a 
magnificent home or the humblest apartment, handsomely dec¬ 
orated or perfectly plain, the fact remains that it is an unsightly 
collection of metal pipes. 
Of course any amount of ingenuity may be expended in 
making it as unobtrusive in appearance as possible, and there is 
.a wide difference between the radiator that stands resplendent 
in gold or silver paint against a red wall and one that har¬ 
monizes in color with the decorations of the room in which it 
is placed. Very satisfactory results in the process of elimina¬ 
tion may be obtained by the proper color treatment, particularly 
if the radiator is a tall one that stands flat against the wall and 
•can be decorated to tone in well with the wall-paper. An 
enamel that is especially made for radiators and heating pipes 
comes in a wide range of colors and may be mixed to obtain 
any desired shade, and the radiator can either be made the 
exact color of the background of the paper, or if a two-toned 
•effect is wanted the ornamental raised figures may be done in 
the same color as the figures in the wall-paper. 
There are some persons, however, to whose artistic souls 
the humble radiator is an offense, no matter how carefully it 
may be relegated to the background, and nothing will satisfy 
them short of hiding it entirely. A considerable number of 
schemes for putting it out of sight have been devised, some of 
them quite ingenious and effective, but in following out any one 
of them it must be remembered that the heating capacity is 
greatly reduced in proportion to the amount of surface that is 
covered. 
Architect and heating experts agree that the proper place for 
a radiator is in front of a window, as the outside air is thus 
heated as it comes into the room. This necessitates the use of 
the low radiator, which is less obtrusive in appearance, has a 
larger horizontal surface and consequently gives out a greater 
radiation of heat near the floor than a high one. In placing it in 
a large window, too, a number of sections can be put together to 
fit any shape. 
The most satisfactory method of disguising the heating 
arrangements is to use the low radiators and cover them with 
window seats, or to build them into the walls underneath the 
window sills. In either case the fact that an enormous amount 
of heat is wasted must be taken into consideration. When a 
