July, 1910 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
37 
Window-seats for the Summer 
M ANY houses are built these days 
with windows of such a size that 
low hot-water or steam radiators are 
placed under them. Plan to have boxes 
made to cover them which can be set up 
in the summer time, and which then make 
effective and inexpensive window-seats. 
They can simply be lifted from over the 
radiators before the furnace fire is lighted 
in the fall. These are especially desirable 
to use in bay windows, halls, etc., and if 
not wanted for seats they make excellent 
shelf space for plants. C. K. F. 
Stimulating Dahlias 
I F your Dahlias do not thrive, punch a 
hole in the side of pound coffee cans, 
near the bottom; fill with fertilizer from 
barn or chicken-house and sink one in the 
earth beside each plant. Fill the cans with 
water every day, which will both feed and 
water the roots of the plants, and you will 
find yourself richly rewarded with blos¬ 
soms. 
Maude E. S. FIymers. 
To Protect Porch Swings 
From Rain 
A S most of the swings, or bed-ham¬ 
mocks, used upon open porches are 
made of material which is greatly dam¬ 
aged by rain, and as they are usually too 
heavy to be taken indoors upon the ap¬ 
proach of every storm, the simple device 
of “block and tackle’’ may be employed to 
great advantage for their protection. 
The rough drawing given below shows 
how the tackle should be rigged. In this 
drawing the supporting chains have been 
left out so as to avoid confusion. 
INGENIOUS 
DEVICES 
Labor-saving Schemes and 
Short Cuts in the House 
and in the, Garden 
To the supporting hook (A) in the ceil¬ 
ing of the porch tie one end of a Rj-inch 
clothes-line or sash-cord. Then with a 
short piece of the same cord passed 
through the eyelets, (b and c) in the sup¬ 
porting end of the swing a small awning 
pulley, or block, may be closely lashed to 
the outside of the swing. The free end of 
the line should then be passed through 
this block, a second pulley of the same 
size (e) lashed to the supporting hook 
(A), and the free end of the cord passed 
through this second pulley. 
The same arrangement of pulleys and 
cord should be made on the other end of 
the swing, except that the ceiling pulley 
(/) should be double, having two wheels 
in it instead of one, so that the cord from 
the pulley at the other end of the swing 
may pass through it, thus bringing both 
cords down at the same end. 
A cleat (g) fastened to the wall com¬ 
pletes the job. 
W. A. P. 
A Transplanting Screen 
W HEN necessary to transplant flowers 
late in the season or when the sun 
is very hot, take the largest old umbrella 
obtainable, open and suspend it over the 
middle of the bed. Adjust the hose so that 
a fine spray keeps the umbrella moist, and 
your plants will not even wilt. 
M. E. S. H. 
Ventilating the Cellar 
I TRY to ventilate our cellar frequently, 
knowing how necessary this is to the 
health of the family. I did not think, 
however, that sufficient air came through 
the windows. Our door was of the cus¬ 
tomary folding type outside, with another 
door at the foot. This of course pre¬ 
vented my putting a swinging net door 
at the bottom. I made, however, a screen 
out of % inch by 1% inch pine which just 
fitted in the opening when the door was 
wide open. Two turn-buttons secured it, 
one on either side. The cost was small 
for wire and wood, and the result—a 
much better aired cellar. C. K. F. 
How to Soften Putty 
O ccasionally it is necessary to 
take out a window-pane or the 
unbroken parts of a large pane of glass 
that has been damaged. If putty is used 
to hold the glass in place it may be soft¬ 
ened by mixing caustic alkali or carbonate 
of potash with an equal part of freshly- 
burnt lime which has been previously 
sprinkled with water, causing it to break 
up. Mix the two with water until a paste 
is formed which may be spread on the 
putty. If one application fails repeat it. 
To prevent the paste from drying too 
quickly mix it with less water and add in¬ 
stead some soft-soap. T. E. W. 
A Home-made High-chair 
F OUR rubber-tipped door bumpers, 
screwed to the legs of an ordinary 
chair increased its height, to the greater 
comfort of our little guest, and with the 
lightest expense to ourselves. 
M. E. S. H. 
Renovating Rag Rugs 
1 V/TY cottage rugs, woven of white carpet 
rags with a twisted border of pink, 
had faded to an ugly dullness. I mixed 
stencil colors to the original shade of pink, 
and went over the border, brushing it in 
well, and the rugs look as well as before. 
M. E. S. H. 
Training Frames 
T)ERHAPS some of House & Garden’s 
T readers would be interested in a little 
bamboo arrangement I devised for train¬ 
ing roses and vines and other plants 
cylindrically on the lawn and in the llower 
garden. I took pieces of bamboo fish-poles 
and pushed them equidistant from a tri¬ 
angle center into the sod and earth and 
brought the tops together, fastening them 
securely with copper wire. Then I trained 
climbing roses and other plants of similar 
growth around this frame, as indicated in 
the accompanying sketch. The result was 
most pleasing. D. R. M. 
Old bamboo fish-pole sections were used up¬ 
on which to train a climbing rose in a cor¬ 
ner of the lawn 
