66 
House & 
Garden 
YPRES 
The British Tommies called it “Wipers”— 
this little West Flanders town with its fine 
Cloth Hall where in the days before the 
War the linen and lace trade flourished. 
Ypres was bombarded time and again by 
artillery both of the Germans and Allies 
and during the war its streets were deserted 
of all save rumbling motor-lorries or ambu¬ 
lances scurrying away from the explosion 
of the great shells. But when you go to 
Ypres today you’ll find a city reborn. 
All through Belgium — anywhere on the Con¬ 
tinent or in England there is one form of travelers’ 
funds that receives instant recognition at any time. 
The long use of 
American Express Travelers Cheques 
makes them as readily acceptable as the currency 
of any country. Wherever you can spend money, 
there you can spend American Express Travelers 
Cheques. And they are convenient to carry and 
insured against loss or theft. 
You can buy Travelers Cheques at your bank 
or the nearest American Express Company’s 
Office. 
They are part of the service our Travel De¬ 
partment is ready to render you. Write for details 
as to conducted tours, itineraries, etc. 
We will he pleased to send you gratis 
our booklet, “The American Traveler in 
Europe — 1920. ” It Solves The Problem. 
Travel Department 
AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY 
65 Broadway New York City 
My Backyard Garden 
{Continued from page 64) 
three thorough soakings with liquid 
fertilizer at weekly intervals, produced 
spikes almost 7' high in June. Around 
the young plants were placed metal 
bands 3J4” in diameter and 2" high, 
cut from sheets of tin and pushed a 
little way into the soil to prevent the 
attack of cutworms and facilitate water¬ 
ing. If made from galvanized iron 
they would not rust and could be used 
from year to year. These bands proved 
of such help that I intend using them 
around all young plants if for no other 
reason than to keep the roots moist in 
dry weather. They also serve to keep 
down weeds by preventing the water 
from spreading over the surface of the 
ground. One hoeing after each rain 
suffices and the plants are kept com¬ 
fortably moist by filling the band once 
a day. When watering larger plants 
it is best to scoop out an inch or two 
of soil around them and a little away 
from the stems, filling this as many 
times as is necessary to wet thoroughly 
all of the roots. After the water has 
drained away, return the dry soil. 
The general practice is to cut to the 
ground the old stalks after they have 
bloomed, but if there are no young 
shoots at this time, as is often the case, 
it seems inadvisable to do so. It will 
be well to remove the faded blooms 
first with a fair amount of stem, and 
when new growth starts, to remove the 
old stalks gradually, cutting them out 
one at a time here and there. This also 
admits air and sunlight to the young 
shoots, which are sometimes smothered 
1 AST month in talking about the vari- 
, ous departments of the household 
— the Culinary, Laundry and 
Cleaning—I specialized on the kitchen 
and gave tables of articles and prices 
for three different kinds of kitchens. 
This month it will be the laundry. 
She is a fortunate woman who pos¬ 
sesses a laundry, because no chaos can 
be more unspeakable than the kitchen 
of a Monday morning with the dinner 
on the stove crowding a wash boiler, 
the room half-filled with steam and 
everything at sixes and sevens. But if 
one hasn’t a separate laundry and if 
the set tubs are in the kitchen and the 
wash must be done there, at least make 
it a point to keep the rest of the laundry 
things in a closet by themselves. Have 
a laundry closet. Keep your soap and 
boiler and wringer and other equipment 
there. Make it the final depository for 
the soiled linen. When the work is 
done, see that the equipment is put 
back in good shape for the next week’s 
wash. If repairs are needed, have them 
made promptly so that no delay may be 
met when the tools are next required 
for use. 
Two of these lists include electrical 
washing machines. There are many 
types and many prices. I merely include 
one type so that the electrical washing 
machine idea can be registered in your 
mind. If you haven’t a machine of this 
kind, write to the advertisers in the 
magazine for literature, talk it over with 
the man of the house, and pester him 
or find some anniversary that requires 
a substantial gift—and put in a plea 
for an electrical washing machine. If 
you can induce him to include an elec¬ 
trical wringer, your work will be even 
lighter, and if you can get an electrical 
ironing machine for the large flat wash, 
your Tuesdays will be full of bliss. 
The first list of equipment is intended 
for a large household and, consequently, 
it runs up into an appreciable sum; 
Ironing machine (electric).$165.00 
Washington machine . 118.00 
Wash board. .95 
Wash boiler... 5.00 
Clothes basket. 2.25 
if the old stalks remain too long un¬ 
cut; or the old stalks after blooming 
can be bent over and laid to one side 
of the crown, being removed altogether 
when new growth is sufficiently high. 
Plenty of air seems to be an absolute 
necessity for the well-being of these 
plants. They cannot stand poor cir¬ 
culation or being closed in. I have 
never received a shipment of delphi¬ 
niums, even though they were packed 
very carefully in baskets filled with ex¬ 
celsior, but that the foliage was almost 
entirely rotted upon arrival. 
One florist who grows several long 
rows of the Belladonna variety for cut 
flowers I visit every spring and fall, 
ostensibly to purchase dahlias, but in 
reality to see his immaculate garden 
where a weed is almost a curiosity 
among the rows of thrifty plants. It 
is his practice in the spring to lay down 
the shoots of every other row just be¬ 
fore the buds appear in order that his 
plants shall not all come into bloom 
at the same time. This causes new 
sprouts coming into bloom after the 
other rows are through, thus making: 
a continued succession. 
Some parts of my garden are not en¬ 
tirely satisfactory. If they were, there I 
would be no fun. The greatest feature I 
of a garden is that it is never really ! 
finished. No matter how beautiful it 
may be, there is always room for im- , 
provement. One is ever rearranging, ; 
adding and discarding, ever trying with j 
keen interest to materialize mental pic- j 
tures. 
he Laundry 
Hampers . $5.50 
Clothes pins .35 
Set irons. 2.75 
Electric irons . 7.50 ^ 
Ironing board on stand. 3.00 | 
Ironing board pad. 1.65 | 
Clothes line (100'). 2.50 i 
Clothes line reel.25 ' 
Clothes props.25 ’ 
Boiler stick.25 
Clothes horse. 1.85 
Wringer . 7.25 ' 
Galvanized pail.90 
Curtain stretcher . 3.75 i 
Starch pan . 2.25 ' 
Starch spoon.35 
$331.55 
My second list is for a small family— I 
say four or five—where at least one | 
servant is employed; 
Washington machine .$118.00 
Wash board .95 
Wash boiler . 5.00 
Clothes basket. 2.25 
Hampers . 5.50 
Clothes pins .35 
Set irons . 2.75 
Ironing board on stand. 3.00 
Ironing board pad. 1.65 , 
Clothes line (100'). 2.50 | 
Clothes line reel.25 
Boiler stick.25 
Clothes horse . 1-85 
Wringer . 7.25 ' 
Galvanized pail.90 
Curtain stretcher . 3.75 j 
Starch pan . 2.25 j 
Starch spoon.35 
$158.80 ■ 
The third list is intended for the be¬ 
ginning housewife or one who has to 
live in a small apartment. It totals I 
only $17.30: 
Junior wash board. $0.40 
Ironing board . 2.65 
Ironing board pad. 1-50 
Electric iron . 7-60 
Hamper . 4.75 
35' clothes line and reel.SO 
$17.30 
Dorothy Ethel Walsh. 
