84 
House & Garden 
Time to fix up 
the Tennis Court! 
T he winter was pretty severe and that court of yours 
needs fixing—a little hlling in. in places and plenty 
of rolling—and the back-stops are in bad shape. 
As to back-stops—that chicken wire never was very satis¬ 
factory, was it? Every time you drove a fast one past 
your opponent, it went right on through and you had 
.to chase it; big boles were always appearing wbich had 
to be patched; and the whole business was so badly 
rusted and weak every spring that } ou needed new wire 
throughout. 
Do the job right this spring! We makj a back-stop that will not 
only enable you to get the maximum enjoyment from your play 
this season, but will stand up for many years. It is of 2-inch 
mesh and made from No. 15 gauge wire (1/16 inch diameter). 
It is heavily galvanized. We supply also the galvanized .posts 
and coiled steel supporting wires for top and bottom, as well as 
a plan and instructions for erecting the back-stops, or if desired, 
we will do the work for you. 
This kind of back-stop costs a little more than chicken wire, but 
it’s far cheaper in the long run. May we tell you more about it? 
American Fence Construction Go. 
100 Church Street New York 
AfccoPences 
We furnish and erect fences and gates of unusual 
character for suburban houses, gardens and country 
estates. They add much to the appearance of any 
grounds, are durable and their cost is surprisingly low. 
The Garden of Levels 
{Continued from page 82) 
the illustration shows, leaving enough 
space behind the wire for Ampelopsis 
Veitchii and ivy to cover the cement, 
the idea being to plant roses to 
grow quickly and cover the wires, and 
that, as the close-clinging creepers be¬ 
hind grew up and covered the wall and 
the terra cotta terminal balls, they 
would in no way interfere with the 
long rose strands, but make> a rich 
background for the flowers in their 
bloom time. Two stages of this idea 
can be seen in the illustrations. In the 
long wall picture, the wire and young 
rose bushes are very plain, also the 
glaring newness of the cement and ter¬ 
minals; in the picture with the young 
Pan the ivy can be seen beginning to 
clamber—the balls to weather and tone, 
and long strands of the Wichuraianas to 
spread along the wall. Today the ivy 
has covered ball and eveiyflhing and the 
wide pink blossoms ■ of the roses are 
lovely indeed when in flower. 
We left a border of soil at the foot 
against the green background and on 
top, between the cobbles of the terrace 
path and the edge of the waU, which 
are e.xcuses for endless joyous color 
schemes. In the picture a long border 
of the double arabis is beginning its 
bloom. Before the summer was through 
that rapid and hardy grower had cas¬ 
caded over the brim of the wall and 
entirely softened the hard edge of ce¬ 
ment. Below, a fiery challenge of black 
and crimson tulips stood up against the 
cold gray wall, and dared the eye to 
pass without a glow. 
The figure on the rose-wreathed 
pedestal is the only one of its kind in 
the world, I believe,—the figure of a 
joyous boy, a young Pan cast in lead 
who has leaped on to the ball to laugh 
his defiance at the world before he 
runs like an elf back to his darling 
woods again. ,We mounted him our¬ 
selves, making the ball of cement (it 
was exceedingly difficult to get it 
round!). The roses we modeled on to 
the ball in claj'; then cast in plaster 
of paris. Being our first effort in. such 
craft we spoiled a good many casts in 
washing the clay out and then all was 
to do again; to remodel and recast till 
we wearied of stone roses and won¬ 
dered why we wanted them there at 
all. When the molds were at last clear 
we poured cement into them and the 
rest was easy. As soon as they were 
hard we chipped off the plaster and set 
them round the ball with a little sheer 
cement; and ended this great endeavor 
by inscribing round the base of the 
pedestal “Live loving; die laughing”. 
When I started gardening I had a 
passion for rose arches, and I set them 
here, there and everywhere till I began 
to appreciate first the restful quality of 
restraint in even garden love, and next 
to observe that arches of roses are not 
an unmixed blessing. Looking down 
from the flagged terrace on to the gar¬ 
den below I learned in time that the 
best blooms are always on top of arches, 
they reach up to the light and air. 
Moreover, in practice, I found that in 
passing under the arches one not only 
misses the best flowering but that the 
thorny rose sprays scratch one’s face. 
Many a frank and hearty swear have I 
heard from the rose walk in the scented 
dusk. So I learned a trick with them 
which has cured their ills. I cut the 
arches down to elbow height, and edged 
the lawns with them. Now they do 
not scratch our faces with their pesky 
little finger nails when we pass by and 
contemplative souls may look down at 
their leisure upon the best and bright¬ 
est blossoms which formerly towered 
out of sight. 
The Healing in Gardens 
My garden was a shaggy hillside, 
steep and wild, when I went to it 
twelve years ago; it is now a very 
lovely and romantic garden full of 
sweetness and charm, in the care of 
which I have learned many a priceless 
lesson. One> has been a new sense of 
time. In the cities fevered moments 
tear thei heart out ,of wild hours that, 
in their turn, make a bewilderment of 
days. Strain and rush and noise flay 
life and leave* it skimmed and sore. 
In my garden perforce I had to learn 
a larger rhythm. You can’t hurry gar¬ 
dening ! The long, strange silences of 
tilth are the- greatest soul medicines on 
earth. If the war taught nothing else 
it did teach nerve doctors the infinite 
value of earth toil for tom nerves. 
Among young growing things one fin¬ 
gers the pulse- of the seasons, learning 
to count in years instead of moments, 
to watch the great rise and iswell and 
ebb of the sap tide, and to work in 
time with its cadences, to attune the 
hurrying heart to- the beat of its grander 
measure. 
Another thing I learned of my gar¬ 
den was the true pleasure of hospitality. 
Friends came, lingered to rest among 
the flowers, found her changing features 
fair, and learned in time to relax the 
tension of their myriad efforts to keep 
pace with city life. City-burned eyes 
lost their strain in deep, cool glades of 
infinite green. Wrinkled brows went 
back to town from the garden life full- 
glanced and open-browed, washed by 
moonlight and by starlight and the 
cooling dews of dawn. 
Freezing the American Dish 
{Continued from page 68) 
cream powders and gum tragacanth, 
are used in commercial ice creams to 
give the product body, but manufac¬ 
turers should, according to law, admit 
this addition if necessary. Housekeepers 
often use gelatine; it is quite wholesome 
and not dangerous in any way. 
Freezing 
Apart from the recipes, with which 
this article shall not deal, the most im¬ 
portant part about ice cream is the 
freezing of the mixture. Its dangers are 
many. 
First of all, freezing incorporates air 
into the mixture and therefore increases 
its bulk. 
Ice cream can be frozen too slowly or 
too fast, and experience here is the best 
teacher. 
If frozen too rapidly, says the Omaha 
State Experiment Station, the ice cream 
doesn’t expand very much (this is more 
important to the commercial maker of 
ice cream). Without the air incor¬ 
porated, it is soggy and heavy. It will 
also be grainy and will fall apart. 
If frozen too slow, it is buttery, 
greasy, non-expansive and fat will rise. 
If frozen too long, it will be churned 
creamy, it looses expansion, it is greasy, 
soggy and heavy. 
These are the reasons why cream is 
not a velvety, smooth, ungrained stand- 
without-hitching quality. 
Here are some other defects and their 
causes: 
First, the cream must be clean and 
creamy, combined with flavoring ma¬ 
terial which blends with the cream to a 
full delicious flavor. 
There may be defects in the flavor, 
due to the cream used, such as sour, old, 
bitter or metallic cream flavor. 
It may be due to the filler or stabili- 
{Continued on page 86) 
