so 
House & Garden 
Residence of ]. B. Book 
38S Burns Avenue, Detroit, Mich. 
J. G. Steffens, Architect 
A Permanent Beauty for 
Old Homes and New 
BAY STAT E 
Brick and Cement Coating 
T O all homes of brick, cement and 
stucco, Bay State Brick and Cement 
Coating offers beauty and protection. 
It chases signs of age from old 
houses and adds the finishing touch to 
new ones. It transforms the dull, drab 
color of cement or stucco to a pure, rich 
white or one of many beautiful tints. 
Bay State Brick and Cement Coating 
is a lasting protection. It creeps into 
every pore and permanently seals your 
walls against dampness. Driving rains 
cannot beat through it. Snow, sleet, 
hail, wind or burning sun will not harm 
it in the least. 
Bay State Brick and Cement Coating 
comes in white and a range of colors. 
Samples of white or your favorite tint 
will be sent on request. Booklet No. 2 
shows many Bay State coated homes. 
Write us today for both. 
THE BAY STATER 
WADSWORTH, HOWLAND & CO., Inc 
Largest Paint and Varnish Makers in New Englanc 
BOSTON, MASS. 
New York Office 
Architects* Bldg. 
Philadelphia Office 
1524 Chestnut Street 
Brushing Up On Brushes 
(Continued jrom page 53 ; 
mark. The brush you buy for your Remember there are hundreds of 
wall or your hardwood floor must not 
scratch, and must have nothing in its 
construction that can scratch. Like¬ 
wise, the brush you buy for your toilet 
bowl must not scratch or wear the 
enamel and the bristles must be bristles, 
for if of fibre you will have your brush 
acting like a blotter. Your brush must 
clean and brush, it must not become a 
bacteria nestling haven. 
Brushes bought for the radiator can 
get under the piano and into small 
spaces, but they are still brushes and the 
more things they brush the better, of 
course. Furthermore, bristles in a stove 
brush should not be stiff enough to en¬ 
grave designs on the nickel-work on the 
stove. 
The same may be said for the pot- 
scouring brush. It (if made of fibre or 
bristle) must not chip enamel or alumi¬ 
num by any part of its construction. 
The brush that fits its work saves 
time. For example, the brush that is 
meant for the toilet bowl should be 
shaped to fit the toilet trap. It should 
be so built that its wire will not rust; 
after it is shaken out it ought not to 
drip when hung up; the bristles should 
not mat or separate and should be so 
made as to bend to your will. If it is 
of fibre, this brush will mat and become 
of no avail in short order. Such a 
brush can be used as a bath-tub cleaning 
brush and will not break the back when 
functioning- 
Baldness is the worst disease of bad 
brushes. Bristles and fibre must be 
stitched and anchored so as not to shed. 
The frosting brush would be a danger 
if a bristle were swallowed with a bite 
of cake. You probably know the agony 
of a clothes brush that sheds bristles. 
The backless twisted-in-wire brushes 
give brush area on all sides, and are so 
secured that the bristle is fixed indefi¬ 
nitely. The brush that is all brush, 
which has no emerging back to scratch, 
and which brushes at every angle, saves 
time and extra effort, too. 
The Protean Vegetable Brush 
One of the most useful brushes on the 
market is the vegetable brush. A little 
brush whose uses are many. If there 
are a few in a household they can be 
used for washing vegetables, scraping 
silk from corn, scrubbing poultry, scour¬ 
ing pots and pans, cleaning white shoes, 
sprinkling clothes, for they hold enough 
water, and scrubbing dishes. 
For the kitchenette today the sink 
brush and dish-washing brush with their 
long handles are a boon for the house¬ 
wife, as she can keep her hands in con¬ 
dition by not getting them into hot 
water so constantly. These brushes have 
various other obvious uses besides. 
Don’t use paper to grease pans or 
glaze cakes; use a pastry brush. Of 
course this brush must be made without 
glue or cement so that it can be fre¬ 
quently washed in scalding water and 
the bristles still be where they should be. 
A brush small enough for the perco¬ 
lator tube is to be had. It is good for 
teapot spouts, gas burner holes, type¬ 
writer interstices, etc. 
Among other brushes to which you 
may rfeed introduction are: 
Wicker-Reed. This gets in the tiny 
places so annoying to clean with mam¬ 
moth tools. 
Refrigerator (or pipe brush). This is 
a fairy wand to keep off plumbers from 
your estate. Almost a pipe-dream in its 
general pipe-cleaning skill. 
Hearth Brush. A good utilitarian tool 
for those owning not only a home but 
a hearth. 
Radiator. Gets around a radiator as 
if it loved it. Can be used under piano, 
etc. Good for chandeliers, under oven 
or gas stove, etc. 
brushes and that they are designed for 
every kind of thing, and best of all, 
there are companies who exist just to fit 
you out with brushes and who will ad¬ 
vise you just what kinds to get. 
Mops and Dusters 
Just a word or two about mops, which 
are more and more coming to be made 
of cotton which, though not technically 
absorbent cotton, does absorb the dust. 
They are not oily, but chemically treated 
and so will not hurt the rugs. They 
should be ctf wire construction, no parts 
exposed so as to scratch. They must be 
of strong, enduring cotton, reversible, 
washable, with an adjustable long han¬ 
dle, usable for ceiling, walls, doors, win¬ 
dows, pictures, baseboards and floors; 
good for corners. The handle should be 
at least long enough to obviate all back 
bending. 
Of course there is a dish mop for 
washing cups, pitchers or dishes, and the 
light weight wet mop, with long handle, 
of washable, reversible, corner-hunting, 
absorbent cotton yarn. 
The duster that dusts and does not 
smudge is what is needed. The one that 
can dust finger marks off polished sur¬ 
faces, absorb the dust and can get into 
difficult places without breaking the back 
or — more important still — the heart. 
These and many other brushes are to be 
had for your comfort and for the ask¬ 
ing—and paying. 
Many times in the use of fibre brushes, 
whether for personal or household uses, 
it is wise to immerse them completely in 
water for one-half minute and set them 
aside to dry, resting on the fibre face of 
the brush instead of the wooden back or 
on one of .the ends. Laying the brush 
flat down permits the entire surface to 
drain in the shortest possible time. The 
object of dipping the brush in water be¬ 
fore use is to overcome a factory defect 
which is possible in some factories, for 
once the fibres of the brush are dipped 
in water, the water is drawn up into the 
hole by capillary attraction and rusts 
the staple which is of iron wire; and as 
this staple starts to rust, it forms a bond 
with the wood that makes the anchor¬ 
ing permanent. Should there be one or 
two loose tufts, they will be cured by 
the rusting process. 
After using the brush, shake out the 
water and place it face downward or 
standing on the bristles so that it will 
drain and dry. 
We are not particularly interested in 
the manufacture of brushes, except to 
get what we pay for. 
The handles of our brushes must be 
comfortable, smooth, long enough in 
some instances to save our backs from 
pain and short or small enough to fit 
our hands. In all cases they must be 
firm and reliable. The handles are pref¬ 
erably not joined with a swivel joint, as 
this is apt to turn. The clamp is a 
better fastening. 
In the best grade of household brush 
most of the handles are of wood or 
twisted wire, treated so as to be practi¬ 
cally rustless. 
The nail brush and tooth brushes, of 
course, are often of French ivory and 
the handle is so made as to allow no dirt 
to remain in the handle. Often, too, the 
bristles can be taken out to be cleaned 
or replaced. (The hair brush is a story 
in itself.) 
Brushes must be easily cleaned and 
cared for. 
Brush racks can be bought or carpen¬ 
ters make them very simply. 
Above all, we want a brush that 
brushes, whose bristles or fibres are an¬ 
chored to stay, whose utility goes with 
years, not months, whose death depends 
not on use but abuse, and to whose em¬ 
ploying we look forward with pleasure. 
