64 
^Painter Saijs 
“Back in 1858 the 
first Overland 
Mail, linking up 
the Pacific Coast 
and the rest of the 
country, began its 
journey. Trans¬ 
portation has 
changed a lot 
since then. 
“But the Hard Oil Finish 
first made by Berry Broth¬ 
ers in that year, and now 
known as Luxeberry Wood 
Finish, is today still the 
one that all my discrimina¬ 
ting customers demand. 
Good things live.” 
Luxeberry Wood Finish 
is now but one among 
scores of varnish products 
which have made the 
Berry Brothers label a 
standard of quality the 
world over. Many other 
Berry Brothers products 
are household words, for 
example: Liquid Granite, 
the durable floor varnish 
— waterproof, of course, 
and Luxeberry White 
Enamel with which the 
fashionable shades of 
gray or old ivory may be 
reproduced. 
You will be interested 
in our color booklet 
“Beautiful Homes. ” 
Sent free on request. 
r =CE3| i 
yrr'Hwi^ 
ps 
For every varnish need there’s 
a Berry Brothers product. The 
label is your guaranty of quality. 
pllj 
RERRY BROTHER© 
jj Wo rids Largest Makers . 
M/arnishes and Paint Specialties'"' 
'•(roil. Michigan Walkorvillo, Ontario 
House & Garden 
Bouquets the Winter Through 
(Continued from page 62) 
against brown walls these form an effec¬ 
tive decoration in a popular tea room 
whose color scheme is tan and brown. 
This list of dried leaves, flowers and 
fruits by no means exhausts the possi¬ 
bilities of this subject, but a theme so 
dry must not be too long drawn out lest 
interest as well become dehydrated. 
Let attention be drawn to this field 
and it is surprising how many plants 
will disclose a winter beauty unthought 
of. Only those less well known have 
been noted than the specimens already 
in common use; pussy willows, cat tails 
wheatheads, hydrangeas and the many 
wild and cultivated grasses may be di¬ 
versified and embellished by their addi¬ 
tion. 
Arranging the Bouquet 
Of course to possess beauty, a winter 
bouquet must be arranged with a re¬ 
gard for the principles of form and 
color; must be something more than a 
hodge podge or a “dusty bunch of noth¬ 
ingness” wherein all individuality is lost. 
A bouquet of a few choice specimens 
loosely arranged reveals the character¬ 
istic charm of each in such a way that 
the eye never tires of beholding it, espe¬ 
cially if its container be of a color which 
either harmonizes with or forms a pleas¬ 
ing contrast to it. 
An adherence in a general way to the 
rules laid down in the Japanese laws of 
flower arrangement as taught in their 
art schools for centuries, will help to 
avoid bunching of numerous varieties 
in conglomerate masses. One of the most 
important of these is that tall stalks in 
a vase are most pleasing if of an uneven 
number and not more than three or 
five. Indeed, the Japanese idea of 
Heaven, Man and Earth furnishes a de¬ 
sirable model; the tallest stem, Heaven, 
to be about one and one-half times the 
height of a tall vase; Man branching at 
one side, one-half the height of Heaven, 
and Earth on the other side, one-half 
the height of Man; any other flowers or 
leaves to be subordinate to these three. 
Though to the occidental mind this seems 
an arbitrary and stiff arrangement, its 
very simplicity gives it the charm seen 
in Japanese illustrations of flowers and 
plants. Interspersing delicate airy speci¬ 
mens among these prominent stems gives 
lightness and grace to the bouquet, as is 
well illustrated in the vase of burdock 
and moth mullein. 
If the container be partially filled with 
sand and the dried stems thrust firmly 
into it, they will remain in any desired 
position. 
Arranged with due regard for har¬ 
mony of form and color combinations, 
a winter bouquet of dried flora may be 
not only as pleasing as one of expensive 
cut flowers, but is often better adapted 
to its surroundings in the home. The 
softer colors blend with those of the 
house furnishings, giving a sense of pleas¬ 
ure and restfulness that continues all 
through the winter days. 
From Farm To Table 
(Continued from, page 29) 
which may be practiced in America and 
one of the indirect benefits of the Great 
War is the broadening of the American 
horizon and the realization, on the part 
of many of the more thoughtful of our 
soldiers, that the countries of Europe 
have found ways of managing their 
agriculture and food supply, which pre¬ 
serve for posterity the accumulated 
riches of the soil, while supporting the 
present generation with maximum re¬ 
turn to the producer and minimum 
cost to the consumer. 
This desirable relation between the 
cultivator of the soil and the consumer 
of his products, this happy balance be¬ 
tween rural and urban living, was par¬ 
ticularly true of France before the war 
and is the goal to which that country 
is successfully striving now that she is 
somewhat relieved of the strain of the 
conflict in which she bore, with Belgium 
and the Near East, the most crushing 
part. A brief consideration of French 
methods will therefore prove of value 
to us. 
French Markets 
The traveller entering France by any 
of the usual routes cannot fail to re¬ 
mark the well-cultivated fields which 
surround every town and city. Indeed, 
the rows of carrots, cabbages and arti¬ 
chokes press the walls of the town in 
even ranks. The unlovely and useless 
“outskirts,” so common in American 
cities, are scarcely to be found in 
France. 
This intimate physical union of town 
and country, so clearly shown in the 
accompanying aeroplane pictures, is 
characteristic of the economic life of the 
people, for town and country fully 
realize their inter-dependence, and each 
is interested in the welfare of the other, 
the town depending upon the surround¬ 
ing cultivated fields for its food and 
upon the raisers of that food for the 
sale of much of its manufactured pro¬ 
ducts. This interest in each other’s 
welfare is fostered by the marketing sys¬ 
tem, for it is a general custom that the 
farmer brings his vegetables, his rabbits 
or fowl to the public market-place, 
where, during the early hours, the 
townspeople come for the day’s sup¬ 
plies. This system not only reduces 
the need of the middleman and his 
charges but also promotes a common 
understanding of the producer’s prob¬ 
lems and the consumer’s needs and, to¬ 
gether with a wise foresight on the part 
of the government authorities, makes 
possible an adjustment of supply to de¬ 
mand which prevents, to a large de¬ 
gree, the fluctuations in price that often 
discourage the American farmer. Dur¬ 
ing a period of sixty years, as Book- 
waiter pertinently remarks, “the ex¬ 
treme mean variation in the mean price 
of the important cereal, wheat, was 
only six cents per bushel.” 
Soil Fertility 
Since each town draws its supplies 
mainly from the immediately adjacent 
country, transportation and storage 
charges are reduced and the consumer 
is assured of really fresh products. The 
losses due to glutted markets are largely 
avoided. 
The city has come to realize, more¬ 
over, that soil fertility cannot be main¬ 
tained unless the nitrogen and phos¬ 
phates which the farmer brings into 
the town in his loads of succulent 
greens are returned to the farm. The 
waste of Paris is no longer discharged 
into the River Seine, as in the time of 
Les Miserables, but is conducted to the 
surrounding market gardens. 
Not until the United States looks 
with repentent alarm upon the prodi¬ 
gal wastage of the nation’s greatest 
wealth,—the fertility of the soil,—which 
now flows into our harbors and rivers, 
can we hope to avert starvation from 
ourselves or our children. 
Roads and Canals 
The intensive cultivation of the 
French fields, made necessary by the 
requirements of a dense population and 
(Continued on page 66) 
