68 
House & Garden 
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Garden Soils, Good and Otherwise 
(Continued from page 66) 
In addition to the methods of treat¬ 
ment suggested above the various types 
of soil mentioned before may be im¬ 
proved physically by adding to each the 
other extreme. If your soil is heavy 
clay, every load of sand you can put on 
it will be of almost as much value as 
a load of manure. If no sand is avail¬ 
able, then use coal ashes, coarse ground 
limestone or anything similar to make it 
open and friable. If your garden is very 
sandy, on the other hand, all the loam or 
muck soil that can be incorporated with 
it will be extremely valuable in bringing 
up its productive powers. Muck soils 
are not so common, but they are' en¬ 
countered occasionally, and are all the 
better for the addition of sand or loam. 
In short, every gardener, even though 
he may be conducting his little farm on 
a ver? small scale, should have a definite 
policy in regard to these things, and 
should try to build his garden up, year 
after year, making it each season a little 
more like tire ideal conditions which I 
have described. 
The Treasured Snuff Bottles of the Celestials 
(Continued from page 27) 
The Chinese are skilful lapidaries. 
Their work in shaping jade and other 
hard stones has not been surpassed. The 
Celestial craftsman likewise shows great 
ingenuity in taking advantage of any 
irregularity in form or color of the stone 
he is working. The various quartzes are 
worked by the Chinese on the same 
treadle bench which they use in fash¬ 
ioning jade, and they work quartz stones 
along the same general lines. 
Famous Collections 
The writer is indebted to an Ameri¬ 
can collector of Chinese snuff-boxes, Mr. 
H. E. Bauer, for permission to reproduce 
some of the snuff-bottles in the Bauer 
collection. There are a number of fine 
private collections in America and sev¬ 
eral notable public ones. Among the 
latter is that in the Metropolitan 
Museum, New York, by whose courtesy 
a number of snuff-bottles in the Museum 
collection have been photographed for 
this article. An examination of these 
illustrations will indicate the unlimited 
range in the decoration, form, etc., of 
these objects. It will be seen, however, 
that they are all nearly of a size dictated 
by general convenience in carrying in 
pockets and pouches. The stoppers of 
these Chinese snuff-bottles are scarcely 
less beautiful in many instances than the 
bottles themselves. As a general rule the 
stoppers are of materials more precious 
than that used for the bottle. In the 
Bauer Collection, for instance, is a Blue- 
and-White porcelain snuff-bottle of the 
Ch’ien Lung Period (1736-1796) with 
a stopper inset with semi-precious 
stones, here illustrated. Pearls and 
precious stones are less often employed, 
and I have never seen a Chinese snuff- 
bottle stopper inset with diamonds. The 
diamond is a stone the Chinese have 
never appeared to regard highly except 
for its utilitarian possibilities. Coral is 
a favorite material for the snuff-bottle 
stoppers. A number of such stoppers 
are in the Bauer Collection. Ivory is 
not an uncommon material for stoppers 
but fine ivory snuff-bottles are very rare, 
as likewise are good cloisonne enamel 
bottles. One of the finest cloisonne of 
which I know is to be found in the 
Bauer Collection, and is here illustrated, 
as are also two of Mr. Bauer’s ivory 
snuff-bottles. 
There is no gainsaying that Chinese 
snuff-bottles cannot fail to attract the 
collector by reason of their esthetic in¬ 
terest. At the same time few objects 
open up a more interesting intellectual 
treat than is afforded by a study of 
these tiny bottles in respect to the sub¬ 
ject of their decoration. Take for in¬ 
stance the “Double Fish” snuff-bottle 
in the Bauer Collection, here pictured. 
A little study discovers to us the fact 
that this is the Yu, symbol of felicity, 
one of the eight Pa Chi-hsiang, or 
Buddhist emblems of happy augury. 
The cloisonne bottle already referred to 
seems to me to follow closely the form 
of another of these Buddhist emblems, 
namely the sixth one, or P’ing. 
Colors, too, are to be studied. Lau¬ 
rence Binyon says: “In Chinese popu¬ 
lar tradition there are five colors. These 
five are blue, yellow, red, white and 
black. Each of these is linked by tradi¬ 
tion with certain associations. Thus 
blue is associated with the east, red 
with the south, white with the west, 
black with the north and yellow with 
the earth.” Surely the treasured snuff- 
bottles of the Celestials offer the col¬ 
lector much that is intellectually delec¬ 
table and as really interesting specimens 
are not beyond the moderate purse their 
enjoyment does not necessitate the sac¬ 
rifices that might deter the collector 
whose enthusiasm might be dampened 
by other objects of art that seem as 
hopelessly out of reach as were the 
grapes to Tantalus! 
The Truth About Sweet Peas 
(Continued from page 45) 
they keep better if cut before the sun is 
strong. Scissors or flower gathering 
shears should be used by beginners, be¬ 
cause pinching is usually accompanied 
by an upward pull that loosens the roots 
or a downward pull that splits the stem 
at the flowering point. Gardeners gather 
the flowers with a knife, placing the 
blade against the base of the stem and 
twisting slightly to sever the stem clean¬ 
ly. The different colors should be gath¬ 
ered separately; it is an easy matter to 
mix them afterward, whereas it is often 
a great convenience to have the colors 
separated. 
A little stimulant is advisable when 
the plants have fully developed and show 
any indication of slowing up in their 
growth. It can be supplied in the form 
of nitrate of soda dissolved and applied 
to the roots, a tablespoonful to a pail 
of water. The best means of reaching 
the roots is to take an old piece of pipe 
or a crowbar and make holes 1' apart 
the length of the row, about T out from 
(Continued on page 70) 
