76 
House & Garden 
No. 71 
Lighting Fixtures 
Any home—old or new—may now be enhanced with 
the splendor of these harmonious MILLER Lighting 
Fixtures. They blend exquisitely with Colonial or 
Georgian period furnishings, and are today priced to 
make them positively irresistible to those who recog¬ 
nize enduring value. 
On display at all MILLER Dealers. Write us for 
name of nearest one. 
No. 71, 5-light Fixture: 
Old Brass and Black. S32.85 
West of Rockies $35.35 
Silver and Black or Umber Bronze, $39.40 
West of Rockies $41.90 
No. 711, 2-light Bracket: 
Old Brass and Black, $14.00 
West of Rockies $15.00 
Silver and Black or Umber Bronze, $16.80 
West of Rockies $17.80 
Prices do not include bulbs or installation. 
Old Brass and Black or Umber Bronze for living room. 
Silver and Black for dining room. 
Edward Miller & Co. 
Established 1844 
Meriden, Conn. 
68 and 70 Park PI., New York 125 Pearl St., Boston 
No. 711 
Antique Italian Polychrome Lamps 
In a multitude of gorgeous designs and delicate colorings, of 
Eighteenth Century Italian Period. Exclusive MILLER crea¬ 
tions, conceived to harmonize with modern tendencies in home 
decoration. MILLER Dealers will proudly show them! 
A detail of the 
Rosen dining- 
r o o m shows a 
basket in Italian 
blue, with fruits 
i n multi-color 
Making Plaster Count More 
(Continued from page 43) 
plaster relief decoration was executed, 
some of it with a strong Chinese flavor, 
but as most of it was elaborate and in 
very ornate houses, it offers little in¬ 
centive for either reproduction or adap¬ 
tation under present conditions. One 
great merit cf the examples just noted, 
besides their engaging naivete, is that 
they are not prohibitively intricate and 
they yield the maximum of result for 
the minimum of means employed. 
The section of wall illustrated, show¬ 
ing a pattern of alternate cream-colored 
and gray chevron bandings, cusped at 
the upper points, with pairs of birds in 
reverse color, is from a 15th Century 
Florentine villa. This particular stretch 
of a dingy, plain plaster surface needed 
cleansing and embellishment, and the 
owner had an ingenious old local arti¬ 
san stencil this medieval pattern, an 
effective and inexpensive bit of rejuve¬ 
nation. 
A modern example of decorated plas¬ 
ter is found in the New York home 
illustrated here. The decorations are 
painted flat on the wall and then var¬ 
nished to a high glaze. The capitals 
of the pilasters are molded and dec¬ 
orated. 
Whatever form of adornment one de¬ 
termines upon, there are two things to 
keep clearly in mind. First, a plaster 
surface is not necessarily in itself mean 
or commonplace and to be little es¬ 
teemed because of the nature of the 
material, or because we find it on every 
hand. It is mean, commonplace and 
of little worth only in so far as we 
allow' it to be so through our own in¬ 
difference and neglect, or through our 
failure to make use of plaster as a ve¬ 
hicle of relief decoration, either simple 
or ornate, or as a background for 
painted embellishment, is just as sus¬ 
ceptible of satisfactory results as it ever 
was. There are plenty of capable 
craftsmen and one needs only to insist 
on the use of the proper materials and 
appropriate design. 
* "Stucco duro" is composed of two-thirds 
fine white lime, well slaked, and one-third 
finely pounded white marble, or marble 
dust. It is worked when firm in consist¬ 
ency but not dry. It may be pressed with 
molds and finished by hand, or worked al¬ 
together by hand. No plaster of Paris is 
used. The color may be laid on before the 
stucco is dry. 
Another recipe, much used during the 
16th Century, calls for 5 lbs. finely pow¬ 
dered marble dust and 2 lbs. of well-slaked 
lime. It is mixed with water, stirred and 
beaten to a fine paste. 
In either case, the mixture must be care¬ 
fully compounded. The lime must be care¬ 
fully burnt, and thoroughly and gradually 
slaked. It must also, when mixed, be 
beaten with heavy sticks and chopped with 
a hatchet till it is of even consistency 
through and through. If desired, pigment 
may be added to the mixture. 
To toughen and regulate the setting 
qualities of either mixture it is necessary 
to add one of the following substances— 
juice of figs, rye dough, hog’s lard, curdled 
milk, white of eggs, or rice gluten. 
Unless the stucco is properly prepared 
with great care, it will not be satisfactory. 
Properly prepared it will give satisfaction. 
Shall You Build, Buy or Rent? 
(Continued from page 36) 
to get a sufficient income therefrom to 
pay insurance, taxes, repairs, and to 
leave a profit for the investor besides. 
It is the accumulation of this profit 
i which in time, if properly managed, 
I gives the man the deed of the home 
he has built, for the renter actually 
I pays all the expenses and a profit to 
the owner besides. This is why so 
many are deciding to be their own 
landlord and to pocket the profit them¬ 
selves. 
Perhaps a case in point will serve 
as an illustration. A young man not 
yet twenty-two years of age, inher¬ 
ited enough money to buy a lot. He 
was able to borrow the money at six 
per cent interest to build a house upon 
it. Before the house was completed 
it was rented at eighty-four dollars a 
month. Of course, he had given a 
mortgage as security on the property 
to those of whom he borrowed the 
money. The building is new and so 
the upkeep will be very little for a 
long time. 
The eighty-five dollars per month 
rent yielded him exactly eighteen per 
cent. By the time he pays the six per 
cent on the money tied up in the lot, 
he will still be drawing ten per cent 
clear on money he doesn’t own at all. 
This looks so good to him that he is 
putting his own earnings and his 
profits on the property into payments 
(Continued on page 78) 
