92 
House & Garde > 
Wonderful! 
English oak is found in both the walls and furniture in this 
room, in the home of R. M. Carrier, Sardis, Miss. Courtesy 
of the Hardwood Manufacturers’ Institute 
Now I can replace blown-out 
fuses without delay! 
The new© Triumph Type “R” Panel Board makes 
possible the convenient location of fuses at the 
center of distribution because of its absolute safety. 
Annoying delays, that in the past have made you 
wait for a man to go into the basement and re¬ 
place fuses, can be forever eliminated in your new 
home. A fuse, which is a protective device, can not 
be done away with, but it 
need not cause you worry 
or loss of time in the 
midst of your work or 
entertaining. 
The cost of theType“R” 
is very little over the ordi¬ 
nary fuse box, and the 
architect or contractor will 
be glad to co-operate with 
you in equipping your 
home with one. 
Send for 
“Wiring the Home for 
ComfortandConvenience” 
Thisnewbookletonhome 
wiring explains fully the 
Type “R” advantages, and 
offers some valuable house 
wirin gsuggestions to every 
home builder. A copy will 
be sent free upon request. 
Srank c/ldam 
ELECTRIC COMPANY 
ST. LOUIS 
Triumph Safety Type 
“R” Panel Board 
Advantages 
Better appearance, low cost 
installation and location at the 
center of distribution, are prin¬ 
cipal advantages. Absolute 
safety, highest grade materials 
and excellence of workman¬ 
ship make these advantages 
possible. The Panel Board in 
your home, in its way, is as im¬ 
portant as your heating plant. 
Give the choice of it a simi¬ 
lar consideration. 
The Triumph Line of Standardized Safety Type Panel Boards 
The Beauty of Dark Woodwork 
(Continued from page ) 
for silk and velvet are none too sump¬ 
tuous to be used with wall treatment of 
this kind. 
Each wood has its own peculiar prop¬ 
erties and uses, also by means of stains 
the richness of some of the darker ex¬ 
pensive woods may be obtained in 
choosing lighter, less costly ones. Among 
those used for interior trim are quar- 
tered-white oak, cypress, yellow South¬ 
ern pine, redwood and Douglas fir. 
These can all be used in natural tone or 
given a pleasant treatment by the use 
of right finishing which brings out the 
grain and texture of the wood although 
changing the color. Cypress is exten¬ 
sively used for interiors, and is con¬ 
sidered especially valuable. Oak, chest¬ 
nut, birch, cedar, and redwood are all 
particularly beautiful in their natural 
tones; but can be stained when warmer 
notes are desired. 
Oak which has a coarse grain, and is 
porous when cut to expose the medul¬ 
lary rays running from pith to bark 
like spokes of a wheel, has a showy 
figure. The use of oak as a finish has 
been popular for ages because of its in¬ 
teresting texture and its quality of per¬ 
manence. From early history it has 
reigned supreme, king of all woods. It 
was sacred to the early Britains, oak 
trees still standing in England that were 
old enough to cut for lumber when Wil¬ 
liam the Conqueror landed in 1066. 
Scientists estimate the limit of the oak’s 
life to about two thousand years. 
Maple is a hard wood, but shows 
wavy graining, more especially in the 
curly maple which is having a revival 
at the present time. Light in color, and 
shrinking moderately as it weathers, it 
in time takes on a silver gray, and is 
susceptible to a fine polish. Bird’s eye 
maple is still considered a very choice 
wood; its distorted fibres are supposed 
to be produced by injury to the bark of 
the growing tree which sets the trunk 
sprouting. Its beauty is brought out 
only by tangential sawing. 
No wood has been more generously 
favored by nature than mahogany, with 
irregularities of growth that evolve 
marks of great beauty. Grinling Gib¬ 
bons was one of the first to become 
cognizant of this fact, and it was 
through his efforts that it came into 
general use. 
The question of interior finish is a 
broad one. Many people prefer Ameri¬ 
can mahogany or oak for dining rooms 
and halls, although the rich English oak 
and gum wood are both suitable for 
libraries. Today some of the most ex¬ 
pensive hardwood interiors are stained. 
Oak is often treated in order to give it 
a creamier, more yellowish tone; mahog¬ 
any may have a little Venetian red 
worked into its pores in order to 
brighten the grain and make the color 
even. Hard woods that are less expen¬ 
sive are often used even in the finest 
buildings but they are first stained in 
close imitation of more costly woods, 
and require the skill of an expert to 
accomplish it. 
To many, the cool sparsely-finished 
rooms of Japan seem bare, but they 
obtain an artistic simplicity that is ir¬ 
resistible; the colors one scarcely 
observes, so complete a harmony do 
they achieve. The woodwork is almost 
invariably left in its natural brown 
hue, while the window paper is of a 
soft cream and the floor shows rice 
straw mats of yellow shades. There 
are slim vases of flowers, a bronze and 
wood figure, and seldom more than 
one picture and that of the kakemono 
variety which can be rolled up. 
