February, 1923 
49 
The 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
BULLETIN BOARD 
T WO hundred years ago this month Sir Chris¬ 
topher Wren died And the duo-centenary 
of his death finds the influence of this great¬ 
est of British architects as firm and fresh as it was 
in the 17th Century, when it was beginning to be 
powerfully felt in the architecture of public build¬ 
ings in the Colonial cities of Annapolis, Phila¬ 
delphia, and New York. At that time he was 
engaged in the stupendous task of rebuilding the 
London churches after the fire of 1666, enlisting 
in his work the services of the woodcarver, Grin¬ 
ling Gibbons, of whom Gardner Teall writes in 
this issue. When G. K. Chesterton, in his "Poems 
for Greybeards”, put into Wren's mouth the lines: 
“If anyone calls 
“I’m designing in St. Paul’s.” 
he was probably thinking how casual a perfor¬ 
mance the planning of a great cathedral might 
have seemed to an architect with such an enor¬ 
mous number of commissions on his list. At any 
rate it was a fortunate thing for England, as well 
as for this country, that when all this work had 
to be done there was someone to do it who could 
make something splendid out of the opportunity. 
What Wren actually did was to mould the Clas¬ 
sic tradition so nicely to the purposes of the place 
and the period that it produced buildings which 
had, and still have, the breath of living architec¬ 
ture. He was not content, as so many architects 
have always been, to dust off the heirlooms of 
Rome and set them up with the hope that they 
might manage to live again. Sir Christopher’s 
buildings are filled with details of wonderful rich¬ 
ness, decorations in wood and stone which are 
almost luxuriant, though they are never ornate. 
Their proportions were always noble, but they 
were never too grand to be livable. The greatest 
monument to his fame may perhaps be called St. 
Paul’s Cathedral, but his most important achieve¬ 
ment was the impetus he gave to fine architecture 
here as well as in England. If there is anything 
to be regretted at this time it is that this impetus 
has not swelled into greater proportions. For 
there is hardly a more sympathetic style for 
public and semi-public buildings than that 
which sports the graceful and satisfying domes 
and cupolas of Sir Christopher’s devising. 
F OR a year or more the farm journals have 
been carrying on a lively campaign against 
motorists who steal from farms. Perhaps the 
motorist doesn't think it is stealing to go into an 
orchard and take their pick of fruit, to dash into a 
cornfield and take an armful of corn, but it is 
thieving of the lowest kind, and many states have 
very stringent laws against it. Fruit and vegetables 
are the farmer’s stock in trade. It is as evil and 
iniquitous an act to steal his means of livelihood 
as to shoplift in a store. 
But these motorists do not stop at raiding 
farms; they are equally bold in taking their toll 
of garden flowers. A garden lover recently brought 
to our attention a raid made on her place by 
motorists who, on a Sunday morning while the 
family was at church, succeeded in stripping 
every blossom from a bed of narcissus. The bed 
which measured 100' long by 3' wide, was in full 
bloom when the family left at 10.30; by twelve 
it had been completely cut over. Neighbors saw 
the car going off with the flowers. 
Perhaps this is an exceptional case, but garden 
owners who live near the highways can doubtless 
report instances of equally bold garden robbing 
The laws of trespass, of course, protect the owner, 
but before we can hope for such laws being ob¬ 
served we have to instill into the minds and con¬ 
sciousness of such thieves the seriousness of their 
offence. There are no fine shades of stealing. 
Theft is theft. 
I N another page of this issue—down to¬ 
ward the "back of the book”—will be found 
a letter to the editor of House & Garden 
from Charles Chapin, the life termer whose gar¬ 
den work at Sing Sing we mentioned on the Nov¬ 
ember Bulletin Board. The letter is an accounting 
of Mr. Chapin’s gardening stewardship. Would 
that all gardeners could have made such a report! 
On reading it, an idea came to us. Why is it 
not possible for the wardens of long term prisons 
throughout the country to delegate the work of 
caring for and improving the prison grounds to 
life termers? These men have nothing to look 
forward to. The rest of their days must be spent 
between prison walls. The care and improvement 
of the grounds would afford an employment that 
would lighten their days and certainly give them 
a reason for living. 
It would, in a measure, be an insult to the 
ideals and purposes of gardening to turn this work 
over to the casual pickpocket, the inveterate big¬ 
amist, or the unrepentant forger, men who will go 
out into the world again and, doubtless, continue 
their nefarious practises. But a lifer is a different 
proposition. Here, in the growing of flowers and 
the maintaining of close-cropped lawns, is a noble 
employment to which he can dedicate the re¬ 
mainder of his days. 
wmnm 
T HE wide and growing interest in all forms 
of decoration in this country is responsible 
for the vast improvement in the inside as 
well as outside of our houses. We are slowly com¬ 
ing to life after a long sleep, and being fully awake 
demand surroundings thoroughly alive. Paris. 
Berlin and Vienna woke up years ago to the 
possibilities of a new form of decoration. But in 
their case it was a question of the early bird 
catching a very vivid and wriggly worm, one that 
has been pretty generally avoided in this country, 
until recently. 
Of late, however, one can feel a growing inter¬ 
est in this new form of decoration. The establish¬ 
ment of a branch of the Wiener Werkstatte in New 
York under the direction of Joseph Urban, and 
the demand for modern fabrics, gorgeous in color 
and pattern point to a desire for a more robust 
form of decoration that has been popular of late. 
USX 
T HE current revival in interest in early Ameri¬ 
can furniture should be given stimulus and 
permanent expression in the generous dona¬ 
tion by Robert W. de Forest of a wing to be 
added to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for 
housing American art of the Colonial, Revolution¬ 
ary and early Republican periods. This new 
American wing will be of invaluable assistance to 
students and collectors of early American furniture 
and should prove a constant inspiration to deco¬ 
rators and architects. While our early crafts¬ 
men borrowed liberally from work abroad, their 
productions were not lacking in freshness of de¬ 
tail and individuality. 
58 ? 
B IT by bit Americans are beginning to realize 
that unless we look to our trees the future 
generations in this country will suffer for 
want of timber. The warning sounded by Theo¬ 
dore Roosevelt against the wasteful clearing of our 
forests and the shameful neglect of reforestation 
is beginning to find an answer in devious ways 
Big lumbering firms, that are not lacking in ideals 
now employ a regular system of reforestation for 
the land they have cut over. This, of course, 
does not personally touch the average garden 
lover. 
The saving of trees, their planting and protec¬ 
tion, must, like charity, begin at home. Your 
own garden is the place to make your contribu¬ 
tion to the future. Consequently there is on foot 
a lively campaign to plant another tree. Plan to 
plant at least one tree in your garden each year; 
if the place is large, plant a number. Have a 
tree or a group of trees for each member of your 
family. Down in Concord. Georgia, the local 
garden club is planning to induce the local author¬ 
ities to plant a tree for each man, woman and 
child in the town, the planting campaign to ex¬ 
tend over three years. 
It is quite a pleasant subject for speculation— 
this family and town planting of trees. In the 
old days of New England it was the custom for 
a newly-wed to plant in front of his house an 
elm for his bride and one for himself. These are 
still called "bride and groom elms”. Thir.k what 
fun could be made of a family Arbor Day, with a 
young tree planted for each child in the family 
As the years pass and that child grows older, he 
can watch the progress of his tree. Fate being 
kind to him, he can pass many happy hours un¬ 
der its shade. It would help make him a good 
citizen. 
Theodore Roosevelt once said: “A people with¬ 
out children would face a hopeless future; a 
country without trees is almost as helpless; for¬ 
ests which are so used that they cannot renew 
themselves will soon vanish, and with them all 
their benefits. When you help to perserve our 
forests or plant new ones you are acting the part 
of good citizens.” 
M RS. Emott Buel, who writes on "Colorful 
Living Rooms”, is one of the best known 
of the New York decorators. Among her 
work are the homes of Mrs. Irving Brokaw and 
Mrs. James B. Duke. 
The Tyson House is the work of Frank J 
Forster, an architect whose work has often ap¬ 
peared in House & Garden. Mr. Forster is one of 
a younger group of architects who are raising 
the standard of architecture in this country. 
Miss Nancy McClelland, who writes on scenic 
wall papers is another New York decorator of 
repute, whose specialty is interiors in the French 
manner. 
Evangeline Adams, whose amusing summer 
home is shown in this issue, is doubtless well 
known to many as an astrologian. 
Margaret McElroy, who writes on “Grouping 
Furniture”, is the staff decorator on House & 
Garden. 
John L. Rea, who writes on perennials, is a 
sculptor who has been unable to resist garden¬ 
ing. Once he lived respectably in New York City 
and worked away at figures; now he lives at 
Plattsburg, and, when not gardening, manages 
to do a figure or two. We envy him. 
Richard Rothe is a builder of rock gardens, 
one of the best in the country, and it is always a 
pleasure to give him a page in the magazine 
where he can ride his hobby. 
Miss Swift, examples of whose work are shown 
in the Little Portfolio, is nationally known as 
a decorator. 
