LIBRARY NEW YORK botanical Distinctive Wall-Papers— Furnishing the Small House— Old Music Covers CAKDi^i JANUARY. 1914 Vol. XI. No. I MUNN & CO., Inc., Publishers NEW YORK. N. Y. PRICE. 25 CENTS $3.00 A YEAR PYRENE REDUCES INSURANCE COST *2 (> Pays Part of Your Automobile FIRE EXTINGUISHER Size 14 inches long, 3 inches in diameter. Weight 5 lb. (filled ready for use). 0Ht QUART FIRE EXTINGUISHER INSPECTED BY UNDERWRITE LABORATORIES IHC PUMP TYPE N? 44478 TO OPERATE TURN HANDLE TO LEFT WORK LIKE A PUMP Brass and Nickel- plated Pyrene Fire Ex- tinguishers are the only one-quart fire ex- tinguishers included in the list of approved Fire Appliances issued by the National Board of Fire Under- writers. Fire Insurance Cost 15% REDUCTION IN PREMIUMS is now allowed if automobile is equipped with a one- quart, hand fire extinguisher, pump-type, approved by the National Board of Fire Underwriters. <1 Remember the reduction is in effect NOW. Demand it in RENEWING YOUR PRES- ENT POLICY and demand it on EVERY NEW POLICY. The Aetna Accident and Liability Company and the Automobile Insurance Company of Hartford, Conn., allow this reduction. See their agents. Pyrene will instantly extinguish all kinds of incipient fires, no matter how inflammable the burning substance— without injuring var- nished surfaces or upholstery. Get a Pyrene Fire Extinguisher and Bracket from your Automobile Dealer, Hardware or General Store. If they can’t supply you, write to nearest Pyrene Branch Office. Write for full information PYRENE MANUFACTURING CO., 1358 Broadway, N. Y. Alton Atlanta Baltimore Boston Bridgeport Buffalo Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Dayton Denver Detroit Duluth Honolulu Jacksonville Louisville Memphis Milwaukee New Orleans Norfolk Oklahoma City Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh! Richmond St. Louis St. Paul Salt Lake City San Antonio York, Neb. PACIFIC COAST DISTRIBUTORS Gorham Engineering Co., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle DISTRIBUTORS FOR GREAT BRITAIN AND THE CONTINENT The Pyrene Co., 29A Charing Cross Road, London, W. C. ASK YOUR OWN INSURANCE BROKER January, 1914 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS KEEPING A FEW GEESE By E. I. FARRINGTON EVER since the days when a flock of geese saved Rome by their shrill cries, these birds have been popular. Not, how- ever, because of their vocal powers, but rather in spite of them. The noise made by geese makes them rather undesirable for small places, but when there is sufficient land for them to roam about, they may be kept to advantage. There are hundreds of acres of meadow and marsh land where geese would thrive and find their living for most of the year. On estates of some size geese are well worth keeping, although it may not be pos- sible to give them a wide range. Several varieties are very attractive and the flesh of young geese is highly prized by those who are familiar with its flavor. In some parts of the country the goose is consid- ered the Christmas bird, just as the turkey is expected to crown the feast on Thanks- giving Day. Great numbers of geese are raised in eastern parts of Canada and shipped to the United States in time for the holiday trade. Some varieties of geese are raised for ornamental purposes only and are to be seen on the ponds of well planned estates. The two most common practical purpose geese are the Emden and the Toulouse breeds, the former pure white and the latter gray. Geese of both varieties weigh about twenty pounds when well matured. Speci- mens weighing considerable more are often seen. Possibly Toulouse geese are rather the more common, but both breeds give satisfaction and yield a large amount of meat. African geese are also bred for meat purposes. They are gray in color and made conspicuous by a curious knob at the base of the beak. Although the Chinese goose weighs ten pounds and is well adapted to market pur- poses, the breeders are few and the breed is usually classed among the ornamentals. There are two varieties, white and brown, and with them, as with the Africans, there is a knob on the head. These birds are stylish and handsome and make a fine ap- pearance in a pond or about the grounds. Another breed often seen in public and private aviaries is the Canadian wild goose, which is easily domesticated and very pleas- the head and neck black, while there are white marks on the cheeks. In some parts of the country many of these birds are bred ing to the eye. The body color is gray and in captivity to be used as decoys for enticing wild geese flying south within gunshot. Old geese are tethered on the shore, while a number of young birds are confined in cages a little distance away. When a flock of wild birds appears, the young geese are liberated. They fly out over the water, but soon hear the call of the old birds on the shore and return. The wild geese follow, only to fall before the bullets of the hidden hunters. The flesh of the Canadian goose is highly prized by epicures. Egyptian geese are small, variegated in ^sisjORM Dft/V* C Three Type* of Control — Front, Rear, Selective Dual Select the position from which you desire to drive, nccordunt to the number of Ensserutera. Controls nnd mkrs me automatically in- terlocked by merely turning front sent to natural posi- tion required by driving conditions. LEADERSHIP To hold for 60 years the recognized supremacy in all vehicle construction— To initiate new standards in engineering, design, mechanical perfection, and luxury of appointment in each successive era — To possess the ability to combine these in master-productions that embody the genius of the artist and the skill of the finished craftsman — This is efficiency; this is true leadership— the factors that make the Rauch & Lang Electric Society’s Chosen Car. The latest Rauch & Lang introduces the famous Straight Type, Top- Mounted Worm Drive, guaranteeing reliability, maximum power efficiency with minimum cost of upkeep a car of wonderful silence. No adjustments required. Rauch & Lang agents in all large cities will gladly demonstrate. Seating, Controlling. Braking and Top-Mounted Worm-Drive features ore exclusive with Rauch & Lang cars, and, as well as the design of the car and other details of construction, are fully covered by United Stutes patents pending and granted. THE RAUCH & LANG CARRIAGE COMPANY, 2222 W. 25TH STREET (jPVOlffllcI BRANCHES: New York, 1800 Broadway; Minneapolis, 1207 _ Harmon Place; Kaunas City, 3501 Muin Street SEDAN CHAIR OF STATE MARIE ANTOINETTE EQUIPAGES OF QUEENS SERIES TWO - NUMBER. FOIJA Grand Central Palace Show Anri also exhibit in thcElectricVehicle Section at the Grand Central Palace during the ' Show. Turkish Room Waldorf - Astoria Rauch & Lang cars will be exhibited in the Turkish Room of the Waldorf-As- toria Hotel during the Grand Central Palace Show. Concrete Pottery and Garden Furniture By Ralph C. Davison THIS book describes in detail in a most practical manner the various methods of casting concrete for ornamental and useful purposes. It tells how to make all kinds of con- crete vases, ornamental flower pots, concrete pedestals, con- crete benches, concrete fences, etc. Full practical instruc- tions are given for constructing and finishing the different kinds of molds, making the wire forms or frames, selecting and mixing the ingredients, covering the wire frames, model- ing the cement mortar into form, and casting and finishing the various objects. Directions for inlaying, waterproofing and reinforcing cement are also included The information on color work alone is worth many times the cost of the book. With the information given in this book, any handy man or novice can make many useful ar d ornamental objects of cement for the adornment of the home or garden. The author has taken for granted that the reader knows nothing whatever about the subject and has ex- plained each progressive step in the various operations throughout in detail. 16 mo. (5# x 7 '/i inches) 196 Pages. 140 Illustrations. Price $1.50, postpaid MUNN & COMPANY, Inc., Publishers 361 Broadway New York AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS January, 1914 ii color and purely ornamental, the only goose the feathers of which are at all brilliant. Though handsome and apparently well fitted to adorn a private aviary, they are not in favor because of their belligerent tendencies. They are sure to make war on any other birds with which they may be con- fined and have been known to cause a heavy loss by killing several other ornamental specimens outright. Although very odd and interesting, and having a place in the American Standard of Perfection, Sebastopol geese are rare in this country. The oddity of their appearance lies in the fact that their pure, white feathers are long and silky, streaming to the ground. Feathers fifteen inches long are sometimes seen. These birds are not accounted particularly hard to raise and of course are highly ornamental. All geese of the practical purpose breeds are exceedingly hardy and very easy to raise. It is not necessary to have a tight house with various furnishings as when keeping hens. A rough shed will suffice for shelter. Much of the time will be spent in the open, anyway. A goose will tuck her feet under her heavy quilt of feathers and settle down comfortably in a blizzard, mov- ing only often enough to keep from being buried under a snow bank. It is advisable, however, to give the birds some sort of shelter in Winter, to offer protection when high winds blow. Pjeing grazing creatures, geese thrive on pasture, and when they have a wide stretch of grass land to roam over, they will need almost no grain. When confined, it is im- perative that they be given grass or other green food in abundance. Wheat, oats and corn may he given as a grain ration when needed. Goslings will eat grass from the first day, but for the first few 'months need a little crumbly mash or scalded cracked corn three times a day. It is commonly supposed that geese must have water in which to swim, but this is not a fact. Thousands of geese are raised and marketed without ever using their webbed feet in a pond or stream. A cask sunk into the ground will make a satisfactory sub- stitute for a swimming hole, but often water is given only in a bucket, which is set between four stakes driven firmly into the ground to prevent its being tipped over by the heavy birds. There is no need of renewing the flock every year as with hens. Breeding geese may be kept for many years, so that all the goslings raised may be disposed of before cold weather comes, unless the grower de- sires to keep a number of them along to serve on the table in the course of the Winter. Geese live to be very old, but the ganders have a tendency to become cross after they reach the age of six or seven vears and usually are not kept much longer than ten years at any rate. Sometimes they become so bellicose that they will attack women and children and they are able to cause a serious injury with their powerful wings. The females are commonly kept somewhat longer than the ganders. Geese are polygamists but in a limited way. It is customery to mate a gander with two or three geese. When once made, mat- ings often last for many years, the ganders paying no attention to other geese. It is not advisable to mate geese under three years of age. for which reason the man or woman who desires to make an immediate start in the breeding of geese should pur- chase mated mature birds. It is always well to have geese mated and in their permanent ciuarters as early as possible in the year, as they need some time to get acquainted with their surroundings Trial Three Months, over 300 page*, Ten Cent* U. S. Greatest Collector Magazine FOUNDED IN 1895 T5he Philatelic West and Collector’s World Superior, Nebraska, U. S. A. The oldest, largest monthly American Collector*’ Paper. 100 pages each iuue, replete with interesting reading and advertising, illustrated, pertaining to Sump*, Curio*. Coins, Postal Card* and Entire Cover*, Old Weapon* and Pistols, Historical Discoveries, Minerals, Relic* of all kinds. Old Books, etc. Over 3,600 pages issued in two year*. An unimiUted expensive meritorious feature is the publication in each number of illustra- tion* of leading collector* and dealer* of the world. 75 cent* for 12 numbers ; Foreign and Canada. $1 or 4m. Sample Free L. T. BRODSTONE, Publisher Superior, Nebraska, U.S. A. SCHAFFER STUDIO. Tor DISTINCTION and INTEREST build lu our outdoor, historic American "Vlnland" style. Derivation specifications, exclusive rights Typical plans 25c., or your own Idea In water colors J5. 00. Special legendary decorative feat- ures designed lor your present home J10.00, 0!!» Flournoy Street, Olilougo. 111. PUMPS-AU Kinds CYLINDERS, Etc. Hay Unloading Tools Barn Door Hunger* Write for Circulars and Price* F. E. MYERS & BR0., Ashland, 0. Ashland Pump and Hay Tool Work* Jt Typical Crii/lsi/iau Heme What We Will Send You for 25 Cents— I. Our new book. "Craftsman Houses." by Gustav Stickler giving selected model plan*, ikelcbe*. intenors and details of rer Oaf liman home* — 122 illustration* in all. 2‘ aUn?1 HoT? Decor>,ion Number < 1Mb bK Ah 1 bMAN a golden treasury of the newest thin* tor the homelover. 3. The help of THE CRAFTSMAN Architects in selecting th most suitable model houie plans for a prospective new home. 4. A detailed answer to any specific question dealing with build mg. interior decoration, furnishing, gardening, real estate, counlr home problems, schools, or arts and crafts THE CRAFTSMAN Poultry attk Uni? ^tork Str?rtorij G. D. TILLEY Naturalist Beautiful Swans, Fancy Pheasants, Peafowl, Cranes, Storks, Ornamental Ducks and Geese, Flamingoes, Game and Cage Birds. “Everything in the bird line from a Canary to an Ostrich’’ 1 am the oldest established and largest exclusive dealer in land and water birds in America and have on hand the most extensive Stock in the United Stales. G. D. TILLEY Box A, Darien, Conn. Geese lay from a dozen to fifty eggs a season, depending upon breed and strain. The Toulouse has the reputation of being a better egg producer than the Emden. Ex- cept the Toulouse, the common geese are satisfactory mothers, but it is customary to set the first eggs laid under liens in order to induce the geese to lay a larger number. The geese like barrels or old boxes placed in out of the way spots for their nests and thirty days are required for incubating the eggs. The goslings must have water to drink from the first day. but should not be allowed to swim until the feathers come. In fact, it is well to get them under cover when rain falls for the first few weeks, while they are covered only with down. CHINESE WOMEN CHINESE ladies, says Edith Blake in The Nineteenth Century, do not care for exercise, and rarely leave the house except in a closed sedan chair. They occupy themselves somewhat similarly to European ladies in other respects. They pay and receive visits, see after their households, choose jewels and toilettes, play cards, dominoes, or chess, smoke water-pipes, and sometimes a whiff of opium, make the pretty little miniature gardens, of which several are usually seen in Chinese houses, occupy them- selves in various kinds of work, in paint- ing, and so on. The life is varied by the recurrence of festivals, and a wealthy woman sometimes passes several months in pilgrimages. As a general rule the ladies are Buddhists, but their Confucian husbands escort them on these expedi- tions, in which they are accompanied by a numerous retinue of servants. The huge Buddhist monasteries are pictur- esquely perched on some high mountain, surrounded by forests and crags, with streams trickling here and there over the rocks, and every now and then is seen a little shrine on some large stone, and in the shrine the figure of a smiling “Goddess of Mercy” holding an infant in her arms, or a solemn stone Buddha, before whom a few incense-sticks give out their lives in sweet perfume. When a great lady arrives at one of these sylvan retreats a suite of apartments in one of the numer- ous courts of guest chamber is assigned to her, and her attendants spread out the gorgeous hangings and rich silks belong- ing to their mistress, and deck the bare rooms, provided by the kind monks, with mirrors and brilliant scrolls, so that the simple chambers become a fitting set- ting for the dainty occupants, who will there spend several days passed in wor- shipping at the various shrines, in attend- ing services chanted by the monks, ex- pending large sums in charity, and in providing feasts of fruit and rice, cakes and vegetables for the poor. The Chinese are large-hearted in their chari- ties, and the women are not behind the men in this respect. An awful famine de- vasted the Empire between 1877-79, in which two years no less than some ten or eleven millions of people are said to have died. Some time afterwards an English lady traveling in that region fre- quently met poor widows, who would re- late how their lives had been saved by the wife of a small official who, during that fearful visitation, had daily provided them with a good meal. When the Eng- lish traveler congratulated this Chinese lady on her kindness, the latter answered, “How could I enjoy my own meals if these poor neighbors were starving?” January, 1914 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS Have a Beautiful Yard and Attractive Home Surroundings V lowering trees and shrubs reouire but little space in the yard or lawn and are always the admiration of passers- by. Among the best are the Aralias, Catalpa. Japan Ch.Trry- Cornus, Crabs. Horse Chestnut. Judas. Mag- nohas Thorns, Altheas, Hydrangea. Wcigela. Spireas. etc. These in connection with groups of Dwarf Shrub- bery. Roses. Grasses and Hardy Herbaceous Plants, make a beautiful lawn and attractive, homelike surround- ings They can be had at a nominal cost, within the reach ofeveryon^ \Ve carry everything for theGarden. Lawn. Park and Orchard. 60 years of fair dealing has pU\vrUS *° i ‘,ont- 1.200 acres. 46 greenhouses. *£forGenera,Ca,alo8:No 2- 1 92 pages, free. IKY US. We guarantee satisfaction. (77) The Storrs & Harrison Co. Box 220 Painesville, Ohio Biltmore Nurserv Polishes helpful books describ- . , - , * ing ,rees. flowering shrubs, hardy garden flowers. Irises and Roses. Tell us about your in- ,,£!'ded plantings, so that we may send you the proper literature. 'V rite today. BILTMORE NURSERY. Box 1714, Biltmore. N. C. The Stephenson System of Underground Refuse Disposal Jives the battering of your cans and scattering ( garbage Iroin pounding out froren contents. "Thousands in Use." Underground Garbage and Refuse Receivers \ fireproof and sanitary disposal of ashes and refuse in front ■>f your healer. Our Underground H, trill Closet means Ireedom from froren cesspool connections, a necessity without sewers. Ten years oil the market. It pays to look us up. Sold Direct. Send for Circular. C.H. STEPHENSON, Mfr. 21 Farrar St.. Lynn, Mass. Send (or catalogue A-28 (or pergolas, sun dials and garden furniture or A-40 of wood columns Hartmann-Sanders Co, Manufacturers of KolFs Patent Lock JointColumns Suitable for PERGOLAS, PORCHES or INTERIOR USE ELSTON and WEBSTER AVENUES CHICAGO. ILLINOIS Eaitern Office: 1123 Broadway, New York City My New Book, “ California Gardens ” Containing 50 $000 Garden Plans Reaiiliful lM-pagc cloth-bound 18*11) book just off iimm 5ii praclic.il g.irilen plans and descriptions for any sire 1. .« — jefect up to country estates, 103 halftone illustrations. Shuns how to beet ub lice every inch ol ground. Among plans are Alpine, Colonial. Dutch Bulb. Formal. Heath, Iris, Japanese Flat, Japanese Hill, Japanese Ins, Japanese Tea, Natural. Old Fash- loned. Old F.ngliah. Rose. Rock and Water ,.,r.lc,„. Plans lor every taste. Shows most effective treatments of landscapes, pergolas, rose arches, water gardens. Japa- nese garden ornaments, garden hirniture. etc. Savcstime, worry uid money. Shows how to trans- l "Mil your back yard into an art- garden. I ittlecost. Send P. O. or Express Money Order today. LUG EXE O. MIRMA.NN 2 10 Cen trill A ip. GLENDALE. 10S ANGELES CALIFORNIA ROSE PLANTING IN CALIFORNIA By J. V. TUTTLE IX our land of sunshine and roses, January is the month for transplanting the rose. Nurserymen offer hundreds of varieties oi every color and every habit. Most of the best nurserymen offer these young plants shipped m pots. 1 he transportation is a little more, hut the method is much safer than when the roots are bare. It is well worth the extra cost for when you lose a rose bush, you lose, not the cost of the hush alone, hut several months in the adornment of your home. I he matter of selection of roses is pri- marily a selection for the use of which the variety is to be put. Certain varieties arc suitable for trailing over walls and fences or for climbing over porches or pergolas. Others are best used in borders or in beds. A few are very dwarf and may be used as edgings. Still others are valuable espe- cially for cutting. Here are a few of the most delightful of the climbers: Banksia Single White, ( rim son Rambler, Cecile Brunner (salmon pink). Cloth of Gold (yellow), Prairie Queen (rosy red), and Climbing Hermosa (deli cate rose). Especially suited to use in borders and in beds are the following: Alice Roosevelt (deep pink), Baby Rambler (crimson), Papa Gontier (red), Safrano (yellow), American Beauty (pink to rose), and Bride ( white). Hie best dwarf sorts for edgings are: Annie Marie Mob travel (white), Clothilde Soupert (pink), Schneikopf (white), Mig- nonette (pink). These should he bought in some quantity for their best effect comes from massing them along the edge of a bed or along e. drive. January is fruit tree month. Prune the trees you already have, and if you want more, order them at once and put them in before the first of February. Many of the earlier blooming sorts will begin to blossom next month and then it will he too late to set out deciduous fruit trees. There are so many different kinds of climates in California that it is almost im- possible to give definite information for varieties to plant that will succeed in every location. For the northern coast region the follow- ing varieties are recommended as having been the most successful: Apples— Baldwin, Esopus, Spitzenburg, Famousc. Gravenstein, Red Astracan. Cherries— Royal Ann and Black Tartarian Peaches— Early Crawford and Muir Pears — Bartlett and Anjou. Plums and Prunes — French Prune, Coe’s Golden Drop and Columbia. Quince — Pineapple. For the central valleys : Apples — Gravenstein, Hoover, Red Astracan. Rhode Island Greening, and Yellow Bellflower Apricots — Blenheim, I-Temskirke, Moor- park. and Royal. Cherries— Bing. Early Purple Guigne, Lambert. Royal Ami. and Black Tartarian. Peaches — Early Crawford, Late Crawford, Lovell. Muir, and Salway. Pears — Bartlett. Seckel, and Winter Nellis. Plums and Prunes — French Prune. Coe's Golden Drop, Im- perial Epineuse, Kelsey, Sugar and Wick- son. For Southern California : Apples — Fall Pippin. Jonathan. Missouri Pippin, Red Astracan. Rhode Island Greening. Rome Beauty, Winesap. and Yellow Bellflower. Apricots — Blenheim. F.arly Golden. Early Moorpark, and Royal. Cherries — Royal Ann, Black Tartarian, May Duke, and Richmond. Peaches — Early Crawford, Elberta, Heath Cling. Lovell, Muir, Sal- way, and Yellow Tuscany. Pears — YOLIR copy of our 1914 Spring Catalog is waiting for you. It is brimful of help- ful suggestions for your garden — its planting and care. Full instructions as to the best way to grow every flower and vegetable — a list of varieties even more compre- hensive than ever — these are but a few ol the many reasons for the popularity of Thor- burn’s Annual Seed Catalog. We’ve just prepared n rather novel little book called "A Thorlumi Garden for a Family of Six” in winch wo plan your vegetable garden for you. A copy goes with each catalog. J. M. Thorburn & Co. 53-P Barclay Street - New York IV AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS January, 1914 MINERAL WOOL The Modern House Lining. Samples and Circulars Free. U. S. MINERAL WOOL CO. 140 Cedar Slreet New York City JUST PUBLISHED Popular Handbook for Cement and Concrete Users CEMENT ,c° — really a book of 204 pages, 14 colored plates and over 800 photo engravings, showing actual results without exaggeration. It is a mine of information of everything in Gardening, either for pleasure or profit, and em- bodies the results of over sixty-seven years of practical experience. To give this catalogue the largest possible distribution we make the following liberal offer: Every Empty Envelope Counts As Cash To everyone who will state where this advertisement was seen and who encloses Ten Cents we will mail the catalogue. And Also Send Free of Charge Our Famous 50-Cent “HENDERSON” COLLECTION OF SEEDS containing one packet eacli of Ponderosa Tomato. Bie Boston Lettuce White Tipped Scarlet Radish, Hmderson s Invincible Asters, Mammoth butterfly Pansies nnd Giant Spencer Sweet Peas, in a coupon envelope, which, when emptied and returned, will Ik? accepted a- a 25 -cent cadi payment on any order amountins to $1 00 and upward. With the Henderson Collection will be sent complete cultural directions, tojether with the Henderson Garden Plans Peter Henderson & Co. 35 & 37 Cortland St. New York City the same simple methods that were fol- lowed by their remote ancestors. We quote from the consul’s description as follows: “In gathering, sheets are laid in the bot- tom of the canoe and a start is made for the rice beds. A man sits in the bow of the boat and paddles, while his helpmate takes up a position in the stern and with the aid of two stout sticks bends the stalks over the canoe and thrashes the rice into the bot- tom of the boat. This continues until the boat is nearlv full, when the rice is taken to shore and spread out to dry. After a few hours in the hot sun the grain is ready for parching. This is usually done by the women, who place it in a large iron pot and heat it over a slow fire, stirring it con- tinually until it is ‘parched.’ It is then ready for thrashing. This is done by one of the men nutting it in an iron pot or large wooden bowl hollowed out of a log, and with moccasins on his feet and trousers tied tightly around his ankles, he jumps on il until the grain is separated from the chaff, The last operation is that of sifting. The rice is poured into birch-bark baskets, in small quantities, and squatting down in front of the tents on the shore, under the trees, or any place where there is a good breeze, the women gently shake until the chaff is separated from the grain, and is blown away by the wind. Crude as it may seem, it is exceedingly effective, and the workers are scrupulously clean throughout the whole process.” FARMERS’ BULLETINS THE publications of the U. S. Depart- ment of Agriculture during the last fiscal year included 2,110 different bulle- tins, circulars, reports, and other docu- ments, of which 34,678,557 copies were issued. Of these 10,409,000 were Farmers’ Bulletins. The series bearing the latter title represents one of the most remarkable examples extant of the activities of a pa- ternal^ government. It now includes more than 500 titles, running through an almost exhaustively wide range of subjects of prac- tical interest in connection with rural life and industries. For example, during the past year Farmers’ Bulletins were issued on “House Flies,” “The Use of Concrete on the Farm,” “Forestry in Nature Study,” Tuberculosis, “Ice Houses,” “Lawns and I. awn Soils,’’ “The English Sparrow as a Pest,” “and some forty other topics. The publications of this series are all distributed gratis to the public, either directly by the department or through members of Con- gress, and although thev are printed in large editions (from 20,000 to 250,000) the stock on hand is soon exhausted, and many ap- plicants are disappointed. VALUE OF MONEY YEARS AGO IN the year 200 B. C. money was five times as valuable as it is now, says the Philatelic W est. In the eighth century, after the abandonment of the mines of Spain and Attica, it had risen to six and one half times the present value. In the seventeenth century it reached the maxi- mum of seven and one half times the pres- ent value. Soon after the discovery of America, in 1492, it rapidly declined on ac- count of the great amount of metal that began to accumulate in Europe. In 1514. twenty-two years after the discovery of America it declined to four and one’ half times our present scale. In 1536, twenty- two years later, it had fallen down to two and a quarter times the present value. In 1640 it was nearly at our present-day value. January, 1914 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS » h a a a a a « :t a a a a a a a a.iaiBlBiaiBlB a a a a a a a a .a a a. a a a,B.aia a a a a a a a a |ai fa a « OUR SMALL HOUSE ARCHITECTURAL CONTEST « fttl la American Homes and Gardens makes the offer of $100 to !£' the architect submitting the best design and plans for a small !«, house, original with himself, not to exceed a construction cost of $5,000. Either photographs of houses already built and plans, or designs and plans of projected houses may be entered in this competition, which is open to all readers of American Homes and Gardens, whether subscribers or not. American Homes and Gardens will publish the winning de- sign and the honorable mention designs and plans of the competitors in its Small House Number. May issue. All designs and plans must be sent addressed to the Editor, Small House Competition, American Homes and Gardens, 361 Broadway, New York, by March 20. 1913. A committee of three well-known architects will pass upon the merits of the designs. The publishers of American Homes and Gardens will not be responsible for any of the photographs, drawings, and plans submitted, but will endeavor to return all such to the contestants, if requested to do so. Postage for return should be prepaid, otherwise any photographs sent will be shipped by express, charged collect. See announcement else- where in this number. a h h h Hi a ai a B| alBiafalial alaJal a aaaaaBaHBBBaa a a a"a a a a aiala a a a a a a a THE FEBRUARY NUMBER THE Happy New Year which, eximo corde, American Homes and Gardens wishes all its readers goes forth this year to thousands of more subscribers than ever before in the lifetime of this magazine, for it is gratifying to an- nounce a large increase in the circle of subscribers during 1913. It is just as gratifying, however, to note that with the coming of new readers the old subscribers still renew their interest in the magazine, and this causes the Editor to feel that his is no futile mission, no ephemeral pro- duction for the fitful few, but is, instead, a work of sufficient constructive work to win for itself the confidence readers of American Homes and Gardens have sincerely be- stowed upon the magazine. The February issue will, as has been customary in years past, give especial attention to the subject of suburban houses, and the opening article will be devoted to a consideration of this subject, accom- panied by numerous half-tone reproductions of attractive houses of the type, together with reproductions of their plans. Where the world over is there anything more dis- tinctively American than maple sugar? February is the month the sap-gatherers and sugar-makers get their product ready for the market, and in February American Homes and Gardens will show, in a delightful illustrated descrip- tion of maple-sugar making in the country, how the country folk go about it in primitive fashion. Some old Salem fences of unusual beauty in design will also be described in an illustrated article in this same issue. Many of the old- time fences of Colonial days were designed by the best architects of the period, and deserve' more attention than has, as yet, been given them. Indeed, the fence has been too sweepingly abolished from American suburban homes, and there is every evidence that American home-builders who require fencing to be erected for any purpose will come to give the subject of the architectural detail of its design the attention it deserves. Another timely article for this issue will concern itself with the private game preserve. This, too, will be adequately illustrated by unusually fine photographic reproductions. In “The Collectors’ Depart- ment” one of the finest private collections of embroideries in the world will be described in an illustrated article, and “Collecting Old Valentines” will be the theme of another collectors’ article. I’he usual departments, “Within the House,” “Around the Garden,” “Helps to the Housewife,” “ f he Collectors’ Mart,” etc., will help to make this one of the most attractive numbers of American Homes and Gardens as yet issued. MACHINES AND HUMAN BEINGS WE have come to look upon our factories as great machines from foundation to room, including the workers therein. Just as truly have we become imbued with the idea that all labor is of the nature of the machine — in- fallible in its mechanical duties once set in motion. But this is all wrong. Factories are more truly human beings than we have permitted ourselves to realize and the time has come when we should be realizing this, realizing the same thing of great industries in general. As an instance, let the railroad industry be taken into consideration. As an article in one of our exchanges points out: “Investigation carried on for ten years by the Interstate Commerce Commission has shown that most train accidents are owing to human error. ‘Despatch- es give wrong orders, or fail to give orders where they are required; operators fail to copy orders that should be deliv- ered; conductors and enginemen misread, misinterpret, over- look, or forget orders.’ From this fact it can be argued, and has been argued, that a railway should trust little to the skill and conscience of employees, but should give its atten- tion and its money to perfecting its material defenses against accident — that it should make its cars unbreakable and un- burnable, its rails and bridges strain-proof, its safety-signal apparatus perfect to the point of automatically stopping any train that gets too near another. It is true that the railway should make these improvements; yet to the training and the discipline of its employees it must give even better thought. Imperfect as human beings are, both mentally and morally, they are capable of being taught, and of being inspired with the spirit of loyalty that the French call esprit de carps; despatches, operators, conductors and enginemen can be so taught and so inspired that failure, from whatever cause, to carry out orders can be reduced to an almost incredible minimum. Such a result will grow out of two things: hirst, every official must perfectly understand the work, the circum- stances, and the personality of every man immediately under him, for then the employees will feel that they are treated as human beings, and they will respond by giving their interest and conscience to their work; and, moreover, when any one of them has to drop out, there will always be someone else fit to take his place. Second, there must be an absolutely strict and impartial discipline that will recognize efficiency, but will as promptly bring home to anyone, whether work- man or official, the consequences of disobeying orders. The sense of responsibility and loyalty that can thus be awak- ened will, in the opinion of some of our greatest railway men, do more to insure safety than any number of steel cars anti automatic signals. AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS January, 1914 W E CANNOT CONfSHCR AT E- W E- CA > i \ FOURSCORE AND SEVEN YEA l ^ \ FORTH ON THIS CONTINENT A N .•,» \ UBERTY.AND DEDICATED TO THE PROPO * j MEN ARE. CREATED EQUAL. NOW WE ARE. 5NOACED-1N A.CREAT CIVIL v / WHETHER THAT NVriON.ORANY NATION Si DEDICATED. CAN hONO. ENDORE. x\ \ WE AREMETON ACREAT BATTIEFIEID1 COME TO DEDICATE A PORTION OF TR place FOR THOSE WHO HERE CAVE THTW-OVES THAT .VIEULR i vvzjl h .i?u&L VliTlLYlL imm m E BRAVE MEN Li' OUR POOR POWER TO ADO OR DETRACT. THE WORLD : WHAT WE SAY HERE. BUT IT CAN NEVER FORGE' >. mE HViNG.RATHER.TO BE DEDICATED HERETO VRO FOUGHT HERE HAVETHUS FAR SO N0B1.Y MY'* DEDICATED TQ.THE'GREAT TASK' REMAINING M • WE TAKE INCREASED DEVOTION TO THAT CAUSB-FO warn LU It 13 m hm+ivuz F AD WE TAKB lVCREASEDDE.VOTlO^TO'TffAT CAtfSB-BO^ftTCI TH OF FREEDOM VAIN:/FHA 7j;clil\ LV1K UA11iiaUA!lxUK IV! lit* JM- UK'*V' ;-v kWSli. *Llil¥U lU'Kt)l,i;l» m- OimiUi 11LUEU Efclim HAY1* L ■he uni/ Bronze Tablet. Lincoln’s Gettysburg; Speech 22 x 28 inches Bronze. 28 x 34 inches Marble 14 V x 21 inches Bronze. 18 V x 24 inches Marble Bas-relief by Victor D. Brenner, Sc. — The Gorham Co., Founders Bronze Head Height 19'» in. Base 6 x 7 in. Cutzon Borglum Sculptor The Gorham Co. Founders “THE MASTERPIECE OE MODERN ENGLISH ELOQUENCE.” “ I will escape the task of deciding (between Britons) which is the masterpiece of modern English eloquence by awarding the prize to an American, Abraham Lincoln, for his Gettys- burg address. ' 5 — Lord Curzon of Ked lesion, Chancellor of Oxford University. Au immediate and cordial re*pouNe In aaaiired to all inquirer*! on every branch of the nii bjeet ; pliotograplia and full informa- tion will he furnished freely to everyone interested. THE GORHAM COMPANY FIFTH AVENUE AND 36th STREET NEW YORK American Homes and Gardens Announcement: $100.00 for the Best Design and Plans for a Small House will be Awarded to the Architect Successful in this SMALL HOUSE ARCHITECTURAL CONTEST The conditions governing which are as follows : 1 . The design and plans must be original with the but will endeavor to return all such to the con- architect submitting them. testants, if requested to do so. Postage for 2. I he construction cost of the projected house must return should be prepaid, otherwise any photo- not exceed $5,000 including heating plant and graphs sent will be shipped by express, charges plumbing. The elevations may be either photo- collect. graphs of houses already built or wash drawings 5. All designs and plans must be sent before March of projected houses suitable for half-tone 15, 1914, prepaid, addressed to The Editor, * [ePr°ductlon- • , , Architectural Contest, American Homes and 3. 1 he plans must be line drawings in black and Gardens, 361 Broadway New York N Y 4 Th pCkl k mpv 6- TheP,an,smust not be marked with the’ architect’s f AMERICAN HOMES AND name but with an identification name instead, GARDENS will not be responsible for any of the key to which should accompany the plans the photographs, drawings and plans submitted, photographs and designs in a sealed envelope. AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS will publish the successful design and the honorable mention designs and p ans in its Small House Number, May 1 9 1 4. A committee of well-known architects will pass upon the merits of the designs and plans submitted. The names of the members of this committee will be announced later A CAN II AND GARDENS A City House of Distinction Wall Papers and Their Selection House of Mr. S. Z. Poli at Woodmont, Connecticut How to Furnish a House on $1,500 A Country House at Hewlett, Long Island A Bungalow Built for $2,400 Early Illustrated Music Titles Door-Knockers Tulip Ware Within the House Problems of Furnishing a Small Colonial House. . Planning for To-Morrow’s Furnishings Around the Garden The New Year’s Garden Helps to the Housewife The Modern Pantry When Mailing Cut Flowers Raising Watercress Indoors The Collectors’ Mart New Books By A Im a Byers By Elizabeth I.ounsbery ... .By Marie E. Camp . .By Coslcn Fitz-Gibbo n By George Crane B v Robert Leonard Ames By Gardner Teall Editor’s Notebook CHARLES ALLEN MUNN FREDERICK CONVERSE BEACH President MUNN & CO., I n C . Secretary and Treasurer Publishers 361 Broadway, New York Published Monthly. Subscription Rates: United States, $3.00 a year; Canada, $3.50 a year. Foreign Countries, $4.00 a year. Single Copies 25 cents. Combined Subscription Rate for “American Homes and Gardens" and the “Scientific American,” $5.00 a year. Copyright 1913 by Munn & Co . Inc- Registered in United States Patent Office. Entered as second-class matter June 15. 1905, at the Post Office at New York. N. Y.. under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. The Editor will be pleased to consider all contributions, but "American Homes and Cardens" will not hold itself responsible for manuscripts and photographs submitted (^OOOOC^XXDOO^X u 3(^0000(^0000^) 4S§g§J| r^ooooc^oooo^x (^OOOOC^OOOO^C n <^0000(^0000 gs) The armory in the Belmont house presents the aspect of a baronial hall in feudal times AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 1= IIMiniPMWMIl Volume X1 ® January, 1914 M n^TT A City House of Distinction By Robert H. Van Court Photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnston and Mattie Edwards Hewitt HE student of architecture in America or any- one who follows the changes in tendencies in home-building cannot but be impressed with the growing fondness upon the part of architects, as well as their clients, for the manner of building which was in vogue during the days of the Italian Renaissance. The past ten years have seen the building of many great American homes in this most sumptuous of architectural styles, some of them being in the city and others in surroundings more or less rural. In either case there is a consistent following of tra- dition, for ancient precedents are not lacking for the build- ing of a great Renaissance palace close to the curbstone of a city street, where its area is necessarily circumscribed, while the old Renaissance country villa, with its formal gar- dens, its marble fountains, and its general atmosphere of The great gallery in the residence of Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, New York, is filled with a priceless collection of antique armor ^ f 1 *. tt A 1 / IjiL ..flKjr Qf i 0 | fj j&a ‘ i iTl vr - i 4 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS January, 1914 magnificent rusticity, fasci- nates all who journey to that land of romance and olive groves. The Italian palace or villa was built as a setting for life during a glorious and cere- monious age, and its splendid formality of existence is ex- pressed quite as eloquently in the architecture of the period as in the pages of history which record the romance of the age. But equally beautiful, and perhaps in a way more inter- esting to Americans, is the form of architecture known as the Georgian style, from which our own Colonial ar- chitecture is directly descend- ed. The great masters of English building during the eighteenth century planned their houses as settings for a life somewhat more domestic than that which obtained dur- ing the days of the Renais- sance; great apartments and The marble entire suites of formal and stately rooms were still the rule, but their grandeur was somewhat softened and their stateliness much modified by the demands of English so- cial customs. Georgian architecture be- came so identified with Eng- lish domestic life and re- sponded so exactly to its re- quirements that it has always held its place in popular fa- vor; many old homes which were built by the great Geor- gian architects themselves are yet existing to bear wit- ness to their skill. In Eng- land, in the cities as well as in the country, there has never been the incessant tear- ing down and building up and the consequent oblitera- tion of old localities which goes on so unceasingly in New York. A great English fam- ily will for generations oc- cupy the same London resi- dence and possess intact the same country estates, and therefore one may wander through entire urban or rural entrance-hall districts which are full of the architecture of centuries ago. In London, particularly, there are many localities, old squares or streets, entirely built up ,1 .rup-xrrmi rtaTitnraiXCTmiTl 1 1 1 1 \Jjw ■ 1 1 H U* *■* ‘IsVniMlK III 1 Hi . The Gothic Room in the Belmont house contains remarkable tapestries and many other treasures of mediaeval art f January, 1914 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS with residences in the graceful and usually unaffected style which the name of Georgian immediately calls to mind. It is therefore something more than a mere suggestion of Bel- gravia, Mayfair, Hyde Park or some other of the many fashionable localities of old-world London which one re- ceives at the sight of the New York residence of Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, at Fifty-first Street and Madison Avenue. Its correctly Georgian facade of white stone, with its tall pilasters extending from the lower Hoor through the height of the two upper stories and supporting a balustrade of stone are true to precedent and suggest English reserve and reticence, hinting only vaguely at the richness and mag- nificence which one feels sure must be hidden behind an exterior so dignified. The residence covers the area of two city lots. The greater dimension is therefore upon the Madison Avenue side of the property, and upon this side is placed the en- trance to the house, the main doorway being within a vesti- bule the opening into which corresponds with the other door- ways and the windows of the lower or entrance floor, the main floor being just above. At the very threshold one may realize the possibilities of the Georgian architecture, in which many of the rooms, as well as the exterior, are carried out, for the vestibule opens directly into a large and lofty entrance-hall, paved with stone and walled with beautifully veined marble. Tall columns and pilasters with Corinthian capitals support a ceiling of plaster in geomet- rical design, and upon one side a marble stairway leads to the drawing-room floor above. Upon the right as one enters the residence is a small reception-room, which is aLo an informal drawing-room. The walls are adorned with panels and frieze in high relief, and bookcases are built into the embrasures formed by the chimney-piece, while, as an overmantel, two columns support a broken pediment wherein an eagle stands with wings extended. Several of the windows of the reception-room are placed within the slightly curved or "bowed” extension, which is characteris- tically Georgian. At the north end of the lofty marble entrance-hall wide doorways lead into the great dining-room. The walls are faced with cream-colored marble upon which is applied decoration in high relief, wrought of bronze and colored verde antique. In this very rich combination of materials and color is the overmantel with its columns supporting an entablature over the chimney-piece. I he ceiling is covered with a great circular allegorical painting framed by a wide band of relief in dull gold. The furniture is of old Italian design and the chairs are covered with velvet, while deep Italian lace is used to adorn the sideboard and various small buffets. A large part of the lower floor is taken up by the most beautiful and sumptuous of libraries. The room is of un- usual size, being fifty-four feet in length, and is ceiled and paneled with richly carved wood with cases for books re- cessed within the panels upon both sides of the room. At one end of the library are doors opening into a stair-hall which repeats the elaborate Gothic architecture of the library and which is lighted by stained-glass windows. Upon the floor just above are arranged the drawing- room and the other apartments of a formal nature required This view of the Gothic room well exhibits the possibility of producing graceful interiors in this style 6 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS January, 1914 in a large and important city residence. The available floor space has been used to provide a few very large and spa- cious, rather than a greater number of smaller rooms, and these various apartments open into one another in a way which makes the entire floor available upon formal occa- sions. The walls of the “Gothic Room” are faced with stone which is carved with the same linen-fold pattern which appears upon the panels of the old doors of carved wood that open into the rooms adjoining. A great Gothic hooded mantel is the chief ornament of this room, and about the fireplace are many chairs covered with old tapestry. A beau- tiful panel of antique Flemish tapestry hangs upon the wall over a great carved chest, upon which are arranged several old ecclesiastical statues, old vestments and frag- ments of embroidery and other relics of centuries ago. Four old lighting fixtures of iron hang at the corners of the room, and with their electric candles add to the quaintness of the effect. The drawing-room has its walls hung with green January, 1 9 14 7 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS and gold brocade, with a richly gilded cornice and caryatid brackets. The woodwork and much of the furniture of the draw- ing-room is gilt; the lighting is supplied from old French gilt sconces hung upon the wall and from candelabra upon the mantel. Between the Gothic Room and the drawing-room there is placed a small foyer, which is really an- other drawing-room. Here the walls are paneled with wood and slender pilasters support the ceil- ing. Several old portraits are upon the walls and at the center of the room is hung an old French chandelier of crystal and ormolu. The great stone stairway which leads upward from the long Gothic library ends in what is the most wonderful and beautiful part of a very interesting and un- usual residence. In the armory are arranged the large and price- less collections of mediaeval ar- mor, battle-flags, banners and trophies of various kinds, which were formed during many years by the late Mr. Belmont, The smaller of the drawing-rooms effect which one a group of five and which were removed from “Belcourt,” the beautiful and very picturesque residence of the Bel- monts at Newport. To prepare fitting surroundings for this great array of antique treasures, the architects of Mrs. Belmont’s city home, Messrs. Hunt & Hunt, have built what suggests the ar- mory of a mediaeval castle upon the banks of the Rhine or the Danube, from which a feudal lord and his mailed retainers might have sallied forth to battle. The ceiling of this large and im- pressive room is groined and vaulted in stone in the manner of the great Gothic halls of Ger- many and from the “bosses” or rosettes of ornament where the ribs of the roof converge are hung old chandeliers of wrought-iron, while candelabra, also of iron, are fixed to the walls. At the north end of the armory, and heighten- ing the ecclesiastical or mediaeval is apt to associate with a Gothic interior, is pointed windows filled with stained glass, The reception-room with its Georgian chimney-place 8 January, 1 914 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS which shed a subdued and mellow light upon the long gal- lery, where, upon old tables, are spread many wonderful pieces of armor, trophies of war, the chase, or perhaps of tournaments centuries ago. Here, too, are several old stat- uettes of wood or of metal, some of men who were warriors as well as saints, and who battled with men as well as fought for heaven. Against the walls of this quaint and mediaeval room are placed old carved Gothic cabinets or cupboards of oak now dark with age, and several old paintings and tapestries lend a glow of color to the stone walls upon which they are hung. In the armory there are also several complete suits of armor, and within a few of them are effigies so skillfully arranged and so lifelike in appearance that one half expects to be saluted by an armed retainer of the castle. A mag- nificent and entirely complete set of equestrian armor is mounted upon the effigy of a horse which is almost covered by the velvet and embroidered trappings, the making of which, history and romance lead us to believe, occupied much of the time of the mistress of a castle and her maidens. From the appearance of the horse, fully covered and armed, and ridden by an effigy of his master, also armed and spurred and with vizor drawn down over the face, and with the bird of victory perched upon the helmet, one may gather a fair idea of the dignity and impressive grandeur of the castle’s lord when in the full panoply of battle he led his warriors forth. Overhead, hung from the vaulted ceiling, are many battle flags — banners stained and tattered and marked with the arms of medieval knights and of half-forgotten principali- ties, which bear a mute but eloquent testimony to the days of service in camp or upon the battlefield which they have seen. Aside from the value of the armor as aiding to create a highly picturesque and decorative setting for the life of a great city residence the collection possesses a high impor- tance to the student of history or to anyone interested in the metal smiths of the middle ages and their work. I he armorer, a pastmaster in the intricacies of his craft, was a personage of much consequence at any court or castle of mediaeval days. His glowing furnaces and the well-directed blows upon the anvil of his trained workers produced the trusty swords and the heavy armor in which the castle’s defenders were almost invulnerable to attack. The working of iron into steel and the welding and forging of steel into arms, tested and tempered, was an art of practical necessity in earlier days, and the armor which came from their forges is the treasure of museums to-day. At one side of the armory is a great Gothic chimney-piece of stone, and the light from its deep fireplace illumines what is a strange assemblage of the fragments of the life of other centuries and ages ago, and what seems to be a chapter from the history of romance and chivalry set forth upon a spot which was all but unknown when the armor and the battle- Hags which are here brought together saw their days of glory upon the field, or about old battlemented portals. January, 1914 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 9 Three different designs for wall paper in the Chinese style happy selection of wall covering depends such a number of associated details that : hesitates to dictate any certain color, tern or absence of pattern, for certain ms unless due consideration is given to those seemingly unimportant factors go- ing to make up the individual character of the room for which wall covering is to be chosen. Inquiry on those points often elicits the response: “The room has no individuality of its own; it is just four square walls with windows and doors.” The purpose or use of the room, however, at once determines important factors to be taken into consid- eration in the selection of the wall covering, and, more than all else, the lighting of the room must be first considered for its effect on papering. The walls of rooms lighted by direct sunlight from numerous win- dows naturally take tones of blue and green in their darker shades. The reason for this is that these tones absorb light and do not reflect any light as the yellow and pale red colors do, thus creating more light in rooms where they form the wall covering. In rooms having plenty of strong sunlight the further reflection of light from the wall cov- ering is not desired. I he constant color of the sky in sunlight and the most fre- quent color of the earth during the time of the year when the sun gives us his strongest rays are just those two colors, blue and green, of all others the most restful to the eyes. It is often wise to take a hint from nature in the selection of colors forming the background of our home life on the walls of such rooms as are used commonly by inmates of the household. Whatever one may choose for the walls of large state apartments, the great hall or the smaller reception-room, the living-room, dining-room and chambers of a house must always be associated with personal preference. Singular sensitiveness to certain colors often shown by individuals must be taken into account when choosing colors for the walls of rooms in which they expect to spend certain hours of their existence if they are to live happily in them. To the individual who has no personal preference whatever in the matter of the color of the walls of the room he or she is to occupy, this sensitiveness on the part of those pos- sessing it often seems mere caprice on on pat roc all IO January, 1914 AMERICAN' HOMES AND GARDENS to be ignored as far as possible. FASHION. The matter of fashion in wall paper has always exerted a wide influence in the selection of wall coverings. Large figures in bold striking color, either flowers or conventional patterns, are brought out frequently by the manufac- turers to gratify the taste for variety, novelty or whatever the name the desire for change hides itself under, on the part of humanity known as “the pub- lic.” Of course, all these gorgeous pat- terns, brilliant colors and striking effects have their proper place and can be used to advantage under the right conditions, but it requires discriminating taste of a fine order to use them judiciously. For the ordinary city home, poorly lighted by daylight, a brilliant effect of light may be given to the dining-room, for instance, by the selection of a delicate rose color paper having a large conven- tional pattern in deeper tones, or a pale yellow with deeper tones of dull brown- ish yellow, if the bright yellows form a too brilliant background to be pleas- Wall paper imitating telle a rich worsted broca- texture ture must be seen with the best results. The effect of the whole, so necessary in any endeavor to create satisfactory environment for family life can never be lost sight of in the important matter of the wall coverings. Naturally enough persons who dis- like any particular color as green for in- stance, will prefer a golden brown for a living-room background if the matter is left to individual selection. W hen, as often happens, the members of a fam- ily disagree completely on the choice of color for living-room, dining-room or other rooms commonly used by all members of the family, it is possible to effect a compromise by selecting a tap- estry wall paper in which are combined the favorite colors of the persons who disagree. These in agreeable tones are always satisfactory as furnishing a suitable background. Care must be taken, however, to select a pattern suit- able in size to the wall spaces and woodwork of the room. When the room is large the constant repetition of a small group of trees or similar device the pattern becomes wearisome in in ant, when the full evening light is turned on. Nothing so enhances a dark room — giving the effect of sunlight itself even — as pale yellow. Especially in small rooms having windows on a court where little or no sunlight ever enters, is it desirable to bring the nearest approach to sunlight fur- nished by the pale yellow and rose colors into the rooms by means of the wall coverings. Pale tints, on the contrary, in the rooms of large, well-lighted country houses often con- veys a sense of vague emptiness. The furniture seems to have no background. One is lost in vast emptiness with no sensation of definite wall surface enclosing the interior. The more the room is crowded with furniture, the less it seems to convey any sense of completeness. A small low-ceiled room having the aspect of the French salon is always beautiful in The Washington panel pale tints. It was for just such spaces that the notable French gray was invented, but the same light tint in- troduced into a good-sized drawing-room with little or no variation in tone is often a sad failure. A more posi- tive tone of the same color, even if the paper is per- fectly plain, will supply a far more furnished appear- ance to the walls. Too much attention can- not be given to the matter of lighting the rooms when selecting wall coverings for them. In large sunny rooms it is always safe to select those deeper tones of green, blue or brown as the light absorbing quality of these will soften the sun- light and furnish a restful quality to the walls as the background against which people as well as the furni- the extreme. A large clump of trees with the suggestion of blue sky, not too realistic in manner, is a pleasant thing to contemplate, and in really well designed wall papers of this sort, one has the sense of repose furnished by a bit of landscape suggesting forest greenery with no very definite suggestion of the beginning and ending of the repeat. Like woven tapestries the beauty of such design is always that of well selected leaf forms combined in various tints with a considerable amount of bluish gray in the back- ground. These may simulate the famous “Verdure” tapes- tries having a border to be used as paneling, or they may be used with a plain paper supplying the space occupied by the border of real tapestry for the paneling surrounding the large figured panels on the wall, both being attractive. For living-rooms with north light or those hav- ing some east or west win- dows as is frequently the case in country houses, it is best to select papers hav- ing tones of warm color. The tans, browns, dull reds and yellows fall into this class, in light tones or darker tones if the quality of light makes it desirable to have dark walls. Figured wall paper or plain is again a matter of taste but the covering of the walls with pictures has to be considered. In the case of manv pictures on the wall it is always best to have a wall paper that is as nearly neutral as possible. Not necessarily a plain paper but one hav- ing a broken color surface such as those made to imi- tate Japanese silk paper. Those imitating woven The Franklin panel January, 1914 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS Interest and variety are expressed in graceful Chinese design fabric in two or three tones of gray brown or olive green will usually be found admirable background for pic- tures. In the case of very heavy gold frames it is desirable to have a corres- ponding richness in the background of the paper. The Japanese use of gold is both clever and satisfactory in wall paper. Not in the least the kind of surface western wall paper makers have pro- duced with the pale brilliant gold fig- ures on a nearly white ground of our grandfather’s day, but a dull dark sur- face having a certain variety from the lacquer used over the gold. This forms a beautiful background for a color sten- ciled pattern put on the wall after the paper is hung. Japanese grass cloth, another favorite material with all persons of artistic taste, has every possible tint among the colors in which it is made to choose from. It makes a rich and brilliant back- ground with sufficient variation in itself from the fabric of which it is made and lends itself the most readily to the pur- poses of the decorator. There are variations in weaving which form pattern effects or stripes on the wall and there is also the grass cloth having gold or silver thread woven into the fabric at intervals with the colored grass. This in silver and French gray is excel- lent and the same arrangement with gold combined with greens, dull red and yellows gives richness to a wall against which pictures are to be hung. When to use stripes and when to break up the height of tall wall spaces with friezes or festoons of flowers, depends on the size of rooms as well as their height. With very high ceilings a frieze having gay flowers occupying a considerable part of the upper space can be managed to advantage. The same principle applies in the use of many of the pictured wall paper friezes especially the Hat stencil effects in one or two colors on light toned paper. 1 hese w i t h two toned stripes below, or cartridge paper quite plain, decorate a room even if the room be rather small with no sense of crowding. Stripes appear to in- crease the height of a room, while the repetition of bands horizontally breaks up the surface as the designer’s phrase ex- presses it, carries the eye back and forth across the wall instead of allowing it to follow the upward lines mechanically to the ceiling. The use of large hand- some patterns in one or more colors furnishes the walls with great effect. Halls, dining-rooms and sometimes bedrooms may have these papers to great advantage when of suffici- The Lafayette Panel ent size. It is a little doubtful if they arc ever quite so suc- cessful in small rooms. The evident nearness makes them seem intrusive in a small room, while in a large room they lend gaiety and life to the larger space. These will always find a wel- come place in large formal rooms hav- ing old pieces of furniture. The revival of many old patterns used on the walls of Knglish homes when the furniture was made of mas- sive mahogany find their natural place in association with the Colonial furni- ture revival of our day. Like the gay chintzes made for the valances of the high four-poster beds a room having such furniture is not quite complete without one of those line old Knglish wall-papers made from hand printed blocks in the rich colors suggesting the decorative Chinese faience in vogue a century and more ago. The landscape papers of that earlier time have been revived too with many modifications adapting them to changed ! conditions of modern times, this File landscape frieze is often most effectively used when suitably combined with plain tinted paper to cover the walls below. Flowered papers find a place often in bedrooms when a gay and Horid effect is required. They also find a place in the morning-room naturally and sometimes very charm- ingly in large upper halls. The two toned papers in stripes are always useful in small rooms. The unobstrusive quality of a good pattern printed in tones or shades not too widely different gives a thoroughly satisfactory effect in living-rooms, halls and dining-rooms. While the subject, old-time wall-papers, is one to be con- sidered by itself, happy indeed is the family that can point to dwelling walls covered with the Colonial papers of yes- terday. The papers of Colonial America were, of course, brought over from England and France. In her delight- ful book “Old Time Wall Papers” by Kate Sanborn, the author gives some en- tertaining data concerning the interest of Washington and Franklin in wall pa- pers. There is in Washing- ton’s own handwriting the following memorandum. “Upholsterer’s Direc- tions: If the walls have been whitewashed over with glew (sic) water, a good paste is sufficient without any other mixture, but, in cither case, the paste must be made of the finest and best flour, and free from lumps. The paste is to be made thick and may be thinned by putting water to it. The paste is to be put upon the paper and suffered to remain about five minutes to soak in before it is put ( Continued on page 36) The Jefferson Panel I 2 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS January, 1914 HOUSE OF MR. S. Z. POLI AT WOODMONT, CONNECTI- CUT. MESSRS. BROWN AND VON BEREN, ARCHITECTS, NEW HAVEN. THIS HOUSE IS BUILT ENTIRELY OF CONCRETE Photographs by Frederick Converse Beach VnXNDi Ilogua ALCOVI January, 1914 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS With careful planning a house of this sort can be well furnished at an outlay of $1,500 How to Furnish a House on $1,500 By Esther Singleton Photographs by T. C. Turner HE great rock that wrecks so many persons struggling with the problem of furnishing a house on a small sum of money is attempt- ing too much in the number of articles in- troduced into the rooms and too great a mixture of colors. The one crowds small rooms hopelessly and the other results in perpetual distress to the eye, and not infrequently to discontent of mind. The great variety of styles in vogue to-day is simply bewildering; and the amateur decorator who starts out with no definite ideas is soon at the mercy of the tender-hearted salesman. Moreover, fashions change. New fabrics and colors are constantly being introduced; and therefore, un- less one is a sufficiently practical student of house-decoration, she will soon ascertain that .unless advice is asked of someone that knows she is likely to buy an antiquated piece of cre- tonne, or to hang her cur- tains in folds that are out of date. It is not enough merely to have a comfortable home; the woman ambitious to do all things well wishes also to preside over a house that is correct in all of its details and service, no matter how simple it may be. The general tendency of the age is to simplify and to eliminate; and this holds true in house-decoration as well as in other things. The day of innumerable ornaments, fluttering scarfs, bows on chair legs, sashes on fenders and other insensate, so-called decoration, has sunk into oblivion. The line to-day is studied as it never, or rarely ever, was. Color also receives great attention. In this short article we attempt to give a few hints to the modest householder, who perhaps has just acquired a little country home and who has a limited allowance — let us say $1,500 — to furnish it. The house that we have in mind as a model is shown in the accompanying diagram. 1 1 consists of two rooms on the ground floor, divided by the hall, in which the stairway as- cends. Behind 14 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS January, 1914 the stairway the kitchen is placed, with pantries still far- ther back. On the right of the hall is the living-room, with a bay-window at the side. At the back a small veranda runs along the whole length of the room. On the left of the hall is situated the dining-room, opening on the left upon a veranda, the same length and half the width of the room. It is a simple, practical plan, in which not an inch of space is wasted. The second floor is just as compact and convenient. Two bedrooms occupy the space - a -rja? This armchair for the porch costs $7.50 and the willow tables $8 on either side; and between them that over the hall is ap- portioned to bathrooms and closets. A stairway leads to the upper floor where the maid’s room is placed and where there is garret space. The problem of furnishing a small house spects more difficult than that of a large folds, and open and close with draw-cords. Adjustable shades are rather out of vogue in houses where good taste prevails. With a comparatively small sum of money to be ex- pended, it is impossible to think of “period furniture or antiques.” The most prac- tical choice for us is willow, craftsman, and painted and enameled articles. More- over, in a house of simple de- sign, very elaborate furniture would be out of keeping. Simplicity must be the key- note of the furnishings and is in some re- one; for, try as one may to keep to essential articles solely, the danger is always present of getting rooms overcrowded. It is well to'fcry td^keep sortie space so that people can move easily between the pieces of fur- niture. Next to the actual comfort of mak- ing as much space as possible is the illusion of space, and it is quite wonderful how much can be accomplished in this direction by the placing of furniture in a room and by the arrangement of line and the choice selection of color or colors. One of the first matters to be attended to in a house of this character is that of the windows as they will be seen from the outside. Hence, it is advisable that all of the windows should be curtained alike, with simple figured net, or any other washable fabric. 1 liese should be rodded, top and bottom, on swinging win- dows. The inside casement curtains should fall in straight The table for the living-room Mission style will cost $25 of the decoration. No matter how one may approach the furnishing and decoration of a house, the first intention (conscious or unconscious) is to make an oasis of happi- ness where the inmates and guests may find refuge and recreation from the cares and toils of the great outside world. One of the chief aids to happiness is comfort. It may be unfortunate, but, nevertheless, it is true, that people (even philosophers) cannot be thoroughly happy unless they are comfortable. They must have restful beds to sleep in, comfortable chairs to sit upon or to lounge in, a dining table of convenient height with correspond- ing chairs, desks that are solid and friendly in their feeling towards scribe or letter- writer, drawers that slide in and out of dressing-table with amiability (even at a hurried jerk), and carpets that are soft to Next to these essentials come pleasant colors the footstep. for the eye to dwell upon and for the tired mind to find a sensation of peace and restfulness; and there is nothing that charms guests more than a dainty bedroom in fresh, cool colors. A few attractive pictures or photographs of famous paintings, a few old prints or a few choice water-colors for January, 1914 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 0wmmwm\ Fabrics for the blue bedroom. 1 he hrst is blue and white ; the second yellow-green, blue and white, and the third blue, gray-brown, yellow and white the walls, one or two handsome vases, or sev- eral little pieces of silver or brass or copper for ornaments, will be far preferable to a lot of bric-a-brac. Part of the pathos of life con- sists in the acquisition of articles that b ew would wish to give away And none would wish to keep”; and things accumulate so frightfully that it is not long before places will have to be found for them. Returning, however, to the ques- tion in hand, that of furnishing a house for $1,500, we are assuming that the floors are in order, hard wood with a border of parquetry, that the walls and ceilings are painted (or papered), and the woodwork is also painted. In order to create a feeling of spa- ciousness and harmony, we suggest one scheme of color for the first floor. All floors being the same, we select an old French gray Wilton rug for each of the three rooms, living-room, dining- room and hall. As the house is so small, we shall not use portieres between the hall and dining-room and hall and living-room ; for we wish to have the feeling of continuity and spacious- ness on entering from the front door and when de- scending the stairs. More- over, the same color and tones of the carpet forbid the cutting up of these rooms into separate ones. Rooms divided off also imply privacy and indi- vidualism, which is incorrect on this floor and in so un- conventional a house. Strict Attractive willow furniture is coming into its own as being artistic as well as comfortable, light in weight but strong and durable. The porch settee costs $15, the longer one for the living-room $20, and the willow armchairs each $7.50 privacy and seclusion belong to the bedroom floor. 1 he colors of this floor are browns, dull green and old gold. Browns predominate in the living-room, greens in the dining-room, and the two rooms are brought into harmony by the judicious use of old gold and by the gray velvet carpet and plain gray-tinted walls. 1 he windows of the dining-room arc draped with simple figured net in ecru, rodded bot- tom and top on swinging windows; the inside casement curtains are of sunfast material in olive-green tones grad- uating into golds and golden browns, leading to the colors that are found on the veranda, the gold tones blending with the craftsman’s fur- nishing in this room and harmoniz- ing with the tones of the living-room opposite. 1 he furniture selected is as follows: Rug, $90; net curtains, $9; outside curtains, $40; table, $48; serving table, $12; sideboard, $62; 2 armchairs (each $11), $22 ; 4 side chairs (each $7), $28 ; total, $3 1 1 . I lie dining-room opens upon the big veranda, which we furnish in thill green. I’he willow chairs are painted green, with green “verdure” cushions, and a green grass rug lies upon the floor. The furnishings are: 1 willow swinging settee and cushion, $16; 1 lounging chair, $7; 1 smoker’s chair, $12; 2 wil- low arm-chairs with book pocket, $18; magazine stand (or table) , $8 ; rugs (grass), $5; cushions, $5; total, $71. I he living-room is deco- rated with the same colors as the dining-room ; but here we allow brown and old gold AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS January, 1914 1 6 The dining-room table shown above will cost $48, the head chairs $1 1 each, the serving-table $12, and the dining chairs $7 each inside, $6.40; total $127.40 for the heavy room of the floor. to predominate (the shades found in the early autumn oak leaves are good guides) ; and here, of course, we use the ecru net curtains and inside sunfast curtains, as in the dining- room. The frames of the willow furniture are painted in brown, and the high notes are reached in touches of old gold in the shades of the lamps and in the floor and sofa cushions, here and there. Here we also use an occasional touch of green in a cushion or a little vase to con- nect this room with the dining-room in color. The furniture of this room comprises: Rug, $95; table, $28; 2 sofas, $45; 2 square arm-chairs, $15; 4 open-back chairs, $32; wicker tea- table, $10; lamp, $15; net curtains, $9; inside curtains, $40; total, $289. The veranda leading from this room is furnished in brown wicker with brown “verdure” coverings. We allow for it: Settee, $15; 2 chairs, $15; 1 tea-table, $8; total, $38. The hall, which brings the living- room and dining-room into relation, contains a card table, on which stands a lamp with old gold or green shade, two chairs with either brown or green cushions, and a gray velvet rug, as we have said before: Rug, $40; card table, $10; lamp, $8; 2 chairs, $16; net curtain at door, $3; total, $77. Now we will go upstairs. The rooms here are individual and private, shut off from one another in both color and character. The man of the house, doubtless liking solid, strong furniture and a heavy color that will take smoke without protest and the sun without danger of fading, will feel at ease with crafts- man articles, stained brown and upholstered in brown leather. The hue of the brown rug on the floor should be selected with regard to the amount of light in the room. Behind the ecru net curtains a sunfast material of old gold tones (slightly figured) will add a bright note to the somewhat sombre room. The furnishings are: Bed, $25; chiffonier, $46; 1 arm-chair, $12.50; 1 desk, $22; 1 small chair, $11.50; 1 smoking- table, $4; curtains, net and The next room, that of the mistress of the house, should form a contrast. This should be light, delicate and dainty. As the windows open on the back and side, and not the front, we will use white net here instead of the ecru. We will suggest decorating this room in the fashionable French gray and old rose (not pink), in which a slight feeling of lilac or pale violet enters. Select a French gray rug and inside curtains of old rose. The furniture should be painted gray and enameled and upholstered in old rose. Choose also the same fabric for the bed-spread, round rolled bol- ster, and dressing-table cover. The furniture here will cost us the follow- ing sums: Bed-room suite, $86.50; 1 desk, $20; rug, $20; curtains, net and inside, $6.40; total, $132.90. Passing on to the other side over the living-room, we devote the back room to the daughter of the house, furnishing it in blue. Here we have: 1 brass bed, $20; 1 dressing-table, $25; 1 dressing-chair, $8; 1 arm- chair, $12; 1 willow table, $8; 1 rug, $16; net curtains, and chintz curtains, $6.00; total, $95. The chintz or cretonne is a pretty, cheerful, refreshing design of daisies and clover mingled together, and we will use the same for curtains, dressing-table cover, the bed- spread and bolster and the cushions for the chairs. A blue rug matching the darkest shade of the flowers — Yale blue — should be selected. The guestroom in front of this room is to be fur- nished in yellow. Here we have: 1 brass bed, $20; 1 low-boy and glass, $25; 1 dressing-chair, $5 ; 1 easy chair, $9; 1 table, $10; rug, $16; net curtains and chintz curtains, $6.40; total, $91.40. for the chintz we will choose a design of yellow roses arranged in stripes, se- lecting a rug to match — a plain yellow — and upholster- ing the chairs and draping the bed with the same chintz. From the above plan for furnishing the small house A new printed fabric is now on the market and shows the repeated pattern on the back. Light coming through it gives it a beautiful translucent effect. This fabric is also appropriate for pillow coverings, and in the scheme of decoration proposed in this article is used for veranda cushion covers. January, 1914 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 17 The attractive gray enameled and cane bed- room suite, of which the dresser, bedstead, chiffonier and dressing table are here illus- trated, can be purchased complete for $86.50. This suite also includes chairs, and may be had in white enamel finish instead of the gray on a limited amount we will see that we have had an expendi- ture of $1,232.70, which we may present itemized by rooms as follows: Dining-room, $311; dining-room veranda, $71; living-room, $289: living-room, veranda, $38; hall, $77 ; Mission bedroom, $127.40; grey bedroom, $132.90; blue room, $95 ; guest room, $91.40; total, $1,232.70. I his leaves a balance of $267.30 to be ex- pended on bathroom, kitchen, upper hall and miscellaneous furnishings, which should be a suf- ficiently liberal allowance. The task of placing the furniture in bedrooms and dining-room is not difficult. In the draw- ing-room or living-room one has more latitude. We suggest, however, that one of the sofas should be placed on the left of the fire- place, endwise, forming a cosy seat by the fire, and that the other sofa should stand on the right of the bay window against the wall. Near it the tea-table might be conveniently stationed. The large table with its lamp and books, pam- phlets, flowers, etc., might stand on the other side of the bay window toward the veranda to balance the sofa and near it the armchairs. Always try to keep a bright fire; it adds to the cheer and charm of a home. Flowers, too, are an addition that means much to the adornment of the rooms. In arranging the furniture in any room, the quick, in- telligent and accus- tomed eye will see at a glance exactly how to place every piece where it will appear to the best advantage for its own sake, where it will accord best with the other pieces in the room and where it will best serve its purpose of usefulness permitted by the limits of the space. Once having the furniture in place, the wise and tasteful home-maker should hesitate to shift it about. To move the chairs and sofas and tables from place to place gives a feeling of impermanence anil restlessness to those who are at home. Next to comfort, symmetry is one of the chief things to be thought of, although few deco- rators would go so far in this matter as the wealthy Dutchman who bought two grand pianos to stand on either side of the chimney-piece in his drawing-room. In great houses and apart- ments “de luxe” formality should be strictly ob- served; but in a simple house the keynote should ease and restfulness. Conse- the sofa drawn near the open fire; the logs at hand ready to throw upon the glowing firebrands; the teatable ready for quick service; books and maga- zines temptingly lying on the tables; fresh flowers in the vases — in short, all great and little comforts anticipated make a house not merely a place to be lived in or a place to be endured, but a home to be loved. So, in the charming words that Sir Henry YVootton wrote in 1600, at once so true and beautifully expressed: “Every man’s proper mansion house and home being the Theatre of his Hospitality, the seat of his self-frui- tion, the Comfort- ablest part of his own Fife, the noblest of his Son's Inheritance, a kind of Private Princedom — nay, the possession thereof an Epitome of the whole World, may well de- serve by these attri- butes, according to the degree of the Matter, to be delight- fully adorned.” m n Dressing-table of suite shown above comfort and quently, The Mission furniture for the man’s room shown in the above illustrations will cost as follows: Bedstead $25, armchair $12.50, desk $22, and stool $7.50 AMERICAN HOM fi a a k a a » # '# a « «.k x o '# »[«§{.« 's » a a # » » a « k # h ® .b # # ii 3 THE COUNTRY HOUSE 0 jj AT HEWLETT, LONC fij _____ n aaaaaaaaa'aa'aKaaaaaaaaaaaaaBi! u — ~ m DESIGI R 1 MESSRS. / :: g LINDEBEF i«j I TECTS, r K s [HI 1 |H| ;h! |Hj Photographs First floor plan Ijjj . ■ ~ ■: :: X x h a it i: :TaaaL>! :aa'B a' a it n k it h_k k n k y it it :: it . k a it it's ES AND GARDENS 10 :aus« kjr a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a :: a a a a a a a :: .: a a a a a a F MR. RUSSELL S. CARTER ; ISLAND, NEW YORK a 'it! it; it, it it it: it it MED BY \LBRO AND (G, ARCHI- VE W YORK a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a lit) it' lit It |K :: l«l lit! :: :: :: lit; :: by T. C. Turner (a) Second Poor pi in [a it it it it it it a a a a a a a a a a a a a a it it i: a :: it :: a :: a a i: a a a a a a a a ; 10 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS January, 1914 HSs3H ■, — '.-T 1 r - - — 4? 1! £ A Bungalow Built for $2,400 By Charles Alma Byers Photographs by Lenwood Abbott O many houses are pictured and described as being examples of the “bungalow” type of architecture, when in actuality they are not, that it is interesting to be able to show pictures of a cottage which seem to comply in every respect with the terms which de- scribe what a bungalow should be. According to the gen- erally accepted definition of this somewhat overworked word, a bungalow is a dwelling one story in height, ample in area and provided with wide overhanging eaves and a veranda, or some other kind of semi-out-of-door living- room. With this somewhat flexible definition as a guide, American home-builders have produced bungalows of every conceivable architectural type. Renaissance bungalows ex- ist, although perhaps not in large numbers, and one daring builder has recently perpetrated what is described as “a bungalow in the Gothic style.” California is in many ways the land of the picturesque, and the architecture of the Pacific Coast shows this quality of picturesqueness. The first builders of permanent homes in this region were the early Franciscan friars, who estab- lished a chain of missions several hundred miles in length, and such of their buildings as remain to-day and the ruins of those which have now fallen into decay show' a pic- turesqueness which it would be difficult for present-day builders to equal. These beautiful mission buildings are almost invariably built about a patio, or central courtyard, and this particular feature of their architecture has been liberally adapted by the architects and builders who have come after these early friars and who have built their charm- ing homes and equally delightful surroundings in the fertile valleys and upon the sunny slopes they so faithfully tilled. The patio has therefore taken a strong hold upon the architecture of California, and has been incorporated into forms of architecture with which it is not often identified. A bungalow does not often contain a patio, but California is the land of the unexpected, and California architects follow the custom of the locality. Results, however, often prove the wisdom of transgressing what is at best but an unwritten rule of architecture; and if results are happy, and if no fundamental law has been broken, it may be safely assumed that no harm has been done. 1 he pictures and floor plans show a very interesting home built in Los Angeles by Mr. P rank Simmonds, an architect of that city. 1 his very pleasing little bungalow is built some distance from the business quarter of Los Angeles itself, where sufficient space exists for the spreading and 1 ambling architecture which belong to a bungalow, even though there is not the opportunity for the rural and tropi- cal surroundings which its quaintness deserves for a proper setting. The bungalow is built about three sides of a courtyard or patio, the fourth side being open to the street. The walls and the roof of the house are of shingles which have been stained a rich brown, though a part of the front wall is of concrete, which lends an appearance of great strength and massiveness to the structure. The plan has been so arranged that the living-room as well as the dining-room opens directly into the court, and the bedrooms open into a small hall which also opens into the little patio. This, of couise, brings all the rooms into close relation with this out- of-door spot, which is really the centre of the home. One approaches this Los Angeles bungalow by a broad night of concrete steps, which leads from the sidewalk to January, 1914 21 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS the much higher level upon which the house is built. The bank is covered with closely clipped grass and a window-box is hung below each of the windows which face the street. A wrought-iron gate hangs in the concrete wall which ex- tends across the front of the house, and through the gate one enters the little court-yard, which is the most notable single feature of the cottage. Upon all sides of the patio are casement windows, which extend from the floor to the ceiling of the house, and open into the various rooms which surround. In the centre of the court is a fountain sur- rounded by a number of the semi-tropical plants which give to California the name of the “land of perpetual summer.” Within the patio and about the exterior of the home, and particularly about the small pergola which shel- ters the window of one of the bedrooms, are being grown the rose vines with their clinging branches, which fre- quently cover a house with a single rose plant with its masses of blossom. It is always interesting to study the costs at which at- tractive homes have been built. Location and the state of the labor market, and va- rious other conditions, have much to do with the cost ; but there is generally a certain basis which applies to some extent to conditions anywhere in America, and which may afford some idea of the cost of the same house if built else- where. The entire cost of this very interesting bungalow was $2,420, and the various items are here given: Brick and concrete, $200; lumber and mill work, $850; painting and decorating, $300; hardware, $110; electric wiring and fixtures, $125; labor, $350; plumbing, $200; plastering, $135; mantel, $75; oak floors, $75. Total, $2,420. It so often happens that in a small house, and particularly where the rooms are arranged upon a single floor, the bed- rooms are either unduly in evidence or else that they are approached by a hall which is apt to be narrow and dark, such as are often seen in city apartments. In this instance, however, neither of these conditions obtains, for the bed- rooms, while placed by themselves and entirely separated from the rest of the house, open into a small hall which is well lighted and which, in turn, opens directly out-of-doors. All of the bedrooms have large closets and two of them have windows which face in two different directions, and the bathroom, which is at one end of this bedroom hall, has walls, woodwork and fix- tures of white enamel. The living-room contains a fireplace set within a man- tel of chocolate-colored tiles. The standing woodwork is of weathered oak, and heavy oaken beams cross the plas- tered ceiling. At the far end as one enters the living-room from the courtyard wide openings lead into the din- ing-room, which is finished in a manner similar to the living-room. At one side of the dining-room stands a built-in buffet with doors of leaded glass. A group of four windows lights one end of the room, and at the op- posite end a French window opens upon the patio. So well planned is the kitchen that it opens only into the dining-room. The service entrance is through a porch which is screened with wire netting. Like the bath- room, the walls of the kitch- en are covered with white enamel, which possesses the advantage of being easily “wash able” when it becomes soiled. A gas range is used for cooking. The vegetation of California is of such amazingly rapid growth that it seems to spring from the fertile soil and to be coaxed into fruition by the sunshine in a way which seems almost a miracle, and it therefore requires only a very slight stretch of the imagination to picture this Los Angeles bungalow when its roses shall be fully grown and when its patio and pergola shall be clothed with vines which will climb the roof, and when the tangle of plants about the fountain in the courtyard shall be even more luxu- riant than they are now. A home so pleasing and so eco- nomical may well interest other builders elsewhere and put approval on the bungalow far beyond its place of origin. Floor plan The living-room 11 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS January, 1914 COLLECTORS’ DEPARTMENT THE EDITOR OF THIS DEPARTMENT WILL BE GLAD TO ANSWER ANY LETTERS OF ENQUIRY FROM ITS READERS ON ANY SUBJECT CONNECTED WITH OLD FURNITURE, POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. GLASS, MINIATURES, TEXTILES. PRINTS AND ENGRAVINGS, BOOKS AND BINDINGS. COINS AND MEDALS. AND OTHER SUBJECTS OF INTEREST TO COLLECTORS. LETTERS OF ENQUIRY SHOULD BE ACCOMPANIED BY STAMPS FOR RETURN POSTAGE (Collectors' Notes and Queries and The Collectors’ Mart will be found in the reading matter columns of the advertising pages of this number .) Early Illustrated Music Titles By Elizabeth Lounsbery Photographs by T. C. Turner HE revival of interest in early engravings and prints has developed with it an appre- ciation likewise of old music titles to which engravings and lithographs were applied as covers, and which are now doubly valuable as a means, in many in- stances, by which have been preserved portraits of great men of the Civil War, the stage, often the composer of the music itself and celebrities of those times, also old buildings which have long since disappeared in the progress of modern life. Indeed, it is remarkable that as many examples of this kind have been saved in the course of years, for there is nothing quite so ephemeral for the purpose of collecting as sheets of music, which, as soon as their popularity has waned or they no longer appeal, are cast aside and for- gotten. 11 Dil AiJilii . .Liiil U Olu'l . the very use to which it is dedicated being a guarantee of its care and preservation; as in the instance of St. Greg- ory’s Antiphonarium, which is said to be the oldest manu- script of music in existence, with an historical value that cannot be exaggerated, and has for many years been the property of the monastery at St. Gall, in Switzerland. Little is known of the early music of the Ro- mans, as all treatises of music from its inception which have come down to us from ancient times were written in Greek, and no original work is known in Latin earlier in date than the treatise of Boethius. Rome relied on Greece for her art and her sculpture, and drew her teachers of music as well from there and through the Jew- ish converts who, to escape persecution in their own land, took refuge in Rome, where their ,,r. , ... . Lincoln portrait cover for nielodies were gradually accepted and became With ecclesiastical music this does not apply, The Wigwam Grand March extensively corrupted with the pagan hymns. The Bloomer Polkas” were very popular in their day. as many old music covers attest. The cover with the Lord met with, in collections Byron portrait is rarely January, 1914 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 23 In the year 371 the practice of chant- ing the Psalms, which up to that time had been recited by the congregation in the church in a loud tone of voice, was introduced by Pope Damasus. In 509 St. Gregory the Great, who was elected Pope, supplemented the work of his predecessor Ambrose, by making a col- lection of melodies in church use. He compiled an Antiphonarium composed of hymns with suitable melodies adapted to the principal seasons of the church year. These have ever since been in use and are now familiarly known as the “Gregorian Chant,” although the proper name is Plain-chant or Plain-song. And so we pass on to the advance of music in the North through Charle- magne and later through the music of the troubadours and minstrels who, to- gether with the “minnesingers” and “meistersingers” of Germany, spread the love song throughout Europe and marked the intro- duction of music along secular lines. With the approach of the eighteenth century, with its varied dances of the period and the century following, which gave to Europe its greatest operas, one finds in America only a limited and stilted interpretation of music, through Puri- tanical ideas regarding its necessarily lugu- brious and sanctimonious character, which through the gradual growth of the country and broadening of its moral standards, in the early nineteenth century developed, what is illustrated in this article, the accepted dance music of the day and the martial music of the Civil War. A war-time music cover Illustrated music titles were originally introduced with the idea of attracting attention to the piece of music they rep- resented, and comprised a form of ad- vertising and popularizing of the piece. 1 hey were first used as copper-plate en- gravings about 1800, but as a great lux- ury. “The Battle of Trenton,” a “Sonata for the Piano-forte,” was an example of this kind, published in New York about 1800, and of interest as con- taining on the cover a portrait of Wash- ington, of the Wright type, such as was etched by Joseph Wright in copper in 1794. 1 his piece well illustrates the present-day value of a rare music title in the fact that the only perfect copy of this composition ever sold at public auc- tion brought over three hundred dollars in 1904. Another rare example, pub- lished in Boston about 1840, and also having a bust portrait of Washington on the title page, is the “Battle of Prague March.” Following the use of copper-plate engraving, which was an expensive process, came the more general use of wood engraving and lithograph- ing, which began about 1825 to reduce the cost of illustrating and tended to increase the use and popularity of music of this character. The steel-engraved music title is rare, but there are examples extant. Many specimens even of early lithographing are no longer obtainable, and others because of their rarity have brought, in the last few years when they have found their way into public sale, astonishing prices and far in excess of their original cost; as, for example, The notes of the ‘‘Contraband Waltz" are in the form of ani- mated figures of tiny negroes The "Fort Hamilton Polka Redowa" music cover 24 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS January, 1914 Covers of music published by early New York music publishers THOiiUB BAKSfl. Tilt VALAtZ WttDZtl MIX A one of the highest prices ever brought for a lithographic title was that obtained for a copy of “Firemen — the Pride of the Nation,” namely, fifty-one dollars. The publication of this is attributed to 1825, although it is probably of later date, and shows on its title- page a view of the corner of Broadway and Bar- clay Street, looking north, with the American Hotel and Lydig residence. Still another music sheet of both interest and value is a copy of “The Rail Road March,” pub- lished by Willig in 1828, showing the first train of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. This litho- graph is one of the earliest known of a railroad, and sold several years ago at a private sale for many times the original price. Every inducement to attract the eye and ear of the purchaser was made in these early days of illustrated music titles and to assist in their sale, such as the use of the portraits of celebrated singers who had sung the song or to whom it had been dedicated on the title page, the effort to allure the buyer with the further assurance that this was a “favorite sonata for the piano-forte,” and in the annotation upon the inside of the sheet accompanying the climaxes of, for example, a march description of a battle, in which the phrases “cries of the wounded,” “roar of the cannon,” “beat of the drums” were intended to inspire and thrill the player with the real spirit of the composition. With the introduction of color, early in the fifties, the titles became even more elaborate, often requiring as many as seven impressions to complete the picture, which was chiefly scenic views or theatrical illustrations. The art at- tained its height in the sixties, when photography came to the assistance of the engraver; but this lacked the beauty of the old free-hand work of the early times, such as is shown in the titles illustrated, namely, “The Castle Garden Schottisch,” with Castle Garden as it was in the days of Jenny Lind, in i8?i, when all New York went to hear her magic voice. The view shows the bridge, which about seven years later was removed, the space filled in with earth and Castle Garden made a part of Battery Park. The “Fort Hamilton Polka Redowa” and “Palace Garden Polka” are other examples. To the student of costumes and fash- ions the music titles of this period are also valuable in the portrayal of dress, Lincoln Belgian Gallery A group of rare music covers from the collection of Mr. M. F. Savage, New York January, 1914 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 25 as in the “Bloomer Waltz and Polka” and the "Belgian Gallery Polka,” and in the foibles of fashion such as the "Grecian Bend," the “Waterfall,” "Dolly Varden,” etc. The fact is that the only portraits of many of the early nineteenth cen- tury stage celebrities that are in ex- istence have rendered them of the highest interest to those collecting data of the early American stage and invaluable to the collector of Civil War material and of Lincolniana. Through the interval of years the sheet music relating to the Civil War in text and title has almost vanished, but some still exist in the collection of the Lincoln Museum in Washing- ton, the Library of Congress, and in private collections such as that of Mr. M. which contained at one time about 200,000 sheets of American music, much of which he rescued from the publisher’s dusty shelves, although many of the old compositions which appeared in their lists and catalogues have disappeared into oblivion. This is due largely to the fact that the zinc plates from which music of this kind was published were too val- uable to store away and found their way into the melting pot, unless the composition was of great popularity, also to the lack of demand and the for publishers to sell their old and uncalled-for stock as old paper to be destroyed, and to the great tires of Boston and Chicago, in which many mementos of these times were burned. The titles of “The Wigwam Grand March” and "Honest Old Abe,” song and chorus, published in Boston during the political cam- paign of i860, are illustrations of the many hundreds dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, as the cover “On Picket Duty” represents the spirit of the music of the time and of the ex- cellence of lithographic production then obtained. The “Uncle loin's Cabin” series included in Mr. Savage’s collection has a unique value, constituting as it does the first issue of many cele- brated poems by American poets. The title-page, with a portrait of Lord Byron illustrated, “And Wilt Thou Weep When I am Low?” is still another example of this type with a very deep poetical significance. F. Savage of New York, llriu i)ork. ^ // '//// S/ r/u/ /•//// //y /////.' / // »//< n tmt/ ( '< Hi/ti iV L.A-. A.. ML /I A