HOW-TO-MAKE -A COUNTRY PLACE JOSEPH -DILLAWAY- SAWYER I LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ! SAN DIEGO ! HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE TO THE MEMORY OF ANN MARIA D1LLAWAY SAWYER MY MOTHER WHO FOSTERED IN ME A LOVE OF THE COUNTRY **^ if unchecked would soon depopulate the earth. PLANT LABELS THAT LABEL 95 ment, seemed tropical. Here were the Aralia spinosa, or its more delicately framed sister, the Dimorphantus, which nevertheless yields its sceptre less quickly to the frost king, fronting a beautiful specimen of purple blossoming Paulownia imperialis; then came the copper- hued Ricinus and glorious cannas of rampant growth and brilliant color — assiduous care forcing the rankest growers to leap upward a dozen feet — while in the foreground were elephant's ears (Cal- adium) often a yard or more in length. By copious watering with liquid fertilizer many of its leaves grew to the length of five feet, and in sharp contrast and goodly quantity a wide variety of sub- arctic plants, among them a bed of edelweiss from parent stock we brought from the base of the Matterhorn. Near by were Iceland moss, saxifrage, andromeda, ranunculus, clethra, and cloudberry. Semi-hardy Canna. During the past mild season, a canna bed planted against a south wall on slightly sloping ground wintered finely unblanketed, proving that with protection and under certain conditions, even in Connecticut, the tender canna can be thus handled. Evergreens were scattered through the grounds in over one hundred varieties, totaling well into the thousands. Grouped in effective contrast were green and golden yew, Colorado blue spruce, silver fir, cypress, and Biota, in silver and gold, the gold that shines as brightly in winter as in summer, as well as that variety that dons a bronze hued coat in the "melancholy days." There were also green and variegated, spatulated and pointed, feath- ered and curled Biotas and Retinosperas of varied hue, a bewildering^ labyrinth of form and color that to the real lover of trees spelled Elysian realms, and vastly improved the contour, foliage and bloom of our two-mile garden strip. Let me relate an incident apropos of tree, shrub and plant cultiva- tion. I had journeyed far to see what was considered the finest private collection of evergreens in our entire country, its owner a scholar, as- well as a strenuous business man. Standing before a bed of inconspicu- ous Echeverias of a hundred or more varieties that formed part of this wonderful collection of trees, shrubs, and plants, I asked the gardener why there was not a single label to be seen in the entire planting. The lack of real appreciation on the part of the family and friends was betrayed by his reply: "Mr. - knows their names, I know their names, and no one else cares" Plant Labels That Label. We all cared in Hillcrest Manor; so did some of our friends. For labels, in addition to a carefully adjusted tree label, we used soft copper strips about four inches long and an inch wide. On these were indelibly traced with a sharp steel point the names, after which they were attached by a bit of copper wire to an eighteen-inch length of galvanized wire, one end of which was thrust into the ground at the % HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE base of each tree or shrub. This plan prevents the usual wire cutting of stem and branches, while labels are indestructible, and easily lifted and read. True, careless workmen sometimes disturbed or plant growth concealed, but generally before that happened the name of the plant was fixed in the minds of those who cared to know. Bark abra- sion in staking trees was prevented by having the cord or wire enclosed in a short piece of hose. The Only Work That Kills. Country life relieves nerve strain, sweeps cobwebs from the brain and gives much of the exhilaration called happiness, yet many stand within reach of these influences without sensing them. I can name a hundred or more men now in their graves, who I am certain, would have lived for years if their homes had been in the country. A new horse or cow, a brood of chickens just out of the shell, the bloom of a rare flower, a newly laid out road, a new dog kennel — even new disappointments and new worries so they are not associated with the daily grind — keep the heart young and pave the way to health. It is severe tension along one line that kills. I pity the man of millions or of pennies whose burden is daily carried in a beaten track from either counting house or ditch-digging to a city home. One needs the invigorating air of hill or ocean, not for a month or two, but for at least a portion of every month of the year, if it's no more than a Sunday tramp 'cross country. Man in his strenuous search for the fountain of youth finds that country living •economizes best the "failing river of life." "The world is too much with us; late and soon Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; Little we see in nature that is ours ; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon ! ****** Great God ! I'd rather be A pagan, suckled on a creed outworn ; So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have feelings that were less forlorn ; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn." In the arboretum record book were scheduled with keen interest the homely every-day names borne by those flowers of the wild which grew in profusion on hill and in woodland and dale, meadow and rough pasture. Daffy down dilly, bouncing bet, black-eyed Susan, ox-eyed daisy, Hessian field daisy, Michaelmas daisy, hepatica, wild balsam or touch-me-not, corn flower or bachelors' button, incomparable dandelion — the every month in the year flower — sky-blue violets, spring beauties, and the wind flower, the anenome, grew in profusion, delighting the opening eyes of childhood with their continual floral surprises, and glorifying maturity with tenderest recollections of the "YARBS" 97 budding romances of youth. Only common field flowers, but mighty factors through the centuries in developing and ministering to man- kind. "Yarbs." In different corners of the hedgerows grew "yarbs," and at the edge of the woods and brook shrubs and roots that from the time of the progenitors of Philip of Mount Hope through a half score of American ancestors have . cured the ills of puling infancy and eased the aches of old age. "Scarce any plant is growing here that against death some weapon does not bear." Among these mute, but mighty warriors, defenders and prolongers of man's life, were thoroughwort, stramonium or jimson weed, chamo- mile, senna, boneset, snakeroot, rhubarb, self-heal, sarsaparilla, rue, smartweed, plantain, mandrake, gentian, wormwood, fever-bush, rheu- matism root, alum root, colchicum, bloodroot, bayberry, flagroot, arnica, colic root or star grass, sage, sorrel and tansy, and in larger growth toothache tree and balm of gilead, planted in a sheltered valley, as well as sassafras and witch-hazel, some of which in our home brewed extracts competed and often successfully with those of the apothecary shop. We brewed decoctions from lily of the valley and the fringe tree, and from the rampant growths of spearmint and spikenard, pennyroyal, bergamot, and spice bush, basil or thyme, fennel, caraway, marjoram, valerian and peppermint we expressed perfumes that permeated every corner of buffets and low and high- boys at times packed to their capacity with trousseaux, bed linen and best bibs and tuckers. The animal kingdom in our fields, woods and at brookside had generous representation from the old-time grannies, or rather let us crowTn them geniuses. They labeled goatsbeard, skunk-cabbage, horse- radish, horse-geranium and horse-mint, adder's tongue and rattle- snake root, spiderwort and bugbane, crowfoot and coltsfoot, cat- nip, ragged-robin and wake-robin, cat-tail flag and cat-brier ; cowberry, cowslip, cow-parsnip and goose grass, with a side line of milkweed, butter and eggs and buttercups, and dogwood, dogbane, foxglove, chickwreed, hen and chickens, hogweed, horse tail, duckweed, leopard's bane, crane's bill and squirrel corn, crowberry and crowfoot, sheep- berry, shadbush, nannyberry, crab apple, and toadstools, often over- night-surprise-plants. The delicate pink of the bleeding heart, the spider-web gauze of baby's breath, the gracefully waving, pure white festoons of the bridal wreath, were near neighbors to the matrimony vine ; its pale, dull pink blossoms, made still duller by the blazing star (called the devil's bit, the old fashioned cure for quinsy), and scarlet-lightning, which, with the Star of Bethlehem, brightened hillside and pasture. 98 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Soil and varied conditions on hill, meadow, at brookside, in lowland, and deep woods of our two hundred and fifty acres made it possible, with the aid of the birds, for a wide range of plants to find a footing within our borders. There were man-of-the-earth and jack-in-the-pulpit, the bitter tasting corms of which gave Sir Bruin when he formerly ranged our marsh land a bog onion breath, near the skull-cap and squaw-root or cancer-root, the latter fasten- ing tightly to the roots of the beeches; maiden hair, the uncan- nily named corpse plant, commonly called the Indian pipe ; also dragon-arum and dragon-root and prince's feather, St. John's wort, and St. Peter's wort. The pokeweed, which carries in its root death to humans, we destroyed. Great masses of ragweed, bur- dock, and mullein infringed on territory belonging to their betters, beggar's tick often tagged our best store clothes and tumble weed through fall winds tumbled dire trouble to our corn and potato fields. Sitfast (Ranunculus repens) fought hard for even standing room. Mushrooms, lichens, and mosses grew wherever they could gain a foothold. Jewel weed, rosin or compass plant, ladies' slip- per and ladies' thumb and smocks and tresses all flung>their offerings at our feet, keeping pace with the seasons. These wonderful floral out- bursts of nature repeated before our very eyes the ever present and unsolved enigmas of birth, life, death and resurrction as they have been repeated year after year and century after century. "Our birth at best a sleep and a forgetting, The soul that riseth with us, our life's star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, and cometh from afar. Not in entire forgetfulness And not in utter nakedness But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God who is our home." The Wild Garden. One walled-in meadow was in the main left as a wild garden. In it was a diversity of plants and flowers, its boundary walls and crevices covered with the purple berried ivy of lusty, bushy-headed growth, often by contact so poisonous to humanity that because of its searing touch and brilliant hue it might be called the trail of the fire serpent, but eaten with impunity and well relished by horses and cattle. It was allowed to remain for the sake of its glorious golden-red autumn coloring, in contrast with the intense fire-red of the woodbine with which it was intertwined and often ran races, the goal being the topmost branch of some tall cedar whose green background brought out vividly their combined and rarely beautiful autumn shades, but any growing near the house was uprooted in deference to its malarial reputation as well as its poison blight, in fact, poison in leaf and rootlet lurked in woodland and meadow. The poison ivy, prickly nettle and pokeweed warred as far and MEAT EATING PLANTS 99 as deeply as inanimates could war against the flesh, but the twin guardians, knowledge and care, gave them a losing battle. The discovery of a thicket of sweet fern in the meadow, (thresholding the smoker's paradise of the farmer boy) gave our youngest as great a thrill as the blare of the siren calliope heralding the May circus that periodically interfered with spring planting. Here the parasitical dodder relentlessly throttles to death the staff which aided it to climb upward toward the life-giving sunlight, exactly «y undeveloped humans shoulder ride and crush their fellows. There also flourished the bindweed, the wild morning glory and patches of chokeberries. Water Plants. We lined the banks of the brook that ran through the centre of the meadow with iris, flagroot and such other water plants as we could collect* Great masses of mint and cress edged its borders and in a small pool were grown Egyptian lotus and the Victoria Re- gia, the largest leaves seemingly strong enough to bear the weight of a child. Close by were yellow and red wild lilies, pink marsh- mallow, with its delicate and profuse bloom, also grew to perfection, and could be seen three fields away. Here was the bright orange variety of milkweed as well as the silk-podded, which is today being experimented with along rubber producing lines, while black alder, dogwood, wild aster and Joe-pie-weed made a very thicket of blooms. WThen man digs deeply, he will find the word weed a misnomer. But this meao^pw was, not all flowers ; in one corner was a patch of horseradish and near the wall a surplus row of rhubarb, which in early spring we forced with a manure mulch and enclosed within headless and footless barrels. From that same State microbiologist we learned how apogamy or panthenogenesis of plant life was well exampled in the green algae that scummed a stagnant pool in a corner of our meadow, and could soon classify the interesting forms of oogamous, thallophytic plants which grew in abundance in odd corners, on dead stumps and in waste places. Bogland. In one corner of the meadow was a bog ; here the stream divided and trickled more slowly. A bogless farm may mean better farming, but to us it would have meant absence of the cheery peep of the rana, and conditions and varieties in plant life that mere money could not buy. Meat Eating Plants. At the edge of the little stream grew two kinds of meat eaters — the pitcher; whose victims were inveigled to a watery grave, and the hairy, viscous deluged sundews, whose gladsome hand of greet- ing swiftly turned to a throttling hand of death. 100 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE A Double Barreled Plant. "When one shot missed, the other hit," was the verdict over Lysimachia terrestris as it grew both tubers and seeds on its branches. In a dry season it propagated by seeds, in a wet one the bulbs which dropped to the ground grew as the seeds rotted. Preachers edged the bog, and their red fruit brightened minia- ture shaded glades. Scant plant food in the soil meant larger tubers and in some plants enlarged branch and rootlet stood for stored up sunshine, a sort of plant-reserve-bank, from which to draw sustenance in a measure absent from the sphagnum — mossy peat — which abounded in our bog. Arrowheads, walking ferns which really walked on land, cow lilies, smooth stemmed and leaved plants and sedge and bur-reeds glistened 'mid watery surroundings. Brakes spelled aban- donment, as attested by luxurious bracken growths in meadows left untouched by the ploughshare and death-dealing scythe. Batrachians. Here we took our first observation lesson of the tailless and tailed4>atrachians, from the near tadpole gill breathing stage to lung breathing four legged salamanders. The green frogs of the lily pads greened still brighter when herons essayed to "lift them," and the brown frog of the woods grew more woodsy still when avoiding its enemies — the boy that kept and studied turtles and bees took keen pleasure in testing the powers of the changing color frog from Bog- land. A real floral Jack-and-a-bean-stalk was the Polygonum Sacha- liense. Longfellow's first boy poem about Mr. Finney's turnip aptly applied to it, as it "grew and grew and grew behind the barn." Planted to screen a stercorary, perennial, spreading, and unkillable, the yard stick proved that from frost time to May fifth it had stalked upward exactly seven feet and tried its best, ere the summer waned, to punctuate the soil for a good square rod. Blooming in August, its white lacy blossoms — embowered banqueting corridors and halls for the bees — wave disdainfully above its lowly mission. Spreading roots are its greatest drawback. The historical camel that, pushed its head within the tent flap was but a novice usurper beside Mr. Polygonum Sachaliense, late of Japan. Snakes. Snakes? Very few, and harmless at that. In twenty years we saw but one puff adder. Garter and milk snakes were often found, even in the boys' trousers pockets, and an occasional black snake scur- ried across our path. I recall abruptly halting one assassin red- handed who was gulping down a nestful of young robins. In throwing over a stone wall we once found their eggs — a half dozen NEFER CLOSED BIRD RESTAURANT 101 or more clammy, misshapen objects — with the young snakes just emerging. In fact, I helped the wriggling mass of snakedom cross the threshold of life one moment and, remembering the robin episode, in the next assisted its exit, but as vermin exterminators, today they are spared. More Trees and Shrubs. The dark foliage of the Japanese umbrella trees contrasted well with the lighter green of a grouped background of umbrella-headed catalpas that outlined the "heater piece" where two roadways met. Glinting through the silver and green were golden chained labur- nums, yellow jessamine, yellow currant, golden yew, golden hop tree, golden oak and the long list of yellows that glowed like bottled sunshine against the gray of overcast days. Japan, that master developer of Dame Nature's products, was our stand-by as exampled in lilac and quince, magnolia, sweet-scented syringa and delicate blooming deutzia, as well as the golden balled kerria, that has been brought to a brighter gold, more closely knit, and fuller rounded blossom under the skies of Japan. These and hundreds of other plants attest the painstaking propagation of centuries-. • No more attractive shrub blooms in that arboretum than the purple-fruited Callicarpa. Close to it was planted the straggling, silver leaved Baccharis, and back of the two a noble specimen of Nord- man's fir, whose silver-under-sided leaves dance in sunlight. The flaming red of the burning bush (the Euonymous or strawberry tree, one of the few plants that can squarely face salt water without cringing, but whose young life the scale dearly loves to throttle) is sandwiched beween flat-branched, hardy orange trees, full of yellowish uneatable fruit. Near it in season are the beautiful shell-like blossoms of the pearl bush, and forming part of the same background is the maiden-hair tree. The luxuriantly growing mulberry, whose prolific crop of fruit resembling the thimbleberry drops before it really ripens; the feathery tamarisk from India and Africa; the tropical-looking catalpa — Indian bean — whose leaves are late in coming and among the first to shrivel with frost, contrast well with a group of golden elders, in turn fronting the dark purple foliage of the copper plum, the Prunus pissardi, and close by it the rose of Sharon, one of the last plants to leave and bloom. Keyless and Never Closed Bird Restaurant. Here grew that shrub of shrubs, the sea buckthorn, Hippophae rahmnoides, of striking silver gray foliage, later its stems packed with orange colored berries that added many feathered visitors to our home bird colony. In one long stretch of the arboretum where the stroll path was most heavily screened we made a protected game preserve, a real bird paradise; here were planted a wide gamut of 102 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE berry-bearing shrubs interspersed with a few suet decorated trees and bird fonts and in this keyless and never closed bird restaurant the bursts of melody were most divine. Yonder is a sturdy trumpet vine, holding in its python grip the g marled and barnacled trunk of a dead cherry tree. Bitter- sweet and clematis lock arms in the clean-leaved, white flowering branches of the fringe tree, at whose base grows the silk tree, while near it are the Gymnocladus or Kentucky coffee and nettle trees. Backgrounding these are light green feathered larches, in iront the appropriately named smoke tree, and close by the lurid autumn leaved varnish tree, the Kolreuteria, and the rarely planted Stuartia, the American camellia or tea plant. Silverthorns, hawthorns and thorn-apples a-plenty backed the indigo shrub. The flowering almond, fronted by great masses of garden pinks, contrasted with the glorious yellow coreopsis, while mock orange, bladder nut and New Jersey teas were also in evidence. The prostrate cypress and the little English yews stood side by side. Neces- sarily, European yews in our young country are small — it takes hundreds of years to grow the mightiest and sturdiest, as exampled in the eleven hundred year old yew of Ripon Abbey, the epitome of strength and longevity. Ours were barely four feet high.* "Till fell the frost from clear, cold heaven, as falls the plague on man.'' In spite of the rare beauty of the numberless varieties of golden rod that brightened field and hillside, and later the shell-like nodding heads of cosmos, a true frost flower, the swirl of feathery chrysan- themum, and the late bloom of wistaria and clematis Jackmanni, their coming as a near winter harbinger was a cloud over our Garden of Eden. Try-Out Nursery. In the vegetable garden was a try-out nursery where novelties were grown. Here were new melons, black sweet corn, a new variety of popcorn to gladden and shorten the long winter evenings, gourds of bright color and odd form, — one variety in square surface area rivaling our prize pumpkin, and scores of other freaks (some of them true horticultural pedants) which, though purchased with wonderful promises, often failed to live up to the farmer's past stand-bys. I recollect, however, some corn stalks sixteen feet high, selected from the twenty-acre field, that gained honorable mention at the County Fair. We grew sweet potatoes of large size but small flavor, and in our own biased opinion graduated many a Nestor in the agricultural world, but in time crucible tests often revealed a dunce who flunked and slipped into oblivion. Among other fruits was a French straw- *The American sequoia outdistances by full two score centuries England's venerable yew. Science states there are today living specimens of the California sequoias that were old trees before the pyramids were built. TRY-OUT NURSERY 103 berry that ripens in the fall, and has a delicious wild strawberry flavor. The crop was larger when we destroyed the June blooms. Here also were tested some of the seeds franked to us by our Congressman each spring — in fact, the collection of both flower and vegetable seeds furnished free by the Government made quite a garden. Odd hours grew into years of painstaking search before all these plants had been found and named, but they finally stood on the record book of the arboretum and lived out their lives in fields, woods, copse, hedgerow and meadow, save when the brush fire got beyond control, as it sometimes did in spite of the cedar bush beating given to keep it within bounds, or the knife of the mower transferred the floral harvest of bloom to the hay mow, or the cattle nipped the bud- ding blossoms. From the green hills of Vermont, at the base of Mt. Mansfield, we freighted two large boxes of trailing arbutus, with a goodly quantity of the soil in which they grew. These were planted in a grove of Austrian pines, protected from our roving cattle, and it was always a joyous discovery to find them peeping through the late spring snows. As the seckle is the generally accepted standard of flavor in the pear kingdom, the arbutus, "the darling of the forest," should be the standard of fragrance in the world of flowers. Ere the plant fever developed and before that rural instinct dormant in all mankind had become a living thing, the choicest shrubs meant to me only a bit of attractive color or graceful form, hence, I rarely grew impatient over some city guest's patronizing and flippant comment: "Yes, it's beautiful, but isn't it a lot of care?" and five minutes after the remark the visitor couldn't recall any detail of that which was such an expression of the Divine as to be fit to embower the gates of Paradise. My frequent panacea for outraged feelings was to lash the offenders unmercifully with a torrent of easily acquired botanical names such as Taxodium distichum, or Bambusa metake, but I soon reverted to the normal habit of calling an Aralia spinosa a Hercules club or a Viburnum plicatum a Japanese snowball, realizing that I had in the past been a greater ingrate and a grosser culprit than my guest. The arboretum required careful planning, but it paid, for, aside from the joy of accomplishment, it made a connecting link between the house and grounds, giving an air of permanence and completeness to the entire development. Moving Day. Moving day had now arrived for the farm house. "Not good enough for this particular site, but very good for some other near by," was the verdict of the jury, and horse, block and windlass, roller, 104 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE plank, and guy moved it a foot at a time over the fourteen hundred feet traveled to reach its new homesite. With its removal the sun of our twenty year farming day sank beneath the horizon, and man's final estate as described in the line, "we shall soon be fogies," began to cast faintly outlined shadows the day we gave up the farm. Farmers Versus Commuters. While raising corn for the silo, we were raising roof-trees for the commuter, and in the next hundred pages is a record of how we worked out the farm problem into the villa community, made easier by the fact that the roads in Hillcrest Manor closely articu- lated with various highways. HILLTOP 105- CHAPTER IV. HILLTOP — STONY CREST — THE GABLES — BUENA VISTA — HILL- CREST HOUSE — STORM KING — STONEHENGE — SKY ROCK — BRIERCLIFF — CROFTLEIGH HOUSE — CLIFFMONT — BREEZEMONT — LEDGES — DRACHENFELS — ISLAND HOUSE — CROSSWAYS — RED TOWERS. THE first house with which I changed the sky-line of the rough- Connecticut farm was Hilltop, two large stone chimneys its main motif. Hilltop was built before the advent in numbers in this country of the skilled Italian stone chimney mason, who, while often moving slowly, rarely picks up the wrong stone. I finally found a native boss mason willing to tackle the job. The chimneys, built of selected lichen-covered stones, both within and without, grew fast, and with them the house, of plain but strong design. Three large rooms lined toward the south, with the two exterior chimneys of field stone equidistant from each end. The stair hall was thrown toward the north in a semi-ell, and kitchen in the same manner at the other end, connected by a columned, palm-decorated one-story corridor. On the second floor bedrooms were all on the south and a well ventilated and lighted hall on the north. That roof of roofs HILLTOP. 106 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE HIU, TOP VIEWS TREELESS AND TREED HILLTOP. WHAT CHLOROPHYLL DID IN EIGHT YEARS 107 3TOHYCRE5T EIGHT YEARS TREE AND SHRUB GROWTH. 108 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE -STOHYCRJEST THE ADDITION TO STONYCREST. FLOOR PLANS OF OUR BEST 109 H1LLCHEST HOUSE MBIT Ptooa ~i_ STOHYCFJEST 1 ! ,- 1 •LjJJ r m L_ _J PT-, .SECOKD STOHV FLOOR flJ OF BUEMA VI5TAB ''.J THE BIG FOUR. 110 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE for space, the gambrel, gave large attic rooms. Yes, Hilltop, the first modern house in Hillcrest Manor, in presence and convenience was called a success. Snap Shots of Building Progress. Rarely have I built without taking photographs at different stages, making important data for future reference. First, the bare site, then, in natural sequence, the hole in the ground, the stoned- up cellar, upright corner posts, and so on to the completed dwelling, and year after year the increased tree and shrub growth, with each photograph usually taken in scale with some well known object as man, dog, or horse. STONYCREST. After Hilltop came Stonycrest, whose roof outline formed one of its several motifs.* The stone entasis foundation, the big sheets of glass from floor to door and window top, windows that occupied almost the entire ends of the rooms, and the deeply recessed inglenook two steps below the hall with its tiled floor in which was inset a lion rampant, were some of its features. In the chimney centre was a colored, leaded glass window necessitating a double fireplace flue; had it faced the hills it would have been of clear plate glass. Box windows extended up into the partitions in low studded rooms, allowing larger view panes. *The original plan called for an arched corridor, connecting stable and house, as shown on page 108. UTILIZING STONE WALLS 111 IN. TH& STOHY CFWT DETAILS IN THE BUILDING OF STONYCREST. 112 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE THE HOUSE THAT SPANNED A CITY BLOCK. PREVENTION OF VERANDA DECAY 113 Translucent glass formed the risers in outside steps as well as back stair flight, flooding the basement and cellar with light, an excusable bit of commercialism. Heavy twenty-four inch fluted columns flanked the entrance hall on either side, and still other features were a niched window on the stairs, the great south plant window with curved top transom of stained leaded glass, and oaken carved griffins — a copy of those designed by Richardson for the library building in Burlington, Vermont — ornamenting the front door lintel. But the prevailing exterior motif was the roof, that with curve and mitred soffit, peak and dormers, tried both purse and patience. As I remember it, six carpenters worked six weeks to close in and finish that roof in all its details, but it was generally conceded to be a thing of beauty. The entrance posts built of big boulders were capped by rough stone laid in basket form for flowering plants, and fitted with gal- vanized iron drainage pipes.* Prevention of Veranda Decay. To dispose of rain water on the piazza a strip of ten-inch-cop- per flashing fastened with copper nails at the edge of piazza floor, formed a slightly inclined gutter, its outer edge cemented into the stone veranda rail as the stone was being laid up and connected with spouts leading into blind drains. This prevented decay in floor and beams and solved the annoying veranda water-drip problem when the veranda abuts against a solid stone railing. The bulkhead cellar doors of wired glass were screened and protected from uncontrolled grass or brush fires by plant-decorated ramparts of rustic-laid-up stones. Twice we lost valuable buildings through burnings-over care- lessly handled. THE GABL.ES. *Nine hundred dollars was the cost of the posts and short fences which joined them and in three years low evergreens and vines completely concealed their contours Cheap but sub- stantial boulder posts screened with vines would have answered as well. 114 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE A WIDE RANGE IN FARM LIFE. LEAF-ROOFED VERANDA CEILING 115 A short thousand feet, and we stand on the wide veranda of a long, low villa. "The Gables" featured a dozen outside balconies. Hall, parlor and dining room were on the ground floor as well as the kitchen extension which joined the dining room by a long butler's pantry. Yes, it was winged, and its isolation meant freedom from clatter, heat, and odors. Overhead were servants' rooms, bath, house-maids' sink room, etc., and laundry and cellar beneath. The second floor had many connecting rooms, and increased area was obtained by building the front line of the house over the fifteen foot veranda, all overhang being thoroughly deadened. Third floor rooms were made unusually cool by the high studded loft with three ventilating windows hinged from the bottom to keep out rain. These opened inward, were chain-hung at top and proved practical ventilators. Leaf-Roofed Veranda Ceiling. The ampelopsis has taken possession of the veranda ceiling, and one sits beneath a leafy canopy, while English ivy keeps the north stone posts green all the year. As the ceiling boards will last at least ten years and possibly twenty and can then be renewed, the unique beauty of this verdure-bowered ceiling made the doing worth while. Occasional sprinkling with insecticide downed fly, mosquito and spider. An improvement would be an indestructible cement ceiling. All balconies are well flashed, canvas-covered and thor- oughly painted. Door sills are sharply sloped and have triple rab- bets. A poorly built balcony invariably leaks and is a large factor in falling ceilings and stained walls, and window frames about caps and sills need special flashing and close jointure. Open and roofed verandas extend on four sides of The Gables, and include a servants' porch broad enough for an outdoor dining room at the rear of the house, well screened from the front entrance. In Gables we succumbed to the arguments of the wall- paper salesman, only to find that sand-finished walls intended for paint or muresco and stencil treatment rebel when papered. Fall winds sweeping through open doors and windows stripped off roses, pansies, and nasturtiums by the yard. Buena Vista. Here is shown Buena Vista, which, with its length of 228 feet, stretches a full city block. It is built to fit the contour of the ground. When I first bought the farm and named it Hillcrest, I walked out on these ledges and planned to sometime tie the lichen-covered stone outcroppings together with a Moorish castle. After years of wait- 116 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE i [ BUBHAVISTA& I SOUTH AMD WEST TROJ1T THE WORTH FRONT THE MOORISH CA.STLE. THAT SIREN INFECTED ORCHARD 117 THIS IS OUR *OH£.ST THAT ROOF. 118 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE ing and a score of months of continuous labor the castle, with stucco sides, and roof and towers of tile, at last crowned the hill, welcoming guests and owner through archway, up the broad stairway, and into its hospitable halls. Extravagance in paneled wainscot and beamed ceiling ran riot, as in leaded lights, arch-windowed turrets, and the copper-flashed, tiled roof, viewed from the lookout of which Buena Vista seemed like a miniature city. BUENA VISTA. I believe that Tennyson, with his love for tile, as against "slated ugliness," would have appreciated that roof, though it will be decades before it takes on its northern slope the moss-grown shades that pleased the poet. One can, of course, use tile in much less glaring colors, and in so doing span a century. In Buena Vista were picture windows so large and heavy that they could not be conveniently opened, a remembered lesson to me. When I again tackled 8x8 foot picture windows they swung on pivots inserted in top and bottom or on either side. Fortunately, windows were so numerous in Buena Vista that stagnant air was unknown. Hardware in the reception room was gold plated; this was not extravagant and never needed polishing. Yes, it's a scrawny, uninteresting apple orchard, but you will see how in landscaping the east side of Hillcrest House, I used these old apple trees as a foil to the big building. THE STONE FRAMED MOORISH C4STLE 119 HILL CREST HOUSB THE STOKE THE BAST ETiTRAIiCE A STONE FRAMED LANDSCAPE. 120 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE The Siren in the Apple Blossom. The amateur farmer greets an apple orchard with open arms, looking upon it as the sure means of paying the hired man, possibly carrying part of the interest on the bank mortgage, and giving a severe drubbing to the wolf that stands ever at the door of man's domicile. His dream of a home embowered in apple blossoms gives him patience and courage to put up with the old house a while longer, and tends to dissipate the occasional depression caused by muddy roads, delayed trains, the unreason of farm help, and the myriad difficulties that daily dog the steps of him who, if undeveloped, cannot throttle disappointment or rise above vexatious surroundings. So the apple- THE SITE OP HILLCREST HOUSE AS IT LOOKED BEFORE WE DUG THE CELLAR blossom-dream lures him on until he awakens to realize that apple blossoms last but one week of the fifty-two, that insects and fungi blight and disfigure, that a lawn is impossible, as grass grows unevenly and sparsely under the wide-spreading branches of apple trees whose trunks often angle most ungracefully, and that gener- ally both view and breeze are shut out by their intertwined branches. In a word, if house and grounds are to be made attractive to the owner, the axe must be his best friend. Apple trees out of place are an aggravation, but it takes more courage to obviate the difficulty than was shown by "The Little Minister," who, spite of the fact KINGSHIP OF LI V ING 121 that the nearness of the cherry tree to his house menaced both health and comfort, followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, the old curate, and "never could find the axe." HILLCREST HOUSE. Hillcrest Hall and the Kingship of Living. It's a long stride from the base of Hillcrest House to the lookout that crowns its ridge, from which is an extended view of land and sea. Truly one feels the kingship of living more keenly from house or mountain top, and even in lowly cabin instinctively searches for a place on the roof from which to breathe air that does not hug too closely the dusty highway. A rare building was the big house. The oaken staircase of steamer stair design had a wide single flight to a landing lighted by a broad window of Tiffany sta:ned glass, then divided into two separ- ate flights. Stair rail was in keeping with the oak paneled hall, while string piece and balustrade were ornamented with metal beading. The dining room, 20 x 30 feet, with doors at either end, led on the east to a tiled and fountained court and on the west to a conservatory. The ebonized antique oak trim increased its apparent size, especially as main windows were at each end. The butler's pantry was 8x25 feet, and stairs therefrom led to the servants' suites in the ell. Drawing room was in bird's-eye maple, with stained glass leaded transoms in the broad-seated bay, representing the four seasons 122 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE of an apple orchard; blossoming tree, half-grown fruit, matured apple crop, and snow-laden boughs. Mantel face and hearth were onyx with shelf supported by ormolu or mosaic gold brackets and lower half of the broad window opening on veranda, next to a side door screened with translucent leaded glass. Hillcrest Hall towered four stories, and required a plot of land more than one hundred by two hundred and twenty-five feet to com- pass its angles and curves. There were at least two hundred win- dows. It represented both joy and worry in large measure, and I grayed a bit during its building. Fireproof Den. Adjoining the library was a fireproof den of iron, brick, and cement, with two air-spaced metal doors, iron shuttered and barred windows, and a wide fireplace. Under this den was a large stone walled room, its sides lined with asbestos covered metal shelves, making an ideal filing room with fireplace ventilation. On the second floor were the usual half dozen bathrooms, tiled to the ceiling, and masters' bedrooms, both with and without bal- conies, dressing rooms with mirror doors, and everywhere a super- abundance of large closets. The billiard room windows on the third floor overlooked thirty miles of Sound and country. Wall decorations were pictures of hunt- ing, yachting, fencing, and other sports. Pistol Gallery. Here was a Japanese room with lanterned, divaned and draped cosy corner, and leading therefrom a well ventilated pistol gallery, where bullets harmlessly impinged against the massive stone chimney breast. In the centre of this long corridor-like room stood a rowing machine. A large linen and a cedar closet, the former having two full sized doors, completed this story. On the fourth floor were housed the personal attendants of guests, distinct from house servants' quarters in the kitchen ell. Gym. in the Open. Over the arched and gargoyled porte cochere, screened by window boxes filled in summer with flowering plants and in winter with evergreens pruned in curves, is an outdoor canvas-floored gym- nasium, equipped with trapeze, punching bags and other parapher- nalia to be used for that few moments' morning exercise in the open that fills the lungs, develops the muscles, straightens the form, and ON THE STOCKS 123 THE TIEHmHWlDTHE HAMMER AMD SSW mr A PRIMITIVE LABOR &AVEP. EACH STEP AND CAP A SIRGLE STOTIB i. THE-BOLB BAUD SlTF/ RUGGED STONE WORK. 124 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE makes the blood surge and tingle, putting one in fine fettle for wrestling with the day's work. The Rest Room. Over the coachman's nook on the same floor is a writing or rest room with fireplace, reached from the house by the pergolad outdoor gym., a place to pull tired nerves into alignment, a room theoretically a luxury, but in reality a necessity. •v Porte Cochere Fireplace. Supporting the portals of Hillcrest House were grouped a half score of massive stone arches, framing a broad porch room, as shown in the accompanying photographs, from which a large area of countryside is visible. At the outer side of the porte cochere was built a high arched inglenook with a six foot wide stone fireplace, stone settles and recessed windows, intended as a waiting shelter for those who serve. Folk-lore has it that during the Revolution the Father of our Country was concealed over night in a cave less than three miles across lots from Hillcrest Manor. Whether the statement is true or false, its underlying sentiment coupled with our require- ments caused us to transport by a double yoke of cattle a flat stone from the mouth of this cave to the fireplace-ingle in the coachman's nook, where today it serves as a settle as it may have served our first president. Hero of New England's Dark Day. We are on historic ground, for on the slope of the hill yonder lived Abraham Davenport, that hero who, when New Eng- land's dark day to the Puritan mind threatened the wrath of God, rose amid his trembling fellow legislators in the council hall at Hart- ford and in the words of New England's poet of the hills said : ' 'Let God do His work, we will do ours; Bring in the candles.' .... A witness to the ages as they pass That simple duty has no place for fear." Putnam's Ride. Across the valley we see Put's Hill, down which General Israel Putnam was pictured in our school books as recklessly urging his galloping steed while the pursuing English halted at the edge of the steep declivity. In the foreground is the plain 'cross which he dashed to safety, while just west of the hill is the stone chimney of the inn where he was eating when interrupted by his unwelcome callers. We are also but a short mile from Fort Nonsense, thrown up by the same rash and impetuous Putnam in face of querulous criti- cism on account of its useless location. GARDENS OF HILLCREST HOUSE 125 C-.ARDEHS of HILLCREST HOUSE WELL-HOUSE, PERGOLA AND GREENHOUSE. 126 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE THE SKELETOH 1M THE VERMIDA THE BUILDING OP THE BIG HOUSE. From Foundation Upward. STONE AND WOOD SKELETONS 127 WHBKB SEVEH ftRCHRS MEET ARCH AND ARCH AND ARCH. 128 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE THE HEW EHTRPJ1CE LOOKIMO SOUTH FIVE YEARS LATER LQQKmo, WORTH SUMMER THE SAME EJ1TRAMCB TNWIJITBP B-JT WOT in DISCOHTEHT THE ENTRANCE TO HILLCREST FARM AND MANOR. BARE GROUND TO DENSE FOLIAGE 129 The House of the Cross. The cross was used as a motif in the building of Storm King, the roof of the porte cochere extending far enough beyond the house to form an outdoor lounging room, or ombra, entirely separate from the main building which is planned to throw the four wings of the cross into one large fountain-centred room. The manner of lighting the third story rooms with side sliding windows under the wide over- hang left an unbroken roof line, much to the joy of any architect visitor, though it circumscribed the view. The clapboards with which Storm King is sided were mitred instead of abutting against a corner board. Pompeiian Fountain Under the porte cochere and against the side of the ombra was placed a counterpart of one of the drinking fountains unearthed at Pompeii, in which one sees the depression worn in the stone two thousand years ago by the hand of the passer-by as he leaned against it while slaking his thirst. In the tower a broad winding stairway followed the circu- lar sides to the top, a somewhat difficult piece of work, especially the hand rail. STORM KING. Crowning a high ridge, its broad measurements and outlying wings making it stolidly indifferent to storms that rack and even rock the ordinary house, Storm King appeared as firm as its impreg- nable foundation, save when a severe thunder storm vibrated the granite ledges. The Cromlech Stone. Directly opposite Storm King is Stonehenge, that seems to grow from the ledge. Centreing the lawn is a rough bouldered flat-topped stone similar to those strange altars that once served for Druidical 130 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE rites and sacrifices that make us moderns shudder at the horrible unaccountable cruelty of forbears — thank God — ages removed. The big arched entrance is half barricaded by a low, stone-capped wall, leaving ample space to enter the vestibule behind it, the design filched from Phillips Brooks' house in Boston. Overhead high stained glass windows are framed in the stones. Opening a heavy oak- battened, iron-studded door, one enters a small but lofty vaulted hall. The dining room is on the same level. It is sixteen feet to the beamed ceiling formed by the second story 4x12 surfaced floor tim- bers. This manner of making a beamed ceiling demands air spacing and very thick deadening to eliminate overhead noise. STONEHENGE. Dining Room on New Lines. Few houses at twice the cost have as fine a dining room as "Stone- henge," whose high ceiling admits of the adjoining space being cut into two seven-foot rooms on different levels. One of these leading from the dining room forms a cosy inglenook, its red leather trimmed settles built each side the fireplace standing out in baronial richness against the ebonized wood. The other adjoining room is the butler's pantry and over both a mezzanine floor, making an ideal den but necessarily with a low seven-foot ceiling. On the south side of the dining room French windows open- ing to the floor lead to a sheltered outdoor breakfast room and semi-conservatory. On the west over the low broad ebonized sideboard are especially designed leaded windows through which streams vari-colored light, while on the east is a doorway of the unusual height of fourteen feet, tapestry draped, giving com- manding presence ; in fact, any room rightly located is made impres- sive without extra cost by an unusually high portiered doorway. DINING ROOM ON NEW LINES BRIERCLIFP FROM ALL SlCfBS AHD 1M ALL SEASOTJS 131 BRIER CLIFF FROM ALL POINTS. 132 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE In the side wall to the left of hall entrance is a projecting oriel window connecting library and dining room, and on the north, as we have seen, over inglenook and butler's pantry, the little den whose swinging casements of leaded glass open near ceiling height into the dining room. Sky Rock. Just beyond Stonehenge and northwest of Storm King stands Sky Rock. Its high cliff foundations and turreted outline silhouetted 'gainst the sky line make it true to name, fitting the cragged site as a long low building fits a plain. The veranda view compasses a wildness of forest and ravine that belong to a wilderness rather than to a property within one hour of New York City. From the roof lookout is an unobstructed horizon view. A desirable motif for a country house is a ten-foot wide fireplace opening as seen in Sky Rock. The entrance hall is 20x30 feet, with dining room a close second in size. One side of the latter is bayed, overlooking forest and valley, through which winds a silver-threaded river, merging into the waters of Long Island Sound. In the distance are the blue-hazed sand banks of Oyster Bay. Settle in Stone Ledge. A broad entrance porch fronts the cliff on the west. In it is a settle cut in the stone ledge on which Sky Rock is built. Cement steps from the porch lead upward to an iron-banded-donjon gate. Foot pressure on either metal door mat or old fashioned scraper starts the clanging of a gong that doubtless in feudal times called many a doughty warrior to don gasket and breastplate to repel invaders, but today answering that summons, the gate swings wide to greet the arriving guest, who steps into an ideal porch room, one of the half dozen motifs that inspired the building of Sky Rock. The marquise is formed by a curved extension of the platform of the porch room, which is about 25x30 feet. Densely headed rock maples and tall walnuts bar the western sun. Domed Hall. From the porch a wide Colonial door opens to the living room from which in turn three steps lead to a broad stair landing, holding a piano, a couch and a couple of chairs. On the west side of this landing are two long leaded windows, each four by twelve feet, while directly opposite is a stairway six feet in width leading to a second story, circular, -vaulted hall twelve feet in diameter with coved ceiling, centreing in a dome of colored glass. Inset in the floor above is a sheet of translucent, extra heavy, floor wire glass. This entrance hall is pierced by six doors and connects with a nine foot wide galleried A ROUND DINING ROOM 133 hall with barreled ceiling. Opening therefrom are the sleeping rooms. The halls are unusual, but considered a success, and form one of the motifs of Sky Rock. A basement and first story conservatory and fountain for the southeast corner I never built. Leading from the living room and wide veranda, they would form a feature well worth adding. On the south wall was placed a motto-circled sun dial. BRIER CLIFF. Here is "Brier Cliff," riveted so closely to the ledge as to seem part of it. The veranda built on three sides narrows under the porte cochere on the front and extends to a belvedere on the west. A Round Dining Room.* Brier Cliff has stone fireplaces, French windows and balconies on three stories, and a circular dining room, with curved bay on the west, opening to the veranda, while the duplicate bay on the east has two mirror doors, reflecting the woods and the ravine gorge through which plunges the river, whose swirling current has worn its way deep into the rock. The steep sides of the ravine are held in place by lofty evergreens, tall walnuts and enormous boulders, some of which make caves within the rough-edged, lichen-covered ledges, while others are strewn in wild confusion along the rugged sides and in the river bed, forming what we called Ausable Chasm, Junior. It's a wild forest scene from the west veranda of Brier Cliff. Nearly all rooms are corner rooms, with broad vistas from every window. The centre space in the attic is used as a billiard hall, with balconies built over the valley. There are large rooms at either end. Climbing still another stairway, one enters the tower lookout, commanding the horizon on all sides. North, south, and east are landscaped villas, while on the west is a forest wilderness. *In another house an elliptic dining room gave better proportions, the waste corners utilized in adjoining room.- and hall as closets 134 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE The Crow's Nest in the Hemlock. On the ravine side is a firmly built platform half way up the trunk of a big hemlock, reached by a railed step-ladder, forming a veritable crow's nest among the feathery boughs. Here the tune of the hemlock's faithful branches, "green not alone in summer time, but in the winter frost and rime" brings rest and inspiration. Croftleigh House with its Galleried Veranda. A few steps from Brier Cliff stands one of the most enjoyable houses in Hillcrest Manor. Croftleigh House has two pronounced CROFTLEIGH HOUSE. motifs that at once stamp it as out of the ordinary. One is the galleried veranda, projecting about sixty feet from the southwest corner of the house, and ending in a big porch room supported by stone posts. This room overlooks the same charming valley, threaded by the same silver stream, its beauty and utility greatly enhanced by separation from the house, standing as it does so that breezes reach it from all sides. Still farther away one sees the Sound and the sand bluffs of Long Island. Feature Levels. The second and interior motif is a combination of rooms at slight- ly different levels. North of the entrance hall three steps lead down- ward to the dining room and three steps under the large stair-land- ing bring one to the rear hall door leading to the east veranda. Open- ing this and the front door ventilates the entire house. Hall, dining room and stairs are Colonial, with white enamel finish ; the stair rail of mahogany. The broad landing with curved front holds a piano and a grandfather's clock, and over it is a three THE IDEAL SUITE 135 sectioned, leaded, bayed window with arched head, to ceiling height, its delicate tracery of design showing through lacy curtains that break the glare of the eastern sun. On the north side of the dining room, midway between floor and ceiling, leaded casements light the little den reached from a back stair landing practically in the same way as in Stonehenge, making a wide musicians' balcony. Over the dining room mantel, high in the brick chimney, is a niche with leaded design in clear glass, where rare bric-a-brac can be displayed. The Ideal Suite. Croftleigh had one especially large double bedroom with five exclamation points — exclamations synonyming view, size, glorious sunshine, air, and acme of comfort. When visitors crossed its thresh- old, it was only a question which point was voiced loudest or first. This room extended the entire width of the house — some fifty-five feet — and faced the south, with an horizon view of hill, vale, meadow, and Long Island Sound, fringed in the distance by the sand bluffs of Oyster Bay. The eastern outlook embraced vineyards, orchards, sloping hillside, flower and vegetable garden, field and pasture land, and the details of husbandry that make for joy as well as utility in country living, while on the west, barring a couple of extensive country homes, lay a wilderness of forest and stream, with broad vistas beyond. In the boudoir portion of this ideal room, separated by grille and column from the main room, was a generous fireplace. The bedroom end connected with a completely appointed tiled bathroom and a sleeping porch 8x 15 faced the southwest. The fourth compass point was compassed by a projecting bay. CLIFFMOXT. 136 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE CLIFFMOHT FRAPTIMG AND FINISHING SHAPING UP SQUARED UGLINESS. OUTLOOK FROM THE FARM HILLGKEST THE. METAMORPHOSE!) TAKM HILLCREST AND ONE NEAR NEIGHBOR. 138 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE One of the motifs of Cliffmont, whose grounds join those of Brier Cliff, is the outdoor dining room reached through the living room, and well shaded by trees. The railed platform on which it is built is protected by an awning and forms the roof of the garage. Cliffmont boasts an exceptionally large lookout. The stairs climb upward at the back of the chimney from the living room, and are side-settled at newel post. In Cliffmont, as in several of the other houses, a boudoir suite, with its connecting rooms which make ideal living, occupies the entire south front of the second story, with south, east, and west windows. In the sitting room end, which is separated by columns, is a fireplace and inglenook, settled and grilled. A connecting bathroom forms the third member of the suite. BREEZEMONT. Misleading 20 x 30 foot Rooms. Breezemont in plan and location justifies its name. It has one of the 20x30 foot living rooms that I have frequently built, but no two of which looked the same size, owing to difference in height, location, style, decoration and furnishing, which if arranged with "malice aforethought" can be made to increase the apparent size of a room twenty-five per cent. Balconies, windows and well-lighted bedrooms are among the features of Breezemont, the largest bedroom facing all points of the compass by means of a windowed alcove. Tree Basket Nest. A big buttonwood tree grows through the centre of the veranda floor, and high in its branches is chain-hung a strongly framed, wire basket-nest large enough for a children's playhouse. MISLEADING 20 x 30 FOOT ROOMS BRBBZBMOHT 139 FROM OUTLINE TO FINISH. 140 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Ledges, an English house built around a 12 x 12 foot stone chimney stack, with quaint stair tower, big arched and stone-settled fireplaces, beamed ceilings and timbered and stuccoed interior as well as exterior walls, is unusual, perched on a cliff overlooking a steep, wooded incline, fretted at its base by rock-strewn rapids of the swirl- ing river. LEDGES. Norman Tower. In Norman tower are set the slit windows of mediaeval times, through which feudal lords and their retainers repelled with javelin and bow-gun invading hordes. Before speeding northward to Drachenfels, that house of mighty spaces built in the centre of a rare, Long Island Sound-bordered woodland, and ere we leave the undulating meadows and pic- turesque wooded knolls of Hillcrest Manor, we will bid adieu to the patriarch of this group, the old farm house that stood there before swamps were reclaimed and the wilderness of bramble and brier made to blossom as the rose; when the arable land was simply potato patches, corn, and hay fields instead of orchards, vineyards, Colonial and Italian gardens, and country villas. In the houses in Hillcrest Manor I tested various modes of con- struction ; a log slabbed building ; an odd design in roofing tile ; stucco in its varied forms, plastered on either wooden or steel lathing ; laying clapboards rough side out and staining as we do shingles; siding with lapped wrhite wood boards twelve inches wide, mitred at the cor- ners; belting side walls with shingle laths over clapboards; shingles A NORMAN TOWER 141 WHERE SOME OF THE STONE WALLS LANDED. 142 laid with different weatherage, seven coursed shingle roofs lapped in curves to imitate thatch ; tile-hipped and tile-ridged shingle roofs, and a half height shingled veranda rail, topped with low wooden paling; novelty siding on outbuildings or battens with one side nail- ing and slip joint to prevent splitting, as well as blocked cement, hollow brick and terra cotta construction and veneered air-spaced brick, tearing out again where the effect failed in harmony and the result was unsatisfactory. During these building years we turned nature topsy-turvy — at least, so said the farmer's sons who, after a twenty-year absence, revisited their birthplace. The Adirondacks at the City's Threshold. Within an hour's drive or a fifteen minutes' motor trip from Hillcrest Manor, a rough, wooded tract edges on one side a small lake, on the other the Sound. Through this tract was built a winding road, fringed by white oak, chestnut, cedar, hemlock, birch and beech, leading to the Sound. It is like a bit of the Adirondacks at the city's threshold and includes two verdure-crowned, rock-edged islands, deep ravines and wooded knolls, through which wind two miles of roadway. Here we built Drachenfels. DRACHENFELS. The house itself is baronial in appointments and decorations. A steep driveway leads to a porte cochere on the east. The oaken door is six feet wide, with heavy iron hinges and a knocker from an ancient castle on the Rhine. Stepping through the doorway, one stands in a beamed and columned hall of 20 x 40 feet, with a thirteen foot ceiling. The twelve foot wide mahogany staircase flanked by ADIRONDACKS AT THE CITY'S THRESHOLD 143 DRACHEUFBLS HOW WE TRANSFORMED DULL nORTH LIGHT T0 SUNLIGHT THE WINDOW EXACTLY SIXTEEN FT-ET SOUARU on THE STAIR LWIDIHG MANORIAL AND IN SOME FEATURES BARONIAL. :144 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Ionic columns leads to a stair landing twenty feet in length with a ceiling forty feet high, wainscoted and settled, in whose wall is a sixteen foot square concave window of green and golden leaded glass, colors which swing the compass from north to south. Its form makes it appear six feet higher than its width, a point we remem- bered in building other concave windows. A broad columned entrance hall opens on the west to a veranda twenty feet wide. The Colonial dining room, 20 x 30 has wide columned alcove window and mahogany beamed ceiling. All mantels are high, wide, and deep; one marble, others mahogany, gilded wood, or white enamel finish in keeping with the rooms. French windows open from parlor to porch, showing in their curved muntins a touch of Versailles. The veranda has an excep- tionally low stone rail, increased to normal height by boxes of plants. Posts are unusual, as seen in the photograph, with tops broader than bases — seemingly too slender at the bottom, but for the enlarging stone support which is a foot or two above the low stone rail. They are of chestnut plank built about a heavy chestnut centre, the forty-two members of each post-shell held together as hard and fast as iron can band them. A Trussed Transom. Twin picture windows of one sheet of plate glass at the west end of both the long parlor and library are each nine feet wide and six feet high. A thirteen foot ceiling allows of leaded light transoms, but the wooden parting strip is barely two inches wide, and when they were first placed a gale threatened to dash the whole front to the floor. The problem was solved with a two-inch truss-iron set edgewise laid closely against each side of the lock-rail its full length within and without. It could not be beaten in with a sledge hammer as far as the parting strip is concerned. The library has mahogany book-cases, high columned mantel, wide window settles, and a big observatory window with leaded transom. Under the stair landing is a butler's pantry with three divi- sioned sink of planished copper to avoid dish breaking. It extends the length of the three windows, which thoroughly light this impor- tant room. An easy flight of basement stairs brings us to the tarred and cemented cellar blasted from the ledge. It is and has always been a stranger to moisture, except as the area entrance was flooded before we bricked and drained it, and built an overhead wire-glass, light giving bulkhead roof that shoots the water where it belongs, into cobbled gutter and thence to flower garden and lawn. The stone walled basement extends under the entire house, and contains kitchen, SWINGING THE COMPASS 145 THE TWELVE FOOT VHDB STAIR THE TWELVE FOOT STAIR. j 146 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE laundry, man's room, refrigerator and storerooms, shower room for the athlete, tool room and billiard room, the latter with arched and settled stone fireplace that would rouse to the joy of living the most phlegmatic and pessimistic skeptic or indifferent stupid tyke. Returning to the first floor, one passes under the big cement- sheathed and terra cotta fire-protected steel I-beams that stiffen the house immensely and carry the north side of the hall, and climbs the broad stairs to the 20 x 40 foot second story hall, which, wainscoted and beamed, forms a vaulted room from which tran- somed French windows lead to the west balcony. In the forty-foot staircase tower, half way to the third floor the flight is broken by a projecting mahogany railed balcony which seems suspended in mid-air. The stair turns and lands between columns on the third floor, wrhere are rooms and baths for guests. There is a fourth floor for servants and above that the lookout. All bathrooms are tiled, fixtures of the best, properly back-aired, and with chimney ventilation. Hanging Balcony. Scant head room under the curved balcony leading to the third floor prevented the use of twelve inch wooden girders. Instead of the ugly chain-hung-from-ceiling method, two pieces of heavy iron trolley rail placed through double walls — one a closet wall — and fastened thoroughly by braces, gave a fine holding purchase. On this the balcony was built, and it is as solid as the proverbial meat axe. Drachenfels has a boulder stone foundation, sides of stucco pan- eled with chestnut timbers, and roof of stain-dipped shingles. (It should have been of slate or tile.) Plate glass is used in all lower, and clear leaded glass in all upper windows, except twenty or more which are of stained glass. There are balconies from bedrooms and balconies from halls, their floors canvas covered ; window seats boxed full length for dresses, many windows columned, and with suitably colored leaded light, specially designed stained glass transoms for halls, dining room, library, parlor and bedrooms, and hard wood floors throughout the house, some with parquetry borders, but avoiding sharp color contrast which tends to curtail the size of a room. Twin Chimneys. The chimneys of Drachenfels are stone, and one of its chief motifs is shown in the twin chimneys, one at either side of the amber- hued 16x16 foot leaded north window. Indeed, Drachenfels fairly teems with motifs. The first floor, each room of which has broad sliding doors, converting the large area into one room at will ; the twelve foot wide stairway, the stair hall alcove with its forty foot height and striking leaded windows, and the mid-air balcony are all well worth working out. A POST WIDER AT TOP THAN BOTTOM 147 DRACHEHFELS ao FOOT WIDE VERANDA A POST WIDER AT TOP THAN BASE, ~ A TWENTY FOOT VERANDA. 148 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE THE HOUSE WHICH EDGED A FOREST. BUILDING OF CROSS WAYS 149 THAT TWEtVt fOOT WIDE THE LAWNS OF DRACHENFELS. 150 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE The Crater Garden. Grounds are arboretum-edged, while on the lawns are grouped choice and desirable shrubs and trees, and there is a rare Druid- ical garden, into the centre of which was dragged, by that double yoke of cattle, a ponderous, representative Cromlech stone. This garden outlines a miniature Monte Nuova crater like that just outside of Naples. Standing on its edge, one looks down at a varied mass of flowering shrubs and plants. The winding paths are bordered by old-fashioned box, while lily, eglantine and honeysuckle perfume the air and brilliant blossoms carpet the ground. This wonderful little basin was of nature's fashioning; man simply in- tensified its beauty by rearrangement and planting. In some ways it outclassed an Italian formal garden. ISLAND HOUSE. Passing through the depth of the forest that surrounds Drachen- fels, as shown in the accompanying picture, in a spot where time and again the Indian pitched his wigwam, stands Island House. When one crossed the causeway, flashing in view, it seemed like a new discovery, so hidden by foliage and rocky cliff was this ideal semi- bungalow with the big living room and stone fireplace, stairway hid- den behind the chimney, wide veranda, and upper balconies over- looking the water. The veranda posts rustic, the house itself attractive and homelike, it is the best example I know of a thoroughly con- structed, plastered and finished house built in ten weeks. There are ten rooms of good size, and it cost exactly $3,000. A pokehole head hitting cellar was the one drawback and a needless error. Two miles 'cross country, at the meeting of the ways, stands Crossways. With that broad towering exterior stone chimney, it fits THE CRATER GARDEN 151 152 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE rarely the demands of country architecture as well as the site. Across the front of the house is a wide, roofed veranda, extend- ing beyond the house line on the northwest corner. How often CROSSWAYS. I pity humanity, baking on a south or east veranda, when, by building it as above and using an open rail, cool southwest breezes and a broadened view are obtained. Building up the stone foundation into two foot high base sup- ports to the veranda posts, as shown in the photograph, gives greater stability and a more pleasing effect than a continuous wooden railing. The wooden posts should have been twice as large. The Lavatory Theft. A screened minstrels' balcony on the stair landing is one of its features. A couple of steps under the main stairway give ample head room in a lavatory practically stolen from the cellar, a plan well worth more general adoption. Either living or dining room may be used for eating, as winter's sun or summer's shade dictates, for in the large butler's pantry are doors to each. The windowed hall on the third floor in the ell between ser- vants' quarters and main house is utilized as a servants' bathroom, but may be used as a thoroughfare on occasion, connecting the two portions of the house, as fixtures are screened with a wooden paneled partition — a pardonable makeshift under some circumstances. Crossways stands for comfort in every line. Red Towers. When I left Orange, the birthplace of Red Towers, I took with me as foreman a man born in Orange, who had never seen a rough bouldered stone wall like those crossing Westchester County and Connecticut in all directions. Indeed, the house is built in a stoneless land, as we in Connecticut understand stone and land. I've cleared many a Connecticut pasture with oxen, dynamite and AMERICA'S , GIANT CA USE WAY 153 crowbar when there were upheaved on the surface enough stones to completely cover the ground to a depth of several feet and in a single winter on less than a dozen acres have had ten thousand inches drilled and dynamited, yet Orange is hardly sixty miles 'cross country from Hillcrest Manor.* RED TOWERS. America's Giant Causeway. Red Towers savors a bit too much perhaps of the aggressive in architecture, yet is a dream of comfort within, while without a half dozen years' growth of trees and vines softened and toned its outline. Red Towers was a compromise between Queen Anne and an effort to do something out of the ordinary, a common failing, but standing for progress. It had many good points towering above its neighbors in its sheath of green, with foundation of selected hard brown sand stone, first story trap rock, similar to that in the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, and taken from a pillared rock deposit in the Orange Mountains, whose broken surface is almost a jet black and hard as flint — hearsay states it's the only Giant's Causeway in America. The mortar joints were red ; the balance of the house, both side walls and roof, covered with red tile, ornamented on chimney face and banded under the balcony with terra cotta bas-reliefs, while the tower was copied from one built on College Hill in Burlington, that *The man who reduces acts to figures and glories in statistics states that allowing fifty cents a day for labor the stone walls of Connecticut equal in cost the improvements of all kinds in the entire state. 154 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE hill of hills where from the windows on one side are seen Mt. Mans- field and the rare green mountains of Vermont, and from those on the other, snow-crowned Mt. Marcy, rising above Lake Champlain, surrounded by the health-giving pine forests of the Adirondacks. A large wood carving arched the porch veranda entrance, be- fore which was a broad stepping stone of granite six by eight feet. The front door was of quartered oak with carved lintel and leaded light, the knocker, in which was cut the owner's name, made from a knight's vizor, while the brass strap hinges and lock were heavy and of quaint design. The hall was trimmed in real cherry of dull velvet finish, and the brick hooded mantel, ceiling high, decorated with moose horns. Two large pillars carried the centre of the house, and sliding doors connected double parlors, dining room, conservatory and hall, making it possible to form one great pillared room when desired. The upper half of each conservatory sliding door consisted of a six foot square of plate glass. Conservatory. A honeycombed, ornamental design in the brick wall under the conservatory was copied from a palatial residence in the Berkshires and the glaring spectacle windows from some forgotten source. The conservatory formed the arc of a circle at one side of the house, its roof of heavy skylight wired glass with ventilators protected by galvanized wire screens. It was later roofed in wood to prevent breakage. Glass electroliers and brackets were used to avoid corro- sion. Connected by a private stair, but on a lower level, leaving an unobstructed view from the dining room windows, were the green- houses. From these windows, one looked out on a continuous bouquet of bloom so far below and at such an angle as to overcome objection- able glare. Just beyond were the cold graperies, roof connected to give length and proportion, yet entirely separated, and with air space between to avoid plant contamination through insect or disease. The library alcove, with high leaded windows over the book- shelves, was in a bayed tower, and opened from the southwest parlor, while from the north parlor was a door leading to the north- west veranda, thoroughly awned and with absolutely water-proof floor. The space beneath served for storage, sides being screened with translucent glass. Quartered oak trim was used in dining room, which was wain- scoted and had a squared bay on the southeast. The butler's pantry on the west was also trimmed in quartered oak. The basement, mainly above ground, contained kitchen, laundry, man's room, storage and furnace rooms, with potting house and ' boiler-room under the conservatory. THE SELECTED FLOOR 155 One servants' bath was in the basement, side walls to a height of six feet and the floor being covered with thick skylight glass — an unwise experiment as it proved slippery. Kitchen walls were faced with white glazed brick. The basement was made absolutely water-tight and ground air- proof within and without with underdrains and tar and cement treat- ment on floor and side walls. From cellar to third floor was a lift large enough for trunks, but the block-and-tackle rigged in the upper loft over the stair well proved a disastrous experiment. The entire second floor trim, like entrance hall, stairs, and parlor, was of genuine cherry. One dressing room and an outdoor bedroom overlooked Llewel- lyn Park and the mountain. The bed alcove connected with bath and dressing room, and was separated from the boudoir by a Moorish horseshoe arch fifteen feet wide reaching from floor to ceiling. The billiard room on the third floor was plaster finish to tower peak. On this floor were bedrooms with special features, for instance, mantels of unique design from eight to twelve feet in width, special cabinets, odd shelving, and picture windows, also dressing rooms. The red birch floors were selected from a pile of flooring con- taining 500,000 feet, and it required the entire time of two men for a week to select the finest and most beautifully grained. When planed, glass or steel scraped, sand papered, filled and waxed, floors were produced which today after years of wear, are practically pictures in wood. 156 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE FORCES KHOWK UHKHOWH ELEMENT ALS. BELLERICA 157 CHAPTER V. BELLERICA — WHITE ROCK — A YACHTSMAN'S ROCKS. SHELTER — SHORE NO finer bit of earth was ever wave-washed than the strand of sand and cliff that fronts Bellerica. It seems a fragment of the rock-ribbed coast of Maine transferred to Long Island Sound. There are Moorish touches in outdoor bedrooms, roof and porch lines, with large supporting posts and overhang, while the wall space is pierced with rounded bays and large picture windows in groups of twos and threes. BELLERICA. The interior is spacious, with semi-Oriental treatment in stair, grill, balustrades, and alcoves. An over attic with casement win- dows hinged at the bottom, swinging inward and ever open, cools a third floor that is in many ways as pleasant and comfortable as the second. Large trees shade the porch and give seclusion. In fact, building and planting were tightly hand-clasped here. The advantages of immediately beautifying with tree and shrub are fully illustrated in the photographs showing both crude beginnings and mature de- velopment. 158 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Two Houses in One. A study of the floor plan will show that Bellerica is really a bi- family house, each having advantages, and the two quickly and prac- tically treated as one house when desired. WHITE ROCK. Here is conventional little White Rock, a Philadelphia inspira- tion. It may have been the white stone steps in that placid city that suggested this name, but the reason for its building was the fact that I chanced to see one day in crossing Walnut Street the demolition of one of the grand old houses of Philadelphia. I bought the interior trim, including doors and windows, which were quaint and odd, and had them shipped to Connecticut. The roofs of the lift windows follow the slope of the upper gambrel. The afterthought windows at the ridge are convenient though ugly, as afterthought windows as well as other built-in features sometimes are, but transformed a dark garret into comfort- able servants' quarters. A big white quarry ledge on the shore was selected as its site, cellar blasted, and practically in three months this bit of Quaker City, as far as windows, doors and trim were concerned, was basking on the shores of the Sound. A House Enlarged, Yet Not Enlarged. A very convenient house was White Rock, porch-pillared and porte-cochered, its interior more attractive than its exterior. The capa- city of the dining room was increased by the addition of a bay, an after- thought relief that helped amazingly, and the use of a round instead HARBOR VIEW ENTRANCE 159-> of a square table. A compromise serving pantry was made from a closet with doors opening into both dining room and kitchen. The front door had transom and side lights of "ye olden tyme," and all trim as stated was of pronounced Colonial type. A quaint and attractive staircase, columned living room, half a dozen cosy bedrooms, and a long room, half studio and half bedroom, over the porte cochere, all helped to make up a sightly and livable house. Years after, like four others of my creation, guided by sturdy horse and windlass, it strolled inland to give place to a more pre- tentious dwelling, but the quintette still exist as homes in the truest sense. Harbor View. A couple of stone entrance posts and a winding drive between trees that shade a roadway leading to the shores of the Sound reveal a wonderful panoramic view of island, sea, and headland as strikingly beautiful in its way as that which suddenly greets the beholder as he crosses for the first time the threshold of the Catskill House and sees at his feet the valley of the Hudson, or emerges from the darkness of the Haverstraw tunnel into the blaze of light revealing the startlingly beautiful view of that same Hudson flowing toward the sea. The development in lagoon and curving waterways is akin to- fair Venice. Indeed, Connecticut's "Harbor View" or "Yachtsman's Shelter" is even more than the name implies, for it includes not only lagoon, harbor, and Sound views, but the beautiful woods through which the driveway reaches the shore are parked and arboretumed with rare skill. Houses of stone and stucco, shingle and brick, on wooded; crag and hillock, fringe beach and cliff. 160 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE A house of flesh and blood is Shore Rocks. It is, like Pinnacle, representative of the building experience of nearly two score of years, and many of my air castles are in it woven into reality. To me it embodies solid comfort and completeness of appointment, but it was a far cry from its inception to the pulling of the latch-string. SHORE ROCKS. Water Lawn Groomed by Nature. Volcanic-veined and lichen-rifted rock and boulder, both under and over cliff, stood where we blasted out its cellar. It seemed down- right sacrilege to swing the axe against the gnarled and twisted cedar that had staunchly breasted the storms of two hundred and fifty years or to destroy the moss grown and beautifully veined ledges with wedge, drill, and dynamite; but the choice was made, and today my dream of years, with its forty rooms, outlying pergolas, bathing pool, and yacht pier is a reality. The house is embowered in trees and every main room possesses an uninterrupted outlook across the Sound — a water lawn of many miles groomed by nature, one of man's care-free legacies, present- ing an ever changing kaleidoscope of beauty. Over the entrance of Shore Rocks is a chain-hung marquise, partly enclosed with a glassed-in vestibule, that essential hall draught-stopper, while on the brick outer posts are quaint non-rusting metal lamps. The cement and red tiled platform with metal edge and inset door mat is ornamented at its corners by lions, the platform being indented at the centre, forming a base pedestal support at each side. Cement joints between the tiling are three-quarters of an inch in width. All eave spoutheads are duplicates of Notre Dame gargoyles. 161 THE LAST OP THE THIRTY STEPS IN BUILDING. The outer vestibule door is metal-grilled its entire length, the inner single seven by nine door of English oak, sill of marble, siding of cement, ornamented at the centre with a classic head, while at either side in the white marbleized front are niches for plants, and an oddly wrought iron scraper of the vintage of a couple of centuries is set in the cement platform. The first story of Shore Rocks is ecru-face brick, every fifth course fastened with irons to the heavy wooden studding, giving an extra air space for warmth. It has a corbeled stepped-outward brick water table on cut stone foundation. The second story siding is of three coat work in cement, the last coat thrown on with a trowel to give an exceptionally rough effect and disguise the small surface cracks which always appear in stucco. The middle coat was put on over the first coat to cover any openings through which moisture might strike the galvanized wire lath, an important point to remember when using this construction. Wire lath must be stiffened with iron rods and separated from the wood with V's, thus furring out the outer walls, decreasing liability to crack as the wooden sheathing shrinks. This air-space makes an absolutely dry house, appropriately called furring, from the fur of an animal. The basement wall is of quarried stone; roof of red mission tile, and gables of chestnut plank set upright, of equal width, T'd and G'd and slightly Vd at joining with wooden keys placed a couple of 162 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE __ J . s FIRST AND SECOND STORY FLOOR PLANS. //A7 EASTERLY AT WORK WITH A WILL 163 SITE OF SHORE ROCKS. THE NORTH FRONT. 164 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE SHELTERED HARBOR. THE ICE BORDERED COAST LINE ONCE IN A DOZEN YEARS. CHANGES 165 CRAG SITE B£K>K£'V APTER WHAT THE YEARS BROUGHT WHAT THE YEARS BROUGHT. 166 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE PROM TH£ (SROUTO UPWRRD FROM SKELETON TO FINISHED HOUSE. GROWTH 167 SHQRt SOCKS COMSTRUCT10K CONSTRUCTION IN VARIED STAGES. 168 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE CRAGS on WHOSE. AFTER HOUSE MOVJHO WE BUILT SHORt ROCKS THE SITE THAT CHANGED. OUT FRONT AND IN FRONT 169 THE EAST FRONT. THE WEST ENTRANCE. 170 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE THE WINDOW SEAT ON THE STAIR- MIRAGE ROOM, SLEEPING PORCH, STAIR, WINDOW SEAT. BANISHING THE FUNNEL STAIRWAY 171 SHORE ROCKS Diving- Pier in a storm. SHORE ROCKS Diving Pier in the grip of the Ice King-. feet apart on the seams. Woodwork of the upper portion of the house, together with the gables, is painted a bottle green, the rest of the trim being white. The eight foot overhang and this painting treat- ment lower the house. A projecting gable forms the top, and two windows the respective sides, of a panel five by ten feet, in which is fastened a copper bas-relief along graffito lines of a rescue at sea, following in a way that old Saxon style of exterior wall decoration. Windows, casement and lift, transomed and leaded, the majority of plate glass, number quite two hundred and twenty-five, and there are seventy-five doors and one hundred and twenty electric outlets. Deeply embrasured Georgian casement windows, showing the heavy centre cross, light the entrance hall, whose floor is of quarry tile while the vaulted ceiling is braced at twenty-five foot height by cambered beams. Walls are paneled with oak in squares to ceiling and the ceiling is of dark oak in Arabesque design. Set high in the wall each side of the stair landing gallery are paintings. Off the entrance hall are coat room and lavatory, enlarged and heightened by infringing on kitchen and basement, though not to the detriment of either. Banishing the Funnel Stairway. In some ways, the unusual was attempted in Shore Rocks, as shown in the entrance, lower stairway and second story corridor 172 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE THE ENGLISH WINDOW IN THE LIBRARY AND WINDOW RECESS SEAT ON THE STAIRWAY. THE EAST SIDE OP LIVING ROOM, PORCH ROOM BEYOND. QUOIN, BUTTRESS AND ARCH 173 X.AWD-1-OCK.E.D MOTOR BOAT D&PTH O* LAND LOCKED MOTOR BOAT LAGOON. 174 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE THE UPPER STAIR AND THE R. AND J. BALCONY. halls. Instead of the city scheme of an upright funnel from front door to roof, incidentally causing a large loss of heat, the stair- case from second to third story is at one side and behind a double arch, allowing of beamed ceiling treatment in the main stairway hall, and giving a twenty-five foot height in the clear over the stairs. One really enters the principal rooms of the house after passing through the entrance hall under a broad arch supported by rabid-mouthed, grotesquely-molded gargoyles, by a short flight of five six and one- half inch riser steps, twenty feet wide, which lead to the staircase hall twenty-five feet square lighted by leaded casements in the boudoir on the mezzanine floor. On the pedestals flanking these wide stairs are grouped masses of the unkillable Ficus Pandurata. Fireplace Opening 10'S''. The hobbed fireplace opening in the staircase hall is ten feet eight inches wide. It has crane and trammels and from its iron header WIDE R4NGE OF FIRE DOG 175 beam are suspended three metal rings used in "ye olden tyme" to handle "ye huge Yule log." The broad mantel shelf of oak, banded and ornamented with wrought iron, projecting two feet from side wall, is eighteen inches through and eight feet from the floor, supported by caryatides, and the motto across its face reads, "Sings the blackened log a tune learned in some forgotten June." For either end of this mantel shelf we had planned a complete set of ancient armor, but compromised with a single specimen of the armorers' art guarding the stairway. THE PORCH ROOM SOUTH AND WEST. THE EAST VERANDA. Wide Range of Fire Dog. In Shore Rocks the field of the fire dog is wide, ranging from twice the size of a Great Dane to that of the low pudgy dachshund, and from ponderous black iron to lighter framed, gleaming brass and 176 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE GLIMPSES OF THE SEA. THE TREE ROOM 177 THAT DIKING *OOM WlnDOW THt STUDIO WINDOW THE TRSE. ROOM WORKING OUT INTERIOR DETAILS. 178 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE THE TXKMES C^OVJED A LOHG DISTANCE. owt swtrmo PORCH TKAT WIRELESS ROOM, CONSERVATORY, MEZZANINE FLOOR. STALKING LION GUARD RAIL 179 nickel forged and molded in varied forms from cannon ball crowned fronts to grotesque midget fire-warders. The woodwork of all first story rooms, including stairs and wainscoting of both entrance and upper and lower staircase halls, is English oak and all have oak floors. Basement and bedrooms are floored with Georgia rift pine. BF • THE WIRELESS STATION. THE SHELTERED LAGOON. THE TILED YACHT PIER. Stalking Lion Guard Rail. The first stair landing is ten feet wide, reached by four steps of the same width, with ten and one-half-irch tread, the protecting side rail formed by a stalking lion of Caen stone, and the main balustrade hand-carved, with deep and broad top-rail. Turning, the stairs rise about ten feet and connect with a musicians' or min- strels' balcony fourteen feet wide by twenty feet long, supported by 180 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE A BAY IN ONE OF THE MASTER'S BED ROOMS. THE N. W. END OF DINING ROOM, SHOWING BARRELED CEILING. A STUDY IN ROCK FORMATION 181 YACHT PISK i*l ™* I 3PLANADE. HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE DETAILS or SHOKE ROCKS m TH£ SHADOW IN THt SUNLIGHT — IN THE SHADOW — IN THE SUNLIGHT — OF LIFE. T KILOBIT E NEWEL CAP 183 brackets on the ends of which are carved panther heads. This balcony has a red leather trimmed settle its entire length, and over- looks both entrance and staircase halls. Window Seat on the Stair. Half way up the ten-foot rise is an oriel alcove, comfortably cushioned and projecting into the library, into which its casements swing high above the book-cases. Two of the translucent leaded windows have the usual book-mark motif, while on the centre window is the coat of arms, mottoed, "Seek and thou shalt find." Both hall and library are improved by this swinging casement, whether open or closed. The unattractive space under the stairs, sometimes utilized by a homely boxed-in closet, is featured with a marble-rimmed plant basin filled with interrogation point fronded ferns and brilliant foliaged plants, while surmounting the main newel is a lion rampant carved in oak. The under side of the stair soffit curves to the floor. The second story hall is thirty-three feet square, including the stair well opening, and is furnished as a room. The third story stair hall is lighted and carried to the somewhat impressive height of twenty-five feet by abruptly stopping the fourth story floor beams thus forming an overhanging balcony — the roof dormer lighting both halls and stairs. Newel Problem. Sameness is avoided in the stairs, whether basement or top story, back or front. Newels are of varied form, some built into pillars to ceiling height, with naiad or faun faced brackets braced against the ceiling; others plastered barriers surmounted with carved brackets and scrolls, or merged into railings, with inset has reliefs. Crowning one newel is a crystal ball, another a statue, and a third a flaming torch. Balusters are placed singly or in twos and threes or sepa- rated by panels. Trilobite Newel Cap. We decorated the newel from second to third story with a bit of Himalayan rock lathe-turned in globe form, containing trilobites that ceased to breathe over, two million years ago. One squared newel post reaching to ceiling height has metal half inch beading at each of its four corner joints, and gives bracing strength to an especially long trimmer. Living Room. Either 'through the wide mirrored door of the staircase hall or by the little library stair (which is protected on the living room side by a settle instead of a rail, on the opposite side by a brass standard and silken rope) one enters a living room thirty-five by forty-five feet, in 184 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE itself as large as many modest country houses. It is a room of arches, columns and mirrors. Six pairs of French casements open to a com- pletely furnished porch room overlooking the water, counteracting in a measure the lonesome grandeur and monotony of an exceptionally large room. The entire east, north and south sides are doored and windowed in glass in winter, and its thirteen foot ceiling is cemented on galvanized wire lath, crossed by ebonized beams. THE MOTOR BOAT CAVE. WEST END OP PIER. Two corners of the large living room have groined ceilings, while the remainder of the room is straight beamed. Fluted columns, and pilasters, double, single, and Ionic capped are freely used. FLYING ARCHES THE MARQUISE- 185 f OAK THAT SPANKED Si CKHTURJtS ***• BEACH AND ROCK. THE HALF BURIED LEVIATHAN. 186 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE CARVED BY THE ELEMENTS. THE SEGMENTED CEILING 187 THE BREAKFAST ALCOVE WITH PICTURE WINDOW THE BIG BAY IN DINING ROOM. m THE HALL FIREPLACE, A FIRE OPENING OF TEN FEET EIGHT INCHES. 188 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE ENTRANCE TO YACHT PIER FROM VERANDA. A BIT OF THE MAINE COAST WITHIN AN HOUR OF NEW YORK. HERALDRY 189 Dining Room. Through sliding doors whose pockets are evenly ceiled to guide the door and as protection from dust and draught and whose upper halves are leaded glass to avoid the barn like appearance given by a solid sliding door, one enters the barreled, arched ceilinged dining room. This is partly Grecian, with walls and ceilings paneled in marbleized cement. The floor is of quaint eight inch wide thor- oughly kiln dried oak planks, riveted every four feet with black inset wooden keys. The sliding door to butler's pantry, made to close tightly yet move easily, controlled by foot pressure, is not in direct line with the kitchen door. A semi-polygon bay on the Sound side is formed of plate glass picture windows and used as a breakfast alcove while the bay eighteen feet wide on the north fitted with seven deeply embrasured, transomed Elizabethan grouped windows — a flagrant lapse from a strictly Greek room — is cool and inviting on the hottest day and on the coldest a tropical temperature is assured by the combination of an efficient heating plant and double windows. Barreled Ceiling. The half moons formed by the barreled or segmented ceiling at each end of this room are decorated, one with viking craft manned by fierce and stalwart Norsemen on battle bent, the other with the historic Mayflower on its errand of peace and good will. The door of the electrically lighted cabinet for the display of cut glass balances the butler's pantry door. Living and dining rooms can be thrown into one, giving an area of twenty-five hundred square feet, or, if desired, all of the gala rooms can be made to form one large room, aggregating over six thousand square feet. Library. On the level with the entrance hall are library and con- servatory, also finished in oak and connected by a short flight of stairs with the living room. This arrangement gives the library a height of sixteen feet, and ample overhead space for the appropriate use of large cambered ceiling beams. Under the windows, planted against a panel is a wall fountain of Caen stone and a corresponding panel on the exterior of the house is decorated with a bronze bas-relief. The arch under the stairs and beneath the platform has a uniform spring across the entire space. Below it is an ingle-seat. Heraldry. An .heraldic design is molded in the hood of the Caen stone cement mantel which rises, in the form of a wide shaft, slightlv tapering, to the extreme height of the room and has rounded instead 190 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE LIBRARY AND CONSERVATORY. THE \VIDE STAIRWAY. THE BOATING LAYOUT 191 BELVEDERE, SERVICE GATE, FOUNTAIN. 192 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE UDCit LMHDINC. STEPS AT LOW TIDS VIEW FROM THE GAZEBO. A BALANCED WORLD 193 of squared edges. The lofty, clear glass, English leaded windows on the west about fourteen feet high have centred in their upper panes a color design. At this end of the room a quaint little stair leads to a mezzanine floor fitted up as a reading or writing den. When the stair casement bay window on the north above the bookcases is swung open, one views the conservatory, which forms a portion of the south side of the library, and from the library the second story beamed corridors. With casements closed and drawn draperies over the stained leaded glass, each room is completely separated, but when open extended vistas are disclosed. Electric Fountain. A fountained conservatory leading from the library is roofed on the south with wood instead of glass, to avoid damage, prevent glare on second story windows, and give a cooler room. All upper lights of the nine windows that front the south are leaded, and orna- mented with delicate tracery. A low glass-roofed greenhouse is an essential feeder if one wishes profuse bloom in a wooden roofed conservatory. The white tile floor, thoroughly drained, is a restful contrast with the green of the plants. In the centre is an electric fountain, and on each side of the entrance are heavy Ionic-capped columns, while the side wall of the library the entire width of the room above the conservatory arch is of leaded glass, the design a sylvan forest scene, the inward view, birds, flowers and fronds, stirred by the splashing, electrically illuminated fountain; the outward Long Island Sound. A Balanced World. In a corner of the conservatory was an aquatic wardian case consisting of a glass jar covered with a pane of glass and fairly air- tight, its contents water, algae from the brookside, and minute animal life. In this ad infinitum world were carried on year after year the processes of being. In a sense the same water, the same plant, the same insect, life and death and life again, an everlasting world within a world. Kitchen. On the main floor is the kitchen, with floor and side walls white tiled. A separate galley, in which the glass-hooded range fitted with electric chimney fan, makes the main kitchen comfortable even in the hottest weather. Windows overlooking the front door are set overhead close to ceiling and with the addition of a skylight give pure air and a cooler kitchen. 194 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Ample pantries, refrigerator room and servants' porch, complete the first floor, while below stairs are boiler and storage rooms, salt and fresh water baths, with showers and boat racks. ONE OF THE THREE SCREENED SLEEPING PORCHES. CLOTHES CHUTE CLOSET AND LAUNDRY TUBS. Six Tubs Centre the Laundry. The laundry in the above-ground basement has six tubs in the centre of the room placed back to back. When covered they form a large table and aid in transforming the laundry into an additional sitting room for the maids. The stairway is grilled and between two columns joined by a grill one enters the servants' dining hall, in a corner of which are dish closets and porcelain pantry sink. A balanced lift connected with the kitchen prevents dish breaking. Hardwood floors furred for air space are laid over the tar coated cement, and windows extend from floor to ceiling. Rooms decorated A SHADP:D BREEZE POINT 195 ALL ABOARD ••••••• GEORGIAN WINDOW AND GAZEBO. 196 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE THt UfflD LOCKED HAKBOR EATOH'S HECK. $ HiIMp»wMfr a B t A *i 'RACIAL nivisrorts A FORBEAR. THE FERN CORNER 197 THE STAIRCASE HALL. and calcimined in suitable colors, and woodwork white enameled, give a homelike look and eliminate all suggestion of a basement. Walls and floors separating the servants' quarters from the main house are thoroughly deadened. Outside doors are four feet wide with upper panels glazed. Bedrooms. Bedrooms number twenty, several en suite, each with its own bath or bath closet, and two with salt water connection. There are three sleeping porches of generous size, and adjoining them cosy windowed and heated dressing rooms. An overhanging stair balcony and a studio finished and beamed to the ridge with a window filling the entire north side are additional features. Some bedrooms have curved top bed alcoves from whose brass rods are suspended draperies, and jewel safes are inset in walls. There are burglar-proof vaults concealed in chimney arch in the 198 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE CONSERVATORY AND PORCH ROOM. THE BATHING BEACH. CHILDREN'S SWIMMING POOL 199 basement, fire protected by air spaces, the new close-jointed sliding door for closets and narrow spaces; secret panel doors in dressers and lockers; a roof lookout back of the chimney and an aluminum clothes chute to laundry. Every house should have a readily reached and railed-in lookout platform. Aside from the uplift view, it is far easier to inspect and repair roof, chimney, gutters, and flashings. The tub in the bathroom over the east hall closet is inset eighteen inches in the floor, protected with side railing, somewhat as in a Pompeiian bath, and several tubs are made stationary against the side walls — less tiling, less dust, more sanitary, yet more difficult to repair a clogged or split trap or pipe, and greater disturbance of tiling. Several bedrooms, billiard room and den are on the third floor. TWO VIEWS OP HARBOR FRONT. 200 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE The Telescopic House. Shore Rocks is so planned and built that certain floors, stair- ways and rooms can be cut off from the rest of the house, the plumbing reduced by a series of shut-offs to that required for an ordinary ten-room house, three-fourths of the big heating plant ENTRANCE HALL. MUSICIANS BALCONY. easily disconnected, and the occupants thus made practically inde- pendent of servants by reducing a working force of a dozen or more to two or three . All upright heating pipes placed to be easily reached are concealed within closets or columns. Swimming Pool. Grounds are laid out with pergola, Italian gardens, and swim- ming pool, depth of water in which is controlled by a water- A CONNECTICUT CAPRI 20 r WHEN MAN WAS YOUNG. 202 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE VIEW OF THE- OFFING THE SINGLE DOOR 203 to the open Sound. Electric lights edge the rim erf *this pool, dispelling "eerie creeps" that sometimes overtake even the THE SINGLE DOOR. ENTRANCE AND STAIR HALLS. seasoned water dog who dips at midnight, while on barrier wall, esplanade and parapet are large terra cotta vases or statues in red, gray, and verde-antique. There are deep-water landing pier, cement fireproof garage with suitable pit, and under the veranda bowling alley, workshop and bathing houses with hot and cold showers. In fact many of the features that make Pinnacle the house ideal one will find also in Shore Rocks. A pergolad gazebo is built on seamed, rugged, sea-weed-clad rocks, a peculiar ledge formation fronting this portion of the Sound and of keen interest to the geologist. The stone rampart rail centred 204 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE with plants its entire length, edges the water with a green wall of salt-defying cedars. Under the gazebo, which is built on heavy stone arches, is a grotto. Sea grasses grow in stone crevices near the splashing waves, and hammocks swung in the shadow of post and arch mean luxurious comfort even on the warmest day. THE MOTOR BOAT CAVE. CHILDREN'S SWIMMING POOL. Peering from a cave-like fissure in the rock of the grotto is a metal dragon that in a storm spouts white flecked foam with a roar above that of the pounding waves — a bit of realism that often pleases grown-ups as well as children. Salt air and occasional salt mist spitefully but fruitlessly assail the poplars, Japanese privets, beach plums, the Euonymous, sea buck- thorns, tamarisks and Rosa rugosas that among other plants adapted for use at the seashore fringe the rocky water front. SALT DEFYING PLANTS 205 Stone buttresses of pronounced entasis and flying arches that support the gazebo are buffeted by pounding waves and even the top of the pergola at times is bathed with flying spume. At night electric lights illumine grotto, pergola, belvedere, swimming pool, yacht pier, THE SERVICE GATEWAY, OUTWARD. ENTRANCE TO HARBOR. gardens overhanging the sea, and the boat storage room. Indeed, electricity has been harnessed to the limit of its present tether in Shore Rocks, installations including vacuum cleaning plant, range, laundry equipment, elevator, and telephones in each main room. Yacht Pier. The yacht pier is reached from the veranda by cement steps, pro- tected by stone balustrade to red quarry-tiled landings. Stone posts are capped with plant receptacles. 206 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE THE EVER tHAMGTNG VIATKR JBOMl "»VIEVf ' • • f_^KK| *£ A GEOLOGIST'S PARADISE. FROM BOAT TO VERANDA 207 The Motor Boat Lagoon. Lower down is the big stone pier, also quarry tiled, its centre excavated for a land-locked lagoon about 20 x 30 feet where a motor boat can berth in absolute safety. The pier is equipped with boat davits, diving plank, floating platform reached by steps, A LOUNGING CORNER ON YACHT PIER. BELVEDERE AND SWIMMING POOL. and heavy galvanized iron rings for fastening boats. A brass railed platform and adjustable yacht steps hang from the wall of the lagoon. One end of the pier is covered with an awning on galvanized iron frame and single tiled steps are placed at regular intervals among the rough rocks that edge the Sound, that safety may not be sacrificed to the picturesque. An iron roller inset in the edge of the pier readily handles small boats without injury. At one end of the beach is rigged a convenient set of ways, with block and tackle fastened in the rocks, so that a motor boat or even a large yacht can be warped- out. .208 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Our flag pole does double duty, as on it is rigged a wireless, catching messages from Eastport, Maine, to the Florida Keys, and for a thousand miles out at sea, from dreadnought and liner as they fly past, or the code language of a manoeuvering army. The dock is partially enclosed with a woven, galvanized wire guard with brass top rail and broad stone ledge steps are built against its sides, enabling one to bathe or land from boats at all tide levels.* In the grounds is an interesting example of tree growth. Bor- dering the Sound are two trees, one a hoary-headed oak of two and a half centuries, and less than a stone's throw from it a Wier's cut leaf maple that I shouldered and planted as easily as I would a bean pole exactly seventeen years ago. The trunk of the maple is now three-quarters the diameter of the sturdy oak, and in height closely crowds its aged neighbor. Centreing the belvedere is a sun dial of the type that marked the hours for Pliny in that wonder garden. It is fitted with time equation and bears the motto, "It is always morning somewhere in the world," the antithesis of the less helpful and more lugubrious saying, "We are all traveling toward sunset." *The absence of all sewage in the clear water surrounding Shore Rocks made our special and essential August battle against the teredo and xylotrya strenuous. Kyanizing the wood did not rout the mollusk, his diet being minute organisms and plants that float through • the doorway of his shell-lined house-tomb. Copper paint and big headed rusty nails saved , boats, ways, and spiles from the inroads of these destructive rats of the water. UNSHADOWED OUTLINES 209 TWO SEASONS 210 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE •• PimiACLE- THE- HOU5E IDEAL THB KJTRATtCE HAU, AMD STAIR CASE. HAl/t PINNACLE THE HOUSE IDEAL. PINNACLE 211 CHAPTER VI. PINNACLE, THE HOUSE IDEAL, YET THOROUGHLY PRACTICAL HOME. PINNACLE. THE building of Pinnacle was the realization of a desire to put under one roof the experiences of a lifetime in experimental building, therefore I say that for twenty-five years I had been building Pinnacle before the time was ripe, and that June morning dawned when I staked out the house, and, emulating the railroad builder, "turned over the first clod of earth." While its cost carried well over $100,000 it contained some features that could easily be introduced into a $2.500 bungalow. Let us trace backward its how and why. Location was of first importance. Should it be by the edge of some inland lake, gemmed 'mid rock-ribbed mountains ; on one of the Thousand Islands stem- ming the current of a mighty river, or near the sand and rock-bound shores of Long Island Sound, the centre of Eastern yachting; close to the roaring breakers, or in cloud-land, on some barren, ozone- bathed mountain peak, near the snow line ; to the depths of the health-giving North woods; in the swim or away from it? But the snow line did not jibe with rose gardens, and the restless sea seemed ever to impart its restlessness to nerve and muscle. Then came the idea of using the old Dillaway place in the Berkshires, consisting of two hundred acres of woodland, meadow, and grassy hill top, and a 212 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE charming demesne it proved, the long driveway flanked with a veritable floral calendar wherein for eight months of the year and every day of the eight months new blossoms opened to the sunlight, and during the remaining months the rare coloring of red-stemmed dogwoods and steel blue spruces brightened a drear landscape. Near by stood tall Irish junipers, like sentinels among their fellows, inter- spersed with vari-colored, gracefully feathered Retinosperas, and Biotas in silver, gold, and green. In the centre of our largest field, in size, as a plainsman would put it, "three whoops, a halloa, and a holler," was left intact, picturesquely outlined against the sky line a ghostly dead tree — resting place for the bourgeois chicken hawk or imperial eagle who, unhampered by adjacent towers of green, scans with keen eye the horizon both for enemies and prey. As nature had placed forest, hill, and dale, silver-threaded river, babbling brook and limpid pool exactly right to meet our require- ments, location was simpler than construction. Eschewing clay soil, the very worst for a building site, we pre-emptied the best, a dry, porous gravel edging a seamless, free-from-moisture granite ledge.* How to Face the House. The sun was invited where it would be most welcome. The rising sun at times met us at breakfast, scorching beams of July and August shot by our dining table, as this room faced southeast, but the living room, large enough to dodge heat rays or bask in their health-giving glow as temperature dictated, faced the sunny south and breezy west. The library on the north welcomed with blazing log, easy chair, and book, while the kitchen, as it faced north and east, could not saturate the house with odors that the west wind seems to joy in scattering. Due west rooms we found need special ventilation, as they broil to their farthest recesses with the heat of the low western sun, while in a southern exposure the King of Day is high in the heavens. Architecture. Before location came the vital question of architecture. Should it be Byzantine, Moorish, Gothic, French or Italian Renaissance, Elizabethan or Jacobean, a house outlined with Palladian formality without and probably inconvenient within, or the construction repre- sented by that talismanic word of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries — Colonial. The latter, with its high pillars, square rooms, and glaring "don't touch me" white enamel finish, to us lacked the homelike feeling that all crave, but its impressive columned and archi- traved exterior made it a near second in the final decision, as a pil- lared Colonial front is always a favorite. We could not copy com- pletely the English country house, with its smajl diamond windows and lack of veranda and porch room, unsuited to our climate, but a *The redemption of any soil, including clay, as a building site is possible by thor- ough drainage and the correct use of stone, cement, oil and tar. A BONE-DRY HOUSE 213 coherent expression of the best, combining as far as feasible the intrinsic worth of all, brought us into that somewhat complex realm, the New American. In considering the mooted question as to which is more desirable, exterior or interior beauty, the argument that thousands see the out- side to one who enters a house counted as nothing in our decision to make an ideal interior, even at the sacrifice of exterior features. A Bone-Dry House. Corrugated hollow brick tile above the stone basement, covered with a rough coat of cement, was decided upon, but — and the but is a big one — the vitally important work of water-proofing by tarring the hollow brick tile on the back, and furring for a two inch air space aided greatly in making Pinnacle a bone-dry-house. Gables were paneled with chestnut timber, realistically chipped by the broad axe, avoiding the regularity of the scalloped pie-crust imitation. Though rough cement holds more moisture, it conceals the inevitable minia- ture cracks, and with suitable air spaces all side walls were damp- proof. It is the builder's duty to combat ground air to the finish. Any substance charged with from thirty to fifty per cent, of fumes, depending on soil conditions, detrimental to man's well being is worthy his keenest steel.* Pinnacle was fireproof as far as I-beam, hollow brick, glazed and unglazed terra cotta, tile, cement, wire, copper, glass, wire glass, and fireproof paint could make it. Exterior requirements called for embellishments of a tourelle on corbeled base, minaret, campanile, and dormers in a major key, and to harmonize its varied outline demanded ample space and a com- manding site. We followed the rule that a house should rise naturally from ledge or greensward. Paths and roads, of which there were but few, simply touched it at salient points, curving at easy gradient toward gate, garage, and garden. Foiled thus 'gainst nature's restful colors, more harmony was gained than by a network of blue graveled roads or dingy black asphalt close to house line, save in the necessary car- riage sweep. In fact, those not hourly thoroughfares were founda- tioned by closely cropped turf, sloping away from which were banks of bloom and foliage, but from these were barred swift moving or lumbering vehicles, whether powered by horse or gasoline. The Builder's Truck Horse, Cement. Cement, though it shows marks of the beast in lime efflorescence and dampness, makes a fine truck horse, and we used it profusely in archway and buttress, outside steps and veranda rail, swimming pool, curbing, retaining walls and in walks, cellar and laundry floors, ;::The moccasin shod or unshod Indian drew electricity through the soil as the tree drags it forth by the rays of the sun, doubtless to his well being, but modern dwellings and modern living demand drier conditions. Statisticians claim that common sense hygiene would banish forty-five per cent of our present ills. 214 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE side walls, back halls and servants' quarters — anywhere and every- where that rough usage could mar, as well as in curves and molded ornaments, buttresses hollowed for plant receptacles, cement window- sill boxes, steps, seats and columns. Cement flooring was especially treated to prevent crumbling under friction, as a common cement floor is never clean. Under conditions where wood covered cement or brick there was ventilation. Marble dust cement was used, efflorescent stains if present were removed with a one-tenth solution of muriatic acid. Capillary attraction fought with anti-damp, thick, pasty, water-proof paint, made our walls practically moisture-proof, as even the foundation stones were separately coated on sides and back with tar and wooden pegged between the joints for air spaced plastering. In all cement flooring was used a core of galvanized 1-2 inch wire mesh. Corners of the brick bay of the conservatory were of sheep-nose molded brick, avoiding the usual dirt collecting angle formed in a bay. The water table, of ogee bricks based with cut stone, threw water well away from foundations. Outbuildings not roofed with fireproof tile or asbestos and cement manufactured shingles were covered with red cedar shingles, which often outwear white, the latter splitting more easily and causing many an exasperating leak. No shingles over six inches wide were used ; they were split that width when necessary, and laid with four and one-half instead of the usual five and one-half inch weatherage. Pantiles roofed some of the more important buildings. Valleys were flashed with copper to a width of eighteen inches, and a wide open valley left to delay as long as might be the inevitable rotting of shingles through moisture, always a formidable enemy. Construction was closely watched, with an eye to circumventing the fire fiend, and the carpenter who led stringers and rammed slid- ing doors into or against the chimney, as well as the plumber or plasterer who left fires unguarded, or used defective salamanders, received his Saturday night pay in a blue envelope. The Window Problem. Our aim was to combine comfort, convenience and luxury. One often enters an imposing dwelling with eager enthusiasm for a pro- spective architectural feast, but leaves with a keen sense of dis- appointment because of a window set too high or a staircase that had to be searched for and when found was dark and narrow, bringing up in a windowless hall. A generous forecourt, esplanade and belve- dere once decided upon, attention was turned to the windows. It took time to settle whether they should be big and staring or unob- trusive and picturesque, to decide upon the merits of glaring plate glass over against the time honored leaded oriel pane. Outlook sometimes tires of manorial diamond panes, as does the housemaid THE WINDOW PROBLEM 215 who cleans them. We finally compromised on plate glass where there was an extensive view, in several cases fitted with a swinging shutter of colored or clear leaded glass in simple design, serving to soften both light and outline, and answering the purpose of a double window in winter. Large paned windows tend to decrease and small to increase the apparent size of a house both within and without and certainly detract greatly from the pleasing inlook of any dwelling, still, picture windows here and there always give good value for their framing cost, whether in view of glorious mountain range, white crested waves dashing 'gainst rock-ribbed coast, or in more peaceful contrast a pastoral scene or a towering, swaying forest. In sombre rooms some windows stretched nearly to ceiling height, where there is more light to the square foot, though this treatment seemed to lower the rooms ; several had smooth edged plate glass wind shields about twenty-four inches high which could be easily lifted, as they slide upward in grooves, in others a framed sheet of glass set on the sill swung inward from the top, and gave still greater ventilation. The House That Pays No Tax. Monsieur Mansard is said to have circumvented that senseless window tax of France which placed a premium on dark houses by adapting, not inventing, the windowed roof that bears his name, thus helping to supplant imitation painted doors and windows which economy sometimes led the builder to intersperse with the real, cater- ing to that monstrous law which enforced payment for air and sun- light. Our building laws tend in the opposite direction, while it is said Buenos Aires, that ideal city of ideal houses, goes us one better, as he who builds the most artistic house pays no tax. In some coun- tries it is said a new house supplanting an old is untaxed. "Woodman, spare that tree," however pathetically rendered, never held back the axe when the alternative was shade instead of health-giving sunlight. Inset in a few windows were restful leaded lights — in one a fishing craft, in another a coat of arms, and book- marks in the library. One glance through a half open casement thus decorated inclines to optimism. Windows with large panes were exteriorly draped with climbing vines.* Height was another ques- tion. The majority were so placed as to afford an unobstructed view when seated, while in the kitchen they were set high to avoid overlooking the front door approach, additional light being obtained through a skylight. Both gave rare ventilation. No casements were used on the first floor, sash-hung windows giving greater secur- ity, less draught, and being more easily screened, but when used we hung them to open outward, rabbeting thoroughly, and hanging from the top those more likely to be left open to prevent their being whisked ;:iWe once realistically gilt framed and wire hung a picture window that shamed the artists' most strenuous endeavors. 216 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE across the lawn in case of a wind storm. All casement windows were fitted with the necessary convex screens which, however, more readily rust and decay. Windows were chain-hung on brass pulleys to avoid snapping, stretching, or slipping of cords. They were fitted with automatic attach- ment holding them at any height, and with non-rattling fix- tures, metal weather strips, and automatic fastenings. In some low studded rooms box windows slid upward into the partition, allowing broad view panes. Parting strips with adjustable screws in sunken sockets matched in color the hardware, and non-rusting wire screens had a patent insect escape to lure the fly to the open. Leaded lights that cheer with varied hue both out and iri- looker as day merges into night lighted the staircase landing. Most leaded and stained glass bathroom windows were set high, and even a northern room was glowed by the use of opalescent glass of golden hue. We also juggled with two rooms facing due north, producing in some degree the effect of light and warmth by judicious placing of wall dressing mirrors. Corner windows were many, as they give most light and more wall space for furniture, but care was taken that none were in line with those on the opposite side of a room. First story windows were set 2' 6" from floor line, and those of second and third stories a trifle higher. Translucent glass windows were fitted close to ceiling line on the hall side in several rooms with but one outside wall, affording more light and ventilation, and all bedrooms had transoms or fan lights. Glass formed the upper half of the back stair partition, and the rail fitted with the hand grip.* Fastened over the entire outside window were screens practically invisible, the wire approaching an atmospheric color, with frames painted to match trim and aid in the illusion. In some cases screens dropped into pockets when not in use. Double windows were drawn tightly in place by screws put into the frame through screw eyes fastened in the in-face of the double sash, and each had its own ventilating wicket. Telescopic Window. The five inch round lenses were so ground that at some angles distant objects were magnified, but the effect on the eyes made the scheme impracticable. Single Block Stone Steps. The set of three entrance steps and the buttresses at each side cut from a single block of granite, prevented for all time a sagging, open-jointed step. *The dark hall and stair were unknown conditions. FEUDAL HALL 217 THE KNOCKER MADE FAMOUS BY PAUL REVERE. The Pig Door. The door through which we entered the home was called in old English parlance the "pig door," built by our ancestors to pre- vent wandering swine from encroaching on granary or dwelling. Both upper and lower halves swung on ponderous black iron hinges, and were oak-ribbed, bolt-studded and iron-banded. The quaint iron knocker was that used by Paul Revere when, on the night of his wild ride through Lexington and Concord, he awakened John Han- cock and Samuel Adams with the warning that the British were marching on the Concord stores. Only a bit of metal, yet few lift the old knocker without being thrilled by the thought that it once vibrated with the first shots of the Revolution fired on the village green of Lexington — that fusillade that was heard round the world. Feudal Hall. In the hall we strike the key note of the house. Centreing the home, it centres our thoughts of hospitality and good cheer, its walls ever greeting the coming and speeding the parting guest. The impress of feudalism stamped generous fireplace, and vaulted and groined roof. Cold, I grant, through its very grandeur, but home feeling is ever the same, whether in mediaeval mansion, elaborated with drawbridge, portcullis, and conning tower, or in the rose-porched cottage under the hill. Living Room. Passing through the entrance hall, we enter the living room of Pinnacle. The half dozen French windows face the west, opening upon the loggia from which broad steps edging the esplanade lead to the formal gardens, embellished with pergolas and arbors. At the end of the long vista is the Italian adaptation of statue and vase. 218 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Looking down on the sunken gardens, the eye covers a wide range of rare trees, shrubs, and plants, while on the outskirts are evergreens, interspersed with silver birches, imitating Nature, who often uses them as a foil against evergreen backgrounds, this planting forming a natural setting for brilliantly massed azalias, rhododen- drons and peonies. The sunken garden was developed and embellished as sunken gardens generally are, with centred pool, half-circled seats, colonnade, pergola, fountain, vase, and statuary. Yew and privet were trimmed to the extreme of formalism in cube, cone, oval, pyramid and mound, and even in bird and animal forms, and niches cut in the ten foot high privet hedge to frame and canopy faun and satyr, Greek god, and mythological hero as well as a Cleopatra and a Caesar. Arbre-arched foot gates with garniture of bloom pierced the big boundary hedges, and tempted the stroller in that fair garden to wider wandering through sylvan realms of meadow, dell, and wood, threaded by babbling brook and foam-flecked waterfall that faintly murmur in the distance. At the horizon line loom the hills. An entrance from one side of the living room led to a secluded, columned, and arched patio, whose courtyard centre was grass-sown, pathed, and shrubbed, save where fountained lily pond partially reflected arch, column and tiled roof line. We never transplanted weed-filled sod but used grass seed except for path borders, which were sodded wide enough for satisfactory use of the ordinary lawn mower. Two large settles flanked the living room's twin fireplaces, and a most comfortable bit of furniture was a big double-sided club davenport, with concave end, in which fitted a movable round table for books and writing material. Foot wide mirrors in the corners to window top height gave no ill-bred, staring reflections, simply fleeting glimpses of persons and objects. In fact, in arranging this interior we tried to produce that "round the corner" feeling that destroys the sense of barrenness felt when every detail of a large room is seen at a glance. The fluted columns and pilasters were ornamented four or five feet from the floor with inset pressed wood in appropriate design. Ancestral Portrait Gallery. At one side was a long corridor dignified by the term "Ancestral Hall," its ceiling slightly groined, and over the portraits of "cavalier and ladye faire" were grouped pike, asbolt, hauberk, and cuirass bat- tered and slashed in battle before the beginning of our present Ameri- can civilization. Integral with the living room was the red, quarry-tiled loggia, with its chimney corner, settle, and easy chair. As many meals were to be eaten in the open it also connected with the serving pantry. A NOVEL BOOKSHELF 219 The music room, carpetless, pictureless, and almost draperyless, complying as far as might be with little known acoustic laws, and was so placed as to be neither over damp nor over dry, too hot nor too cold, and instruments were kept away from outside walls. Library. The tones of the driftwood fire were the keynote to the color- ing in the library, and a sense of ease and comfort permeated every corner. Books everywhere, with bookcases convenient to the pair of big davenports that right-angled the fireplace proclaimed the book lover. Over the mantel in burnt wood Avas traced the sage advice: "First think out your work, then work out your thought," one corner stone of all accomplishment. The motto habit also invaded porch-room, den and billiard room as seen in : "Fait ce que voudrais," and "Usted esta en su casa." But of greater interest than all others was that ancient Egyptian motto that may have arched the library wall of the builder or architect of Cheops — "A storehouse medicine of the mind." No mottoes were carved in stone or wood, but admitted of change or elimination whenever tiresome. A mezzanine floor at one end of the library, reached by a private stair, made the cosiest sort of a writing nook, ventilation being accomplished through a chimney flue. A Novel Bookshelf. Bookshelves built conveniently low allowed pictures hung at eye line. They were fitted with narrow, leather flap dust guards. The unusual and attractive effect of a long perfectly level and uninter- rupted line of books the entire width of the room was obtained by the pardonable and harmless lapse in taste of setting back the usual four feet apart division supports three inches from the' front shelf edge, and filling out the space with short dummy leather backed books securely fastened in place, harmonizing in color with the genuine. The self-locking metal curtains used only at house closing or possible leasing times were thoroughly ventilated at top, bottom, and sides, to dissipate the moisture attracted by leather. The cupboard at the base was wide enough to form a convenient step or ledge, and the upper shelf served to hold minor lares and penates. Bookshelf area was sufficient to satisfy the most exacting bibliophile. Conservatory. Conservatory floor and side walls were white-tiled as in Shore Rocks to contrast with green foliage, and the basin of the fountain held that wonderful water plant, the Victoria Regina, which looks like an enormous pancake with turned-up edge. In one corner was a leather-cushioned, chain-hung seat, embowered in vines. Slate flower benches were held in place by galvanized iron supports, and there was a cement rose border. Electrolier and side lights were of non- 220 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE corrosive glass with pendant prisms, upper window sash of leaded glass with a tracery of vines, white tile floor was laid to properly drain, and roof framing beams of galvanized iron painted were to match trim- — preferable in appearance to those of stained, reinforced cement. Hidden Stair. My business office had an outside entrance, and connected with the boudoir suite by a hidden stair of quaint design revealed in the wainscot on pressure of a secret spring. This stair opened into a closet on the floor above, with invisible lock and hinges and secure fastenings. Detached Fireproof Den. Separated from the house by an enclosed tiled court of less than a dozen feet in width, but adjoining the office, was a fireproof den of iron, cement and terra cotta construction, electrically protected at all outlets and with iron barred and shuttered windows. Dining Room. A dining room of generous size made possible a large breakfast bay across whose over beam at entrance was drawn a portiere and here knight and ladye sat at a real "round table." The ceiling was crossed with six heavy beams and side walls were wainscoted to the ceiling in square panels of quartered oak. Fruit and game pictures were tabu, but in a light that best suited it hung our "Jungfrau." The oak trim was that indefinable shade of faded gray made by sand, sun, and wave, as seen in some storm-tossed bit of beach wreckage. Two doors connected dining room and butler's pantry, each with an inset of six by six inch translucent glass, one fitted with rim-protected dish shelves on pantry side. Swinging on a pivot, dishes could be swerved to either room, and service shelves between pantry and kitchen operated in like manner. The butler's pantry cupboard had sliding doors with curved upper muntins, shelves of varied width and height, with drawers beneath the working shelf, and storage lockers to ceiling. The radiator was in the form of a shelved plate warmer. The Loggia. One loggia practically open on three sides had ten glass doors which were replaced with screens in summer, a fireplace opening ten feet wide, roughly forged and hammered iron andirons, and fire tools six feet high. The floor of bricks laid narrow side up in geometrical design on a four foot deep tar protected cement foundation suitably underdrained sloped toward a manhole. Dry cement was dusted between the bricks, and hose turned on it, after which every vestige of cement was immediately scrubbed from the surface which was then left to dry and harden. THE GIANT HEARTHSTONE 221 A ramp connecting veranda and belvedere was easier to climb and far safer at dusk than steps, danger of slipping being eliminated by tiling with hard, rough cast, square bricks. The Log Cabin. At one time it was humorously suggested that we give up the modern semi-Dutch kitchen and duplicate that of my grandsire, Robert Stewart of Gloucester, Massachusetts, with its hewn beams, wide fireplace, crane, trammels, turnspit, and a brick oven in which to bake the Beverly beans. The scheme was finally relegated to the log cabin built on one of the outlying crags of Pinnacle. Motoring to Haverhill, we took the measurements of the kitchen in the old Whittier homestead, practically a duplicate of grandfather Stewart's. And "lest we forget," just a word about that log cabin built in Brobdignagian proportions. There we reveled in old-fashioned what- nots, lowboys and tallboys, bouldered stone fireplaces, and "sich." For an armoire we used the trunk of horse hair with drawers in the front and brass nails on top, proclaiming the fact that my great- great grandfather labeled it in 1708 — probably just before some momentous and much-talked of thirty-mile stage trip to Boston town. On the hand-wrought nails in rough-hewn beams of this log cabin hung seed popcorn and red peppers, matchlock and powder horn. Where the logs of which it was built showed on the interior they were peeled and varnished — a vandal act, I grant, but worms and woodtick intruders must be banished. For a door-step we took from the house of this same forbear the stone threshold on which the Indians once sharpened their scalping knives. Needless to say the massacre did not materialize, or Pinnacle might never have been built. The Dutch door had a big clumsy ten inch keyed lock, in size rivaling that of the Bastile, and mid-way in the upper half a welcom- ing, bright, brass knocker, just below an antique bull's eye. The Giant Hearthstone. That hearthstone was the pride of our hearts. We once built a house simply to specialize big bouldered stone twin chimneys, and the log cabin was located to specialize the biggest hearthstone in the State. Glacial action had worn fairly smooth a rock eighteen feet wide and twelve feet across, and our Jimmy, as constant as the "Northern Star," jimmied off with wredge and sledge all protuber- ances and smoothed its edges until the cabin floor fitted closely against it. We relinquished a finer view to capture that hearthstone, placed for us by Dame Nature when the world was young. A dozen modern flre-\vorshippers could easily half-circle the blazing logs. The well hole over the big living room extended to the roof and a half dozen bedrooms led from a gallery. Each side of the big chimney, the corridor being closed at this end, were roughly made iron banded shutters that generally stood open, and gave a 222 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE pioneer block house aspect to our cabin, a bit suggestive of the squint- eye window of a Saxon hall. Flambeau Fireplace. The log cabin chimney had not only a giant hearthstone, but a flambeau fireplace. A separate flue built above the stone mantel, and the fire barriered by a heavy iron grilled front, was a quaint conceit that never grew tiresome, as quaint conceits often do. Those were never-to-be-forgotten days when our big flashing wall candle of pitch pine knots, a relic of mediaeval times, fitfully threw weird shadows to the deepest recesses of vaulted hall, over banquet board and merry dancers. An iron floor grate increased the up-draught and safely dis- posed of ashes in a clean-out pocket. At one end of our imitation of a Saxon-thayne timbered hall a dais not only served for a dining room platform but made a fine view point from which to take in the goodly proportions and distinc- tive features of the big hall. From it opened a door to an old Saxon bower room and at one side a Dutch door led to pantry and kitchen. A cedar-railed staircase crossed one end of the high raftered hall above the front door, and trailed upward to the lookout on the roof, stopping at the first corridor to land and receive passengers. We even essayed to trim the den with weather-beaten wood, but it soon grew monotonous, and caught both dust and clothing. Beneath the unplastered shingle roof were extra sleeping rooms. When the cares of the big house with its guests and ser- vants made nervous prostration imminent, the log cabin was a most delightful retreat and on cool fall nights the patter of raindrops on its shingle roof as rhythmical as that purling brook of the poet, that "goes on forever," lulled us to sleep in its prophet's chamber. In an inner sanctum of that same garret where we treasured what time had yellowed and odored, a fagged out, ennuied present drew inspira- tion from an angular, puritanical past. One interesting mantel was of gray weather-beaten boards and fence posts, over-mantel decorated with berry-laden branches, the whole copied from a scheme worked out by some artist friends. A White Kitchen. Returning from the detour to the log cabin let us re-enter Pin- nacle by way of the white kitchen — yes, woodwork and doors enam- eled white and floor and walls white tiled, with ceiling of metal nailed over the plastering, — a room that could be easily hosed, or, as the English housewife has it, "swilled."' Cooking utensils were mostly of aluminum, and hung in plain sight, so that their condition could be seen at a glance. In the centre of the room stood a large cooking table, with adjustable soapstone top, preferable to marble, as it can be planed smooth whenever worn, leaving no scratch wherein the elusive ELIMINATING KITCHEN ODORS microbe may hide. It was fitted with curved drawers and a metal framework with hooks for cooking utensils. The range, a combination coal, gas, and electric, with a glass hood, kept this important corner light and wholesome. Pressure of a button operated a fan in the ventilating flue, sending all odors within twenty feet skyward. Another flue at ceiling height captured any escapes. On the range was a thermometer and under it an ash flue. In another house the range connected by metal tube with a cellar metal ash barrel. A tight fitting collar joint and duplicate ash can made the scheme a success. A copper boiler connected with the range by brass piping had in spite of plumbers' ridicule a safety valve, as well as mud cocks, and when careless cooks set it to hammering we listened with calm complacency. We found copper boilers heated water in record time. A gas heating appliance fitted to the range boiler means less danger to health than when used in the confined space of a bathroom.* There wras also a hot water heater in the basement. The enameled steel built-in kitchen cabinet was easily hosed. Chimney breast we faced with white enamel brick, and against the wall over the range hung a metal box in which to keep floor cloths, scrub brushes, etc. With pipe ventilation into the chim- ney, they were always dry, clean, and odorless. A gas garbage incinerator fed its fumes into the chimney flue. Sinks were seamless porcelain, broad and deep to curtail break- age, and set six inches higher than usual, saving many a backache, and a silent protest to the manufacturer who, in order to place sinks under window sills, invariably makes them too low for comfort. We also used the hotel device for dish washing, eliminating the insanitary dish towel, as well as economizing time. A grease trap under the kitchen sink not only saved soap grease but helped to prevent clogged pipes. Eliminating Kitchen Odors. In Pinnacle was completely solved one bete noir of housekeepers, kitchen odors, which were absolutely controlled not only by means of a glass hood, electric up-chimney fan and two widely separated doors in butler's pantry, but by a narrow passage between it and the kitchen with low funnel-shaped ceiling beginning at door top and centreing an electrically fanned flue leading into an exceptionally large ventilating chimney flue holding in its centre by crossed irons the tiled range flue. The air lifting brick chamber did yeoman work in kitchen, billiard room and bathroom, and was largely responsible for our free-from-odor-house, while the funnel-ceilinged corridor was the court of last resort for kitchen odors from which there was no other appeal. '•"Deoxidized air under the above conditions recently caused the death of one who did not know the danger. 224 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE The refrigerator room served also as a cold storage room, with packed sawdust doors as well as sides, and we had our own hygeia ice plant. One cake of ice would answer all the year though renew- als are desirable, but in the event of needing ice it was delivered directly into the built-in refrigerator through a door opening from a small side porch. Drainage pipe whose end connected with a cement surface gutter was screened with copper wire. Pipe was left six inches above ground. A small alcove cupboard on side porch served for use of milkman and grocer. Vermin-proof Store Room. This cold storage room was made rat and vermin-proof by gal- vanized one-quarter inch mesh laid over floors, side walls, and ceiling, and set in the cement. Basement Rooms. As the house was side-hilled, laundry, servants' dining room and servants' hall were above ground, avoiding a dark unhealthy basement. Laundry equipment included porcelain washtubs with non-projecting faucets, electric washers, mangles, etc., and a drying machine in an adjoining room. Wire screens shielding both laundry and some kitchen windows were the impossible old-fashioned slate colored landscape design. Servants' dining room was separated from laundry by columns and grilles, and a wooden floor laid over the cement foundation with the help of enamel and spar varnish finish wood work made the word "basement" a misnomer. Cellar. The cellar was tarred and cemented to exclude ground air and dampness, walls murescoed, separate rooms brick partitioned and provided with thorough ventilation, and the entire floor drained to a water-sealed manhole. All corners were concaved to the ceiling line with cement. Ceiling was wire lathed and plastered and covered with metal to reduce noise, dust, and fire risk. Footings were rough stone, capped with flat blue stone, brick if soft often deteriorating under ground. Here was also a housekeeping closet with broad windows and a set of old fashioned hanging shelves of non-rusting enameled steel, and a dark cool preserve closet with spring lock, on the north. Coal bins, brick partitioned, with cement floors and sides, had automatic chute delivery, a shovel of coal taking the place of the one removed. Bins were next to boiler, and the scuttle entrance so arranged that coal delivery did not injure the lawn. A fireproof brick vault — brick being our best fire resister — with metal shelf partitions and pigeon holes encased in asbestos — was built in a corner of the cellar to protect papers hardly valuable enough to THE GUEST STAIR 225 keep in the liquid explosive-proof safety vault built in the foundation arch of the chimney, but whose loss would be inconvenient. All cellar windows were large and had step-down areas with self-draining blind ditch outlets. Iron gratings and non-corroding wire screens at all cellar windows effectually barred burglar, bug, and rodent, and allowed frequent and thorough ventilation. Cellar woodwork, which consisted only of window frames and stairs, was painted white and spar varnished, and several ribbed glass reflectors increasing the light threefold swung within in front of area windows. The mixture of white marble dust in cement floor and sides and white water paint applied to ceiling made the basement exceptionally light. The white patent cement floor was as easily cleaned as tile. Bowling Alley. The bowding alley under the high veranda platform with glassed-in front, reached by cement steps from both verdure shielded porch room and belvedere, was finished before we heard of the Italian damp-proof glass-floored alleys which neither warp nor sag. It was the regula- tion eighty-three foot length with low return groove and loop-the- loop return rack. Our elastic basement accommodated also the gymnasium, Turkish bath, and swimming pool, the walls of the latter finished with scagliola, and water inlet safeguarded as far as possible from germs by an hygienic filter. Here also was the tool room, with electric forge and lathe. On rainy days that basement was something of a beehive. The main stairway centreing our big staircase hall led to a mid- height platform lighted by a window of stained glass, while a short flight of stairs connected with the floor above. The Guest Stair. The awkward predicament of arriving and departing guests mingling on the staircase with those in full dress was obviated by the following simple plan: The stairway twelve feet wide, divided by a movable rod and curtain into two separate flights, one eight feet and a narrower four-foot flight against the wall. This temporarily screened stair corridor reached by a private paneled door in the grilled and wainscoted partition which separated the entrance hall from the staircase hall admirably served its purpose — a private stair connected with the entrance hall is open to the objection that valuable space would be permanently taken from the broad stair- case and second story thieves or undesirable callers could readily gain the upper floors undetected. The twelve foot wide stairway allowed plant decoration its entire length. Tall palms guarded from a mis- step. The squared staircase hall and the arched and pillared second- floor hall corridor, in a measure an upstairs sitting room with fireplace, 226 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE and also reached by an electric elevator, are thus intertied, and form unusual features. Checkmating the Burglar. As extra protection from the midnight prowler we enclosed the main stair well at night with flexible metal folding gates used later- ally and concealed in side pockets inset in columns, hoisted into the ceiling beams or lowered within a solid surfaced balustrade would prob- ably have been better. It is practically impossible for these gates to get out of order, but in case they do, ample means of egress are afforded by balconies and fire ropes. With this arrangement no intruder entering the first floor or basement could gain access to the floors above, as the back stairs were enclosed to form ample protection in that quarter. Thus barred, the watchdog, kept on the second floor, was secure from cajolery. Burglar-proof mortise bolts protected each bedroom and were inset above the reach of childish hands. A frontiersman gave me the idea of secreting a revolver in a leather pocket nailed against the back of a picture within easy reach of the bed, less dangerous than the under-the-pillow plan. Fire and Burglar Battling. Fire ropes of flexible wire, with swinging safety seats, are coiled in each outdoor bedroom, but two distinctly separate flights of stairs and the ready exit given by balconies and sun-bathed outdoor bedrooms practically eliminate all fire risk to life and limb, especially as the conning tower surmounted with a clerestory lookout is in reality a narrow brick windowed shaft centred with an engine house sliding pole and reached through fireproof doors from each landing, the openings rail protected. High under the eaves connected with the owner's suite, was fastened a loud clanging gong to call the farmer and his assistants in case of fire or burglary. This, with an electric switch turning on in an instant every light in the house, and a couple of good dogs one within the house and one without, seems preferable to a care- lessly handled burglar alarm with its unnecessary "wee sma' hour" bone-chilling surprises or the percussion cap window fastening, one of many precautionary devices. The Arch. At the head of the first story stairs is a double arch, one forming a hall division; the other, directly back of it, leading to the third story stairs. The effect of these with the corridor arches on the same floor, is called particularly pleasing. Enthusiasm for beauty as expressed in the arch leads one back through the centuries to that first arch in active service in the world, the famous Cloaca Maxima round headed Roman-arch doing humble sewer duty in the Eternal City on the Tiber, 2,400 years ago, and even today in active service, that arch sprung over a dozen centuries before the Incas ignorantly FIRE AND BURGLAR BATTLING 227 built their substitute peaked and narrow lintels over wide thresholds. Bedrooms. On this second floor are spacious boudoir, morning and sleep- ing rooms with many windows. In one suite double doors were used enlarging the room. Many bedrooms have two exposures, preferably south and west, cooler in summer, warmer in winter, bays and projections aiding materially in the accomplishment of this purpose, at the same time improving the exterior of the house. Most masters' bedrooms are large enough for two couches, one paralleling the foot of the bed, the other fronting the fireplace which is almost as much a feature of each main bedroom as are the windows. The Wall and Fireplace Jewel Safe. In the larger bedrooms are small steel safes set in cement and riveted between wall studs, kept plumb and solid by an iron pipe, and concealed by pictures. One fireplace and hearth on the second story is large and strong enough to hold a silver safe electrically pro- tected, its front concealed by a brass grilled register face with invisible hinge and lock. In the second story hall is a quaint little staircase of a half-dozen steps, the treads covered with red carpet held by brass rods. Beneath are bookshelves. The stairs lead to a boudoir guest suite, consisting of centre sitting room, two bedrooms and bath closet. Casement leaded windows of translucent glass swing open into the hall, assisting in its lighting, and make another of the motifs linking these three halls. Owing to the extreme height of entrance hall directly below, the casements of this low studded room necessarily open close to the floor, and require metal guard rails. All guest rooms are fitted with writing desks complete in every detail. In one the bed is placed on a dais with rounded corners in pillared and windowed alcove. When portieres are drawn the room assumes the air of a boudoir. In another is a shallow wall recess wide enough to accommodate bed heads and draped by a canopy. This arrange- ment gives excellent closets each side of the alcove. All masters' sleeping rooms have additional blind doors. A friend motoring through southern France noted that at a quaint farm house where he stopped the bed linen was kept in drawers inset over the fireplace, a custom that could hardly be copied in some American-built houses without a visit from the fire insurance adjuster. The Sunshine Room and Sun-Bath-Room. In planning we did not forget the sun room, which communi- cated with one main bedroom and the hall. With its wicker furni- ture, bright cushions, rugs, singing birds and plants, it metamorphosed January into June. The sun bathroom had a large south window and a roof skylight. A tiny fireplace hugged the wall and a mat- 228 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE tress hammock swung in the sunlight. Closely allied in comfort, though comfort of a different kind, were the outdoor bedrooms or sleeping porches. Their entire fronts opened to the south, with the additional protection of hinged glass windows as storm warders and screens in summer. One window set low and over weighted was raised by pressing a button and a timid sleeper could roll on to the couch set against it in the main bedroom. On the protected sides of these outdoor bedrooms each alternate window was high, leaving space beneath for dressing table or chiffonier. We cut away a por- tion of the floor of one sleeping porch to admit the trunk of a lofty maple and trained its branches across the south front making a veritable tree-top room. North light was selected for the bird's-eye maple room, as strong sunlight fades its delicate silvery beauty to a dingy yellow. Floor, trim, doors, settle, mantel and furniture are all of selected bird's-eye maple. The Children's Play Room. The children's play room and the nursery were somewhat isolated and floors deadened. They had indestructible cement walls, wooden floors, and frieze, wall, and dado in pictured story which could be varied from time to time. On the high vaulted ceiling was outlined a chart of the star-studded winter sky. A door panel held an explanatory key. Windows extended to ceiling line, were not over low, and rail barred. At the east side of the second floor hall sitting room, stairs led to the third floor, and on the fourth were rooms typifying Japan, China, and Spain, while American Indian life was exhaustively por- trayed. Cedar Closets and Window Seats. On this floor was built a real cedar closet — the variety of cedar that holds its odor, rarely found in the lumber yard, but cut for us in the woods. Its next door neighbor was a shelved and drawered napery containing an inner shelved closet with double Victorian folding doors seven feet high. Invisible Doors and Secret Closets. Panels in several rooms served the purpose of doors, using invis- ible hinge and lock, much less disfiguring to the room ; passageways leading from others were paneled, the broad panels opening into deep closets fitted with dress rods, hat fixtures, and partitioned shelves and drawers. A ten inch wide shoe shelf set six inches from the floor and extending on two sides of the closet is concealed in several instances by a rolltop arrangement similar to that used on desks. Sets of drawers were built into the sides of the chimney jog in some of the bedrooms, also closets fitted for men's apparel, and after the carpenters had left it was surprising how easily some secret closets PASSING OF THE INSECT PEST 229 were planned and constructed known only to myself — in fact, the dress and diamond smuggler with his false bottom trunks can be easily outdone by the home builder. False backs in some dressers and chiffoniers slid upward, revealing a secret space some four inches deep occupied by removable plush covered shelves for jewelry and other small articles of value. The Secret Room. My chef d'oeuvre was a secret room five by eight with nine foot ceiling, entered by a concealed door whose location has so far defied the most observing. Developing Room. Magazine pokeholes were under the stairway and eaves. In the third story a developing room well ventilated by an up-chimney electric fan was fitted with porcelain sink, hot and cold water, and other conveniences. Its side walls and door were inset with colored glass. A porch room closet taken from a jog siding the parlor chim- ney conveniently held, under lock and key, wraps, toys, books, and sewing. Toggery Closet. Profiting by the experience of a friend whose plates and films, valued at thousands of dollars, stored in a closet under a bathroom, were ruined by the thawing of a frozen water pipe, we kept toggery such as fishing tackle, guns, camera plates, etc., in a Yale locked attic closet, building over the plate and film shelf as extra protection a water-proof metal hood. Our rarest plates and films however were pigeon-holed in the fire and damp-proof vault. Exposed rafters in the closet were fitted with hooks, nails, and shelves. Passing of the Insect Pest. Windows wherever possible were in all closets, and electric ceil- ing lights operated by switch just inside the closet door. Cord hung bulbs were conveniently placed for peering into any especially dark corners. Closet walls and ceilings had three coats of paint and a finish of spar varnish enabled them to stand occasional washing. Instead of baseboards, cement walls extended to the floor, with a sanitary curve in place of the usual right angle. Floors of patent cement that does not crumble and can be kept clean made closets insect proof and easily hosed. Back halls and all servants' rooms were treated in like manner. Metal Clothes Chute. The clothes chute of non-rusting aluminum connected with the laundry closet with snap lock and was thoroughly ventilated by wire screens extending two feet downward from the ceiling following the closet wall line, with a wired opening at the base. Doors opened to the chute from each floor. 230 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Yacht Room. The yacht room duplicated the stateroom of a cruiser in berth, locker, dead-lights, and even hardware, and was a favorite rendez- vous for land sailors as well as a boy's paradise, Morning Room. For real inspiration there is nothing like a morning room facing the east, where one can see the rising sun filled with the promise of a busy day. It had long been my dream, and in Pinnacle was worked into reality, being simply furnished for reading, writing and lounging. Mirror Doors and Mirrors. On the same floor was the sewing room, fitted with electric sewing machines, latest pressing equipment, and several triplicate mirrors and mirror doors, the latter so hung here and in bedrooms that when open mirrors were opposite, a third in some instances set between them in side walls. In one room the door mirror divided into small squares, and in another curved wooden muntins were used. There were mirrors on stair landings, at the ends of rooms, between columns, over door heads — even in the space between the trim sid- ing two windows, in this case having carved, interlaced muntins across the face. Mirage Rooms. Several unframed vista mirrors cutting through baseboards to the floor extended the apparent size of our rooms indefinitely, espe- cially after lights were turned on — a scheme made more effective by filling the entire space between two openings with a mirror and con- cealing side and head trim with portieres. A friend christened these unwalled illusion rooms mirage rooms. Bath Closets and Bathrooms. That in which today even tenement life revels, the comfy of the tub, was practically unknown to mediaeval England. Both thane and yokel, in the crudeness of the times, made their advent and exit without it. Most masters' bedrooms either connected with bath or the sub- stitute bath closet, wherein the entire floor space is occupied by the tub, fitted with shower and long swivel faucets reaching close to the front, forming both wash basin and tub. As these closets adjoined bathrooms, very little extra piping was required. A glass fronted water tight niche protected the electric light. Our preference was for the completely enameled steel tub, rather than solid porcelain which when filled with water weighs over a ton and absorbs much of the heat. Two set twelve inches below floor line were safely railed in, the extra depth required taken from the room beneath, in one case a closet, in the other a butler's pantry. By the use of square end six MIR4GE ROOMS 231 foot tubs with high overflow, we proved that no house is complete without such a tub and a porcelain tub four feet square and fourteen inches deep having overflow twice the size of inlet was especially installed for children. Bathrooms had cork mats in brass edged insets, showers with sprinkler and needle attachments protected by plate glass and odorless canvas in preference to a rubber curtain, white enamel scales, mirrored medicine cabinets set between the studs and several shallow closets partially inset in the walls in the same way. Extra ventilation in some cases was secured by fireplaces, also registers at base line con- necting with the outer air. Tubs were fitted with rubber mats and hanging seats. Nickel plated fire irons matched the plumbing. A third story bathroom was tiled with sheets of cream white glass four feet square, and the same material made an excellent shower shield. Electric Light in Chimney for Ventilation. My physician always kept a lighted gas jet in one chimney flue, but we found an electric heater safer, more easily controlled, and it warmed the air sufficiently for free circulation. An electric bath cabinet, shampoo fixtures, sitz baths and bidets completed the bath- room comforts. Sanitary Angle Toilet. In the basement was a sanitary angle toilet. Bathroom hard- ware matched plumbing and lighting fixtures, and high leaded win- dows added much to, and thoroughly screened these rooms. Where two doors entered a bathroom, opening one electrically closed the other. In one or two a high flush tank and pipe were concealed in a near by closet, but the low white porcelain tank was generally installed, as it is more easily inspected and kept in order. Later all tanks were omitted in favor of the stop valve. Over the toilet was a chair with hinged cane seat. In several cases toilet and bath were placed in separate rooms. Barreled ceilings were used in two bathrooms and in another an electrically lighted, stained glass elliptic canopy where the domed ceiling centred over head. This, with Pompeiian wall treatment and growing plants, made a luxurious bathroom. Gold-plated bathroom fixtures never tarnish, are most effective against a white background, add in appearance far more than their cost, and should be one of the features of a fine house. One master's bathroom was thus fitted, and in others expense was curtailed by using white enamel tipped with gold plate. Glass was found satisfactory for the tops of dressing tables, desks, towel racks, shelves, set basin supports and shaving shelves. Several shaving jogs were built between two small windows, and fitted with triplicate mirrors and electric lights, and dressing tables in several rooms treated in like manner. 232 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Overflow pipes in all fixtures were sufficiently large to quickly carry off the output of both faucets, and are important provisions. Trouble from stoppage is farther minimized by placing a porcelain safe under the housemaid's sink. An inflowing pipe from the bottom of the bath makes it less convenient to ascertain temperature of the water or bathe injuries but has the advantage of being noiseless and preventing servants from drawing water in the bathroom. Most tubs were fitted with the single combination faucet, furnishing water of any temperature. Plumbing Shut-offs. Shut-offs for each and all fixtures were grouped in one easily reached place and legibly and permanently labeled. The use of wood pulp plaster throughout the house helped to prevent falling ceilings caused by sudden jars or leaking water pipes. Coal Saving. In one of our cheaper houses we adopted the plan of having a galvanized iron flue for the furnace enter the chimney near roof line by way of back hall well hole, protected at floors and partitions by soapstone collars. It is a great house warmer and coal saver and is doing excellent work after twenty years' service. Fireplaces from Ripon Abbey to Venice. We now come to the soul of Pinnacle, for it has been aptly said that "as the windows of a house are its eyes, (and the patio its heart) so is the open fire its soul ; the only physical matter therein that leaps and darts, quivers and curls; the quick and subtle spirit Pro- metheus lured from heaven to soothe and civilize mankind." The glow of burning wood brightened the living room, which had a fire- place at either end, while entrance hall's open mouthed log burner was ten feet wide. In fact, every main room except the dining room had its soul, but the dust-gathering stone affair was omitted except in the glass-enclosed porch room fitted with suitable radiators. In a side porch storm windows lowered into an opening in the shingled railing, and the windy side of a west veranda was pro- tected but unshadowed by a large sheet of framed plate glass extend- ing from settle to porch roof securely screwed into place and remov- able in summer. Feudal Fireplace. Our 20 x 30 foot studio with its beamed ceiling following the roof line to its highest peak was centred by a triangular chimney with three fireplace openings, one on each side, inspired by a chim- ney in the Tiffany house, a fireplace at which one could imagine feudalism warming itself over a handful of blazing faggots in some flambeau lighted, vaulted hall of those fortressed homes of the past. FIREPLACES— RIPON ABBEY TO VENICE 233 Mantel mirrors were barred as reflecting generally the unin- teresting back of a clock. We substituted tinted plaster casts, leaded glass cabinets, burnt wood designs and paintings, and in the library mantel face set a circular clock taken from grandfather's town house library, where it had faithfully ticked through the lives of the household for over fifty years. One over mantel was brick- hooded, one faced with copper, one with plush and still another in tooled leather on which was inscribed the Stewart coat of arms in shimmering silver. One fire back or reredos was iron, embossed with a coat of arms, others of fire brick in varied hue and one of cement criss-crossed with black headed nails. There were Norman and Pompeiian mantels, with full recognition given to the line of Louis, while Egypt, that land of heat and hieroglyphics, was repre- sented by a mantel front modeled from crude tracings gleaned from Thebes. A black grottoed fireplace became a real grotto of rocks and ferns in summer, while another held one of those big shells from the Orient, on whose white lip was painted a yacht race. Hobs in the hall fireplace suggested the days when they served to hold kettles, etc., while a Dutch chimney and mantel and narrow leather cushioned seats at each end of the fender top gave a home- like air to the den. Tiles in billiard room chimney breast represented windmills and quaintly rigged luggers. We had always craved the antipodal in fireplaces — one as broad as that in Ripon Abbey and another as narrow and peaked as convex copper hood could make it and still keep the semblance of a fireplace. Lack of space dwarfed the former, but the latter played its part rarely well. Mantel breasts were carried to ceiling height and treated in tile, copper, or brass. In front of one fireplace was inserted a metal framed sheet of thick plate glass which served to extend one's view of the leaping flames. Break? No; not if fire-tested and cor- rectly set. Some mantel shelves were placed very low ; others correspond- ingly high — one, a couple of feet from the ceiling line and boxed in two feet in width, another barely three feet above the floor level and supported by caryatides; others lined with the window or door cap- pings. In the drawing room was an onyx hearth and mantel-face with gilded shelf and brass andirons, fender and fire tools. A trolley rail we found just the thing to firmly support level headed fire open- ings, and where flue space in chimney permitted the fireplace con- nected with an ash flue, leading to an ash pit in the cellar. Reluctantly it was decided to omit the fireplace in dining room, though crackling flames add much to good cheer, for, unless this room is unusually large, someone is sure to be made uncomfortable. A throated mantel hood was constructed in the billiard room by bulging out the side wall when the room was plastered. It harmon- 234 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE ized better with the decorations than the red brick mantel originally purchased for this room. The ceiling was treated in Pompeiian red, crossed by black beams, and side walls wainscoted below a stenciled frieze. One window seat was regulation billiard room height, with foot rest, the window guard-railed. Step-up window treatment, giving both side settles and enlarged view, we adopted in several attic rooms. For the convenience of those who did not care to climb, an extra billiard table was placed in an alcove of the den on the cool side of the house. The chimney flue in the billiard room and an electric up-chim- ney fan joined forces against the smokers to prevent the nicotine-laden air from permeating the house. If a chimney is built on correct lines, the "help draw" ugly chimney pot is a useless addition. When the fireplace opening was extremely high, as an additional aid the chimney was split in two at and above the ridge. Windows were all on one side, avoiding cross lights which, with overhead skylight, made it an ideal billiard room, a trifle larger than the usual eighteen by twenty-four feet, its walls, as well as those of the studio, sand finished to better admit of mural stencil decoration. A Feasible Lookout Room, a Real Clerestory. Standing on a commanding peak in the Tyrol, one hears in the distant valley the tinkle of cow bells and from the village steeple the call to prayer and service — the only sounds that break the Sabbath stillness. As I thus stood one morning I determined to sometime have a home that would remind me of that fair spot, one where the Sabbath stillness, if desired, could last half through the week. From this wish of mine, or rather because of it, was evolved our lookout room, a real clerestory, compassing a magnificent view, and proving a fair substitute for that Alpine air castle. It was a homelike lounging and reading room of generous size, with fireplace and conveniently low book-shelves beneath the windows, protected from storm by a broad ledge. There were high ventilators near plate line, a wide overhang, awnings, and electric fans to cool the air of this glass-walled room — ideal comfort thus fashioned from the usual glaring discomfort of the average lookout room. Here big davenports vied with mattress-fitted, chain-hung hammocks. The dome, reached by a narrow iron stairway, arched an iron- grated platform on which was mounted a Clark telescope for sky- ranging and man-bird seeking. Floors. Hardwood floors of oak, red birch and maple were finished in wax, remembering in caring for them that wax and water clash. Parquetry borders, but of % stuff, were used throughout the house. We found that even the smaller rooms lost but little in size if borders PNEUMONIA PREVENTION 235 were not of strongly contrasting color. Plain white maple lacked character and easily soiled ; selected grain was used in preference. All closet doors were hung to open outward and exterior and interior doors featured to fit their belongings. In some cases a portiere more conveniently screened hall alcove and clothes press. Baseboards were preferably set on the under floor and the joint con- cealed with convex sweeping moldings. It decreased their height but made a better job. Built-in drawers were not as a rule exasperatingly deep, and were on rollers operating on centre guide strips. Inside stops guarded incautious handlers from catastrophes apt to occur to incautious handlers of heavily laden drawers. Small rubber plugs were set in as well as air check valves affixed to door frames, especially when doors were glass, behind them the regulation door stop, and rubber and metal tipping of heavy furni- ture saved both nerves and floor. Hardware. Black iron was the motif in the den hardware, and Colonial polished brass wherever suited to the room. The small brass drop proved a fine escutcheon, and a few bead- edged brass finger plates were souvenired from grandfather's Colonial house where we all ran rampant, especially on holidays. Some doors had square or oval glass knobs, and porcelain rather than insanitary wood was used in servants' quarters. Lacquered hardware in door knob and handle soon wore off, while polished brass and glass stood all friction tests, but there was no tiresome uniformity in lock, bolt, hinge, escutcheon, window fastening and lift, drawer pull and knob, silver and gold plate, as well as aluminum being also used, the t\vo latter with immense advantage to the woodwork, as they re- quire no cleaning. French casements were fitted with the Cremorne bolt or espagnolette fastening reaching the full length of the window. It rarely gets out of order, and secures both top and bottom with one wrist movement. Butler's pantry doors had the usual double action butt, and mortise locks prevented the use of thin closet doors. The ugly, commercial looking transom adjuster was replaced with a con- cealed wall fixture. A key cabinet held duplicate labeled keys of important rooms and outbuildings, and was securely locked. Pneumonia Prevention. At ceiling height on each floor ventilators connected with a pipe leading into the brick chamber surrounding the range chimney tile flue, which, being generally hot, drew fumes and odors upward. This, with the influx of cool outer air through controlled ventilators at two outer door-sills and under several windows, effectually ban- ished the usual steam-pipe pneumonia-conducing atmosphere that 236 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE sponsors half our winter ills. With thermostats in each room there was no excuse for over heating. Asbestos (earth flax) and mineral wool, i. e., slag treated with steam until it looks like spun glass, were used wherever there was danger of a charred timber or the annoying sound of running water. One cellar ceiling was covered with sheets of asbestos, later painted to cover joints. The Heating Plant. It's a long span from the hypocaust used by ancient Rome to heat its public baths to the modern steam or hot water plant, but present heating methods trace backward to the luxurious Roman. Our heating system was direct and indirect radiation, insuring a constant supply of fresh air. By using half of the double firebox and cutting off certain radiators the expense and care were reduced one- third. The heating plant in the cellar of the gardener's cottage connected with main house by underground asbestos-covered iron pipes which kept the house free from coal dust, furnace noise, and ashes. A metal shield was suspended from the ceiling over the furnace. The Ugly Radiator. Radiators were concealed in niches, alcoves, behind metal grilles, and in window seats, but never where they could not receive a free circulation of air, and grilles hinged to open in extremely cold weather created swifter hot air currents. Enclosed radiators require gen- erally from twenty-five to forty-five per cent more radiating surface. Radiators in the hall were concealed in alcove seats, hidden by silk fringe, and stair risers perforated and connected by ventilating pipes with boxed-in radiators. Wall radiators enameled or painted with heat-proof paint to match the trim were used in bathrooms, no impudent silver or gilt monstrosities stared at one in Pinnacle. One big and ugly radiator installed in the cellar had special air duct within and without, but its inlet was through the side wall, rather than from an insanitary floor opening, and in a clearance instead of behind a door. Those concealed in settles were set six inches from window sills, this space, as well as the seat front, being metal screened. Electric Lighting. Considerations of safety, as well as ease in repairing broken wires, led to installation of the iron pipe system, in which every wire is under absolute control. If new wires are needed they can be readily drawn through the pipes. Outbuildings were equipped with the cable system and exterior telephone and electric damp-proof wires wherever possible buried in underground pipes. Great care was taken that no electric wires on the grounds were fastened about a parent stem or main branch ; if necessary to place a wire against a tree, it was protected by a wooden block. Many a ELECTRIC LIGHTING 237 forest monarch has withered and died by a short circuited current, or simply through a wire stay embedded in the growing tree, cutting off the life-giving sap. The hour-glass moves swiftly in the horticul- tural world. Electric Fixtures. No one item for its cost can make or mar a house more than the electric light fixtures. From the time when King Alfred first encircled the snuffed-out candle with a metal shield to the present day, the lantern has been a decorative adjunct. We swung in the centre of our twenty-five foot hall ceiling a ponderous, electrically lighted cathedral lantern seven feet high and few features in Pin- nacle attracted more attention than that christened King Alfred's lantern. For the attic studio, whose beamed ceiling reaches to the ridge, we chose a fixture having three sets of circular lights of diminishing size, arranged one above the other, the whole suspended from a verde-antique chain matching the half dozen sconces that lighted the side walls. Two gala rooms illuminated by diffused light from glass tubes concealed at cornice line were good examples of indirect lighting. Gas piping kept pace with electric wiring, and included gas log connections in several rooms. Combination gas and electric fixtures were installed in some rooms, and when desirable low candle power bulbs used, preventing waste, while switches both up and down stairs controlled many lights within and without, including the ventilated sub-cellar, a real favissa, which, by the way, like St. Peter's Cathedral, was of uniform tem- perature summer and winter, and properly drained proved a most desirable addition. There were a number of base plugs — the base trim being high enough to properly centre them — connecting with movable electric stand lamps at bedside, study table and easy chair, •dressing electroliers before mirror doors and bureaus, and especially designed fixtures for picture gallery, billiard room, bowling alley, den and conservatory. The latter were glass to prevent corrosion. The electric light in hall wrap closet operated by opening and shutting the door, automatically turning the current on or off as required, an air check valve making it economically satisfactory. All exterior entrances, including the cellar, were lighted from a switch within the house placed near a window so that any visitor could be scrutinized before the door was opened. A secret- switch was installed just outside the front door to light the house before entering, and on one memorable occasion this pre- caution proved of value. Light — the owner's best and safest defense against the midnight marauder — flooded the entire dtvelling by operating a switch near the master's bed. The front door bell was placed on the right of the door, there was also electric connection with the knocker, so that when lifted it 238 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE did double duty — another infringement on the realm of the some- times over glamored antique. In the dining room floor was the usual foot bell connection; the electrical handmaiden domineered in the kitchen. She peeled potatoes, prepared other vegetables, beat and boiled eggs, cooked food of all kinds and fanned the dishes dry — in fact proved trustworthy under the most trying conditions, and often simplified intricate house- keeping to the one servant limit. Electric Elevators. An electric safety elevator for passengers and luggage operated from cellar to attic through a brick, fireproof shaft; all openings and doors therefrom metal sheathed, experience having proved that a wooden door metal covered will not warp with heat like a solid iron door. The same dynamo and engine used to operate electric lighting and ice making plants ran the vacuum cleaning outfit, whose pipes extended from cellar to attic with convenient outlets either in closet or hall, and through which into the cellar metal dust-box was forced every particle of dust from floors, walls, draperies and pictures. Indeed, we used the docile, industrious servant, electricity, that won- derful unknown force, in every possible way. Long before the car- bonized vegetation of the coal mines is exhausted the pick of the miner will rust through disuse, for the penned-in and harnessed might of waterways will do the bidding of the great mass of humanity and the electric switch and a turn of the wrist will eliminate dust, ashes, and much of the laborious work of today. In time eight hours will be halved by this mighty giant, and an emancipated super- man take the place of the present enslaved, undeveloped burden bearer. Recesses. Two recesses were much in evidence, one a usable ingle, spaced for unscorched comfort, the other the billiard alcove big enough to squelch profanity, both advantageously placed to vista and enlarge what would otherwise have been small adjoining rooms. Recesses for sideboards, beds, cribs, bureaus, drawers, chests, closets, bath tubs, and shower jogs gave great results, and utilized waste space under stairs, eaves, and in chimney angles. Niches in side walls and over doorways in entrance hall, corridor, and ball room, as well as exteriorly each side of the front door, aided in giving distinction. A large sea shell from the Orient hooded a niche in the plastered wall of a hall recess holding a telephone, and the guest book was kept in a similar alcove. Solarium. One novelty, a recessed, roofed, and windowed solarium made by two projecting ells, and big enough for a real room, with wainscot PERGOLA D CLOTHES YARD 239 and beamed ceiling, was a veritable Sahara in July and August, as it faced south, but much used in early spring and late fall, being easily screened with glass, netting or awning. Loungingly furnished, it made life in the open possible for an even ten months. When southwest winds blew too strongly across the porch room or steam heat became unbearable, our solarium proved a welcome retreat. The indoor effect of the porch room we emphasized by using a water-tight wainscot seven feet high, thoroughly painted on both front and back, and fastened firmly against the house. Over it a plate rack was set four inches from the wall, the open space protected by a strip of galvanized wire mesh. Wall area above the wainscot was covered with painted and stenciled burlap. A broad brick tiled terrace, handsomer, though more expensive, than cement, joined the porch room. The combination brick and tile honeycombed parapet railed atop with plants gave protection from the fifty foot ravine edging the terrace. A couple of settles against the veranda rail extended beyond the guard rail line, and woven galvanized wire instead of the usual hard board seat supported the cushion. This projecting rail protected seat gave an uninterrupted outlook on three sides, and overhung the deep cliffed ravine, while wide eaves shadowed and shielded it. Ten foot spaces between the supporting posts of one pergola were filled with a hedge barrier of fine-fibred Japanese privet and the wistaria centred pergola broadened at one end into a square tea house overlooking the ravine and the formal garden. Garden terraces pierced by closely cropped firmed and squared turf steps led to level underdrained grass paths — ribbons of velvet green stretching between borders of flaming color — while side entrances gave necessary ingress and egress to the several outlying features. Pergolad Clothes Yard. The clothes yard close by, hidden from view, had free circula- tion of air. A latticed, vine-embowered screen, with arched gate was our first thought, but a grassy slope facing the southeast was finally enclosed with a seven foot cement wall covered with climbing vines, and pergolad and side-grilled to catch the breeze. The entrance was through a gate balanced with clanking chain and cannon ball. In another yard we capped the honeycombed wall with red tile. An additional pergola screened the servants' portion of the house and path leading to the service gate. Between column bases were metal- lined, well-drained plant boxes covered with rough bark. Awninged Platform. Against the house instead of the objectionable covered veranda, often too narrow to be really useful, and always darkening the rooms, we built an awninged platform on the outer edge of wrhich posts supported a plate. On this and projecting three feet beyond 240 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE rested pergola roof beams, fastened at their inner ends against the house. They were 'permanently boarded and canvas covered four feet from the building line, leaving the remaining ten feet to be fitted with an adjustable awning. Connecting with this platform was the porch room, with ceiling plastered in cement and beamed and decor- ated like a living room — an improvement over the usual glary, varnished, wooden porch ceiling. Decoration. The field of decoration in Pinnacle we simply edge. A room well proportioned, artistically trimmed, doored and windowed is already half decorated. An ideal house is one in which the soul can grow. Sunshine, air, flowers and an enchanting view of God's green earth, sea and mountain, vale and plain, ease burdens and dissipate depression, that arch enemy of spiritual and physical growth. One of the greatest charms of house decoration is harmony of color, and it may be made to cost but a fractional part of the whole. Years ago an artist friend studying in Paris gave me a genuine color surprise by painting a white picture, of its kind the most effective thing I ever saw, a study in shades of white. A white haired lady gowned in white satin stood on a rug of white bearskin ; one hand rested on a white damask-covered chair, the other on a white enam- eled piano, to the right of which was the only bit of color in the room — an oriental palm. That picture is in my memory for all time — just as a single full blown rose or a few cut flowers vased appropriately in hall, dining room, library, and den, supplemented with growing plants on stair and centre table, give added charm to the most luxuriously furnished room and stamp it on the mind for days. Papering. The problem of papering we approached somewhat cautiously annoying experiences having taught its limitations, as well as strong points, one of the latter being the power of even a cheap paper if of suitable design to counteract the effect of outrageous architectural lapses. Care was taken to avoid the assertive spot, the gilt that flattens, the large pattern that dwarfs and the color that kills, also to remember that papers fade and polychrome effects tire. Brilliant flowers, as well as bright colors, under foot and on wall, invariably hold the centre of the stage and detract from the effect of pictures, drapery, and furniture. Ceilings were light, fleecy, and uplifting, rather than dark, overcast, and cloud-lowering, and to prevent accident were canvassed or burlapped before being painted or frescoed. They were rarely papered. The stripe that heightens the room that needs height and the one color that gives tone to the most ordinary room, each had an DECORATION 241 appropriate place. The rule was to tack several strips from ceiling to floor and test for a few days the effect of both sun and artificial light. In plastering in some cases colors were mixed in the mortar, the unevenness of tone so produced being at least novel. In one room walls and ceiling were unhygienically rough as gold nuggets, and we copper bronzed and gilded until it fairly blazed with iridescent rays. In a twelve foot ceilinged room a pictured side wall extending from the six foot wainscot to the cove made a finish in appearance antedating Colonial days. Pictures in Wood. In another was a rare wainscot of Circassian walnut, unpaneled, boards closely matched to form an almost imperceptible joining, and kiln-dried to the calcine point. Crowned by a bit of molded capping, these pictures in wood rivaled in beauty the work of the frost king on the window panes, but its well being meant drying out days throughout the year. Heat, sun, and ventilation can alone balk the destroyer that always lurks in a closed or partially closed house. A touch of realism was given the lofty raftered studio den by suspending from the ceiling a trio of stuffed wild geese headed exactly north, rivaling the rich patina colored copper arrow inset in the loggia floor. On the vaulted ceiling of a tower room an artist friend painted a flock of circling swallows, half hidden in fleecy clouds, while in another treated by a past master in the art was a wealth of rococo decoration whose delicate tracery seemed spun by fairy fingers. We banished from every room heavy dust gathering draperies that make one pant for fresh air and sunshine, substituting in the gala rooms non-dust-clinging silk and satin. A Real Wall Covering. The originator of burlap-covered walls smoothed many an awkward "thank you marm" that once marred the decorator's best efforts, and burlap covers many a crack, nail hole and blemish. One excellent effect was obtained by a new treatment of this old-time wall covering. A gray white burlap was glued to the wall, painted an apple green and rubbed down before it was thoroughly dry. The color thus removed unequally, as the cross threads on the surface received harder rubbing than the back threads, the green of the untouched sunken threads showed through the fainter green in spots, giving a Japanese silk effect, minus the raveled microbe dust-catching ends, forming a wall almost as hard as flint, an absolutely hygienic surface that could be redecorated again and again. Restful green and restless red were not forgotten. Green, combined with white enamel trim seemed almost as refreshing as the shade of a huge tree 242 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE on a hot summer day, exampled in some giant horse chestnut whose branches and leaves green-swathe trunk and limbs from base to topmost twig. In one boudoir we reveled in framed tapestries, the frame form- ing a door head within which were shepherdesses, cupids, green fields, and purling brooks. Again, the outside trim member was carried to the picture molding which, being in the same design, formed a frame in one instance for plaster cast, in another for a painting or burnt wood panel over a window head. Where windows and doors were near together and in line, one long piece of trim over two or more incidentally made a frieze member, and in a number of rooms we built the usual wooden panels over doors and under windows, sometimes decorating the former with composition or dental work against cap and pediment. Home-Made Ornaments. Home-made ornaments, such as fire hoods, latches, hinges, door- plates, mantel fronts, hooded or plain, flat strips of wood covered with sheet copper outlining the hearth, and burnished brass on kitchen table top, shelf, and service door footings radiated cheer especially in the flickering light of that wonderful, glowing driftwood blaze that danced back and forth against polished andirons dented by long service and reflected in wall-hung warming pan so prized by our forefathers as to be often scheduled in last will and testament. Comfort and convenience, the tests every house must stand, were the first consideration, for a true home should be a haven of rest. The mantel, an essential factor in the appearance of a room, in strong measure keys decoration and furnishing, for structural beauty is lasting. Armored Knights. A complete suit of armor stood at each end of the mantel shelf, and over balcony and high in entrance hall hung rare old tapestries, lending charm to other furnishings. Craving originality, as all do, it is a bit of a setback to find that the other fellow's idea has preceded that of today by centuries, but there is comfort in knowing that at least the "bump on a log" stage of the world is passed, even if efforts are horn ycombed with mistakes. The Twentieth Century average man thinks "it is better to be a has-been than a never-was, a never-will-be, or a roi faineant." Animal Lawn Mowers. It seemed a novelty to some of our visitors that the lawns were kept closely cropped by a trio of Angora goats and a small flock of sheep, close rivals to the up-to-date motor lawn mower, and far more picturesque. An interlocking movable wooden fence COLONIAL GARDEN 243 and saw-buck sheep hurdles purchased by the rod and fitted with turnstiles at convenient points prevented damage to shrubbery and kept all rovers within bounds. At one time extra heavy wool fleeces encouraged us to increase our flocks and develop a business side to amateur farming, which included squabs, chickens, milk, fruit, asparagus, roses, violet?, and grapes grown under glass. The vista of our broadest lawn we lengthened by adding to it a half mile of pasture land, using the old English device of a verdure- screened fence barely eighteen inches high set at an acute angle at the top of a low terrace. It gave life to the view pastoral to see in the distance roving cattle and flocks of sheep, none daring to leap the frail barrier showing simply as an irregular curving line of low- growing shrubbery at the edge of the actual lawn. Bird and Squirrel Rendezvous. In a sheltered and sunny nook was a bird and squirrel rendez- vous. Suet was nailed against the trees, while the ground was occa- sionally strewn with nuts and grain, bringing within eyesight, and often within touch a wild aviary wherein no wing was shorn, no tiny form ensnared, but where all were as free to come and go as the air that lifts them skyward. True, the birds of the Orient were missing from our unbarred aviary, but unfettered native bird life joyously warbled songs of freedom. Colonial Garden. "Not wholly in the busy world nor quite beyond it blooms the garden that I love." We duplicated the old-fashioned alleys of box and the geometric- ally designed flower garden of our grandmothers, in some cases bordered with English ivy and one blaze of color from June to November, aiming to make it what such a garden should ever be, a house extension with verdure-canopied seats and rose-screened arbors, shaded walks, and shrub-arched gateways, a restful contrast to the statued and fountained Italian sunken gardens. Two monastic grass paths, closely cut, led from service gate to side door and to the well with its old-fashioned sweep, and a flat stone walk such as in Ischia, Capri, and Japan satisfy one's craving for the unconventional and romantic, connected a pergolad arbor with the house and lych gate, over which, framed by virgin's bower, was the gladsome greeting: "Through this wide open gate none come too early, none too late." Yet, while irregular, flat stones set in green sod are attractive, they are a bit unsafe, and even gravel is disagreeable under foot. If appearance must be sacrificed to utility, town asphalt, though heresy to breathe it, has more comfort to the square inch. Is it artistic solecism that leads one to turn from the safe artificial to struggle, slip and fall over the dangerous picturesque? 244 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE The "boneyard" of a terra cotta factory was found a good place in which to buy ornaments for lawn and porch room. A miniature temple, a stone god, a bronze dragon from Japan and a sun dial from "Olde England" with quaintly phrased and oddly spelled motto had appropriate setting 'mid shrubbery, on lawn, and in the plaisance of the garden. The Maze. Remembering an exasperating two hours spent once in trying to find my way out of the maze at Hampton Court, I essayed to drag my fellows into a like predicament by growing a maze of California privet (Arbor Vitse would have required far less pruning and screened it all the year). Planted in a sheltered spot, the privet maze was in leaf up to Christmas, even in the Berkshires. A belve- dere elevated six feet allowed the conspirators from their coign of vantage to chaff with good natured raillery the lost ones. A stiff wire fence centred the entire hedge, and once fairly in the labyrinth one mode of egress was to reach the Ibis-centred fountain and study the map-of-escape tooled on its edge or depend on the good nature of onlookers to direct the path to freedom. Horse posts were placed about the grounds in shady spots and fitted with swivel-elbow knuckle bar and chain snap fastening, one protected by a wooden umbrella canopy bracketed with screened light. Near the porch, on a frost-proof foundation, was set a stone mount block. Moat and Drawbridge. In the Norman stables were large conning tower and big arch- way, approach being by drawbridge over a moat. We even attempted a portcullis gate, iron pointed, barred and bolted, the sort that "grazed Marmion's plume," but at the last moment it was recol- lected that the proverbially careless boy might loose the chain, so critical neighbors were spared this bit of vandalism. Fortunately nature had already formed the ditch and a few days' labor with pick and shovel and a horse-dirt-scoop, gave us the only moat in the entire country-side, drained to form a dry grass-grown hollow instead of a mosquito and malaria breeding ditch. The timbered bridge which spanned it, built from the staunch oaken girts of our pre-revolu- tionary barn deliberately wrecked for this purpose, was realistically strengthened by heavy bolts and rusty, corroded, clanking chains, found at a second-hand chandlery shop, with which accessories it sometimes to some people passed muster as a feudal drawbridge. The porte cochere, or rather marquise, was on a sheltered side of the house, avoiding an ice-blast cavern, disastrous to heated horse and shivering coachman. The glass roof and location prevented it from unduly shadowing the entrance hall, as well as adjoining rooms. GARAGE 245 An artificial pool fed by springs or slowly flowing water and without the stigma of a swamp lowland gives beauty to an estate obtained in no other way, especially if placed near enough to the dwelling to faithfully mirror its outlines from "turret to foundation stone." Trout Stream. The trout stream that in arid summers aided the springs that bottomed Pinnacle's forecourt pool to keep the water brim high, threaded a sylvan dell, and none suspected that neither frost nor stream placed boulder and pebbled bed or ate into the jettied cliff, but that with malice prepense Jim, John and Joe created with dyna- mite and pick the major and minor artificial rapids and waterfalls. Absent Pennant. When the master was at home, "Old Glory" floated in the breeze until sunset, and when away a flagless pole served in place of the absent pennant displayed on shipboard. Garage. The garage was fireproof, being of reinforced cement, with tile roof and working pit in the floor. It was large enough to accom- modate several cars, with entrance wide and high, ample turning space within, and fitted with a turntable.* Skating Rink. Running the cars under a convenient shed and temporarily floor- ing over the pit of the garage made on occasion after a thorough cleaning, an excellent skating rink. Under the same roof were also squash court and chauffeurs' quarters. The Lost Vista. Follow the carrier pigeon close to two hundred miles as he alights on an evergreen tree forty feet high, but in those days barely a foot, and you reach the HOME of my "lotus eating days." I bought this, my first place, mainly for its magnificent view, located as it is on one of the highest hills of Newton, overlooking the historic Charles River and the towns of Waltham and Lexing- ton, Boston, its fine harbor and the blue hills of Milton. Today the view has absolutely disappeared ; shut off completely by my neighbors and myself. The lesson — one of many dearly bought experiences of a novice — is never to buy nor build on the wrong side of the avenue, the side on which neighborly or unneighborly planting or building will in time shut out both breeze and view. Home shows comfort in porch and veranda, as well as within, where there are rooms of generous size and abundance of fireplaces. *The use of the turntable solves the often met difficulty of a garage in confined quarters and avoids extra road making for turn-arounds. 246 rid HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE THE FIRST STEP IN HOUSE BUILDING. HOME 247 HOME. The third floor contains billiard, tower and servants' rooms, while the little space under the eaves was sacred to the owner's use. It is reached by light weight steps hinged sidewise against the wall — a safer way of economizing on a makeshift stair than the weighted, ceiling-hung ladder. It's many years since the fowl coop landed at the back door and a novice tried his hand at housing its contents. The hennery was neither square nor plumb, but the pride engendered by that first effort has never been eclipsed. This success gave courage to make a second attempt in the shape of the little stable shown in the photo- graph herewith. These were the earliest symptoms of the building mania that afterward possessed me. Hole-in-the-Ground Greenhouse. In these days a hole-in-the-ground greenhouse represented more real enjoyment to the square inch than I ever derived from a hand- some U-bar conservatory. Seventy-five dollars for some old hot-bed sash, boards, and lumber ends, an oil stove and the services of Jimmie for a few days gave a greenhouse 10 x 30 and about seven feet to the roof centre. It ended against the south side of a six foot high tight board fence and was so built that the plants came near the glass, hence abundant bloom, while a neighbor's elaborate, high-studded, steel-arched con- servatory produced mainly leaves or spindling, blooming plants. Expensive construction was avoided by selecting a dry, gravelly southern slope and digging a trench thirty-five feet long, three feet 248 BOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE deep and four feet wide, which finished in the clear two feet six inches in width. A stone drain was covered with ashes, over which were laid planks, the sides roughly stoned to prevent the earth from caving in. The steep incline of the drain solved a vital question. Sills hugged the ground closely and rested on field stone, set in cement to prevent rotting. The 3x6 hot-bed sash met in the centre against a ridge board, thus forming a low roof, while every other sash was hinged at the top for ventilation. The solid bed of earth each side, covered a few inches deep with rich soil, being drained by the aid of loose stones six inches deep, saved all bench expense and brought plants and cuttings near the glass. The ground outside was mulched with straw and weeds a few feet from the building to prevent the earth from freezing. In the fall I planted closely in sand at least 10,000 geranium and other cuttings taken from out of doors just before Jack Frost appeared. In early spring these were potted off in cold frames for later planting out. We grew violets, pansies, pinks, geraniums and some bedding plants in profusion, keeping them free from insects and mildew by burning tobacco stems once a week, and occasionally sprinkling flower of sulphur about the greenhouse. A rheumatism breeder? No! not to us; heat was an excellent deter- rent. Slipping and potting plants often outrivaled lecture or theatre. This hole-in-the-ground greenhouse made an ideal place in which to start seedlings for spring planting, as none ever grew spindling or sidewise. It also supplied every south window in the house with blooming plants. Here were propagated in sand beds set on slate and over a kerosene heater rare evergreen cuttings by the thousand. The extra length of five feet in the trench was used for steps to reach the walk, and as an entrance. This outdoor five-foot space had a hinged cover to keep out snow and rain. Properly venti- lated, kerosene stoves were used successfully for heating and in extremely cold weather the sash was covered with light weight straw matting.* If I repeated this experiment the trench would be finished to three feet and four feet added to the width of the borders to allow ample working elbow room. Many of the plants were set in boxes and pots as well as in the ground. The growing odors of that bloom-packed, underground flower pit made fragrant and brightened and lightened many an overcast day. The 10,000 cuttings I raised every year took comparatively small space, as they were set only one or two inches apart in the sand. They alone paid the cost of this rough and ready greenhouse several times over. The site was far enough removed from buildings to eliminate fire hazard. *Inexpensive small heating plants are made today that would do the job very thoroughly, and a large glass area covering this underground construction scheme could be heated with comparatively little expense. HAMBURG GRAPES FOR ALL 249 Hamburg Grapes for All. A note of economy was also struck quite successfully in the field of Hamburg grape growing, using the same hot-bed sash idea, built in chicken coop form, resting on two by four double sills close to the ground, vine roots planted in a regular outside border. This diminu- tive cold grapery measured four by six. The vine passed under the sash and carried midway between peak and sill the length of the little building, while sash was hinged for ventilation, and controlled by a short chain at one end to prevent breakage ; there were also alternate two by six inch openings between the two sills. Vine borders in each house were planted with four vines, two on a side, richly made of two-thirds decomposed sod and one-third rotted manure, mixed with bones and sheep heads in goodly quantity. Underlying this eighteen inch deep earth border a drainage bed of small stones one foot deep circumvented that great retardant of the grape — wet feet. We had Hamburg grapes as fine as the finest grown in the more expensive houses, well repaying the time spent in thinning out the bunches and the grapes in each bunch. An occasional dust- ing with flower of sulphur kept under foot the industrious and pernicious mildew, another of the grape's arch enemies. The luscious Muscat Hamburgs and enormous bunches of Gros-Colemans did not mature well with this somewhat crude manner of grape growing, so we kept to the plain Hamburgs which were very satisfactory. Just as our little graperies reached full bearing, suburban life abruptly ended, to be repeated again, 'cross country, in Red Towers. Years later, the twin manias of farming and house-building seized us as with a grip of steel. :250 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE • ' : BUHGALOW THB RE.5T CLIFF BEMA'RICJV PIONEER BUNGALOWING. BUNGALOWS 251 CHAPTER VII— BUNGALOWS. RESTCLIFF — PORTABLE HOUSE — CLIFF EYRIE — TINY COTE — CRAGS — FAIRVIEW — TREE TOP — HEARTSEASE — SEA BOULDERS. THE bungalow of today, taking its name from far-off Bengal, is, with the addition of a big living room, porch, and wide over- hang, the one-story cottage of one hundred odd years ago. When I had the bungalow fever it was an unnamed disease in our section. Shack Bungalow. Our cheapest bungalows might almost be called roofed verandas, so open to air and sunlight are they. Six weeks or so of respite from the stilted life that strains; this is what the cheap shack bungalow stands for. No cellar, bunked bedrooms, roofed back porch and kitchen — a step higher than damp, dank, floored or unfloored tent life or even canvas-walled framed shelters. In form and size these outing homes are as varied as the demands of the owner or the mood of the architect — if there happens to be one. There may be only a living room for everything but sleeping and cooking; but cooking must be done in an outside galley, if it's no more than a lean-to or tent. An upstairs loft with ventilating louvres, a wide veranda, the lake or Sound for a bath, and the tree- swung, screened-from-insect hammock, complete the essentials for this sort of outing. I have even built some bungalows with wide, swing- ing barn doors hung on strongly made strap hinges and for greater convenience hinged in the middle making at times four doors as two the whole width of the living room ; the wide space spanned by a big G. P. timber, which fairly approximates living in the open.* The Obsolete Parlor. It was difficult to persuade the thrift-driven Yankee to give up his once-a-year-wedding and funeral-parlor, commonize the black hair cloth sofa, and allow daily living to come in contact with shell- decorated mantel and curio-filled whatnot. Quaintly decorated walls greeted one in that sacred enclosure. Framed mosses and autumn leaves there were and black silhouettes paralleled with later Daguerres of those who had gone before, and samplers worked by daughters of the house at the age of wisdom — nine — but the piece de resistance was the wall of mortuary memory which, like the Jew's wailing place among the foot stones of Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem, fairly '•••A Folloiv-the-Sun Bungalow was one never tried experiment. As planned, it was a four-roomed low building, a staunch turntable, a system of block chocking and post clamping giving a tornado-proof grip on the foundation. Water and sewer pipes were made to "hitch on" at fixed points with rubber connections. Result — more sun or shade, as desired, and changing views. 252 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE reeked with sorrow. Here were religiously hung, pictured in sub- dued gray or black, both weeping willow and widow bending o'er the tomb, and framed in glass the waxed flowers last held by the hand of death. "Let the dead past bury its dead," and let the parlor of that past be galvanized into a real living room. The bungalow has done as much as any one form of building toward making this sensible and radical change. Even a modest dwell- ing can have a room that dwarfs in size the largest in many a so-called mansion. In such a house there is no waste space and the care and cost of one large room is less than that of three small ones of equal area. The bungalow or house facing both mountain and water always raises the question as to where and how to arrange a rear entrance and still keep the two fronts which such a location demands. This can be accomplished by ornamental stone or cement work in step, post and wall or wooden pergola and the judicious planting of tree, shrub, vine and bedding plants, leaving in-front and out-front unin- jured and suitably screening the service end. Essential Plastered Interior. In any bungalow that has graduated from shackdom, the necessary freedom from vermin and noise, exclusion of heat or cold and an opportunity to decorate demand the small additional expense of a plastered interior. RESTCLIFF. The first two story semi-bungalow we built edged the Sound, and was fronted by the storm-beaten cliffs shown in the photographs. Restcliff stood six feet above the ground on the south and three feet on the north, soil being first well scraped from the cliff, natural drainage making it impossible for moisture to accumulate under it. Neither shoes nor clothing ever gathered mold. Any rock crevices THE FIRST HOUSE ON THE WATER FRONT 253 1SSO-/THE> FIRST HOUSE OH THE WATER FROTiT-SEPT.lSQO THAT BIT OF MAINE COAST IN CONN. 254 we filled with rubble cement. On the first story twelve-inch floor beams were used. To the inner side of each, one inch from bottom of beams, shingle laths were nailed, boards cut, fastened crosswise, then came two inches of rough cement grouting lightened with ashes, and tarred paper across the top of the beams. Diagonal boarding was next nailed V-shape as a brace, covered with felt, and finally the finished, selected, grained, planed, and sand-papered, filled and waxed T & G red birch floor was laid — a floor that made the knees of the carpenters ache, but joyed the beholder. For extra warmth and dryness the under sides of floor beams could have been papered, then ceiled and whitewashed, or covered with cold water paint, but it would have been an unnecessary expense, and done at the possible risk of inviting dry rot. In one corner under the kitchen, we blasted out and cemented a furnace pit and vegetable cellar. This, with the big storeroom above ground, did away with the need for a full sized cellar, and supplies were more easily handled. Satisfactory Guest Rooms. The second story of Restcliff belonged to our guests, and was seldom vacant. There were two suites with bath, and wide bal- conies front and rear, reached by a covered staircase connecting the lower south balcony with that on the second story. Later a limb breaker and weather shelterer crawled upward against the interior wall of the living room. An eight foot ceiling and a six foot space meant winders and staggering eight and a half inch risers. The Sanitary Cellarless House. When properly constructed, I believe the healthiest and driest house is that which is cellarless, and the healthiest place to sleep in our climate is above the first story, hence one great advantage of the two-story bungalow. The attractive low effect can be retained by using a four to six foot overhang, which also cools the side walls, and a long sloping roof pierced with eyebrow windows.* Lift roof windows are more picturesque, less aggressive and less expensive than the usual Gothic dormer. The kick-up rafter roof, as it is realistically called, plus wide overhang and broad veranda or porch room are three motifs that stamp comfort as well as grace in the exterior lines of a bungalow more than any others. In a twenty-five foot rafter the curve or kick-up must be at least six to ten inches; a two-inch rise is scarcely perceptible as I learned by experience. The quicker decay of shingle in this form of construction is over- balanced by picturesque effect. I built a kick-up rafter roof twenty- five years ago and the shingles are still fairly good. If desired, it can be restricted to the veranda roof, a slight saving in cost, but giving less graceful curves. It is usually inexpensively made by a ;':The "eyebrow" is more expensive than the lift but on some roofs more appropriate. DIVERSE DIVES OF DIVERS 255' DIVERSE O? DIVE'S DIVERS A FIFTY TOOT DIVE- ALL OVERBOARD, QUICK AS A RANA! 256 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE SKB'DOW P7CTURT5 °-»-SAWD BRR TWO AliD A HALF YEARS THE CEDAR *VTHE CHILD A MIL* CH>P SHOBt ON THE SHORES OF TIME AND LONG ISLAND SOUND. 257 bit of scantling sawed to pattern at the mill and nailed atop the regu- lar rafter. Ventilating hood windows were built near each gable apex, one equipped with electric fan, used with chemical batteries in the absence of power. Ample air space wras also left above the rooms. Second story bedrooms are but little additional expense, as no larger roof nor foundation is needed, only a trifle higher side walls, more partitions, extra floor beams, flooring, stairs and a few doors and windows — three to five hundred dollars or even less would pay for this added convenience of a full second story in a bungalow of mod- erate size. Death Knell of the Expensive One Story Bungalow. Well-constructed two-story bungalows are far more habitable even if only week-end propositions. The time has arrived when an interior with less of the camping atmosphere is demanded. The roomy living room can still be preserved, also the broad stair and big fireplace, but there will be added the essential vestibule draught- stopper or entrance hall, so that domestic routine will not be inter- fered v/ith at unseemly hours; bedrooms will be larger, and the bungalow plastered, papered, decorated, heated and plumbed — in fact, suitable for use every day in the year if required. The death knell of the expensive one-story bungalow in our climate has sounded. We built bungalows of varied sorts. One had only a single room, in size twenty-five by forty feet, with walls battered outward two -feet at base, as in windmill construction; the resultant extreme quaintness if not extreme beauty. Portable House. A portable house? Yes, and for nine years it had but two resting places, first on the hill, and then on the cliff bordering the Sound. The "tooth of time" aided by one or two young tornadoes made it a trifle too cool for comfort. When we bought our portable house it was an infant industry, but is today a grown-up, matured and feasible summer cabin proposition. CLIFF EYRIE or the LOG CABIX, as it was more frequently called, was built directly on the Sound, and exists exactly as shown, both cliffed and eyried, heavily studded, beamed and diagonally boarded, windows made to fit the studs, and weighted with springs inset in studding instead of the regulation weights. Back in the woods I found a saw mill, and rough bark slabs mitred at the corners gave a realistic log cabin exterior. But a log interior encourages vermin and dirt. It was necessary to peel off the bark and shellac a cedar staircase rail, a hint given when the dust made by the wood borer seriously irritated eyes and throat. We once found him doing dire damage to an expensive quarter-sawed oak wainscoting, the filler having failed to ferret out his hiding places. 258 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE CLIFF EYRIE. CLIFF EYRIE was open in the centre to the roof, and galleried and bedroomed on two stories; had ventilating windows high under the ridge; bay windows, balconies, and many a touch that stands for comfort in country living. The "Cave canem" belligerently carved by a jocose visitor on the door sill was obliterated and in brass headed tacks the word "venitas" welcomed all guests. ! TINY COTE. A STONE ARCH 259 THE CRUELTY OF WIND AMD WAVE LIVE AND DEAD WATERS. 260 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE . . .- . CLIPP CAKE TOE.B- DAYS LOTUS EATING DAYS FOR LAD AND LADDIE. CARE FREE DAYS 261 The Continental's Cabin. Tiny Cote fitted its name, for it was really the tiniest house I ever built. While tramping back in the hills I came across a settler's cabin that antedated the Revolutionary War. It was on a lonely road, but no architect of the present day could give better proportion to roof and wall line than the Connecticut Continental who cut the logs and raised the roof-tree of this little cabin. Pacing it, the measurements quickly went into my memorandum book, and within a week Tiny Cote was well under way on the shore of the Sound. Two rooms, a garret, reached by a wall ladder, a stone fire- place, and a veranda inventoried its accommodations, but never did two hundred and fifty dollars give larger returns. Racked nerves that craved the simple life found it in this little cabin. The dinghy's painter was tied to one of its cedar foundation posts and there was fairly satisfactory fishing from the veranda, on the incoming tide. CRAGS. A cosy house is Crags, perched on a veritable crag, its front half hidden in the shade of a sprawling cedar large enough for robins to nest in when the Mayflower entered Plymouth Harbor. Through the Dutch door we enter the hospitable living room which adjoins the library, arranged to be changed to a bedroom, if desired, as it also opens to the veranda. A burnt wood panel screened the stair grille and double doors closed the arched opening to the living room. The dining room with fireplace was at one side of the living room. Stairs have barely a 6^4 inch rise and lead to a wTindowred stair-landing large enough for a grandfather's clock. Stair 262 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE THE. BARE CRACx SIT& OFF FOB CAPE Altn IH AM HOUB INFRONT AND OUTFRONT OF CRAGS. HOUSE MOVING 263 CRAGS SITE Of SHORJt CROCKS HEYDEY DAYS. 264 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE FROM ARGOSY TO TARRMDJA at OUR. FIRST AMD LAST BOATS FROM A PENNY-A-LINER TO A YACHT. SAILING THE DEEP BLUE SEA 265 OUR. BOAT TC£FERTOIR£. — SHEET 2 TIGERS OF THREE DEGREES. 266 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Hit OUR BO AT 5 - SHEET 3 - THE LAZE OF THE SEA. THE YEARLY CRUISE THJ. POCK -BIBBED SHORt- 267 SUMMER BELIERICA WINTER ICE BOUND. 268 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE '' "-:i?'&{, ' -:"~" • , *;.'"'.. •- THE LOG CABIN FROM ALL STANDPOINTS. THE BOAT WAYS 269 FILCHED FROM THE PIONEER. 270 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE rail is genuine mahogany and over-mantel decorated with a plaster cast framed in the same. An outdoor balcony bedroom, an after- thought ventilating lift-window on attic stair to cool the servants' rooms and a dry cellar blasted from an almost seamless ledge, barren of water courses, made a most complete bungalow. The best all round little semi-bungalow that I ever built was Fairview, with its eight bedrooms, bath and set tubs. The dining- room was arranged to telescope outward when required, by opening two wide plate glass doors to a veranda, whose floor was brought to the dining room level by a movable platform. In addition were living room, fair sized hall, kitchen, and main and servants' porches. FAIRVIEW. There were two fireplaces, and ample storage room in attic poke- holes under the eaves. I really think Fairview in plan and appointments outdid them all for the cost. The interior is its chief charm, as disobedience of orders on the part of the carpenter resulted in the omission of a wide overhang and kick-up rafter which were exterior essentials, lifting it above the stereotyped cottage. Our Nine Hundred Dollar Bungalow. In the tree tops stood Tree Top. It's really close to the tops of the trees whose upper branches once only edged the veranda rail. Today they tower far above it. Five rooms at $180 each make up the $900 that this little house cost, with cellar blasted from the rock. Plastered, trimmed, and decorated, it only needed a bath- room to be complete, and this was afterward added for two hundred dollars. DREW FOUR INCHES 271 A MASTHEAD VIEW BELOW AND BEYOND. 272 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE AT THE MOORIIi BECAT.HU1 88«*6BRS31 THE MAROONED CLOTHES REEL. STONE HOUSE I'S. HEALTH 273 TREE TOP.': Stone House Versus Health. One of those old six-foot duck guns of our forefathers would about carry from the wide veranda of "Crossways" to the front porch HEARTSEASE. of "Heartsease," embowered in huge chestnuts, and fronting an arm of the Sound — one of those arms that look best when the tide is in, and worst when it is out, but restfully redeemed when dammed and properly water-gated with the essential and sanitary two foot rise and fall. No prettier sheet of water ever joyed the beholder than 274 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE that which fronted our .stone bungalow, Heartsease. As a rule, a stone house sheltered by trees and with small windows means damp- ness. We avoided these conditions as far as possible by having but one story of stone. The second, banded with timbered stucco, gave a low effect, and it was windowed galore. The interior was columned and alcoved, settled and grilled, second floor rooms so arranged as to corral southwest breezes and cooled by an attic with windows facing north, south, east and west. A well lighted basement was secured by placing the house on a side hill. SEA BOULDERS, OUR REAL, SHORE BUNGALOW. Some years later we succumbed to the craze for a modern bungalow directly on the shore and sturdy workmen began to build the rocky foundations of Sea Boulders. In laying water pipe for one of the houses a quantity of golden-hued rock was brought to the surface, which, mixed with the brown and green stones that skirted the sound, made an ideal color scheme for the chimney and foundation walls as well as stalwart quoins. Sea Boulders, frequently called by indulgent friends the "bungalow ideal," was built directly over the sea, down to sub-rock and iron-anchored in the ledge. The waves that at times dash head high against its solid walls and roll under its supporting arches can never move nor shatter the massive stone work. There is a brass yacht rail on one side of the dock, also on the veranda, fitted with galvanized iron mesh to keep children or grown-ups from tumbling off, and an arrow sawed from a quarter inch brass plate set in the cement floor of the veranda settles definitely the usual con- THE MOTOR CAVE 275 DETAILS OF THE BUILDING OF SEA BOULDERS. 276 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE FREEDOM OF THE WILD. THE STOLEN CLOSET 277 troversy among both salt and fresh water sailors as to the points of compass. Capt. Kidd's Anchor. Under the veranda in a water cave is hidden a boat, just as the pirates used to hide their big whale boats in some one of the rocky clefts that edged the shore, and over the hills is one of the late Captain Kidd's shore lairs. One of our neighbors fished up on the end of a grappling iron what the village wiseacre swore was Kidd's anchor, slipped by him to escape capture. We in turn captured the anchor and set it up at one end of the rock esplanade. Entering the bungalow through a side-settled outer porch one inventories at a glance its most striking features. The big oak iron- strapped and grilled door, on whose stained sea-green glass wicket window is inscribed the name "Sea Boulders," opens to a short and narrow red-tiled hall, a stop draught as well as screen for the big living room, which is twenty by forty-seven feet, its size increased by an outdoor porch dining room, connecting with it by four large doors aggregating fifteen feet in width, hinged in two sections so that on occasion they can be swung entirely open, forming one large room, but such an arrangement is a rare finger pincher unless carefully handled. The centre of this room is thus made thirty-five feet in width against its full length of forty-seven feet. Ventilation is aided by electric fans set against outlets which, protected by baffle boards, are cut in each gable end close to the peak. The Stolen Closet. The dilemma of how to closet a bedroom without decreasing its area or injuring the symmetry of an adjoining room was solved by a full sized portiered doorway leading from a bedroom into a false front six foot high cabinet firmly fastened against the separating wall of the larger room. The interior of the closet thus filched from it is lathed and plastered. The inglenook end of the living room is fifteen by twenty feet, and has red quarry tile floor and a wide stone fireplace, at each side of which are big settles, placed under windows of copper-set stained glass, which stands wear much better in a swinging casement than if set in lead. The trammels hanging from the crane in the large fireplace have seen service for one hundred and fifty years, while the grandfather's clock in the near by inglenook has ticked in and out the lives of four generations. In the fireplace arch are three pendant iron rings for handling heavy logs. Ship-kneed brackets support the carrying beam fronting the inglenook and there are wide settles in the leaded bay window on the east. In the centre of the living room is a flower-bordered electric fountain. 278 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE SEA BOULDERS SOUTH WEST FROWT ITIGLEfiOOK SHIP KMEED BRACKETS THE BUNGALOW IDEAL. SEA BOULDERS THE "PIFTEEW TOOT "DOOKWAY 279 I III I 1111 • lilt CL-TFF EYRIE- THB MOTOR-BOAT CAVE UNDER THE VERANDA. 280 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE THE WVTHEKIM& AUD GATHERED STORM TROZBM WAVES SITTING ON THE RIBS OF WRECK. BACK PLASTERING 281 On this floor are three bedrooms each with set basin, beside two toilets and bath, laundry, servants' room and a kitchen, while below stairs are coal and furnace room, cold storage closet, bath houses, another toilet, and boat lockers. From the laundry private steps lead to a separate bathing beach for the servants. The three upstairs bedrooms all have special features. Copper-set stained glass case- ments made of bulls' eyes in an antique design swing into the large corridor, and in one room there is a stained glass window in the centre of the outside stone chimney, care being taken so to construct the two flues that the draughts will not be affected. At either side of the chimney is an outside balcony, and each bedroom has its own set basin with hot and cold water. Trunk room on the north includes the generally unused space over the veranda — the tie floor beams of which are of nine inch timber — and is lighted both by hall and exterior windows set with translucent leaded lights. It is also conveniently reached by a securely locked trap door in the veranda ceiling. Over the well, high under the roof, are heavy cambered beams. Electric lighting is unique in several ways. On the under side of the ridge is fastened a heavy rusty iron anchor chain from which we suspended an electrolier built from swords and bayonets. Side brackets in inglenook are electrically-tipped stag horns, while at the four corners of the well opening on second story are tapering square edged posts six feet high, capped with plaster heads crowned with electric lights. At the four lower corners, close to the living room ceiling, project gargoyles, copies of those at Notre Dame, from whose mouths hang antique Paul Revere lanterns, modernized by electricity. A startling effect is produced by the shafts of light piercing their pin holes. Under the glass hood over the kitchen range is an extra flue, within which an electric fan at the pressure of a button draws up chimney all odors. To economize floor space the boiler is stoutly hung from the ceiling above the range. Back Plastering. Construction of Sea Boulders is most thorough, and it is an all- the-year house. Stone work is laid in cement, and all wooden exterior walls covered with galvanized iron lath, with three coat work of stucco, the last coat pebble-dashed. The entire house is back plastered on wire lath. All floors are deadened with air spaces, using a mix- ture of cement, coal ashes, and sawdust — lighter and better than plain cement for this purpose — and two thicknesses of tarred paper. The upper of the two floors on both stories is of hard wood, house trimmed throughout with selected red birch, and lower floor trim stained a rich, dark mahogany, except bedrooms and kitchen, which _282 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE are enameled in cream white and coated with spar varnish, hard wood with the close grain of birch making a smoother finish for enameling than softer woods. All rooms are plastered in wood pulp except halls, bathrooms, laundry, kitchen, servants' rooms, and closets, and have no base- boards to harbor insects, but are wire lathed and cemented on floor . and side walls, forming a sanitary base. Bedrooms and living rooms are papered. Salt Water Bathroom. One bathroom has separate piping for salt water and pump with pipe connection to deep water. Strainer is of galvanized iron instead of copper, which is injured by salt water. There is also a bathroom on the second floor. A standpipe for fire hose and another for vacuum cleaning have two connections on each floor, both protected in glass fronted alcoves. Plumbing is open, and hardware and electric fixtures in bath- room are nickel plated. Outdoor Shower. The outside hot and cold water showers are set over a cement base, and shut-offs connect with bath houses. A Lobster Tank. A water-tight fish tank six feet deep with water-gate insures a supply of fresh shell and scale fish at all times. It is immersed two feet at high tide, and its inmates imprisoned by a galvanized iron mesh screen with hinged door. The Yacht Studio. Near Sea Boulders a friend warped to the edge of the lawn a condemned yacht. Old Canal Boat Shack. His next door neighbor beached an old canal boat, bought for a song, and these boats with a bit of fitting up made ideal dens on the water's edge. Many a magnificent mahogany brass-trimmed yacht can be picked up for a tithe of its cost, making a charming studio or even a summer home, a house boat on land, but a healthy location away from polluted waters is an essential. The bottoms of these two boats received at least six coats of tar and rough boulders were piled against their sides to lower the height while vines and shrubs planted between stones embowered the windows. They reminded me of ten year old days, when a yawl-rigged, flat bottom boat, with real cabin and cooking galley, and mast, sail, , and rudder, was built in the centre of the lawn by a happy-go-lucky ...-little lad. A YACHT STUDIO 283 SWIRL AND CALM. 284 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE This dry land boat gave glorious fun for several summers to all surrounding kiddom in the glamored hours of childhood, when our kites, sleds, and ponies are the "bestest" kites, sleds, and ponies, and grown-ups to this day talk of the children's white-winged lawn yacht. STILL AND QUICK LIFE 285 STIRRING THE WATERS. 286 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE THE HARBOR WATCH-DOG. HOW TO BUILD 2ST CHAPTER VIII. How TO BUILD AND KEEP WITHIN THE LIMIT DECIDED A LIVABLE HOUSE FOR FROM $2,500 TO $12,000. A MANSION UP TO $100,000. "When we mean to build We first survey the plot, then draw the model; And when we see the figure of the house Then must we rate the cost of the erection, Which, if we find outweighs ability, What do we then but draw anew the model In fewer offices, or at least desist To build at all." —Henry the Fourth, Part II, Act 1 ; Scene 3. Building Hints to the Amateur. Living is serious business and the advice "look before you leap," particularly applicable to the would-be builder, for if an amateur gets into the toils of dishonest people and cannot furnish the where- withal to dig out of his difficulties, he is liable to heartache, cankering worry, and even bankruptcy. But the landing can always be safely made if certain copper fastened rules are observed. I've known scores of men who have sunk all their money, and some few have lost reason and even life by not counting the expense of the new house. Using these instances as warning beacons and reef-buoys, first carefully figure the cost, plan for payments through cash on hand, if possible; if not, raise money on long term or bank mortgages, at low rates of interest, and then make the plunge but only when the "if and the "but" have been carefully thought out, ever remembering that the lure of country living is an insidious siren requiring constant watching. The temptation to outdo one's neighbors in acquiring additional acres, embellishing grounds, purchasing live stock, utensils, and vehicles, and giving unbridled rein to the fascinating pursuits under- lying the making of a country place ever waits to undermine and destroy. Financial stakes should be set at the start, and only loosened, relocated, and redriven when amply assured invested income keeps step with prodigal outlay. Many a man has sown the tares of imprudent and lavish expenditure with his choicest flowers, and reaped disaster, if not premature death, his life work blasted by that phase of misguided ambition immortalized in the line "By that sin fell the angels." Take nothing for granted, especially in purchasing land ; a good lawyer or a title guarantee policy are essentials. 288 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Throttling the Four Building Dragons. Four dragons that often bar the way of the amateur are ( 1 ) ignorance, (2) impecuniosity, (3) duplicity, and (4) avarice; but forewarned is forearmed, and they are easily recognized and vanquished, however disguised by fair words, a bold front and specious promises. Eliminate these, and the path that leads from the lifting of the first shovel of earth to pulling the latch-string is one of delight. A few disappointments are to be expected, but they are slight com- pared with the pleasure of creating a sensible and livable dwelling. How to Build. A house to cost from $2,500 to $12,000 should be let under the usual contract form, unless one prefers to follow the special contract system advised for the building of a mansion or it can be let on a strictly percentage basis. Close competition will pound the price to a ten or fifteen per cent, profit to the contractor, which is little enough for assuming the monetary responsibility in addition to an employers' accident risk, but the owner must make sure that he is not made personally liable by letter or act for costly delays and extra expenses entailed in the process of building. Indeed, his peace of mind usually hinges upon the carrying out to the letter of the four following rules: 1. Never give out a building contract without a bond for its completion, and within a specified time, bona fide strikes, unavoidable cyclones, floods, fire and earthquakes excepted. 2. It is an excellent incentive to the contractors for the owner to promise a bonus on completion of their several contracts within or ahead of schedule time if satisfied with the result, or better still, a specified bonus as an offset to a time-forfeiture-of-money clause which to be legal must take the form of damage loss. The contract should stipulate that a certain number of men are to be kept at work, and at each Saturday payment the owner should hold back ten or fifteen per cent, of both labor and material bills until the work is completed. 3. Never change the accepted plans and specifications except in writing, having such changes immediately ratified in writing by the contractor. Minor changes often entail major. It will be mutually far more satisfactory, and save quibbling, if not a quarrel, later to settle the amount of the extra cost over signature if that is possible at the time changes are decided upon. 4. Payments for work done and material purchased must be handled with business acumen ; carelessness in this respect may result in the owner being obliged to pay the same bill for labor and material twice. BUILDING DILEMMAS 289 The mechanics' and supply material lien and building laws, also the tax rate, in the State in which one is building are important documents to study before commencing opera- tions. Legal rights must be clearly defined between owner, architect, and contractor, the contract should also give the owner the right to change men or materials if either prove different from the agree- ment, and to make alterations in design or construction, always pro- vided it is done and accepted in writing and the cost approximately adjusted. A builder must not be given the slightest opportunity to say a thing is according to plan when it is self-evident that a mistake has been made and plans must be accurately drawn to meet these aggravating contingencies. Irresponsible Contractors. Within the ranks of artisans are to be found bidders (I am glad to say they are few) who will submit phenomenally low figures — much below the sum for which the work can be thoroughly done. If the contract is given to any of these, there are ten chances to one that one or all of the four dragons, ignorance, impecuniosity, dupli- city and avarice will give you the fight of your life before you have use for the latch key. After these contractors have drawn the last cent on an architect's certificate, to speak in building parlance, their modus operandi is to "lie down on the job," throw up their hands, and cry poverty. The amateur has then reached a stage in his opera- tions that ordinary common sense, if given half a chance, would have warned him against in the beginning. I hear the echo of the cry. At this point the complicated situation beggars description. The weak-kneed and practically dishonest contractor frequently relies on being hired by the day to finish the job, cannily figuring that as he knows more about it than a new man, he stands a better chance to continue the work. As a rule, it is far more satisfactory to get rid of such poor timber. "Small choice in rotten apples." It is surprising how such a contractor to save a feiv dollars wrill injure a fine house thousands by leaving loopholes for moisture at window, door, and eave opening, skimping in paper and felt linings, allowing insecure nailing and scant bracing, covering up shaky and soggy lumber, and using green instead of kiln-dried wood. The owner often makes a close second by employing a makeshift architect or none at all and cutting corners by using cheap labor and material, thus wasting both time and lumber. Building Dilemmas. And now let us look at the other horn of the dilemma. There are responsible and reputable builders who will sign a contract at a higher price and will certainly finish the house, but when? At the hour of signing, the contractor, we will say, has but little work ahead, and his promises as to time are emphatic and specific. In 290 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE fancy, through his wonderful mirage language, even before the cellar is dug you are seated on the lawn gazing at a completed dwelling four months to an hour from the day of signing the contract. Poor unsophisticated humanity! If your house is at all pretentious you'll be fortunate if it is not an even six months before you enter your home, if the builder should be rushed with work, and especially if cautions numbers two and three have been omitted in the contract, and there is no time forfeiture working against him. It's human nature to take every job in sight if there is neither bonus nor time limit staring the contractor in the face, or if he has given only a verbal promise, he will handle his men like a pendulum, if he has several jobs, swinging them from one to the other, and will pos- sibly become badly mixed in his "time data" for finishing your house. A threatened spell of rainy weather will dwindle your beehive full of workers on a Saturday pay-day to a couple of lonely carpenters on Monday morning, their occasional hammer taps a travesty on real work, compared with Saturday's progressive din. You take an expensive half-day from business to ascertain the cause of this sudden cessation of activity, and finally locate your gang laying sills and setting up the studding of a new house two or three miles away. Your Saturday payment has been used to start another job. Excuses of Contractors. Then comes the list of excuses, which I know by heart; some are certainly plausible and at first sight appear unanswerable: "The Georgia pine beams are short ten sticks, and it is unsafe to build higher until they are in place." "The sash came the wrong size." "The soft mud brick delivered is not hard enough for the chim- neys." "Sand that should have been on the job for the masons was on a barge that ran on the flats and cannot be floated until the next perigee tide, which will be weeks off. In the meantime, while wait- ing for sand, the masons began a rush cellar job to last but three or four days," which is a disguised way of saying two weeks, and so on through an extended list. All good excuses, but excuses don't build your house, and you wish to be in it in August, not December. The non-arrival of two loads of sand at a critical time when I was away for three days made four months' difference in date of occu- pancy; everything froze solid, and it seemed unwise to start timber- ing until the stone work was in place. Stone or brick laid in frosty weather may be unsatisfactory, although a neighbor built a brick chimney one hundred feet high, years ago, with the thermometer close to zero, and it still stands. Forfeit vs. Bonus. But are these discouraging and annoying conditions surmount- able? Certainly, if you have inserted clauses one, two, and three in your contract. If the honest contractor was confronted by a fat for- feit, or saw within his grasp, when the house was finished, a bonus, BUILDING OF A MANSION 291 conditions would be radically different, and by August first you'd be in a wringing perspiration running a lawn mowrer and swinging in hammocks on porch room and balcony to your heart's content. Even if the sand lighter was on the mud flats the contents of another would be piled on your ground. Those Georgia pine beams and hard brick would be in place, and the other fellow waiting. Build- ing, instead of being a continual rasping menace, and an Iliad of woes, wondering what exasperating set-back would come next, would be a joy. From properly built and legitimately greased ways is easily launched the most ponderous super-dreadnought. But assuming that cautions two and three were omitted from the contract, you may find the contractor considerably in your debt before the chaotic state above described has become chronic. At this stage you are practically powerless, and are in his hands, so far as time of completion is concerned. You cannot discharge the few ordi- nary workmen he has left and substitute a larger and more capable force; this would be considered uncalled-for interference and break the contract, and his over-draft in a measure places you in his power. The dilemma is most exasperating, yet in the midst of it all the builder airs his trials with workmen and material supply men so eloquently that, ten chances to one, in a weak moment you in a measure commiserate him in his jeremiads and possibly commit the farther folly of allowing him to still draw ahead of his just dues. It is true, your house is weeks, perhaps months, behind schedule time for finishing, but you can only worry, fume, and pay the bills, deriv- ing meagre satisfaction by swearing that if ever this house is finished you will never build another, and perchance wearing out the patience of friends and neighbors by the recital of your woes, whereas a con- tract drawn along the lines stated would have placed you among the optimists in building. The Building of a Mansion. If the building of the $2,500 to $12,000 house appears intri- cate, that of the $50,000 or $100,000 mansion seems more so, though it is not in reality. Thorough consideration of and preparation as to the following four distinct points are the essentials for complete success : 1. Location. 2. Plan. 3. Material. 4. Method of building. To build satisfactorily a house of this size, no matter how much care has been taken in preparation of the plans, is practically impos- sible without minor, and sometimes radical and more or less expensive changes, but if built along the lines indicated these changes will cost less than if the one contract system had been adopted. Changes under a one contract system, unless very carefully guarded, lead to 292 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE complications and extra expense that will sometimes double the cost and the builder is not always entirely to blame, for, unless carefully watched, the work gets beyond the least expensive change point. In the realm of extras lie aggravating experiences. As to labor: 1. Dirt or stone costs so much per cubic yard to excavate. 2. Stone foundation costs so much per cubic foot in a wall. 3. Stone, brick and terra cotta blocks cost so much per cubic foot in place. 4. Plastering on wooden or wire lathing costs so much per square yard on the walls. 5. Tile, shingle, slate, copper and tin cost so much per square in place, and flashing can be combined with the plumbing contracts. 6. Plumbing and heating can be let in one contract, and totaled to a dollar. 7. Electric lighting, ditto. It's simply a question of mathematics. The foregoing seven items can be figured accurately and a number of responsible bidders found who will make a fair living profit and yet give you an excel- lent piece of work. Add to the above items the following: Carpenter's labor contract to plastering line, including careful cutting for the plumber and steam fitter. Carpenter's labor contract from plastering to complete finishing of exterior and interior. Painter's contract, including floor treatment. Architect's fee. Manager's salary, preferably for a year, privilege reserved by both owner and manager of canceling the con- tract any Saturday night — an essential legal form, as a con- tract with an irresponsible employee is always one-sided and in substance really only holds the employer. Material of every kind should be figured with great accuracy. Have your architect, manager and a practical builder figure the list separately; in this way you can ferret out errors that with the greatest care are bound to occur. Material men will compete to supply you and much can be bought in carload lots, saving the price of an extra haul. Allow liberally for freight, express, cartage and even interest charges. Figure water supply, sewage, grading, planting, and general landscaping. Insurance. Insurance — fire, glass, and employers' liability — is also especially important. BUILDING INSPECTION 293 To save all chance of a disappointing result, add from ten to fifteen per cent, for possible changes, and you will know quite definitely the maximum cost of your house under any ordinary conditions that may arise. Building Inspection. An absolute essential if the above system is adopted is to hire an honest, competent man, not necessarily physically able to work, to whom you will pay, say three to five dollars a day to be on the job every hour of each working day, but for reasons stated hired by the wreek. It will be his business to see that your orders are carried out, that every scrap of material is on the ground ahead of time, to check bills and keep a list of men at work in each department, and to aid in weeding out the sluggards, who have a bad effect on all other workers. I beg of you, do not get enmeshed in the friendship net. Avoid the well-meaning man who says he knows all about building, and will enjoy looking after the construction of your house without a cent of remuneration. He is too close a friend either to be offered pay or to be criticized for his judgment and methods. I went through that mill once at quite a cost, and know some half dozen other unfortunates. In each case, it proved a lamentable failure on both sides. Hire some one to dog the job whom you can discharge Satur- day night if unsatisfactory, and talk to like a Dutch uncle all the week, if the case requires. You are to live in the house and you pay the bills. The man for you should be a practical builder who can tell "a hawk from a handsaw," has had wide experience, is quick to note the value of important changes, and advise the least expensive and most thorough way of making them, and can see that no material is wasted nor carted away. He need not lift a hammer, in fact may be incapacitated except for head work, but "drest in a little brief authority," can shoulder a weight of responsibility that could not be carried by a layman, or, if physically fit and amenable to reason, work under direct supervision of architect or builder a portion of the time and thus pay at least half his way. In a job of this character, the carrying away of any pieces of wood, however small, except chips and shavings, until the house is completed is objectionable. Crippling, forming frames for arches, coving ceilings, deadening of floors and stopping fire draft at plate line and floor beam ends require the very pieces that the contractors or workmen usually cart away, therefore, before beginning the job, have it thoroughly understood that no material is to be removed except that laid aside by the inspector for that purpose. It may not be so much the worth of the material as the lack of needed pieces at an important time, and in a big job the "carting away habit" 294 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE always evaporates considerable desirable material, and often causes quarrels among the men. I invariably selected on the grounds, or on each floor of a build- ing, certain places for waste lumber ; 2 x 4's in one pile, board ends and timbers in another, but built up in solid masses, to avoid extra fire risk. From these may be selected by the handy boy material required by the artisan. Such a boy, interested in the work, and at everyone's beck and call for nails, water, material or tools, saves his wages many times. It's a good rule, as far as possible, to insist on workmen remaining on roof, scaffold or floor on which they are working until noon and again until quitting time, having their requirements brought by the handy man or boy. The dawdling habit is contagious and will greatly increase the cost of building. Eye Service. A contractor as honest as the sun cannot eliminate eye service, in a day job, and giving out to the men that it is a contract job deceives no one, therefore, unless the owner is willing to have the work cost more than it ought, under no circumstances should he build an elab- orate house by the day. Building on a percentage basis is often but a partial solution. The special contract system, with an inspector, gives the owner many advantages without the waste, delay and extra expense that too often go with a day's work job. Short and Long Mathematics. Short mathematics will show in a line the cost of a house which with wide latitude may be figured from ten to twenty cents per cubic foot contents or from three dollars to eight dollars per square foot area including labor, which will cost from twice to three times as much as the material. A rule of thumb but elastic as the requirements of a vascillating owner. Used with judgment, it will hit approximately near the nail, but accuracy requires longer and closer mathematics. Accurate Measurements. The amateur builder working under the above plan will buy his own material, for he can thus make considerable saving. Sash and window frames to avoid mistakes should be ordered from the same mill, though at best errors are bound to occur, and must be rectified by the wood-working contractor, who should himself take the dimensions. Accurate measurements of everything connected with the building are essential. Contracts for plumbing, heating and electric wiring (preferably iron pipe or cable system) can all be let by fair competition at a satis- factory price, and minus the extra charge made by the general con- tractor for this service. SLEEPING PORCH, CONSERVATORY, AVIARY 295 Safeguarding Against Building Errors. A substitute for this plan, if one does not wish to assume the care and responsibility of handling each individual contractor, is to get all the contracts lined up, then let the entire job to a capable builder and pay him a fixed sum to turn your house over to you within a specified time. Ostensibly, the builder is the man to whom the sub-contractors look for their pay, and he can handle them better than you can, for you may never build another house, while the builder will require services of this kind as long as he is in business. In reality, you stand back of him. A curious realm, this of build- ing, and many of its members are no different from those who manipulate the stock market or corner cotton, wheat and oats. Delay for Inspection. Assuming that the former plan has been adopted and the exterior is about completed, let us halt to consider carefully the exact condi- tions before plastering. In this analysis stop all important work for a week at least, and bring all the talent and expert advice you can to bear upon any required changes, for these must be made if you are to have a satisfactory house, and can be tried out by the strips of wood hereinafter described. Should not this door opening be moved a trifle? Are the windows in the morning room too high or in the bathroom too low? Is the kitchen light enough? Should this or that partition come down? Would not double doors between these two bedrooms be a great advantage in case of illness, giving extra sunlight, companionship, care and air? That door is too close to the fireplace, and we forgot a toy closet in the playroom ; a south- west window in the nursery will make it cooler for the children ; one window in this room is unsafely low; by moving that stair open- ing forward or back a foot we can build a platform, thus avoiding a window as well as a winder, hence an easier and safer climb, and the window arrangement on the north as seen from the outside is abominable. Sleeping Porch, Conservatory, and Aviary. Leading from that south room we can construct a sleeping porch; and sometime build on the balance of the veranda roof space that joy of the housewife, a second story conservatory and aviary big enough to swing a hammock 'mid plants, singing birds, and 'winter sunshine. This closet is large enough for an outside window; had we not better cove that ceiling? By wainscoting the hall we can save a finishing coat of plaster and obtain a better effect — in fact, at this stage of the building changes and improvements frequently save, as well as cost, and crotchets of comfort can often be indulged at slight expense. Essential changes that make a house just right should always be made, as one generally builds but one home. "Almost right" stays with us to the end, clouding an otherwise satisfactory conception. 296 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Show me a man who tells you his house was built exactly as the original plan called for, and I will show you a man dissatisfied for life. Study your house from garret to cellar, then re-study it, like your college valedictory, again and again, and see how startled you are at finding some glaring error that has escaped architect, builder, and all criticizing friends. One of my first houses was passed upon by the purchaser as absolutely satisfactory, when one day he dis- covered that to reach the front door the maid must trail across the dining room. I at once built a one story palm corridor which obviated the difficulty and vastly improved the house, but if I had stopped work long enough when the rooms were studded to consider possible improvements, this glaring defect would have been discovered and remedied before the house was plastered. When you are con- fident that everything is right, and after straightening and leveling all studding and floor beams, plaster, and when this is done stop work a week for finals. Forethought should have dictated months ago that which will have much to do with the beauty of your house, i. e., the kind of wood to be used for trim, and its treatment, for this will control wall and ceiling decoration, as well as furnishings — if unfortunate delays have occurred give your closest thought to trim selection, "better late than never" holds especially good in house building. Plaster effects molded in ceiling should be decided upon in detail, as they are more economically placed when the house is being plastered. Final touches can be settled after the house is trimmed. In trim and stairs, material and workmanship you will find a wide range both in thoroughness of mill work and expense. I once cut the cost of trim for a large house in half — and both quality of work and execution were excellent — by ordering during a quiet season doors, windows, trim and stairs, months ahead of requirements from a first-class country mill near a hard wood supply, favored by cheap labor conditions, and in need of a back log to keep running full time. A rush order to a mill often means a high price, possibly poorer work, and half kiln dried material. You have now reached your final labor contract, the setting up of the standing trim, hanging doors and windows, placing beamed ceilings, floors and stairs, which latter, as well as wainscoting and pantry dressers, can preferably be shipped ready to set. It will sur- prise you to find how reasonably this contract can be let if you go about it in the right way. Good mechanics ambitious to become gen- eral contractors will give both excellent service and low prices, but ability to handle men and lay out work is essential. Meantime, with the help of the landscape gardener, you have planned the planting and general landscaping, for this should keep pace with the building of the house. CORNERING ELUSIVE TIME 297 Cornering Elusive Time. Don't lose an entire year. None of us have a surplus of that for which the whole world is gasping — time, so plant and protect. Over this work your inspector has had general oversight; he has also kept nails and other hardware under lock and key, protected door and window sills, scribbled across the plate glass to prevent breakage and attended to locking the house at night. He has carefully looked after the burning of all inflammable debris, especially shavings (this should be done every day when there is not too much wind), and had an oversight over all other fires, primarily those of the plumber and mason, and if salamanders are used, seen that they are in good repair and with ample sand bed protection ; also carried the burden of the hundred and one other things that if promptly attended to help prodigiously in the building of a house. Saturday Night Accounting. I grant you this method of building has its intricacies, and means responsibility, but one great redeeming feature that may be vital to your peace of mind is to know just where you stand every Saturday night. By special arrangement with the contractors, and insertion of such a clause in the contract, you can insist on hav- ing fifty men at work Monday morning, and cut the number to two the next week. A friend building a fine home found it financially inconvenient to finish it as planned. Rather than cheapen the house, he boarded it in and completed it the following year, his contract allowing him this latitude. If details prove too onerous or you have not time for frequent inspection, plenty of contractors will stand in line at any stage of the construction to take the job off your hands and push it to completion. The contract can contain a clause to buy off your small contractors on payment of a stated sum on account of change in plans. A year in the business world is a long period and often brings reverses and financial sheet anchors may prove con- venient to the most affluent. The usual contract method of building a $50,000 to $100,000 house is open to the grave objection that few contractors will figure on a job of this size except with a liberal margin, counting the "know how," the risk, and the fact that in seven cases out of ten changes may run the total cost from $75,000 to $150,000, and perhaps entail legal complications. Then again, the careful contractor must add to his figures a percentage to cover the money risk in selling you labor and materials, a risk on which you of course do not figure. All contracts should carry an employers' accident policy, and the owner should see that the premium is paid, even if he has to stand the expense. The question of employing a night watchman must be decided by each owner for himself, but it is a wise precaution in a job of any magnitude. 298 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE TEH FEET OF ICICLES TETi FEET VERDURE THE TREES VOHICM GREW THROU6M THF OUR THREE TYPE VERANDAS. TECHNIQUE OF BUILDING 299 CHAPTER IX. THE DRY TECHNIQUE OF BUILDING FOR THE AMATEUR. TO build or not to build? Those who answer in the affirmative and have time, taste and coin of the realm sufficient, if they are true philosophers and can brook delays and disappointments, revel in the joy of creating for its own sake, a joy unknown to the portion of humanity that, like the swinging tree moss, catches first this branch, then that in its embrace; parasitical in habit, blowing hot or cold; often unanchored and drifting. The home can be made a permanent anchorage to the most restless mortal, and he who thus creates heels closely that time-honored human who made two blades of grass to grow where one grew before and leaves the world better for his brief advent. Intensely interesting is the country house craze breaking out on every hand, giving a sensible excuse for the week-end exodus. It varies from the A. B. C. of living, as seen in the modest, one room bungalow or picturesque Swiss chalet to the luxurious hundred- roomed mansion crowning the hills of Lenox or Aiken ; in design gamutting the world. What a will o' the wisp is Dame Architecture, she who in ancient Greece threw about the rough hewn girder, sup- ported by still rougher and more uncouth pillars, the delicate out- lined tracery of entablature and frieze, Ionic and Doric cap and gracefully fluted column, a beauty of design and construction that bids fair to last forever. Line of Succession. We read man's progress the world over, from primordial cavern up through hollow tree trunk shelter and tree hut of the African, the Icelander's igloo, the Neolithic pennpit burrow of early England, succeeded by the one room Saxon chimneyless dwelling,* the stone fortress retreat of the cliff dweller, lake-protected dwell- ings of Switzerland, the pueblo of the Mexican or the crude Mayan palace, to the stupendous sheltering walls of a Windsor or a Hohen- zollern, or the graceful and delicate beauty of incomparable Versailles. One's pulse throbs as quickly and his pride in man's achievement rises as high today in the presence of the ruined Pan- theon, that creation of man "Earth proudly wears as the best gem in her zone," as wrhen it wras first unveiled to acclaiming multitudes centuries ago. In America the Romanesque especially of the Eleventh and Twelfth centuries, resurrected and adapted to later needs by Richard- *Once lost in a snowstorm in the mountains of Lebanon and rescued by the Bedouin sheik of the village of Kaffir Hauer, I fancied Time had turned back the dial and that we were sleeping on the dirt floor of an English chimneyless hall 300 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE son and often imitated in somewhat gingerbread fashion by mediocre followers, has many advocates, as well as the Gothic of the Thirteenth to the Sixteenth Centuries, sometimes called one man stone work when compared with the megalithic masonry of Italy, Greece and Egypt and rivaling in beauty the Neoclassic of later date. In the Eighteenth Century Dame Architecture slept the sleep of the just, this being the nadir of architecture as the "Seventh Century was the nadir of the human mind," so absolutely without individuality was the period save for an occasional return to the Renaissance of France and Italy and to the classic grafted on the Colonial which, with high pillared fronts and Pantheon entablatures, graced many a country side. In America, in the middle of the Nineteenth Century came the upheaval of every known type ; an agglomeration at times of a falderal of ideas jumbled into a veritable grab bag in which village carpenter — ignoring the fact that it takes at least twenty-five trades to build a real house — and inexperienced architect delved and brought forth, among others, the square, cupola-crowned country house and the Gothic cottage with head hitting ceilings and jig-saw embellishments. Then came radical changes. The tide of departure from and decadence of the dignified Colonial set in, and a wave of Queen Anne — of far away Gothic parentage — swept over our land, interiors embellished and finished in varied styles, including the Eastlake and later the doweled and keyed Mission. Dissatisfaction was the inevit- able result of these nondescript productions, and architects in the search for something more beautiful again turned to the Colonial and the coeval English Georgian, and in combination with the Queen Anne, evolved many examples of rare beauty, the beginning of a real apotheosis in American architecture. The grander houses were replicas of Italian, French or Dutch Renaissance — a broad mantle, covering an occasional sin — or again, Tudor, Jacobean, Elizabethan or Victorian asserted its influence ; the latter, often overloaded with inartistic decoration, fields wherein many a gimcrack creation, the outcome of architectural revel license, today horrifies the beholder, or later the period when the suburban builder seized with avidity upon the Mansard, which has the single redeeming merit of chang- ing low-eaved attic rooms to those of high ceilings and semi-perpen- dicular walls. The limitations of unlimited wealth, aggressively self-evident when unguided by knowledge, are sometimes responsible for much that is bizarre, incomplete, and uncomfortable in the house building field. The small man of large means, to save a few dollars will often ignorantly vandalize the finest conception to the extent of thousands. His only safety is to leave it to that architect who really knows, and pay the bills without grumbling. ACME OF LIVING 301 Acme of Living. Given a clearing and virgin soil, save for the steel edge of the woodsman and steel point of the plowman, it is the acme of living to reclaim and to build as one desires, absolutely untrammeled. In place of tangled forest and rock-strewn field, to rear a habitation adapted to and in harmony with climatic topography, to gather from the four quarters of the globe the best of earth's products and mold them to one's use; to master savoir faire, and no longer have plan- ning ever synonym compromise — this is the acme of living, the "sine qua non" of house building. In ideal, hypercritical building, there are three essentials: Ample funds; ample land; ample time, and the job to be thor- oughly done must be from under the ground. Even using an old foundation may be a serious handicap, as it is most important that the house angle should suit the site, with the sun where it is needed and the kitchen, one bete noir of the architect, so placed as to neither hide an important view nor over-heat and over-odor the house. Remodeling may make for comfort, but effectually bars achieve- ment, and the completed product is always far from ideal. A year is not too long for planning the house, and during that year if your heart is in the work, you will be "bethumped with ideas," and have mind-built a dozen houses, and mind building is not only interest- ing and inexpensive, but profitable. The January house in the light of your December product will generally seem crude and impossible, and the months between may be strewn with dismantled and wrecked dwellings which died a-borning. A year's residential try-out while developing the plans gives ample time to grasp all conditions of an unknown neighborhood and may prevent unnecessary shrinking of one's bank account and heart-breaking disappointments. Buy when you find your ideal site, but sell before building rather than label the completed dwelling and its location a mistake. Keen observa- tion and adaptation to your special requirements are essential guides. Few houses meet one's ideal. With the world from which to choose, the owner-builder, keenly interested in his new home, strives though fruitlessly in the egotism of creation to lead that world if only in one feature, but to carelessly stray afield outside the pale of simple strength in avoiding anaemic architecture and a dull level of same- ness is often to conflict with the canons of good taste, and unduly blot and smear a garden of Eden. Life of a House. In building, one should aim to compass in all possible measure the three fundamentals of health, comfort, and idealism. In the planning before building days, picture and re-picture your home from every possible vantage ground, remembering that in our climate a wooden house will deteriorate yearly from three to ten per cent., and one of stone or brick, from two to five per cent., and that eternal 302 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE vigilance is the price of comfortable living. A systematic inspection by mason, carpenter and plumber every six months is essential. Pre- vention will keep you well abreast, and even ahead, of all destroying forces. To be critical about one's home castle, whether an adobe dwell- ing, a sod-roofed dugout, or a palace, is worth while. Barbaric architecture and slathers of ornamentation are dan- gerous lodestones with which to trifle, but enthusiasm often leads architect, builder, or owner to play the role of copyist of past crea- tions. Such lapses are not open to criticism, as all the world is with us. Architecture was born centuries ago, and is still sisterless. Ferro-Cement Construction. Fireproof is a misnomer under certain conditions. Fill your fire- proof building with combustibles and let water enter to fight the flames, and your seemingly adamant cement, impregnable stone, and unyielding steel will peel, split, and crumble, while the last turns on itself like a squirming serpent. Is it a life marriage, this union of cement and iron, or will acid, attrition, vibration, and electrolysis disintegrate bolt head, iron binder, and rivet? This is the crux over which every architect is puzzling, and that architect who fails to reckon with the prodigious contracting power exerted by a forty degree below zero temperature on an iron column and girder and the enormous lengthening force of a one-hundred degree temperature will shatter both building and reputation. Cement walled and floored buildings are extremely difficult and very expensive to enlarge, change, or rebuild, especially when partially destroyed by fire. Arti- ficial reinforced stone in quoin, sill, and lintel, with tooled surface, if of the best, is permissible in brick and stone structures. The diffi- culty of making door and window frames set in cement walls tight is partially solved by insetting especially constructed non-rusting metal weather strips in the cement. Alternate brick headers between layers of hollow tile make for strength. Smouldering wood means less pecuniary loss than crumbling cement walls and twisted steel. Brick that has been through the fire to make it more staunch under conditions mocks at powers before which cement and steel grovel. Eliminate draughts in partitions and as far as may be on stairs, and avoid using inflammable gum varnish and oil saturated pigments, choosing fireproof paint instead. Make floors of semi-solid timbers, and with brick or hollow brick covered with cement exterior, hollow brick partitions, tile roofs and metal gutters, you are fairly near fire control that is in many ways preferable to the much vaunted fireproof, moisture-laden, inartistic structure of cement and iron. Fireproof conditions are perfectly possible in a detached dwelling, unless filled with combustible material. Drenching a conflagration with water will often seriously injure, if not destroy, such a building. DEATH DEALING MOISTURE 303 One objection to cement walls and floors in houses is that an echo may detract from the homelike atmosphere. Filing-Cabinet Fireproof Room. Slow burning construction and a low fireproof annex cover the owner's usual requirements, unless he decides to build a one-story cement affair, say 10x10x10, detached from the house, lined with boiler iron, and burglar-proof, electrically connected with the master's bedroom through pipes laid in a cement grouted ditch, and entirely free from all risk of burning debris which is bound to endanger such a room if in or annexed to a dwelling. Cumbersome maps, deeds, contracts, and the long list of papers that may never be used, but if wanted and readily found some- times save or make a fortune, and a card index showing in an instant where past or present needs are stored, all find a place in this impor- tant, thoroughly protected, and practical filing room. The lack of such a room and the temporary loss of an important paper once cost me many times the expense of a filing-cabinet fireproof-room. "Forest-born Houses." Forest-born houses, when rightly planned and constructed, are drier and wrarmer, and we think healthier, and preferable to those of any other material; they also lend themselves more readily to homelike and artistic treatment. As science has tested its theories on guinea pigs and monkeys, so makers of country houses have unwit- tingly tested stone and cement walled homes for horses, cattle, and poultry versus forest-born shelters, and found less rheumatism and better general health in the latter. It is good construction to veneer hollow brick with rived shakes. Death Dealing Moisture. An important phase of the building problem is solved when we so construct as to exclude moisture through the insidious avenues of leaking roof, wall, gable, hip, valley, balcony, window and door frame. The driest possible house, but more expensive, would have its exterior of glazed brick or glazed or unglazed terra cotta in color harmony with its surroundings. Radical? Granted, and possibly cornmercialjbut far less so than that house built of glass from cellar to roof-tree, that western-built copper house, or an octagonal or possibly gasometer round house. The latter scheme, if in a large building with archi- trave, entablature, and column, is capable of most impressive effects, but expensive to enlarge and ventilate, and as generally built is puny, bare, and often grotesque. A glaring, glazed or unglazed terra cotta or brick exterior should be softened by suitable vine, shrub, and tree planting, and, while neither tree nor shrub must shut from any house the health-giving rays of the sun, approaches should be so laid out as to give the impression of a foliage-embowered dwelling. 304 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Veneered beauty soon vanishes, green wood shrinks, poorly flashed chimneys, valleys, and balconies leak, thin walls and hastily laid floors echo, and insecure nailings gap — the result, King Moisture comes into his own. Hidden Basic Construction. Hidden basic construction is too often flimsy and even the simplest domestic requirements ignored, the builder relying on an effective, decorative composition to conceal errors which should not occur in the most modest dwelling. I have noted within a month fireproof and semi-fireproof public buildings, and also what would be called a superior dwelling — one, a city hall with wooden studded and lathed partitions, another a costly library building, with wooden cornices, entrance, and ornaments; an expensive brick school house with flat, leaky shingle roof, a high class English stone house with wooden roof — with interior and other exterior appointments and effects that are glaring errors, to be recognized and criticized by the veriest tyro in architecture. Even after a fine house is built on some magnificent site poor landscaping and an unnecessary network of walks and paths may blemish the entire conception. It is a reef-strewn channel into which the optimistic amateur builder has boldly and recklessly headed his craft. It behooves him to have an expert pilot at the wheel, and a first class architect's advice and guidance is worth many times its cost. Horses vs. Houses. Standardizing points in houses is as essential as scheduling points in horses, and he who achieves the one hundred per cent, striven for — a goal yet unattained — has reached the alembic of ideal housing. Among thousands of addenda a few essentials stand out in relief after location, material, form and method of construction are settled. These are pronouncedly seen in window, door, fireplace, staircase, height of each story, and harmony of color treatment — even blinds are inanimates to grapple with and conquer. Color within and without, as seen in roof exterior, window frame and soffit, or interior wall, ceiling, floor, trim, and stair, has much to do with the beauty of the house, and requires an artistic touch. How to Face and Back a House. The proper angle of the foundation to fit the site is a vital problem. Some rooms can be easily planned to corral the sun all day remembering that "where the sun does not come the doctor does." Such rooms are life memories. Neither kitchen nor stable yard should mar the view nor offensively saturate southwest breezes. Plan and build so that when more faces peer over the edge of your dining table and wider acquaintance knocks at your door you can make the inevitable additions beautiful, rather than ugly. Madame, as a rule, is a better authority on the location of parlor, kitchen, etc., than HOW TO FACE AND BACK A HOUSE 305 the financial head of the house. Rooms must be carefully considered in their relation to each other, to the points of compass, and use, and glaring contrasts, such as Gothic interiors elbowing Colonial should be avoided. A common mistake is that of making a small house a diminutive copy of a large one. Possibly fine in the large conception, it is usually pernickety in the small. Another error is in making an uplift- ing, gem-site of rising ground stagger under the incubus of a house with stiff citified outlines. It is a fine thing to live a long time with the plans before beginning work. Comfort and convenience within are the first con- sideration, then the exterior, not necessarily of grandiose architecture, .but of graceful and impressive outlines. A square house is cheapest, roomiest, and homeliest, and requires less wall to enclose a given space, and a plain pitch roof costs least, but the slight additional expense of the gambrel often makes a world of difference in beauty and livableness. A symmetrical roof has a uniform pitch in all its sections, usually as four to sixteen, this gradient making a grand water shedder and increasing the life of the roof. Square or rectangle the house if you will, but keep the propor- tions correct, and break wall and roof line with bay, porte cochere, wide overhang, porch room and eyebrow, lift, or Gothic dormer. Chimney it plainly and strongly in the right places, window with mullioned triplets, casements and transoms, use doors in good style — perhaps Dutch, or with side and over lights — stain or paint artistically and you have a thing of beauty. Success in designing an attractive and practical house requires an axis, as well as strong and effective motifs and material adapted to the site. Individualizing even close to the line of criticism is desirable building and banishes uninteresting stereotyped construction. Essentials of Comfortable Planning. Given a big hall and living room, wide stairs; a unique dining room, one fine bedroom and boudoir suite, and your house is made, even if economy requires a kitchenette and the hall bedrooms of the summer hotel to keep the balance on the right side of the ledger. A generous porch room connected with a cement, brick or a terrazzo- paved terrace and a porte cochere make for comfort and appearance out bf all proportion to their cost, and a front door just right is a fine home greeter. Foundations. Foundations must be squared and plumbed, aside from the entasis of an occasional buttress or exposed cellar wall, first treating cellar bottom and interior walls as well as exterior underground walls with tar to keep out ground air and dampness. At the foot of the excavation in the ditch which parallels the wall outside the cellar, lay a drain pipe covered with small stones to within two feet of the 306 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE lawn surface, leading to a blind well of sufficient size to dispose of all moisture. Think ahead; have all material at hand. There is no better goad to keep the job at concert pitch, outside the silver spur, than a pile of lumber stacked to half story height, construction shed filled with barrels of cement, lime and brick, and an overflowing sand pile. It is human nature to dally and spin out work when material is scarce. Seven Important Levers to Raise a Modern House. The seven following materials, hollow brick, glazed or dead finish terra cotta, cement, galvanized iron lath, wire glass, steel I-beams, and tar, when properly used have simplified and improved building an hundred fold. In so important a matter as the build- ing of a home, it will often pay even the layman to master in a measure at least some of the dry details of construction, the under- lying "know how" of actual work to be done before one tries to even outline pergola, veranda, fireplace, dainty outdoor bedroom, and tiled conservatory, or spacious entrance hall, mantel, and staircase, all features delightful to dream of, plan, and execute. If exposed to severe gales it is better to anchor a wooden framed house to the ledge at each corner and projection with heavy irons sunk into the rock and firmly fastened in drilled holes with melted sulphur. This precaution gives greater solidity before the building is fully braced and weighted. There should also be a prodigal use of I-beams, and posts and stirrups of iron, concealed and fire pro- tected by cement, or hollow brick. Woods. It's interesting to know that a king post holds up the ridge and centres the collar beams, which in turn are steadied by the queen post at each end ; that this latter must rest on a solid partition wall or other support amply able to hold it, while trimmer heads and tail beams form and strengthen stair and chimney openings; that white pine boards shrink but little compared with spruce, chestnut and N. C. pine, and that spruce boards unless thoroughly nailed are apt to curl at the edges, sliver and wear out quickly; that beautiful hard red birch which is more durable than even oak under foot decays rapidly when exposed to the weather, and unless thoroughly kiln- dried, warps, shrinks, and draws, as is also the case with chestnut, but that both, nevertheless, are entitled to wide use, the latter because of its beautiful grain and the former for its veined texture, rich mottled coloring, and close resemblance to mahogany which can also be fairly imitated in softer white wood. Cypress makes an excellent weather wood, especially for frame, sash, belt course, soffit, and trim. Locust and chestnut are two fine underground woods. The objection to chestnut on the basis that it is apt to be wrormy can be overcome by selection of the fittest, or a dose of creosote will SEVEN LEVERS TO RAISE A HOUSE 307 prevent farther ravages if its use does not interfere with future color treatment. A difference in floor levels, when not so frequent or great as to give opportunity for accident, increases the impressiveness of a house, just as a plant or fountain rightly placed improves the whole aspect of a room and a loggia and porte cochere add value to an exterior far in excess of their cost. If on a side hill — and the side hill house is the most economical to build — a cut off, stone filled trench is laid a dozen feet above the cellar wall and connected with side drainage trenches, straw being bedded on stones below the earth topping, an essential in making a dry cellar. The Arched Under House. One of the most pleasing houses I ever built was arched-under. Taking advantage of a side hill location, a small entrance vestibule was arranged from which one ascended broad steps to the main hall, which connected with living room, library and den, all on the first floor. The kitchen, butler's pantry, and dining room were on the lower road level, reached also by a stairway from the living hall. This kept culinary appointments and kitchen mechanics remote from gala and living rooms, while allowing more impressive dimensions for the latter. In another under-hill house was the garage, with gasoline in a near by earth-buried tank. Stone, Brick, and Cement. For stone work, the boulder laid-up-rustic, cement bedded, is satisfactory, or rubble, — coursed or random — broken ashler-random- face, or range laid smooth cut quarry — in fact any stone harder than soft limestone, certain grades of which disintegrate more or less rapidly in this climate. Foundations should total at least twelve inches wider than the superstructure. Tackling a spring or water course in cellar or cesspool is a try- ing problem. I once spent nine hundred dollars in blasting and attempting to stopper a boiling spring at the bottom of a rock-quar- ried excavation intended for a cesspool. With the house gridironed by pipes connected with a community reservoir, the living spring was a travesty. We had better luck with a water course in the cel- lar, having no ledge with wrhich to contend. Digging sufficiently deep and underdraining at an incline settled the difficulty. Cellars. A stone cellar wall so built that the stones extend from the exterior to the interior, binding the wall, needs extra tarring treat- ment; otherwise these stones add their quota of moisture to the water drawn from the ground by capillary attraction, encouraging those insidious foes, fungoid growth and ground air. Weather beaten 308 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE and cracked rough stone taken from old walls should not be used in the construction of a fine house. Their proper place is in the underdraining of land and roads. The old-fashioned method of cover- ing the foundation wall with moisture-proof slate or blue stone slabs before the house wall is built is still good. It is a fatal mistake to tolerate stone cellar walls laid up dry, the surface only smeared with cement. Moisture and rodents can only be balked by stones embedded in cement, which is vastly improved by being mixed with crude oil. Jogs and angles in foundation walls add largely to their cost. A pro- jecting water table flush with a cement sanitary angled gutter a foot wide on the surface of the ground will carry drip away from the foundation. Ground Air. Nowhere inside the house must tile set in cement be laid directly on the earth, however well drained or gravelly the soil (unless possibly in a conservatory) as ground air and moisture will, under certain weather conditions, work to the surface. I once injured an otherwise attractive inglenook by overlooking this fact. Cement and metal under conditions will carry sound, therefore it is desirable to deaden the floors with asbestos, seaweed, paper, hair, felt, or other non-conducting material. All overhangs should be thor- oughly deadened to prevent cold from entering the house. Mineral wool is excellent for this use. Damp-proof Walls. An outside wall of brick or stone is made damp-proof by being thoroughly painted on its interior and exterior where it is buried in the ground with water-proof paint or tar, and must be furred for plastering. Confined air makes a warm blanket. Air space will carry sound unless curbed with baffles, but is a positive preventer of condensation. Watch closely during construction for crevices in walls and about door and window frames. Unless cemented most thoroughly, a stone or cement house is a cold damp house. Air spac- ing is its salvation. Wooden frames set in stone need special care to keep out wind, cold, and moisture. Calking crevices with oakum saturated with white lead decreases coal consumption. If necessary to lay brick in freezing weather, dry brick laid in cement mortar, with but a small quantity of lime, and joints neatly struck, gives the best job. Care should be taken that there is no jar before the cement hardens, otherwise the brick will at once loosen. In warm weather brick should be wet before being laid. The pic- turesque appearance of rock faced brick is marred by affinity for dust and liability to damage by friction. Its main advantage aside from the effect of lights and shadows produced is that the broken surface prevents the annoying window sill drip that always mars the front of a brick building. Water-proofing brick walls with a colorless solution does not GROUND AIR 309 change the appearance of the brick and prevents frozen moisture from scaling mortar joints or dampness from entering the house, thus removing the ene possible objection to brick construction. Harvard, Roman, and tapestry brick are all good. The so-called "mud brick" of commerce is more or less a water absorber, but has holding strength in the wall; its rough surface absorbs the mortar even better than the smoother face, but harder, machine made, piano-wire-cut brick. Headers and stretchers, if of suitable contrasting hue, and laid in Flemish or English bond, make an effective building, but meddling with contrasts requires infinite care and skill. The amateur often ruthlessly "stomps" "where angels fear to tread." In a non-earthquake country, hollow tile covered with cement is ideal construction if made damp-proof with tar or rough paint and air spaces, and is more serviceable than stucco on wire or wooden lath. A double hollow tile wall is best if brick tied. Floor Deadening. In deadening floors, an excellent light weight combination is a mixture of cement, sawdust, and ashes. It brings but little extra strain on the timbers, keeps out cold and noise, and is along fireproof lines. If the room immediately over the kitchen is used for other than storage, the floor should be deadened in order to bar kitchen heat and noises and there must be an air space between the wall of this room and the kitchen chimney. In all cementing of exterior walls, wire lath should be nailed on eight inch centres to avoid sagging, which is bound to occur when nailed to the sixteen inch spaced studding. V-irons will give a half inch air space between sheathing and cement. They hold the wire and cement away from the shrinking wood, and tend to prevent cracks. This method is less expensive than hollow brick construction, but not as durable. The cement cellar floor should be four inches thick, made of three inches of concrete set on a bed of sand. A good concrete mix- ture is one part cement, three parts sand, five parts broken stone, and when set immediately finished with one inch Portland cement made of one part cement to three parts sand. If steps and open loggia are not of stone or brick, durability requires that they be of reinforced cement. Rounding very slightly the edge of a cement step will delay inevitable nicking. Heavy buttresses at the corners of a rough foundation wall are good, especially for a high veranda. As simple a thing as a piazza post wrongly placed will seriously mar an otherwise beautiful house.. An entasis effect flaring outward at the bottom of an exposed founda- tion wall gives stability and beauty. 310 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Flying Arch. A flying stone arch or two supporting a porch room or a flight of steps, if properly built, will be found far more ornamental than the usual plain arch. Stone, brick and cement are the best materials for the sleepless arch; wooden arches except for decorative purposes are impractical. If brick construction is used, the water table can be formed by corbeling and drawing inward five or six courses above the stone foundation. Soffits under the eaves and big bracket supports are preferably covered with cement on galvanized wire lath, or hollow brick, but this necessitates an absolutely tight roof to prevent the cement from scaling. A porch room is much improved by beams over a cement ceiling. Exterior iron work must be made absolutely rust-proof by gal- vanizing and thorough painting. This also prevents staining of adjacent brick and stone. All wire lath should be galvanized for outside work, as plain iron will rust even if cement covered, and painting it is but a make- shift. Iron posts in the cellar (supporting iron girders) with suitable foundations, take less room than brick or stone but are more easily damaged by fire than are brick. Both post and girder are nearer fire- proof if encircled with 34~inch mesh of galvanized wire and evenly swathed in cement. Rat-Proof House. Tf the house is of timber construction, use large sized timber. Rat-proof at sill line by filling in with rough grouting, brick, or stone, and curb the fire risk at plate line end of floor timbers by stopping draughts and filling between studs with odd pieces of joist. Extra crippling is an additional advantage in hanging heavy pictures. Reinforcing any specially important bearing by two or four inch wrought iron pipe filled with cement as extra supporting pillars with wide flanges gives added strength. The sanitary cement base is an advantage in cellar, laundry, kitchen, back halls, and closets. If wire screening is inset in cement of floor and wall, rodents pass by on the other side, and even cock- roaches and water bugs are unknown. Cement Expansion. If cement walks are used, they must have below frost line foun- dations, and each cement block should be cut through its entire thick- ness to allow for expansion and contraction, and an asphalt expansion joint inserted every fifty feet is a good precaution. Mere marking will not avoid cracking. Secure footing is obtained by slightly cor- rugating (crandalling) the surface, preferably in some geometrical design, and a convex surface makes a dry walk. WINDOWS 311 Curbs should be edged with metal corner bead to prevent a dilapidated appearance when nicked or broken, as they surely will be in time. It is a convenience to have the number of the house, and in public buildings the name, metal inset or cut in cement walk near the gate, and the lower straight iron tie of the gate brace formed into a foot-scraper. Windows. Clustered windows are as effective as clustered chimneys, and a large wride-eyed window placed at correct angle in veranda roof will give additional light. Two feet six inches above floor line is the rule for setting first-story windows, and a trifle higher for second and third. Deeply embrasured grouped windows can be placed in a thin \valled house by building the entire side of the room inward a foot or more, balancing the space on each window side with a convenient and artistically fronted ambry. Broad deep window sills are convenient for frond or flower, and also serve as a sun-couch for the "necessary and harmless cat." Pockets in window frames when plate glass is used if made extra large allows the substitution of iron for the more expensive leaden weights. There is no more important matter than the proper design and location of doors and windows. Afterthought doors and windows are generally expensive. Extra lipping and rabbeting of both is a necessity, and double balcony doors are fitted with the knuckle and elbow joint at parting strip. Rooms should be planned with due regard to their furnishing. For instance, refreshing sleep comes to some only when beds are placed north and south. Preferably no bed should directly face a window-; dressing mirrors must have good light, convenient ingress and egress should be considered, and the throne of the fire king so located as to centre his group of devotees, instead of being incon- veniently close to doors and windows. The entrance, whether an ornamental projecting porch, or a recess, gives to the house either a hall mark of distinction or a black mark of mediocrity. Columns, architraves, or coat of arms, in wTood or stone, make a distinguished entrance, framing a door that should always bespeak a message of welcome. Imprisoning June. We once used in the wall of a dining room a plate glass framed panel ten by ten feet, edged by a quaint postern-gate, beyond the glass a jungle of flowers and vines, a bit of semi-wild mid-summer garden, pathless and potless, a tangle of color springing upward from greensward, glass imprisoned in the midst of an ice and snow-bound 312 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE winter landscape. In a corner of the jungle were a half dozen sandal-wood trees between groups of midget Japanese evergreens cen- turies old when the keel of the caravel Santa Maria reached the shores of San Salvador. The greatest picture gallery in the State boasted nothing so fine as our ten foot square framed nature-picture, chang- ing with the seasons, and replenished from time to time from the greenhouse, all flower pots and boxes being concealed in mossy bank. Vines versus Wooden Exteriors. Do not give that matched board portable porch horror a resting place. The fancy for thus marring a beautiful home is unaccount- able. Settled, windowed, or screened permanent porches or a glassed- in semi-conservatory veranda entrance are attractive solutions of the porch problem. Against stone or brick one must avoid as far as possible the incongruities of wood, often emphasized still more by inappropriate painting in porch room, veranda, bay, and porte cochere, adjuncts to be built at all hazards, but planned to fit into the whole. If to be covered with vines they should be oiled instead of painted. With care re-oiling will not injure them. The pergola and even a modest belvedere add to the appear- ance of a property much more than their cost, and the former often saves an unfortunate situation. Ugly lines can be concealed, bare outlines broken, and high, stilted, and box-like structures lowered and widened thereby. An effective but more expensive pergola is made by the cross members sweeping downward a couple of feet with an under curve on the outer side. Broad spaces can be spanned and still kept uniform by sloping the wider timbers at bearing ends to one width. An Attractive Entrance. Calling on a railroad magnate some years ago in his wonder- fully beautiful Fifth Avenue home opposite the park, we climbed to his attic den by a circular marble staircase that cost a fortune, while another fortune was represented in the leaded windows, rarely carved woodwork, mosaic floors, pictures, and statuary, yet after all these years, but one feature of the house whose cost, compared to the above, was as pennies to dollars, is clearly recalled, and that is the vestibuled entrance which led through a labyrinth of banked palms interspersed with floral gems of rich and delicate coloring, the air laden with divine melody from silver-throated songsters, who lived their lives in this bower of beauty. Remembering that exotic entrance, when the opportunity came, I struck a duplicate, though minor key in one of my vestibule entrance halls, in size twelve by eighteen feet, centred with a red tiled walk five feet wide. Grassy banks, waving fronds, and swirl of bloom stamped it forcibly on the mind of every caller, whether mendicant, stranger, or bosom friend, SHINGLES AND THATCH 313 through that touch of nature that "makes the whole world kin," and to my mind far outshone expensive pillared, beamed and paneled entrance halls. The "Over" in Building. The "over" in building is a familiar reef to the enthusiast. An over-windowed house, aside from its appearance of frail wall area, blows hot or cold as temperature dictates. Over decoration, as seen in the lavish use of gold and silver, red, green, and yellow, in wall, ceiling and colored cornice — anything and everything to detract from expressive paintings, fine etchings, rare tapestry, and century framed oak, often plunge the new house into the mire of mediocrity. Accen- tuate door, window, wainscoting and mantel, but avoid the "over." Shingles vs. Thatch. If buildings are shingled, shingles must be stain-dipped, not painted, for paint dries in ridges, dams back water, and quickly rots the shingles. Do not be persuaded to thatch barns and outbuildings in reaching for the picturesque ; vermin and fire are risks, to say noth- ing of possible leaks. I've seen more than one thatched building con- demned and re-roofed with shingles or tile. England, recognizing the extra fire hazard in some sections, has passed laws against build- ing thatched roofs. A coat of whitewash gives fair thatch protection and is a short job with a whitewash gun. Avoid as you would a pestilence the diamond panel in shingle work and the grosser outrage of a colored design on a slate roof. Odd modes of roof and side shingling can be introduced along pleasing lines, but, like many an innovation, it requires thought to avoid the grotesque. The best artistic result to be obtained from shingles is the rounded thatch on dormer and eaves, expensive, but unparalleled for effect. Six or seven lappings of shingles laid in curving lines across the entire roof give the nearest approach to a thatch effect in wood. The upper mullion in a gable, if inset three feet, with sides rounded and covered with tooth-edged shingles, with straight header and base, is about the best shingle gable effect I ever tried. The Boston hip takes the place of the old ridge board, but shingles split and blow off if carelessly nailed, some splitting more readily than others, therefore care must be taken in their selection. While narrow shingles take longer to lay they make a tighter and better roof than the extra wide. None over six inches wide should be laid on a roof unless they are the hand rived shakes of Colonial days. Cut nails hold a shingle in place better than a wire nail and prolong the life of .the roof. The wire nail is a good friend of the shingle merchant. Single nailing of shingles has advantages. In a high house a double banded shingle or cement belt gives relief to the surface and picturesquely shadows and lowers the house, while the gable end that bulges six or eight inches to a point three .314 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE feet below the peak, the lower edge slightly curved outward in hori- zontal line and edged with toothed shingles, or the gable that con- caves not only at peak but along the whole verge edge gives beauty and variety. Shingles fastened on shingle laths when wet dry out more quickly and last longer than when laid on boarding, but indoor heat is best conserved and exterior heat or cold excluded by covering the entire roof with T. & G. boarding, on top of which is laid fireproof paper generously lapped, then shingle laths, then the shingles, allow- ing extra air space. In a severe climate a ceiled roof under the rafters, protected by fireproof paper, gives an air chamber, added warmth, and is easily laid before plastering, which, for still greater comfort, should be furred out an inch from the rafters. Close valley shingling looks neater and stops leaks, but curtails the life of the shingle. A Stone Roof. The enthusiasm of our Hibernian thatcher whose arbored summer house was a source of chagrin to all base imitators tempted us to let him loose in our quarry and stone roof the ice house — we never thought of its melting the ice faster. It was a small affair, three-fourths underground on a side hill, with roof frame of heavy logs. The greenish tinge of moss and rain streak, and a sprinkling of thrifty growing stonecrop gave that roof a name for sylvan beauty far and near. The roughness of Pelasgic walls was softened with running ivy and woodbine that had been protected while building. A rough board and hay-filled lining curbed the heat of summer on that rare stone roof partly shielded by plant life. Tile Roofing, Balconies and Skylight. Tile makes a desirable roof, especially the mission, but the under covering must be such as to prevent leaks. Unserviceable paper or canvas has canceled many a tile contract. Rafters for tile roofs should be at least two by eight (2x8), better still two by nine (2x9), in valleys two by twelve (2x12), reinforced by supporting posts, partitions, and extra strong and well nailed collar beams. If red tile is laid on main roof, avoid repeating it on a south veranda, owing to sun reflection. Glare can be softened by painting it in some subdued color, using tile of neutral shade, or covering with thoroughly paint soaked canvas. Copper makes an excellent substitute for tile, its tendency to split under weather changes being curbed by ridge-seaming it every eighteen inches, but if a house is isolated and left unprotected it is a temptation to thieves to unroof it, as it is to steal copper boilers and brass pipe. Roofs covered with sheet lead, zinc, or tin, the latter painted on : -both sides, make serviceable head pieces. Copper flashing does good TIMBERING, FRAMING, ETC. 315 work around chimneys, at roof line, in all valleys, under and over windows and on balconies. Few leaks are more difficult to stop than those of a poorly built balcony, the door sill of which requires a steep pitch. It is said that in Ontario's rare dry climate unpainted tin on the exterior is bright after a dozen years' service, but the usual rule in other climes is a thick coat of paint on both upper and under sides, repainting exteriorly every two years. Canvas roofs if covered too thickly with paint will crack. The roof skylight, that inartistic protuberance so apt to leak if not properly flashed, or if not securely fastened liable to centre the lawn, can be generally entirely hidden behind chimney, dormer or ridge, leaving contours uninjured, and both overhead and under foot skylights should invariably be of substantial wire glass of extra thick- ness for durability and fire protection. Roof House and Roof Garden. A roof house of one room and a roof garden might connect with a prophet's chamber, leaping from questionable experiment to a glorious success, but because of limitations should be worked out on a flat roof Moorish house. The scheme of a Colonial one room cottage screened 'mid vines and fronted by a small old-fashioned garden placed on a cement floored flat roof lifted in a measure above the turmoil of earth, made an ever remembered guest room. Iron roofs and sides for outbuildings unless kept thoroughly painted readily succumb to rust and decay, and are more suited to commercial purposes except in an inexpensive garage. Timbering, Framing, Etc. Proper sizing of timber goes a long way toward preventing wavy floors and uneven side walls, and when, as is often the case in the attic, there is but one floor, it is vastly improved by the usual method of selecting the best boards from the large quantity of sheathing used for under floors, siding, and other portions of the house. Floor beams set in a brick, stone, or cement wall should be cut at an angle to insure their falling without prying out the wall in case of fire. This treatment also checks dry rot. If metal bridging is used, it must be supplemented with wood, which hugs closer and firmer, and cannot rust. Thorough strutting of timbers is imperative. Tie beams at plate line and in gables should be plentiful, and crippling cross-herringboned. It makes firmer bracing, and in shrink- ing holds better than wrhen set straight. Doubling every third or fourth beam when a span is from eighteen to twenty feet is necessary and makes a stronger girt or girder than single beams of equal size, each piece of wood having a different grain. They should be slightly crowned to allow for the usual sagging. Scantlings, purlins, and wall and roof plates must be of suitable size, and free from 316 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE shakes, and studding well toe-nailed. Bridle irons on floor beams, strap irons on rafters, and tie rods through plates are essential safe- guards. Cutting and tenoning of timber, unless done with judgment, often defeats its purpose by weakening the support, but all joinings of plate and sill should be halved. The cantilever principle, as well as the under brace, will make the porch sleeping room reaching into tree top or open absolutely secure. Overhang, whether in roof or veranda flooring, adds valuable area with the same foundation expense. Nailing of bridging to both sides of floor beams is left until just before plastering to fasten floor beams when and where they have shrunk. If one objects to iron beams, which in all cases cannot be satis- factorily fastened to wood, Georgia pine girders may be substituted. A flitch or sandwich beam made of either one or two three-eighth inch iron plates twelve inches in width firmly bolted each side of or between the girders or beams their entire length stiffens a building tremendously, and trusses made from one inch iron rods set up with a turnbuckle placed between two by twelve inch planks well bolted together have the same effect. The ends of house rafters and pergolas look better if in some- what similar design and false rafter ends close jointed. In a house of superior build, outside studs should be two by six, or three by four. If cramped for closet space, studs can be set flatwise unless they support floor timbers. Under no circumstances should timber ends be completely embedded in solid masonry. If the end of a timber is hermetically sealed, the chance of infective dry rot exists and is almost a certainty where there is dampness. A small air space at the timber end is a necessary safeguard. The furring down of ceilings in bathrooms, even as low as seven feet, will make them compact and more easily heated beside giving an overhead space for open or secret closets, and allowing of tiling to ceiling line at slight additional expense. This satisfactorily settles the difficult question of how to treat bathroom walls and also avoids capping the tiled wainscot. Projecting crowning tile is liable to be laid irregularly and in time works loose. Diagonal board exterior walls (provided there are not too many openings), bringing boards together in the shape of a V, forming an additional side-thrust brace. In a gambrel roof this treatment is especially desirable as it is weak construction until firmly braced. In smaller buildings preference may be given to balloon construction with ledger board supports notched in studding instead of braced frame and plates. GUTTER PROBLEM 317 In some localities diplomacy is required to banish alcohol, and keep the men contented when the evergreen roof-tree nailed to the ridge proclaims that the roof is raised, but a small present generally solves this difficulty. Floors. Diagonal the rough floor as in sheathing. It means more labor and material, but gives a far better braced building, a firmer grip on finish floor, and there is less chance of buckling or getting out of shape than when both floors are laid straight. The accurate furring-up of an uneven under floor is a job the mediocre carpenter invariably shirks, as he does the knee-aching task of scraping the finish floor surface. Both are essential, and omission of the former will cause even furniture of the best construction to appear wobbly and a poorly finished floor makes a fine dirt gripper and retainer. A partial over-floor covering either of expensive half-inch cork boarding or the cheaper cork matting — both non-absorbent and soft under foot, without the drawing objection to rubber — will ease ach- ing feet of cook and laundress and take the chill and slip out of a tiled bathroom. Service room floors can be made fireproof with patent cement flooring. Hardwood floors mean from one-half to one-third less work to satisfy good housekeeping. Stud crippling midway between floor and ceiling not only braces and ties, but stops fire draught. Cut, square headed nails are preferable to wire for flooring, and blind nailing is essential. The effect of a level long distance floor means the passing of the door saddle, that retainer of dust, disturber of carpets, and space shortener, but its use where rugs and carpets closely edge openings means a tighter fitting door. If the mat is inset there is no conflict with the front door. Convent cell and hospital ward simplicity should in a measure guide for health the mind that plans our sleeping rooms, yet com- fort must reign. Sound readily carries through partitions and flooring unless guarded against, hence no false beams should be placed until ceil- ings are plastered, nor may one commit the error of having the floor or floor beams of one story form the ceiling of another. Heavy felt- ing between floors will not entirely eliminate noise. The Gutter Problem. If the concealed cypress gutter is used, it should be V-shape within to prevent ice from splitting it, and should of course be metal lined. Leaks occur through imperfect roof covering and sides as in split shingle and clapboard, in outside chimney breast, top, bottom, and sides of windows and doors, in carelessly flashed valleys and 318 chimneys, ventilating pipes, balconies, and clogged gutters and occa- sionally even in the opening used for an overflow pipe in attic storage tank. Copper gutters and spouts, preferably sixteen ounce, properly fastened to a house and deeply grounded in the moist earth, answer the purpose of a lightning rod, which mars the appearance of any build- ing, and is today seldom used, as it is a questionable protection. The gutter problem is surely exasperating. Ice, dirt, and leaves choke gutters and spout-heads and force water upward and sidewise under shingles, tile, or slate, whence through cracks it percolates inward, sometimes from a long distance, marring wall and ceiling, paper and tapestry in most aggravating fashion. The ugly half circle hanging gutter solves this problem, but unless of copper rusts about as soon as the arris zinc-lined cypress. Crimping a leader prevents its pos- sible bursting from ice. Short gutters over entrances, and a shallow, turfed, stone-underdrained ditch with a few spout-heads where val- ley rivulets clash will help to keep inviolate and attractive roof con- tours— the architect's sacrificial altar and most sacred fetich — and is a fairly satisfactory solution of a serious question. Chimneys and Fireplaces. It is difficult to realize that the chimney, a roof-tree's crowning glory, was unknown in Rome before the Fourteenth Century and for hundreds of years in England the louvre or roof opening was its only substitute. Grouped or big stacked chimneys are most satisfactory, and the tall, slim, solitary spindle should be fattened to harmonize with a massive structure, in fact, the ordinary house or bungalow is often improved by a stout chimney. Chimneys should be built of hard brick with preferably an eight-inch wall, or, better still, two four inch walls iron-tied, and with a two inch air space and ample ventilating flues, all fire flues being tile lined and tile collar joints plastered and set with cement. The crane, if one is to be used, can be built in the fireplace while the chimney is in course of construction. Cement covered chimneys, and occasionally brick, are apt to show lime efflorescence, especially in the spring — removable by a diluted acid bath. Stone or terra cotta combined with common or finished brick is as a rule very satisfactory. A scaling cement chimney is a blot both on the landscape and the builder's escutcheon. Chimneys built above the ridge with cut broken ashler or rubble stone, as architectural license may allow, require special care in flashing. The best sand is sharp and gritty, its face unsmoothed by action of the sea or running water, and should not contain much salt. Chimneys draw better with flue lining of round rather than square tile, as evidenced by experiments in certain industries requir- ing enormous heat. Foundations should be carried to bed rock if CURE FOR SMOKING FIREPLACES 319- possible, or at least to hard pan — in this case having cement and rubble foundation — and below frost line. The chimney breast should be furred out with fireproof lath before plastering to avoid damp- ness and discoloration of walls and decorations. Thimbles and stop- pers in cellar and garret and far away rooms are sometimes a con- venience. In pointing up, excellent exterior effects can be obtained by the use of gray, red, black, or white mortar, or raked-out joints of one- half an inch in depth and thickness between the bricks, as preferred. Coal efficiency is lessened when heating flues, especially in thin chim- neys, are allowed to hug exterior walls too closely. To so locate a chimney as not to clash with roof lines requires skill, but when well done adds much to the beauty of the house, and he wTho studies chimney contours and makes a wise selection in design and color will be well repaid. The rough stone, dust collecting chimney is frequently a dismal failure, except in appearance, and is suitable only for porch room, bungalow, and possibly billiard room or den. It can be made useful and ornamental. Flues should be from ten to twelve inches in diameter, and all crevices thoroughly filled with cement. It is espe- cially necessary to use tile flues in stone chimneys. In fireplaces width, height and strength in design and material were the ear marks for generations until the discovery of coal in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries dwarfed and narrowed their beauty as the era of grate, stove, and furnace dawned. It is a convenience if fireplaces are provided with iron covered ash flues and connected with the cellar, but the outlet must be care- fully guarded from rubbish, which increases fire hazard. An ash flue, in itself a convenience, was the cause of one of our most disastrous fires. The man of all work carelessly left the iron cellar flue door open, and live coals reached inflammable debris. A cellar fire is the worst kind of a fire, and when fairly started leaps under favoring conditions to the roof-tree in short order. Chimney flues should be provided with iron throats and dampers. Building a fireplace hearth above the level of the floor increases fire risk, even though protected by a fender. A brick partition centreing a fireplace is a novelty. In forming hearth arches, the skew-back, made from 4x6 joist, halved to form a triangle, should be nailed against the two long sides of the hearth. This will prevent any displacement of the brick arch through shrinking of wooden floor beams. Cure for Smoking Fireplaces. Chimneys can be made to draw by having a narrow opening at flue ingress, and providing a smoke shelf, not less than six inches wide the full width of the fireplace, projecting just below the flue edging the fireplace opening. If the back of the fireplace is curved outward three or four inches at the top toward the room, air thus 320 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE forced more directly over the flames will heat quickly, hence rise rapidly in the flue, while the tendency of damp, dead, chimney air to sink into a room is checked by the flue shelf, and hot air mixing with it forces it up chimney. Smoking chimneys can be made to draw with this treatment if fire opening is not over high — say two and one-half to three feet. This construction also conserves heat. A big mouthed and big flued chimney will usually draw after the damp, cold air becomes warm, but is a heat waster of the first magnitude. A deep, broad-mouthed fireplace gives wrarmth and paints a glorious seven-toned wall picture that gladdens man's inmost being, but often makes an uncomfortably draughty room as it pulls the air with giant force up-chimney. We semi-shackled the draught, as well as a goodly portion of the ninety per cent, heat thus lost, by installing an iron damper and baffles; — less beauty, less flame, more heat, more comfort. Use without abuse of the health-yielding chimney and stair flue draught is true beneficence, for disease has no more relentless foe than pure air. Forty days without food forty years ago failed to kill Dr. Tanner who at this writing is very much alive, yet four minutes in the black hole of Calcutta when it reached a certain condition would have immediately changed the abiding place of his soul. A Freak Fireplace. One of our experiments possibly open to objection was to so arch at a low level a fireplace between two gala rooms that an open fire answered for both. A reredos lowered at will made a fire back for each room, and gave when desired seclusion to each, as well as better draught. Veranda and Conservatory. See that the veranda is extended beyond the house wall to catch that southwest breeze, and build an open balustrade for coolness. The wide covered veranda requires a flat upper balcony pro- jecting from side wall, a metal or canvas roof under these conditions being necessary. In fact, it is good planning in order to get ample sun and light in winter to have the veranda roof high, using, if needed, awnings on the front or a grille to annul the stilted look of a high flat roof. If facing south or east, a sun-room or second story conservatory on this roof adds in comfort and appearance far more than its cost, and if built during house construction is an inexpensive luxury. More sunshine will be obtained if the outer half or third of the veranda roof is pergolad, as the awning can be rolled back on cloudy days, and removed in winter. Proper bracing and cantilever beaming make it feasible to construct the sun-room-addition. It is good building to cover the floor of an outdoor balcony with canvas, as on a steamer deck, laid in wet paint and oil. It should be fastened with copper tacks. One we thus treated is still in good con- VERANDA AND CONSERVATORY 321 dition, with occasional painting, after twenty-five years' wear. Plat- forms of concrete laid over well seasoned timber will outlast half a dozen wooden floors, but should be reinforced by twisted mesh screen wire of at least one eighth to one quarter inch caliper ; they will then be independent of the rough wooden under flooring. If a wooden floor is preferred, white pine set with leaded joints and painted and with the usual fall to each foot is the best. Next in choice comes fir. North Carolina pine if exposed to the weather will last but five years and sometimes only two or three. Glassing in the porch in winter is today almost a necessity, and when installing the heating plant extra pipes, including water pipes, which can be capped, should be laid to it as well as to the sun room and second story balcony or conservatory. Radiators can at any time be connected at moderate expense if not installed in the beginning. Plastering. Whether to use plaster board must be decided according to preference and season. It is desirable in cold weather, or if crowded for time; a barrel, dome, or coved ceiling, however, would render its use impossible. Beaver board has limitations, but fits well into the bungalow realm. One gets bracing strength in a wooden lath, though requiring more plaster, but wire lath is along fireproof lines, and curtails warping and swelling. Dry wooden lath should be sprinkled. It is best to use angle irons where corners are not rounded in the plaster, relegating to the past the acorn-tipped corner bead or other wooden substitutes. All walls must be thoroughly plastered to the floor and wain- scoting, trim and woodwork — always the kiln dried species — painted on the back before being nailed in place, otherwise, especially on an outside wall, panels will crack and warp. It goes without saying that trim placed against plaster containing any moisture is a building crime. Lime must not be of the damaged sort that pock marks and drops off in small specks. The mason minus a conscience or care- less of his trust will often use too little plaster of paris and too much lime to save a few cents in gauging, resulting in a powdery wall surface that rubs off. Freezing produces much the same result. The correct mixture of hair is a necessity, but patent plaster applied in new ways is rapidly taking the place of old material and methods. Sound carriers should be avoided. To get a suitable clinch, one must insist upon enough pressure to force plaster through the crevices, especially on wooden lathing. The first coat must be well scratched to hold the second or brown coat, and the finish skim coat whether the job is two or three coat work, evenly surfaced to show a smooth, straight edge for trim, untrue placing of which pillories for all time a careless mason. Plastered ceilings, often dangerous shams, should be covered with canvas or burlap before decorating, eliminating the always present risk and possible disaster HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE of a falling ceiling, but if plastered with wood pulp they rarely loosen. A barrel ceiling is unique in a long hall. Cement can be used instead of plaster in many cases. In building walls in damp ground it should be water-proofed by mixing with crude oil. The addition of salt and lime makes possible its use in freezing weather, but at the risk of the salt whitening the bricks. Plumbing. In piping for plumbing, right angles must be avoided. Main pipes should go perpendicularly to the cellar, then at draining angles to the sewer. As far as feasible, lateral pipes extending any distance should be ceiling hung in the cellar in plain view. Condensation on pipes in a large house is about a quart of water a day in summer, and any crossing the house in a horizontal direction are liable to drip and stain ceilings and furnishings. Pipes should be placed before floors are laid, and kept close to chimneys and away from exterior walls wherever possible. They can be concealed in wooden pockets in closets, kitchen, and back halls. Breaking plaster to reach them when out of order is thus rendered unnecessary. All fixtures should be provided with free outlets, otherwise annoying overflow may occur in basement fixtures. Galvanized iron pipes should be painted. Brass piping under laundry tubs is the most satisfactory aside from raising cupidity in the tramp. There should be extra faucets and sill-cocks on porches, as well as on the grounds, and at least one non-freezing outdoor sill-cock, beside a number of cleanouts in and outside the cellar, wTith accessible hand and manholes. Water pipes passing through or near outer walls should be wrapped in mineral wool or some suitable substitute, as protection against frost. Dripping from condensation is also thus checkmated. Shower Jog. In planning a bathroom, lay out a shower jog. A space about five feet square between two closets, one in bathroom, the other in adjoining bedroom or hall gives a perfect shower and needle bath alcove, the three sides and floor being tiled or cemented, and inex- pensively solves the knotty problem of installing a shower. When glass traps are a mechanical possibility, one can tell at a glance if air bubbles, downward suction, or evaporation have destroyed the vital though insignificant looking water seal that holds in leash, except under undue pressure, sewer gas, that most virulent poison, one danger from our modern conveniences. The latest toilet fixtures are nearly noiseless and non-siphoning. A safeguard shut-off close to a toilet is a wise precaution. Four inch soil pipe in the ordinary house flushes more easily than five inch, narrowing to a swifter current, and makes a better HEATING 323 job. If properly back-aired four inch soil pipes with fresh air inlet at ground surface extend from cesspool pipe connection well above ridge tree, avoiding all window openings: they are satisfactory venti- lators. Better uptake draft is secured by placing them next to the hot water pipes. Stacks must be perpendicular. Banish the set basin in or near sleeping rooms. Inlet water pipes of one and a half inches allow ample supply for one line fix- tures, even when all are used at the same time, and two inch outlets add but little expense and decrease liability to stoppage. An air chamber at the end of the highest pipe line, or even in the cellar, to cushion the back-kick of quickly shut-off water pre- vents many an annoying leak, and with high water pressure is almost a necessity. Side wall instead of floor connection for set basins makes the best job. Expensive re-nickeling of fixtures is saved by rubbing them bright, then covering with tried-out unsalted tallow when houses are closed. Plumbing spells common sense, and a layman can easily master its seeming intricacies. Heating. If the system of heating is hot water, an open expansion tank is a complete safety valve, frozen and leaking pipes, especially in far away rooms or through neglect of careless servants, being the only possible objections, except extra expense of installation over that of steam, which if used should be the safe low-pressure system. Ham- mer noises are readily controlled by low pipe connection. Steam pipes placed close enough to wood and paper to char them favor con- ditions that, fed with sufficient oxygen, may result in spontaneous combustion, in spite of the contrary opinion held by many, and is not worth the risk. If one is using a hot air heating plant or indirect radiation, heat can be economized in windy weather by feeding air to the furnace through a register near the front door sill. This furnishes semi- heated air, and is of course in addition to the regular cold air box, which, to give best results, should face at least three points of the compass. It took two fires to convince me that cold air boxes should be metal rather than wood. Over heating a hot air furnace is prevented by permanently fastening one register open, preferably in the hall. Carelessly con- nected pipes at the furnace mean danger of breathing sulphurous oxide or monoxide gas, even five per cent, of carbon dioxide, the choke or black damp of the mine, endangering health, if not life. Heating economy calls for boiler and fire box larger than the cubic feet of the area to be heated figure. To cover all require- ments, there are boilers that admit of additional sections being added. 324 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Wrought iron boilers lose their efficiency through formation of scale, especially if the cellar is damp — an entirely unnecessary evil. Cast iron boilers are better in this respect, but we are losers in both health and money when we allow dampness, that insidious foe, to get the upper hand. If windows exceed one-eighth of the wall area, the heating plant must be proportionately larger. Lack of care in setting window and door frames, a very common error, increases heating expense. Trim. Trim covers a wide latitude. Narrow trim is often more effec- tive than wide and thin. One extreme is a thick trim, scarcely wider than a narrow picture frame. A very satisfactory door and window trim is an ogee curve mitred at corners. Care must be taken that this form of molding should be exceptionally well kiln dried, as joints will more readily show and require greater skill in mitreing. Plain work is preferable as a rule to elaborate beading, which is another dust gatherer. Fumed and chemically eaten wood are both suitable for a den. In boudoir or drawing room the intarsiatura work of the Fif- teenth Century in door casing and window head or a combination of jig-saw and hand chisel work is satisfactory, and can be made to closely imitate carving. Plain trim is preferable for servants' quar- ters, kitchen, and laundry. In main rooms without wainscot, baseboards eighteen inches high add in appearance more than the difference in cost, and give the ample base plug space which good work demands. Where style of room allows, the Colonial dental may edge beam and cornice, but the square set corner block formerly used to cover joints should be omitted and trim mitred in one of the several methods now in use. We found that the carpenters, especially in cabinet work, set- ting up trim and building in stairs, made better mitres and closer- knit joints during the clear atmosphere of fall and winter than in damp spring or muggy, moisture-laden dog-days. The temptation to apply to indoor uses material appropriate only for exteriors, as exampled in a shingled interior wall and mantel hood, rough bouldered stone partition, or a wooden latticed wall in a billiard room, should be conquered. Beside being in questionable taste, they are dust collectors of the rankest kind. Closets and bays make good safety valves for ugly square box- like rooms, and the former are excellent noise barriers. If rooms are connected, doors each side of and flush with separating partition solve the noise difficulty. A second story windowed trunk closet sometimes saves steps and dented stair and hall. TRIM 325 Verdure-crowned Lintel. One of the most pleasing ornaments for an entrance was made by leaving an exterior opening two feet high in the house wall over the door lintel the entire width of the doorway, forming a unique fronton by glassing it without and within, in reality a zinc-lined giant wardian case. Planted with ferns and red-berried plants, it rarely required watering. In cold weather the inner hinged glass was raised. One dining room had a rectangular shaped skylight so located as to be mainly in the shade. In the oak paneled and walled sides reaching nearly to ceiling line were windows set five feet from the floor. At one end of the room was a tall hooded mantel, at the other a picture windowed bay, and lights and shadows were thus evenly balanced. Beamed Ceilings. Beamed ceilings are preferably composed of large beams which are also less costly to build. Beaming where side walls join the ceil- ing can often be dispensed with and a cove made in the plaster. Two big cross beams set well apart give sturdy strength and beauty unknown in a cut up and costly paneled ceiling, while cambered beams in a high studded studio or billiard room often transform it into an imposing hall. Plaster ribbed, decorated beams, though expensive, give an air of elegance. They may also be made two or even three feet wide and edged with wood. Another good overhead treatment can be obtained with beams paralleling the four sides and placed a couple of feet from the side wall which is also beamed where wall and ceiling join. From these short beams spaced in proportion, the long ones are tied together, leaving a blank space in ceiling centre for decoration. A wooden ceiling, if not of stereotyped T. & G. beaded stuff, is a desirable finish and eliminates all risk of falling plaster. Stairs. The stair-builder at times harks back to the tortuous winding stair of the early Gothic, coeval with the unpretentious stair of early France and Germany, surpassed even in that day by the beauty of the broad, severe lined and dignified marble staircase of Italy. The staircase hall often makes or mars the house, and the prob- lem of stair building is intricate. A featured hall or stair, or both; the entrance room square or rectangular, with side or inner stair alcove partially concealed ; the comparatively narrow staircase or a broad steamer or platformed affair eating well into the hall area, are work-outs worthy the best planning. 326 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE To dissect still more closely, stairs need not link the entrance door with the bathroom, and the thoroughfare to the front door should not be through living rooms. The architect's conception must tie conveniently together hall, door, window, stair, and fireplace. To get the proper height for a stair step, the width of step plus height should equal the ordinary walking stride. Seven inches is good riser height. An abnormal increase of step width is awkward and uncomfortable and any pronounced infringement of the above rule makes an undesirable stair. Too wide a step is as inconvenient as too high a tread and should not be used, unless a short, wide flight is needed to give an imposing entrance to hall or salon. Seven by nine, totaling sixty-three inches, is good stair mathematics. The close string staircase admits of more substantial and richer treatment than the common cut-string stair so universally used in cottage and bungalow. The baluster Colonial, the carved Jacobean, the ogived Gothic, as well as marble step and metal balustrade, to the manor born and appropriately used, add their quota to stairway motifs. The rail, whether with Colonial ramp or heavily carved, should be three feet six inches high to protect alike childhood and age. The side view of a staircase is generally the most interesting. In several houses curlicues ornamented the outside of each step, and one low staircase wainscot was heightened by a line of uniformly framed pictures. An awkward second story hall is obviated by a bayed and settled window nook, a divaned book alcove leading to a balcony, a second story conservatory, or a prosy but essential sewing corner — in fact, a bit of foresight will often change an ugly landing or an angular entry into a useful and beautiful hall. Ugly falls are pre- vented by mid-stair platforms, absence of winders, and ample head room. That half a loaf is better than none applies aptly to the half- back service stair, though a house of any pretensions should have noth- ing giving less seclusion than a full flight of back stairs, at least to the second story. Painting. Paint is not always a wood protector. Green wood hermetically sealed with paint sponsors dry rot. Old, unpainted houses prove that air is the great preservative. Oxygen in the lungs of men or in the depths of matter lengthens life, while confined moisture is a destroyer. Any paint that does not contain sufficient pure oil to withstand a fair amount of soap and water scrubbing is not worth the labor of putting on. Color matching, whether paint or stain, as seen in roof and side wall or in the interior on ceiling, wall, trim, doors, window frames, stairs and floors, is important. Rarely is a large house built but, through carelessness of owner, architect, or painter, the wrong stain KNOW YOUR HOUSE THOUGH UNBUILT 327 or paint is used on new wood to the annoyance of all concerned, and the damage once done is never completely remedied. Save where hygiene calls for white enamel paint in kitchen and laundry, or prevailing style arrogantly dictates its use in bedroom or gala room, woodwork may be treated with non-odorous stain and pumice stone, a finish that neither soils nor perishes under dust, fric- tion, or blow. Real instead of imitation should be the endeavor, whether in plain chestnut or Georgia pine nature graining, but never the spurious quartered oak produced with hand, brush and cloth. Blinds. Seemingly a simple matter, but neither ordinary nor extraordi- nary blinds harmonize with picturesque oriel casements, broad and lofty grouped embrasured English windows, and mullioned triplets. The list from \vhich to choose includes the Colonial crescent-peep-eye shutter, the somewhat insecure pent-roof-blind either full length or with hinged centre joint, the roll-up-in-pocket top or bottom blind, the aggressive and unconcealed sliding blind, the full-slatted whole, half, or cut-in-centre blind, the regular stock blind with moving or stationary slats, and that final anchorage, Venetian blinds. Interior pockets for solid paneled or slat shutters give character to any dwelling. It is a disjointed selection, both within and without, but the Venetian blind may prove a mainstay, though given to wind sway- ing propensities. New and better ways of doing things are not necessarily more expensive ; in fact they often make for economy. For instance, it costs but little more to put a sanitary base in the kitchen and laundry, and it is absolutely vermin-proof and a complete phaser to rat or squirrel. Artistic triplicate windows cost less to make, set, and trim than do separate windows. Bays at the time of building, are inexpensive, and often a fifty per cent, improvement. A \vell lighted stairway is an essential, and a curving line, often a paying luxury. Red birch that some builders cannot distinguish from mahogany when finished, costs no more than many common woods. A plaster wall is but little more expensive than wood filled, shellacked, and re-treated every few years, and is far superior save when wood paneling or wainscoting is placed over plaster. In building for sale, selling points are often more in evidence than essential fundamentals, and get-it-in-at-all-hazard features fre- quently mar a unique design. How to Know Your House Though Unbuilt. As a preliminary, batten-board the site, then, before breaking ground, line off first and second stories on the greensward. White and colored whitewash wrill differentiate each room. Without spend- 328 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE ing a dollar, the exact bearing a part has to the whole and all view points within and without can be thoroughly grasped. By the following plan, an amateur can tell in still closer detail, providing he gives the necessary time to studying results, just how the new house will work out, even to the smallest item, before the cellar has been dug. This is something that neither architect nor builder, with a lifetime of experience, ever really knows in its entirety before completion ; much less can he explain it to another if the house is elaborate. As the builder of an ocean liner turns out from his model room a miniature vessel before its keel is laid, so let the housebuilder lay out his home. The one hundred or more dollars it might cost would be off- set by the prevention of even one glaring error. A cabinet maker or journeyman can readily be found who will work overtime if necessary, modeling from plans of the architect a complete archetype of a miniature house in plaster or wood, preferably the latter, on account of durability and light weight, or the entire house can first be worked out in cardboard. An l/& scale conveys the best idea of proportion. It might be built in sections, so that each detail can be closely scrutinized or may only be skeletonized to attain a fairly satisfactory result. It could be set on library table and taken to pieces and put together again as readily as one dissects a wooden puzzle. In this way details of general construction, number, size and location of rooms, position and number of doors and windows ; relative height of ceilings, vistas both in and out of doors — even the most convenient side to hang a door, a minor, but often important detail, — can be settled, and the front door in design and coloring is well worth exact duplication. (The entrance door of feudal England was a narrow one-at-a-time door, contrasting sharply with our wide doors of the present day, every line of which should express hospitality. Prior to the Sixteenth Century a paneled door was unknown. The earliest were pivoted at the centre.) Even the number and style of stairways can all be studied and re-studied, and when this miniature house has served its mission it can be riveted together and handed down as a toy house to gladden the hearts of children of more than one generation, and photographs of a completed property shown before the lifting of a pick-axe. How to Partition a House in One Day. Closely allied to the above plan, and of so little cost that it should be tried, even in the least expensive dwelling, is the follow- ing method that I have used to get acquainted with the nooks and corners of a house before it is much more than framed and enclosed, therefore in ample time to make any changes desired, and make them in the most economical manner. After the house has been PARTITIONING A HOUSE IN ONE DAY 329 raised, roofed, sided and roughly floored, and the main carrying partitions placed, procure a quantity of plasterers' grounds — say % x % stuff — that will readily bend. These long, straight, slender wooden sticks some sixteen or eighteen feet in length are flexible and so light in weight that half a dozen can easily be clasped in the hand, and set up, lined and spaced two or three feet apart and lightly tacked at floor and ceiling line. In this way can be shown experi- mentally changes of all kinds, and how they would affect the arrange- ment of furniture, radiators, or electric fixtures, settle the location of a possible closet, an extra semi-partition carried to the frieze line of an inglenook, or outline the radical shifting of side walls in some room showing squared ugliness when it should be nooked or cosy- cornered. These slender pieces of wood can be bent to outline arches, place balconies, curve overhead openings, mark out a flying arch under stair soffit, segment the ceiling of a dining room or barrel that of a long hall and bathroom, groin a vaulted roof, locate columns, pilasters, and spandrels, steal an extra bathroom from some barn- like room, or arrange alcoves or ambrys at either end ; line a stair- wTindow-seat on a landing, widen a stair opening, lower a ceiling — even change and rearrange the layout of an entire floor, and prove beyond peradventure whether the billiard room is not a trifle too narrow, a common error. If a partition is to be moved, it can be tried out in this simple way, to least interfere with door or window. This method will boudoir a bedroom, corner-cove or ceiling-cove a drawing room (or, as it was originally called, a withdrawing room), change an opening or an entrance, show different effects and settle one's preference for a round or square column, a square headed opening or a Roman, Tudor, or Gothic arch, for there is nothing so convincing as ocular demonstration. It will locate to an inch the ceiling beams in connection with window and door openings — some- times a difficult proposition, though it looks simple enough to the novice. Faulty construction is always an annoyance if realized, and if once known will be realized for life. By the use of these sticks it may be prevented and features kept in proper balance. In like manner each mantel in the house can be laid out, deciding whether it shall be high, low, or hooded; with square or rounded edges, built half way or to the ceiling or cabinet-lockered. Proper height and width of plate shelf, whether best lined with door and window trim or above or below it, and other numberless details can be more easily settled in this way, and sticks left in place as long as necessary to arrive at final conclusions. The house that in the morning had but a roof, four sides and a few carrying partitions, by night can be ready for inspection, so far as division of rooms and general effect are con- cerned. These same slender strips of wood also aid in the inexpensive laying out of extra verandas, bays, and projections, avoiding encroach- 330 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE ments on some interesting view, and transforming jarring effects to those of harmony. The last word in building is never spoken — new methods of construction are frequently advocated by the experimentally inclined architect and builder and sometimes prove aggravating failures — com- mon sense makes the best guiding rudder. Building Fundamentals. The "do it," and "don't do it," in building are legion, but a few fundamentals should be rightly settled : — Do not build too close to the highway or at a lower level ; the only excuse for the latter is to obtain the sunken garden, bird's-eye view effect across the lawn from the highway, in which case the land should slope away from the rear of a house, and if abruotly all the better. A trolley and automobile traveled turnpike are desirable for the rear entrance to an estate, but freedom from noise, dust and com- mercialism decrees that one should never front it, unless the house is placed n-ell back from the roadway. A dusty highway seriously retards the growth of vegetable and flower, but parlor floor roadways banish the dust nuisance. Just right, in mixture, mode of application and use of cement and reinforced corcrete in house building is the key note to prevent its crumbling, cracking and breaking. Discoloration and absorption of moisture by cement are difficult problems to solve. The drying out of a house through heat and non-damp breezes is a necessity, requiring months to do it thoroughly and the reprehensible habit of covering walls and ceilings with a^y substance before this is accomplished prolongs the drying out process for a long period and foundations many an ill. If your roof is inartistically high, drag it down with a wide overhang and suitable color treatment and insist, in spite of some architect's bias for an unbroken roof contour, on enough dormer and gable windows to thoroughly light that third story, even if you don't finish its interior aside from the necessary bracing and support- ing rough partitions. The time will surely come when that third floor will make all the differe-ce between comfort a"d discomfort, aid possibly the selling of the property — an hour tchich come'; to all property — at a substantial profit or a disastrous lo«s. If VOM build servants' rooms on the second story, locate partitions, wirdows, and doors in such a manner that they will make suitable guest rooms when you or your successors (in later years) move the servants higher up. and frame the timbering so that if necessarv certain partitions can be removed and stud in the rough for future doorways. Alco carry main plumbing and heating pipes to the third story, capping outlets. Roof and foundation are big factors in the cost of exterior co*i- stri-ction. Build the roof to avoid an undue number of vallevs and FIRE! FIRE! 331 angles as well as carelessly constructed balconies that mean stained ceilings and falling plaster. If your house is on a side hill, it's just the house for a generous billiard room in the basement, where an immovable cement founda- tion makes possible a permanently spirit-leveled billiard table. Here you can also build a huge stone fireplace, and install a lavatory with shower for the golf and tennis devotee, but fight dampness and ground air strenuously. Don't forget to heavily tar and also ditch-drain the outside walls where they are buried in the earth, and after the usual cement floor is laid and well dried out, fur up the floor to have at least that inch air space between the cement and the wooden floor. A copious coating of tar prevents its use as an insect lair. Flooring if laid on scantlings directly over stone, gravel, or earth, even if air- spaced will swell and tear asunder. Failure to thus checkmate all •warring forces will transform your attractive billiard room into a first class rheumatism breeder, if not an assassin. FIRE! FIRE! Five times in twenty-five years in Hillcrest Manor, that weird, uncanny cry which in an instant transforms some types of humanity into frenzied beasts, trampling their fellow mortals under foot in the mad effort to escape an agonizing death, echoed back from the hollow square of our farm buildings and across hillside and meadow. Thrice the fire was smothered before the leaping flames had risen breast high, but twice the fire king was victorious. Gables, with its dozen hanging balconies and verdure-canopied verandas, in two hours was a smouldering heap of ashes, the occupants barely escaping with their lives. Again, the highest tiled tower of Buena Vista was struck by lightning but the heavy downpour quenched the flames. Yet again, the stock buildings, carriage sheds, silo, hennery, The Cot and, woe betide us, Wayside itself, stored to the roof-tree with house- hold gods and heirlooms, some of which antedated Colonial days, vanished in smoke. The cause (a frequent one), the careless handling of a brushwood fire. Across the valley we saw beauteous Alta Crest, transformed into a human pyre, pay its blood curdling tribute to this same relent- less conqueror, and many times on summer evenings from the vantage ground of Hillcrest the darkness of night was brightened by sheets of flame devouring hay-barn, stack, or farm house, on some distant hill or in near by valley. Fire! Fire! Fire! Expensive object lessons these and if we had it all to do over again, we would plan along lines that better aid in fire control. A fire line stack with connecting hose should be installed on every floor in each building, and piped to the pressure tank or reser- voir, chemical fire extinguishers on the wall wherever needed and an extra supply stored in some get-at-able closet where also should hang 332 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE blankets which, when saturated with water, make rare life savers and kerosene fire-quenchers, supplemented with a few buckets filled with sand. Fire axes, fire hooks, crowbars and wire rope ladders should be fastened against the walls and placed on upper balconies. Ladders of different lengths, one long enough to reach the roof at gable end, should hang from hooks under the sheltering veranda floor and be kept for this one purpose. In carpenter shop and horse barns, especially should be installed the overhead automatic sprinkler, also a perforated water connected galvanized and painted pipe the ridge length of all buildings. A thorough roof-drenching will fre- quently give fire protection. First Aids to the Fire-Fighter. First aid instructions to the amateur fire fighter are essential ; plain simple directions as to location of apparatus, what to do and what not to do, tacked up where he who runs may read — a sort of fire catechism and it wouldn't be a half bad idea to have an occasional fire drill and test out those stand pipes, gain speed in ladder raising, inspect fire extinguishers, etc., etc. This first aid list of things requiring prompt action should include closing of windows and doors, especially those of stairways, shutting off all draughts the moment a fire is discovered. A full pail of water is difficult to handle, and only through practice can one get the free circular and effective sweep throw. A water-saturated broom will do great execution. If it is a curtain or bed on fire, get it on the floor where no under draft can fan the flames. If it's soot in a chim- ney, a couple of pounds of salt thrown down the flue forms gases which explode, detach the soot, and keep the flames from entering any crevices between the bricks, and water dashed on the hearth will finish the job. Animal and vegetable oils are often responsible for spontaneous combustion and it goes without saying that dirt and rubbish, especially about stairways and in cellars, are fire inducers. This scheme of fire fighting would include say, a half dozen adja- cent neighbors and a large signal gong high under the eaves, while an extra number of chemical tanks on wheels to rally round the flames would greatly decrease fire hazard and under some conditions lessen insurance premiums. Mottoes. Mottoes pivot and concentrate thought and help to individualize estate, house, and room. From the following gleaned through a score of years were selected several to arch fireplace, and centre hall, library, festive-board-room and boudoir. "Abide now at home." "A good book is the precious life blood of a master mind." "A hundred thousand welcomes." "A poor thing, but mine own." MOTTOES 333 "A storehouse medicine of the mind." "Au dieu foy aux amis foyer." "Aux livres je dois tout." "Bene facere et discere vera." "Bepred Diger." "Blessings on him who invented sleep." "Bon feu a mal hiver." "Books are my brave utensils." "Books that are books." "Come blessed barriers betwixt day and day "Come hither, come hither; Here shall ye see no enemy But winter and rough weather." "Come sleep, O sleep, the certain knot of peace." Dear mother of fresh joyous health." "Drive away the cold, heaping logs on the hearth." "East, west, name's best." "En servant les autres je me consume." "Fait ce que voudrais." "First think out your work, then work out your thought." "Goodness, discipline and knowledge, teach ye me." "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be." "He that hath a house to put his head in hath a good headpiece." "Heaven trim our lamps while we sleep." "Hearth whose good cheer warms and comforts chilled and wor- ried humanity." "Hie habitat felicitas." "His table dormant in his halle alway stood ready, covered all the longe day." "Home of the homeless, friend of the friendless." "Ignorance is the curse of God, knowledge the wing whereby we fly to heaven." "In portu quies." "In this my house I live at ease and here I do whate'er I please." "It is always morning somewhere in the world." "Lay up seasoned wood while you may." "Le faire ou bien dire." "Let good digestion \vait on appetite and health on both." "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediment." "Let not one babbling dream affright our souls." "Let them want nothing that my house affords." "Music when soft voices die vibrates in the memory." "My house, how little you may be, may you always be mine." "My library was dukedom large enough." 334 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE "Non dormit qui custodit." "Paix et peu." "Pauca sed mea." "Piccola si ma studiosa." "Qui legit regit." "Qui uti scitei bona." "Quieti et musis." "Scripta manet." "Sibi et amicis." "Sings the blackened log a tune learned in some forgotten June." "Sleep dwell upon thine eyes." "Sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care." "Sleep that shuts up sorrow's eye." "Sleep, that which makes the shepherd equal to the king, and the simple to the wise." "Soft touches of the night become the touches of sweet harmony. " "Some hae meat and canna eat And some wad eat that want it ; We hae meat and we can eat, And sae the Lord be thankit." "Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed, a chamber deaf to noise, and blind to light." "The last of life for which the first was made." "The man that hath no music in himself, and is not moved by concerts of sweet sounds is fit for treason, stratagems, and spoils." "The mantle that covers all human thought." "The ornaments of a house are the friends who visit it." "Through this wide open gate none come too early, none too late." "Turn the key deftly in the oiled wards, and seal the hushed casket of the soul." "Usted esta en su casa." "Venitas." "Warm ye in friendship." "When friends meet hearts warm." "When the world is cold to you, go build fires to warm it." . . "Wilt thou have music? Hark! Apollo plays, and twenty caged nightingales do sing." "Your presence makes us rich." "Youth is but thought and think I will, Youth and I are housemates still." Gates and Barriers. Barriers as seen, gates and fences in outlines, material and manner of construction are, like chimneys, seemingly limitless. If the old exist where the new should abide, it is the owner's bounden duty to change them; for they must harmonize with the new house. GATES AND BARRIERS A whiz-view from a car window gives a slight idea of the possible variety, as one can easily schedule one hundred or more different styles in a day, from the upturned stump, riven criss-cross rail and rough bouldered wall of the pioneer to the productions of famous architects. Hedges range from the shrub and tree deciduous as seen in privet and copper beech to evergreens, from arbor vitae to Norway spruce and hemlock, and there is a complete alphabet of form and color in shrub, tree, stone, brick, tile, bronze, wire, cast and wrought iron, and cement with various combinations thereof, as well as turf and shrub-topped walls, their crevices filled with plants, and the whole backed by luxurious vernal growth. The finicky cobble stone and big boulder, the rarely beautiful yet inexpensive rough, open- jointed broken ashler, with plants growing in and over it and vines climbing along its sides and scrambling atop — even a line of half buried single stones — all make good boundaries. A wall containing many small stones can be lined off (with or without lamp black) to give a solid front by the use of a liberal quantity of cement. Building barriers more than head high, so that the passer-by sees but a black streak of hard and dusty road imprisoned between high walls, is a selfish attempt to shut off the uplifting view of an earthly paradise. In the parking of narrow village lots one realizes the true democracy of country living, "all for each and each for all," as seen in views 'cross lawns and gardens for a half dozen blocks or more, under some conditions necessarily restricted, yet but slightly marred by vine-draped wire fences. Huge privet posts squared and trimmed as true as blocks of granite or sheared into pointed or globe-topped pedestals, for eight months are living masses of green. Barriers are well worth best thought, also the gates that pierce them, whether but an iron chain, riveted and hooked into single rough boulders, a lofty bronze grilled, lantern-centred gateway, one of the most effective forms of entrance, or a stone arch beneath the conning tower of a Norman castle. None of the belongings of a dwelling more forcibly herald to would-be despoilers or trespassers ownership and possession than gates and barriers. 336 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE SZC015D TIO«B ri.Mt 1 JL, i T!3! BELLERICA OMB HOUSE OB TWO PAIRVIBW 11 -:, WHITE HOCK TOT RJUI WHICH QAVB T104T roR THE ^B Fl 11 TREE TOP PLANS WHICH GAVE MOST FOR THE MONEY. INDEPENDENCE WITHIN TEN YEARS 337 CHAPTER X. How TO BECOME A HOUSEHOLDER WITH TWENTY TENANTS IN YOUR EMPLOY, STARTING WITH A CAPITAL OF Two THOUSAND DOLLARS. NEW YORK CITY is to-day surrounded by a community of rich and independent farmers, close questioning of whom will develop the fact that the onion patch and the corn and potato field did not produce all their riches, unless exceptionally located as to the best markets and under most favorable labor conditions. Improved railroad facilities and trolleys bring the business man and the city clerk to the farmer, and are sometimes his main source of wealth. In other words, take heed to the object lesson taught by the farmer, let a man keep his clerkship in town and at the same time buy a farm, never a village lot that, aside from the faint prospect of business inroads, will be worth no more in ten years than it is the day of the purchase, and generally less. Let him see to it that his acres front some roadway that within five years will be traversed by trolleys. In from five to ten years at least twenty tenants will be living on his land and their mortgages will be in his safety box, while he will be motoring or cruising, with just enough work in the laying out of his property to avoid ennui and the constant leisure so detrimental to the average man. My experience is that of many another who has taken the trouble to investigate. The scope of operations, thanks to automobile and trolley, is being so extended that there are many opportunities for large profit to-day for those of very moderate means. For example, I know of a section within an hour of New York, where in a dozen years property has advanced not in one, but hundreds of instances over one thousand per cent., without expenditure on the part of the purchaser except an interest charge of five per cent, per annum and taxes. Even such unusual conditions as I herein describe have a bearing on my general statement. Two extreme instances yet absolutely correct as to increase in value may be given from a score that I could name: Less than twenty-five years ago a property within thirty-five miles of New York City was offered me for thirty-four thousand dollars that is to-day worth and would easily bring half a million dollars, and that without a dollar of improvement. Another property purchased at that time for less than a thousand dollars is now con- servatively estimated at twenty thousand, property on which a sav- ings banks would readily loan ten thousand dollars at five per cent. 338 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE Opportunities still exist for those who search, though rarely with such large profits. Let one devote the necessary time at odd hours to thoroughly scouring the out-lying country, map in hand, assuming it to be near some thriving centre such as New York City. When what appears a suitable site has been found, question closely several disinterested "natives," who are usually authorities on local matters, though absolutely purblind, as a rule, to speculative values. If financial help is required, one or two friends can be let in "on the ground floor." Selecting the Site. In determining on a site, there are a few "must bes" which schedule somewhat as follows: High land, extended views — long road frontage is a great advantage and fertile soil is desirable but not an absolute essential — trees, as little swamp as possible, and good water. With trolley possibilities within five years, no near nuisance nor prospect of any, such as sanatoriums, poor farms, slaughter houses and objectionable factories, and with property, say not over one and one-half hours, preferably one hour from the city, and not over two or three miles from railroad station, the success of the project is assured. If, in addition, there are a deep ravine, a fine stream, with water power possibilities, fruit trees, good roads, desirable neighbors and it is within a mile of a station, assets will bear marking up. In selecting as well as planting land, remember that the light sandy soil on your farm suits crops that mature early, before drought days begin and that heavy soil is for crops that require the entire summer to mature. The fact that all of your future customers may not keep devil wagons and that plodding dobbin and shanks' mare will surely lengthen the distance, should have a bearing on your selection of a farm for country homes ; at the same time beware of the nearness of a railroad track with its accompanying smirching smoke, screech and jangle, and other bedlam noises, intensified when moisture-laden south and east winds blow toward your Mecca. Your idyl must be a real idyl, antipodal to the man-made town. Even if inspection of the proposed purchase reveals a rotting sill, a leaking roof, and decaying window frames, remember you are buying but a makeshift house. It is building sites that you want. If land, location, and possibilities are satisfactory, brace up the sills, as well as your courage, and with great care slip bits of tin under the shingles that leak, (even walking on an old roof loosens enough shingles to necessitate a new one), and let the rest go until you can build the new house. Spend what is essential in purifying the cellar, removing old wall papers and sterilizing walls, floors, and surroundings in general; clean up all refuse, calk all crevices, and put the rest of your spare change and energy into the building of a few absolutely necessary roads and' extensive plantings. LANDSCAPE GARDENING 339 Rapidly increasing values in effect actually decrease your mort- gage without your paying a dollar toward it, and if the land has been well selected, judicious sales will enable you to pay off the entire indebtedness and still leave the major part of the property free and clear. The summer kitchen that will yield summer comfort and the woodshed or old English "outshot" beyond, 'gainst which the "norther" fruitlessly beats, are both desirable features if in your Eldorado find, but neither are essential. Avoid farming, at first, except in a small way for family use. Wait! Make the old house do, with a few must-haves. jKeep a cow, a horse to plough and cultivate, and chickens. That cheap automo- bile picked up second-hand, but carefully selected, will answer as means of locomotion, and give family and friends an occasional out- ing. Set out immediately an asparagus bed for home use at least, and if for market, all the better, and a shrub and tree nursery. Buy as many hardy, ornamental, small plants by the thousand as you can afford; they can be had for a few cents each in Europe and at times in this country, including evergreens, rhododendrons, etc., and start that hole-in-the-ground greenhouse for early stuff and shrub pro- pagation. Fill out with the surplus stock of some nurseryman that you can get at a bargain out of season, you to move it if conveniently near. Put on an extra man occasionally to push cultivation and care for the nursery stock. Set out some fruit of the right sort — grapes cost little and yield enormously, but plant only the non-mildewers and sure ripeners. Landscape Gardening. Employ a landscape gardener to lay out your farm on paper, showing roads, building sites, and the general planting scheme. If you know in some ways more than he does, at least buy his advice, but settle the price ahead of the buying, then do as you please, keep- ing the horse and extra man busy in cutting and filling grades, mov- ing this tree or that shrub, thinning out where needed — in a word, shaping up your farm roughly with choice building sites, so planted with fruit and ornamental trees as to avoid shutting off prospective roads and views or interfering with lawns or vegetable garden. There is no better aid to longevity than this kind of life. No man ever voiced a greater truth than Abraham Lincoln when he said the most valuable of all arts will be the art of deriving a comfortable subsistence from the smallest area of soil. Aim to have in five years fifteen or twenty building sites of two or three acres each, with main landscaping finished. Meantime, you can harvest hay and possibly sow and gather some essential crops, and, by protecting the trees, use some of the land for pasturage, throttling expense in large measure with horse boarders. Prospective 340 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE customers like action and you may discount the five years' wait quite a bit. Let me emphasize again that the site of a house makes or ruins it, and it is imperative to settle the different sites first. It takes time to grow trees and shrubs, and he who has set out the right kinds and has them properly located will surely find appre- ciative customers. Asparagus Profits. In addition to ornamental shrubs, trees, and fruit, I planted an asparagus bed on each site of a tract I thus laid out. The farm asparagus bed of two or three acres will pay for many an improve- ment. The ordinary farmer dodges the three years' wait, therefore he who plants it has less local competition. We never bunched our asparagus, but cut it in haphazard lengths and sent it to the local market. This was our trademark of freshness, and the yearly income from a three-acre bed was over one thousand dollars. Its require- ments were inexpensive, a mulch of manure, cultivation, and once a year a little salt. Manure and salt also worked wonders in the radish bed. Farming the City. With farm carefully selected, the battle for independence is half won. Sun and rain, with but little cash outlay, and that along the lines mentioned, will do the rest. But in those five years of waiting the head of the family should farm the city, and strict economy must be practiced. This is a practical plan for living a helpful and healthy country life. With a cash capital of two thousand dollars with which to begin, and an income of from $1,500 to $3,000 a year, let us see how those figures that "cannot lie" line up. Absolute Independence on Small Capital. From twenty-five to fifty acres of such land as I have described can be found by painstaking search for five thousand dollars. The temptation to buy extensive acreage would increase distance and the additional expense hamper development, and possibly wreck the enterprise. Neighboring banks will loan $2,500 on a fifty per cent, valuation, as per the law of limitations, at five per cent., the usual bank rate. The seller can often be persuaded to take back a second mortgage of say $1,500 at six per cent, for three years, which can be re-sold at a small discount, or the purchaser can with persistent effort find an investor, or some friend might share the profit. A second mortgage where improvements are to be made can always be negotiated. This, with the $1,000 cash paid to the seller gives owner- ship. The first mortgage will stand indefinitely as long as the $125 A TENT ON THE BEACH 341 interest and taxes are promptly met, and the second may remain for two or three years as long as the $90 interest is met. This assures one a good home at the moderate rental of $215 per year, plus taxes and insurance, which are usually moderate, and the $50 interest on the $1,000 investment. Add to this $1,000 to cover stock and extras — the $1,000 outlay should bring large returns — thus investing the full $2,000 and increasing the interest charge $60 per year. Values advance when a city family moves into a locality and improvements are begun, therefore with little effort one could dispose of part of his holdings the first year — say enough to halve carrying charges, still keeping a speculative quantity of land. The commutation, which must be added to the yearly rent, will bring the amount to $450, plus the chargeable items for repairs and improve- ments which should be kept as low as possible. As covering in part the above, one can figure the fresh vege- tables, milk, and eggs consumed and sold which would certainly pay for the man of all work, and with good planning cut down the $450 quite a bit. A City and a Country Home Totalling for Rent $650 a Year. The second half of the plan is that, assuming the base of opera- tions close to New York, in late fall one can advertise for a furnished apartment in town. Many families go south and are glad to rent for as low as $50 per month or even less to careful people. Thus is provided a country house wherein to enjoy the spring, summer and autumn and in which to keep prized furniture, books, etc., that an habitual apartment house dweller would be obliged to relegate to the storehouse for half the year, paying thereon enough to materially aid in maintaining both a modest country home, and a winter home in town for not over $650 per year. A $3,000 income would admit of both; a $1,500 but of one. A Tent on the Beach. A caretaker can always be found for the country home, .and a tent on the beach for an occasional week-end outing makes the final link in vanquishing the ennui of existence and getting the most out of the usual prosaic routine of dressing, eating, and sleeping day after day, year after year. Acquaintance and a little effort will accomplish the selling end ; — a club or business friend — a week end or a Sunday visit ; a talk over luncheon or on the car. Give your friends a choice of sites, if need be, to get started on this real missionary work in the interest of pure air and healthy living. Once the ship is off the ways she? moves easily. Judicious newspaper advertising coupled with skill and patience produces excellent results. Build ? A vital question. It is a safe rule to let the other fellow do it to suit himself. Howrever, if you sell several building sites 342 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE for enough to build a bungalow or two do so to enliven the prop- erty, but go slowly and let the contracts, for your mind must be on your business in town. You will have enough enthusiasts over Sun- day to develop a congenial neighborly neighborhood. With these lines ends the writer's partial record of the twin hobbies of country living and housebuilding, which for a quarter of a century took the place of other amusements, but the lure of the lumber pile and the sound of saw and hammer, the call of the land, as seen and heard in rustling tree-top, silver melodies from copse and woodland, lowing herd, ripening harvest, swirl of bloom, will not down. Love of country life with its endless ramifications under- lying all realms in still in the blood, and we shall again sometime enjoy to the uttermost a real possession of the wild, man's rightful heritage. APPENDIX TWO houses of somewhat radical type are described below in response to a request reading, "From eight to ten thousand statements made from actual experience in building and lay- ing out country places, and a thousand or more photographs illus- trating country houses and country living make helpful data, but go one step farther, Mr. Author, and outline in a dozen pages a couple of type houses, one for the man of moderate means and one for the rnan of wealth, and do it so thoroughly that the prospective owner will not expect a sow's ear to yield a silk purse. For instance, were I about to build a country house and undertook to follow the myriad suggestions of well-meaning friends, I might be a bankrupt before it was enclosed, but, aspiring to build a feature house, with a type before me illustrating details that have been actually worked out, I could doubtless better outline a rough plan to submit to the architect." THE HOUSE FOR THE MAN OF MODERATE MEANS. Location preferably within a mile of the station, about an acre of rich soil, thorough drainage, rising land, large trees, good neigh- borhood, no near nuisances nor prospect of any, town water, electric lights, sidewalks, good roads and lighted streets, are all desirable. The dwelling should be placed not less than seventy-five feet from the street and face south, on a lot preferably about 200 feet square, with an extended view that neither tree growth nor buildings will ever entirely shut out. House, 30 x 40, is enlarged by porch-room wings at each end, the west porch connecting with an esplanade floored with cement, if expense precludes the use of the more attractive terrazzo or brick, and ornamented with potted plants, the east wing joining the porte cochere. The house is side hilled so that portion in the rear is four feet under ground, and at the sides averages about two feet under ground a third of the width of the house, walls, as well as all footing courses built of rough uncracked field stones, in case such are on the place, or any hard stone, crude oil being mixed in the cement as a damp deterrent. Basement walls and those of first story are hollow brick, coated with rough cement and colored to harmonize with the hand-dipped stained shingles which cover upper story and roof, preferably laid on the latter with four and one- half inch weatherage. The hollow tile will be interiorly treated with tar and cement and air spaced, and gutters of copper and leaders crimped. Second story, studded, boarded, shingled and back-plastered, projects four inches, the under mold forming a narrow belt course. 344 APPENDIX The shingle roof should have a two foot overhang and its kick-up rafters a fourteen-inch dip, the soffit covered with cement on gal- vanized wire lath. Windows on first story should be sash-hung, giving greater security, less draught and being more easily screened. They may be fitted with automatic sash bar locks, lower lights to be of plate glass, upper in small squares, or if in one pane it may be squared or diamonded with wooden strips laid over the glass. Extra size pockets save the expense of leaden weights. Second story windows in the main are casements with triple rabbeted and lipped jointure. The third floor should have sliding windows under the eaves for moderate light and much ventilation, but in the gables use wide curved bays with not over eighteen-inch centre projection, bracket supported, shaded by pent eaves. One eyebrow on the front and two lift dormers on the rear of the roof are ample. Set all windows when possible as mullioned triplets; head trim and apron practically in one piece, and build sleeping porches over east and west wings. Porch wings should be featured as outdoor eating and living rooms, with breeze-wooing open rails, space against the house wain- scoted, and capped with plate rack, smooth cement wall above painted and covered with thoroughly water-proofed burlap and the ceiling, cemented on galvanized wire lath, crossed with hollow cement or wooden beams, and verdure canopied. The floor of red cement, cored with galvanized wire mesh, has embedded in one of its twenty-four inch squares a patina colored copper arrow pointing north. Joints of the tapestry brick chim- ney are raked-out. Set in house wall on the east end, directly over the door-head a glass fronton, say eight feet wide and two feet high, as an over-lintel — a giant wardian case filled with plants and mosses from the woods, the inner sash arranged to open in extremely cold weather, a glimpse of woodland all the year around. On the south wall fit a mottoed sun dial with time equation. Entrance steps facing three ways in monument style are of red cement, crandaled for safety, and lead from porte cochere — glass roofed to avoid undue shadowing — to the east wing porch with its slightly convex red cement walk four feet wide. The door mat is inset, and an antique scraper bent to match the curved edge of the step firmly embedded in the cement. This glassed-in entrance porch gives a bower of bloom at all seasons. Flower beds border each side of the swalk, sloping from porch foundation, and singing birds greet all corners. The oak-battened, iron-studded Dutch door is fitted with bulls' eyes, a ten-inch Bastile lock, and an electric knocker in the form of a knight's vizor in which is cut the name of the villa and on the marble sill is inscribed the word "Venitas." The porch is columned, the architrave centred with coat of arms and cement lions flank the steps. Side hill construction means strenuous work in blind ditch draining, tarring and cementing, but aids in eliminating a large and somewhat useless cellar. With no greater foundation nor roof area, this plan will won- derfully increase the comfort and presence of the house and give most space for the money. The cellar may be made exceptionally light by having floor and side walls of white marbleized cement and windows set from ceiling to two feet below grade, protected by brick and sand drained areas. The list must include double windows, rodent and tramp barring non-corroding screens and iron grilles, cellar floor drained to a man- hole, concave non-dust collecting corners cemented to ceiling line, plastered ceiling covered with metal, and heating pipes wrapped in asbestos. One corner will accommodate the coal bunkers and a pit- set boiler for hot water heating, protected overhead with an extra sheet of metal or asbestos. Beneath the cellar proper, suitably ventilated and blind drained, excavate a sub-cellar or favissa ten feet square with six foot stud and reached through a rail-guarded trap door inset in the cement floor. It will have a uniform temperature at all seasons. We have planned for an arched vault in chimney foundation concealed behind wooden sheathing as a receptacle for a safe with liquid explosive- proof seams. Two windows on opposite sides of the housekeeping closet will cheat the sour microbe out of many a meal. The kitchen entrance door is to be exteriorly lighted, also lock- controlled by the much maligned push button placed near an upstairs window to readily inspect after-dark callers. Range boiler will be firmly riveted to ceiling to save floor space, and floor and walls covered with a light shade of dirt and tear-proof linoleum in two weights. The balance of wall length should be inexpensively chair railed. Windows can be protected with crescent "eye-peep" shut- ters, and service rooms have patent non-dust-making cement floors and sanitary bases, as easily cleaned as tile. Dining room, butler's pantry, kitchen mechanics, laundry and servants' lavatory are all planned to go on the lower floor level, which is reached by two entrances, one on the south, and a service entrance on the north. The dining room, exceptionally lighted and extra well blanketed in winter by double windows hinged from the top, each wicket ventilated, can go under the west wing porch, the ceiling necessarily low. An excellent size for this room would be 12 x 18. The small wall space, wainscoted to frieze line with chestnut uprights, is capped with plate rack, and the ceiling crossed with thin wooden 346 APPENDIX strips. Preparation before laying the double floor to combat ground air and moisture must include thorough draining, cementing, tarring and air spacing. The chimney breast, built in line with west porch-room fireplace, can be faced with burnished copper. Inset in over-mantel a cleverly executed burnt wood tracing. The somewhat radical plan of this road-level-floor is made possible by the lay of the land which slopes sharply to the west as well as the south. The entire first story of thirty by forty feet is to be treated as one large gala room spaced to include stairs and chimney, alcoved to allow a stop-draught entrance vestibule from the porte cochere end, and ample room for library and reception corners. Good planning will make the three steps to a landing five feet wide, whose side can be pro- tected by a firmly fastened standing lion of cement used as a balus- trade and fronted by a settle, the end of the platform resting against, not in the chimney. Stairs trail upward back of the chimney to a mid-height landing, s.unned by a golden-hued, opalescent, leaded glass window facing due north, hand rail of three-inch cotton rope covered with red velvet, not as hygienic as metal but in appear- ance less commercial, and fastened by brass sockets against the side wall. For the service portion of the house use the half-back-stair, and reach this landing behind the chimney, it can form part of a servants' porch and roof their summer dining room ; here will be an opening to deliver ice to the ice box, and in the house wall an alcove for milk bottles. This porch abuts against the rear and is roofed at the same gradient as the main house, which is carried down to cover the "outshot" projection. The chimney ten feet wide built of Harvard brick, with six-foot fire opening, will have over the inset stone shelf, seven feet from the floor, an iron grille-fronted-flambeau-fireplace where on festal occasions pitch pine knots flare, sputter, and fitfully brighten the entire room, metal rings pendant from a trolley iron that supports its front, a crane hung with trammels set in the brick work, and andirons and fire irons six feet high. An arched forward back, a narrow flue opening of six feet, a smoke shelf, and a flue lined with round tile tightly cemented at each collar, are forms of construction that effectually checkmate a smoking chimney and forever bar an ugly help-draw- cowl swivel-chimney-pot. The fireplace may have an iron reredos embossed with coat of arms, and a wide deep hearth of cement, and the six foot log burner can be changed to a grotto of ferns in summer, centred with a rose-lipped shell from the Orient. Our big 30 x 40 gala room will surely be wainscoted seven feet high with chestnut boarding set upright, capped with plate rack, and stained by acid to that shade seen in some storm tossed, sand and sun bleached bit of wreckage, and the twelve-foot ceiling inexpensively divided lengthwise by three heavy made-up beams cross-sectioned twice. Two plate glass mirrors five feet wide carried through base- LAY-OUT OF FIRST AND SECOND STORIES 347 board to window cap, cloth draped at sides and top, will give mirage rooms that greatly extend the vista. Electroliers, built from old swords and bayonets, we will sus- pend by rusty chains and on side walls set sconces of bulb-tipped elk horns. In the grilled corner forming the library set back the shelf supports three inches from the front, conceal by three-inch dummy books firmly fastened in place, and nail a dust flap across the edge of each shelf. Ivory tinted plaster bas-reliefs decorate the frieze of this corner. A folding iron gate concealed in a wall cupboard pocket would bar the night prowler by closing in both staircases at the top on the second floor. Second story. — The lion's share of this should be given up to the owners, the main room, 15 x 30, facing all points of the com- pass, a bay giving the north outlook. The boudoir end, planned as an upstairs sitting or morning room, should have double connection with the canvas floored space over the east porch wing, one leading to a simple sleeping jog in the open, which could be made a near-tree room if a large tree edges the balcony rail by training its branches across the front, the other to a sun room, semi-conservatory, and aviary, with ample space to swing a mattress hammock. Centre the glass partition between sleeping jog and sun room with a pulley-hung pane of plate glass about four by six feet, all sash fitted for removal in summer. Electric fixtures for this room are best of glass. Entrance doors must have sloped sills and triple rabbeted joints. The bedroom end, grilled and portiered, should connect with a bathroom which also opens into the hall. The outside member of door trim, matching the picture molding, can be mitred into it, forming a panel over each of the three doorways, to be decorated with pictorial tapestry of nymph, purling brook, and primeval forest. Ceiling and corners may be coved. The master's weapon of defense, represented by a seven shooter, could be safely concealed in a leather pocket nailed on the back of a picture hung high on the wall. In the main room include a bay window seat lined with freshly cut cedar, a davenport with bookshelf at one end, and a tiny fire- place built up from rock foundation or inexpensively and safely car- ried on trolley irons placed on second story floor beams, saving valuable space in the living room. The over-mantel in this suite can be a throated hood affair, seemingly made by bulging out the side wall, but really produced by a cement covered metal frame firmly riveted in chimney breast, projecting at the centre to eighteen inches, and tapering at sides and ceiling height into a plastered wall the full extent of the chimney front. A small jewel safe can be securely bolted and cemented 348 APPENDIX between studs and placed behind the chiffonier, and two mirror doors so hung as to be used for dress-fitting mirrors when open. The bathroom of this suite, furred down to seven-foot stud, if tiled to ceiling will avoid the use of capping which in time generally works loose. A porcelain-lined tub six feet long synonyms com- fort, and if set close to tiled floor and side-walls will eliminate those aggravating dust-gripping levels and corners. Metal plumbing fix- tures covered with porcelain shells and the exposed metal, where there is not too much wear, gold-plated, is not expensive and wonderfully effective, but the white and gold of such a bathroom might prove an envy generator of the rankest kind. Fit the shower with an odorless canvas curtain. Toilet, of low-down type, and basin (with pipe connection from side-walls) are solid porcelain, with safety shut-off in supply pipe close to fixtures. Complete the room with a wall-inset mirrored medicine closet, mirror doors, a window of leaded glass set five feet from the floor, sill of marble to match the tiling, glass and nickel fittings, and a pair of white enameled scales. The space over bathroom ceiling would make secret cupboards to be opened from the bedroom behind a wooden coving. The guest room must have a hygienic canvas-curtained shower- jog with swivel faucets, economically piped through the wall of an adjoining bathroom. Two small bedrooms and another sleeping porch can be crowded in. Closets should have dress rods, racks and shoe shelves. The sleeping porch as planned would be a hall extension in the open, with double Victorian doors which should be triple rabbeted and meet in the centre, with water-proof knuckle-and-elbow-joint. Such an arrangement banishes sleepless August nights, and bedroom blind doors bring added comfort. An electric bulb set in ventilating flue at ceiling line in the hall lights a dark corner and creates an up-chimney current, aiding to make a free-from-odor house. Under the eaves rivet a fire and burglar gong, wire-connected with the master's suite. The third story can be windowed and rough-studded to add at some future time a guest room fronted in the gables with wide bays which pay fifty per cent, dividend on their cost. In the rear plaster-finish a servant's room large enough for two single beds, although with a liberal use of the electrical handmaiden this house may not get beyond the one servant need. Complete the floor with servants' bathroom. The toggery and trunk room can be roughly boarded in and padlocked. The use of aluminum in escutcheon and butt will prevent injury to woodwork in cleaning. All bedrooms have burglar-proof mortise bolts, set above the reach of childish hands. WELL APPOINTED HOUSE OF GREATER COST 349 Electric light installation may include a switch to light outside entrances from within, the interior from without and the entire house from the master's suite, light being a safe and effective defense, also base-plugs for bed-head and stand lights, as well as vacuum clean- ing connection. A fire pipe line, if placed from cellar to roof and elbowed into a perforated galvanized iron pipe extending the length of the ridge to flood the roof at a moment's notice, might prevent fire loss. Hose and pipe can be kept on each floor, in dust-proof glass- fronted cupboards inset between studding, concealed or not, as pre- ferred. Plumbing shut-offs should be in one place and legibly labeled. A non-rusting metal clothes chute from attic to cellar will save steps and possibly marred walls. THE WELL APPOINTED HOUSE OF GREATER COST. Many of the features of the House-for-the-Man-of-Moderate- Means will naturally be incorporated in the more elaborate country villa, hence are not described. Grounds might schedule about five acres of ridge land with a commanding view and include a bit of rich meadow, edged by a clear- running, pebbly-bottomed brook. Several genuine forest monarchs interspersed with smaller growth, a bearing orchard, and an abun- dance of small fruit would be important adjuncts, and land must be in a desirable neighborhood, preferably within two miles of the station, and approached by good roads. The main house should not be less than 30 x 60 in area and somewhat irregular in form, with wing-porches at each end, one con- necting with an esplanade and the other joining a porte cochere, the style New American, with a touch of the Colonial in high pillared front. Lay up basement walls with rough or smooth stone in entasis effect, thoroughly window and fit for double windows in winter. Make exterior and main division walls of hollow brick, tarred and air-spaced within, and coated with smooth cement, and roof of tile, in harmonious shade, with superior water-proof under-covering. Lift dormer windows obtain in roof with ample window area in gables and side-walls, and lower panes of plate glass in small squares, leaded lights on stair landing, in bathrooms and in some transoms. Timber substantially with G. P. girders, as well as an occasional I-beam, and make house vermin and rat-proof. Basement should contain laundry with ventilated soiled clothes closet, drying machine, furnace room with big sectional boiler (unless it is decided to have heating plant in an outbuilding), cement coal-bunkers (filled without injuring the lawn), a water heater, and dark preserve, also windowed housekeeping closets. Iron posts should be swathed with galvanized wire covered with cement and support substantial iron cement protected girders, and the ceiling 350 APPENDIX asbestos covered. The space under awninged platform, which will cross the entire front of the dwelling as well as the west porch, could be utilized for an 83-foot bowling alley, with loop-the-loop return groove (if of glass it would neither sag nor warp). It must be well windowed at front and ends, connect with lavatory and shower, and have an exterior entrance. The billiard room placed in the basement to insure an immovable spirit-level foundation can be floored with scagliola, have fireplace sided with stone settles, large windows, and plastered walls of sand finish, appropriately calcimined. The west porch-room, duplicating the east in size, may be arranged for enclosing either with wire screen or glass as season of the year dictates, floor of red cement marked off in 24-inch squares, and fireplace and chimney breast of lichen-covered cobble stones, topped above roof with brick. At one side of the fireplace build a porch closet for wraps, books and toys. Rooms may be wainscoted to a height of seven feet with wall area above plate rack burlapped, painted and stenciled, the ceiling of cement on wire lath stained Pompeiian red, and crossed by two large ebonized beams. French casements connect with the pergola. The porte cochere, which for convenience will connect with the east wing, might have its outer end sheltered by a windowed, settled and fireplaced coachman's nook or ombra in whose exterior wall is a Pompeiian drinking fountain. Rust-proof metal lanterns set high above carriage top flank the sides of the stop-draught entrance. Arriv- ing guests peered down upon by repellent, rabid-mouthed, grotesquely molded gargoyles may on occasion be warmly welcomed by glow- ing, sputtering logs. The east porch-room, strictly an entrance, twelve by eighteen feet, reached by three steps cut from a single block of granite, a true century wearer, is fitted with sash-hung windows, to be com- pletely glassed in and heated in inclement weather. The centre walk to the front door may be built five feet wide, of red quarry tile, laid slightly convex, with half-inch white joints and the space on each side filled with plants set in mossy banks sloping upward to the top of the two-foot stone foundation. Drooping ferns, orchids, Southern mosses and Southern birds would give both color and life to such an entrance porch. Centreing the flare of the over-door- way can be inset shield or head and in recognition of the custom of the centuries a motto traced in the door sill. The lintel over a single seven by nine foot door whose wide open swing proclaims hospitality can be finished at the ends with carved griffin heads. Siding the entrance, with halberd close gripped, stands as warder a full suit of armor whose former owner possibly crossed swords with the Saracen. DETAILS OF THE VILLA OF IMPORT 351 We are planning the Villa of Import as a two-level house. Within, three steps to the left will lead upward to a loggia recep- tion room which connects with the staircase hall, while on the right of the entrance hall with its sixteen-foot cambered-beamed ceiling decorated in Arabesque style, and at the same lower level, is the dining room, also with a sixteen-foot ceiling, but domed, and a true ellipse, the lost corners utilized as closets in adjoining hall and room. A small electric, fern-edged fountain may centre a white tiled alcove, large enough for a few potted plants, to brighten this somewhat unusual room. The outer wall of the house above the glass roofed alcove may be filled from arch to frieze height with large stained glass window in sylvan design. Fluted pilasters with Ionic caps edge window and door open- ings, and support pediments, the former with under-panel. All door head panels are decorated and a line of Colonial dentals circles the room. An ingle centred by a fireplace flanked by red leather- covered settles extends along the inside wall, its low seven-foot ceil- ing allowing a seven-foot-stud mezzanine den overhead, reached by a door from the minstrels' balcony which overlooks the entrance hall and is lighted by low leaded casements in an oriel window swing- ing open into the dining room near ceiling line. The dining room floor is of kiln-dried eight-inch oak planks, inset with ebonized keys four feet apart. Its sixteen-foot height is a pronounced feature, the door opening fourteen feet high, but a copper-set, stained-glass transom reduces the space to nine feet, the same height as the front door. Portieres are impressively hung the entire height of fourteen feet. A leaded, clear plate-glass cabinet can be built in the chimney breast, high above the mantel shelf. One of the two doors leading to butler's pantry is fitted with rim protected dish shelves and pivoted, swinging to either din- ing room or pantry, while the other doorway is grilled down to a five-foot nine-inch height, screening upper pantry shelves, and has a closely fitting sliding door controlled by foot pressure. Care must be taken that neither door is in line with that opening from butler's pantry to kitchen. The balance of the floor area we will divide into library, living room, studio-den, reception room and palm-decorated corridor which, if built with groined ceiling, entered beneath spandreled arches, and its walls hung with family portraits, may aspire to the dignity of an ancestral hall. The library, sided with a semi-polygon bay, has one end wall built inward a foot to inset deep Georgian windows centred with book mark design, this plan allowing of broad cushioned settle with convenient ambry at either side. A wall fountain might fill a panel in the lower half of one Georgian window, protected in the outer house wall bv a bas-relief in Caen stone. Bookcases should have not 352 APPENDIX only leather dust guards, but ventilating metal roll curtains, securely locking on occasion. The living room with its barreled or segmented ceiling has appropriate mural paintings in half moons in the two end walls and a ten-foot square sheet of plate glass overlooks a semi-wild rr.id- summer tiny garden, a tangle of color springing up from greensward, glass imprisoned. Walls are Caen stone lined off in blocks. The little den reception room may connect with boudoir suite by a narrow, steep, hidden stairway reached through a sliding panel in a closet. Trim and floors of all rooms on this story, except one with intarsiatura trim and the white enamel kitchen, are oak, as are also all main staircases and halls. The main fumed oak staircase should be close string with thick, wide balustrade and panels of two-inch stuff in a sawed-out design, tool-edged. Stair rails, out of respect for childhood and age, as "well as to protect the frequent recklessness of maturity, must be three-feet six-inches high. A minstrels' balcony mid-way on the stair can be supported by brackets ending in carved panther heads. A hall lavatory is practically stolen from the cellar, and reached by half-a-dozen steps leading downward. The newel text, worth careful thought, may be preached in wood, glass, and bronze. The wood, a squared newel with metal beaded corner insets, extends to trimmer height, and is braced against the ceiling by gorgon heads; the glass, an eight-inch crystal globe capping a low brass newel, ends a metal balustrade, while the bronze, a Richard Coeur de Lion, flaunts aloft a banner of light, still in a righteous cause. A seven-foot high electrically equipped cathedral lantern hangs from the ceiling and a marble fernery half circles the space under arched stair soffit. On the second story a solid balustrade of lath and plaster makes a fine background for a strip of rare tapestry or a plaster frieze. Banish the funnel stairway by placing stairs from second to third story, shut in by portieres, at one side leaving a clear space for a high cambered beamed ceiling over the main staircase. Back stairs extend from basement to attic, with risers from first to second story hall of translucent wire glass, which aids materially in cellar lighting. Plastered stair soffits are firmly held by cross wooden moldings, and the upper half of the enclosed stair is of glass. Upper stairs may be built open string, with Colonial curlicues each side of step, balusters set alternately in twos and threes and tied with short pieces of wood two inches from top and bottom, the rail moulded to form a firm hand support. THE MASTER'S SUITE 353 One ever-present dust gatherer, the corner where tread and riser meet, on the upper back stair is banished by closely filling each corner with a three-sided bit of burnished brass. A mid-stair plat- form, lack of winders, and ample head room yield good accident insurance during the life of a house. That third story hall where pulpit-front built on long collar beams peers down at the stair climber ( the scheme giving an unusually high hall ceiling) can be lighted by three crowns hung on a chain, each circle a trifle larger than the one above, daytime lighting being accomplished by a wide roof lift dormer. Among kitchen appointments (the range end being galleyed) include a glass-set hood over a combination gas, electric and coal range, with ash pit and brass pipe connections, an auxiliary gas heater set under the easy to heat copper boiler, a garbage incin- erator, grease trap, soap-stone table tops, and a safety valve on the boiler. Kitchen walls are best if white tiled to a height of at least five feet, all trim painted enamel white, and the floor of non-dust-crumbling cement bisected with strips of comfort-yielding cork matting. This room as well as all servants' quarters should have a sanitary base, vermin-balking walls and corners, and floors and walls deadened. Bedrooms over the kitchen as well as the range chimney are better if deadened and air-spaced. The sink of seamless porcelain and a set wash basin which solves an aggravating domestic problem will be six inches higher than usual in both kitchen and butler's pantry, and the radiator of the latter made in the form of a plate warmer. The range hood will be aided in its efforts to send odors skyward by a small electric fan placed in the chimney flue. A water pipe set close beside the range conveniently fills pots and kettles, and a metal scrub cloth box can be fastened against the chimney breast connecting with a brick, air-lifting ventilating chamber, which adjoins the always heated range flue. An enameled steel cabinet, a metal frame over the table, cook- ing utensils of non-rusting and non-flaking aluminum and a fireless cooker set at waist height should be among the appointments. A funnel-ceilinged corridor proves a court of last resort for all kitchen odors. Trim in the service portion of the house should be plain and non-dust holding, and beaded wainscot if used of convex mold. The basement laundry will have large windows, wooden floors, and make an additional sitting hall for servants, its four porcelain tubs equipped with non-projecting faucets, set back to back in the centre of this well-lighted room, and when not in use wooden covered, forming a table. On the second story plan the master's suite the full length of the house, forty feet, and eighteen feet wide, the fourth com- pass point compassed by a broad bay. A room of four exclama- 354 APPENDIX tion points, size, air, sunshine, view, rivaling in comfort a city apartment, but far larger, divorced from air shaft and alley, and in a realm of pure air and health yielding sunshine. Two-thirds of the forty feet would make a morning boudoir or upstairs sitting room; the bedroom and bathroom end to be grilled and portiered. This bedroom may have a fireplace in an ingle, with side settles, and be connected with a glass-enclosed room built over three-quarters of the roof of the porch-room? making a true sun-room featured with flowering plants. The outdoor sleeping gallery floored with canvas not so lavishly painted as to crack, covers the remainder of the porch-room roof and connects with a roofed gym. over the porte cochere, to be decorated with rough bark covered boxes of plants atop the rail, in winter changed to evergreens. It can be used as a corridor to reach the small rest-room with fireplace, built over the coachman's nook, in one of our houses termed a luxury until use proved it a necessity. Over the gym. and rest-room, under the roof, a low, well-lighted and ventilated pistol gallery is bulwarked by the big stone porte cochere chimney breast. The lower part of a closet in the master's suite conceals an electrically-protected silver safe. The bathroom of this suite, featured with shower jog formed by two closets, one opening to the bath- room, a fireplace, tub six feet long, a bidet and a shut-off valve toilet, has the ceiling preferably furred down to seven feet, side-walls tiled to ceiling, floors tiled and sill of marble. Mirrored doors, medicine closets, a high-set leaded light window and hall connection are most desirable. A guest room with bath closet, one general bathroom and three additional bedrooms, one of which may acceptably join a sleeping porch, should be on this floor. A bedroom with double doors con- nects with an adjoining bedroom and another has a shaving jog arranged for ample light night or day. A built-out sun bathroom supported by heavy brackets, facing south and west, and a skylight flooding the little alcove with health-giving rays may come under the head of extravagance but comfort will heartily endorse its build- ing. One bathtub can be inset eighteen inches and rail protected, the space below taken from a closet. Another may be planned with a square tub 4' x 4' and fourteen inches deep for children. Bathroom appointments might schedule also a shampoo fixture, sitz-bath, elec- tric bath cabinets and in one a cane-seated chair to disguise the noise- less toilet. A Pompeiian, plant decorated bathroom will be lighted by an electrically fitted glass dome. Outflow pipes should be twice the size of inflow and plumbing pipes kept from exterior walls and when crossing ceilings (crossings to be mainly in the cellar) asbestos- covered, decreasing the drip from condensation. An air chamber cushions the noisy back kick of water pipes and back air pipes near hot water pipes give uptake draft. BEDROOMS AND BATHROOMS 355 Water and heating pipes should be carried to porch rooms and sleeping porches and when not used capped, and sill cocks, including one non-freezing, installed at important exterior points. Careful planning will evolve a secret room 6' x 6' x 6'. In a Moorish room the bed alcove may be arched from floor to ceiling with a Moorish arch fifteen feet wide at the centre and the same design carried out in the brick arch of a fireplace. Transoms may be regulated by inset wall fixtures instead of the usual ugly adjuster, some panels fronting closets fitted with invisible locks and hinges and where wainscots are not used the base trim of main rooms made eighteen inches high. The second-story hall will have a fireplace and in a far away corner on this floor it may be possible to work in a convenient, windowed trunk and storage room and a housemaid's sink closet. A dark hall and stair landing may be lighted by a glass transom over a bedroom door, and a bedroom with but one outside wall gains ventilation and light from a transom or translucent glass window opening into a hall. The silver sheen of the bird's-eye maple room in both trim and furniture can be kept by selecting a northern exposure, realizing that sun-baked bird's-eye maple takes on a dingy yellow meerschaum shade. A curved top bed-head alcove with twin beds placed on a round- cornered dais would permit at either side closets for madame and master. Over a brass rod extending outward from the wall tapestry may be draped. The theft of a bedroom closet from a larger room without causing an ugly jog to ceiling height in either can be easily accom- plished by building a false front cabinet six feet high, the interior to be lathed and plastered and entered from the smaller room. Bedrooms not connected with bathrooms will have dressing rooms, allowing open window sleeping of the chilliest but healthiest kind. The third story shall have one large room with a broad bay, three servants' bedrooms, and a bathroom sided with sheets of white glass. On this floor there could be a cement-walled, wooden-floored, children's play room, deadened under-floor, and walls decorated with nursery tales, vaulted ceiling painted to represent a winter's sky, and the explanatory astronomical key framed in a door panel. Windows should be high and wide and protected by low grilles. A tower billiard room ceiled to the peak might be decorated with fleecy clouds and darting swallows. In an attic studio on the north, windows should be guarded by low metal grilles, and extend from one foot above the floor to ceiling height. From the peak could be suspended a trio of geese headed due north. The clerestory, our room-in-the-air, has little in common with the hot, barely-enough-space-to-turn-in, cupola of the village squire, 356 APPENDIX often half-filled with dried apples, musty newspapers, and dis- carded garments. This is a plate glass-walled view room with overhanging sun and rain sheltering roof, cooled by weather-proof ventilators placed at its highest point, aided by electric fans, the fireplace, out of respect to Dame Architecture, fitted with a gas log, and fronted by a broad davenport. One of the eight or ten fireplaces in the house shall have a plate glass, brass rimmed screen extending the view of the cheerful blaze four feet up chimney, and a fender topped with a narrow leather seat fronting the hearth. In one room the over-mantel can be sup- ported by caryatides, in another the hood covered with leather tooled in heraldic design in shimmering silver, and in a third the shelf sup- ported by ormolu brackets with onyx facing. A picture window set not over four feet from the floor and centre- ing a chimney breast (which is to have two flues and a split chimney at ridge line) causes, at times, a seven-hued winter sunset to vie in coloring with a seven-hued driftwood fire. As the raised hearth increases fire risk, we will omit it. A Tif- fany three-faced feudal fireplace, with blazing fagots flashing three ways, could be built in "that brain room" where the roof slopes to plate line. The throne of the fire king must centre his group of devotees, rather than elbow too closely door and window. In a draughty hall arrange for iron baffles to semi-shackle that ninety per cent, up-chimney waste of heat. A far-away room has a mantel face of cement sprinkled with silver, gold and bronze powders, and thimbles are inset in chimney breast in several attic rooms and upper hall. Mirrors are much in evidence, some triplicate for dress-fitting and with special overhead lights. In a room facing north, wall mirrors might be so juggled as to give a strong reflected light, and narrow mirrors between door and window openings crossed by curved muntins, but none so set over a mantel as to reflect the ugly back of a clock. Decoration, whether rococo, the best in Nouveau art, burlap, paint, or paper, covers a wide field. In the dining room, Colonial, pictorial designs of country life can be used, in one room restless red and possibly in the library restful green, but polychrome effects will be absolutely barred, as well as the stain wrongly placed. Burlap painted, then roughly cloth-rubbed before drying, will give an hygienic surface and also a suggestion of the Japanese silk fibre effect, minus its microbe-catching ends. As a wood preservative, air is often as efficacious as paint and certainly does not promulgate dry rot, at times the result of painting green wood. Oxygen, whether permeating lungs of man or fibres of matter, prolongs life. FIREPLACES AND DECORATION 357 Closet walls should be painted and then coated with spar varnish. In place of the barn-like, all-wooden sliding door, we can use leaded glass in the upper half, the pockets ceiled against dust and noise. In the basement the outer door should be four feet wide, and glazed to aid in making the term "basement" a misnomer. Recesses there can be in goodly measure, whether in the form of a usable ingle spaced for unscorched comfort, a billiard alcove large enough to squelch profanity, a solarium — a veritable Sahara in July and August but a welcome retreat in March and November — a simple jog under a staircase or 'gainst a chimney, arranged for a built-in chest of drawers with rollers and guide strips, a nest of pigeon holes, or a pokehole closet for magazines and papers, remembering that closets and bays make good safety valves for ugly square box rooms. Parquetry floors of seven-eighths stuff instead of thin veneer prevent warping but should not be narrowed by strongly contrast- ing borders. The passing of the door saddle means less dust, disturbance of carpets and space shortening but generally at floor line a wider opening. A developing closet will have porcelain sink, ventilating fan, and colored glass inset in door. The list of hardware requirements should include espagnolette bolts, double-action butts, drop escutcheons, cut glass knobs, old- fashioned latches, bead-edged, brass finger plates, window lifts and check valves. A gilded, decorated reception alcove could have gold- plated hardware at moderate expense. All casements and glass doors should have rubber plugs set in the door frames, and window stops may have adjustable socket screws to match hardware. Blinds and gutters are essentials requiring our best thought. Copper flashing and calking with oakum and white lead at the right time, and in the right place, save much trouble farther on, and effectually circumscribe King Moisture's realm. Seaweed, felt, and heavy paper will be necessary as floor and wall linings and for sound deadening. In plastering (made non-sound carrying) where angle irons are not used corners are rounded in the plaster. All walls are plas- tered to the floor. Every ceiling in the house will be insured by either canvas or burlap firmly fastened against it and decorated as desired, but neither this nor wall covering of any kind should be used until months of drying out have brought the walls to a state of absolute dryness. The correct proportion of plaster of paris, proper mixing, applica- tion, and non-freezing of plaster prevent pockmarked, easily rubbed walls. 358 APPENDIX Box-windows sliding upward into the house wall give wider vision in a low-studded room. In the nursery, windows may be set high and partially metal grilled, reaching to ceiling height where there is more sunshine to the square foot, and in laundry and ser- vants' hall, where the ground and step-down area admit, should span the entire space from floor to ceiling. In front of cellar windows ribbed glass reflectors can be suspended, greatly increasing the light. A western picture window realistically gilt framed and wire hung would shame the artist's most impressive sunsets, while a more pre- tentious picture window could be pivoted. Corner windows give wider views and less draughty ventilation. Windows should be hung with metal chains over brass pulleys. Non-corroding semi- invisible screens with insect escape cover the entire window and, as a farther disguise, have their hinged frames painted to match the exterior trim. Elizabethan grouped windows would certainly give tone to the dining room. Overhead the highest second story sleepers we will place ventilating hood windows in the gable peaks, hinged from the top and swinging outward, using as storm-warders incon- spicuous baffles back of the windows. Step-up platforms will lower high attic dormers. All windows shall be fitted with non-rusting metal weather- strips and in some inset glass hinged ventilators. The sleepless arch as seen in the round-headed Roman, the peaked Tudor, and the ogived Gothic, we will use in hall, billiard room, stair and fireplace opening, and on a side porch as an effective stone flying arch. In the same side porch the windows can be made to drop downward into the rail, being protected by a weather cap, but the old-fashioned stored in the basement or attic method is gen- erally the most satisfactory. The electrical field will include an arrangement to close one bathroom door when the other opens, a cut-glass cabinet electrically lighted, electric range, washer and mangle in kitchen and laundry, and a device to keep that block of ice frozen. In winter the electric fan will force radiators to do double work and at all seasons fan dishes dry, effectually supplanting the too often insanitary dish towel. The dining room will have a floor bell and in a dry basement tool room we can plan for an electric forge and lathe. Opening and closing a hall closet door will automatically turn on or off an electric light, a check valve preventing waste. Every closet must have electric light, either cord or wall hung. Radiators ample in capacity may be concealed with settle, silk fringe, stair riser, metal grille, or other device, remembering that when glass exceeds one-eighth of the wall area greater heating capacity is required. In the awninged, cement-floored veranda fronting the house and roofing the proposed bowling alley, the rail can be broken by two EXTERIOR FEATURES 359 projecting settles which, if placed equidistant from ends, will vary the stiff, straight balustrade line and give unobstructed view; gal- vanized iron wire mesh forming the seat under water-proofed canvas cushions. A side porch will be shielded but not shadowed from the north- west winter winds by a framed sheet of plate glass fastened firmly at settle top and porch eave, and the lower light of the porch window screened with leaded glass. Cellar bulkhead doors fitted with wire-glass set in metal cov- ered frames, buttresses at their sides raised three feet above grade, will balk that burning-over fire that sometimes reaches a bulk- head door ; built of cement and hollowed for plants they would brighten the servants' porch end of the house. The swimming pool, an outdoor affair, glass enclosed in winter, serves the double purpose of reflecting the villa "from turret to foundation stone," as well as flowering shrub and towering elm, and gives exhilarating enjoyment on warm sultry days, the incoming water filtered for germ protection. Electric lights circle its edge. The expense of building may be somewhat curtailed as the soil can be used to grade the pool-centred esplanade connecting by an arbre-arched gate with a patio, which will greatly aid in giving a true infront and outfront. A fireproof filing-cabinet-room, 10'xlO'xlO' (which may prove a grand money saver) can be built about fifty feet from the house, in which to store maps, deeds, valuable papers, films, plates, etc. Constructed of cement, lined with boiler iron, and electrically con- nected with the owner's room by wire buried in a cement-grouted ditch, it will prove a first class time and money saver, located on trifle lower ground than the house site, and the roof, capped with a belve- dere of cement, iron and tile, it would make a capital tea and break- fast room as well as a siesta nook, the connecting walk to the east porch-room shaded by a vine-embowered and plant centred pergola which, with belvedere, would completely disguise the somewhat com- mercial appearance of the filing-room, give presence far in excess of the additional expense, and improve infront and outfront. If a tree grows close to the servants' porch encircle it with the platform that leads to the clothes yard, and in the largest limb crotch build a tree eyrie reached by railed and platformed steps. From its topmost branches a bird trolley can travel to the box- greenery window in the sewing-room, and occasionally the more courageous songsters may venture among the house plants. In the exterior wall, as in the old Saxon days, may be attempted a copper or terra cotta panel designed along graffito lines. The pergola, which can be made an extravagant adjunct or an inexpensive adornment, will help greatly in dragging down the height of the house and connect it with the extension Colonial flower- 360 APPENDIX garden which joins the west terrace. "That garden is a lovesome spot, God wot, rose plot, fringed pool, ferned grot." Whitewash in colors will enable us to line out the entire first and second floors on the greensward before lifting a shovelful of earth, and we shall be greatly aided in building by archetypes of wood or cardboard, one-eighth scale, of each house, which can be dissected and changed before nailing up the first batten board. Grounds can be laid out in miniature and photographs and planting arranged and rearranged in the model. After house is enclosed we can tempor- arily partition it in a day with mason's grounds for inspection and change. Conveniences ranging from a key-cabinet to a thermostat include a coil of water piping in the ice-box, niches at each side of the front door, in hall wall, over entrance door, and in gala room, a telephone jog large enough to hold a guest book, and a utility closet. Careful planning to fit the house to the site will make the liv- ing room face south and west, dining room east, library north, and kitchen north and east, remembering also that poor landscaping and an unnecessary net work of drives and paths may blemish a fine con- ception. While our two type houses embody a wide range of features, the get-it-in-at-all-hazards spirit, which so persistently dogs the footsteps of the obsessed amateur builder, must be strenuously fought. It is good planning to have three stop-off stations in that journey from batten board to latch key, giving at each two or three days of thought, before studding, before plastering, before trimming. Altera- tions then made would often prevent those ugly afterthought work- outs which raspingly stand by one for life. In house building we often lose sight of such expensive essen- tials as foundation, roof, chimney, window, and door, the matter- of-course things, but are apt to most enjoy and more clearly remem- ber and note for reference the comparatively inexpensive things: that marble door sill, a motto, a carved newel, a segmented ceiling, a swinging leaded casement, a picture window, the lines of an unus- ually high, undoored opening, a white and gold combination in a bathroom, semi-conservatory-entrance porch, white tiling against green plants, plate glass windows, sleeping jog, settled ingle-nook, niche, even such an insignificant matter as alternating three balusters on one step and two on the next. It is easy to name a mightily interesting list of things which, judged by the strict rule of essentials, are unnecessary, yet well worth the doing and minister hourly to the enjoyment of owner and guest as long as the house is a house. SIXTY SOMEWHAT UNUSUAL AND EFFECTIVE FEATURES THAT WE HAVE USED Ambry 311 Astronomical-domed ceiling- in children's play room 228 Bath tub 4'x4'xl'2" for children 231 Bookshelves extending- across a room without a break in book line 219 Burglar-proof staircase 226 Cellar floor, walls, and ceiling white marbleized 225 Clerestory, plate glass, with fireplace and wide overhang 234 Coal saver (in use for 25 years) 232 Cold grapery of inexpensive de- sign 249 Concealed lawn barriers, ex- tending vistas 243 Conservatory as entrance vesti- bule to the house 312 Crater garden 150 Crow's nest in the hemlocks.. 134 Doors, four in one, fifteen feet wide 277 Electric light in chimney for ventilation 231 Entrance steps and stairs over cellar stairs with glass risers for lighting cellar... 113 Fernery under stairs in place of a boxed-in closet 183 Feudal drawbridge and moat. . 244 Fireplace in porte cochSre and porte coch&re coachman's nook with stone settles.... 124 Fireproof filing cabinet room, 10'xlO'xlO', of cement, de- tached from house 303 Flambeau-wall-fireplace 222 Ford of concrete with stepping- stones at side 71 Freak fireplace connecting with two rooms, and with sepa- rating reredos 320 Guest stair, concealed 225 Hall lavatory stolen from base- ment 152 Hanging balcony held firmly through two partitions.... 146 Hobbed fireplace opening 10'8" 174 Hole-in-ground greenhouse . . . 247 House enlarged yet not en- larged 158 Imprisoned wild garden 311 Lintel, verdure - crowned (a large wardian case) 325 Map of escape carved in foun- tain rim centreing the maze 244 Mirage rooms 230 Moat and drawbridge 244 Norman feudal tower used as pole-centred fire escape.... 140 Overhang of eight feet lower- ing and cooling house 171 Partition wall of leaded glass extending to ceiling over an arched entrance to ceil- ing 193 Partitioning the entire house in a day 328 Porch closet for books, wraps, and toys 229 Porte coch&re wire glass roofed to prevent shadowing of rooms (Appendix) Recessed balcony in hall over staircase, giving height and light to stairway below.... 197 Rest room 234 Secret rooms 229 Settle cut in ledge at entrance. 132 Sleeping jog (not a room) 228 Sound-proof, isolated room for reading or writing 124 Stalking lion stair rail 179 Steps and buttresses cut from a solid block of granite 216 Sub-cellar, or favissa, of uni- form temperature the year around, well drained and ventilated 237 Telescopic room 270 Telescopic window 216 Throated mantel hood, a metal frame, bulged over plaster of side wall 233 Toddlers' garden 61 Trussed transom window bar. . 144 Ventilating corridor for kitchen odors 223 Veranda or house, if vine-clad, to be oiled rather than re- painted 312 Veranda roof-eye large enough to light first floor rooms.. (Appendix) Veranda with burlap covered walls over smooth cement, above wainscot and plate rail 239 Veranda with ivy-covered ceil- ing 115 Yacht studio on land.. . 282 THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY LATCH STRINGS TO COM- FORT AND LUXURY IN HOUSE AND GROUNDS. A DESIRABLE HOUSE CAN BE BUILT WITHOUT ONE OF THEM, YET ALL ARE SOMETIMES USED Ancestral portrait gallery 218 Arboretum 74, 104 Arched stair soffit 183 Arched-under house and road- level-house 307 Arches, flying 310 Areas draining into bricked and sand-bottomed dry well 144 Armored knights 242 Arrow compass set in loggia cement floor 274 Aviary 243, 296 Awninged veranda 239 Back plastering 281 Back stair tread with dustless corners (Appendix) Balustrade, solid, of lath and plaster construction capped with wood 183- Base eighteen inches high 237 Base, sanitary 229, 282 Basement appearance eliminated by use of large windows, grilles, columns, and white enamel paint 224 Basement billiard room 331 Bath cabinet, electric 231 Bath closet combining bath, basin, and swivel faucet.. 230 Bathroom fixtures, gold plated 231 Bathroom with barreled or domed ceiling 231 Bathroom with seven foot stud, economically tiled to ceil- ing, uncapped, and readily heated 316 Bathroom with two electrically closing doors 231 Bath tub inset in floor 199 Bath tub six feet long 230 Bay, semi-polygon 189 Beamed and stuccoed interior walls 140 Bed alcove with curved top.... 197 Bed dais with rounded corners. 227 Belvedere 208 Bird trolley 39 Bookcases with ventilating, sliding curtains 219 Borders of English ivy 243 Bowling alley 225 Box front stoop (Appendix) Box greenery window 5 Cabinet of enameled steel 223 Campanile 213 Canvas, odorless 231 Canvas protected ceilings 321 Caryatides supporting mantel.. 175 233 Cedar lined closets and settles.' 228 Ceiling, barreled, with deco- rated half-moon ends 189 Ceiling cambered 325 Ceiling, coved 325 Ceiling finished to tower peak.. 155 Cellar ceiling asbestos covered 236 Cellar corners concave filled with cement to ceiling line 224 Cellar floor laid to drain 224 Cellar windows screened and iron barred from bug, rodent and burglar 225 Cement ash bin, metal covered connected with range and holding several tons (Appendix) Cement flower boxes for win- dow sills and step but- tresses 213 Cement mixed with crude oil for foundation work 322 Cement walks with asphalt ex- pansion seams 310 Chandelier built of swords and bayonets 281 Chandelier or electrolier of non - corroding glass for conservatory 219 Chimney in porch or den made of lichen covered stones.... 105 Chimneys split into two parts above roof-tree 234 Chimneys, exterior, twin, of stone 146 Chute of cement for coal deliv- ery from bin to furnace.... 224 Chute of non-rusting metal for clothes 199, 299 Closet, secret 228 Closet, ventilated and locked for soiled clothes in laundry.. 199, 229 Conservatory on second story balcony 295 Convex screens for casement windows 215 Copper and brass thefts pre- vented by using substitutes 314 Cupboard, exterior, for ice de- livery 224 Cupboard, exterior, for milk and groceries 224 Dining room at different level. 130 Dining room, mirrored and cir- cular 133 Dish-washing apparatus 223 Donjon and postern gates 132 Door heads framed in tapestry, burnt wood, or plaster casts 242 Doors, blind, for bedrooms 227 Doors, double, between bed- rooms 295 Doors, double, on balcony, with knuckle and elbow joint centre 311 Doors, double, to linen closet.. Doors, four feet wide, in base- ment 197 Doors, invisible 228 Doors, oak banded and iron studded 217 Doors, seven by nine, single,. . . . 161 Doors, pivoted, swiveled and shelved for pantry 152 LATCH STRINGS 363 Doorway fourteen feet high.... 130 Drawers fitted with rollers and guide strips 235 Dressing rooms heated con- nected with sleeping jog. . . 197 Drying machine 238 Dust flap for books 219 Eighteen inch baseboards 324 Electric bath cabinet 231 Electric control of exterior doors and lights from within 237 Electric handmaiden 238 Electric knocker 237 Elimination of door saddle.... 317 Elliptic dining room 133 Esplanade 203, 214. 217 Faucet, non-projecting 224 Fire control devices 331 i< ireplace and chimney breast tiled to ceiling line 233 Fire line stack from cellar to roof 331 Fire pipe, perforated, along roof ridge 332 Fireplace at each end of room. 218 Fireplace, copper face breast.. 233 Fireplace, feudal 232 Fireplace hood of embossed leather 233 Fireplace, second story hall.... 225 Fireplace, summer treatment of 233 Fireplace with plate glass inset in chimney breast above opening 233 Fireplace with settle fender of leather 233 Fire ropes of wire 226 Fire tools six feet high 174 Floor deadening over kitchen and in servants' quarters and nursery 293 Floral calendar planting 212 Floral ribbon bordering a drive 212 Flue constructed of round tile 318 Flue, ventilating, at ceiling height 223 Forecourt 214 Forest nymph faces in wain- scoting 241 Fountain, electric 193 Fountain, wall 189 Four compass point room 135 Free-from-odor house 223 Funnel stair banished 174 Furnace in outbuildings con- nected by pipes 236 Garbage incinerator 223 Gargoyles at spoutheads and under brackets 160 Garret sanctum 222 Gas water heater in kitchen... 223 Gate fastening to prevent sagging 61 Gazebo 203 Geese, trio of, suspended from ceiling to show points of compass 241 Glass panel in sleeping jog.... (Appendix) Gold plated faucets 231 Gold plated and aluminum hard- ware 231 Gorgon head 161 Gravel pits beautified 22 Grease trap 223 Groined ceiling 329 Grotto under gazebo 204 Guest book nook 238 Gymnasium with roof, and open sides over porte cochere 122 Hall draught stopper 160 Hall twenty-five feet high 237 Hall with feudal treatment.... 217 Hall with barreled ceiling long and narrow 322, 329 Hardware, invisible locks and hinges 228 Hedge of sweet brier roses .... 67 Highway bordered by Wier's cut-leaf maple 77 Hooded Caen stone mantel with rounded edges and slightly tapering 189 Horse posts with roof shelter and screened light 244 House enlarged, yet not en- larged 158 House number inset in cement walk 311 Ice house vine-screened 71 Ideal suite 135 Infront and outfront, both fronts 252 Ingle seats 189 Insect escape in screen 216 Inset mats in porch and bath- room 2 Intarsiatura trim 324 Keeping-room 5 Keyless and never closed bird restaurant •_ 101 Key rack for duplicate keys 238 Kitchen enameled white with white tiled floor and walls. 193. 222 Knocker, a knight's vizor traced with name 154 Lantern, King Alfred, seven feet high, chain-hung 237 Lock in Bastile style 221 Log cabin 221 Loggia with service door to pantry 218 Lookout 199 Lych gate with mottoed arch.. 243 Mantel of weather-beaten lum- ber 222 Marquise formed by veranda overhang 132 Metal box near kitchen flue for scrub cloths 223 Metal ceilings over plaster in laundry, kitchen and cellar 222 Metal, sheets of, suspended over furnace 236 Mezzanine den filched from above an ingled alcove.... 193 Minarets 213 Minstrels' balcony 179 Mirror doors 230 Mirror with muntins 230 Mirrors cut through baseboards, filling space between win- dows ..7 230 Mirrors for juggling with north light 216 Mirrors, triplicate 231 Model of new house in wood, cement or cardboard 328 Moorish arched alcove full width of room from floor to ceiling 155 Moorish arched fireplace 155 Morning room 230 Mottoes 219, 332 Newel, crystal-capped 183 364 LATCH STRINGS Newel to ceiling, supporting opening braced with gorgon heads 183 Niches siding front door... 161, 238 Non-freezing outdoor sill-cocks 322 North room most suitable for bird's eye maple 228 Nursery walls instructively decorated and indestructible 228 Oil stove made hygienic 3, 247 Ombra 129 Oriel windows on stairs and be. tween rooms 183 Outdoor dining room 277 Outdoor dining room for serv- ants 11 5 Outlet pipe twice the size of inlet 232 Outshot 7 Panels of Caen stone in bas- relief for interior and ex- terior 189 Patio 218 Pent eaves 7 Pergolad clothes yard 239 Piazza, rail broken by project- ing seats 239 Picture gallery 218 Picture window gilt framed and wire-hung 215 Pistol gallery 122 Pit-set boiler (Appendix) Plants, anywhere 78 Plate glass ventilator 215 Plate warmer 220 Platforms and veranda floors of cement 'with wire core 214 Pompeiian drinking fountain.. 129 Pool in courtyard as reflector. 245 Pool, swimming 200 Porch ceiling, beamed, cemented and decorated 240 Porch door side screened with single sheet of plate glass. 232 Projection of four inches over second story (Appendix) Quarry tile, one-half inch joint 207 Rabbets triple jointed 311 Radiators concealed 311 Radiators inset back of stair risers 236 Rail, silken hand 183 Ramp paved with rough cast square bricks 220 Ramp to belvedere and gazebo. 220 Range, glass-hooded to light a dark corner 193, 223 Range with ash chute to cellar. 223 Range with thermometer at- tached 223 Range with ventilating electric chimney fan 223 Ravine reached by vine-clad steps of railroad sleepers.. 22 Recesses 238 Reflectors of ribbed glass in cellar 225 Revolver wall pocket 226 Roads of turf 213 Roads, ungullied 69 Room plastered to peak 155 Rooms for guests' attendants.. 122 Rubber plugs in glass door frames 235 Rustless iron work 310 Safe, wall jewel 227 Safety valve on kitchen boiler. 223 Saxon bower room 222 Saxon-thayne roofed and tim- bered hall 222 Scraper, antique 161 Scraper formed from iron gate brace 311 Secret alcove and niches for furniture 229 Settles fitted with wire mesh.. 239 Shakes, Colonial 313 Shampoo fixture 231 Shaving jog 231 Shelves, hanging, of enameled steel 224 Shingle weatherage of four and one-half inches 214 Shoe shelf 228 Shower jog 322 Shower, outside 322 Shut-offs for hot water heating 232 Shut-offs in house plumbing... 232 Shutter with crescent peep-eye 327 Sills, marble, for bathroom (Appendix) Sills, marble, for entrance 161 Sinks in kitchen and butler's pantry set six inches higher than usual 223 Skating rink in garage 245 Sleeping porches 228 Spandreled arches 329 Stain, non-odorous 327 Stair, close string 326 Stair curlicue 326 Stair hall, second story, domed and doored 132 Stair rail hand grip 216 Stair rail, three feet six inches 326 Stair rods 227 Stair, steamer 121 Stair window, sixteen feet square with concave glass.. 144 Stairs enclosed 2 Stairs side-settled 138 Steps facing three ways. (Appendix) Stone-roofed outbuildings 314 Storeroom vermin and tempera- ture-proof 224 Stroll path 89 Studio lighted by large and high north windows 197 Sun bathroom -with south win- dows and skylight 227 Sun dial on exterior wall with motto 208 Telephones in each room. (Appendix) Telescopic house 200 Terrace bank firmly held by honeysuckle planting 22 Toggery closet 229 Toilet, sanitary angle 231 Tourelle, corbeled 213 Trammels and crane 174 Transoms (Appendix) Trap door to storage space above veranda (used in small house or bungalow) . Tree basket nest 139 Tree house 63 Trunk lift 155 Turf roads 213 Turf steps 239 Turntable a.nd pit in garaere . . 245 Two-level house 174, 307 Use of angle irons. 321 Vacuum cleaning pipes 238 Veranda galleried rooms sepa- rate from house 134 Veranda, open railed 273 Wainscot without panels 241 LATCH STRINGS 365 Wall niches in hall, stairs, and gala rooms 238 Wall radiators 236 Wall treatment, decorative.... 241 Waterfall, artificial 245 Water pipe over range, to fill tea kettle (Appendix) Weather strips, metal 302 Weed killer for paths and roads 69 Window fastenings, automatic. 216 Window screens, invisible 216 Window screens lowering into house wall 216 Windowed closets 295 Windows, box, upsliding for view panes 216 Windows, clear or leaded, de- pending on view, centreing a chimney 110 Windows, double, using leaded light, hinged within 216 Windows, Georgian 171 Windows, high in kitchen when latter overlooks front door approach 215 Windows in nursery high and grilled 228 Windows in partition of inner hall 216 Windows, north, of leaded yel- low opalescent glass 216 Windows on dark stairs close to ceiling line 216 Windows, overweighted, re- leased by spring 228 Windows, Saxon squint-eye.... 221 Windows, side sliding under attic eaves instead of breaking roof contours with dormers 129 Windows with up-step and side settles for attic 234 Workshop with forge and lathe 225 Yacht room 230 ARBORETUM INDEX TREES, SHRUBS AND PLANTS Acuba Ash, var 87 Fraxinus Adam's Needle 81 Yucca filamentosa Adder's Tongue 97 Ophioglossum vulgatum Agave, century plant, aloe 81 Ailanthus, Paradise tree or tree of heaven 88 Ailanthus glandulosa Alder leaved trailing chestnut.. 59 Alder nigra 89 Alnus glutinosa Alder (cut-leaf) ....;-. 89 Alnus glutinosa laciniata im- perialis Algae, that realm which gamuts from a microscopic plant to 700 feet of kelp on a single stem 99 Almond, flowering 102 Amygdalus Althea, rose of Sharon 101 Hibiscus syriacus Althea, variegated 87 Hibiscus variegata Alum root 97 Heuchera americana Ampelopsis veitchii or Boston ivy 78 Andromeda (stagger bush) 95 Anemone, Japanese 96 Anemone japonica Anemone, wind flower 96 Aquilegia 88 Aquilegia Aralia spinosa 94 Arborvitae 77 Biota elcgantissima aurea.... 95 Biota orientalis 77 Biota occidentalis 77 Arbutus, trailing 103 Epigaea repens Arnica 97 Arnica mollis Arrowhead 100 Saggitaria Arrow-wood 103 Viburnum dentatum Arrow-wood, downy-leaved 103 Viburnum pubescens Arundo donax var 87 Aster, common blue wood 99 Aster cordifolius Aster, late purple 99 Aster patens Aster, New England 99 Aster novae-angliae Aster, sky-blue 99 Aster azure us Astilbe, Japanese 88 Astilbe japonica Azalea . 87 Azalea arborescens Azalea mollis 77, 87, 94 Baby's breath 97 Gypsophila paniculata Bachelor's button, corn flower, blue bottle 96 Centaur ca cyanus Balm of Gilead 97 Populus candicans Balsam, wild, touch-me-not 96 Impaticns Bambusa metake 87 Barberry, Japanese 78, 87 Bcrberis japonica Basil, sweet, or thyme 97 Ocimum basilicum Bayberry 97 Myrica carolinensis Bay tree 62 Magnolia virginiana Bearberry 97 Arctostaphylos Beech 85 Fagus ferruginea Fagus sylvatica Fagus heterophylla, fern-leaf Fagus purpurea, River's Beggar ticks 98 Bidens vulgata Bell flower 88 Campanula Bergamot, wild 97 Monarda fistulosa Bindweed 99 Convolvulus sepium Birch 85, 86 Be tula laciniata Betula purpurea Betula lutea 57, 80 Bitter-sweet 84, 89, 101 Celastrus scandcns Black alder 99 Alnus vulgaris Black-eyed Susan 96 Rudbeckia hirta Black walnut 89 Juglans nigra Bladder-nut 102 Staphylia tripholia ARBORETUM INDEX 367 Blazing star 97 Liatris pycnostachya Bleeding heart 97 Dicentra spcctabilis Bloodroot 97 Sangitinaria catiadensis Boneset 97 Eupatorium perfoliatum Boston ivy 78 Ampelopsis veitchii Pouncing bet 96 Saponaria officinalis Box 81 Buxus sempervirens Bridal wreath 97 Spirea van Honttei Buckeye 85 Aesculus hippocastaintin Buckthorn, sea 101 Hippophae rhainnoides Bugbane 97 Cimicifuya Bur reed 100 Sparganium Burdock 98 Arc Hum lap pa Burning bush or spindle tree.... 101 Euonymons Butter-and-eggs 97 Linaria vulgaris Buttercup 97 Ranunculus Butternut 58 Juglans cineria Buttonwood, plane or sycamore. 84 Platanus occidentalis Brake 100 Pteris aquilina Cactus, hardy 82 Opuntia vulgaris Caladium esculentum (elephant's ear) 79 Callicarpa 101 Callicarpa purpurea Calycanthus (strawberry shrub) 82 Calycanthus floridus Canada thistle 15 Cirsium arvcnse Cancer root or squaw root...,. 98 Epifagus Canna (Indian shot) 95 Caraway 97 Carum carui Carrot, wild 89 Daucus Catalpa (Indian bean) 101 Catalpa, umbrella-headed 101 Catbrier 97 Smilax Catnip or catmint 97 Nepeta cat aria Cat-tail flag 97 Typa la ta folia Cedar Cednis atlantica glauca Cedrus deodora Century plant Agave americana Cercis (Judas tree) Chamomile Anthemis tinctoria Cherry, Japanese Cerasnus flora plena Cherry, wild black Primus serotina Chestnut Castanea Chickweed A! sine media Chinquapin Castanea puinila Chokeberry Adcnorhachis Chrysanthemum Cigar plant (Mexican) Cuphea platycentra Cinquefoil Poteniilla canadcnsis Clematis Jackmanni Clematis paniculata grandiflora. . Clematis, Virgin's bower 84, Clethra (white alder) or pepper bush Clethra alnifolia Cloudberry Rubus chamaenwrus Colchicum Colic root or star grass Aletris farinosa Colorado blue spruce Picea kosteriana Coltsfoot Tussilago farfara Columbine Aquilegia canadensis Colutea Colutea arborescens Cone-flower Rudbeckia speciosa Conium (poison hemlock) Copper plum Prunus 'pissardi Coreopsis Coreopsis lanceolata Corn flag Gladiolus Corn flower -. Centaures cyanus Cornelian cherry Corpse plant or Indian plant Monotropa Cosmos Cow lily Nymphaea advena 102 100 368 ARBORETUM INDEX Cow parsnip 97 • Heracleum lanatum Cowslip 97 Primula Crab apple 97 Pyrus coronaria Cress, scurvy grass 99 Barbarea verna Crocus 81 Iris Crowfoot 97 Ranunculus Currant, black 55 Ribes americanum Currant, Indian, or coral-berry.. 81 Symphoricarpus vulgaris Currant, red Ribes rubrum Currant, yellow 101 Ribes aureum Cypress 80, 86, 95, 103 Taxodium distichum Daffy-down-dilly 96 Narcissus pseudo-narcissus Dahlia 87 Dahlia variabilis Daisy 96 Chrysanthemum Daisy, Hessian field 96 Daisy, Michaelmas 96 Dandelion 96 Taraxacum taraxacum Daphne 81 Daphne mesereum Desmodium or tick-trefoil 82 Desmodium Deutzia 101 Deutzia crenata flora plena Devil's bit or blazing star 97 Chamaelirium luteuni Dimorphantus 94 Dock, radish-leaved 98 Rumex crispus Dodder 99 Cuscuta gronovii Dogbane 97 Apocynum androsaemifolium Dogwood, alternate-leaved. 84, 97, 99 Cornus alternifolia Dogwood, red osier 84, 97, 99 Cornus stolonifera Dogwood, red 77 Cornus rubra Dogwood, variegated 87 Cornus variegata Dragon-root or dragon arum 98 Arisaema dracontium Duckweed 97 Lemna polyrhisa Dutchman's pipe 22 Aristolochia sipho Echeverias Cotyledon 95 Edelweiss 95 Leontopodium leontopodium Eglantine or sweet brier 150 Rosa rubiginosa Egyptian grains -82 Egyptian lotus 99 Elder, black 57 Sambucus canadcnsis Elder, golden 101 Sambucus aurea Elm, American 85, 86 Ulmus americanus 80 Elm, Camperdown 85 Ulmus pendula Elm, cork 85 Ulmus racemosa Empress tree 77 Paulozmia imperialis English walnut, hardy 59 Juglans regia Erianthus ravennae or plumed grass 87 Eulalia gracillima 87 Eulalia japonica zebrina 87 Euonymous radicans var 87 Euonymous, strawberry tree, staff tree 87 Everlasting 87 Gnaphalium decurrens Fennel 97 Foeniculum vulgarc Fern, maiden-hair 101 Adiantum pedatum Fern, sweet 99 Comptonia peregrina Fever-bush 97 Lindera benzoin Fi" common 62 Ficus carica Filbert 80 Corylus Fir, Nordmann's 85, 101 Abies nordmanniana Fire-weed 89 Epilobium angustifolium Flagroot 97, 99 Fleur-de-lis 81 Iris germanica Forget-me-not 88 My os otis palustris Forsythia 81, 87 Forsythia suspensa Forsythia varigata Forsythia virdissima Foxglove, downy false 88, 92 Dasystoma flava Fringe tree, common 97, 102 Chionanthus virginica Gentian, fringed 97 Gentiana crineta Geranium 248 Pelargonium ARBORETUM INDEX 369 Ginseng 88 Panax quinquefolium Gladiolus (iris) 88 Gladiolus Goatsbeard 97 Aruncus aruncus Golden elder 101 Sainbucus aurea Golden glow 78 Rudbeckia laciniata Golden oak 80 Quercus aurea Golden-rod 102 Solidago Goose grass 97 Eleusine Grape, Niagara 55 Vitis cordifolia Grass, eulalia 87 Enlalia gracillima Grass, plume 87 Erianthus ravennae Grass, ribbon 87 Phalaris arundiacea plcta Groundsell bush 101 Bacharis halimifolia Guelder rose or snowball tree 81, 101 Viburnum opulus Gymnocladus or Kentucky cof- fee 102 Gymnocladus Harebell 88 Campanula rotundifolia Hawthorn 102 Cratacgus Hazel, 39, 80 Corylus Hemlock 87 Tsuga Hen and chickens 97 Sempervwum tectonun Hercules' club 94, 103 Aralia spinosa Hessian field daisy 96 Hibiscus cooperii 62 Hickory 38, 80 Hicoria High bush Cranberry Viburnum opulus Hobblebush 89 Viburnum acerifolium Hogweed 97 Ambrosia art emisiae folia Holly, English 82 Ilex aquifolium Hollyhock 88 Althea rosea Honeysuckle, bush 82 Diervilla dier villa Hop tree, golden 101 Ptelea aurea Horsechestnut 85 Aesculus hippocastanum Horse-mint 97 Mentha longifolia Horse-radish 97, 99 Nasturtium armoracea Horse-tail 97 Equisetum Hydrangea , 78, 87, 94 Hydrangea arborescens Hydrangea hortensis Hydrangea paniculata Iceland moss 95 Certaria islandica Ice plant 89 Mesembryanthemum crystallium Indian currant 81 Symphoricarpus vulgaris Indian pipe or corpse plant 98 Monotropa uniflora Indigo shrub 102 Iris 99 Iris, German 81 Iris germanica Iris, Japanese 81, 88 Iris kempferi Iris, Siberian 81 Iris sibirica Iris, Spanish 81 Iris ibirica Ivy, English 62 Hedera helix Ivy, poison 98 Toxicodendron Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Indian turnip or preacher 98 Arisaema triphyllum Jacob's ladder 88 Polemonium ceruleum Japan juniper (japonica) 95 Juniperus aurea 95 Juniperus hibernica 95 Juniperus sabina 102 Japan kerria ..„ 101 Kerria japonica Japan quince 82 Cydonia japonica Japanese umbrella pine 101 Sciadopitys verticillata Jasmine or jessamine 88, 101 Jasminum officinale Jewel weed 98 Impatiens bi flora Jimson weed or Jamestown weed 97 Datura stramonium Joe-pye-weed, or purple thor- oughwort 99 Eupatorium purpureum Jonquil 88 Narcissus jonquil la Judas tree 87 Cercis Cercis japoncia 370 ARBORETUM INDEX .95, 102 Juniper Juniper us communis Juniper us deprcssa Kalmia 84 Kalmia latifolia Katsura 85 Cercidiphyllum Kentucky coffee 102 Gymnocladus Kerria japonica 77, 101 Kerria variegata 87 Kilmarnock willow 85 Caprea pendula Knotweed 88 Polygonum sieboldi Koelreuteria or varnish tree.... 102 Keulreuteria paniculata Koster's Colorado blue spruce. .. 85 Picea kosteriana Kudsu vine 62 Dolichos japonica Kerria, (cochorus) 101 Laburnum or golden chain 101 Laburnum vulgare Laburnum, Scotch 101 Laburnum alpinum Ladies' slipper, pink 98 Cypripedium spectabile Ladies' slipoer, yellow 98 Cypripedium pubesccus Ladies' thumb 98 Polygonum persicaria Larch 102 Larix Larkspur 88 Delphinnm Laurel, American 84 Kalmia latifolia Laurel (lamb-kill ) 84 Leek, wild 88 Allium tricoccum Leopard's bane 97 Doronicum plantaceneum var. Lichens, those plant exponents of two in one, algae, a chlor- ophyll joined with a fun- gus non-chlorophyll 98 Lilac, common 78, 80, 101 Syringa vulgaris Lilac, Persian 82 Syringa per sic a Lily, blackberry 88 Belam canda Lilv, day 88 Hemerocallis Lily. Japanese gold-banded 88 Lilium auratum Lily of the valley 88,97 Convallaria majalis Lilv. tiger 88 Lilium tigrinum Lily, toad 88 Tricytis hirta Lily, yellow day 99 Liverwort 88 Hepatica triloba Locust 57 Robinia Locust, honey 94 Glcditsia Loosestrife, spiked 88 Lysimachia terrestris 100 Lotus, Egyptian 99 Lungwort 88 Mertensia Lupine 88 Lupin us Magnolia 101 Magnolia acuminata Magnolia stellata 77 Mahonia 88 Berberis aquifolium Maiden-hair tree or gingko 101 Salisburia adiantifolia Mallow 99 Malva sylvestris Mandrake, wild 88 Podophyllum peltatum Man-of-the-earth 98 Ipomea pandurata Maple 79 Acer Maole, purple 79 Platanoides sclnuedleri Maple sugar, rock or hard 84 Acer sacharum Maple, tri-color bark 84 Maple, Wier's cut-leaf 77 IVierii laciniatum Marjoram 97 Origanum marjoram Marshmallow 99 Alt/ica officinalis Matrimony vine 97 Lycium vulgare Meadow rue 96 Thalictruin Michaelmas daisy 96 Milkweed and butterfly weed 89, 97, 99 Asclebias Mint 99 Mentha Meat eating plants 99 Mock orange 102 Philadelphia coronarius Moneywort 89 Lysimachia purpurea Monkshood 88 Aeonitum Moonflower 22 Ipomea maxima ARBORETUM INDEX 371 Morning glory, wild 99 Ipomea Mosses 98 Mosses, asexual 21 Moss pink 88 Phlox subulata Mountain ash 80 Sorbus Mulberry 80, 101 Morus Mulberry, weeping 86 Merits pendula Mullein ". 98 Verbascum Mushroom, field 98 Agaricus campestris Xannyberry 97 Viburnum lentago Narcissus, poet's 82, 88 Narcissus Poeticus Nettle 98 Lamium Nettle tree 102 Celtis occidentalis New Jersey tea or red root 102 Ceanothus americana Nicotinna or tobacco 88 Nordmann's fir 85, 101 Abies nordmanniana Oak, golden 80, 101 Quercus aurea Oak of Mamre 82 Oak, scarlet 79 Quercus coccinea Oak, white 85 Quercus alba Oleander 62 Nerium Oogamous plants 99 Orange 101 Citrus Orange, osage 67 Madura Ox-eye daisy 96 Chrysanthemum leucanthemum Pampas grass 87 Gvnerium argentenum Pansy 88 Viola tricolor Partridge berry 22 Mitchella repens Paulownia imperialis 77,94 Pea, perennial ^ . . 88 Lathyrus latifolius Peach 53 Persica Pearl bush 101 Exochorda grandiflora Pennyroyal, American 97 Hedeoma pulegioides Peony, tree 94 Paeonia moutan . 87 Pepper bush, sweet ............ 82 Clethra Peppermint .................... 97 Mentha piperita Phlox, garden ....... ,. ......... 88 Phlox decussata or paniculata Phlox subulata .............. 88 Pine, Austrian ................ 103 Pinus austriaca Pine, red . .................... 84 Pinus resin osa Pine Weymouth ............... 85 Pineapple ...................... 81 Pink .......................... 88 Piant hus Pitcher plant, side saddle flower, huntsman's cup .......... 99 Sarracenia Plantain ...................... 97 Plantago Plum, copper ................... 101 Priinns pissardi Poison hemlock ................ 88 Co ilium Poison ivy .................... 98 Rhus toxicodendron Pokeweed .............. ....... 98 Phytolacca Polygonum sachaliense ......... 100 Poplar, gold ........ ........... 85 Populus van geertii Poplar, lombardy ............. 81, 86 Populus dilatata Poolar. silver ................. 80 Populus alba Poplar monilifera or cotton- wood, aspen ............ 86 Poppy, Oriental^ ........ . ..... 88 Papaver somniferum Opium Prickly pear, common ......... 82 Opuntia vulgaris Primrose, evening ............. 88 Oenothcra biennis Prince's feather ............... 98 Amarantus cordaius Privet. California ............. 78 Ligustrum ovalifolium Privet varigata ................ 87 Prunus Pissardi (copper plum) 101 Pyrethrum .................... 88 Pyrcthrum Quince, Japanese Cydonia japonica 101 Ragged robin ................. 97 Lychnis flos-cuculi Ragweed ...................... 98 Ambrosia Ranunculus .................... 95 Raspberry, purple flowering ---- 14 Rubus odoratus Rattlesnake root .............. 97 Nabalus 372 ARBORETUM INDEX Red-hot poker plant, torch lily.. 82 Tritoma Reed, plumed ravenna 87 Erianthus ravennae Retinospera or Japan cedar . . 77, 95 Rheumatism root 97 Jeffersonia diphylla Rhododendron 87 Rhododendron Rhubarb 97, 99 Rheum Ribbon grass 87 Phalaris picta Ricinus, palma christi, castor oil bean 95 Rock cress 88 Arabis Rose 78, 94 Rosa Rosa rugosa 87 Rose tree 94 Rosemary willow 85 Rosmarinifolia Rosin-weed, compass plant 98 Silphium terebinthinaceum Rue 96 Ruta Sage... 97 Salz'ia St. Bruno's lily 88 Anthericum St. John's wort 98 Hypericum St. Peter's wort 98 Ascyrum Sarsaparilla, wild 97 Aralia nudicantis Sassafras 84, 97 Sassafras officinale Saxifrage 95 Saxifraga Scarlet lightning 97 Lychnis calcedonica Scilla 88 S cilia Scotch broom 89 Cytisus scoparius Self-heal 97 Prunella vulgaris Senna, wild 97 Cassia marylandica Sensitive plant 89 Mimosa pudica Shad bush 97 Amelanchier canadensis Sheepberry 97 Viburnum lentago Silk tree 102 Albiszia julibrissin Silver fir, Eraser's 95 Abies fraseri Silver poplar 80 Populus alba Silver thorns 102 Elaeagnus longipes Sitfast 98 Ranunculus repcns Skull cap or mad dog skull cap 98 Scutellaria Skunk cabbage 81, 97 Symplocarpus Smartweed 97 Polygonum pennsylvanicum Smocks and tresses 98 Snakeroot, white 97 Eupatorium ageratoides Sneezeweed 88 Helenium Sneezewort, pearl 88 Ac hill ea p tar mica Snowball, Japanese 87, 103 Viburnum plicatum Snowberry 81 Symphoricarpus racemosus Snowdrop 81 Galanthus Snow-in-Summer 88 Cerastium tomentosum Sophora japonica 85 Sorrel, sheep, plant of the cen- turies, autumn color in summer 97 Rumex acetosella Spanish bayonet 81 Yucca Spearmint 97 Mentha spicata Spice bush 97 Lindera Spiderwort, blue 97 Tradescan tia virginiana Spikenard 97 Aralia racemosa Spindle tree, wide-stemmed 101 Euonymous alatus Spirea (meadow sweet) Quaker lady 57, 78 Spirea Spirea, blue 88 Spring beauty 96 Claytonia Spruce, Colorado blue 95 Picea kosteriana Spruce, Norway 86 Picea excelsa Spruce, white or cat 95 Picea alba Spurge 88 Euphorbia Squaw-root 98 Canopholis americana Squirrel corn 97 Dicentra canadensis Star grass 97 Hypoxia ARBORETUM INDEX 373 Star of Bethlehem 97 Ornithogalum Stramonium or Jimson weed... 97 Datura Strawberry bush 82 Euonymous americanus Stuartia or American cammelia 102 Stewartia Styrax japonica 82 Sumach 80 Rhus glabra Sumach, staghorn 65 Rhus tyf>hina Sun-dew, meat eater 99 Drosera Sunflower 33 Helianthus Sweetbrier 150 Rosa rubiginosa Sycamore or buttonwood 84 Platanus occidentalis Syringa 101 Philadelphus coronarius Tamarisk, India and Africa 10 Tamaris, French 10, 101 Tamarix gallica Tansy 9/ Tanacetum Tarragon 88 Artimisia dracunculoides Taxodium distichum or decidu- ous Southern cypress 80, 86, 103 Thallophytic plants 99 Thorn apple tree, common, or Jamestown weed 102 Datura stramonium Thoroughwort 97 Eupatorium Thunbergii berberis 78, 8/ Thyme 97 Thyrnus Tigridia 88 Toad lily 88 Tricyrtus hirta nigra Toadstool 97 Toothache tree 97 Zanthoxylum americanum Torch lily 82 Tritoma Trailing arbutus 103 Epigea re pens Tree of Heaven or Chinese sumach 88 Ailanthus Trumpet creeper 102 Tecomia radicans Tuberose 88 Polianthes Tulip 22 Tulip tree or whitewood 84 Liriodendron tulip ef era 98 88 101 Tumbleweed Amaranthus graecizans Turtle-head Chelone glabra Umbrella pine, Japanese Sciadopitys verticillata Valerian, garden .............. 97 Valeriana officinalis Varnish tree ................... 102 Koelreuteria Veronica, iron plant, speedwell. 88 Vetch ......................... 88, Vicia Viburnum or snowball .......... 81 Viburnum alnifolium (Hobble- bush moosewood Viburnum lantana (wayfaring tree) Viburnum tomentosum plicatum or Japan snowball ..... 87, 105 Victoria regia or Amazon water lily ..................... 99 Vinca, periwinkle or myrtle.... 23 Violet, meadow ............... 96 Viola obliqua Virginia creeper .............. 98 Ampelopsis Virgin's bower .............. 84, 89 Clematis Wake robin, great flowered.... 97 Trillium grandiflorum Walking ferns ................ 100 Walnut, black ................. 58 Juglans nigra Wayfaring tree ............... 89 Viburnum lantana Weigela ..................... 78, 86 Dienrilla WTeigela, var ................... 87 Weymouth pine ............... 85 Willow, pussy ....... 26, 77, 78, 81 Salix discolor Willow of Saint Helena ........ 88 Willow, rosemary .............. 85 Willow, weeping ............... 81 Salix Babylonica Winterberry, Virginia ......... 89 Ilex verticillata Wistaria, American ......... 78, 102 W is ta ria m agnifica Wistaria, Chinese .......... 78, 102 Wistaria sinensis W'ltch grass .................. 87 Panicum capillare Witch hazel .......... .......... 81, 97 Hamamelis virginiana Witch hazel, Chinese, winter flowering .................. 81 Withe-rod ..................... 89 Viburnum cassinoides \Voodbine ..................... 98 Psedera quinquefolia 374 ARBORETUM INDEX Wood sorrel, yellow 88 Yew 95,102 Oxalis stricta Taxus Wormwood 88, 97 Taxus aurea 95, 101 ******* Yucca 81 Xanthoceras sorbifolia 85 Yucca filamentosa INDEX Aberdeen-Angus polled cattle.. 17 Abney Park 82 Abraham's burial 83 Abraham's oaks 82 Abraham Lincoln 339 Absent pennant 245 Accentuate door, window, wain- scoting and mantel, avoid the over 313 Aches of old age, easing the... 97 Acid flesh protection 92 Accurate plans 289 Acme of living 301 Acoustics 218 Acquaintance and effort 341 Acreage 1 Adams, Samuel 217 Addenda which assert 304 Additions to cover money risks 297 Ad inflnitum world 193 Adirondack pine forest 152 Adirondacks at city's threshold 142 Adobe dwelling 302 Advantages of new worries.... 96 Advantages that increase value of a country home 338 Afterthought doors and win- dows expensive 311 Agglomeration of building ideas 300 Aggressive excrescences "Agin natur" novelties 78 Agronomical efforts 15 Ailanthus, odorous root spread- ing 88 Air and sunshine tax 215 Air castle, Alpine 234 Air castles woven into reality.. 160 Air-chamber cushions the back- kick of quickly shut-off water 323 Air check valve 235 Air, confined, makes a warm blanket 308 Air, deoxidized 223 Air duct to cellar radiators.... 236 Air lanes of migration 47 Air-lifting brick chamber 223 Air, nicotine-laden 234 Air-spaced plastering 214 Air spaces carry sound, but can be curbed with baffles. 308 Air spacing 257 Air, the great wood preservative 326 Alarm gong under eaves 226 Alcohol banished when ever- green roof-tree is nailed to the ridge 317 Alcove, bed 227 Alcove in breakfast bay 220 Alcove, Moorish arched 55 Alcove, oriel windowed 183 Alcove, windowed 138 Alden, John Alder leaf case bearer 92 Alembic of ideal housing 304 Alfalfa or lucerne growing.... 73 Algae from brook 193 Algae that scummed the pool.. 99 Alleys of box 243 All the world copyists 3 All-the-year house 281 Alphabetical names of cows 61 Alta Crest a human pyre 331 Altering the farm house 2 Aluminum cooking utensils.... 222 Amateurs "stomp" where angels fear to tread 309 Ambition, misguided 287 Ambry at either end 329 Ambry made by building house wall inward a foot or more 311 Ambush bug 91 Amy of the Brighton road 26 Amenable to reason 293 American Indian room 228 America's only Giant's Causeway 153 Amphitheatre 71 Anaemic architecture 301 Anchor chain, iron, for electro- lier 281 Ancestral hall 218 "And now his nose is thin".... 83 "And the jessamine fair and the sweet tuberose" 88 Andalusians, blue-blooded blue 31 Andirons, brass 233 Andirons crowned with cannon balls 179 Andirons, Great Dane 173 Angora Aurea 3, 27, 39 Angora goats 31, 58 Animal death hour 35 Animal kingdom in fields 97 Animal lawn mowers 242 Animal life, minute 193 Animal photographs 17 Animal ploughshare 31 Animal qualities 41 Animal romances 25 Annuals 77 Ant 94 Ant foster-mother 92 Ant lion 91 Ant slaves 92 Anti-damp water-proof paint. . 214 Ants and beetles, freebooting. . . 84 Anywhere plants 78 Aphides, milch cow 93 Aphidivorous gourmands 93 Apiarist 34 Apogamy of plant life 99 Apotheosis in American archi- tecture 300 Apple blight 74 Apple blossom dream 120 Apple blossoms, unrivaled 87 Apple borer 57 Apple growing Apple maggot Apple of the future 51 Apple orchard, scrawny 118 Apple, pound seedling 37, 51 Apple tree scraping 49 Apple tree scrubbing 49 Apple tree spacing 49 Apple tree vs. woodpecker Apple trees used as foil 118 Apples, sweet 49 Appreciative customer 3 Arabella 61 Arabesque design 169 Arable land 140 Arbor seat and weeping mul- berry 86 376 INDEX Arboreal pearl oyster 45 Arbored summer house 314 Arboretum 73 Arboretum planting scheme and record 77 Arboretum record book 96 Arboretum, scope of 86 Arbors 217 Arbors, arched 55 Arbre-arched foot gates 218 Arbutus from Mt. Mansfield... 103 Arbutus, the standard of fra- grance 103 Arcadian living 69 Arch beneath stair 189 Arch, first known 226 Arch, iron 172 Arch, Moorish, 15 feet wide.... 155 Arch of uniform spring 189 Arch, round-headed Roman. ... 226 Arch, single and double 226 Arch substitute of the Incas... 226 Arched gate to clothes yard... 239 Arched under house 307 Arches, framing for 293 Arches of wood, except as decorative, are impracticable 310 Archetype of the new house in plaster, wood, or cardboard 328 Architect and builder experi- mentally inclined 330 Architect and builder often non- plussed over the outcome of the new house 328 Architect, lapses of. 240 Architect, makeshift 289 Architect, mood of 251 Architect's advice and guid- ance 304 Architect's bias for unbroken roof contours 330 Architect's cash certificates.... 289 Architect's conception tying hall, door, window, stair, fireplace 326 Architect's dilemma 302 Architect's fee 292 Architectural feast 214 Architecture, aggressive 152 Architecture, country 152 Architecture, new American.... 213 Architecture, semi-Oriental .... 157 Architecture still sisterless 302 Architecture transformed 78 Architrave, entablature and column 303 Archway 213, 214 Area brick drained 144 Areas, self-draining blind ditch 221 Arid summers 245 Arm of Sound dammed and water-gated 273 Armoire 221 Armor, ancient 173 Armored knight stair guard... 173 Armored knights 242 Arrow, copper 241 Arrow sawed from brass plate 274 Art, the most valuable 339 Artificial pool 245 Artificial rapids and waterfall. 245 Artificial reinforced stone in quoin, sill, and lintel 302 Artistic solecism 243 Asbestos 236 Asbestos and cement shingles.. 214 Asbolt 218 Ash flue 233 Ash flue outlets must be guarded; our worst fire from an unguarded ash flue. 319 Ash pit 233 Ashing for yellows 55 Asparagus 243 Asparagus beetle 57 Asparagus growing 340 Asparagus, trade marks of freshness 340 Asphalt expansion joints 310 Assassin caught red-handed.... 100 Asteria, yellow 94 Astronomical chart, key to 228 Attic lift 155 Attic rooms 234 Attic stair, unrailed 2 Attic stair window 270 Attic stairway closed 2 Attic-stored heirlooms 62 Attic studio 237 Attic windows, north, south, east and west 274 Aurelian calls 90 Ausable Chasm, Jr 133 Autographs 7 Automobile necessary to the farmer 339 Autopsy by veterinary '.. 23 Autumn-leaved varnish tree.... 102 Avarium 90 Avian tribe 47 Aviary 295 Aviary, unbarred 243 Avoid buiding too close to road- way 330 Avoid shutting off future road- ways and views 339 Awkward halls changed to bayed and settled window nooks 326 Awninged platform 239 Awnings 234, *240 Axe a staunch friend 120 Axis and motif essential in house building 305 Ba,ck-aired piping 323 Back hall well hole 232 Back lane 63 Back log for a mill 296 Back plastering 281 Back stairs, a full flight in a good house 326 Bacteria septic tanks 13 Baffle boards 277 Bag-worm 53 Balanced lift 194 Balanced plant growth 94 Balanced world 193 Balancing lights and shadows in a room 325 Balconies 226 Balconies against chimney 281 Balconies, canvas covered .. 115, 146 Balconies carelessly constructed 330 Balconies, leaking 115 Balconies with steep pitch to door sill 315 Balcony, hanging 146 Balcony, musicians' 135 Balcony, overhanging 183 Balcony, projecting 146 Balcony rooms 254 Balcony, screened minstrels'.... 152 Balcony sills sloped 115 Baldwins 49 Ball bearing casters 2 Balloon construction with ledger board supports notched in studding 316 Baltimore heater 3 Baltimore oriole 39 Baluster, carved Jacobean 326 Baluster, Colonial 326 Balusters 183 Balustrade for coolness 320 INDEX 377 Balustrade, hand carved 181 Balustrade of metal 326 Banishing- the funnel stairway. 171 Bank loans 340 Banner shrub 81 Banquet halls for bees 100 Bantams 31 Barbaric architecture 302 Barbarity of wire barb 69 Barberries 55 Bark abrasion, prevention of. . . 96 Bark colored insects 93 Bark-hidden lairs 57 Bark slabs 257 Barn, cattle 15 Barn cupola 33 Barn, hay 15 Barn owl 45 Barnum, P. T 17 Barnyard refuse 9 Baroness Burdett-Coutts 29 Baronial house 142 Barrel a long hall ceiling. .322, 329 Barreled ceiling 189 Barrier wall 203 Barriers head high, shutting off views of the country 335 Barriers must harmonize with the new house 334 Barriers of famous architects.. 335 Barrier riven criss-cross rail.. 335 Barriers worth best thought... 335 Bartlett pears 47 Bas-relief, copper 169 Bas-relief, stone 189 Bas-reliefs, terra cotta 153 Base, corbeled 213 Base plugs 237 Base, sanitary 229, 282 Base trim high to cover plugs.. 237 Baseboard set on under floor... 235 Basement above ground 194 Basement bee-hive 225 Basement calcimined and deco- rated 197 Basement enameled and spar varnished Basement ground air-proof 155 Basement lavatory with shower 331 Basement rooms 224 Basement, unhealthy 224 Basement, wooden floored 224 Basins, set 281 Bastile lock 221 Bath cabinet, electric 231 Bath closet 230 Bath, comfy of 230 Bath houses 281 Bath, Pompeiian 199 Bath tub, enameled steel vs. solid porcelain 230 Bath tub for children 231 Bath tub railed in 230 Bath tub set in floor 230 Bath tub six feet long 230 Bath tubs 199 Bathing beach, steps to serv- ants' 281 Bathing houses 203 Bathing in Sound at midnight.. 203 Bathing pool 160 Bathroom, barreled ceiling 231 Bathroom fixtures, gold-plated. 231 Bathroom fixtures, nickel plated 282 Bathroom floored and walled with glass 155 Bathroom hardware, nickel plated 282 Bathroom hardware to match plumbing 231 Bathroom, salt water 194, 282 Bathroom, sun 227 Bathroom tiled to ceiling. . .122, 316 Bathroom water heater 223 Bathroom with canopy of elec- tric lights 231 Bathroom with fireplace ven- tilation 231 Bathroom with low porcelain flush tank 236 Bathroom with white glass sides 231 Bathrooms 3, 200, 230 Bathrooms, furred down 316 Batrachians 100 Bats '. ' ' 45 Batten board the site 327 Battens with one side nailing.. 142 Batteries, chemical 257 Battle for independence, selec- tion important matter 340 Battle royal 74 Bayberries ....'. 57 Bay trees ' ' 62 Bay window addition '.'.'. 153 Bay window eighteen feet wide 189 Bays and projections 227 Bays at time of building are inexpensive and often a fifty per cent, improvement 327 Beacons and reef-buoys 281 Beams at side walls omitted for a cove 325 Beams, cambered 281 Beams, ebonized 184 Beams, hewn 221 Beams, large, give sturdy strength unknown in a cut up, costly, paneled ceiling.. 325 Beams, plaster ribbed and deco- rated 325 Beams reinforced by cement... 219 Beams, roof framing 219 Beams set to leave a larger centre 325 Beams spaced to leave ceiling in shape for decoration.... 325 Beams, veranda ceiling, 9-inch. 281 Bean galls 93 Beaver board with its limita- tions useful in the bunga- low realm 321 Bed draperies 197 Bed linen 97 Bed steps 5 Bedding, air-bathed 7 Bedding plants 248 Bedroom, outdoor balcony 270 Bedrooms 197, 105 Bedrooms, bunked 251 Bedrooms, masters' 227 Bedrooms, outdoor 7, 228 Bedrooms, south and west 227 Beds not to face a window 311 Beds set north and south 311 Bee-hive in attic window 34 Bee life 84 Beef and dairy types 17 Bees 34 Bees, particular 91 Beetle hunting 93 Beetle, long horned 93 Beetle, water 93 Beetle, whirligig 93 Before the cellar is dug know your house 328 Beggar ticks 98 Bellerica 157 Belvedere 133, 208, 214 Belvedere adds more than cost 312 Belvedere overlooking maze.... 244 Berkshire contribution to house 154 Berkshires 244 Berries 35 Berry-bearing plants 101 Bess 26 378 INDEX Best bibs and tuckers 97 "Bestest kites, sleds and ponies" 284 Best semi-bungalow 270 Bethlehem of Judea 82 "Bethumped with ideas" 301 "Better fifty years of Europe". 75 "Better late than never" good building ethics 296 Beverly beans 221 Bibliophile 219 Bidet 231 Bidders, responsible 292 Biennials 77 Billiard hall 133 Billiard room 122, 234, 247 Billiard room changed into an assassin 331 Billiard room mantel 233 Billiard room plastered to tower peak 155 Billiard table on first floor 234 Billiard table with immovable cement foundation 331 Bills, labor 288 Bins next to boiler 224 Birch floors, red 234 Birch, silver-sheened 80 Birches, silver white 77 Birches vs. evergreens 217 Bird and squirrel rendezvous.. 243 Bird annihilation spells famine 35 Bird appetites 35 Bird, blue 39 Bird booby 45 Bird bungalow 37 Bird callers 43 Bird Captains of Industry .... 45 Bird colony, home 101 Bird death chamber 35 Bird flocks 47 Bird fonts 55 Bird growth 35 Bird homes 39 Bird life unfettered 243 Bird lore 35 Bird melodies 102 Bird menu 35 Bird nursery 39 Bird paradise 101 Bird-proof tents 91 Bird rendezvous 55 Bird restaurant, keyless and never closed 102 Bird songs of freedom 243 Bird species, nine hundred 35 Bird temperaments 41 Bird thievery 39 Bird trolley 39 Bird vs. infant development.... 35 Birddom's varied qualities 41 Bird's-eye maple 45 Bird's-eye maple room 228 Birds 243 Birds, obliteration of 35 Birds of the Orient 243 Birds, perpetual motion 37 Birds, singing 227 Birds suet lunch counter 43 Birthright sold for pottage of the fields 58 Bizarre, incomplete and uncom- fortable house building field 300 Black birch, aromatic 57 Black caps 57 Black eagles 55 Black knot 74 Black monarch 94 Black rot 55 Black streak of roadway im- prisoned between high walls 335 Black Tartarians ">" Black walnuts 57, 58 Blackberries, running 55 Blackberry patch, six-acre.... 57 BlacKDerry, semi-thornless .... 55 Blackberry vines 63 Blackbird, red-winged by Blankets saturated with water for fire protection 331 Blazing for cutting 84 Blind drain 113 Blind, Venetian, the mainstay, but given to wind-swaying 327 Blind wells . 305 Blinds clash with oriel case- ments, embrasured English windows and mullioned trip- lets 327 Blinds inanimates to grapple with 204 Blinds, pent-roof, hinged centre joint, roll up in pocket blind, sliding blind, full- slatted whole, half, or cut- in-centre blind 327 Blizzard of 1888 43 Block and tackle failure 155 Block chocking 251 Blot and smear a garden of Eden 301 Blue blood tree 80 Blue envelope 214 Blue jay, strident voiced 41 Blue Ribbon Seven 80 Bluffs of Long Island 134 Boat centreing lawn 282 Boat davits 207 Boat, flat bottom, yawl-rigged 282 Boat lockers 281 Boat racks 194 Boat repertoire 265 Boat ways 207 Boats, ways, and spiles 208 Bob White 35 Bobbie Burns 23, 25 Bobolink, reed, rice bird or skunk blackbird 41 Bob-o-Linkon 41 Bodlime 74 Bogland 99 Bogless farm 99 Boiler hung from ceiling 281 Boiler room 154, 194 Boilers having additional sec- tions 323 Boiling spring stoppered in rock-quarried excavation... 307 Bombastic humans 43 Bond incentive 288 Bonding the contractor 288 Bone-chilling surprise 226 Bone-dry house 213 Bone yard of terra cotta factory 244 Bonfire every day 293 Bonus, offering of 288 Book and microscope 41 Bookcase under stair 227 Bookcases 183 Book-mark motif 183 Bookmarks 215 Bookshelf, novel 219 Bookshelves Bordeaux mixture 55, 57 Borders of box 81 Borders of English Ivy 243 Borer 53 Bosc, beurre 53 Bosky cover 89 Boston hip and ridge 313 Boston shingle ridge 61 Boston sparrow scourge Boston Town 221 Botanical catapault 81 Botanical names 1.03 Boudoir a bedroom 329 Boudoir grilled and columned.. 135 INDEX 379 Boudoir stairs 227 Boudoir suites, south, east and west 138, 220 Bouldered entrance posts 113 Bouldered posts cheapened 113 Bouldered stone wall 152 Bourgeois chicken hawk 212 Bow gun 140 Bower of beauty, an exotic entrance 312 Bowling- alley, glass 225 Bowling- alley shielded by ver- anda 225 Bowling alley under veranda... 203 Box stall 26 Box window view panes 110 Boxes, metal lined 239 Boy's cabin 61 Boy's paradise 230 Brace up sills as well as cour- age 338 Bracing and supporting- parti- tions 330 Bracing-, scant 289 Bracken growth 100 Bracket supports covered with galvanized wire coated with cement 310 Brackets, mosaic gold 122 Brackets, ship-kneed 277 Brackets, side, electrically tipped 281 Brain builder and saver 74 "Brain room of the world" 7 Brass for table tops 242 Brass piping 223 Brass piping under laundry tubs good, but raises the cupidity of the tramp 322 Breakfast room, east 212 Breakfast room, outdoor 130 Breakneck Hill 63 Breastplate 132 Breeding stock in poultry 33 Breezemont 138 Brewing decoctions 97 Bric-a-brac 135 Brick bay a dirt-collecting angle 214 Brick, soft, deterioration under- ground 307 Brick, hollow 142 Brick laid in freezing weather must be in cement mortar, but if jarred immediately loosens 308 Brick laid in warm -weather must be wet 308 Brick laying- in zero weather. . 290 Brick mantel 234 Brick mocks at powers before which stone and steel grovel 302 Brick, mud of commerce, a water absorber 309 Brick oven 221 Brick partition 302 Brick, piano-wire-machine made 309 Brick (rock-faced) collects dust and is easily marred, but obviates stains from -window- drippings 308 Brick, sheep-nose 214 Brick, soft 291 Brick, souare. rough cast for incMn^d flooring 220 Brick tied hollow tile 309 Brick, veneer, §cru face 161 Brick, veneered, air-snaced 142 Brick. water - '"•roofing "Mth colorless solution removes the one objection to brick construction 308 Brick windowed shaft... . 226 Bricks too soft for chimneys. . . . 290 Bridging not nailed to floor ueams until just before plastering 316 Briercliff riveted to ledge 133 Briers vs. flowers 55 Brinkles orange raspberry 47 Bronze grilled lantern-centred gateway 335 Brooders 33 Brook, pebbly-bedded 17 Brook plants 99 Brook, utilization of 11 Brown frog of the woods more woodsy still 100 Brown thrasher 35 Brush fire 61, 103, 331 Buena Vista 115 Buenos Aires 215 Buerres 53 Bugs and Butterflies 90 Builder, amateur 294 Builder not always to blame... 292 Builder, practical 293 Builders' bond 288 Builders' duty regarding ground air 213 Builders, responsible 289 Builders' truck horse cement... 213 Building a. mansion 2J1 Building a rasping menace 291 Building and planting tightly hand-clasped 157 Building at lower level, objec- tions to 330 Building contingencies 289 Building- dilemmas 289, 291 Building dragons 288 Building fundamentals 23P Building hastened with material stacked to half-story height 306 Building- hints to amateur 284 Building honeycombed with errors 242 Building laws 215, 289 Building mania, symptoms of. . 274 Building, method of 291 Building of mansion 291 Building, old way of 13 Building on percentage basis.. 294 Building on wrong side of avenue or street 247 Building optimists 291 Building reduced to plain math- ematics 292 Building rules, four 288 Building sites 212, 77 Building sites more important than your makeshift house. 338 Building to fit the site 132 Building- up a congenial neigh- borly neighborhood 341 Building vs. cotton and corn.. 295 Buildins: without change impos- sible 291 Built-in drawers 234 Bulkhead of wired glass. .. .113, 114 Bull's eyes, antique 221 Bumble bee burrow 94 Bump-on-a-log stage of the world 242 Bungalow and two acres may mean freedom 58 Buneraiow at cost of $900 270 Bungalow buildinar to enliven the pronerty, but go slowly 3 Bungalow fever 251 Bungalow for every day in year 257 Bungalow, ideal 274 Bungalow motifs 254 Bungalow, shack 251 Bungalow, stone 274 Bungalow, two story 254 380 INDEX Bungalow vs. mansion Bungalows, expensive, death knell of Bungalows from Bengal Bungalows plastered, papered, decorated, heated and plumbed Bungalows, windmill construc- tion Bungalows with swinging barn doors Burden-bearer, undeveloped . . . Burdett-Coutts, Baroness Burglar alarm • Burglar, bug and rodent phased Burglar checkmated Burglar - proof filing room boiler lined and electrically protected Burlap, new treatment of Burned by winter sun Burning inflammable debris.... Burning of the Cot Burnings over Burnt wood design Bursts of melody divine Business office Butcher bird Butler's pantry Butt, double action Butter mold imprints Butterfly flocks southward bound Butternuts Buttonwood reclothed Buttress hollowed for plants... Buttresses Buttresses improve a stone wall Buy if an ideal site Buy the landscape gardener's advice and then — improve on it if you can Buying the farm "By that sin fell the angels"... Bvzantine architecture 211 257 251 257 257 251 238 29 226 225 226 303 241 62 297 331 113 233 102 220 45 144 235 5 94 58 84 214 213 309 301 339 340 287 212 Cabinet closet six feet high.... 277 Cabinet for cut glass Appendix Cabinets, leaded glass 233 Cable system, electric 236 Caddis worm 94 Calendar, floral 212 Calking crevices 338 Call of the land 342 Calyx 79 Cambered beams 325 Camel usurper 100 Camera plates 229 Camera shots 90 Campanile 213 Camping atmosphere 257 Canada thistle, throttling of.... 74 Canal boat, beaching of 282 Cancer rot 84 Candlemas weather prophet.... 22 Cane girdler 57 Canker worm 91, 93 Canna, semi-hardy 95 Cannas, unblanketed 95 Cantilever and under brace.... 316 Canvas and paper of unservice- able quality has canceled many a tile contract 314 Canvas covering on balconies fastened with copper tacks 320 Canvas paint-soaked for roofs.. 314 Canvas roofs, cracking pre- vented 315 Canvas-walled shelters 251 Capillary attraction 214 Capital of $2,000 and income from $1,500 to $3,000 per yr. 340 Capping, molded 241 Captain Kidd's anchor 277 Captain Kidd's shore lair 277 Caravel Santa Maria 312 Carbonized vegetation Carelessness often results in the wrong stain or paint on new wood 326 Cares of husbandry 58 Caretaker for country house... 341 Carload lot, saving on 292 Carpenter's bench 63 Carpenter's labor contract 292 Carpet of blossoms 150 Carriage sweep 213 Carrier pigeon 33 Cartage allowance 292 Carting away habit 293 Caryatides 173 Casement, embrasured Georgian 169 Casement, swinging 277 Casements 215 Casements thoroughly rabbeted 215 Cast iron boilers less liable to form scale 324 Casts, plaster, tinted 233 Cat epitaph 27 Cat who never zig-zaggeo. 27 Catacombs 93 Catbird aliases 39 Catbriers 63 Catch-all shed 59 Caterpillar, hairy 91 Caterpillar nests 90 Caterpillar, sphinx 93 Caterpillar, spiny-haired 91 Caterpillar, tent 55 Caterpillar, woolly bear 91 Catkin 79 Cats 15 Catskill house, view from 159 Cattle, Aberdeen-Angus polled.. I/ Cattle, Ayrshire 17 Cattle, red-polled 17 Cattle, roving 243 Cattle, short-horned 17 Cattle trough, brick, cement lined 59 Cattle troughs, porcelain 59 "Cavalier and ladye faire".... 218 "Cave Canem" 258 Cave of Macphelah 8'3 Caves 133 Cedar apple 49 Cedar bough protection 85 Cedar closet 228 Cedar, enemy of apple 49 Cedar, freshly cut 228 Cedar, old 261 Cedar-railed staircase 222 Cedar wind screen 49 Cedar, 250 years old 160 Cedars, salt-defying 204 Ceiling, beamed 220, 325 Ceiling beamed to ridge 237 Ceiling beams, cambered 189 Ceiling beams cost less and look better if large 325 Ceiling beams over plaster 317 Ceiling' beams vs. window and door openings 329 Ceiling-hung ladder 247 Ceiling, indestructible cement.. 115 Ceiling, iridescent 241 Ceiling, metal 222 Ceiling, plaster effects molded in 296 Ceiling, segmented 189 Ceiling thirteen feet high 142 Ceiling verdure-embowered .... 115 Ceilings 240 Ceilings, coved 293, 295 Ceilings covered with canvas or burlap lessen danger of falling plaster 329 INDEX 381 Cellar 303 Ceiling-s, groined 218 Cellar ceiling- 224 Cellar corners concave 224 Cellar floor drained to water- sealed manhole 224 Cellar metal ash barrel 223 Cellar metal dust box 238 Cellar, miasmatic 7 Cellar, pokehole 150 Cellar preserve closet 224 Cellar springs and water courses can be mastered 307 Cellar tarred, grouted and cemented 9, 144, 224 Cellar underdraining- 307 Cellar ventilation 225 Cellar windows large 225 Cellar woodwork enameled 225 Cement 142, 212, 213 Cement belting shadows and lowers a house 313 Cement cored with galvanized quarter-inch mesh wire . . . 214 Cement crandaled surface for secure footing1 310 Cement crisscrossed with nails. 233 Cement curbing edged with metal corner bead 311 Cement curbing in time nicked and cracked 311 Cement difficult to change or rebuild 302 Cement discoloration and ab- sorption of moisture 330 Cement expansion and contrac- tion 310 Cement-filled cavities 84 Cement floor and wall inset with wire screening bars rodent and bug 310 Cement grouting mixed with ashes 254 Cement gutter at wall footing line (Appendix) Cement house number inset and in public buildings the name 311 Cement, marble dust 214 Cement mixing, a little salt and lime allows its use in cold weather 322 Cement mixture for deadening. 281 Cement, need of metal weather strips 302 Cement, rubble 254 Cement, scaling 310 Cement stepping stones 71 Cement steps 132 Cement steps, nicking is delayed if edges are rounded 309 Cement tanks 11 Cement, the just right mixture essential 330 Cement, three coat work 161 Cement walks set below frost line 310 Cement walks with convex sur- face 310 Cement waterproofed by mixing crude oil in the mortar for use in damp ground 322 Cement, work, three coat 281 Cementing a cellar 309 Cemetery on farm 9 Cesspools 11, 13 Chain of verde-antique. . . 237 Chair rail 5 Chalice of nectar 91 Chandlery, second-hand 244 Chancres in furniture, radiators or electric fixtures 329 Changes made over signature.. 288 Changes, minor Changes must be made Charcoal filter Charles River Chauffeur's quarters Cheating the sour microbe Chemical fire extinguishers Chemical tanks on wheels Cheops, architect or builder of. Cherries 35 Cherry Lane Cherry planting Cherry tree, wild Chester Chestnut Chestnut, alder leaf trailing.... Chestnut apt to be wormy, creosote a remedy Chestnut disease Chickadee optimist Chicken coop graperies Chicken farming Chicken hawk, bourgeois Chicken houses on skids Chicken runs Chicken, stolen Chiffoniers with false backs. 228, Childhood, glamored hours of. . Children's playhouse Children's playroom Children's sand pile Chimney breast air-spaced to prevent dampness Chimney breast cemented Chimney breast, white enameled brick Chimney - centred leaded win- dow Chimney-centred view pane... Chimney contours Chimney corner Chimney design must not clash with roof line Chimney fan, electric Chimney, fire flues tile-lined and collar joints plastered. Chimney flat stone-capped Chimney flues with iron throats and dampers Chimney forcing the air up- ward Chimney formerly the louvre, or roof opening, its substi- tute Chimney foundation to bed rock, hard-pan or rubble foundation Chimney jog Chimney of Tiffany house Chimney, built plainly and strongly Chimney, scaling, of cement, a blot on the landscape and builder's escutcheon Chimney split in two at and above ridge Chimney swallows Chimney, the roof-tree's crown- ing glory Chimney, triangular Chimney, two flued Chimney ventilation Chimneys built above the ridge with cut, broken ashler, or rubble stone need especial care in flashing Chimneys combined with stone or terra cotta satisfactory.. Chimneys, clustered Chimneys draw best with round tile lining rather than square 288 295 9 247 245 o 331 332 219 55 55 57 55 26 65 59 306 58 43 249 31 212 31 33 27 229 284 138 228 61 319 5 223 110 110 319 218 319 193 318 7 319 320 318 319 229 232 305 318 234 45 318 232 281 146 318 318 311 318 382 INDEX Chimneys with eight-inch wall, or, better, two four-inch, iron-tied, separated by two- inch air space 318 Chimneys, fattening the slim spindle 318 Chimneys, grouped or stacked 318 Chimneys as heat wasters 320 Chimneys of both cement and brick show lime efflores- ence, especially in the spring 318 Chimneys of lichen-covered stone 105 Chimneys pointed up with gray, red. black or white mortar and having raked out joints 319 Chimneys improve a house 318 Chimneys, twin 146 Chimneys, valleys and balconies leak 303 Chinese room 228 Chinquepin 58 Chipmunk racing ground 15 Chips and shavings burned each day 293 Chorister months 47 Chorister pages in Nature's book 47 Christmas "bayberrie dyppe" ' '. '. 57 Chubby, fibrous-rooted 'plants. . 80 Cicadas 91 Cider orgy . . . 63 Ciderless farm 63 Circumventing the fire fiend.... 214 Circus siren calliope 99 Cistern, brick, in cellar '7 Citadels of refuge 22 City greenhorn 74 City Hall with wooden studded partitions 304 City home plus a country home 341 City tree asphalt-covered roots 79 Clamping post 251 Clapboards abutting against corner board 129 Clapboards, mitred 129 Clapboards wrong side out 140 Clapp's Favorite 53 Clark ' telescope 234 Classic grafted on the Colonial 300 Classic head over front door... 161 Clayey sub-soils 73 Cleanout pockets 222 Cleanouts with accessible hand and manholes 322 Clear water vs. sewage 208 Clearing and a virgin soil 301 Clearing grown wild tree 86 Cleft-in-the-rock tree 85 Cleft, rocky, edging shore 277 Cleopatra 218 Clerestory lookout 226, 234 Cliff dwellers' garments 81 Cliff dwellers' stone fortress retreat 299 Cliff dwelling 1 Cliff Eyrie galleried 258 Cliff footpath 71 Cliff, jettied 245 Cliffed ravine 239 Cliffmont 138 Cliffs, storm-beaten 252 Cliffside gallery 71 Climatic topography 301 Climber and trailer 69 Cloaca Maxima arch 226 Close valley shingling neater, stops leaks, but curtails life of shingles 314 Closet, boxed-in 183 Closet, housekeeping 224 Closet, laundry 22ft Closet, linen, with two full size doors . 122 Closet locations 329 Closet, porch room 229 Closet, secret 228 Closet, stolen 277 Closeting a bedroom without decreasing its area 277 Closets and bays good safety valves for ugly box-like rooms 324 Closets behind panels 228 Closets, cedar 228 Closets each side of alcove 227 Closets, eave 229 Closets electrically lighted .... 229 Closets in chimney jogs 228 Closets insect-proof 229 Closets, large 122 Closets painted and spar var- nished 229 Closets partially inset in parti- tions 231 Closets, windowed 295 Closets with drawers and par- titions 228 Closets with sanitary floor and base 229 Closing farm chapter 73 Clothes chute, aluminum .. .199, 229 Clothes yard pergolad 239 Cloudland 211 Clump-separating 79 Clutch of day old chicks 31 Coachman, shivering 244 Coachman's room 124 Coal bins, brick partitioned.... 224 Coal bins with automatic chute delivery 224 Coal delivery 224 Coal discovered in the 16th and 17th century, then the era of grate, stove and furnace dawned 319 Coal efficiency lessened when heating flues hug exterior walls too closely 319 Coal room 281 Coal saving 232 Coat of arms in stair oriel window 183 Coat room 109 Cochins 31 Cocoon 89 Coclcllir-g moth, predatory 74 Cog, important in kitchen mech- anics 2 Coign of vantage in garden.... 244 Coins 7 Cold frames 248 Cold graperies 154 Cold grapery borders 249 Cold storage room 223, 281 Coli, elusive 19 Colonels 8 Colonial and coeval English Georgian in combination with Queen Anne 300 Colonial curlicues on the out- side of each step 326 Colonial garden 81, 243 Colonial one-room cottage with garden on roof 315 Colonnade 218 Color decoration 240 Color harmony 240 Color keynote 219 Color matching important 327 Colt protection 69 Columned and architraved exterior 212 INDEX 383 Columns, architrave and coat of arms framing a door be- speaking- welcome 311 Columns, cement 214 Columns inset with ornaments. 218 Columns, Ionic capped ....144, 193 Columns, 24-inch diameter 113 Comma butterfly 94 Commission merchant's charges 49 Comfort, ideal 234 Commonizing hair cloth sofa... 251 Common sense hygiene 213 Common sense in building best guiding rudder 330 Commutation, interest, repairs, insurance and improve- ments 341 Compass points considered in planning 304 Compassing the fourth compass point 135 Compressed air tanks 9 Concentration 34 Concord grape success 51, 55 Concord stoves 217 Concrete ford 71 Concrete mixture 309 Concrete platform outlasts wood 321 Condemned yacht 282 Cone-shaped hats 51 Conflict with canons of good taste 301 Coniferous tree eater 39 Conn-ecticut as a bird field 35 Connecticut as a plant field.... 35 Connecticut Capri 201 Connecticut Continental 261 Connecticut stony pasture land 152 Conning tower 226 Conning- tower of a Norman castle 335 Conservatory 121, 154, 295 Conserva.tory doors of plate glass 154 Conservatory, double decker. . . 133 Conservatory, fountained 193 Conservatory, second story. 295, 320 Conservatory, steel arched 247 Conservatory, U-bar 247 Conservatory, white tiled ... 219 Conservatory, wooden roofed... 193 Construction details 306 Construction shed filled with cement, brick and lime.... 306 Contract, breaking of 291 Contract claims 290 Contract, heating 292 Contract, labor ... 292 Contract of manager cancelled. 292 Contract, restudying of ?9fi Contract, restudying of 296 Contract system, special 282 Contract, written ratification of 288 Contracting power of metal... 302 Contractor, bonding of 288 Contractor, honest, promises of 280 Contractor, individual 295 Contractor in your debt 291 Contractors' excuses 290 Contractors, irresponsible 289 Contractors, weak-kneed 289 Contracts, electric wiring .... 294 Contracts, heating 294 Contracts, one-sided 292 Contracts, plumbing 294 Control of tide levels 208 Convex copper hood 233 Cooking galley 282, 251 Cooking table on casters 2 Cooking table with soapstone top 222 Copper 213 Copper boiler advantages 223 Copper bronzing walls and ceil- ing 241 Copper, disintegration of 282 Copper flashing under and over windows and on balconies.. 315 Copper gutters as lightning rods .318 Copper house in the west 303 Copper in roof and boiler and brass pipes tempt thieves.. 314 Copper paint and rusty nails... 208 Copper plant labels 95 Copper roofs, ridge seamed 314 Copper sulphate 55 Copperas disinfectant 11 Copyist of past generations.... 302 Cordon-grown trees 53 Cork flooring eases feet of cook and takes the chill and slip out of a bathroom floor... 317 Cork rugs and runners 85 Corn and hay fields 140 Corn and potato fields vs. land values as land 337 Corn raising for silo 104 Corner beads, acorn tipped, relegated to the past 321 Corner cove and ceiling cove.. 329 Corner-stone of accomplishment 219 Cornering elusive time 297 Corolla 79 Corpse plant 98 Corraling the sun all day 304 Corridor-like room 122 Corridor of palms, one story... 296 Corridor, palm-decorated 10.' Corridor, second story beamed.. 193 Corridors arched and pillared.. 225 Cost, approximate adjustment of 289 Cost as elastic as requirements of vacillating owner 294 Cost, method of figuring 294 Cost of building increased 294 Cost of house doubled 292 Cost of house, maximum 293 Cost of labor two or three times that of material 294 Cost of new house, counting... 287 Cost of plastering per yd 292 Cost, ten to twenty cents cu. ft. 294 Cost, $3 to $8 sq. ft. area 294 Cosy corner divaned and draped 122 Cot, The 61 Cottage of 100 years ago 251 Cottage, one story 251 Cottage, rose porched 217 Couches in pairs 227 Counting house efforts 96 Country house craze 299 Country life underlying all 342 Country "living," 'difficulties of. . 120 Country living, joy and utility ^ Country 'living, lure of 287 Country villas County fair 91 8 Court-yard centre • • • • • • ^io Cowl - capped, zinc - sniveled chimney pot Cows alphabetically named 61 Crab apple 7| Crag and boulder ' * r 221> 2?J Crane inset when building is an advantage ^° Crater garden 1»s Crepuscular goatsucker «o Crippling • • • • z Crippling, extra aid in hanging heavy pictures ^ 384 INDEX Crippling- is best cross-herring- boned 315 Criticism of architect 129 Croftleigh 134 Cromlech stone 129, 150 Crop succession 74 Crops, triple 73 Crossways 273 Crotchets of comfort not always expensive 295 Croton, giant 87 Crow 43 Crow nest 138 Crow walks 55 Crow's nest in hemlocks 134 Crude beginning and mature development 157 Cuckoo, nest-stealing 37, 47 Cuckoo, parasitical 45 Cuckoo type of man 47 Cuckoos of insect tribe 91 Cuirass 218 Cupboards, urn-crowned 5 Cup-shaped tulip tree 84 Curbing 213 Curculio 53, 93 Currants, black, white, red 55 Current short circuited 237 Curtailment and addition of help 297 Curtain, metal, for bookcases.. 219 Curving lines often a luxury.. 327 Cut nails prolong life of a roof 313 Cut stone 214 Cut worm 93 Cuthbert raspberry 47 Cutting for plumber and steam fitter 292 Cyclones 288 Cypress a fine weather wood... 306 Cypress, for frame, sash, belt course, soffit and trim 306 Cypress gutter V-shaped to pre- vent ice splitting 317 Cypress, spraddling, prostrate.. 22 Dachshund andirons 173 Dado and frieze scheme 5 Daguerres 251 Dairy income 15 Dairy records 63 Dais, bed 227 Damage by thawing water pipes 229 Damage loss vs. money penalty. 288 Dame Nature's hearth-stone.... 221 Damming the river Damp cellars an entirely unnecessary evil 324 Damp course of moisture-proof slate or blue stone essential 308 Damsel flies 93 Damson plums 55 Dan 26 Dangerous lode stones 302 "Darlings of the forest" 103 Davenport, Abraham 124 Davenport with inset table.... 218 Davenports 234 Dawdling habit contagious.... 294 Day vs. contract job 294 Dead-lights 230 Deadening along fireproof lines 309 Deadening floors with asbestos, seaweed, paper, hair, felt.. 308 Deadening floors with mixture of cement, sawdust and ashes 309 Deadening of walls and floors in servants' quarters 197 Deadly sewer gas 13 Death by over-salting 19 Death-dealing moisture . . . 303 Death-dealing Triumvirate .... 58 Death eggs oviposited 93 Death hour in animal life 35 Death of Angora Aurea 27 Death of the bees 91 Death of sheep 31 Death of tree 83 Decadence of the dignified Colonial 300 Deciduous trees and shrubs.... 77 Decorating the billiard room... 122 Decoration 240, 242, 252 Decoration, rococo 241 Decorations, mural 234 Decorative composition to con- ceal architectural errors... 304 Deeds, maps and contracts for filing 303 Deer 67 Defects discovered before plas- tering 296 Defoliation 39 Delivery pipe of ram 9 Delivery wagon 17 Deliquescent trees 80 Den alcove 234 Den, fireproof 220 Depopulating the earth 94 Design and construction lasting forever 299 Design, heraldic, molded in Caen stone cement mantel. 189 Destroyer lurking in closed house 241 Destruction of cement, stone and iron 302 Destructive attrition, vibration and electrolysis 302 Details of the building of Sea Boulders 275 Developing concentration 34 Developing room 229 Developing vistas 77 Development 75 Devil's bit a cure for quinsy... 97 Devil's riding horse 90 Devil wagon 338 Devon cattle 17 Dewberries 55 Diagonal boarding of under floor lessens chance of buckling after upper floor is laid 317 Dies for tool making 63 Dietetic poultry food values ... 33 Difference in floor levels, advan- tage and disadvantage of.. 307 Digger wasps 93 Dilemma, horn of 289 Dillaway place in Berkshires.. 211 Diminutive house copy of large house a mistake 305 Dinghy's painter 261 Dining room 187, 189, 220 Dining- room, circular 133 Dining room, Colonial 144 Dining room elliptical 1?.3 Dining room on new lines .... 130 Dining room, outdoor porch ... 277 Dining room, round 133 Dining room, 16 feet high.. 130, 134 Dining room, 16-foot stud 130 Dining room skylight 325 Dining room, southeast 212 Dining room, summer 152 Dining room, telescopic 270 Dining room, winter 152 Dining rooms, awninged, out- door 138 Dirt costs so much per yard to remove 291 Dirt-holding roots 22 Discounting the farmer's three years' wait for asparagus.. 340 INDEX 385 Dish drier, electrical i>ish towel, insanitary Dish-washing arrangement .... Dishonest builder's modus operandi Disinfecting tank Disintegration of bolt head and rivet Dislodging the wood jigger.... Disproving plant debility Dissatisfaction over nonde- script production Dissipating depression Ditches, deep-draining Ditch-digging offsets Ditch, natural Diving plank Dock protected by brass yacht rail ...•• Doctor Hexamer ' 1 Doctor Holmes' poem . Dog attributes Dog chicken thief "Dog eat dog" Dog-faced pansies Dog monument Dog trots Dogs Dogging the job Dogwood branches, red Dome Domed hall Don Donjon gate, iron banded Doodle bug-, plebeian Door-bell, electric Door, Colonial Door controlled by foot pres- sure 132, Door, Dutch, with and without side lights Door, early pivoted Door footings Door, front, method of reaching Door head, tapestry draped .... Door just right is a fine home greeter Door mat inset Door, oak - ribbed and iron- banded 130, Door, oak, 7x9 Dook, oak, six feet wide Door of bathroom electrically controlled Door of feudal England Door of oak, iron strapped and grilled Door openings moved Door panel of the 16th century Door, pantry, with glass inset.. Door plates Door saddle; its passing means less dust, disturbance of carpets and space short- ening Door saddles make a tighter fit- ting door Door, sliding, against chimney. Door, sliding close-jointed Door-step Doors 75, Doors_ and windows, extra lip- ping and rabbeting a neces- sity Doors and windows, imitation. . Doors, blind Doors, butler's pantry Doors close to fireplace Doors, closet, hung to open out- ward Doors, double, between bed- rooms 238 223 223 289 13 302 82 87 300 240 21 96 244 207 274 , 51 83 41 27 94 87 27 55 27 293 77 234 132 26 132 91 237 132 183 305 328 242 296 242 305 160 217 161 142 231 328 277 295 328 220 242 317 317 214 221 169 311 215 227 187 295 235 295 Doors, double, each side of a partition curb noise 324 Doors, douoie, on balcony with centre-knuckle and elbow- joint 311 Doors, Dutch 221, 222, 261 Doors, exterior and interior.... 235 Doors, four, in two sections. . . . 277 Doors, hanging of 296 Doors, invisible 228 Doors, metal, air-spaced 121 Doors, metal sheathed 238 Doors, mirror 122, 133. 183, 230 Doors, new close-jointed. ./.... 199 Doors of the Incas. ....... .... 22u Doors, outside 197 Doors, secret paneled 199 Doors, sliding 146 Doors, . sliding, making one pil- lared room on first story... 154 Doors to clothes chute on each floor 229 Doors, two, in butler's pantry.. 152 Doorway, high portiered 130 Doorway, of unusual height. . . . 130 Doorway, tapestry-draped 130 Dormer, Gothic 305 Dormer lift 305 Dormers and gable windows must thoroughly light that third story 330 Dormers in major key 213 Double barreled plant. 100 Double doors and windows 62 Doubling floor beams 315 Dove cote 333 Drachenfels 140, 142 Dragon, bronze, from Japan.... 244 Dragon flies 93 Dragon in the rocky cleft 204 Dragons, building 288 Drain, stone 24S Drainage 212 Drainage for a side hill house 307 Drainage for plants 78 Drainage, natural 252 Drainage of plant baskets 113 Draining a cellar 305 Drapery over bed 227 Draughts shut off 332 Draughts through health-yield- ing chimney flue 320 Drawbridge, feudal 217, 244 Drawer in mantel breast 227 Drawer pull 235 Drawers fitted with rollers 235 Drenching and mulching 79 Dress and diamond smuggler outdone 229 Dressers, manner of shipping.. 296 Dressers, pantry 296 Dressing electroliers : . . . 237 Dressing rooms 197 Dressing table 228 "Drest in a little brief author- ity" 293 Driftwood blaze 242 Driftwood fire 219 Drill, dynamite and wedge 160 Drive pipe of ram 9 Drop shelf 2 Drouth on lawns 21 Druid altars 129 Dry grass grown hollow 244 Dry rot 254 Dry technique of building 299 Drying machine 224 Drying-out days 241 Dual purpose cattle 17 Duck guns, six-foot 273 Duck ponds, trio 71 Duckling murderers 59 Duckling pond 11 386 INDEX Dueling- grounds 73 Dust-gathering wool draperies 241 Dust guard for books 219 Dust line 7 Dusting floor 33 Dusty highway retards growth of vegetable and flower.... 330 Dutch belted cattle 15 Dutch kettle stands 233 Dwarf fruit trees 47 Dwelling, detached, fireproof... 302 Dynamite and crowbar up- heaved the stone 153 Dynamiting the soil 49 Dynamo 231 Earth flax 236 Earth pupaters 93 Earth worm - eating blind ground-mole 22 Earthquakes 288 Earth's invisible choir 41 East Medford naturalist 37 Eastham 51 Eastlake interiors 300 Easy chair 237 Eave spouts 160 Eaves sacred to owner's use... 247 Ebonized oak plank 5 Echeverias 95 Echo in cement wall and floor 302 Edelweiss 95 Edinburgh 23 Eerie creeps dispelled 203 Eerie shriek of the night hawk 45 Egg beater, electric 238 Egg to imago 91 Eggs, water-proof 91 Egyptian design in mantel face 233 Egyptian motto 219 Electric cable system 294 Electric fan, up-chimney 229 Electric fans against outlets... 277 Electric light controlled by closet door 237 Electric li|?ht for chimney ven- tilation 231 Electric light niched 230 Electric lighting 2 J6 Electric lighting contract 292 Electric lights edging pool 203 Electric pump 9 Electric sewing machine 230 Electric switch 226 Electric switch controlling ex- terior entrances 237 Electric up-chimney fan.... 223, 234 Electrical protection 220 Electrically protected safe 227 Electricity 51 Electrolier of non-rusting glass 19, 219 Electrolier of swords and bay- onets 281 Electroliers and brackets of glass 154 Klt-phant's ears, five-foot 95 Elevator, electric 225 Elimination of draughts 302 Elizabethan 300 Elm beetle 58 Elm tree sphinx 93 Elm vs. lightning and tornado. 86 Elysian fields 95 Emancipated superman 238 Emancipation dawning 74 Embryo grave digger 93 Employers' liability 292 Emulating the railroad builder. 211 Enamel, cream white 282 Enamel white paint often a dictator in gala and bed- room 327 End of summer's reign 84 Enemies that fly, crawl or bore. 57 Engrine for ice making 238 English country house 212 English house 140 English sparrow 37 Enigma of life 98 Enlarging- small rooms 237 Enmeshed in friendship net.... 293 Ennui and leisure detrimental to the average business man.. 337 Ennuied listeners 41 Ensilage for horses 74 Ensilage for pigs 74 Entasis in a stone wall gives added beauty 305, 309 Entrance appreciated by mendi- cant, stranger, or bosom friend 312 Entrance, location of 7 Entrance, half barricaded 130 Entrance hall 257 Entrance hall unshadowed 244 Entrance hall square or rec- tangular 325 Entrance ideal, with tiled walk, grassy bank, and waving fronds 312 Entrance which outshone a pil- lared, beamed, and paneled hall 313 Entry changed to a divaned book alcove 326 Errors, glaring 296 Escutcheon 235 Espalier fruit growing 53 Esplanade 203, 214, 217 Esplanade, rock 277 Essential changes should be made 295 Essentials of comfortable plan- ning 305 Essentials to building success.. 291 Eternal vigilance the price of comfortable living 302 Eulogy on the dog 29 Euonymous, scale-throttled .... 101 Evening song of the birds 41 Evergreen 77, 86, 95 Evergreens, propagation of... . 248 Every month in year flower.... 96 Evolution from egg to larva... 92 Evolution of rough land into park 73 Excrescence on farm house.... IS Excurrent trees 80 Expanding and contracting powers of metal 302 Expenditure, lavish 287 Expenditure, unwise 69- Expense, avoidance of unneces- sary 291 Expense books 63 Expensive houses entail extras 297 Expensive object lesson in fires 331 Experience of a novice dearly bought 247 Experiments 83 Extensive plantings 338 Exterior and interior beauty... 213 Extras an aggravating expense 292 Eye service 294 Failing river of life 96 Failure number five 51 Failure to uproot grass tufts.. 59 Fairview 270 Falling plaster 232 Family graveyard 25, 26 Fan, electric, up-chimney 223 Fan-grown trees 53 Fan lights 216 INDEX 387 Farm barriers 67 Farm being shaped into choice building lots 339 Farm, bogless 99 Farm brook 71 Farm business office 63 Farm drudgery 41 Farm help 58 Farm help quarters 63 Farm house, alterations 2 Farm lawn vs. hayfleld 19 Farm library 63 Farm lightly Farm lookout 34 Farm ownership Farm tragedy, second 25 Farm utensils 63 Farm values vs. village lot values 337 Farmarcadia 75 Farmer, amateur, vs. apple orchard 120 Farmer sometimes adds to his substance through the city dweller 337 Farmer, sophistry of 9 Farmer vs. commuter 104 Farmer who dodges three years' wait for asparagus 340 Farmer's calendar 74 Farmer's false economy 49 Farmer's grange 73 Farmer's opportunity 41 Farmer's wives and daughters. 74 Farming, amateur 58, 243 Farming and housebuilding.... 342 Farming the city 340 Fathoming bird lore 35 Faucet, combination 232 Faucets, non-projecting 224 Faulty construction if realized will be realized for life.... 329 Faverolles 31 Favissa, a real 237 Feature hall, stair, or both.... 325 Feature levels 134 Features, outlined pergola, ver- anda, fireplace, mantel, staircase, etc 306 Felting will not entirely elimi- nate noise 317 Fence arched outward at top... 65 Fence, galvanized wire knotted 69 Fence of finicky cobble stones 335 Fence of single buried stones.. 335 Fence, verdure screened 243 Fences, rough bouldered walls of the pioneer 335 Fences, stone, brick, tile, bronze, wire, cast and wrought iron, cement, and turf 335 Fender top seats 233 Ferns, fronded, interrogation point 183 Ferns, walking on laud 100 Ferro-cement construction .... 302 Fertilizer, liquid 95 Feudal drawbridge 244 Feudal fireplace 232 Feudal hall 217 Feudal lords and reta4ners 140 Few houses meet one's ideal... 301 Ficus pandurata 172 Field sheds 19 Field voles 45 Fig trees 62 Fighting dampness with water- proof paint and tar 308 Fighting shrike 45 Figures, accurate 292 Figuring of artisans 289 Filberts 58 Filing-cabinet fireproof room... 303 Filing room in basement 122 Filler ferrets out the borer.... 257 Filter, hygienic 225 Filter of charcoal 9 Financial sheet anchors may prove convenient 297 Finials ; 7 Finney's turnip 100> Fir cattle trough 59 Fir plank flooring 71 Fire and burglar battling 226 Fire and flood 288 Fire axes, hooks, bars and fire rope 832 Fire catechism 332 Fire control 331 Fire control vs. fireproof 302 Fire dog, field of 175 Fire draft stopped at beam ends and plate line 293 Fire drill for a neighborhood. . 332 Fire extinguishers hung wher- ever needed 331 Fire! Fire! Five times in twenty-five years 331 Fire, first aids for fire fighters 332 Fire hazard, elimination of 248 Fire hoods 242 Fire in chimney, remedy for. . . 332 Fire inducers, dirt and rubbish 332 Fire irons, nickel plated 231 Fire king twice a victor 331 Fire line stack 331 Fire pole escape. ; 226 Fire precautions 294 . Fire-protected by cement and hollow brick 306 Fire-protected I beams 146 Fire-protection by air space.... 199 Fire risk curbed at plate line and floor timber ends 310 Fire ropes of wire 226 Fire safety seat 226 Fire serpent, trail of 98 Fire shield, plate glass 233 Fire tools and fire irons 220, 233 Fire-warders, grotesque midget 179 Fire worshippers 221 Fireless cooker 2 Fireplace, black grottoed 233 Fireplace carried on trolley irons 5 Fireplace centred with brick partition 319 Fireplace freak 320 Fireplace, hobbed 172 Fireplace ingle 124 Fireplace jewel safe 227 Fireplace makes a draughty room, pulling air with giant force up chimney 320 Fireplace mantel to door height 233 Fireplace not inconveniently close to doors and windows 311 Fireplace omitted in dining room . . . 2-83 Fireplace rings of iron 277 Fireplace, second story hall... Fireplace separated by a reredos answering for two rooms. . 320 Fireplace set above the hearth dangerous 319 Fireplace, stone settled 140 Fireplace ten feet wide 132 Fireplace, tiny 227 Fireplace ventilation 122 Fireplace vs. windows 227 Fireplace wide and prominent until discovery of coal nar- rowed its beauty 319 Fireplace with double flue 110 Fireplace with ten-foot opening 132, 174, 220 388 INDEX Fireplaces Firepla.ces, cure for smoking-... Fireplaces from Ripon Abbey to Venice Fireplaces, iron dampers and baffles, less beauty, less flame, more heat, more com- fort Fireplaces, twin Fireplaces with ash flues Fireproof and semi - fireproof buildings 302, 'Fireproof brick shaft Fireproof brick vault Fireproof den 122, 220, Fireproof misnomers Fireproof one-story annex Fireproof paint 213, Fires unguarded . First aid in fighting- fires First ayi.d second mortgages . . . . First English sparrows First floor bedrooms "First think put your work". . . . Fish tank, water tight Fishing craft Fishing from the veranda t ishing tackle Fissure in rock Five exclamation points Five rooms at $180 each Five trunk chestnut Fixtures, bathroom Fixtures, combination gas and electric Fixtures, electric Flag pole - Flag pole as cesspool vent Flag-less pole Flambeau fireplace Flashing window cap, frame . and jointures Flat b'lue stone capped Flea Flicker Flies, omniverous eaters Flitch or sandwich beam, made with iron plates Floating platform Floor beams crowned to prevent much sagging Floor beams eut at an angle if set in brick, stone or cement Floor beams, leveling Floor beams of story above never used for ceiling beams Floor beams, twelve-inch Floor beams with bridle irons, strap irons, and tie rods... Floor brace V-shape Floor, dirt Floor for a basement should be under-cemented and tarred. Floor, glass Floor grates for up-draft Floor, kiln dried eight-inch oak with ebonized keys Floor, mezzanine. .130, 172, 193, Floor, oak Floor of two and one half-inch boards Floor, patent cement Floor poorly finished makes furniture wobbly and is a fine dirt-gripper Floor, red birch Floor, tiled Flooring, Georgia rift pine Flooring holds better with cut nails than with wire, and blind nailing is essential... Flooring on scantling- over stone or gravel tears asunder 232 310 232 320 218 319 304 238 224 226 302 303 302 214 332 340 35 5 219 282 215 261 229 204 135 270 58 282 237 237 208 13 245 222 115 22i 94 45 91 316 207 315 315 296 317 254 316 254 9 331 132 222 5 225 317 254 110 179 Floors, cement Floors, deadening of Floors easily swilled Floors, fireproof, with patent cement flooring Floors, hardwood 234, Floors, knee-aching task to plane and finish Floors of maple Floors of selected red birch'.'. Floors, parquetry Floors, revamping of.. Floors, tiled ' \ ' ' Flora, spring awakening- of .. Floral contrasts Floral Jack and a bean stalk.. * loral surprises Florentine cemetery .......... Floret's deepest nectary Flower benches of slate.....!! Flower borders of cement.. Flower bug- Flower of sulphur. . .'.'.'"' Flower pots and boxes con- cealed in mossy banks Flowerless world Flowers, cut ...!!!! Flowers glorifying maturity!! Flowers of childhood.. Flowers of the wild.... Flowers of romantic youth.!!! Flowers, rare anthology of Flue, ventilating, ceiling height Flush tank, low Flying arch, «wn«tmentation of '. .. Flying arch under stair soffits. Flying squirrels ; Foliage-embowered dwelling'' Folk-lore tales of Washington! v ollow-the-sun bungalow Foot scraper of iron gate brace * ootings, brass, for service door Footings of rough stone. . . . Footless larva Footstones of Solomon's Temple Force pump Forecourt . ! ! ! Forehanded farmer !!!.!!! Forest-born house Forest cathedral Forest thinning, haphazard!!! Forest trees, folly of trans- planting Forest wilderness Forestry papers Forewarned and forearmed . Forfeit vs. bonus Forge '. ! ' Forge, electric .!!!!!. Formal garden, Italian. ...!!!!! Fort Nonsense Fortressed homes ! ! Forty days without food failed to kill Doctor Tanner; four minutes in the black hole of Calcutta would have closed the contract Forty-room house to ten-room house Foster mother hen Foul air Foundation angle to fit the site Foundation, boulder stone Foundation, frost-proof Foundation must total twelve inches wider than super- structure Foundation posts, cedar Foundation squared and plumbed Foundation, stone entasis Foundation stones, brown and green 213 293 222 317 317 317 234 155 146 5 222 81 243 100 96 82 47 219 219 91 248 312 90 240 96 96 96 96 80 223 231 310 329 59 :;••:; 124 251 311 242 224 93 251 3 214 9 303 71 84 85 133 57 287 290 63 225 150 124 232 320 200 11 9 304 146 244 307 261 305 110 274 389 Foundation stones tar coated.. 214 Foundation wall, j'>-s and a,ngles add largely to cost. 308 Fountain 133, 21S Fountain-centred room 129 Fountain, electric, flower bor- dered 191, 277 Fountain, ibis-centred 244 Fountain of Youth 96 Fountain, Pompeiian .......... 129 Four doors hinged to make tw-o 251 Four footed friends Four poster 62 Four seasons in glass 121 Fowl coop 247 Fragrant sassafras 84 Frame to remove partition if necessary, and stud to admit of cutting doorways 330 Framed mosses and autumn leaves 251 Framed nature picture 312 Freebooters 91 Free-from-odor house 223 Freedom from coal dust and furnace noises 236 Freedom from noise, heat and cold 252 Freedom of country life 63 Freeing plant food enslaved for centuries 49 Freight allowance 292 French casements 184 French Renaissance 212 Fresh -Water Cove 61 Frieze 5 Frieze, stenciled . ' 234 Frisky s s .,.;., 25, 26 Frogs lifted by herons 100 Frogs- that changed color 100 Front door approach 326 Frontiersman's expedient 226 Fronton glassed in like a ward- ian case . . . 325 Fruit 243 Fruit and game pictures tabu.. 220 Fruit crop . 53 Fruit diet 47 Fruit eaters 93 Fruit, worthless 49 Fruticetum 77 Fumed oak trim 324 Funeral cortege 26 Funnel ceilinged corridor 223 Funnel hall from front door to roof 172 Furnace cold air box of metal.. 323 Furnace overheating prevented by fastening one register open 323 Furnace with double fire box... 236 Furring 161 Furring up of floors shirked... 317 Gable apex 254 Gables 115 Gables of chestnut plank 161 Gables paneled 213 Gables with hanging balconies and verdure-canopied ver- andas 331 Gala rooms 237 Galvanized iron pipes painted.. 322 Galvanized mesh screens 224 Galvanized wire lath 281 Galvanized wire seat 239 Gambrel roof adds beauty and comfort 305 Game preserve, protected 101 Garage 138, 213 Gfiras-e. fireproof 245 Garage, fireproof cement 203 Garage in an under-hill house. 307 Garage, inexpensive 315 Garage pit .'...... 203 Garage with turn table 245 Garbage incinerator, ga* 223 Garden a house extension 243 Garden, Colonial 140, 243 Garden, of Eden clouded by frost 1*2 Garden pests 31 Gardens, formal 217 Gargoyles, rabid-mouthed, gro- tesquely molded 172 Garret heightened 7 Gas log connection 2S7 Gas-packed cesspool 11 Gas piping 237 Gasket 132 Gasoline" engine 9 Gasoline in earth-buried tank.. 307 Gate, iron pointed 244 Gate, lych 243 Gate valve in sewer pipe 13 Gate with chain and cannon ball 239 Gates and barriers 334 Gates, concealed 226 Gates limitless 334 Gates. opened awkwardly 51 Gateways shrub-arched 243 Gazebo, pergolad 203 Geese 15 Gemmed 'mid rock-ribbed moun- tains '.'.',.. '. . '• •' 211 Geometrie.ally designed garden. 243 Georgia pine beams... 291 Geranium cutting's, 10,0.00 248 German vinegar making 63 Get-it-in-at-all-hazard features may mar a unique design. . . 327 Getting acquainted with the nooks and corners of a house in one day 328 Giant's Causeway, America's... 153 Giant croton 87 Gig tumble .-'... 23 Gilt monstrosities', banishment of 236 Gim-crack creations outcome of license .','... . . 300 Girder, pillar, entablature, frieze 299 Girdling rabbit, balking the.... 49 Girt and girders made from separate beams nailed together 315 Girts of pre-Revolutionary barn 244 Glacial action 221 Gladsome hand of greeting.... 99 Glaring contrasts, such as Gothic elbqwing Colonial, avoided .'...............'... 304 Glaring plate glass.'. ... . 214 Glass .... ::..;:.. 213 Glass for racks, set basin sup- ports, etc 231 Glass for table tops...... 231 Glass from floor to" window top 110 Glass hood in kitchen 281 Glass house front cellar to roof tree ...'.. Glass - ribbed reflectors for cellar : : : : ; Glass traps si mechanical pos- sibility 322 Glass tubes concealed at cor- nice line 237 Glass-walled room, cooling of. 234 Glassed-in porch . 321 Glassing in under veranda. 155, 225 Glazed brick 303 Glittering ice plants 89 Gluttonous debauchee 91 Goats, Angora 31, 58 "God. the first garden made".. 82 "God's first temples" 65 "God's in His Heaven" 75 390 INDEX God's messengers 41 Golden carpet 'neath the shrub- bery &a Golden-hued rock 274 Golden queen raspberry 47 Golden woodpecker 45 Goldfinch ., 39 Goldfish, murder of _7l Gong of feudal times 132 Good ship Fortune 51 Gooseberries 55 Gothic arch ','. 329 Gothic cottage with head-hit- ting ceilings and jig-saw embellishments 300 Gothic stair coeval with early stair of France and Ger- many 325 Gothic tortuous winding stair.. 325 Gourds 102 Gourmands, aphidiverous 93 Government maps 57 Government seeds 103 Governor Woods 55 Gradient of a true water shedder 305 Graffito treatment 169 Grafting 49 Gra nary 41 Grand-dad sleigh 61 Grandfather's clock 261, 277 Grandfather's clock on stair landing 134 Grandiose architecture vs. grace 305 Granite ledge vibration 129 Granite stepping stones, 6x8... 154 Grannies crowned geniuses.... 97 Grape border preparation 249 Grape-growing, crude 249 Grape protection 55 Grape setting's 55 Graperies, chicken coof> 249 Grapes ; . . 243 Grapes big producer*, nen- mildewers and sure ripehers 339 Grapes, Hamburg . . . .-„• 249 Grapes, Niagara 55 Grappling iron .- 277 Grass and brush fire...; 113 Grass diggers 93 Grass-grown crater . . . '; 222 Grass paths underdralfeed 239 Grave diggers, embryo- 93 Gravel pit 22 Gravel vs. town asphalt 243 Gravelly loam : 73 Gravelly southern slope 247 Graves, elimination Of 25 Gray skies .'...• 43 Gray squirrels . ; 22, 65 Grease trap* 223 Greased ways 291 Great Danfe 'andirons 173 Greek god 218 Green frogs ot the lily pads. . . . 100 Green Mountain State 31 "Green not alone in summer time" 134 Green soiling; 21, 74 Green striplihfrs:- -73 Green wood s-nrlnks 303 Green wood sponsors dry rot... 326 Greenery bird retreat 89 Greenhouse bouquet of bloom.. 154 Greenhouse, expensive con- struction avoided 247 Greenhouse feeder 193 Greening dead stumps 99 Greenwich Inn 124 Grille of brass concealing safe. 227 Grille, stair 261 Grilles, hinged 236 Grilles, metal 236 Grim Reaper 13 Groin a vaulted roof 329 Grooved for sheet glass 215 Grosbeak 39 Gros-Coleman 249 Grotesque midget fire warders. 175 Grotto under store arches 201 Ground air 213, 224 Ground hog burrows 22 Ground mole, blind 22 Grounds arboretum edged 150 Growing odors of bloom-packed flower pit 248 Growing plants on stairs and centre table 240 Growth, arch enemy of 240 Grubs 35 Guest book alcove 239 Guest room ever remembered.. 315 Guest rooms 227, 254 Guest stair, private 225 Guernsey cattle 17 Guinea fowl 33 Gullied slopes 22 Guns 229 Gutter, arris, zinc -lined cypress 318 Gutter, cement 224 Gutter, cobble 144 Gutter crimped to prevent bursting with ice 318 Gutter problem exasperating... 318 Gutter, stone, elimination of... 69 Gutter, ugly half circle hang- ing gutter 318 Gym. in the open 122 Gymnasium 225 Gymnasium, canvas floored.... 122 Gypsy moth 37, 58, 74 Hair raising poachers 45 Half-above-ground cellar 62 Half-back service stair 326 Half moon decoration in seg- mented ceiling 189 Hall alcove screened 234 Hall, circular and vaulted 132 Hall, domed . . 132 Hall draught stopper 160 Hall, feudal 217 Hall, flambeau lighted 232 Hall, gallery, nine feet wide.... 132 Hall, Hartford council 124 Hall lighting 227 Hall-mark of distinction or a black mark of mediocrity. . 311 Hall of Farrie, arboreal Hall, red tiled 277 Hall, stop-draught 277 Hall, the keynote of house.... 217 Hall, 33x33, second story 183 Hall treatment, unusual Hall, 20x40, beamed and col- umned 142 Hall, twenty-five feet high.... 237 Hall with barreled ceiling 133 Hammer noises controlled by low pipe connection 323 Hammer tap travesty 290 Hammock, tree-swung 251 Hammocks hung in shadow of post and arch 204 Hancock, John 217 Hand imprints of 2,000 years ago 129 Hand rail, curved 129 Hand-rived shakes of Colonial days 313 Handy boy 294 Hanging shelves 63 Happy-go-lucky lad 282 Harbor view 159 Harbor watch dog 286 INDEX 391 Hardware 235 Hardware, gold plated 118 Hard wood better than soft for paint 282 Hardy English walnut 59 Harrows 59 Harvard, Roman, and tapestry brick 309 Harvest of form and color 94 "Has been" 242 Has-been (?) Ox 19 Hauberk 218 Haven of rest 242 Haverstraw tunnel 159 "Hawk from a handsaw" 293 Hawk moths 92 Hawks of insect world 93 Haws, scarlet 87 Hay barn 1 Hay crop 15, 21 Hay crop throttled 74 Hay ricks 15 Hazel copse 39 Hazel nuts 58 Headpieces of service can be made of sheet lead, zinc or tin 314 Headers and stretchers laid in Flemish or English bond... 309 Health-giving- North woods.... 211 Health-giving rays of the sun.. 303 Hearth arches, skew back, 4x6 timbers halved prevent dis- placement 319 Hearths 233 Hearthstone, giant 221 Heartsease 273 Heat, sun and ventilation 241 Heater, kerosene 248 Heater piece 101 Heating and water pipes carried to porch and conservatory and capped 321 Heating economy calls for large fire box 323 Heating, luxurious Roman 236 Heating pipes concealed 200 Heating plant 189, 236, 324 Heating plant for hot-house... 248 Heavy soil suitable for crops needing the whole summer to mature 338 Hebron 83 Hedge of arbor vitae 335 Hedge barriers 67 Hedge in double and triple rows 69 Hedge, irregular curving 243 Hedge of grotesque shape 69 Hedge of Japanese privet 67 Hedge of laurel willow 67 Hedge of Norway spruce and hemlock 335 Hedge ogee curved 69 Hedge, osage orange 67 Hedge propagation 69 Hedge pruned to spell "Hill- crest" €9 Hedge, Rosa rugosa 67 Hedge rows transformed 55, 78 Hedge, sweet brier 67 Height and width of plate shelf 329 Heirlooms, attic-stored 62 Hellebore 57 Help-draw, ugly chimney pot.. 234 Helter-skelter egg deposit 92 Hemlock, poison 88 Hemlock, towering 71 Hemlock's faithful branches... 134 Hen hawks 33 Hennery neither square nor plumb 247 Henry IV, Part II 287 Henry of Navarre 87 Heraldry 189 Hermit thrush 47 Hero of New England's dark day 124 Herons lifted the frogs 100 Hibernating house 62 Hickory blight 58 Hickories 58, 65 Hidden basic construction 304 Hidden waterways 89 Highboys 221 High pillared fronts and pan- theon entablature 300 High posters 5 Hillcrest Farm 17 Hillcrest Hall 121 Hillcrest Manor 104, 140 Hillcrest Manor Park 73 Hilltop 105 Hinge, double action 235 History, sacred and profane.... 87 Hitting the nail 294 Hobby unseated 19 Hog Hill 63 Hog selfishness 41 Hole-in-ground greenhouse .... 22, 247, 329 Hollow brick 142 Hollow brick tile, covered with cement, is ideal construction in non-earthquake countries 309 Hollow brick veneered with shakes 303 Hollow brick double wall brick tied 309 Hollow square of our farm buildings 331 Hollow tree shelter 2.99 Hollow tree trunk hibernation. 94 Holocaust of insects 57 Holstein-Fresian 17 Holy-stoning 5 Home 247 Home-brewed extracts 97 Home embowered in apple blossoms 129 Home greeter, a 27 Homes, outing 251 Homestakers 61 Honey, poisoned 88 Honeycombed parapet 239 Honorable mention 74 Hood for range 2 Hood, glass 281 Hooded mantel 325 Hopping sparrows 43 Hornet 94 Horse ambition 41 Horse and extra man at work grading, thinning out and setting new trees 339 Horse and windlass 103 Horse barrel cart 55 Horse boarders 26, 58, 339 Horsechestnut tree, giant 241 Horse dirt scoop 22, 244 Horse diseases 19 Horse posts in shade 244 Horse shoe arch 155 Horse uncurbed 23 Horses 15, 17 Horses vs. houses 304 Horseradish patches . . .... 99 Horticultural alphabet 80 Horticultural sextette 78 Horticultural vagabond 15 Hot air currents 236 Hot air heating plant and front door sill register '. . . 323 Hot-bed sash 247 Hot water heater 223 392 INDEX open com- Hot water heating, expansion tank i plete safety valve Hot water pipes liable to freeze through carelessness of help Hot water plant Hour glass moves more swiftly in the horticultural world. Houdans House additions, preparing for. House, adjustable telescopic.... House, analysis of House anchored to ledge House angle to suit the site. . . . House, arched, under House, bi-family Houseboat on land House builders never attain coveted perfection ......... House, building fundamentals: health, comfort and idealism House .costing $12,000 House, .costing $2,500 Hbuse.ij.rude. jn the morning has ev«ry .partition in place by n.igh.t House "deterioration .House, enlarged,, yet not en- larged House, heated House ideal House indiv'idualization close to line of criticism House, lacking of House, making of the House martins House moving cost House, new, counting cost of... House, new, swung into the mire of mediocrity House, hew, u'ritaxed House octagonal . House of a dozen balconies.... House of flesh and blood. . ..... House of the cross House, portable House, psychic effect 'of an ideal House rising from ledge House round as a gasometer... House, sanitary House side-hilled 224, House site, bare, hole-in ground, stoned-up cellar, upright posts, completed dwelling.. 51, 110, House, stone, vs. health House, studying from garret to cellar .....-..-. House, telescopic' House that spanned a city block House untaxable House warmer House well back from road.... Household gods and heirlooms. Housemaid's sink Houses, moving a quintette of. . Housing the hen How to build •. How to face a house 212, How to have large attic rooms. How to know your house, though unbuilt How to partition a house in one day Humanity, unsophisticated .... Hummer, ruby gorget-throated Hundred roomed mansion crowning hills of Lenox or Aiken Hurdles, sheen Husbandry, details of Husking- bee Hydraulic power 323 323 236 237 31 304 203 295 306 301 307 158 282 305 301 288 288 329 302 158 244 211 305 297 305 35 53 287 313 215 303 115 160 129 257 240 213 303 254 274 330 273 296 200 115 215 232 330 331 232 159 247 287 304 110 327 328 290 47 299 243 135 33 9 Hygiene 21:: Hygienic bath, the 322 Hygienic ice water 11 Hygienic surface 241 Hygienic wall covering 241 Hyla, the 79 Hypocaust of Rome 236 I-beams, posts and stirrups of iron 213, 306 Ice blast cavern 244 Ice, cost of gathering 71 Ice house vine-screened 71 Ice house, roof framed with logs, and hay protected.... 314 Ice-making plant 224, 238 Ice pond 71 Ice storage room 71 Iceland moss 95 Icelander's igloo 299 Ichneumon fly ... 99, 93 Ideal hypercritical building' requires . ample f u n d s , ground and time 301 Ideal power 9 Ideal suite 135 Idyl must be a real idyl, anti- podal to man-made" town. . 338 Ignorantly vandalizing finest building conceptions 300 "I laugh at the lore" 41 Iliad of woes 291 Illumined highway 75 Immune grapes 55 Imperial eagle 212 Importing Philadelphia house trim 157 Impoverishing the soil 58 Impressionist 43 Imprisoned buds of the maple. 45 Imprisoning June within a glass framed room adjoining the dining room 311 Improvements, exterior 227 Inanimates warring against the flesh gg Incas, peaked arches of 226 Incubators 33 Independence through develop- ment 337 Indian, moccasin-shod 213 Indian's wigwam site 150 Indifferent stupid tyke 146 Indirect radiation 323 Infective dry rot prevented by air space 316 Infringement on kitchen and basement 169 Infront and outf ront 252 Ingle-seat 189 Ingle, usable 238 Inglenook 130 Inglenook grilled and columned 138 Inglenook, high arched 124 Inglenook of living room 277 Inglenook, recessed 110 Inglenook semi-partitioned .... 329 Ingress and egress 239, 311 "In my salad days" 1 Innovations require thought to avoid the grotesque 313 Insane asylums 74 Insanitary plumbing . . 13 Insect acid flesh protection 92 Insect and fungi destroyers.... 57 Insect autocrats *. 93 Insect color warnings 92 Insect destruction 37, 90 Insect dwellings 91 Insect feeding on insect 58 Insect fighting 74 Insert formed similar to elm leaf 92 INDEX 393 Insect genealogical" tree 92 Insect gourmands 3, 31 Insect Habitation, concealment of 04 Insect head 92 Insect houses, stone . . .' 94 Insect immune plants 87 Insect lair invaded by tar 331 Insect leaf homes 94 Insect life, predatorf. 90 Insect life, unending procession of .......... 92 Insect menu . . V ..'... 35 Insect nonilllons .............. 90 Insect orphaned world "94 Insect pest, passing of ........ 229 Insect progeny 90 Insect scavengers „',-•»• .-.'.'. 94 Insect, skunk .'.'....,., :'?.%»'. -*•'. ,92 Insect trust ',,-,' — . . 57 Insect vs. giant. ./. .'*^~.. .94 Insect with sail-covered wlprgs. 91 Insect wooden bUiYchfrs"."-- -'.V. ." 94 Insecticide for fly, mosnufto and spider 115 Insectless world 90 Insects and fungi vs. fruit and vegetables 55 Insects, antennae of . . . fc. 92 Insects, checkmating of :.'.....: 2S2 Insects, environmental cfislguTse of 92 Insects, four-winged 92 Insects, pollen carrying. 84 Insects, vegetivorous ...:....... 93 Insecure nailings gap 303 Insidious foes, fungoid •grtwth and ground air 307 Inspect before plastering 295 Inspection, delay for. .....' 295 Inspector .....'.. 294 Inspector a burden carrier 297 Inspector, necessity for 293 Insurance, fire and glass 292 Insurance, lapsing «*.......,..,. 61 Insurance, lessening of premium on 332 Insuring stock '. ~. . 19 Interest and taxes 340 Interest chargfe 292 Interference, uncalled for 291 Interior timbered alM stuccoed. 140 Interior Vs. exterior'.'.'. ... 7 ; ... 305 Interiors .'.' 252 Interrogation point fronded fern's ....... ..Y. .. ..:^_.^r; 183 In the swim o'r away from it... 211 Introduction Day .'.... 90 Investigation proves- ottr world weedless 99 Ionic and Doric cap. ... .* ...':.'. 299 Iron beams vs. Georgia pjne girders' .'. .. .:.7 — . » , . 316 Iron grilled front ;';;..JV-»..; 222 Iron pipe system of efec,tric installation : 2?6, 294 Iron post and gir*er ffwattrefl in cement for fire protection. . 310 Iron posts supporting iron girders ..........:....„... 310 Iron roller inset in pier 207 Iron roofs and girders for out- buildings succumb to rust and decay 315 Iron trolley rail brace 146 Iron work must be rust-proof. 310 Irresponsible contractors 289 Irrigation 74 Isaac's burial 83 Island House 150 Island in duck pond 71 Islands of evergreens 22 Islands, verdure-crowned 142 Isolation from clatter, heat and odors 115 Italian garden 140, 2UO "It feels a pang as deep" 90, "It's always morning" 208 Ivy of bushy-headed growth... 98 Jacob's burial 83 January changed to June 227 January house vs. December product 301 Japanese chestnut 58 Japanese evergreen, midget.... 312 Japanese gods of stone 244 Japanese plants 77 Japanese rooms 122, 228 Japanese silk .effect 241 Japan's painstaking propaga- tion of plants 101 Javelin 140 Jay human 41, 47 Jeremiads of contractor 291 Jersey cattle 17 Jewel safe cemented in wall. . . . 227 Jewelry concealed 229 Joy of living 146 Joy of pruning 8S Jugglery and jingle of dollars. 41 Juliet of the insect world 93 Jungfrau, our 220 Keeping room 5 Kendal Green 82 Kerosene fire-quenchers 331 Kerosene torches of destruction 55 Kerria's pea-green stalks 77 Key cabinet 235 Keyless and never-closed bird restaurant 101 Keys of wood in gables 161 Kiddom, glories of 284 Kieffer pear 53 Kill-weed liquors 69 Killing tension 96 King and churl : . . . 13 King apples ."..'... 49 King Herod's edict 82 King- Moisture coming into his own 303 King of Day 35 King' of trees 85 King post holds up ridge and centres collar beams. 306' Kingfisher's bachelor traits ... 41 Kinglets of the evergreen Kingship of living 121 Kitchen cabinet of" enameled steel ... . . . . . .'.'.'.- 223 Kitchen drain, purification of.. 9 Kitchen galley . ..'..'... .'. . . . ... . 193 Kitchen, light ........... 7 . 295 Kitchen mechanics, culinary appointment's, and dining- room' on lower road level. . 307 Kitchen, north and east' 212 Kitchen odors, elimination of... 223 Kitchen, semi-Dutch 221 Kitchen settle 2 Kitchen, small 2 Kitchen, white 222 Kitchen, white tiled 193 Kitchen, winged 115 Knickerbockers 51 Knife of the •mower .'. 103 Knight's vi*or . , 154 Knocker, brass 221 Knocker electrically connected. 237 Knots shellacked 62 Know your house though un- built 327 Labels, copper 95 394 INDEX Labor and material bills 288 Labor cheap 289, 296 Labor contract 288, 296 Laehenfeld cattle 15 Ladders sheltered under ver- anda floors 332 Laddie's lotus-eating days 260 Lady-bird, smug 93 Lady-bird turtles ' 59 Lagoon and curving waterway. 159 Lake, inland 211 Lake - protected dwellings of Switzerland 299 Lamps, non-rusting metal 160 Land-locked lagoon 204 Land titles 287 Landscape gardening 22 Landscape gardening on paper. 339 Landscaped villas 133 Landscaping, expense of 292 Landscaping keeping pace with building 296 Lantern, cathedral 237 Lantern, King Alfred's 237 Lanterns, Paul Revere 281 Lanterns suspended from gar- goyles 281 Lapsing to the antique 5 Lares and penates 219 Large rooms vs. small 252 Last of thirty steps in building 161 Last plant to leave and bloom. . 101 Last stand against insect world 74 Last word in building is never spoken 330 Latch-key, fighting for 289 Latch of Colonial days 2.12 Latch-string 2«8 Latch-string, far cry to pulling the 160 Latest bird callers 47 Lath, galvanized wire 161, 281 Lathe 63 Lathe, electric 225 Latitude in contracts 297 Lattice, vine embowered 239 Laurel, lamb-kill 84 Lavatory 169 Lavatory stolen from cellar.... 152 Lawns, beautifying of 77 Lawn contours ,31 Lawn, lengthening of. 243 Lawn motor 21 Lawn ornaments 244 Lawn, -preparation of 21 Lawn seed 21 Lawn, systematic rolling of.....; .21 Lawn vista 243- Laze bugs 91 Leader connections 9 Leaf blight 5J5 Leaf hopper 55, 91 Leaf mansion of cherry twig tier 94 Leaf-roller weevil 91 Leaf tent miners ., 9-t Leaks thart mar. 318 Leaks, their caiiae and remedy. 317 Leaks through in&idious avenues 303 Learning plant names 91 Leather injured by moisture. ... 2 Ledge barren of water courses. . 270 Ledge formation Interesting to geologist ~ •• 203 Ledge, rough edged, lichen- covered . 133 Ledges 140 Ledges, stone piled on 15 Legal forms ...'. .-, 292 Leghorns Leo. King of St. Bernards 27 Lenidoptera, 50,000 species of, 91, 92 Leprous black knot 83 "Let God do His work" 124 "Let the dead past bury its dead" 252 Letting farm on shares 58 Lexington 247 Libby Prison 31 Library 189, 219 Library alcove in bayed tower. 154 Library on north 212 Library side wall of leaded glass 193 Lichen-covered stone outcrop- pings 115 Lichen-rifted rock 100 Lichens 21 Lien laws of mechanics 289 Life defenders and prolongers. 97 Life-giving sap cut off 237 Life in the open for ten months 239 Life of a house 301 Life saver or destroyer 88 Lift, balanced 155, 194, 235 Lifted above the turmoil of earth 315 Light a good defense 237 Light sandy soil best for early crops 338 Light screened for horses 244 Lighting, diffused 237 Lighting fixtures 237 Lighting house from the out- side 237 Lighting, indirect 237 Lightning rod questionable pro- tection 318 Lightning rods 7 Lightning, speed-crazed 26 Lightning strikes Buena Vista's tiled tower 331 Lights, electric 237 Lilacs 57 Limb breaker stair 254 Lime efflorescence 213 Lime, pock-marked 321 Lime with sand 74 Limestone disintegrates more or less japidly 307 Limitations of unlimited wealth 3 Line of succession 299 Lin.en closet with Victorian . £.. doors 228 Linen drawers . 227 Linen storage in French farm- house 22/7 Linings, -felt . . . 289 Lintel, carved griffin 113 Lintels, carved 154 Lintels, -peaked' v. 2 Lion rampant in- tiled floor 1 Lions flanking' front door 160 Little Minister 120 Little Turk . ... 53 Living and gala rooms made -.re impressive 307 five centuries 65 is serious business 28 / room 217. 251, 257 iving room 'screened 27^ Living room, size of 277 EMMyg. room, south and west.. 212 Living- room, 35x45 183 Living spring a travesty when house is gridironed with pipes connected with com- munity reservoir 30 1 Loam re-topping *| Lobster tank 28^ Location *•» J Location of kitchen 3 Location vs. construction. ...... 212 Lock and hinge, invisible. . .220, 228 Lockers • 230 Locks, burglar-proof ££° Locks, mortise ^5 395 Locust immunity 57 Log- burner ?32 Log- cabin 257 Log cabin of Brobdignagian proportions 221 Loggia 241 Loggia, red quarry tiled 218 Loggia, treatment of brick- floor 220 Log-slat>bed dwelling 140 Logs peeled and varnished 221 Lonesome grandeur of large room 184 Longfellow's first poem 100 Long1 Island Sound's sand and rock-bound shore 211 Long Island Sound yachting ground 211 "Look before you leap" 287 Lookout 222 Lookout above dusty highway.. 121 Lookout, farm 7 Lookout room 234 Loop-the-loop rack 225 Lost in the mountains of Leba- non 299 Lost vista 247 "Lotus eating days" 247 Lounging room, outdoor 129 Lowboys 5 Low candle power bulbs 2?,7 Low ceiling 5 Low land hot and damp 53 Lowering a ceiling 329 Lowing herd, ripening harvest, swirl of bloom 342 Lumber, souvenirihg of 293 Lumber, waste of 289 Lure of the lumber pile 342 Lure of the town 41 Luxurious comfort on warmest days . . . 204 Luxurious vernal growth 335 Machine, rowing' 122 Madame best authority for room location 304 Maggots 93 Mahogany s'tkin 281 Maine, rock-ribbed coast of.... 157 Majestic pine 65 Makeshifts 2 Making a lawn 21 Malarial poison i-^y . . . 98 "Malice aforethought" room.... 138 Man-bird seeking- 234 Man cook 63 Mail of the .eurth 98 Mangles ..'...,..,. 224 Manoeuvreing' apriry 268 Manorial panes ...;'. . . 214 Man's care-free legacy 160 Man's existence hirtging on insect Iffe ...'. . 90 Man's head to ground... 41 "Mart's inhumanit^ to nian" .... 90 Man's progress from primordial cavern '. 299 Man's self-destruction 13 Mansard, Monsieur . . . 21"5 Mantel breasts 233 Mantel, brick ..-..- 234 Mantel, brick-hooded 154 Mantel decoration 242 Mantel face niche 135 Mantel fronts . 242 Mantel, hooded 242 Mantel, iron-bound oak 175 Mantel mirror barred 23" Mantel of weather beaten boards 222 Mantel- shelf, high 233 Mantel shelf. Vow 233 Mantel, shell decorated 251 Mantel, stone 189 Mantels 144, 233, 329 Map of escape from maze 244 Maple, bird's-eye 228 Maple borer 84 Maple, grain of 234 Maple, green and white striped bark 84 Maple sugar harvest 84 Maple, use of 235 Maples 57, 65 Maples, split-thread leaf 84 Marauder vs. Marauder 58 Marauding freebooters 92 Marble dust cement 214 Marble steps 326 Marbleized front 161 Marmion's plume 244 Marquise 132, 160, 244 Martin, praying 90 Mason's delays 290 Mast 282 Mastering dry details of con- struction 306 Mat, inset 317 Match lock 221 Material ahead of requirements best goad to keep job at concert pitch 293, 306 Material bills 288 Material, cheap 289 Material, checking of 293 Material, figuring on 292 Material, kiln-dried 296 Material not to be taken away. . 294 Material supply men 291 Material, waste of 293 Mathematics, long and short. . . . 294 Matterhorn plants 95 Mattress hammock 228 May circus vs. planting 99 Mayan palace, crude 299 Mayflower pear 51 Mayflower's errand of peace.... 189 Maze, Hampton Court 244 Maze, privet 244 Meadow lark 35 Measurements, accurate 294 Measurements to be taken by manufacturer 294 Meat-eating- plant 99 Mechanics' lien laws 289 Mechanics vs. contractors 296 Meddling with contracts re- quires infinite care and skill 309 Mediaeval castle 142 Medicine eloset, mirrored 231 Megalithic masonry of Italy, Greece and Egypt 300 Melancholy days 95 Men, handling of 296 Merino sheep 31 Mesh scree-n, galvanized 282 Metal beading on stair 121 Metal box for floor cloth 223 Metal bridging supplemented with wood 315 Metal doors air-spaced 122 Metal ear-labeled animals 17 Metal framework for utensils.. 222 Metal shelves, asbestos-covered 214 Metamorphosing with sruano and shears 86 Miasma-breeding cellar 7 Mice 15 Microbe, aerobic Microbe, anaerobic 13 Microbe, elusive 220 Mjcrobiologist, State 58,89 Microscope 90 Microscopic lever 92 Microscopic view of hive 34 Mid-heierht platform on stair- way 225 396 INDEX Midnight marauder foiled 237 Midnight prowler balked 226 Mid-stair platforms . . 326 Mightiest monopolistic trust.... 53 Milch cow aphides 93 Mildew 248 Mildew, the arch enemy of grape 249 Milk 17, 19, 243 Milk storage excavation 7 Milk snakes 100 Milkweed, rubber-producing ... 99 Mills, country wood working... 290 Milton's blue hills 247 Minaret 213 Mind-built houses . 301 Mineral wool 236 Mink 33 Minor within a major world... 92 Miiag* rooms 230 Minorcas, black 31 Minstrel balcony, 14x20 179 Mirror doors 230, 237 Mirrors, eagle-crowned 5 Mirrors, foot wide 218 Mirrors for dressing require a good light 311 Mirrors, location of 230 Mirrors, triplicate 231 Mirrors, vista 230 Mirrors, wall dressing 216 Mission, keyed and doweled.... 300 Missionary work for pure air and healthy living 341 Misusing a southern exposure . . 7 Mitchell, Donald G 19 Moat 244 Model house in cardboard 328 Model house skeletonized 328 Model shows size and location of rooms, doors and win- dows 328 Modus operand! of dishonest builder 289 Moisture confined is a destroyer 326 Moisture in stone walls only balked by imbedding in cement, tarring and under- draining 305> Moisture-laden south and east winds . 338 Moisture loopholes 289 Moisture vs. rheumatism 303 Molding, convex sweep 234 Mole runways 22 Mollu.sk vs. boats 20-1 Monastic grass paths... 243 Alonetary responsibility 288 Money-grubbing age 41 Money in poultry. 33 Money wasted on one lawn.... 21 Moneywort, yellow-gernmed . . . 89 Monilia 53 Monkey climber 86 Monsieur Mansard 215 Monte Nuovo crater. . 15^ Moody's white farm . . . .- 15 Mooring rings . 207 Moorish castle *•" ~ Moorish house with flat roof... 315 Moorish suggestions 157 Morning room 5, 227, 230 Morning stroll . ,41 Morphine poppy 88 Mortar joints, red. . ..'.". ...*..... 153 Mortgage decreased without paying a dollar 330 Mortgage may be a fallacious nightmare 1 Mosaic gold 122 Mosnuito and malaria-breeding ditch 244 Mosquitoes 94 Moss, asexual 21 Mossy peat 10Q Moth, regal 93 Mothering cider 63 Moth s. 92 Motif, the cross 129 Motor boat berth 207 Motto on door-sill 258 Mottoes 244, 332, 33?, 334 Mottoes, painted - 219 Mound, frost-proof 11 Mount block, stone 244 Mount Mansfield 154 Mount Marcy, snow-erowned. . . 154 Mourning cloak 94 Moving day for the farm house 103 Muck with sand, mixture of.... 74 Mud cocks 223 Muggy, moisture-laden dog days bad for the cabinet maker. 324 Mulching 79, 248 Mullins, Priscilla 51 Muntins, curved 144 Muriatic acid 214 Muscat Hamburgs 249 Mushroom venture 62 Music room, carpetless 218 Myles Standish 51 Nadir of architecture 300 Nailing, insecure 289 Nails and hardware under lock and key 297 Nails, hand-wrought 221 Nameless seedling apple 51 Naples, volcano of 150 Napoleon's emblem 34 Napoleon willow 88 Narcissi, border of . 82 Natives purblind to speculative values 33S Nature in equilibrium 90 Nature's epitome of human life seen in tree 83 Nature's secret unlocked 89 Nature's waking hour 36 Necessary roads 338 Nectarines 53 Neglect of pruning knife 83 Neoclassic of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries 300 Neolithic pennpit of early Eng- land 299 Nest-stealing vagrant 37 Never - to - be - forgotten home- greeter 27 Ne\v England' 'housewife. 82 New England poet" of the hills 124 New England's dark day.;.'."... 124 New methods 'not necessarily more expejjglve 327 New old-fasnioried ribbon gar- dening , 22 Newel, Himalayan lathe turned 183 Newel, lion rampant 183 Newels , IS-1) Newspaper advertising plus skill, patience, 'and per- severmrce 341 Newton, hills of 247 Newtown Pippins 49 Niches 238 Night hawk 45 Night moths 93 Night watchman wise precau- tion in a large job 297 Nipping frost 11 Nit rate of soda 21 Nitrates with sand, mixture of. . 74 Noise barriers 324 Noise, dust and fire risk reduc- tion 224 Non-biting constrictor 15 Nonillions of insects 90 INDEX 397 Non-silk spinners 93 Norman stables 244 Norman tower 140 North room transformed . 216 Norther (the) fruitlessly beats. 339 Northern Spy Norsemen -on battle bent 189 N6tre Dame gargoyles 160, 281 Novelty siding 142 Nuisances that injure the coun- try home 338 Nursery ; 228 Nursery ceiling with chart of star-studded sky 228 Nursery frieze • . 228 Nursery stock and nurseryman. 339 Nuthatches 43 Oak 220 Oak apple 93 Oak of two and one-half cen- turies 208 Oak, spurious quartered 327 Oak, swamp 57 Oak vs. maple 208 Oak wainscot destroyed by borer 257 Oaks of Mamre 82 Obsolete parlor . . . 251 Ocean liner as seen in model room points the way for the house builder 328 Odd hours' search for a fortune in land 33S Offshoots -. 79 Ogived Gothic stair 326 Oil 212 OH for tools 63 Oil stove, unhygienic «.3, 247 Old foundation serious handi- cap 301 Old Glory 245 Old-time granny plant names.. 97 Oldest inhabitant, affidavit of.. 51 On the ground floor friends.'... 338 One-at-a-time door contrasting with wide door of hos- pitality 328 One contract system 292 One-room bungalow 299 One-room Saxon chimneyless dwelling : . . . 299 One thousand per cent, property advance 337 Only work that kills . 98 Ontario's rare dry climate favors unpainted tin roofs. 315 Onyx mantel face and hearth .. 122 Orange rust, spring and fall... 57 Orchard facing west 11, Orchards 140 Ordering ahead 296 Orders, rush, objection to 296 Oriel panes . 214 Ormolu, ornamented 122 Ornaments, home-made 242 Orphaned progeny 94 Orpingtons • . . . 31 Os€uary 35 "Our birth at best a sleep".... 98 Outbuildings - 214 Outdoor dining-room for serv- ants • 115 Outdoor material for indoor uses nonsensical * . . 324 Outdoor to indoor couch 228 Outlets, electric 169 Outline columns, pilasters and dp spandrels 329 Outlining hearth 242 Outshot of Old England or woodsrfwd of, New England. . 33'J Overcast days brightened 248 Over decoration detracts from painting, statuary, etching, and century framed oak. ... 313 Overdrafts 291 Over floor . covering either half- inch cork or cheaper cork matting 317 Overflow pipe 11 Overflow pipes large 232 Overhang adds valuable area with same foundation ex- pense 316 Overhang deadened 115 Overhang deadened with min- eral wool or cement 308 O-\erhang four to six feet 254 Overhang of eight feet 169 Overhang, wide 129, 234 Overhead automatic sprinkler.. 332 Over-heat and over-odor. 301 Over-mantel decoration 222 Over mantels 233 Oversight over all fires 297 Over-windowed house and frail nell area 313 Ovule : : . . 79 Owner's suite .......... 226 Ox road ....". ""65 Ox vs. horse 19 Oxen, cost of. :-/-....*.* -19 Oxygen in lungs of :men and depths of matter lengthens Oyster Bay, sand bluffs o'f'.'.l'sV, 135 Ozone-bathed peak-.%... 211 Pack-horse, treadmill worker. . 75 Paddock l, 26 Painstaking propagation of centuries 101 Paint, heat-proof 236 Paint not always a wood pre- servative 326 Paint that wears off under soap and water not worth the labor of putting on 326 Paint, water-proof 214 Paint, white water 225 Painter's contract «*.... 292 Painting or staining artistfcally 3 321 Plaster, frozen, rubs off 321 Plaster of paris, if sparingly used by a mason minus a conscience makes a plaster that rubs off 321 Plaster protected by wainscot- ing 327 Plaster, untrue surfacing pil- lories for all time a careless mason .... 321 Plaster, wood pulp 282 Plastered ceilings often dan- gerous shams 321 Plastered interiors essential... 252 Plasterers' grounds 328 Plastering, air-spaced 214 Plastering on wooden or wire lath, cost per yd 292 Plastering rounded at all cor- ners ". -. . 321 Plate glass 297 Plate glass essentials 146 Plate glass wind shields 215 Plate rack 239 Plates and sills with halved joinings 316 Platform, brass railed 207 Platform, iron grated 234" Platform, movable 270 Playhouse 73 Play side of farming 73 Playthings of orchard 47 Pliny's wonder garden 208 Plodding dobbin and shanks' mare lengthen the distance 338 Plodding Peggoty 23, 26 Plodding ploughman 19 Ploughing, sub-soil 21 Ploughs 59 Plum tree Plumbing !'.!!'. Plumbing and heating "pipes carried to third story and Plumbing, back-Wired' • iV J. lumbing contract . Plumbing fixtures Zsi'sYf Plumbing- fixtures covered with unsalted tallow . Plumbing, open . Plumbing: Pipes placed 'before floors are laid; pipes con- cealed in wooden pockets, closets and back halls : Pipes close to chimneys and! if possible, away from out- iae walls; pipes in the main run perpendicularly to cellar; four-inch tile sewer Pipe for private house .better than five inch... Plumbing shut-offs 200' Plumbing; spells common sense and is easily mastered by a layman ..... Plumbing, up - take ' draught secured by having sewage Plymouth Heaarrbohr0t Water Pip6S Plymouth Rock '' Pneumonia conducing" atmos- phere Poacher-proof wire fence Poachings Poet's corner ....""" Poison in leaf and rootlet." Poison ivy, golden red.. Poison pokeweed Pokeholes Pokeholes for magazines!; Pokeweed, poison Poland, tufted . . . Polecats .... Poiien !!!!!!!!! Pollen-carrying insects ! Polluted waters, avoiding Polygonum's phenomenal growth Pomologist phased Pompeiian wall treatment!!!! Ponderous dreadnought Pool Pool, artificial . . . ! ! Poor timber, getting rid of" Poorly set window and door frames increase heating ex- pense "Poor w.iii" !!!!!!! ! Poplar, anemophilous ... Porcelain safe under sink..!!!! Porch, a semi - conservatory entrance Porch and porch room, add far more than their cost... . Porch ajid veranda comforts.. Porch ceiling . Porch, outer, side-settled.. Porch radiators Porch, roofed feack Porch room 134, 240, 244, Porch room, glass- enclosed .... Porch room, veranda, bay, and porte cochSre inappropri- ately painted .....' Porch room with beams cross- ing a cement ceiling Porch room with cemented and beamed ceiling Porch room with indoor effect.. Porch, servants' Porch, sleeping Porch sleeping room extending into tree top 53 322 330 146 292 323 323 282 322 232 323 323 261 31 235 65 45 82 98 98 98 270 228 98 31 33 79 84 282 100 51 231 291 218 245 289 324 41 81 232 312 307 247 240 277 232 251 305 232 312 310 184 239 194 295 316 400 INDEX Porches windowed, settled, screened, or glassed in.... Porta la Pinta Porta san Paola Portable porch matched board horror Portcullis Porte cochere 133, Porte cochfire, arched Porte cochere studio Possession of the wild, man's rightful heritage Possum insect : Post clamping Post shell of chestnut plank. . .. Postern gate Posts capped with plaster heads crowned with lights Posts wider at top than bottom Posy of childhood ~-' "Potash paints the peach".... ;. Potato bug 57 Potato patches • «* Poultry ..-.,,..-..• Poultry profit, the way out.... Poultry yard fence Powder, gold and silver Powder horn Powered by horse or gasoline.. Practical plan for living a help- ful, healthy, country life... Praying mantis Preachers edged the bog Pressing, electric Primeval man Princeton Tiger Prisoner of St. Helena Privet eighty years old Privet globe-pointed pedestals. Privet in leaf until Christmas.. Privet posts squared and trimmed as true as blocks of granite Privet trimmed as an ogee curve Prize brood mare Prizes Prometheus' boon to mankind. Pronounced motifs Property made free and clear without cutting into your capital Prophet's chamber 222, Prospective customers like action Prosy essential sewing corner.. Protection of door and window sills Provision for changes in con- tracts Pruning Pruning evergreens Pruning new growth Pruning saw Pueblo of the Mexican Puff adder Puling infancy Pump handle x Pump with salt water pipe con- nection Punching bag Puna trespassers Puppy chicken poachers Purification by fire Purification of the cellar. Puritan mind ; . . .- Purling brook of poet Putnam, Israel Putnam's ride Put's Hill 312 82 82 312 217 305 122 159 342 93 251 144 311 281 144 8.7 55 93 140 11 5 221 213 340 90 100 230 90 27 88 69 335 244 335 69 19 74 232 134 339 315 339 326 297 78 8* 79 53 299 IfWl 96 9 282 122 93 27 57 338 124 222 124 124 124 Quail, outwitting- a 37 Quaint eoncei-ts- tiresome. ...... 222 Quaintness vs. beauty 257 Quarrels among the men 294 Quarry-tiled pier 207 Queen Anne architecture 153 Queen Anne of far away Gothic parentage 300 Queen of flowers 94 Queen of Night 92 Queen post set on a solid sup- port 306 Quince borer •-.-..• 57 Quince curcu-lio 53 Quoin, buttress, and arch 173 Quoins, stalwart 294 Rabbit hutches 59 Rabbits 15 Racked nerves find simple life.. 261 Radiator, boxed in 236 Radiator drum 3 Radiators, concealed- -..-.'. . '.'• 236 Radiators, enameled wall 236 Radiators • ied • wi-th air through grilles i-n stair risers 236 Radiators -i-n Pinnacle 236 Radiators planned for but not installed 321 Radiators, porch -. • 232 Radiators, ugly 236 Radish growth improved by salt 340 Radium , . . 51 Rafter and pergol.a ends the same design 31 G Rafter curve of six inches 254 Rafter roof, kick-up . , 254 Rafters extra strong for .tile roofing 314 Rafters used for holding hooks 229 Rail, mahogany 270 Railing broken by stone post supports . 152 Rain water unaerated . 7 Ram, double action 11 Ramp 220 Ramp, Colonial 326 Rana's cheery peep 99 Range ash flue 223 Range boiler gas heated 223 Range boiler hung from ceiling 281 Range boiler safety valve 223 Range chimney gives flue ven- tilation 235 Range, combination coal, gas and electric 223 Range hood of glass 193, 223 Range, inset 2 Range laid stone 307 Ransre thermometer 223 Rapids 71 Rapids, artificial 245 Rapids, man-made 244 Rapids, rock-strewn 140 Rare finger pincher 277 Raspberries . .• 57 Raspberry borer 57 Rat and vermin-proof 224 Ratification of contract, written 288 Rat-proof at sill and plate line with grouting 310 Rats 33 Rats of the air 37 Rats of the water 208 Ravine 71, 239 Razor back pigs 31 Real instead of imitation in woods 327 Realm of glamored antique.... 238 Recesses 238 Recreation gaps 75 Red admiral 94 Red Astrachans . 53 INDEX 401 Ked birch sometimes difficult to distinguish from mahog- any, and far less expensive 327 Red birch trim 281 Red birch more durable than oak under foot, yet decays rapidly in the weather 306 Red ears 33 Red-eyed vireo 47 Red-hot-poker plant 82 Red letter days 1 Red peppers 221 Redstarts 45 Red Towers 152, 249 Reed bird 41 Reef strewn channel 304 Refrigerator ; 223 Refrigerator, built-in 224 Refrigerator drainage 11 Refrigerator drainage pipe 224 Regal moth 93 Registers in a clearance 236 Registers, side wall 236 Reincarnation 47 Reinforced cement platform with twisted mesh screen.. 321 Reinforced cement used in steps and loggia 309 Relic of mediaeval times 222 Relieving nervous strain 96 Renaissance, French 212 Renaissance, Italian 212 Rendezvous for land sailors.... 230 Replicas of Italian, French or Dutch Renaissance 300 Reredos embossed with coat of arms 233 Reservoir for ram 11 Responsibility, shouldering .... 293 Rest and inspiration 134 Rest room a necessity 124 Restcliff 252 Restful green and restless red. 241 Retreat from southwest winds. 239 Revival of the Renaissance of France and Italy 300 Revolutionary War 261 Revolver, picture-screened .... 226 Revolver placed under pillow.. 226 Rewards of merit 74 Rheumatism breeder 248 Rheumatism breeding basement 331 Rheumatism deterrent 248 Rhizome separation 79 Rhode Island Greenings 49 Rhode Island Reds 31 Rhubarb in headless and foot- less barrels * 99 Ribbon of velvety green 239 Rich and independent farmer.. 337 Ridge board 248 Ridge fire pipe 332 Rights of owner, architect and contractor 289 Rights of way 65 Ripon Abbey yew 102 Riser height seven inches 326 Risers of translucent glass in front steps and back stairs 113 Rivaling the two blade of grass numan 298 River, brook and pool 212 River, swirling 140 Road widening 53 Roads and gutters 69 Roads curving at easy gradient 213 Roads foundationed with closely cut turf 213 Roads non-gullied 69 Roads, rutty, scratch-gravel... 6~ Roads, stone ballasted 15 Roadway from sty to farm tab'e 31 Roadway, verdure-arched ....63, 77 Robins Rock and gravel treads Rockery Rock-ribbed coast of Maine.... Rock-strewn corners Rock, volcanic - veined and lichen-rifted Rocky coast Rocky, weed-grown hillock .... Rodding and turnbuckling limbs Rodent, barring of Rodents balked by stones em- bedded in cement Rogers' seedlings Roi faineant Roman arch Roman God's acres Romanesque of the eleventh and twelfth centuries Romeo of the insect world Roof and foundation big factors in cost of exterior construc- tion Roof and towers of tile Roof boarded with T. & G. stuff Roof contours, the architect's sacrificial altar and sacred fetich Roof dormer Roof drenching gives fine fire protection Roof, expense of Roof, expensive Roof garden Roof groined Roof house of one room Roof, if inartistically high, should be dragged down by wide overhang Roof inspection Roof lookout Roof lookout railed back of chimney Roof of roofs for space, the gambrel Roof skylight an inartistic pro- truberance concealed behind chimney Roof, sloping Roof, tile hipped shingle Roof, tile ridge shingle Roof, tiled Roof, tiled and copper flashed. Roof, toboggan Roof trees for commuters Roof, windowed Roof with few valleys and angles Roof with plain pitch cheapest Roofed verandas Roofing tile Roofs and gutters, cleaning of. Roofs, curved thatch Room-in-the air Room of arches, columns and mirrors Room on the roof Room of comfort Room over kitchen deadened and chimney air-spaoed to bar kitchen heat Rooms at different levels Rooms, corner Rooms for attendants of guests Rooms, gala, 6.000 sq. ft Rooms in proportion Rooms, large attic Rooms, misleading 20x30 Rooms planned for most con- venient furnishing Rooms which are life memories Rosarium 37 22 22 157 21 160 215 63 84 92 308 55 242 329 82 299 93 330 118 314 318 183 332 292 113 315 217 315 330 199 132 199 110 315 254 142 142 245 118 104 215 330 305 251 140 9 142 234 184 315 3 309 130 133 122 18" 240 110 138 402 INDEX Rose bugs 55, 57, 84 Rose gardens 211 Rose-screened arbors 243 Roses 243 Ross cutter 19 Rough and ready shelters 15 Rough cement conceals inevit- able cracks 213 Round Meadow 35 Round taSIe gave added space. 159 Roup 33 Rovers 243 Rowing machine 122 Roxbury russets 49 Royal oedigree of the fields.... 89 Rubber mats 231 Rubber plugs inset in door frames 235 Rubber tipped furniture 235 Rubble cement 254 Ruby, gorget-throated hummer 47 Rug slipping prevention 5 Rug, white bear skin 240 Rugs, rag 5 Rule of thumb 294 Rules, copper fastened 287 Run of building fever 1 Running water noises stopped. 236 Rural instinct dormant in man- kind Rural restfulness vanished.... Rustic log seat Rustic stone work Sabbath stillness 234 Safe artificial vs. dangerous picturesque 243 Safe, jewel, set between studs.. 227 Safeguarding against building errors 295 Safety in the architect who really knows 300 Safety sacrificed to picturesque 207 Safety vault liquid explosive- proof 224 Sagging gate fastening 61 Sahara in July and August.... 239 Sailors, salt and fresh water... 277 Sails 282 St. Peter's Cathedral 237 Saint-seducing gold 41 Salad days 1 Salamander inspection 297 Salamanders, defective 214 Salamanders, lung breathing, four legged 100 Salary of manager 292 Samplers 251 Sand barge on flats 290 Sand bluffs of Oyster Bay 135 Sand dunes fertilized 74 Sand for quenching fires 332 Sand, late delivery of 290 Sand lighter 291 Sand, the best sharp and gritty, unsmoothed by rushing water 318 Sandalwood trees 312 Sandy soil 73 Sanitary angle toilet 231 Sanitary base 229, 327 Sanitary cement base 310 Sanitary two-foot rise and fall 273 San Jos6 scale 49 Sap banquet 47 Saphrophytic fungi plants 21 Sapphire mail 94 Sapsucker, red-headed 47 Sash, wrong size of 290 Sassafras 57 Saturday night accounting 297 Saturday payment used to start another job 290 Saturday payments 288 Saving a few dollars 289 Saving, losing, or making a for- tune 303 Saving nerves and floors 235 Saving of wages 294 Savings bank loans 1 Sawbuck sheep hurdles 243 Sawdust-packed doors and sides 223 Saw fly's splitting saw 92 Saxon bower room 222 Saxon exterior wall decoration. 169 Saxon hall 222 Saxon-thane dais 222 Scagliola 225 Scales, white enamel 231 Scalloped pie crust imitation... 213 Scantling for kick-up curve.... 257 "Scarce any plant is growing here" 97 Scarlet lightning 97 Scarlet tanager 39 Schedule building time 291 Science testing guinea pigs and monkeys 303 Score cards 17 Scrap books 63 Scraper, dirt 59 Scraper two centuries old 161 Screen with patent insect escape 216 Screening service portion 252 Screens 228 Screens, convex 215 Screens, non-rusting 216 Screens of invisible wire... 216, 224 Scrub brush receptacle 223 Scuttle entrance for coal 224 Scythe, death-dealing 100 Sea Boulders iron anchored in ledge 274 Sea grasses grown in stone crevices 204 Sea green glass wicket 277 Sea, restless 211 Seamless ledge 270 Seasoned water dog 203 Sea-weed-clad rocks 203 Seat, chain-hung 219 Seat of galvanized wire mesh. . . 239 Seats half circled 218 Seats of cement 214 Seats, verdure canopied 243 Seckle pear 47 Seckle standard in pear king- dom 103 Second story conservatory 326 Second story, cost of 257 Secret room, 5x8x9 229 Seed-grown trees 86 Seed pop-corn 221 Seed sorting 22 Seedling, wild apple 49 Seedlings for spring planting. . 248 Seeds 35 Seeds franked by Congressman 103 Seeds, mummy-wrapped 82 Seeds, new 73 Seeking an Eldorado near by.. 339 Seek-no-furthers 49 Segmented ceiling of dining- room 329 Selecting the site 328 Sell before building rather than label your purchase a mis- take 301 Selling points more in evidence than essential fundamentals 327 Selling the property 330 Semi-bungalow 150, 252 Semi-conservatory 130 Semi-ravine 22 Semi-sitting room for help 63 Semi-tropical corner 94 INDEX 403 Semi-wild mid-summer garden jungle of flowers and vines, glass-imprisoned 311 Senator Vest 27 Sensitive plant, shrinking 89 Sentinel junipers 212 Sepal 79 Septic tank 13 Sequoias over 5,000 years old.. 102 Servants' bath 152 Servants' dining-room 224 Servants' ell pergola-screened. . 239 Servants' fourth floor 146 Servants' hall 224 Servants' room 247 Servants' room with sanitary base 239 Servants' suites in ell 121 Service gate 243 Servitors, tongue-tied 13 Set basin banished from sleep- ing rooms 323 Set basins with side wall in- stead of floor connection... 323 Settle 218 Settle in stone ledge 132 Settle, leather trimmed 130, 183 Settlers' cabin 261 Settles, side 234 Settles, stone 124 Settles, veranda 239 Seven-hued driftwood blaze.... 242 Seven levers — Hollow brick, terra cotta, cement, galvan- ized iron lath, wire glass, steel I-beams and tar 306 Seventeen year locusts 94 Seven-toned wall picture 320 Seventh century the nadir of the human mind 300 Sewage control 13 Sewaging in open water 13 Sewer gas 13 Sewer pipe back air outlet away from window open- ings, well above ridge 323 Sewers of Rome 22 fi Sewing room 230 Sewing room, south 5 Shack camp 65 Shackdom 252 Shaft, rail-protected 226 Shafts 61 Shafts of light through pin holes 281 Shagbark's slivered hickory.... 80 Shampoo fixtures 231 Shaving jogs 231 Shaving mirrors, triplicate 231 Sheathing selected for third story floor 315 Sheep 58 Sheep heads 249 Sheep Hill 63 Sheep pasture 84 Shellbarks 58 Shell-lined house tomb 208 Shell, Oriental 233 Sheltered and sunny nook 243 Sheltering walls of a Windsor or a Hohenzollern 299 Shelves, drop 2 Shelves, hanging 224 Shelves, slate 2 Shingle decay 313 Shingle lath 254 Shingle roofs 142 Shinerle laths over clapboards.. 140 Shina-ie roofs, seven coursed... 142 Shingle, toothed 314 Shingle treatment, odd, in gables 313 Shingle weatherage 214 Shingle work in diamond panel and grosser outrage in color design in slate 313 Shingled interiors out of place 324 Shingles fasten better with cut nails 313 Shingles laid with different weatherage 142 Shingles nailed to shingle laths 314 Shingles, narrow, mean tighter roof 313 Shingles, odd effects in 314 Shingles of asbestos and cement 214 Shingles, red cedar 214 Shingles, rotting of 214 Shingles, single nailing of 313 Shingles, stain-dipped 313 Shingles, unpainted the best... 313 Shingles vs. thatch 313 Shingles, white cedar 214 Shore Rocks 200 "Shot heard round the world".. 217 Shot-hole fungi 53 Shotes 17 Shower bath 192, 231 Shower curtain canvas 231 Shower for golf and tennis devotee 331 Shower jog in bathroom be- tween two closets, shower and needle bath 322 Shower, outdoor 282 Shower room 146 Shower shield, glass 231, 323 Shrinking one's bank account.. 301 Shrub propagation 69 Shrub section 82 Shrubbery, preventing damage to 243 Shrubs, early 81 Shrubs in tree form 94 Shut-offs labeled 232,282 Shutter, the Colonial crescent- eye peep 327 Shutters, paneled or slatted, folded into side pockets... 327 Shutting off stairways from fire 332 Shutting out breeze and view.. 247 Side-hilling house 274, 307, 331 Side porch alcove for milk 224 Side walls, belting 140 Sidewalk widening 51 Siding of white wood boards.. 140 Silhouettes 251 Silk and satin, use of 241 Silk worm breeding 37 Sill cocks arrd extra faucets about the grounds 322 Sill-decaying leaves 9 Sill-laying 290 Silo " 1, 15 Silo weighting or non-weight- ing 74 Sills set in cement 248 Silver melodies from rustling tree top, copse and wood- land 342 Silver spur hastens completion. 306 Simplifving building a hundred fold" 306 Singing- birds and winter sun- shine 295 Single block steps 216 "Sings the blackened log a tune" 173 Sink of porcelain in pantry.... 194 Sink, planished copper 144 Sinks, high 2 Sinks set six inches higher than usual 223 Sir Bruin's bog onion breath.. Sir Reynard Siren heralding circus 99 INDEX Siren in apple orchard 120 Siskin 47 Site injured by poor landscaping- 304 Site makes or ruins 51 Sitfast fought for standing' room 98 Sitting-room for maids 194 Sitting-room hall 225 Situation beggars description.. 289 Sitz bath 2oi Sizing- of timber 3i5 Skating rink 31, 247 Skies of Japan 101 Skimble scamble devices 2 Skunk cabbage, cowl-crowned.. 81 Skunk insect 92 Skylight 215. 234, 314 Skylight, kitchen 198 Skylight over-head and under- foot 31E Skylight, wired glass 154 Sky ranging- 234 Sky Rock 132 Slag treated with steam 236 "Slated ugliness," Tennyson's dislike for 118 Slathers of ornamentation 302 Slaug-hter of innocents 35 Sled, stone 59 Sleeping porches. .. 135, 197, 228, 295 Sleeping- rooms 227 Sleeping rooms showing- hospi- tal ward simplicity 317 Sleeping rooms without plants. 5 Sleepless arch is best made of stone, brick or cement 310 Sleepless varmint 32 Sleepy Hollow Valley 26 Slender sticks used to make changes in plans 329 Sliding- door pockets lined 189 Slow burning construction 303 "Small choice in rotten apples". 289 Small fruits 55 Smokehouse 31 Smoker's paradise 99 Smouldering wood vs. crum- bling cement 302 Snake, black 100 Snake eggs 100 Snake, garter 100 Snakedom 101 Snakes ' \ 34 Snakes, milk 100 Snakes vs. young robins 100 Snap shots 73 Snap shots of building 110 Snapping turtle 59, 71 Snares, wire and horse hair.... 65 Snout beetle 93 Snow apples 40 Snow buntings 43 Snow line vs. rose garden 211 Snow men 73 Snow to fence top 43 Snow tunneling 43 Snuffed-out candle 237 Soapstone collar 243 Sod-roofed dugout 302 Soffits under eaves, cement finish 310 Soil benofitting 21 Soil redemption 212 Solarium, beamed and wain- scoted 239 Solomon's Temple 251 Solving childhood's problems... 61 "Some happy creature's palace" 89 Song sparrow 37 Songless bird 47 Sound, arm of 273 Sound - carrying cement and metal 308 Sound controlled through par- titions and flours 317 South fronts 228 Space utilized 2 Sphagnum, mossy peat 100 Spanning a century 118 Spar varnish 282 Spare the shears, spoil the tree 86 Sparrows 45 Speaking tubes 13 Spectral rider outridden 9 Speed-crazed Lightning- 2t> Spendthrift enthusiast 73 spider, carniverous 92 Spider's web gauze of baby's breath 97 Spillway 71 Spiny hair protection 92 Spiny-haired caterpillar 91 Spires 57 Spirit-leveled billiard table.... 331 Spitz dog-face pansies 81 Spitzenbergs, winter 53 Splitting raindrops 69 Sports 73 Spot 3, 22, 25, 31 Spouts 9, 37 Spread-nets for insects 55 Spreading the spindler 83 Spring awakening of Flora.... 81 Spring grazing 21 Spring water 11 Springs that bottomed fore- court pool 245 Sprouts, suckering 83 Spruce floors curl and sliver... 306 Squabs 243 Square and rectangle the house 305 Square cupola-crowned country house 300 Square house cheapest, roomi- est, homeliest 305 Squared ugliness 329 Squash court 245 Squirrel cages 59 Squirrel house, wire 59 Squirt guns 53 Stacks must be perpendicular.. 323 Stain, mahogany 281 Stain uninjured by dust, friction or blow 327 Stained glass, copper set 277 Stair alcove concealed 325 Stair balcony, overhanging.... 197 Stair, broad steamer, eating well into hall area 325 Stair building problems 325 Stair carpet rods 227 Stair corridor screened 225 Stair, cut-string, used in cot- tage and bungalow 326 Stair falls prevented by mid- stair platforms, absence of winders and ample head room 326 Stair gate, metal folding 226 Stair hall, third story 183 Stair, hidden 220 Stair landing, forty-foot ceiling. 144 Stair, limb breaker and weather shelterer 254 Stair, makeshift 247 Stair mathematics 326 Stair mid-height platform 225 Stair opening moved 295 Stair partitions of glass 216 Stair platform 295 Stair protected by brass stand- ard and silken ro»e 183 Stair protected by settle 183 Stair rail height 3 feet 6 inches 326 Stair rail of mahogany 134 Stair rail, stalking lion 179 INDEX Stair risers of 6% inches 2G1 Stair soffit curved to the floor. . 183 Stair step height .526 Stair, the undesirable 326 Stair to potting room 154 Stair tower 14'j Stair window seat 329 Staircase, cedar-railed 257 Staircase, circular, of marble... 312 Staircase,. close string the richest in appearance 326 Staircase, grilled 194 Staircase hall 225 Staircase hall often makes or mars a house 325 Staircase hall, twenty-five-foot. 172 Staircase, mediaeval 118 Staircase tower, forty-foot 146 Staircase, twelve feet wide.... 142 Stairs, avoidance of winders... 295 Stairs avoiding a window 295 Stairs, enclosed back 226 Stairs back of chimney 138 Stairs, iron 234 Stairs, palm protected 225 Stairs, plant decorated 225 Stairs, sameness avoided 183 Stairs should not link front door with bathroom 326, Stairway, closed attic 2 Stairway, circular 129 Stairway closets 229 Stairway well lighted an essen- tial 327 Stairways, broad 252 Stairways, cramped 5 Stakes, financial 287 Staking out the house 211 Stalking lion guard rail 179 Stamen 79 Stamp collection 7 Stand lamps, electric 2.°.? Standardizing points in houses 304 Standing back of builder 295 Standpipe for fire hose . 2S2 Star and aphis 90 Star-gazing .... 34 Star of Bethlehem 97 Starlings, flute-voiced 37 Stars in butterfly field 94 Statuary 218 Statue and vase, Italian adap- tation of 217 Stealing a bathroom from a barn-like room 329 Steam heating, low pressure system 323 Steam heating plant 236 Steam pipes and charred wood. 323 Steam pipes and spontaneous combustion 323 Steamer stair design 121 Steel edge of woodsman and point of ploughman 301 Steel-tipped furniture 235 Steel traps 65 Steep wooded incline 140 Steers 19 Step ladder, railed 133 Step-up window tread 234 Steps cut from a single block of stone 219 Steps hinged against wall 247 Steps of cement 132, 21.4 Steps of railway ties 22 Steps, stone ledge, for bathing and landiner 208 Steps, tiled, 'mid rough rocks.. 207 Steps twenty feet wide 172 Stercorary. screeniner of 100 Stereotyped construction 305 Sterilizine- surroundings 333 Stewart, Robert, of Gloucester. 221 Stick pin colony 93 Stigma 79 Stilted life that strains 251 Stingers 'j;>, Stock and extras in buying the farm 341 Stolen closet 27V Stolen hay crop 21 Stone a dust collector 324 Stone and cement drying out an essential 330 Stone and cement work, orna- mental 252 Stone ballasted roads 15 Stone binders through a wall need extra tarring 307 Stone, brick and terra cotta blocks so much per foot. 202, 307 Stone bungalow 274 Stone chimney a dust collector and dismal failure save in bungalow, den, or porch room 319 Stone chimney breast target... 122 Stone drain 248 Stone house vs. dampness 274 Stone Japanese gods 244 Stone mason, skilled Italian... 105 Stone partitions out of place... 324 Stone pier 207 Stone rampart rail 203 Stone roofs by our Hibernian thatcher 314 Stone settles 124 Stone so much per yard 292 Stone underdrained ditch for leaders 318 Stone walks, single, unsafe.... 243 Stone walls 15 Stone, weather beaten and cracked, suitable only for underdraining land and road 308 Stone -work, boulder laid up rustic, cement bedded rubble, coursed or random, broken ashler-random-face, or smooth cut quarry laid in range form 307 Stonehenge 130 Stoneless land 152 Stonycrest. before we set shrub- bery, buttressed wall, double chimney of selected stone, picture window and stone work Ill Stop valve in preference to tank 231 Stoppage in pipes prevented.... 323 Stopping fourth story floor beams for balcony 183 Storage locker 220 Storage pantry Storage room 194 Stored-up sunshine 100 "Storehouse medicine of the mind" 219 Storeroom 254 Storm King 129 Storm warders 228 Storm windows in side porch.. 232 Storms that rack and rock 129 Strainer of galvanized iron.... 282 Strand of sand and cliff 157 Stratford-on-Avon 82 Straw matting for hot-beds 248 Strawberries, wild 55 Strawberry, fall fruiting 103 Strikes 288 String piece metal-beaded 121 Stringers against chimney 214 "Striving to better oft we mar" 13 Stroll path 89 406 INDEX Structural beauty 242 Struggling, warring insect life. 94 Strutting of timbers imperative 315 Stucco cracks 161 Stucco on steel lathing 140 Stucco on wooden lath 140 Stucco over lath not so durable as over hollow brick 309 Stucco on eight-inch centres and V-irons gives air space 309 Stucco-sided house 118 Stucco three-coat work 161 Stud crippling midway between floor and ceiling braces, ties, and stops fire draught 317 Studding extra size 2x6 and 3x4 316 Studding1 well toe-nailed 316 Studio beamed to ridge 197 Studio den 241,282 Study in shades of white 240 Study table 237 Stump grubber 59 Style 79 Sub-arctic plants 95 Sub-contractors 295 Sub-rock foundation 274 Sub-soil upheaval 59 Succulent growth, watering of. 79 Suet luncheon 243 Summer kitchen yielding sum- mer comfort 339 Summer rental 58 Sun and rain mighty factors in climb toward independence 340 Sun bathroom 227 Sundews, viscous-deluged 99 Sun dial, ancient type 208 Sun dial from Olde England... 244 Sun dial motto, "It is always morning somewhere in the world" 208 Sun dial time equation 208 Sun dial, wall, motto-circled.. 133 Sun-exposed wires 69 Sunflower diet 33 Sunken garden 217, 243 Sunlight, companionship, care and air 215, 295 Sun of twenty -year farming day sank below the horizon.... 104 Sun or shade, as desired ....... 251 Sun reflection on red tiled ver- anda roof . . 314 Sun room 227 Sun room on second story bal- cony 320 Survival of fittest 55, 90 Suspension bridge 71 Swallow tail 94 Swallows 35 Swamp lowland 245 Swamp oak 57 Swamp reclaimed 140 Sweet corn, black 102 Sweet fern thicket Sweet potatoes 102 Swifts, bow-winged 45 Swimming pool 200, 213, 225 Swinging compass from north to south 144 Swinging shutter of colored glass 215 Swivel-elbow-knuckle-bar and chain-snap-fastening 241 Sycamore, the 57 Sylvan dell 245 Sylvan forest scene 193 Symmetric?.! roof as four to six- teen 305 Sympathy for millionaire 96 Systematic inspection by mason, carpenter and plumber 302 Table, monastery sawbuck 5 Tadpole, gill-breathing stage.. 100 Tangled forest and rock-strewn field 301 Tanglefoot 74, 93 Tank, high flush 231 Tank, planished and copper- lined 3 Tanks, siphon-connected 13 Tapestries on stair rail and wall 242 Tar 212 Tar vs. ground air and damp- ness 305 Tares vs. grain 55 Tarradiddler'.s yarn 45 Taurus 17 Tax on air and sunshine 215 Tax rates 289 Tea house 239 Tea plant 102 Tearing out unsatisfactory work 142 Telescope 34, 234 Ten or fifteen per cent, hold back 288 Tender plants 89 Ten-room house for $3,000 150 Ten to fifteen per cent, added for possible changes 293 Tenant on own domain 58 Tennis court skating rink...... 22 Tennis screen, wire 22 Tent caterpillars 91 Tent life, damp and dark 251 Tent on the beach 341 Terra cotta 142, 303 Terrace, brick tiled 239 Terrace held by honeysuckle... 22 Terrace of cement 239 Terrace terrazzo-paved 305 Testers, canopied f» Testing standpipe, ladder rais- ing, etc 332 Testing stone homes for cattle vs. wooden shelters 303 Tests of a house 242 Thane and yokel, ignorance of.. 230 Thatch roof imitated in wood by seven shingle lappings.. 313 Thatched buildings condemned and re-roofed with shingle or tile 313 Thatched cocoons 91 Thatched roofs, England's fire law against 313 "The world is too much with us" 96 Theban tomb 82 Theban mantel decoration 233 Thermostats 236 Thieves balked 225 Thimbles and stoppers in cellar and garret a convenience. . 319 Thinning bunch and cluster.... 55 Third floor spells difference between comfort and dis- comfort 330 Thirty-four thousand to five hundred thousand dollar in- crease in value :-;37 Thomas Prence, Governor of Plymouth Colony 51 Thousand Islands 211 Three motifs in bungalow ex- terior 254 "Three whoops, a holloa and a holler" 212 Thrift-driven Yankee 251 Throated mantel hood 233 Throne of the fire king centres his group of devotees 311 "Through this wide open gate" 243 Thrush 41 INDEX 407 308 Tie and pole forestry 59 Tiger beetle 93 Tiger tail 94 Tile capping working loose.... 316 Tile, fireproof 214 Tile flues essential in stone chimneys; all crevices should be thoroughly cemented 319 Tile, hollow brick corrugated.. 213 Tile of windmills and luggers. 2 Tile, quarry 169 Tile roofs 302, 314 Tile ridged and hipped 1 Tiled court 220 Tiling, set in cement laid on earth, drags moisture to the surface; deep cement foun- dation and draining neces- sary "Till fell the frost from clear cold heaven" 102 Timber construction substantial 310 Timber cutting and tenoning.. 318 Timber essential safe-guards.. 316 Timber protection 236 Timber, shaky and soggy 289 Timbered stucco 140 Timbering and framing 31o Timbering as represented by scantling, purlin, wall and roof plates, must be free from shakes 315 Time, cornering elusive 297 Time data mixed...., 290 Time-forfeiture money clause.. 288, 290 Time rather than season for pruning 78 Time, -waste of 289 Tin, painting back and front of 315 Tiny Cote, cost of 2Ri Title guarantee policy 287 Toad, domesticated 2 Tobacco stem burning 248 Toboggan slides 73 To build or not to build, the question 2«9 Toddlers' garden 61 Toggery closet 229 Toilet and bath separated 231 Toilet fixtures noiseless and non-siphoning 322.. Toilet safeguard shut-off in bathrooms 322 Tomato -worm 93 Tool room 146, 225 Tools, new fangled 73 Tooth of time fanged into our portable houses 257 Topiary art, examples of 67 Top notchers 27 Topsy, that mare of mares 15, 23, 25 Toredo battle in August 208 Tornado-proof 251 Tornado, the 73 Tortoise 94 "Touch of Nature makes the world kin" 313 Tourelle 213 Tower ceiling, decoration of... 241 Tower design from College Hill in Burlington, Vermont.... 153 Tower lookout 133 Tower rooms 241, 247 Tower, sugar-loaf 13 Towering, swaying forest 215 Town cemetery 26 Toy closet in playroom 295 Toy house for future genera- tions 328 Tracing backward the how and wny 211 Track walker, red lantern of... 92 Tragedy and pathos boon com- panions 26 Training upward the low grower 83 Trammels 172, 221, 277 Tramp insect 92 Transom adjuster 235 Transom bar truss 144 Transom with curved top 113 Transoms, leaded 144 Trap door to trunk room in veranda ceiling- 281 Trap rock for roads 69 Trap rock from Orange Moun- tains 152 Trapeze 122 Treadmill 19 Treatment of window, door, fire- place, etc 304 Tree and shrub planting 79 Tree and shrub pruning 79 Tree, anemophilous 81 Tree basket nest 138 Tree blue as steel 85 Tree centreing veranda 138 Tree drawing electricity from soil _. 213 Tree-dripped spaces screened.. Tree fence post protected 69 Tree growing through porch floor 228 Tree growth exampled 208 Tree house straddling highest crotch 63 Tree hut of the African 299 Tree mosses 298 Tree nursery 80 Tree, oak of Mamre, only full grown Mamre oak tree in world 82 Tree of Heaven 88 Tree of Paradise 81 Tree outlines 80 Tree peonies 94 Tree north po'e pointers 80 Tree roses 94 Tree sparrows 43 Tree species 57 Tree tarring 74 Tree Top in the tree tops 270 Tree-top room 228 Tree, vine and shrubbery soft- ening a glazed exterior.... 303 Trees and shrubs, weeping 80 Trees block protected 236 Trees, feature 80 Trees killed by electricity 236 Trees, leafless 80 Trees, nursery-grown 49 Trees, scraping and tarring of . . 74 Trees snapped asunder 71 Trees, suet-decorated 101 Trench leaping 23 Trespassing pupa 93 Trilobites two million years old. 183 Trim, baseboards eighteen inches high 324 Trim, better mitreing in clear fall and winter days 324 Trim, chemically eaten 324 Trim, cherry 154 Trim, Colonial dental, edging beam and cornice 324 Trim controls wall and ceiling decoration 296 Trim cost halved 296 Trim, ebonlzed antique 121 Trim for servants' quarters absolutely plain, dust cur- tailing 324 INDEX Trim high enough for base plug space Trim, intarsiatura work of the fifteenth century Trim, interior Trim, jig-saw and hand chisel work, imitating carving.... Trim, kiln dried Trim mitred in new ways Trim, narrow and thick, wide and thin, ogee curve, or mitred at the corners Trim, obsolete square set cor- ner block Trim of weather-beaten wood.. Trim placed against plaster containing any moisture is a building crime Trim, plain rather than elab- orate beading which is a dust gatherer Trim, quartered oak Trim, red birch Trim, setting up of standing. . Trim, square edge in servants' quarters Trim, the kiln dried essential.. Trimmer heads and tail beams at stair and chimney open- ings Trio of stuffed geese Trolley and automobile traveled turnpike suitable for a rear entrance Trolley possibilities in five years Trousseau Trout stream 67, Trout, non-liver-fed Trouvelot. Professor L Truck horse cement True democracy of country liv- ing "all for each and each for all" Trundle bed Trunk closet in second story saves steps and defaced stairs Trunk, false bottom Trunk, horse hair covered Trunk of 1708 Trunk room Trusses, one-inch iron rods set up with turnbuckles be- tween planks Try-out nursery Tub plants Tubers and seeds Tubs, laundry, used for table.. Tubs, six, centreing laundry... Tudor arch Tudor, Jacobean, Elizabethan or Victorian Tulips Tumble weed tumbled trouble.. Turf steps squared and firmed. Turkey gobbler, bronze Turkey, sixty pound Turkeys Turkish bath Turkish crescent Turning- over first clod of earth Turnspit Turnstiles Turntable "Turret to foundation stone"... Turrets Turtle longevity Turtle ponds Turtle prophet Turtle, snapping Turtles Twentieth century man 324 Twenty-five or more trades re- quired to build a real house 324 Twenty stories to banish the 158 duster Twenty years of farming Twin chimneys Twin guardians Twin manias of farming and housebuilding Twin spurs of guano and shears "Two apples a day" Two fireplaces Two fronts of a house Two houses in one Two mile floral ribbon Two mile garden strip. . . Two winged insects Types of humanity becoming- frenzied beasts Tyrolese U-bar conservatory Ugly landing or an angular entry Umbrella canopy, wooden, for horse Umbrella divers "Uncertain glory of an April day" Under and over cliff Underground woods, locust and chestnut Underlying "know how" of actual work Undeveloped humans Unending procession of insect life Unknown force Unknown sleeping giants llntrammeled reclamation and building Unwalled illusion rooms Unweired running streams Up-from-cradle farmer Upheaval in the middle of the nineteenth century Vacuum cleaning Vacuum cleaning outfit Valleys copper-flashed Values advance Valve, automatic Vanquishing the ennui of exist- ence Varied soil and condition Varnish tree Vases 203, Vassalage on 1,000 acres.. Vault Vault, burglar-proof, concealed in chimney arch Vault, fireproof 224, Vega Vegetable cellar Vegetable novelties Vegetable storage Veneered beauty vanishes Ventilated sub-cellar Ventilating fan in kitchen flue Ventilating kerosene stoves. . . . Ventilating louvre Ventilation Ventilation at ceiling line Ventilation by electric heater in chimney Ventilation by gas burner in chimney Ventilation, hood Ventilation through chimney 22 flue > Ventilation through door-sill.. 34 Veranda ceiling leaf roofed.... 324 324 324 321 32 i 281 296 324 321 330 338 97 245 67 37 213 335 62 324 229 221 221 281 316 102 62 100 194 194 329 300 75 98 239 33 33 15 225 53 211 221 243 251 245 118 59 59 7 57 221 98 249 86 47 232 252 158 74 y^ .92 247 326 244 255 77 160 306 306 92 238 51 301 230 71 5S 300 282 238, 214 341 11 341 97 102 218 58 224 197 229 27 254 102 62 303 237 22.3 248 251 5 234 23! 231 134 219 235 INDEX 409 Veranda decay, prevention of.. 113 Veranda extended beyond a house to catch the breeze 152, 320 Veranda floor of cement 274 Veranda floor white pine or fir — N. C. pine lasts but short time 321 Veranda for farm hands 63 Veranda, galleried ... 134 Veranda posts 150 Veranda rail, half shingle 142 Veranda rail of stone 113 Veranda roof high with awn- ings and grille 320 Veranda roof pergolad and awned 320 "\eranda twenty feet wide 1 Veranda view 132 Veranda water-proof floor Veranda window translucent glass 122 Veranda with low stone rail... 144 Verandas, bays and projections outlined with plasterers' grounds 329 Arerdure-crowned lintel 325 Verge boards 5 Vermin-breeder 9 Vermin exterminators 101 Vermin-proof store room 224 Versailles, incomparable beauty of 299 Versailles, touches of 144 Vestibule 130 Vestibule door metal-grilled... 161. Vestibule draught stopper 257 Vestibule, glassed-in 160 Ve.stibuled entrance, palms, plants, silver-throated song- sters 312 Viceroy 94 Victor ?B View from roof uplifting 199 View panes 216 Views, disappearing 247 Viking craft 189 Village carpenter and inexperi- enced architect 300 Village green of Lexington.... 217 Village -wiseacre 277 Vine-draped wire fences 335 Vinegar-making 63 Vine-screened wood to be oiled rather than re-painted 312 Vineyards 140 violets 24? Vireo, red-eyed 47 Visitors scrutinized 237 Vistas within and. without 328 Vistas on stairs and through stair window 193 Viticetum 86 Volcanic crater Wachu°etts 55 Waddlina- starlings 43 Wage saving 294 "Wainscot Circassian walnut.... 241 Wainscot, paneled US Wainscot, unpainted 5 Wainscot, unnaneled 241 Wainscot writh paneled door.... 225 Wainscoting of oak 171 Wainscoting vs. plaster 295 Wait! make the old house do, with must-haves 339 Waiting- shelter 124 Walkine- stick 92 Walks of flat stone inset in sod 243 Walks of Ischia, Japan and Capri 243 Wall and ceiling rough as gold nuggets 241 Wall candle Wall covering- Wall decoration Wall fixtures concealed Wall fountain of Caen stone.. Wall, honeycombed, red tile capped Wall ladder Wall, oak paneled Wall of boulders Wall of mortuary memory Wall, open jointed broken ashler, plants atop and in crevices Wall plastered to the floor Wall recess for bed, with closet at each side Wall safe set in cement and riveted Wall, shrub-topped and crevice filled Walled-in meadow Walls, burlap-covered Walls cooled by overhang Walls covered with paper or burlap before they are thor- oughly dry foundation many an ill Walls damp-proof Walls ditch drained and tarred. Walls, -Grecian Walls, indestructible cement... Walls, murescoed Wralls paneled with marbleized cement Walls, retaining Walls, sand-finished "Walls, sand finished, unpapered Walls, wooden-pegged Wai tham Wanderlust "War that tried men's souls"... Wardian case, aquatic Wardian case zinc lined Warming pan Warriors mute and mighty Wash tubs of seamless porcelain Washed roadways Washer, electric Washington cave Washington, folk-lore tales of.. Wasp marauders Wasps, mud and digger Waste lumber guarded from fire Waste space in house Wasting time and lumber Watch dog safe from cajolery. . Watch tower tree Water beetle Water boatmen Water cave Water damage to plates and films Water filtering Waterfall, foam-flecked Water fowl Water gate 203, Water inlet safeguarded from germs Water lawn groomed by nature "Water pipe inlet one and one- half inches; outlet two-inch Pipe Water pipes Water pipes near outer walls wrapped in mineral wool check condensation as well as frost Water plants Water-proof insect eggs Water-proofing Water scorpion 222 241 241 235 189 239. 261 169- 335 251 335 98 241 254 330 30& 331 189 228 224 189 213 234 115 214 247 27 61 193 325 242 97 224 71 224 124 124 91 93 294 252 289 226 41 93 93 277 229 9 218 71 282 225 160 323 232 322 99 91 213 93 410 INDEX Water seal holding in leash sewer gas 322 Water seal must fight air bubbles, downward suction, and evaporation 322 Water-striders 93 AVater supply 9, 26, 292 Water table corbeled 161, 310 Water table gutter 308 Water table of ogee bricks.... 214 Water thrown well away from foundation 214 Water wheel in miniature 71 Waters, polluted 282 Waterways, might of 238 Watery grave victims 99 Wax and water clash 234 Waxed flowers held by hand of death 252 Way out for the amateur poultry raiser 33 Wayside 62, 331 "We are all traveling toward sunset" 208 Weasel 33 Weather strips, metal 216 Weather vane 7 Weed-deterrent kerosene 69 Weed-filled sod 218 Weeding out sluggards 293 Weedless land 99 Week-end exodus 299 Week-end proposition 251 Weeping widow and willow.... 252 "Wee sma' hours" 226 Weir tank 13 Well digger's theory 89 Well for ram 11 Well hole 221 Well, rock-dug 11 Well sweep 243 West rooms, broiling 212 Whale boats 277 Whatnots 221, 251 "Where the sun does not come the doctor does" 304 "Where you tend a rose" "Wherein the air bit shrewdly" 77 White and colored whitewash . will differentiate on the greensward each story and room 327 White daisies 15 White daisy, throttling 74 White enamel finish 212 White farm 13 White horse outgeneraled 9 White picture 240 White pine boards shrink less than spruce, chestnut or N. C. pine 306 White Rock 158 White wood imitating mahog- any 306 Whitewash thatch protection with whitewash gun 313 Whittier homestead 221 Whiz view of fences from car window 334 "Who loves a garden" 82 Whortleberries 55 Wicker furniture 227 Wicket, sea-green glass 277 Wide overhang and unbroken roof line 129, 305 Widen a stair opening 329 Width of step plus height equal to walking stride 326 Wild apple seedling 49 Wild aviary 243 Wild carrot 74 Wild forest scene 133 Wild garden 98 Wilderness of bramble and brier 140 Will o' the wisp Dame Archi- tecture 299 Willow galls 93 Willow, glossy leaved laurel, as hedge 67 Willow, golden stalks of 77 Wind hedge of cedar 49 Wind shields of plate glass 232 Winders 254 Windmill 9 Window and door frames poorly set increase heating ex- pense 324 Window and door openings 289 'Window box greenery 5 Window boxes fitted for dresses 146 Window boxes of cement 214 Window boxes with evergreens 122 Window boxes with summer plants 122 Window column alcoved 144 Window fastenings 226, 235 Window fixtures, non-rattling.. 216 Window frame pockets large to allow substitution of iron weights for those of more expensive lead 311 Window, French transom 146 Window, glass hinged 228 Window guard rails 227, 234 Window height 215 Window, leaded concave 16x16 .142 Window, low, controlled by button 228 Window of bulls' eyes 281 Window on attic stair 270 Window on stairs 113, 183, 225 Window, oriel 132 Window panes, manorial 214 Window problem 214 Window screens painted to match trim 216 Window seats, cedar lined 228 Window seats, grilled 236 Window seats in billiard room. 234 Window seats six inches from window 236 Window sills deep for frond, flower, and sun couch for "the necessary and harm- less cat" 311 Window, slit 140 Window, squint-eye 221 Window tax, senseless 215 Window, telescopic 216 Window treatment step-up 234 Window, ventilating lift dormer 270 Window ventilation 235 Window, vine-embowered 282 Window, wide eyebrow in ver- anda roof, giving additional light 311 Window with ventilating hood. 254 Windowed alcove, oriel 183 Windowed stair landing 261 Windowless hall 214 Windows 169, 295 Windows, afterthought 158 Windows at alternate height... 228 Windows, basement 194 Windows between studs spring controlled 257 Windows, box 216 Windows, casement 227 Windows, cellar 225 Windows, chain-hung 115, 216 Windows, clustered 311 Windows, cornered 216 Windows deeply embrasured in a thin walled house 311 Windows, diamond 212 INDEX 411 Windows, double 189 Windows, double leaded 215 Windows, Elizabethan 189 Windows, end, enlarge room.... 121 Windows, eyebrow 254, 305 Windows, first story 216, 311 Windows for low-studded rooms 110 Windows, French 133 Windows, glaring- spectacle.... 154 Windows glowed with opales- cent glass 216 Windows in nursery unsafely low 295 Windows iron barred 220 Windows iron shuttered and barred . .122, 220 Windows, mullioned triplets, casements and transoms... 305 Windows, observatory 144 Windows on one side 234 Windows on staircase 216 Windows on stairs, arched head 135 WTindows, over-attic casement.. 157 Windows over head high 193 Windows, picture 215 Windows, sash-hung for secur- ity 215 Windows, side sliding 129 Windows, south 227, 248 Windows, stai'ned glass 121 Windows, storm, lowered in rail 232 WTindows, telescopic 216 Windows that cheer 216 Windows the eyes of house.... 232 Windows to ceiling height 215 Windows, translucent glass.... 216 Windows, triplicate, cost less to set and trim than three single windows 327 Windows, twin picture, 9x12... 144 Windows, two hundred 122 Windows, ventilating lift dormer 115, 216, 254 Windows, vine-framed 215 Windows with automatic fasten- ings 216 Windows with large panes 215 Windows with small panes 215 Wine sap 49 Winter contrasts in trunk and limb 77 Winter flowering shrubs 81 Winter Nelis 53 Winter planting contrasts 212 Winter, pruning 55 Wire-cutting branch, preven- tion of 95 Wire fence arched outward 65 Wire fence centreing privet hedge 244 Wire guard rail on pier 208 Wire hose-protected trees 96 Wire leaf guards 9 Wire nail good friend of the shingle merchant 313 Wire rope ladders . 332 Wire stay embedded in grow- ing tree 237 Wire •worm 93 Wired glass 213, 315 Wireless attached to flag pole.. 208 Wireless gamut, Eastport to Florida Keys 208 Wires, electric, damp-proof.... 236 Wires, electric, underground... 236 Wiseacre visitors 2 Wistaria, earliest and latest bloomer 69 Witch hazel 65 Withdrawing room 329 Wolf-drubbing 120 Wonder tree 79 Wood meeting stone means calked crevices 308 AYoodbine, fire-red 98 Wood borer 259 Wood carpet of velvet beauty.. 21 Wood carving arched the porch 154 Woodcock 65 Wood exteriors that shrink tend to crack a stucco covering 309 Wood, green, vs. kiln dried 289 Wood incongruities against stone and brick 312 Wood jigger, flesh-eating 82 Wood kyanizing 208 Wood lot 65 Woodpecker 43 AVood pulp plaster 232, 322 Woodwork in basement enam- eled white 197 Woodwork, trim, and wainscot painted on the back 321 Wood yields readily to artistic treatment 303 Wooden board lath 62 Wooden ceilings, if not T. & G. beaded, make an attrac- tive finish 325 Wooden cold air box burns easily 323 Wooden houses deteriorate from three to ten per cent, yearly 301 Wooden lath has bracing strength 321 Woodland paradise 65 Woodland parked and arbore- tumed 159 "Woodman, spare that tree"... 215 Woods 306 Woodworking mill 294 Wool fleeces 243 Working by the day, objections to 294 Working day halved 238 Working pit in garage floor.... 245 Workmen handled like pendu- lum 290 Workmen remaining on floor or roof until noon and quitting time 294 Workmen, substitution of 291 Workshop ....._. 203 World, insectless 90 World of color 304 World out of balance 90 World restful 5 World within a world 193 Worlds major and minor 92 Worms 35 Wormwood of straggling habit 87 Window treatment, step-up.... 234 Window, ventilating lift dormer 270 Worthless sports 86 Would-be farmer 19 Wren 39, 45 Writing nook 219 Writing room 124 Wrought iron boilers scale. . . . 324 Wyandotte, silver penciled 31 Xylotrya, the 208 Yacht, condemned 282 Yacht pier 160, 230, 274 Yacht room 230 Yacht steps, adjustable 207 Yacht studio 282 Yachtsman's shelter 1-r>9 Yankee, thrift-driven 251 "Yarbs" 97 Yearlings 17 412 INDEX Years of painstaking- search. . . 103 Your Mecca 33