Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar81911newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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August, 1911 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS XV ever, have some sort of embellishment in the form of applique in a severely simple design. Such pillows would be used as a support for the back. One or two addi- tional pillows for the sofa could be made of raw silk in bright red or yellow, just to add a touch of strong coloring to the brown room. A pattern of some kind could be embroidered on the silk, or a motif in block printing partly concealed with darning would be appropriate. The design must, however, be conventional and unob- trusive, and be a decorative flat mass of color rather than anything of a pic- torial nature. The colors introduced in the pillows give opportunity for empha- sizing some dominant note in the room. The rug or the lamp-shade may suggest what this touch of color should be. In a handsome room where leather is used a few cushions of the same material would be very harmonious. Leather applique, cut leather, or tooled leather would give an appearance of richness and simplicity, but there must be a soft down or feather filled pillow for use when lounging. Leather being a repellent surface could not be used except to lean against. The parlor pillows give more opportunity for variety. If there is a roomy sofa covered with a plain green fabric the background conditions are ideal. Embroidery, darn- ing, or applique can any of them be used to ornament the pillows. Chinese self- toned silks, Shikii silks, the English cot- ton velvets with their beautiful designs by Morris and Voisey are all appropriate and for a room with tan walls; the atmos- phere requires an individual treatment in the pillows and ornaments. The wash- able pillow-covers must not be over- looked, for they give a freshness to the sofa group, but they must be dainty in texture and exquisitely worked. Italian cut work, or Greek lace, or even Filet net, may be brought into service. They are made in the form of loose covers over silk pillows. The finish of a pillow must be appropriate. Fortunately, the days of frills and bow-knots are a thing of the past, and no woman who moves with the times will be guilty of such indiscre- tions. A silk cord for the silk pillow, or a plain seam or a hem extending beyond the edge of the pillow, are always in good taste. The leather pillow may have the edges left and be sewn with coarse leather thongs or stitched the size of the pillow with edges left free. WONDERFUL EFFECTS OF FORESTS A STRIKING example of the trans- forming effect of forests, not only on the appearance, but on the pro- ductivity of a country, is afforded by the department of the Landes in France. At the close of the eighteenth century about 2,500,000 acres in that region were little more than shifting sand-dunes and dis- ease-breeding marshes. At the present time the same lands are among the rich- est, most productive and healthful in all France, and the change has been brought about by intelligent cultivation of pine forests. Even the character of the cli- mate of the region has been ameliorated, and it has become mild and balmy. A thin layer of clay beneath the sandy upper surface of the soil, formerly impervious to water, has been pierced by the pine roots, until a thorough drainage is estab- lished to the spongy earth that lies below. IB Hi ii;i nil y& iik f mil
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Fire Fighting and Telephoning Both Need Team Work, Modern Tools and an Ever Ready Plant, Everywhere Twenty men with twenty buckets can put out a small fire if each man works by himself. If twenty men form a line and pass the buckets from hand to hand, they can put out a larger fire. But the same twenty men on the brakes of a "hand tub" can force a continuous stream of water through a pipe so fast that the bucket brigade seems futile by comparison. The modern firefighter has gone away beyond the "hand tub." Mechanics build a steam fire engine, miners dig coal to feed it, workmen build reservoirs and lay pipes so that each nozzleman and engineer is worth a score of the old- fashioned firefighters. The big tasks of today require not only team work but also modern tools and a vast system of supply and distribution. The Bell telephone system is an example of co-operation between 75,000 stockholders, 120,000 employees and six million subscribers. But to team work is added an up-to-date plant. Years of time and hundreds of millions of money have been put into the tools of the trade ; into the building of a nation-wide network of lines; into the training of men and the working out of meth- ods. The result is the Bell system of today—a union of men, money and machinery, to provide universal telephone service for ninety million people. American Telephone and Telegraph_Compan_y And Associated Companies One Policy One System Universal Service Monoplanes and Biplanes Their Design, Construction and Operation The Application of Aerodynamic Theory, with a Complete Description and Comparison of the Notable Types By Grower Cleveland Loening, B.Sc, A.M., C.E. IN the many books that have already been written on aviation, this fasci- nating subject has been handled largely, either in a very "popular" and more or less incomplete manner, or in an atmosphere of mathematical theory that puzzles beginners, and is often of little value to aviators themselves. There is, consequently, a wide demand for a practical book on the subject— a book treating of the theory only on its direct relation to actual aeroplane design and completely setting forth and discussing the prevailing practices in the construction and operation of these machines. " Monoplanes and Biplanes " is a new and authoritative work that deals with the subject in precisely this manner, and is invaluable to anyone interested in aviation. It covers the entire subject of the aeroplane, its design, and the theory on which its design is based, and contains a detailed description and discussion of thirty- eight of the more highly successful types. 12mo., (6x8Vi inches) 340 pages, 278 illustrations. Attractively bound in cloth. Price $2.50 net, postpaid

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