HOME AND GARDEN CONVENIENCES

There are many ways in which work in the garden and about the home can be varied in such a manner as to give a variety of comparatively new and pleasing effects with so little trouble and expense that the amateur gardener and home-maker who would like "something new" will, I feel sure, be delighted to undertake some of them.

One is a floral awning for the windows which are exposed to strong sunshine. A frame is made of lath, the width of the window and half its depth, by nailing four of the strips together in a square and then fastening other strips across it in a diamond or lattice fashion. Attach this frame to the top of the window-casing by door-butts. Then push the lower part of it away from the window until you have it at the angle at which a cloth awning would hang when dropped, and support it in that position by running strips of wood from each corner to the sides of the window-frame.

If such vines as morning-glory, flowering bean, and cypress are trained up each side of the window until they reach these supports, it will be an easy matter to coax them up them and from them to the awning's framework, which they will soon cover with foliage and flowers. Such an awning will be found quite as satisfactory as one of cloth, so far as shade is concerned, and, as for beauty, there is no comparison between them, for the ordinary awning of striped cloth is never ornamental. A floral awning is to the upper part of the window what the window-box of plants is to the lower portion of it, and the two can be used in combination with most delightful results. Indeed, they belong together, and one without the other only half carries out the scheme of window decoration.

Such awnings will be found as satisfactory for exposed doors as for windows. The boys of the family—or the women of it—can make them and put them in place, and the cost of them will be so small, compared with their ornamental and practical value, that one season's trial of them will make them permanent features of home-beautifying thereafter. I would advise planing the strips of lath and giving the frames a coat of green or white paint before putting them in place. Green paint will make them unobtrusive, and white will give a pleasing color contrast. If they are taken down in fall and stored in a dry place over winter they will last for a good many seasons.

As a general thing the front gate, if there is one, is not particularly ornamental. But it can easily be made so by setting posts ten or twelve feet tall at either side, and attaching to the top of them a double awning-frame similar to that advised for windows. Let these frames meet at the top and slope outward and downward, roof fashion, and have supports running to each outer corner from the posts. When vines are trained up the posts and over the frames, and are allowed to droop in graceful festoons of foliage and flower from them, the effect will be charming. Here is where the wild cucumber—the most rapid climber of all our annuals—will be able to do most effective work. I would advise the use of hardy vines for positions of this kind, as they will be attractive from the beginning of the season, while an annual has to be given considerable time to grow before it becomes equal to the task assigned it.

Garden-seats ought to be a feature of all home grounds large enough to admit of them. And these seats can be made as ornamental as the gateway just described by providing them with awnings large enough to afford complete shade. Of course, where there are trees to furnish shade such awnings will not be needed—and the logical place for a garden-seat is under a tree, if there is one—but on grounds where there are no trees to furnish shade, such protection from the heat of summer sunshine as these awnings will afford becomes more a necessity than a luxury. As it is, they are both ornamental and useful, and the ease and cheapness with which they are made commends them to all who believe in the value of "little things" in making home attractive and pleasant.

Often it is desirable to furnish certain portions of the home grounds with screens large enough to shut off the public view. These should have frames of a size that guarantees strength. Lath put on in lattice fashion will make a good covering for them, but it will not be strong enough to insure durability in itself, hence the necessity of a more substantial framework. It is always advisable to paint them before covering them with vines. As screens of this kind are generally built with a view to permanence, I would advise covering them with hardy vines, like ampelopsis, Clematis flammula and C. paniculata, aristolochia, or trumpet honeysuckle.

If low screens are wanted anywhere about the place, as a dividing factor between the flower and vegetable gardens, for instance, sweet-peas will make a charming covering for them.

Large screens that are intended to separate the ornamental portions of the home grounds from the not generally attractive yards at the rear can be made extremely effective by training rambler roses over them.

One of the most attractive features about the home of the author of this book is the fence which divides it from the property of his next-door neighbor. When the lawn was made, cedar posts were set along one side of it, and on these woven-wire netting was stretched. This netting was about four feet wide and of a rather heavy grade of wire. Small plants of ampelopsis were set out along it, about twenty feet apart. As fast as branches were thrown out they were trained out and in through the meshes of the netting. In one season the plants made enough growth to meet one another, and the second season the netting was completely covered. The result has been extremely satisfactory. Throughout the summer this fence has the appearance of a closely clipped hedge of luxuriant green. In fall it is a mass of scarlet and crimson, quite as brilliant as the bed of geraniums near by. It is vastly more ornamental than a fence of wood or iron, and makes an entirely satisfactory substitute for a hedge that it would take years to grow. In some respects it is more satisfactory than such a hedge would be, as it requires no annual shearing to keep it in proper shape and condition.