The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-07-10
gartm, ftoae aud Gardem.
HOME DECORATION.

decorate many screen frames.
The newest chair backs are made of
elk boiling cloth over colored silks.
The twin pincushion still continues a
favorite decoration for the toilet table.
A cream linen buffet cover has a straw
berry vine embroidered down the center.
Much Of the handsome bedroom furpi-
ture is of hazel wood, wrought in curious
and pleasing designs.
Kensington embroiderers will be de.
lighted to learn that the new hourishing
thread is washable and unfading.
The custom of making tea at the table
has brought into use some very elaborate
tea caddiee; the majority are in old En-
glish repousse work; the lid is generally
used to measure the amount of tea to be
used.
No room is complete without flowers
somewhere in its decorations. Among tho
prettiest Of humble flowers for the deco
ration of rooms is the common buttercup;
these gold>n flowers have the advantage
of enduring md looking perfectly fresh
for many days. Low growing flowers
show to the best advantage when they
are put into moss in shallow receptacle.
If fern is desired to add brightness to
the effect, there is nothing better than
the common maiden hair.
A happy suggestion is dressing table
with canopy and curtains of fine creamy
batiste hung over yellow sateen with
mirror framed in yellow sateen and
cream lace; front draperies, cushion and
mats covered with batiste, embroidered
with buitercups over yellow sateen.
Velours cretonne, which is quite new,
and can be procured in the most beauti
full designs and colorings, makes very
rich drapery for dressing table; in fact,
full bedroom sets are covered with it and
further ornamented with bands of plush
caught down by very large brass nails.
Protecting Young Trees-Young trees
need protection the first summer. 1t is,
in fact, the most critical time with them.
The winters are bad enough, but the
summers are often worse. The sun and
drying winds are fully as fatal in summer
as the alternate freezing and thawing Of
the winter. Mulching is great thing
for the roots, but the tops and trunks of
young trees taken from thickly planted
nursery are in no way protected, and they
miss such protection very much. The
greatly reduced root cannot supply the
top with the requisite moisture or sap,
while the sun and wind make constant
and heavy drafts upon it. find that
planting corn among young newly set
trees is great help to them the first
summer. Trees four or five feet high will
be we'll shaded by corn growth during the
dryest, hottest weather of summer. Grow
ing corn also breaks the force of the wind.
1t prevents the stems from being wrench
ed about in the usual way of exposed
trees. 1t may always be noticed, too,
that thick corn growth gathers and re-
taius moisture. The air is more vapor-
Gus and cool near the ground, which is q
desirable condition for tree growth.-W.
d. BoyntOn.
Rhubdrb.- Whenever rhubarb throws
out great many leaves and the stalks
are email and worthless, the root should
be dug up and transplanted, dividing
them SO that only one thrifty bud is left to
each piece of root. This should be done
early in the spring, as soon as the newly
formed buds are ready to push through
the soil.
Tatrnips.-It is one advantage of tur-
nips that they are crop not damaged,
but rather benefited, by slight freezing
of the ground. OF course they should
not be handled when frozen, but in day
or two after they will have finer flavor
than before. Some OF the harsh, coarse
taste is removed after a light frost has
touched the roots. And it will take a
pretty hard frost to spoil turnips, pro.
vided they are left in the ground until
thawed.
Hard Workers.-The hardest workers
in this country are farmers, and especial
ly farmers wives. Happy is the man who
has work to do = and does it-and GER
tainly farmer has plenty to do. What
we should aim at is to make our work as
efficient as possible. 1t has been said
that man should never do what horse
can do, and horse should never have to
do what steam engine can do. And it
is here where inventors, engineers, edu-
Gators, manufacturers, and all who can
aid us in doing more work with less
labor, find their usefulness. You will
find that two of the most important fac
tors required to increase profitable pro-
ductiou are capital and coal. The an
archists and socialists who drive cap
ital from our industries are public en-
emies; the capitalists who combine to
check the mining and distribution of coal,
and thus enhance its price, are alike
blind to their own interests and the pros
perity of the country. We want to see
the steam pillow at work on tens of thou
sands of American farms, and as soon as
the miners and railroads give us cheap
coal, steam plows will be rapidly intro
duced. Our seasons are so short that
farmers almost kill themselves and their
horses in trying to get their land plowed
and crops planted. A steam gang pillow
khah would fo6a baI 1onox, -. 49,.