Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/70

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��Popular Science Monthly

���An ugly rock transformed into a beautiful flower-bed

��A Flower-Bed on Top of a Rock

TRANSFORMING the unsightly rocks in your yard into flower-beds is not such a difficult task as one might think. Providing nature has been kind enough to hollow out the top of the rock or make it sufficiently level so you can build a bed of fresh earth on it, all you

��need to complete the task is a few pointed stones, some cement and the seeds of your favorite flower.

The accompanying photo- graph shows how one rock was turned into a thing of beauty. Nature had been kind in this instance and the top was hollowed out deep enough to contain all the earth needed. Then the mother and son who thought of the novel plan obtained some cement and pointed stones and enclosed the earth with a miniature picket - fence. Petunias were planted and with constant care, probably with more care than an ordinary flower- bed would need, they grew into a luxu- riant lot of flowers. When the petu- nias lost their beauty rose-bushes were planted and they thrived as their predecessors.

��A Unique Garden-Hose Holder

A LITTLE time and work saver in the form of a hose-holding device is shown in the accompanying illustra- tion. Its purpose is to hold the hose, while sprinkling the lawn or flowers, in any desired position, thereby doing away with the tedious process of hand sjjrinkling. There is a flat, circular metal base out of which rises a sheet- iron standard, having openings at the top and the bottom. Outward from the top of the lower opening in the standard extends a tempered-steel spring, while through the opening at the top is a strip of sheet-iron, along the bottom of which is a scries of notches. To the outer end of this strij) are fastened the ends of a wire loop, which also runs through the outer end of the spring.

To operate, the nozzle end of the hose is inserted through the opening at the lower end of the standard and is con- tinued on below the spring and through the wire loop at its end. It is then in position shown in the lower i)iclure. To bring the hose Xo the |)ositioii shown in the ui)i)er illustration, the operator simply grasps the end of the upi)er notched strip and draws it through the

��opening in the standard. When the desired position is reached a notch in the strip is dropped over a nail in the standard. The pressure of the spring serves to keep the adjustment securely notched. This device is practical and, being made entirely of metal and of sim- ple construction, it is durable.

��The hose is held rigidly in position and will not move under the stress of ordinary pressure

���A single adii.^i...^i.i .... ..........n a hose in

any desired position

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