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              HOMESTEAD ARCHITECTURE.
   Fig. 139 is a small bracket to be applied where an
         ~    appearance of considerable strength is
              required; a little examination suggests
              that this bracket should have a little
   Fia.       more  thickness in  proportion to its
              breadth.
   Outside Venetian blinds and shutters are now made
by machinery, and notwithstanding we frequently
hear sweeping condemnations of this machine-joinery,
we believe it possible to produce in this manner an
excellent quality of work.   Unfortunately, the great
amount of competition in this business has injured
the quality of the joinery by reducing the standard
of prices so low as to render the manufacture of good
work not even moderately profitable, and the natural
consequence is, the country is flooded with the spu-
rious article.  But we think a reaction must before
long take place.  When this bad reputation of ma-
chine-work becomes thoroughly diffused, few will buy
it, and the counterfeit manufacturer will be obliged
to abandon the business; all will suffer for a time by
the operation, but it will be found in the end that
the most prosperous manufacturers are those who
never violated the laws of honest workmanship.
  Pivot-blinds, i.e. blinds in which the slats in each
section revolve simultaneously under the control of a
single vertical rod attached loosely to each slat, are
now deservedly much in vogue.    They are light and
airy looking,  and  although  not strictly an archi-
tectural appendage, are almost indispensable, and in
Southern houses entirely so.  By adjusting the slats,
the direct rays of the sun can be excluded, and air and
light admitted, and, when necessary, they can be con-