PBAOTIOAL HINTS TO AMATEURS. 



On the second floor the chambers all communicate, thuH securiiij? a thorouf?h 

 ventilation at all times either by means of open windows or through the stair hall, 

 which oi)cns into the observatory. Over the kitchen is the water-closet, bath- 

 room, and dressinpf-room. Over the piazza, in the angle formed by the kitchen 

 with the house, is a balcony always shaded in the morning, and used as a sitting 

 ])lace in summer. 



In the third story are four chambers, a liall, ;iii(l a children's play-room sixteen 

 by forty feet. Above this is the observatory, commanding a view of the surround- 

 ing country, the East River, and the Palisades on the Hudson. 



The house is heated by two furnaces in one chamber, the second furnace being 

 used only in extreme weather. 



This dwelling, which is botli elegant and eminently comfortal)le, occupies, 

 nearly, the site of the old family mansion, which was destroyed by fire recently. 

 Its arrangements, including the ice-house, are remarkable for their substantial air. 

 In a separate building is a school-room for Mr. P.'s children, and to this school 

 a very few selected neighboring youths are admitted, a plan which, while it 

 insures a guarded private tuition, removes one objection to that system. 



The planting in the grounds has been judiciously done, and under such advan- 

 tages of possession at hand of all that could be desirable, will soon prove emi- 

 nently effective. 



PRACTICAL HINTS TO AMATEURS. 



BY THE LATE A. J. DOWNING.* 



You may plant peas, for the earliest crop, as soon as the frost is out of the 

 ground, and it is fit to dig. Choose a warm, sheltered spot, and use rotten stable 

 manure and ashes in preparing the soil, before sowing the seed. Peas don't 

 mind a hard frost, even when on rich or too high ground ; and therefore the 

 earlier you plant, the earlier you pick. If you have to plant in the open garden, 

 you may hasten your crop by sowing the drills east and west, and setting a board 

 on the ground edgeways, on the north side, to shelter each row. "Prince Albert'' 

 is one of the best early sorts. 



Rhubarb is an invaluable plant to those who like a spring tart. You may have 

 yours ready to cut a week before your neighbor's, without the trouble of forcing, 

 if you set your plants in a border on the south side of a wall or tight board fence, 

 and take the precaution to loosen up the soil, and cover each crown of roots with 

 a bushel basket full of black peat earth the autumn before. 



Some men are marvellously fond o^ pruning, and go about cutting a limb here, 

 and a branch there, without "rhyme or reason." Don't prune your standard 

 trees, unless the branches are so unnatural as to crowd each other ; and even then, 

 they should be thinned out as little as possible to answer the purpose. Or, in 

 the other case, where the tree has got into a stunted and feeble state, when a 

 shortening-back the terminal shoots, along with a good dressing of manure, will 

 make it push out strong, healthy shoots again. 



If you wish to get early crops in your kitchen garden, make some boxes two 

 feet square, and a foot high. Knock them together out of any rough boards ; 

 and if you cannot afford to glaze the whole top (and, to say the truth, it is a 

 waste of money), put a single light in — a t-by-9. If you want a hill of early 

 cucumbers, melons, or tomatoes, dig out a hole of the size of the box, and two 

 and a half feet deep, fill it with fresh stable manure mixed with litter, tread the 



* Reprinted from an early volume of the Horticulturist. 



