DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



inniBstit JMim. 



Frontispiece — Design for a Free School. 

 — In our January number we gave an original 

 design for a district-school house, built of wood, 

 in a simple, convenient and economical form, 

 which we are glad to see has been extensively 

 copied into other papers. As a cheap rural 

 school-house, it is adapted to the country gene- 

 rally. 



Our frontispiece to this number, shows how a 

 school-house may be rendered highly architec- 

 tural — where more means are at the disposal 

 of the building committee. It is adesigr^ by 

 Mr. Meyer, an English Architect, for the St. 

 Helen Free School, and has been erected in the 

 suburbs of London — very substantially, of brick, 

 with stone dressings, for £1,200. The boys' 

 school-room measures 59 by 27 feet, and the 

 girls' school-room 42 by 27 feet. There is a 

 separate porch and entrance to each, as shown 

 on the elevation. 



Poddrette and Guano. — Dear Sir: As I 

 notice that you endure questioning very pa- 

 tiently, I beg leave to propose one or two for 

 answers in the Horticulturist for March . I wish 

 to know: 



1. "Whether the Poudrette of the Lodi Com- 

 pany, 74 Cortland-street, New-York, is to be 

 depended on, and is Avorth " $2 a barrel, or 

 $1.50 for any quantity over six barrels;" what 

 crop it is best adapted to, what quantity to be 

 applied, &.c. 



2. The same information relative to the Bone 

 dust and Peruvian guano advertised by New- 

 York dealers. Yours. J. M. Winchell. Sy- 

 racuse, N. Y., Feb., 9, 1852. 



Answer. — We have tried the Lodi Compa- 

 ny's Poudrette in various ways, in our own 

 grounds, for the last three or four years, and for 

 all the neater work of sowing and planting in 

 gardens, we prefer it to any other manure. For 

 strawberries, for early vegetables, flower beds, 

 roses, &c., it is preferable to everything usually 

 to he had ; because, unlike guano, it enriches 

 without burning, may be used safely with any 

 plant, and brings no weeds, like common ma- 

 nure. We consider a barrel of it fully equal in 

 fertilizing material to 4 cart-loads of stable ma- 



nure-while being pulverised, it is much more rea- 

 dily managed in mixing it with light gardensoil. 

 For farm crops it is equally valuable whenever 

 the farmer can afford to pay for manure at the 

 rate of 75 cents a waggon load, and a barrel 

 may, in using it, be considered equal to two 

 such loads. It should be used in the hill for 

 corn and potatoes, and the drill for beets and 

 carrots. 



Bone dust has not generally proved so valua- 

 ble here as in England. Guano must be used 

 in the fall, or early in the spring, or it is of lit- 

 tle value — except in parts of the country where 

 much rain falls in summer. We can say noth- 

 ing about its quality, not having had any sam- 

 ples lately. Allen & Co., New- York, sent us 

 a superior article last season. 



The Srawberry in England.— Mr. Downing: 

 I discover by a letter in your number for the 

 present month, from a working English garden- 

 er, that we are behind the age in general, and 

 Great Britain in particular, in horticulture. I 

 would request your correspondent to enlighten 

 us, by a description of the sexual character of 

 the strawberry plant. I am told that in Eng- 

 land, they follow in the footsteps of the world 

 renowned Linna?us — hold with him, that this 

 plant always has blossoms perfect in botli male 

 and female organs; and all the English garden- 

 ers I have met with, adhere to the same doc- 

 trine, and can discover no sexual difference 

 between the blossom of their world renowned 

 Keen's Seedling, and Ilovey's Seedling. They 

 are compelled to admit, that where these two 

 are planted together, that Hovey's produces a 

 full crop of perfect fruit, whilst the Keen will 

 not bear one-fifth of a crop. But this they say 

 arises from our climate varying from that of 

 England. 



Now the presumption is, that these English 

 gardeners must be right, as they tread in the 

 footsteps of the greatest of all botanists, whilst 

 we for our principles, depend on an ignorant 

 German female, who supplied our market with 

 strawberries, 30 years since. Her fruit was 

 much larger, and her grounds produced five 

 times the quantity, of any English gardener's 



