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EDlTOIfS TABLi:. 



Tlio portal to WixYAn is under a turret of 12 feet diameter, 60 feet high, sheltering the hall 

 door, and giving vahinblc room above, be^siilo coniirinmling one of the most extensive views in 

 W'esteliesttr, eoniprising Long I^^laud sound, lluJson nver palisades, New York eity, and Staten 

 Maud. 



Tlie perspective view and plan will mainly exjdain tliemselvefs and tlie dimensions may be 



learned from the scale. On the right of tlic Imll, a few steps ascend to tlie diuirig-room, lifting 



Ij the floor of the same so nuieh above that of tlio library, jmrlor, and hull, tlint the kitchen below 



1 1 the dining-room may be wholly out of ground. A few »iO]>!i connect tlio dining-room passage 



with the veranda; and an easy ascent leads to the chambers above, which are five in number 



, beside the attic and wing-building rooms. In the latter there is a covered carriagc-wny for horsea 



! in waitins?, (or the same might serve for a wood-house.) Tliere is a spacious veranda both in 



j ' front and rear, and the whole is raised high upon a terrace, adding much to the character of the 



Louse, and ensuring dry and useful room in the basement. 



TiiE Season. — Up to this date (Decouiber IC) the season has been one of extraordinary 

 mildness. With us in Western New York, -where winter usually sets in about the middle 

 of November, •we have been able to continue our out-door operations, -with an occasional 

 slight interruption, to this time. Indeed, for a Aveek or ten days past, everything has been 

 spring-like, and we can scarcely believe that it is December. Trees, and even cuttings, 

 planted in October, have made new roots, and in many cases abundantly. Lawns have a 

 fresher verdure than they had in September, and, in fact, everything looks unusual. To 

 the gardener such weather has been particularly acceptable. His plant-houses have required 

 comparatively no fire heat, and the plants never looked so well at this season. Christmas 

 and New Year's boquets must be unusually fine. His winter, and much of his spring work, 

 has been i)leasantly executed, and various projects in the way of fencing, draining, trench- 

 ing, grading, walk making, &c., have been carried out twelve months sooner than he had 

 expected. 



The poor laborer, whose day's wages is his all, feels particularly grateful for this mild 

 weather. Instead of being out of work, as he would have been had the ground been frozen, 

 and thrown back on his scanty summer savings, he has been permitted to go on and add 

 to them. An early and hard winter always falls hardest on the poor. "We may live many 

 years before we experience another such December ; but, as we hear it said twenty times a 

 day, " w emay get our pay for this before the first of April." 



Bleakek's Meadow Pear. — H. L. Sutdam, Esq., of Geneva, sent us some fine, well- 

 ripened specimens of this variety December 8, saying : " The tree is a small one, about 

 eight years old, and the fruit, until last season, was not considered good for any thing but 

 stewin'T. Last fall my father-in-law picked the fruit and ripened it in the house." A notice 

 of the history of this Pear will be found among the proceedings of the Pennsylvania Hor- 

 ticultural Society, which we shall publish in the February number. 



RiPEN'ixG OF Pears. — A gentleman writes us : "This fall I put in boxes Louise Bonne 

 de Jersey Pears; some were in average temperature of 55", others from 50^ to 55°. Those 

 in the coldest room, left there to ripen, were infinitely superior to the others. I assure 

 you I had no idea of the value of that Pear before." This agrees with our own experience. 

 A moderate temperature is better for the ripening of soft, melting Pears. 



