EDITOR'S TABLE. 



ARCHirECTURAL CRITICISM. — Iq jour November number you give a very pretty picture of a 

 "Symmetrical Cottage," offered as a model of "good proportion, tasteful form, and chaste orna- 

 ment." 



Of what style is this cottage, that it may claim to be chaste ? The porch is meant to be (car- 

 penter's) Gothic, while the windows are, in fashion and shape, Italian, though with Gothic hoods. 

 The chimney is Italian ; the cornice and pitch of roof, Swiss. This latter style seems to prevail, 

 making the pointed arches, pinnacles and hoods, at variance with the common sash windows, 

 chimney top, and " horizontal sheathing." The plan is wholly Swiss ; but is it not an objection 

 that the veranda, or arcade, is made to cross the entire front, so as to divide the same into two 

 parts, leaving no i-elief or margin on the sides? This is a very common fault in front porches, 

 or verandas ; being both too much, and at the same time too little! Is not the outside door af»l 

 its opposite window thrust into the esctreme corner? How would this appear under the "piazza?" 

 The house, I presume, is to be warmed by hot air, as the parlor is the only room in the house, 

 excepting the kitchen, having a fireplace ; and this seems awkwardly placed close to the door of 

 the dining-room, and unnecessarily so. We very much wish that houses of this capacity could 

 be built about Xew York and Hudson I'iver for $2,000. D. 



Our correspondent lias very cleverly answered his own questions, as to the style of 

 Messrs. Austin & Warxer's " Symmetrical Cottage," as given in our November number. 

 It is a mixed style, as the majority of our modern houses are ; not purely this or that. We 

 approve of this mixture, provided, always, it be done in a masterly manner. We admit 

 that tliere is considerable discordance between some of the parts of the " Symmetrical Cot- 

 tage." The chimney scarcely looks as though intended for it. The horizontal sheathing 

 is less objectionable, as it is intended to be sanded and blocked to resemble stone. The 

 ground plan exhibits a good deal of comfort and convenience; and these are important 

 points. A friend writes us, that he would prefer to draw the ground plan of his house 

 tirst; have that to suit him exactly ; let the elevation go as it would. The aAs^kward situ- 

 ation of the parlor fireplace, close to the dining-room door, is owing to the main building 

 having but one smoke flue, and that in the center. There is economy in thus ])hicing tlie 

 chimney ; and if the house be not heated with a furnace, the dining-room and nursery 

 could be heated with stoves, the flue being accessible to both. As to cost, from what little 

 experience we have had in building, we should think $2,000 is at least fifty per cent, too 

 low for this cottage, even at Rochester. This we apprehend is a common failing of archi- 

 tects. Give them an order for a design to cost $2,000, and in nine cases out of ten, $4,000 

 will scarcely complete it. People are led into serious difSculties on this account. 



IIosENSHE-NK Pear. — In August last, we forwarded to you, as an act of courtesy usual among 

 nurser3-men, two specimens of the Hosenshenk Pear, just then received by us from Doct. J. 

 Garber, of Pennsylvania. We accompanied Uhem with a hurried note, which you published in 

 September, but which was evidently not intended for publication, because, if for no other reason, 

 of the quotation it contained from Dr. Garbek's letter to us. In tliis quotation, connecting the 

 statement made by you ia the Horticulturist for July, that "there is a variety of opinions [of the 

 Hoscnshcnk] among those who know it bed," he says, "This is not the fict. I have nevt-r heard 

 any person dissent from placing it as the best Pear of the season, except Dr. Eshleman, (f Down- 

 ington, Pa., and he, I think, from his own admission, had not tasted a true specimen in full per- 

 fection." Kow, strange as it may appear, this quotation contains the only "assertion" which 

 can be found in our note, and it has reference to your statement alone! The reference to D 

 E. was simply the expression of an opinion, in courteous terms, that he had not, from h 

 admi.-sion, tasted a true specimen, &c. And yet, in your Oc'ober number, you suffer tM 



