DESIGN FOR A COTTAGE— FOREIGN NOTICES. 



287 



DESIGN FOR A S^ATISS COTTAGE. 



Our frontispiece for this month, presents 

 a view of an exceedingly pretty Swiss cot- 

 tage, designed by Mr. Penchard, architect, 

 Albany. 



It is one of a number of ornamental cot- 

 tages, erected by E. P. Prentice, Esq., of 

 Mount Hope, near Albany, and which now 

 not only ornament a portion of his estate, 

 but form, with the grounds attached to 

 them, exceedingly tasteful and agreeable 

 residences for several gentlemen who now 

 occupy them. 



The present design shows how the pic- 

 turesque, and somewhat wild character of 

 the Swiss chaltt, may be adapted to our cot- 

 tage requirements. "While the most agreea- 

 ble features of this style of building are pre- 

 served, the roof projected upon bold brack- 

 ets, the galleries, the coped chimneys, 

 etc., the whole has a domestic and habi- 

 table air, and affords a most convenient and 

 comfortable residence for a family of mode- 

 rate size. 



An inspection of the plan of the prin- 

 cipal floor, will show the accommodation 

 of this portion of the house. It is one 

 well calculated for cottage house keeping. 



where the arrangement should be some- 

 what compact, so as to be easily governed 

 by the eye of the mistress. The depart- 

 ment designed as "kitchen," on this floor, 

 might perhaps more properly be called 

 " dininsr room," since there is another 

 kitchen in the basement beneath it. 



The second, or chamber floor, contains 

 4 bed-rooms, most snugly and ingeniously 

 arranged. 



It will be seen that the exterior of this 

 cottage is covered with shingles, the lower 

 ends of which are cut before using them, 

 so that they form a pleasing pattern. They 

 have been laid-on over a rough weather 

 boarding, on which was fitted a coating of 

 tar-paper, so as to make a warm and dry 

 house ; and are much more picturesque in 

 effect than planed boards or "siding." 



To the amateur of the cottage ornee, this 

 is a highly interesting specimen, and will 

 well repay a visit. Mr. Prentice deserves 

 much credit for the various examples of 

 ornamental cottages, which he has erected 

 in the neighborhood of a city where rural 

 architecture, of a tasteful kind, has been 

 I much neglected. 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



Use of Young Melons. — I saw, a few days 

 since, at one of our best market gardeners, of tlie 

 Faubourg Saint Antoine, baskets tilled with young 

 melons, chiefly the imperfect aftergrowth of the 

 vines. These' fruits, which are of different sizes, 

 from that of a hen's egg to that of an orange, are 

 usually thought of no value ; the smallest are not 

 used at all, and the largest are generally placed 

 by the children of the market garden, in the corner 

 of a window frame until they became a little yel- 

 low, and are afterwards sold for a few cents to 

 children, who eat them raw, without, I suppose, 



any great pleasure to the palate, or any good to 

 the stomach. 



These young melons, however, as well as those 

 which do not arrive at maturity in the autumn, are a 

 most wholesome and delicate food, when eaten cook- 

 ed, and prepared in the same way as cucumbers. 

 [The French cook the cucumber much more than 

 we do. Ed.] They are, indeed, far preferable to 

 these last, not having the after-taste, which is so 

 disagreeable to many persons. We have found 

 them more delicate in flavor than the vegetable 

 marrow, even when the latter is used, as in Eng 



