226 Winter Damage to J^rtdts and Trees in Iowa. 



water closet, the furnace, etc. There are two exterior doors, one opening from the 

 cellar, and one from the kitchen, the latter inclosed in a lobby. 



The side of the basement towards the river is entirely above ground. 



The height of basement is 8 feet ; of first story, 10 feet ; and second floor, 8^ feet 

 in the clear when finished. 



The walls of the basement, where against the ground, should be built of stone, and 

 the side where above ground, towards the river, may be of brick. 



Above the basement the building is of wood, but should be filled in with brick to 

 the roof, as its position is evidently one of great exposure in winter, and it could 

 scarcely be made comfortable without. 



The detail of the finish, both on the exterior and interior, is intended to be plain, 

 leaving the good efi"ect to depend rather upon good proportion than embellishment. 

 The cost would depend upon local advantages, and would average $5,000. 



This design appears in new edition Doivni?ig's Cottage Residences. 



Winter Damage to Fruits and Trees in Iowa. 



BY SUEL FOSTER. 



SINGULAR, indeed, are the freaks of Nature. No two seasons are alike in degree 

 of cold. If the thermometer measures the extreme of two winters alike at 25° 

 below 0, yet the number and severity of cold days will differ. The same degree of 

 cold, with the wind northeast, will be more severely felt by the animal, than when 

 the wind is dryer from the northwest. But the dry long freeze is more severe on 

 vegetable and tree life ; it freezes dry. I have seen the ground freeze up very dry, 

 and continue dry and hard frozen, the moisture all the time being exhausted, causing 

 great destruction in nurseries of small trees ; whilst larger trees, that struck their 

 roots deeper, lived and were comparatively little injured. 



Last fall we had sufficient rain to wet the ground eight or ten inches deep, to which 

 I attribute the cause of my young nursery trees coming through the very severe, long, 

 freezing winter, with so little injury, greatly assisted, also, by the slight covering of 

 snow and ice commencing the 20th of December. A peculiar effect of the hard win- 

 ter has very much surprised me, in finding the Ben Davis apple tree very much in- 

 jured, so much so, that whilst it bloomed full, it has not life and action enough to 

 grow the embryo fruit after the flower had fallen. This is often the case with many 

 varieties after such a hard winter ; but this Ben Davis has so long been classed among 

 the hardiest, that it is put in the lists for Northern Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. 

 On the other hand, the Wagner, which I have often seen very much damaged by less 

 severe winters, comes out green and bright this spring, setting full of fruit. 



These are exceptions to the general rule, and when we see such peculiarities we 

 may note them, and look back to the general established character, wherever that 

 character has become established. I repeat, that most of my orchard trees that show 

 damage at all, show it more in the orchard than in the nursery. Whilst I have 

 named two varieties which seemed to depart from the general character, the one more 

 injured, the other less, yet I find the greater number continue true to character. 



