130 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



lar occupying the whole of the space under the 

 house should be divided into several apartments 

 corresponding to those on the first floor, to be 

 used for storage, fuel, &c. 



Construction. — Although we greatly prefer 

 stone or brick for the construction of such build- 

 ings, yet as there seems to be such a prejudice in 

 favor of wood, (especially in New England,) we 

 nave designed the above to be built of that ma- 

 terial. For outside finish, we should prefer plank 

 stout inch-and-a-quarter plank — put on in the 

 vertical manner, and the joints covered with two 

 and a half inch battens. The ornamental por- 

 tions, window-hoods, verge-boards, Szc, should 

 also be made from inch-and-a-quarter plank. 



We have designed the windows to be filled with 

 lozenge or diamond panes, but these, although 

 more in accordance with the style of the house 

 may be omitted, and rectangular squares inserted 

 in their place. 



Cost. — Built in the above manner, the interior 

 finish of a plain, inexpensive character, this 

 house would cost, in the neighborhood of Boston, 

 from $3800 to $4000. G. E. H. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 VARIETIES OF PEAHS. 



Mr. Editor: — I have taken the liberty of 

 sending to you a list of those varieties of pear 

 which have fruited well the past season in our 

 locality. There is probably no fruit tree which 

 varies so much upon different soils ; each variety, 

 we may almost say, has a peculiarity of its own ; 

 hence the Bartlett will assimilate to itself mate- 

 rials for an abundant crop in almost all good 

 soils, while the Beurre d'Aremberg, Diel, Wil- 

 kinson and Lewis require a strong and deep soil. 

 It is hardly possible for any single individual to 

 decide upon this desideratum, hence the neces- 

 sity for an interchange of opinion among the 

 most experienced of our cultivators. There are 

 some varieties which bear the largest and best 

 fruit upon young trees, the Flemish Beauty, for 

 example, while the Glout Morceau require years 

 of bearing before they will develop good fruit ; 

 there are others which produce the best specimens 

 when worked upon our largest standard trees ; 

 the Seckle, for instance. A want of knowledge 

 of these peculiarities accounts in a measure for 

 the various and conflicting statements made at 

 Pomological Conventions. At a recent meeting 

 two cultivators living within 20 miles of each 

 other, their grounds being exposed to the sea, 

 with similar aspects, were diametrically opposite 

 m their statements of the Napoleon pear ; with 

 one it was "very poor in quality and withal, a shy 

 bearer ;" with the other its "peculiarly fine qual- 

 ity was never surpassed, as well as its abundant 

 bearing." 



From my own experience of the Napoleon, I 

 have always found it poor and astringent when 

 grown upon a warm and sandy loam, while upon 

 a strong and retentive soil I have seen it juicy 

 and fine. The Belle Lucrative as a fall pear, and 

 the Bloodgood as a summer fruit, when grown 



upon our warm and light soil, we have found to 

 be the two best of their season. There are but 

 few varieties which are equally good in all soils, 

 where the tree will grow, the diversity of soil 

 and culture necessary for some varieties must 

 influence cultivators in forming a list, and this 

 diversity of soil and culture should be given, to 

 enable them to make a selection for their locali- 

 ty. "I have known," says one, "fruits which were 

 very fine immediately around the spot where they 

 originated ; but worthless when planted a few 

 miles away in another exposure." Now this word 

 exposure, as well as the often misapijlied word 

 acclimation, have little to do with facts ; the 

 want of a congenial soil has more to do with the 

 matter than exposure. 



The following pears have generally fruited well 

 in my vicii.ity, particularly in the season of 1858 : 



Summer. 

 Blcodgood. 

 Rostiezer. 



Early Fall. 

 Bartlett. 

 Anrirews. 

 Golden Beurre of Bilboa. 



Fall. 

 Beurre Bosc. 

 Urbaniste. 

 Belle Lucrative. 

 Louise Bonne of Jersey. 

 Thompson. 

 Seckel. 



Salem, Dec. 21th, 1858. 



Native Fall, very Hardy 

 Trees. 

 Bleeker's Meadow. 

 Buffum. 

 Fulton. 



Bost Eating Winter. 

 Winter Nelis. 

 Lawrence. 



Winter Baking. 

 Pound 

 Black Pear of Worcester. 



Fall Baking. 

 Rushmore's Bon (Jhrelien. 



J. M. Ives. 



For the New England Fame. 

 EIjECTIIICITY". 



Mr. Editor : — I notice in your paper of Dec. 

 25th some inquiries made by Non-Electricity, in 

 reference to ventilation and electricity, and has- 

 ten to answer him at my earliest opportunity. 



His several questions, in substance, are, "Why 

 is it that a building well ventilated will not be 

 struck by lightning?" I answer, simply because 

 the cause is removed, and where there is no cause 

 there can be no eff'ect. 



The atmosphere on the outside of the building 

 is not changed by ventilaung the building any 

 more than the waters of the ocean would be 

 changed by turning into it a tub of fresh water, 

 but by ventilating you do change the air inside 

 of the building and make it in the same condition 

 of that outside, thus taking advantage of one of 

 the laws that govern electricity, viz., "Likes 

 have no affinity for each other," thus avoiding 

 the disastrous eff'ect of natural equilibration when 

 one of the bodies is confined. 



Groton, Jan. 12, 1859. ELECTRICITY. 



Cement tor Broken China. — Take a very 

 thick solution of gum arable dissolved in water, 

 and stir into it plaster of Paris until the mixture 

 becomes a viscuous paste. Apply it with a brush 

 to the fractured edges, and stick them together. 

 In three days the article cannot be broken in the 

 same place. The whiteness of the cement renders 

 it doubly valuable. 



^ff' Our very manner is a thing of importance. 

 A kind no is often more agreeable than a rough 

 yes. 



