1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



141 



LETTER S'ROM MB. BROWN. 



Washington, Jan. 21, 1858. 



My Dear Sir : — In my last letter I closed a 

 brief account of the transactions of the U. S. 

 Agricultural Society, spoke of the Aquarium at 

 Smithsonian Institute, and had a word upon gen- 

 eral matters. Since then I have visited most of 

 the public buildings and grounds in the city, 

 looked in several times upon both branches of 

 Congress, exchanged civilities with many old ac- 

 quaintances, and have found every where some- 

 thing to interest and instruct. 



The general appearance of the city has been 

 very much improved since my visit to it in 1856. 

 A new style of architecture has been introduced 

 in the construction of dwellings, which greatly 

 relieves the eye from the monotony of high, un- 

 ornamental brick walls which were every where 

 peering to the clonds. A large number of the 

 streets are also lined with fine trees for shade, 

 such as the maple, elm and ailanthus, which will 

 soon afford protection from hot suns, and be high- 

 ly ornamental to the wide and glaring sidewalks 

 and streets. During the administration of Ma- 

 jor B. B. French, as Commissioner of Public 

 Buildings and Grounds, he caused several thous- 

 and shade trees to be planted, which are now 

 greatly improving the appearance of the city, as 

 well as having a highly salutary effect in a sani- 

 tary point of view. 



The Oeneral Post Office building, which is con- 

 structed of white marble, has been nearly dou- 

 bled in size since the first part of it was erected, 

 and is a noble structure. The Patent Office has 

 also been greatly enlarged, occupies a whole 

 square, and is the most magnificent of all the 

 public buildings, with the exception of the Capi- 

 tol. The Treasury Department has been largely 

 extended, and when finished will present the 

 longest and most imposing colonnade to be found 

 in the world. These buildings are all in the pro- 

 cess of completion, aff'ording employment for a 

 large number of men, using vast quantities of 

 raw and manufactured material, especially iron, 

 and making a quick and excellent home market 

 for all the products of the farms in that region. 

 Judging from the appearance of the workmen as 

 I passed them, I should think a large portion of 

 them were foreigners ; those engaged on the 

 coarser work, such as excavating, removing stone, 

 lumber or iron, being Irishmen, while those oc- 

 cupied as stone-cutters or sculptors, were Ger- 

 mans, and the painters, or at least those engaged 

 in the fresco painting, were Italians. 



But the building which most attracts the at- 

 tention of all, is the Capitol, as its magnitude 

 and high position give it a prominence over all 

 others — indeed over every thing else. It is con- 

 structed of white marble, a large portion of which 



is brought, I understand, from quarries in the 

 town of Lee, Mass. The new wings are covered 

 in, the roofs being iron and cement with plates 

 of glass three-eighths of an inch thick. These 

 plates are of suflRcient strength for workmen to 

 travel over in any direction, but were readily 

 broken to atoms by the terrific hail-storm which 

 occurred in Washington last summer, accompa- 

 nied by thunder and lightning, so that "fire and 

 hail actually ran along upon the ground !" Thous- 

 ands of panes of glass were broken and the gar- 

 dens and crops torn to pieces and scattered abroad 

 wherever the storm passed. The hail stones were 

 as large as common-sized hens' eggs, and fell with 

 tremendous force. It was represented to us as a 

 terrific scene. Where blinds were not closed 

 there were showers of broken glass as well as 

 hail, and it was found difficult to close those that 

 were open, the blows of the stones were so rapid 

 and heavy. All animals sought shelter ; fowls 

 fluttered in wild confusion — horses broke from 

 their fastenings, and cattle ran bellowing from 

 their pastures in paroxysms of pain and fright. 

 In the glass houses at the Botanical Garden, and 

 the green houses of the city there were scarcely 

 any whole panes left, while the plants were sadly 

 broken and riddled and scattered about. 



The grounds now enclosed around the Capitol 

 have an area of about thirty acres, and are pleas- 

 antly laid out and planted with a great variety 

 of trees and shrubs, while plats of various shapes 

 are filled with a variety of flowers blooming in 

 succession from February until November or De- 

 cember. Some of the fine maples, American or 

 English elms, and a few sycamore or button wood 

 trees, have already attained such a size as to ob- 

 struct the view of the magnificent building itseli, 

 and already need a judicious thinning and prun- 

 ing. It is now in contemplation to enlarge these 

 grounds to more than double their original size, 

 and I understand that a committee of both 

 branches have agreed to make such a report. 

 Such an enlargement of the grounds becomes 

 necessary since the extension of the building, as 

 the wings now extend north and south, to the 

 very sidewalks of Pennsylvania Avenue itself. 

 It is the intention to increase the space on all 

 sides of the present grounds, and thus bring 

 them into proportion with the grandeur and mag- 

 nificence of the structure to which they must al- 

 ways be the beautiful and appropriate surround- 

 ings. 



The Capitol is a miniature world, and a world 

 of wonder, too. Its length is 740 feet, and its 

 width 270, and covers, including its terraces, 

 which enclose a series of rooms, some five or six 

 acres of land. The new dome now in process of 

 construction will surpass in grandeur, in beauty 

 of conception, in style and magnificence, any 



