NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



■ward the sea, and of these about 350 could be 

 concentrated on a ship entering the bay. The po- 

 sition is admirably adapted by nature for strength 

 towards the sea, and it has been fully taken ad- 

 vantage of to make it one of the strongest that 

 can be imagined. The work, however, of the 

 consummated fortresses, he says, is badly con- 

 structed, — the work being carried on .under a 

 Russian engineer, whose object was to make as 

 much money as possible, and the walls are filled 

 in with rubbish. This is said to have been the 

 case with tlie principal fortress at Bomarsund, 

 yet it is difficult to imagine that so costly and im- 



Eortant works as those at Sebastopol can have 

 een In general constructed in such a manner, 

 though we doubt not the Russian, as well as most 

 other governments, has been defrauded to a great 

 extent in this manner. 



Mr. Scott remarks also that the fortresses were 

 found defective in ventilation, to remedy which, 

 some altei-ations were s'jbsequently made, but ad- 

 mitting all these defects, he adds, they are still 

 strong enough to inflict some amount of injury 

 on an attacking fleet before their guns could be si- 

 lenced; and in addition to these pieces, which now 

 may number 950, there are 5U0 guns of large 

 calibre in strong open batteries, half of them 

 throwing shell and red hot shot, independently of 

 mortars. If these forts can be silenced by the al- 

 lied fleets alone, without land forces (these re- 

 marks having been written before an attack by 

 land was contemplated,) it would be satisfactory 

 to know, he remarks, what amount of resistance 

 Portsmouth could make with her 70 or 80 guns, 

 not more than five and twenty of which are heav- 

 ier than 32-pounders. 





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BRACKETTED COTTAGE, WITH VERANDA. 



The design here given, and the accompanying 

 description, we copy from '■'■Downing's Country 

 Houses,^'' believing that they will prove accepta- 

 ble to many who would be glad to build if a 

 proper design were presented them, one coming 

 within moderate means, and combining conven 

 ience with something of elegance and taste It 

 may cost no more to combine these qualities than 

 to build without them. lie says ; — 



"A pleasing, symmetrical form, some pictur- 

 esqueness of roof, united to considerable simplici- 

 ty of construction, and an expression of more do- 

 mestic enjoyment than cottages of this size usual- 

 ly exhibit, are the chai-octeristics of this design. 



"The larger expression of domestic enjoyment 

 is conveyed in the veranda or piazza. In a cool 

 climate, like that of England, the veranda is a 

 feature of little importance. But over almost the 

 whole extent of the United States, a veranda is a 

 positive luxury in all the warmer part of the year. 



since in midsummer it is the resting-place, loung- 

 ing spot, and place of resort, of the whole fami- 

 ly, at certain hours of the day. It is not, how- 

 ever, an absolute necessity, like a kitchen or a 

 bed-room, and, therefore the smallest cottages, 

 or those dwellings in which economy and utility 

 are the leading considerations, are constructed 

 without verandas. But the moment the dwelling 

 rises so far in dignity above the merely useful as 

 CO employ any considerable feature not entirely 

 intended for use, then the veranda should find its 

 place. To decorate a cottage highly, which has 

 no veranda-like feature, is, in tliis climate, as 

 unphilosophical and false in taste, as ic would be 

 to paint a lug-hut, or gild the rafters of a barn. 



"AccuMMoiiATioN. The interior of this cottage, 

 gives a neat and pretty parlor, of 14 by 20 feet ; 

 the priiiL'iple is to get as large an amount of con- 

 venience and comfort in every-day-life as possible, 

 and leave the rest to take a secondary rank. 



"Hence, tlie kitchen, bed-room, nursery, and 

 back-kitchen, the scene of a good deal of the dai- 



