THE GENESEE FARMT-.f. 



July 



Cables' JPfpartmrnt 



FLOWER GARDENS 



Messrs. Editors : — Although late in the season, I wish to 

 ask a little advice of you about fixing my flower garden — 

 the size of it i3 about fifteen by twenty feet. I read with 

 much pleasure your " Ladies Department," in the May num- 

 ber, and your directions to make a garden ; but then it 

 didn't seem to suit my little patch, where everything has to 

 occupy as small a space as it possibly can. Now you know 

 that there are hundreds and thousands in our cities and 

 large towns, that have to content themselves "with just so 

 small a space — and some even yet snialicr — where the i^Jfftct 

 is mostly produced by the appearance of the flowers them- 

 selves, rather than by any peculiar formation of the beds 

 and walks, and tlie romantic arrangement of the shrubbery. 

 My yard contains a large oval bed in the center, occupied 

 mostly by perennials, around which is a walk, and then a 

 border, such as is naturally left by cutting out :in oval. The 

 border contains all the shrubbery and u few annuals, which 

 Gccnpy the vacant spaces. This is as good an arrangement 

 as I know how to make ; but, Messrs. Editors, if you will 

 be so kind as to offer a few hints for further improvements, 

 they will be gratefully received and appreciated by Mign- 

 ONKTTE. — Rochester, June. 1850. 



Building lots in our smaller cities are generally 

 thirty to thirty-three feet front, seldom we believe 

 smaller, and often much larger. Persons designing 

 to build, often purchase a lot and a half, or two lots, 

 thus giving them a front of from forty-five to si.xty 

 feet. In villages, and in the suburbs of cities, lots 

 are seldom less than a quarter of an acre. When 

 building on a small lot of forty or sixty feet width, 

 the house should be set back the same distance from 

 the front line as the width of the lot, if the depth 

 of the lot will admit of it : thus, if the lot is thirty 

 feet wide, you have a front yard or lawn thirty feet 

 square ; or, if si.xty feet wide, a lawn of sixty feet. 

 The latter size is large enough to give a very pretty 

 lawn and an abundance of room for flower-beds and 

 shrubbery ; and even a square of thirty or forty feet 

 may be made pleasing and beautiful. It is the 

 province of correct taste to overcome natural difficul- 

 ties, and to turn to the best account the means within 

 our reach. Perhaps as much real taste can be dis- 

 played in laying out a thirty foot plot, as in decorating 

 broad acres. 



To aid us in making the subject plain, we have 

 procured the annexed engraving— a rather imperfect 

 outline— of a garden in this city, which, while we do 



not present it as a model, we consider laid out with 

 pretty good taste. The lot is sixty feet wide, and 

 the house, a neat little cottage, is sixty feet from the 

 street, making the lawn, of course, sixty feet square. 

 A, is the house ; B, the main walk from the garden 

 gate to front door ; C, road leading from main walk 

 to back door. The whole is covered with grass, 

 except the walks, which are gravelled. Numerous 

 flowering shrubs are scattered in little groups over 

 the lawn, (the grouping of wliich the engraver has 

 not done justice to,) and a few shade trees are planted 

 near the outer edges. Fig. 1 is a bed of ever-bloom- 

 ing roses, nicely cut out in the grass : fig. 2, a bed 

 of petunias ; fig. 3, verbenas ; fig. 4, scarlet gerani- 

 ums ; fig. 5, phlo.xes. Perhaps with a piece of 

 ground of even less than thirty feet, something of the 

 same form might be retained, with smaller beds or 

 less in number. The form of tliese beds might be 

 varied to suit taste and circumstances, always re- 

 membering to use curved lines instead of the old- 

 fashioned sharp angles. 



It will be noticed that the garden gate is near the 

 corner of the lot. This makes an apparent neces- 

 sity for a winding walk. If the front gate was near 

 the center of the lot, and opposite the front door, a 

 winding walk would not appear natural and graceful, 

 — it would look too much like over-strained effort — 

 a forced attempt at the graceful. 



In so small a space as " Mignonette" has at com- 

 mand, truly little can be done for the picturesque ; 

 but still we think a nicely curved walk, with such a 

 bed as our correspondent describes, cut out of a well 

 kept carpet of gras.s, with a few shrubs planted in 

 little groups, would be much cleaner in appearance 

 and prettier every way, from the first shooting of the 

 blades of grass in spring, until covered by the snows 

 of winter. 



TO DESTROT INSECTS ON HOUSE PLANTS, &c. 



Tds. Gen. Farmer : I write, not so much to claim tho " Flo- 

 ral Rake," (to which, however, I have a fair title, by the 

 terms of your offer, ) as to obtain information in regard to tlie 

 best mode of destroying insects on parlor plants. 1 have ref- 

 erence more particularly to the minute red spider. My 

 choicest plants have been totally destroyed by this pest, 

 which feeds upon the foliage and juices, and resists all the 

 destructive agents I have been able to employ. They 

 thrive upon soap-suds, grow fat upon tobacco, and ivill not 

 stay killed by the summary process of scjueczing to death. 

 What shall I do next? 



As not only the flower-stand and the garden, but the poul- 

 try-yard, likewise, claims a share of my attention. I should 

 like to know how to classify some new pets. I procured, 

 from the neighborhood of fioston, the eggs of one of the 

 large breeds of fow Is, the Cochin China, as I supposed. The 

 eggs were not " mahogany," but salmon color. The chick- 

 ens, now two weeks old, are very light colored, thicker in 

 the neck than ordinary, larger, though not conspic 

 so, than others of the .same age, and are feathered 

 outside of the legs. Are they Shanghaes ? 

 lighted if you answer in the affirmative. M. A. F.— North- 

 ampluii, N. Y., Jime, 1U50. 



The red spider is certainly a "pest," but when 

 properly dealt with, can be made to surrender very 

 promptly. While tobacco-water easily destroys the 

 green lovse, or aphis, the "spider," ii' he does not 

 " groivfat" upon it, like some other creatures, shows 

 no dislike to "the. leeed." The best way to destroy 

 them is to burn a little sulphur under the plant. 

 Vour enemy will soon smell brimstone and come 

 down. 



The eggs of the Cochin China fowl, although 

 called mahogany, are more of a salmon color. The 



►red, thicker in jji 



conspicuously [|1 



athered on the <i 



I shall be de- If 



