1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



177 



evergreens, however, in northern exposures, and 

 a few deciduous trees of the medium size, such as, 

 perhaps, the scarlet maple, the larch, the birch or 

 the mountain ash, wherever they can be used 

 with good effect. 



Let your paths — not broad carriage ways, for 

 you have no carriage, but hard, gravelled walks 

 just wide enough for four persons to walk com- 

 fortably abreast — wind in and out among the 

 shrubbery — wherever deviating from a straight 

 line, always with seeming good reason — make 

 the circuit of the entrances to the house and out- 

 buildings, and finally terminate in some shady 

 summer-house or play-house for the children, or 

 rustic seat at the foot of the garden — anywhere, 

 so there be some good reason for bringing it there. 



Let the groundwork of the ornamental portion 

 be green lawn extending to the boundaries on 

 either side, which are concealed by irregular plan- 

 tations ; and let figures be cut in this turf and 

 filled with masses of flowers — verbenas, ama- 

 ranths, geraniums, roses, etc. Buy, for two or 

 three dollars, a neat vase of cast iron or terra 

 co*^a, or what is cheaper still, and more merito- 

 rious, make one of the smooth twigs of birch or 

 white oak, by covering a small wooden box with 

 these twigs split in halves, and placing it upon a 

 pedestal made of two or three crooked branches 

 of the same tree. Then place it upon the lawn in 

 front of the house, and fill it with myrtle, which 

 will soon lengthen into beautiful tresses and droop 

 gracefully over its sides, forming one of the pret- 

 tiest garden ornaments that we know of. A sun- 

 dial, too, is a very pretty addition for the lawn. 

 In fact, anything of this kind, simple in character 

 and artistic in design, helps to give importance 

 to the place ; provided, however, there be not too 

 many of them, for a profuseness looks as if one 

 were offering them for sale, and destroys that 

 "breadth of effect" for which we are aiming. 



Speaking of boundaries, don't build a fence be- 

 tween yourself and your neighbors unless it be 

 absolutely necessary. If a ha-ha, or ditch, will 

 not answer, plant a buckthorn or an arbor-vita? 

 hedge on the line, either of which will, in a few 

 years, form an impassable barrier to intruders, 

 and be less obtrusive than the ugly, whitewashed, 

 tight board fences that we now have. A better 

 plan still would be for two or more neighbors to 

 join together and plant both lots (we speak now 

 of the ornamental portion only) as if they M'ere 

 one, designating the boundary lines, perhaps, by 

 an invisible wire fence or a row of low posts, 

 (tenor twelve inches high,) painted green. We 

 thus obtain broader effects and the appearance of 

 more extensive grounds j in fact, with the cost 

 of a sixty feet lot, each owner has the advantages 

 of a lot measuring twice or thrice that width. 



Thus we have endeavored to give in as few- 



words as possible, a hint or two with regard to 

 the improvement of small cottages and cottage 

 grounds. At some future time, we shall present 

 with our designs one or two plans for planting 

 and laying out one of these lots. Our design 

 for this month is a simple cottage of one-and-a- 

 half stories, built of frame, and covered in the 

 vertical and battened manner. The porch over 

 the front door is simple in construction, and 

 should be executed in heavy stock, to give 

 strength to the projecting roof. 

 The accommodation is as follows : 



No. 1 is the hall, six feet wide and eleven feet 

 long ; the door on the right leads to the living 

 room, No. 2, a pleasant room, fourteen feet 

 square ; this room is furnished with two lai-ge 

 closets besides a passage to the wood-house. No. 

 4, which is a shed with a common lean-to roof, 

 built against the house. From the living room 

 opens directly the kitchen or working-room, 

 No. 3, ten feet by eleven. If desired, this kitch- 

 en could be converted into a bedroom, in which 

 case the present living room would be used as a 

 kitchen ; this plan, though it produces a less ele- 

 gant eff"ect than the others, will be preferred by 

 many families, especially if an extra bedroom 

 were desired. 



The second floors contain a hall and two cham- 

 bers, besides three or four closets. 



Built in the manner before described, this cot- 

 tage would cost about $500. 



Design of January Number. — With regard to 

 the design in the January number, a correspon- 

 dent found some difficulty "in harmonizing the 

 whole with its parts" as he says. The whole dif- 

 ficulty is in the parlor ; the size should have read 

 fourteen by eighteen feet six inches, instead of 

 fourteen by twenty ; an error in copying the de- 

 scription. We shall be happy to furnish com 

 plete working drawings of any of our designs, 

 that shall be correct in every particular, and easily 

 understood by any carpenter. 



