132 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 265. 



known), eighteen and a half feet ; S. Mocini, with immense 

 leaves, ten feet ; S. longipedunculata, ten feet ; S. umbraculi- 

 fera, seventeen feet ; S. Havanensis, twelve feet ; S. princeps, 

 twenty feet ; Chamasrops humilis Sinensis, eleven feet ; C. 

 elegans, ten feet, and Diplothemium campestre, subdivided 

 into seven trunks, eleven feet. 



These constitute a small part of the great collection, but they 

 are the largest specimens in the garden. The immense num- 

 ber of younger plants deserves a separate article, but these 

 notes can give only an inadequate idea of the great luxuriance 

 and beauty of Mr. Hart's garden, which is most attractive in the 

 winter season. ,, ,^ , ,. 



Milwaukee, Wis. H. Nehrhtlg. 



is common, standing clean-cut and black against a far-reaching 

 background of glistening snow. This house is made of bits 

 of sod cut about twelve inches square, and laid one upon the 

 other, until four walls of solid earth a foot thick are built 

 around the hearthstone. The roof is of sticks and brush cov- 

 ered with sod. When the house is completed it is as imper- 

 vious to cold as the best lath-and-plaster house in the country. 

 There is an extreme plainness and barrenness, however, that 

 renders a house of this sort very unattractive. Blossoming 

 vines and quickly growing and richly foliaged trees and shrubs 

 are impossible, owing to the unfriendly climate. It must 

 stand and appear at its face value until fortune enables its 

 owner to build over it a more costly and elaborate house. 



!H 



Fig. 21. — A Farm-house in Northern California. 



A Study of Architecture in the Rural Districts of 

 the West. 



'T^HE study of architecture in the rural districts of the west 

 *- is an interesting one. Of all the environments of the 

 western home-builder that of climate is most potent in the 

 planning and construction of the dwelling-house. This applies 

 especially to emigrants to the prairies of the Dakotas, Iowa, 

 Nebraska and Minnesota. 



The domicile of the pioneer farmer of Iowa was a small 

 house built of logs, between which was thrust a plaster made 

 of mud, a building which afforded a sufficient protection from 

 the bleak winters of that section. Farther west, in Nebraska, 

 where the winters were much more severe, the settler's house 

 was built of logs, with earth heaped around it nearly to the 

 roof. This made a characteristic and comfortable shelter. In 

 the Dakotas, where the mercury is in the habit of dropping to 

 zero in the fall, and to forty degrees below zero during the win- 

 ter, the pioneer farmer is almost compelled to burrow to pro- 

 tect himself against the cold. Here the sod-house, or " shack," 



Throughout the northern half of California the observer can- 

 not but be impressed with the cosy and inexpensive houses 

 which he sees on every side, and in the same region he also 

 finds many dwelHngs apparently in the last stages of decay. 

 The degree of vigor, energy and enterprise of the new-comer 

 to an agricultural district is clearly shown in his barns and 

 dwelling, and in the Pacific coast states this object-lesson is too 

 frequently an unfavorable one. The thrifty immigrant from 

 the states east of the Mississippi River surrounds himself with 

 well-kept buildings, upright fences and thoroughly cultivated 

 lands. The native-born farmer is listless, easy-going, devoid 

 of enterprise. His farm, his barns, his fences, his house and 

 his family present the same shiftless, despondent appearance. 

 There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, but they are very 

 few. 



The farmer in the Pacific coast states, and especially in Cal- 

 ifornia and Oregon, is greatly favored by climate in the build- 

 ing of his house. It may be constructed of matched boards 

 and batten. If he cannot afford to paint it, two coats of white- 

 wash will give a clean and fresh appearance. About the door 



