109 



grouping trees, and this will afford a fine 

 advantage for the study of effect. 



Plant your trees in groups of three, four, 

 or half a dozen ; intermingling the maple, 

 the evergreen, and the elm. 



Be careful that '.he trees you select, and 

 the forms you create, in a measure har- 

 monize with the style of architecture of 

 your house ; caring, too, that they hide 

 from view some ungainly object in the ad- 

 joining landscape. 



Next may the soil be renovated, the 

 grounds graded, trees trimmed, and many 

 things accomplished, that at one time or 

 another, before vegefation begins, must 

 be done. All this preparation will serve 

 to give Dame Nature the opportunity to 

 commence work as early in the spring as 

 she may fancy. 



An uneven, wav}' surface of ground, is 

 preferable to a dead level, because in it 

 there is more variety, and consequently 

 more beauty. 



Trees handso'mety grouped and irregu- 

 larly placed over your grounds, are more 

 artistic, and more interesting than when 

 planted in regular order ; because there is 

 greater beauty arising from variety and 

 harmony, than from symmetry. 



Easy and sweeping curves of line, whe- 

 ther of road, ridge, walk or drive, are 

 much more beautiful than straight lines. 

 Stiffness mars a landscape. 



Rural ornaments placed about your 

 grounds, not s} 7 mmetricall y. nor at ran- 

 dom, but irregularly and meaningly, in 

 their fit places, and to serve some utilita- 

 rian view as well as ornamental end, are 

 sources of great interest to the effect you 

 wish to produce. 



Before commencing your labors, just 

 map the whole picture in your mind; know 

 what you are to do before hand, and you 

 will accomplish more at the end, and pro- 

 duce a finer effect. 



Landscape gardening is a noble, elegant 

 art, but painful to say, it is/sadly in the 

 back-ground. It is deserving of much 

 greater encouragement at the hands of our 

 countrymen than as yet it has received ; 

 and more particularly so when we con- 

 sider that it is an art contributing so large- 

 ly to our every day happiness. Matters, 

 however, are fast progressing, and ere 

 long we shall witness as excellent land- 



scape in our midst, as can be exhibited by 

 any of the countries of the old word. 



W. T. Hallett, Architect. 

 Norwich, Ct, JVov. 1856. 



RAISING MUSHROOMS. 



j Mr. Blot, a French gardener, near New 

 I York, states that he has a garden at Har- 

 II em where he can grow eighty to one hun- 

 jdred quarts a day of mushrooms upon an 

 .acre. The beds are made at the bottom 

 [of trenches three feet deep, rounded up 

 'fifteen inches high, the trenches • being 

 covered over with boards. A bed will 

 last five or six months without renewing. 

 The plants come naturally from decompo- 

 sing horse manure, but he hastens the 

 growth by planting the spawn or seed of 

 the mushroom, which is- to be found in 

 old beds of horse manure, in a suitable 

 state of decomposition. The plants con- 

 tinue growing in the trenches summer and 

 winter, and are gathered daily as they 

 come to perfection, and sold to restaurants 

 and hotels at about 37J cents a quart. — 

 The supply is very much behind the de- 

 mand, and in consequence large quantities 

 are imported in a preserved state. Mr. 

 Blot states that there is nothing in the 

 climate to prevent growing, in New York, 

 all that the city could consume. The fol- 

 lowing calculation will show the profit of 

 growing mushrooms : 



To cultivate an acre, two men and 

 two horses would be required. 

 Expenses of horses, say . . 400 

 The labor of two men, say . . 730 

 Rent of an acre of vacant city lots, 400 



Total 



$1,530 



A sale of 80 quarts a day at 36 cents, 

 will produce $28 80 per day, or $10,512- 

 per annum This would give $8,982 as 

 the net profit of one acre of the many va- 

 cant ones lying idle in and about this city, 

 and we are assured that it would take 

 many acres to supply the demand at the 

 price stated. — Southern Cultivator. 



Have a place for every tool, and never 

 leave one out of its place; or to go far- 

 ther, "a place for every thing, and every 

 thing in its place," 



