298 
VILLA OF MR. HALSEY. 
VILLA OF MR. HALSEY. 
Among the many handsome villages which envi¬ 
ron this great emporium, we know of none for 
beauty and variety of scenery, healthfulness of loca¬ 
tion, taste and splendor of its buildings, gardens and 
grounds, superior to Astoria, fn addition to this, it 
is so easy of access that one can reach it in a single 
hour from the City Hall, either by land or water, as 
may be most agreeable, making one of the most de¬ 
lightful rides or steamboat excursions around New 
York. The only fear with us is, that as the city 
spreads, Astoria will be too soon incorporated with¬ 
in its limits, and thus lose the rural beauty for which 
it is now so greatly admired. 
Of the villas of Astoria, we have selected for our 
present notice that of S. Halsey, Esq., because we are 
most familiar with it, and it is one of the largest and 
most attractive in the town. The lawn, garden, and 
fruit orchard comprise about ten acres, bordering near 
the East river, the grounds rising in wide terraces 
about twenty feet above the water. They are laid 
out in regular form, a line stone house occupying the 
crowning point, with a sufficiency of lawn and trees 
and shrubbery around to separate it from the cultivat¬ 
ed parts, and to give the whole an agreeable variety. 
In this garden will be found much that is ornamental, 
though Mr. Halsey has been more particularly desi¬ 
rous to stock it well with the choicest kinds of fruits. 
And pray what can he more ornamental, we would 
ask, than many varieties of fruit trees ? The pear 
and cherry, for example, with their tall, beautiful, 
cone-shaped tops—the thick, green foliage—and then 
the blossoms so fragrant in the spring, and the ripe, 
rich fruit in summer and autumn ! Lawns should 
always be more or less stocked with fruit trees and 
shrubs, intermingled with those of the forest—indeed, 
to our taste, they are comparatively bare without 
them. 
Peaches and Cherries .—fn the rear of the house is 
a peach orchard, in which Mr. H. has made an ex¬ 
periment between growing his trees in grass land, and 
that of keeping them under constant cultivation, treat¬ 
ing them otherwise precisely alike. Those in the 
cultivated plot are at least twice the size at six years 
old of those in the grass-plot; they also bear well, 
while from the others little fruit has been plucked, 
and that of an inferior quality. The crop usually 
grown among these trees is potatoes well manured. 
Where peaches are cultivated in large orchards, it is 
generally considered best to plow the land well, and 
keep the ground in potatoes or corn ; but the smaller 
grains, especially wheat or rye, have been found 
highly prejudicial to both trees and fruit. The finest 
variety of peaches cultivated here are the George the 
Fourth. They are indeed juicy and luscious in the 
extreme. 
Another little experiment made by Mr. H. was with 
plum trees. He had two rows of these standing in 
the open garden several years without producing fruit. 
He then took them up and set them against a high 
brick wall, since which they have borne well. He 
attributes this to the root pruning they underwent in 
transplanting, and adds, that since removed they have 
not been attacked by the curculio. For this exemp¬ 
tion no reason can be given, save that the insect does 
not find the trees so readily when trained against a 
wall, as when in open ground. We should like to 
hear whether others have experienced the same) 
result. 
Grapes .—Mr. H. has a range of about 400 feet of 
hot-houses, chiefly devoted to grapes. The kinds 
principally cultivated are the black Hamburg, golden 
Chasselas, Muscat of Alexandria, and white Frontig- 
nac. In one of the houses, 40 feet long, which we 
visited the first week in August, we found at least 
250 lbs. of the white Frontignac, and other varieties 
in great perfection, and in another house 85 feet long, 
about 500 lbs. chiefly of the black Hamburg. The 
clusters were unusually large, and the fruit as deli¬ 
cious as any we ever tasted of these kinds. At this 
time they were worth from 38 to 50 cents per pound 
in the New York market, which no doubt pays the 
expenses of cultivation. Mr. Halsey trains his vines 
under the rafters only—never up the walls, and the 
grapes begin to ripen as early as the last of July, with¬ 
out artificial heat. We have no doubt tha't cheap 
glass ranges may be so constructed as to grow this 
delicious fruit profitably for the city market. We no¬ 
ticed one black Hamburg vine here with sixty-five 
large bunches on it, and the grapes forming them of 
unusual size and flavor. 
Figs .—These are grown to considerable extent here 
under glass, and ripen early in July without forcing. 
The black Smyrna bears the most delicious fruit, and 
the black Brunswick the greatest quantity. The 
white Genoa proves a good variety. Figs are suc¬ 
cessfully grown here in the open air, trained against 
walls; but they are not always certain to ripen well. 
Nectarines and Apricots. —We found Mr. H. in the 
practice of a good method of growing nectarines. It 
is done by setting the trees in tubs of about two and 
a half feet diameter, by about two feet deep, filled 
with rich mould. The trees are dwarfs, trimmed, 
and kept in the conservatory without artificial heat all 
winter. As the weather becomes warm in the spring 
these tubs are set out every genial day in the open 
air, and put back under glass at night; and as soon 
as danger from frost is over, they are kept out 
in the open air entirely. They thus acquire a su¬ 
perior flavor to those usually grown under glass, and 
ripen nearly as early. A single tree three years from 
grafting, and only three feet high, produced the pre¬ 
sent season 150 nectarines. Trained to the side of the 
high brick wall, which encloses one part of the garden, 
we found apricots and nectarines. The fruitwas deli¬ 
cious, and proves that it is entirely unnecessary to re¬ 
sort to glass to grow either of them in great perfection. 
Indeed, we think glass for them in this climate is a 
useless expense, for such as are produced under it are 
more or less watery and cold. Nor is it necessary to 
force them in our climate, as we can have, from the 
time of strawberries in June, through the whole sum¬ 
mer and fall, a delicious succession of fruits, ripening 
in the open air, which keeps up a constant variety, 
superseding the necessity of forcing things in our tem¬ 
perate climate. 
Poultry. —Mr. Halsey has one of the neatest and 
most convenient poultry-houses we know. But this 
having been figured and described in the Januaiy 
number of our third volume, we need say no more 
about it. He is quite an amateur of poultry, of which 
he keeps a great variety. Among the curiosities here 
we found two kinds of Mexican pheasants. The or e 
is of jet black plumage, with yellow bills and legs, 
and nearly as large as turkeys; the other is smaller 
in size, and more light and graceful in form, with pink 
legs and bills, and most beautiful plumage, variegated 
