{CULTURE -HE 
EXCELSIOR 
8^.00 PER YEAR. 
Hingle No., Eight Cents. 
NEW YORK CITY AND ROCHESTER, N. Y. 
•II Pork Row, New York, 
82 ilulTulo St,, Rochester. 
FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JUNE ID, I8D0 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in tho 
year 1869, by D. D. T. Moohe, in tli 
■ Clorya oiTlee of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New Yuik ] 
water, and the roadway being left forty or 
more feet in width is rarely in condition to 
be driven upon in a true or direct line. 
natural association would be measurably re¬ 
tained, and perhaps indicate to tin; improver 
of the lots adjoining somewhat of the class 
anbsrapc (oarDcmng 
purpose, and nothing else. The cost, and 
labor to make such are so trifling that there 
is no excuse for being without one, or even 
several of various forms to embellish and 
beautify our rural homes, and at the same 
time cultivate a taste for, and skill in, the 
use of tools. 
A sketch (Figure 1) is here . , 
given of one easily made by A A 
a person handy in the use >C \ 
Of saw and knife. Take a / 
plain, round box, like a \ A 
drum, cut an entrance 
the occupants, attach a perch 
for the birds to light upon; 
saw, or whittle out, two \ / 
points or pinnacles to affix t ' 
on the top; give it. a cover- fio. j. 
ing ol paint, of a color not too gaudy, and 
the article is complete to set on the top of a 
pole, or hang by a small hole in the back, on 
a nail in a tree or side of the house. 
Fig. 2 is simply a, - _ 
round box, (a berry 
box will answer,) 
with a plain, double I Ml 1 
slanting roof, and 
fastened to the top 
of a polo w i tli brack- \ 
els, as indicated in \j ■ 
tho engraving. An¬ 
other design, a little 
more complicated, Fig. a. 
but perhaps enough more tasty to induce its 
construction, is given in Figure 8. It is not, 
difficult to make. First, cut out of a sheet of 
paper the shape of tho board for each end, 
and mark around the pattern the shape on 
your planed board, then w'itli the aid of saw 
and knife if, is easily cut out. Two round 
sticks help hold the . . 
whole together, and A A 
also answer for a light- 
ing perch at the door- ^- 
way. That being done, 'T 
it is not difficult to fin- f 
ish the house, by and- q) 
ing the two remaining MS 
sides and tho roof. Tlie ll*f 
pinacles may ho left off II | 
if thought too much Fia. 3. 
trouble to cut and affix; or by calculating for 
them at the start., they may be a part of the 
two end boards, projecting through openings 
left for that purpose. w. u. 
New York, Juno 4th, 1869. 
rcliiftcture 
ROADWAYS : 
Suburban ami Village, I lluMtrated 
SIDING FOR BUILDINGS. 
A ouh correspondent’s method of siding 
houses, as described in last Rural, is not 
now' approved of here, it is Huperan- ra 
imated and dropped. Modem arehi- 1, 
tecture has found out a bettor way, by 1j 
■which you have an even and smooth ij 
surface next the studding, and in nail- Ij 
ing there is no danger of splitting off || 
the sides of your groove, and you save I j 
a great deal of material. Tho section J| 
shows the boards as nailed on the studs. Af 
The upper edge is one-halt inch thick, 1? 
and the lower edge one inch. They If 
are rabbited out a half inch square, lap, ml 
therefore, half an inch. With a circular Ij 
saw, inch and a half boards can be cut ijj 
so as to make two boards out of on( 3 , |j 
There arc, however, mills in our lumber tj 
region that make the cutting of boards, I 
of the character or shape described, a l| 
special business, and they find a very ready 
sale for them at our planing mills, where 
they plane and rabbit them, ready to nail on 
the building. A Subscriber. 
Piirnusus, Pa., Juno 1, I860. 
BY F. R. ELLIOTT. 
A LARGE amount of labor and money is 
yearly expended on the construction of road¬ 
ways, planting of street shades, etc., but 
rarely is it done with any thought relative 
to the future, or even the present, improved 
value of the abutting property. In the 
rural districts the control of what shall be 
done from year to year is left with the road- 
mastor, or supervisor as he is termed, while 
the suburban roads of cities are generally 
lined and the work directed by the city civil 
engineer. I will not pretend to say these 
officials are all ignorant of the true system 
of road making, or that they are void of any 
appreciable effective results that may be 
made to accrue from their direction of the 
expenditure of labor and money; but I do 
say that too many instances are to be met 
with when, had more thought of the present 
wants of the people, the economy of road 
making, and keeping, etc., been exercised, 
the results would have been different. 
There are several points in road making 
that to mo appear all important—these arc, 
first, to secure a dry road-bed, and at the 
same time so arranged that its drains may 
serve to drain the surface of the abutting 
property. ,Second, to consider the probable 
wants of travel, and make the road-bed no 
broader than is really necessary. Third , to 
consider the position of the abutting prop¬ 
erty, and judge at what, grade the road-bed 
should be to give it. the most commanding 
or elevated appearance. Fourth, at. what 
distance from the center of the road should 
trees be planted for street shades. 
It is a common practice to form the road 
according to the natural surface of the 
ground, making it narrow in some places 
CHINESE LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
“Tins gardeners of China, like European 
painters, assemble from nature tho most 
pleasant, objects, and endeavor to combine 
them in such a manner that not only they 
may appear separately with the greatest 
splendor, hut even by their union, they may 
form a whole pleasant and striking. 
“The Chinese distinguish three different 
species of scenes, to which they give the 
condition to drive over without winding 
about from side to side in order to avoid the 
various mud holes that are there as a neces¬ 
sity, because cither the breadth of the road is 
too great for the manner of drainage, or pos¬ 
sibly there is no definite drainage line con¬ 
structed. 
The actual roadway here allowed varies 
from forty-five to titty feet, but has in fact 
but one track of about eight feet wide over 
which there is travel; this line, however, 
being changed from time to time during the 
year, according as it is passable or impassa¬ 
ble, until the whole breadth has been broken 
and needs repair—a need that has to be sup¬ 
plied from a fund perhaps ample to keep a 
track of eighteen or twenty feet in good 
condition, bat when expended from year to 
year over a width of forty feet is insufficient 
even under the best of management. 
Fig. 2 shows a sketch of a street on which 
a little improvement has been made by de¬ 
fining a line for the street shades, and keep¬ 
ing the side lines of the roadway true and 
straight ; but this also has its roadway bed 
on a level with the abutting property, and 
no drainage beyond the natural course or 
lay ol the land. The street, trees are. in the 
middle of the sidewalk, a practice not spe¬ 
cially objectionable when sufficient breadth 
is retained for a good walk each side; but if 
the breadth is narrowed, say to eight or nine 
ieet, then the trees are quite m the way. 
Placing the trees in line and defining the 
roadway gives an additional improved char¬ 
acter over that of Fig. 1; but the whole 
being upon a level, the sidewalk is always 
more or less subject to standing pools of 
BRICK BUILDINGS 
room. 1 wish the gable end of tho main 
part to front the road; the wing with sides 
to road. If any one of your many con¬ 
tributors can give a plan for a good-sized 
farm-house, with size of main part and wing, 
ami pkfn for rooms, how thick the walls 
should be built to insure warmth, dry walls 
and durability, it, would doubtless benefit 
matny. Some sa.y build afoot wall with two 
inches hollow space. A Subscriber. 
Hokum or Sham Brick Uounom. 
Your inquirer, Mr. Q. II. SquiER, may 
see plenty of these in Chicago, though they 
ar<; hardly worthy of imitation. A balloon 
frame Is ruu up, as usual, and covered with 
rough inch plank, the foundation being made 
to project sufficiently to lay up u wall one 
brick in thickness. Every course of brick 
is keyed to the plank siding every few fact 
with a wrought-iron hook made expressly 
for the purpose, which is clinched on the in¬ 
side when the studding is missed. Large 
th ice and four story blocks of buildings are 
thus run up, apparently of the most sub¬ 
stantial character, but which are mere shams, 
productive of dreadful accidents to firemen 
in case they get on fire. n. w. 
Other articles upon this subject, in type, 
are necessarily crowded out this week. 
BIRD HOMES, 
Of late years, birds have attracted much 
more attention than formerly, and are con¬ 
sequently better understood and appreciated, 
and well they may be, for in their sprightly 
and graceful movements, beauty of dress, 
music and innocence, they charm us, besides 
making themselves useful, by destroying 
large numbers of insects that, were it uot for 
the birds, would do serious damage to fruit 
and vegetation, as well as inflict on us their 
disagreeable presence. It becomes us, there¬ 
fore, to make them some return for their 
good service, which we can do by furnishing 
them with comfortable homes to rear their 
little ones in. Generally, bird houses are 
merely plain, stiff boxes, without paint or 
decoration, although in some cases we find 
some inappropriate, complicated design, 
modeled after a Grecian temple, Gothic 
church, or dwelling in miniature, and, may 
he, painted up in Chines© gaudiness. 
A more suitable design would be a simple, 
cozy structure, expressing at a glance its 
Village Roadways — Fig. 3. 
for the low ground lines, maples for the next They contrive to produce in them artificial 
lise of grade, whitewoods or chestnuts for and complicated echoes, and stock them with 
! he highest and dryest lines, the harmony of singular animals and birds.” 
4‘> wpj 
«i 
Mi 
