VM: 
PS® 
VOL. XXV. NO. 26. 
WHOLE NO. 1170. 
NEW YORK, AND ROCHESTER, N, Y, JUNE 29, 1872. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year lfc>72, by D. D. T. Mooke, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.] 
PRICE SIX CENTS. 
82.30 PER VEAIt. 
|{itipl gulorimu'itt. 
RUSTIC HANGING BASKET. 
The accompanying drawing represents a 
rustic hanging basket that any person can 
make with the common house tools, ax, 
saw, knife, hammer and a few brads. First, 
procure from the woods two or three sticks 
of iron-wood, or such as may suit your 
fancy. They should be selected, small trees, 
about threo inches in diameter. After 
selecting the tree, cut it up into pieces four¬ 
teen or fifteen Inches in length ; then, taking 
one of these round sticks, split off the four 
sides; this, if it splits well, will give us 
eight pieces from two sticks, the number 
required to make the basket. The sticks, 
or pieces, should lie narrower and thinner at 
one end than the other, as shown in Figure 
2 (A), and rounded at each end. Then pro¬ 
cure a block, or piece of inch board, and cut 
out a circular piece about three inches in 
diameter (B), slanting it a little so that the 
pieces will have the taper towards the bot¬ 
tom when tacked to the block. This, as you 
see, gives Ihe basket a little llaro. They 
should fit close together at the point whore 
the block is, and may be a little open, near¬ 
er the top, in order to fill between with 
moss. Now, as we have the pieces nailed to 
the block with brads, we must begin to 
ornament it with grape vines and roots, as 
per engraving. Figure 1. Roots are tacked 
to the uuder side of the block, to fill it all 
up, and at the lower points of the pieces 
where they match, always keeping in view 
one thing — to preserve the tapering form 
and matching the roots in every way that 
will bring them all towards the center with 
uniformity. Next put vines ou the sides, 
as per engraving, bringing two together 
over the places w’hore the sticks match; 
also, weave in around the top two vines, in 
aud out alternately, aud, fastening with 
brads, tack roots on the pieces between the 
ornamental work. 
Next put on a handle of grape vine, giv¬ 
ing it u single knot; tie at the top to form a 
loop, interweaving it with a smaller vine; 
then give the basket a coat of varnish and 
put in suitable plants, and you will have an 
ornament that in a city would cost you at 
least five dollars. Keep the basket partially 
in the shade, and occasionally dip it in a 
barrel of rain water. 
Rustic Lawn Basket. 
I inclose you a sketch of a lawn basket 
similar to one 1 constructed last year, and 
which was t he admiration of all who saw It. 
The material for it is at. the hand of every 
one, and its beauty after the plants are in 
blossom and the vines entwined over the 
handle, will repay for all trouble aud time 
spent, in constructing it. The body of the 
basket is made as follows: — Procure at a 
tannery (or from the woods) coarse, strong 
hemlock bark, us wide as possible. Cut this 
up into pieces twenty inches long and 
making one end of each piece about an inch 
or so narrower than the other, in order to 
give it the right slant; then strike an oval 
where you wish the basket to stand, and 
dig out the sod, or a groove three inches 
deep. Now set the bark with the narrow 
end down at the msired slant, and puck 
earth against it ou the inside of the oval 
unt il it will stand alone. 
After erecting the sides and ends of the 
basket and getting them all to match nicely, 
procure a grape vine from the woods about 
half an inch iu diameter and as long as pos¬ 
sible. Here it will need two persons to 
work to advantage. Put 
the grape viuo around 
about three inches be¬ 
low the top edge of the 
basket; the second and 
third time around be¬ 
ing twined around the 
first. This gives it more 
strength and holds the 
work together so that 
it can he filled with 
earth. After filling, 
which should be of at 
least half leaf - mold, 
you may put another 
vine around the lower 
edge of the baskot, to 
give it a finished look. 
Then comes the handle, 
which should be a large 
grape vine about an 
inch and n-half hi di¬ 
ameter, Each end of 
this is pushed Into the 
earth six or eight inches 
at ouch end of the bas¬ 
ket, and it is then ready 
for the plants. 
In filling with earth, it 
looks better if filled to 
within about three inch¬ 
es of the top. Plant at 
each end of the basket, 
near the handle, a Ma¬ 
deira vine and two or 
threo Cypress plants; 
the waxy, broad leaves 
of the former inter¬ 
mingled with the finely 
Figure 1. 
cut leaves of the latter, 
together with its little 
red aud white blossoms, 
are beautiful, and soon 
got so thick as to hide 
the rough handle com- 
.„/i plotely. In the center 
of the basket may be 
P put such plants as pleaso 
fc/ the fancy, but I had 
verbenas in mine, and 
they gave a continuous 
bloom from Spring un- 
til the hard frosts came. 
£ A baskot constructed 
Lgv\ like t he above will stand 
eight or ton years, with 
proper care, and always 
i look well. 1 think if a 
hardy English ivy wore 
KV trained ovei the handle 
P' and some evergreen 
plants put in the basket, 
they might give a Picas¬ 
so ing effect iu Winter, too. 
Who will gi; r us a few 
K essays on rusi.c aud or- 
V nameutal work, with 
such details as shall en¬ 
able us to construct 
adornments without 
having to pay five or ten 
dollars for a/» armful of 
crooked limbs, just be¬ 
cause we don't know 
how to put them to¬ 
gether? I have seen 
baskets oovered with 
knots and roots that 
were peeled of their bark; tell us what 
season of tho year they should bo g „hered 
iu order to get tho bark off easily. Iu tho 
meantime I tell the Rural readers “ what 
I know about ” a basket I made. Alan. 
RUSTIC LAWN BASKET. 
A NORTH RIV ER “ DEVIL FISH.” 
Those of our readers who noticed (or can 
refer to) the illustration and description 
of the “Devil Fish" (Octopus vabjuris) in 
the Rural of Feb. fid, will be interested In 
tho following item from the N. Y. Sun: 
A North River Monster.— The atten¬ 
tion of the people passing through the Bar- 
day street ferry cn trance yesterday was at¬ 
tracted to u large, strange mariue monster 
hanging over the fish stand of Mr. J. E. Ba¬ 
ker. It is labelled “ Devil Fish," and i* cer¬ 
tainly a " queer fish.” The fish was captur¬ 
ed iu the North River, opposite Weebaw- 
ken, by Capt. Sam laidlow. The fish bad 
became entangled In tho meshes of a shad 
net. Tho monster, including f _, 
his tail, measured nearly five l 
fcftt lu length; its horny head 1 ! 
Is one-third as largo as Its l i 
body; its jaws arc formed with \ ; 
rows of teeth running down \ | 
into Its gullet; its mouth id \ j 
Immense, and when the jaws \ i 
are oxtended the fish could \ i 
easily swallow a good-sized \ 
infant. The hack and head la \ j 
a dirty black, while tho belly ‘ \ i 
is a dull, yellow color. Two L_^ 
immense flaps, not unlike iu Y ~~—\— rry 
color, size, and appearance, ''—4— |— 
the ears of an elephant, \ | I 
hang from the sides of the 
head. The body Is irregularly * Ia ‘ *• 
shaped, terminating iu a tail similar to 
that of a lion, ft wub-liko tin forming tho 
tuft. Several fins, shaped like tlie hu¬ 
man hand, the five lingers distinctly mark¬ 
ed, project from the body. “See there," 
said Mr. Baker to a Sun man, drawing out 
a couple of feelers a foot long from near the 
eyes, “notice that tuft upon the ends: 
those are his baits. He will bury himself 
partially in tho sediment at the bottom of 
the river, aud lifting these over hia mouth 
set them iu mollou. They attract fish, 
which he draws between bis jaws. Here is 
a big shad we took from his maw." Mr. 
Baker hero displayed a four-pounder pretty 
well mangled. “Tho shad is lively, while 
the devil fish is slow; he had to set his trap 
for him.” 
-. ... - 
NOTES FO R NAT PRALIST3. 
Harlequin Hug.— Coming into the 
house, yesterday, I found tho beautiful 
little beetle herewith Inclosed, crawling up¬ 
on my shirt. Having never sceu one like it 
before, I thought I would send It to you for 
name and habits. If it is of sufficient inter¬ 
est to do so. I had been among my fig trees 
trimming out some dead wood; around the 
fig trees is some mustard going to seed, aud 
close by two asparagus beds; if the beetle 
did not come from either, then he must 
have flown against me when passing Into 
the house.— Geo. C. Eviuch, Jackson , Miss. 
The beetle is a foe to cabbages, mustard, 
horseradish, and In fact all plants belonging 
to the Braasica family. It is u great pest to 
tho cabbage in some of tho Southern States, 
but has not as vet appeared at t lie North. 
Its scientific name is Struchla htstrnntca, 
Haiin. We would advise you to destroy 
every oue fouud. 
