quite as successfully grafted as the apple— 
the only difficulties that I can foresee in its 
successful cultivation here are its hardiness 
and adaptability to our peculiar climate. It 
is a long-lived tree, very productive, and, so 
far as I know, is free from all disease.” The 
editor adds:—“We are not aware of any 
considerable plantation of olives in the 
United 8tates, but have frequently seen fine 
specimen trees in the gardens on the Lower 
Mississippi coast. Wherever the orange 
succeeds we should expect to find the olive 
successful. We doubt its hardiness in the 
middle cotton belt, but should it prove so, it 
would no doubt prove highly profitable as 
soon as its culture and uses become thor¬ 
oughly understood. In California and Flori¬ 
da its culture is extending.” 
Bark Cracking ofl’ Apple Tices. 
I havk au orchard of apple trees planted 
when three years old ; have now been plant¬ 
ed four years. The orchard is protected on 
the west by a young grove of forest trees; 
also south by a hill; has a northern expo¬ 
sure, and has been well cultivated and ma¬ 
nured annually; soil, black loam. Wliat 
can I do to save my trees? The bark is 
cracking so as to expose the wood ; nearly 
every tree is cracked. The trees will aver¬ 
age four and a-half inches diameter one foot 
from the ground.— Joseph Ward, Oeneseo, 
111, April, 1870. 
The trouble is, our correspondent is not 
specific enough. He does not tell us whether 
the trees crack immediately at, the base of 
the trunk or higher up, hence we cannot 
judge what the cause is. If we had trees 
cracking, however, ive should adopt some 
means to exclude the air from the cracks, 
should bank up the tree so as to cover the 
cracked space, if near the surface; or be¬ 
smear it with fresh cow manure and wrap it 
up with cloths. If the cracking is caused 
by the action of the sun on the body of the 
tree, as is often the case in Western orchards, 
we should drive stakes close together a short 
distance from the stem and on its sunny 
side, so as to shield it from the sun’s rays. 
se stables; i, i, j,i, ral trees that those who are recommending 
; T, store - room, for planting seemed to have forgotten. The 
L, work bench; catalpa is one which will grow quickly, and 
N, granary, 8 by for durability I suppose is the best of Ameri- 
by 20; p, p, p, p, can wood. It will make a durable post as 
Bleeping-room; f, soon as it is large enough for one. The same 
V, feed-box; W, may be said of the sassafras, though it sel¬ 
dom grows large enough to make timber. 
_ In Kentucky the catalpa grows to be a fine 
BRICKWORK tinker, and I have heard of them squaring 
twenty-eight inches and thirty feet. long. I 
The quantity of have never seen it planted so as to make a 
thick grove, hut it 
would probably make 
tall trees by so doing. 
This may be true of 
the black walnut. 1 
think the black walnut 
k fine timber, but not for 
The great value of 
black walnut consists 
r in its beauty for finish- 
^ ing and furniture, not 
in its durability for 
PTrlSSps T U posts. We never be- 
II! 1 HI RlMi I fll' fore saw any intima- 
I il l IlS 1 tion that it bad ever 
"if)!iil U"' ' ,r ‘ en 80 rec -omincn<led. 
Mtt WStMl HI* I’niilnnin Imperial i». 
! mi I I ffli A CORRESPONDENT 
■Hal 11= of the Prairie Farmer 
{[MBSlsays:—“ This is a fine 
IliBlii IIl ift 1 rec where the winters 
are not too severe. 
North of latitude 40 
. it is quite uncertain. 
The blossom buds are 
-— formed in the fall, arc 
large and prominent. 
A temperature of 8° 
or 10° below zero will entirely destroy 
their floral beauty, causing the buds to 
fall off. Here, in latitude 40*4°, on high 
situations, it. fails fully half the time, 
and in low situations the tree is not hardy. 
It is a very rapid growing tree, and although 
I have never seen the flowers so large or del¬ 
icately fragrant as Mr. Cooi.ey describes 
them, it is desirable in a Southern climate. 
The seeds arc very small, one boll or pod 
containing hundreds, and so light that they 
are carried by the wind.” 
The editor adds 
llura l Xrclfltectur£ 
BLINDS ON DWELLINGS 
In the Rural New-Yorker, March 
19th, Mr. L. D. Snook publishes an article 
on blinds on dwellings, in answer to one of 
ours, and suggests that we reply. We hardly 
see why we should not rest, on the case we 
first made out, until Mr. 8. rebuts the most 
conclusive evidence of the expert we offered 
as a witness, which he has not undertaken 
to do, viz.—That “ A dark house, never 
mind where it is found, is always an un¬ 
healthy one, and usually a dirty one, too. 
Want of light discourages growth, promotes 
scrofula, encourages consumption, in fact, 
everything else that is bad.” 
He explains that he would not recom¬ 
mend blinds for city residences, but thought 
village and country dwellings should have 
them. The propriety of this distinction we 
fail to discover. Why compel or advise, or 
even permit our village and country popula¬ 
tion to inhabit dark and unhealthy dwel¬ 
lings, when lie fully admits that city resi¬ 
dents should avoid them ? Mr. Snook says: 
“ 1 would as Boon think of dispensing with 
the veranda as with blinds, both from or¬ 
namental and useful points of viewyet 
he would advise city residents to waive 
both the “ornamental” and “useful” con¬ 
siderations as being outweighed, we sup¬ 
pose, by the question of health. We repeat, 
why the difference between city and village 
residents ? and shall hope or expect that 
inasmuch as he has begun, or is moving, in 
the right direction by discarding them in 
cities and on sleeping rooms and kitchen, 
that in his next he will eoueludc to leave 
them off entirely in village and country. 
As for the veranda, it may be dispensed 
with in front in some cases, when suitable 
bay windows are. used and a wide porch or 
portico constructed instead, and the structure 
be equally ornamental and useful. In the 
propriety of a veranda or no veranda, the 
health of the inmates is not. involved, hence 
should not be considered with that of blinds, 
or dark and unhealthy dwellings. 
Mr. Snook adds:—“ Many country houses 
without blinds disclose inside the glass sim¬ 
ply a green window shade or curtain, per¬ 
haps slightly ornamental, which darkens a 
room more than slatted blinds possibly can, 
and are in fact used as a substitute for 
blinds.” True, every word of it, yet they 
are only following your first advice to make 
the room dark, so that flies will linger and 
even die in them, and we add that many, 
very many who have blinds also use the 
dark curtains described. 
But does one wrong justify another? 
Most certainly not. Then those green cur¬ 
tains that darken rooms without, blinds will 
not justify Mr. Snook in advising others to 
darken thorn with blinds, and thereby make 
them unhealthy. Mr. 8noou says, “ I sug¬ 
gest Mr. Frost give us through the Rural 
his construction of curtains whereby light 
and air may be admitted, the house rendered 
as ornamental and useful as by the use of 
hinged blinds, and flies kept from soiling the 
glass.” 
We would not darken a parlor or any 
other room in a dwelling, and thereby make 
it so unhealthy that, house flies would perish 
in it, or b« taught by instinct to forsake it as 
unsafe for them, with any kind of curtains 
Or blinds, outside or inside; for where flies 
cannot live, we conclude that human beings 
ought, not, to try to. If we cannot procure 
curtains and furniture that the light required 
for health will not fade, (though that we do 
not admit, but state it to answer the propo¬ 
sition,) then let them fade, and endure the 
lesser evil of the two; for plenty of expen¬ 
sive furniture, no doubt, can be bud, after 
this generation has passed away. This is 
our answer to Mr. Snook’s suggestion ns to 
flies being on the glass. The housewife, the 
lady of the house, will see that the fly specks 
on the glass are removed. As to submitting 
a plan for window curtains, we ought, not to 
be verdant enough for that, especially in 
these times, when “women’s rights” are so 
much on the surface ; and especially when 
Miss Wager, Miss Colman, Miss Mint- 
wood and other ladies are teaching, through 
the Rural New-Yorker, in that direction; 
but leave it for thorn, after having our say os 
to what they ought not to he or do, and giving 
the reasons why. Should we submit a plan 
for curtains, we should have a much more 
difficult task on our hands, to show our 
right or the propriety or necessity of its be¬ 
ing done by our sex, than we bad to show 
Mr. Snook was wrong in advising those con¬ 
structing dwellings to darken their rooms. 
We suppose fttHhicnMe curtains will bo¬ 
used, and that they will often be changed to 
meet that controlling demand. Whether 
they be of lace, damask, white or buff Hol¬ 
land, or something else, is of less import¬ 
ance than that of furnishing a healthy room. 
The very important question of means for 
admitting ah in dwellings was not mention¬ 
ed by us; but as Mr. Snook connects it 
nine rooms, and alter passing mrougn mose 
it escapes or passes out at one place on the 
top of the dwelling through the observa¬ 
tory, being admitted to 
and from each room 
by registers, which 
regulate the quantity 
or volume, the air be¬ 
ing much cooler by w v_ 
passing through the -vV- 
basement tbanit ^ 
would be if it entered pA / 
the rooms through JL A'. 
openings in windows; \ A’-M 
and the warmer the g. ’ * 
Weather the more ■. ; IXJK' 
rapidly the air passes 
through, as the heat in — 
the garret creates or 
changes the draft. '| lIMIpil 1 
This question of light 1! 
and air in dwellings ll';i ' 
we consider important, 
perhaps more so for - : = __ 
vegetation 
an eminent physician 
state, not long since, 
in connection with the i 
question of building a public sanitary in¬ 
stitution, that there were two millions 
of invalids in the United States. On 
another occasion we heard a man of 
much experience and observation stale, in 
connection with the fact that the country 
was flooded with medicines, advertised on 
every fence and rock along our thorough¬ 
fares, that he believed the great source of so 
much sickness and debility was caused by 
living in badly constructed dwellings. 
In building a dwelling we hold that the 
first and most important consideration 
should he to decide what the inside ought 
to and must be, to make it convenient, 
pleasant, and healthy. Then we would 
second and advise any reasonable expendi¬ 
ture on the extension, within the means of 
the owner, to please the “optics” of the 
many, as an outlay which fully demonstrates 
a commendable liberality, and should he en¬ 
couraged, as it makes the country, town, or 
street, more pleasant, attractive, and de¬ 
sirable. We trust the ingenuity of not all, 
and we hope none, of our mechanics, build¬ 
ers, and architects for ornamental designs, 
has been confined to, or fully exhausted in, 
planning and constructing “slatted blinds” 
for common, single, and square windows, 
and these “ for the country ” only, to “kill 
house flies." The first, or inside arrange¬ 
ment, we know is comparatively a selfish 
requisition, being enjoyed principally by the 
owner ancl his family, but which should first 
he well provided for before donations to the 
public are commendable. E. C. Frost. 
Watkins. N. Y., 1870. 
The foregoing article, received promptly 
in response to Mr. Snook’s, has been neces¬ 
sarily deferred until now. 
The Builder says 
FARM AND CARRIAGE EARN ELEVATION. 
mortar which may safely and with advan¬ 
tage be used wifli bricks must in a great de¬ 
gree depend upon the quality of the mortar 
and the purpose to be served by the brick¬ 
work, Some mortars swell (expand) in use; 
others shrink. The best samples of mortar 
in setting become hard and tough; poor 
samples remain soft., and crumble on ex¬ 
posure. A thin bed of the best mortar for 
such a work as a tall chimney would not be 
so strong as a thick bed, because in a thin 
bed there will he parts where the best bricks 
will be in contact, even where one-eighth 
inch thickness of bed may have been speci¬ 
fied for, and this thickness of bed and joint 
may show on the lace of the work. With 
common bricks, a bed of one-fourth inch of 
mortar will leave rough projecting portions 
of the bricks in contact. Good mortar, 
when set, is, as we have just said, hard and 
tough ; and to secure the whole strength it 
is capable of giving, the entire bed and joint 
must be full, so that the whole area of beds 
and joints of bricks shall be cemented by 
intervening mortar." 
Once in possession of 
a tree, it may be propagated to almost any 
extent by pieces of the roots. The young 
roots, except a small part in the center, are 
as soft as a potato. By cutting these into 
length of two or three inches and planting 
them either where they are to stand or in 
the nursery, with the upper end even with 
the surface of the soil, they will, with good 
care, grow six to eight or more feet high the 
same season. The leaves on ibe youug trees 
are very large, often measuring two to three 
feet across, and are as long as they are 
broad. They have a very coarse appearance 
at a little distance, looking like those of a 
large sun flower. As the tree becomes older 
the leaves will not measure more than ten 
or fifteen inches. 
“ The trees are late in leafing, and in the 
autumn they cast every leaf a few hours 
after the first killing frost. The loose pani¬ 
cles of flower buds push the latter part of 
summer from terminal buds. Each of the 
flower buds is about the size of a large 
pea, and resists the cold equally as well as 
the peach. Dry summers, followed by moist 
and warm autumns, sometimes excite a part 
of the buds to bloom the season they are 
formed. 
“ Those buds which escaped winter kill¬ 
ing bloom with the apple. The blossoms 
are trumpet-shaped, light purple in color 
and fragrant. The seeds ripen by the mid¬ 
dle of summer, when they may be-gathered 
and lightly raked into 
“*3 beds prepared for their 
Fiwiwit ii i reception, and afterwards 
| kept covered with brush 
5 | to shade them. Or they 
■■mi may be kept until spring 
— I J and then planted. Trees 
szoi Jb R | are, however, more easily 
M propngated by roots, as 
■m mihhI before mentioned. One 
| I tree is ample for the 
rn H largest farm; its appro- 
■ I priate place—the back 
I | yard, not too near the 
I I well or cistern.” 
M The Olive in ihe South. 
James Parker, Sum¬ 
mit, Miss., writes the 
Southern Horticulturist 
that “fifteen years ago, 
on the Deer Range Plan¬ 
tation, La., were some 
fine olive trees, about 
ten feet high, with beau¬ 
tifully formed heads. 
Several of them were in bearing, and from 
what I saw there, I believe a half bushel of 
fruit may be gathered from a tree at that 
age. It is very easily propagated by cut¬ 
tings, but I have raised better plants by 
grafting on the common privet (Ligustrum 
vulgare.) The Ligustrum is nearly allied to 
the olive, and lives from cuttings almost as 
The olive can be 
STRAWBERRIES—AUTHORITY ON. 
Arboriculturf 
ARBORICULTURAL NOTES. 
Black Wnluai aiut Catalpa for Timber. 
A De Soto correspondent of the Country 
Gentleman writes:—“ I have been astonished 
at the amount of commendation bestowed 
on the black walnut as a tree to plant for 
timber. 1 have had thirty-seven years' ex¬ 
perience with it as timber on one farm, and 
think that I know somethiug about it. My 
father moved to the southwestern part of 
Ohio over fifty years ago, when walnut was 
plenty He had strong faith in it, and used 
it freely for posts, mud-sills, &c .; but from 
seven to eight years was generally the ex¬ 
tent of its durability. We gave it a number 
FARM AND CARRIAGE BARN. 
Tiif.re are many farmers owning farms of 
from fifty to eighty acres, who often feel the 
need of a carriage barn yet do not feel able 
to build one in addition 
to their other farm build- “ 
ings. To such it is be- I 
lieved this design of a n 
farm and carriage barn q 
combined will be accept¬ 
able. The size of the , L m X — 7T~. 
main barn is 30 by 60; - 
corner posts fifteen feet —_ 
high ; the linter contain- j- \ 
ing the stables and store- F 
room is 15 by 68, with 
corner posts nine feet 
high. The shed contain- [ 
ing the pig-pen and hen- j g 
house is 8 by 32, and U 
eight feet high. The | 
grain and water buckets I 
in the horse stables are 
filled through sliding | 
doors opening from the E™***®^—JS38 
feed-room. The hay¬ 
racks should be of iron 
and filled from the mow 
over the carriage - room. 
The granary has capacity for three hundred 
bushels of grain; and the whole barn storage- 
room sufficient for a farm of sixty acres. 
The following is the descriptive reference 
to the cut: — A, threshing and entrance 
floor, 16 by 30; B, carriage-room, 22 by 24; 
C, mow, 18 by 22; D. horse stables, 15 by 
22; E, feed-room, 7 by 12; F, stairs, with 
pump (•) under them; G. harness closet; 
POMOLOGICAL GOSSIP 
PLAN OF FARM AND CARRIAGE BARN. 
of trials, and then cast it aside and bought 
black locust aud red cedar, and cut what 
white oak we could spare, aud had posts far 
more durable. A man planting it, mu3t 
plant for posterity, for I never saw one that 
was planted that gave signs of being a good 
timber tree. They always grow busby, and 
seem to give their attention to raising nuts 
more iliau growing timber. There are seve- 
readily as the willow. 
