Vo l. XT.T V No. 1858. NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 5, 1885. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS. 
*2.00 PEE YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by the Rural New-Yorker in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
drfljilfriUYf. 
DESIGN FOR A COTTAGE. 
HE small cottage shown at 
Fig. 391 and Hit*, was designed 
for a resident of this oity, 
who is building a number of 
similar cottages iu a small 
town on the Long Branch 
Railroad, near Perth Amboy, 
N. J. As will be seen by a 
glance at the plans, the house 
is admirably adapted to the requirements of 
a small family. The rooms are conveniently 
arranged, and well lighted. A particularly 
good feature is the ample closet room. The 
closets are arranged with sufficient shelving, 
and the clothes closets on the upper floor have 
a row of hooks in addition to the shelving. 
The stairs leading to the second story are of 
white pine, with ash rails, balusters and new¬ 
el, instead of the old-style black walnut, 
which seems now to be going out of date. 
The ash makes a lighter piece of furniture, 
and at the same time shows more taste. The 
cottage is sheathed, papered and clapboarded, 
with ornameutal gables, as shown. The cel¬ 
lar is under the whole building, so that, if 
necessary, a small furnace can easilyUe put 
in. The cost of the buildiug was *2,135, This 
includes the cistern, cesspool and drains and 
connections thereto. Mr. Clarence W. Smith, 
of 0 Murray St., New York is the architect. 
In regard to Ipomaea Learii, I would say, in 
answer to Mr. Parnell (p. 518,) that my ex¬ 
perience agrees precisely with bis, that the 
older the plants get the more flowers they pro¬ 
duce. When the plants are young I multiply 
the shoots by pinching back instead of train¬ 
ing to one lcuder. This plan heljis to multiply 
the flowers sooner as the plants grow older; 
provided, of course, the laterals are sturted 
low down and are preserved during the Win¬ 
ter. The shoots, however, will in any event 
multiply in time from the crown. It has 
seemed to me thut the flowers remain open 
much longer when the plant is grown in par¬ 
tial shade. It is well to have the euu au hour 
or two in the morning, and shade during the 
rest of the day. I am now growing a Tuber¬ 
ous rooted Ipomuoa which makes a fit com¬ 
panion for Learii. 1 keep it dormant during 
the Winter. 
*** 
I did not mean to produce the impression 
that the individual flowers of the dogwood 
were as showy as those of the magnolia, but 
that the general effect was grander, und that 
the dogwood has two seasons of striking 
beauty, while the magnolia has but one. 
When the season comes round again I will 
show Mr. Paruellat least two grand specimens 
of the dogwood, if he would like to take a 
little trip, and will remind me of it. 
*** 
Speaking of the magnolia reuiiuds me that 
I saw Mugnolia purpurea with a good show of 
flowers on the llth of August. This was in 
New Jersey near Orange. 
*** 
That is a good suggestion the Editor makes 
about improving the huckleberry, aud he is 
just the man who should profit by bis o wu sug¬ 
gestion. Let him begin with one of Nature’s 
best; aud this he will find, unless I am much 
mistaken, at Sam’s Point on the Shawanguuk 
Mountains, Orange Co., N. Y. There grow 
the finest, largest and most productive huckle¬ 
berries, I have ever seen. He will And them 
about L800 feet up, on a plateau a mile or more 
long; some say three miles. Besidesthe huckle¬ 
berries, he will have before him a magnificent 
landscape, taking in portions of four or five 
States, and including, on a clear day, the 
Green Mountains of Vermont. Itis a favorite 
resort for farmers for 20 miles around. After 
harvest, the first thing thought of is the 
They come home with bushels of luscious 
huckleberries, and for weeks after live of 
scarcely anything but huckleberries plam. 
huckleberry pie, and huckleberry pudding. 
*** 
So the Kentuckians, like many others, do 
not relish Gerrnau carp; and to me that is 
not in the least surprising. It is complimentary 
to their good taste. The German carp, per se, 
is oue of the most iusipid of all fishes, and can 
only be made palatable by the addition of 
fish for the farmer. I should say it was the 
fish for the farmer to let alone, and I advise 
him to go very slow on German carp. As 
food, itis altogether inferior to our common 
sucker. 
*** 
I have read the article on p. 585, but it has 
not altered my opinion in the least. Fred 
Mather, Dr. Henshall, Seth Green, W. C. 
Harris, and about everybody I know of, who 
has eaten the fish, either boiled or fried, as the » 
farmer (who has no wine cellar or French 
cook ' must necessarily cook his fish, have pro¬ 
nounced the carp an unsavory fish. These 
men are all eminent for their knowledge of 
fish, and know what is good. Mr. Harris, 
Editor of the American Angler, after recently 
eating the fish boiled and fried, says, 4 ‘We do 
not ‘hanker’ for carp.” I should think not. 
*** 
I made the acquaintance of the carp some 
40 years ago, when an attempt was made to 
introduce it here; but nobody liked it, and it 
was dropped. As Mr. Green says, if farmers 
want to grow fish, we have better fish of our 
own. I should as soon think cf advising the 
farmer to grow Belle Angevine pears rather 
than Seckels or Anjous. When you say that 
carp will grow rapidly and grow large, and 
will live in almost any muddy pool where 
there'is a little vegetation, you have said pretty 
ue&rly all, so far as the farmer is concerned; 
but the farmer is deserving of a much better 
fish. Let us have done with “any thing is 
good enough for a farmer.” horticola. 
THIS AND THAT. 
“Horticola’’ inquires about the hardiness 
of Cercis Japoniea in other places. Mine 
stood the past very severe Winter perfectly, 
and blossomed freer than ever before, where¬ 
as in the Winter before last, which was not so 
cold, but more changeable, it lost nearly half 
its wood. 
The present season has been remarkable 
in many ways; I do not know how to account 
for some things that are so different from 
ordinary. First, Northern Blue Grass (Poa 
eorupressa) Is unusually plentiful on my farm 
this season, and in cutting it, the sap or juice 
was so thick, and there was so much of it, that 
it gummed up the knives of the mower so that 
it stopped the machine. This did not happen 
once only, but frequently, the knives being 
gummed on both sides. This kind of Blue 
Grass is, 1 think, much more valuable for hay 
than the Kentucky Blue Grass (Poa pratensis). 
This year it is remarkable for its heavy 
growth, cutting almost as good a swath as 
Timothy. I also noticed the almost entire 
absence of the short tailed black field-mice. I 
have seen but three or four this year, whereas 
in past year's I would see hundreds. Then, 
cut-worms are very numerous; can the ab¬ 
sence of mice and presence of cut-worms pos¬ 
sibly be cause and effect? Then, I have not 
seen a single oat midge this harvest. I never 
remember to have harvested oats before with¬ 
out seeing thousands of them. 
“Horticola” remarks on the profusion of 
potato blossoms. The same thing is noticeable 
here; it looks as if the potatoes had been 
planted for the blossoms alone. 
There is one garden tool that i never see prais 
ed in the Rural, and that is the scuffle hoe. 
In ordinary hoeing oue can do three times the 
work with this implement, that he can with 
the common hoe, and do it much more easily. 
Au eight-inch scuttle is about the right size. I 
hope the Rural family will try it. The way 
it goes under a large plant of “pusley” and 
inverts it without leaving numerous cuttings 
to take root after the first snower, is pleasant 
to see. In using it you walk backward, aud 
do not tiamp on the weeds just cut up, thereby 
Plan of First Floor. Plan of Second Floor. 
PLANS FOR COTTAGE. Fig. 892. 
huckleberry picnic to Sam’s Point. The big 1 sauces and spices iu the cooking; and for the 
farm wagon is got out, aud the whole family, | gourmand this is done to such a degree that 
men, women aud children, tumble iu merrily, the carp is smothered out of sight. Those who 
and off they go for a w ell-ear ued outing. | are cultivating the carp for sale say it is the 
DESIGN FOR COTTAGE. Fig. 391. 
