184 
June. 
THE CULTIVATOR 
The New Pears.— (Continued.) 
Doyenne Robin. — Size above medium, 
round, nearly regular, or obscurely and obtuse¬ 
ly ribbed ; skin pale yellow, usually russeted 
about the crown ; stalk an inch and a half long, 
generally set in a rather deep smooth cavity, 
sometimes merely planted on the surface ; ca¬ 
lyx in a smooth or scarcely furrowed basin ; 
flesh buttery, slightly melting, with a fine 
“ very good” flavor—not equal to that of the 
Virgalieu nor so sweet. Tree a free grower and 
very productive. Season mid-autumn. 
Improvement of Orchards. 
An orchard set out over forty years ago, and 
cultivated to various crops like the remainder 
of the farm, has for some years back been seed¬ 
ed to grass, and produces light crops of the 
same. The owner can keep it in grass most 
conveniently, using it as pasturage for pigs, 
calves or sheep, or for meadow, but wishes to 
apply something to increase the product both 
of hay and of apples, without plowing up the 
orchard. We have advised him as follows, and 
submit our plan to the consideration of your 
horticultural correspondents. The orchard is 
a great part grafted—the soil is sandy loam. 
Let, we say, the whole orchard be grafted, and all 
the trees pruned, where the operation is needed. Ap¬ 
ply a top-dressing of muck and ashes, in compost, 
about ten loads to the acre. Harrow thoroughly in the 
spring with a heavy sharp toothed harrow, taking care 
not to injure the trees by contact with whiflletree or 
harrow. Pasture with sheep the fore part of the sea¬ 
son, putting in a sufficient number to graze it down 
rather closely, and then turning them off for ten days 
or a fortnight. When the apples begin to fall in any 
quantity, use it as pasture for pigs and calves until the 
apples are fit for gathering ; if the former root over 
the ground considerably, it will do no injury. Turn in 
sheep and pigs again after gathering the apples; ap¬ 
ply more ashes, and if the improvement be too slow, 
give a dressing of rotten manure the second year, har¬ 
rowing it in. If this course will not improve the pro¬ 
duct of fruit and grass, plow it up , and keep the soil 
mellow and free from weeds by frequent cultivation, 
for the season. Seed again to grass for pasture, not 
for mowing, as before. j h. 
Plan of a Small House. 
We receive many plans of houses, for which our cor¬ 
respondents who furnish them will accept our thanks ; 
but unfortunately, most of them have so many defects, 
that we cannot rectify them without much labor. The 
one we here give, from H. Huffman, of Richland Co, 
III., is an exception and is remarkable for its conveni¬ 
ent arrangement, and the compact disposition of the 
apartments. We have corrected one or two slight de¬ 
fects, however one, by removing the closet which was 
diiectly over the stairs, and which would consequently 
obstruct them, to one side, making the central room 
above a little smaller for this purpose. No provision 
was made for lighting the upper entry—it may be done 
by means of a dormer window, or by the omission of 
one of the closets at the side. We have drawn the 
plans from the rough sketch, and substituted a perspec¬ 
tive view for the two elevations furnished. The follow¬ 
ing is the description sent us ;— 
FIRST STORY. SECOND STORY. 
“ In this plan I did not extend the hall further than 
the foot of the stairs, in order to make my stairs wider, 
and diminish considerably their cost. In the three 
rooms so well connected—the living-room, the dining¬ 
room, and the kitchen, are transacted all the business 
of a house ; the housekeeper can give her orders and 
see them executed, almost without leaving her room 
To visitors and strangers I assign the frontdoor, which 
will take them to any apartment except to the sanctum 
sanctorum, or the kitchen. Under the stairs can be 
made closets for the two rooms, right and left. Easy 
steps lead up stairs to a hall which forms the center of 
four rooms ; the closets on each side of the hall will 
also be found convenient for the general use of the 
house. The closet in the central room above will add 
to its comfort. 
Further explanations are useless—the distribution 
and arrangement once drawn on the paper.” H. H. 
