Plan of a Country House. 
T HE Italian style of building commends itself 
on several accounts as one of the best, if not 
the very best, of all the different styles for the 
exterior of country houses. It has all the air 
of simplicity and utility combined, for which the Gre¬ 
cian has been so long distinguished, at the same time 
that it is perfectly free from all formality and stiffness. 
It is not attended with any of the inconveniences that 
so frequently result from steep-roofed gothic dwellings, 
giving the upper rooms a bad form at the ceiling, and 
causing an uncomfortable heat under the summer sun. 
The entire freedom of form for its exterior, fits it for 
almost any plan that may be devised, and this quality 
becomes one of great value to a large portion of Amer¬ 
ican country residents, who so frequently find it con¬ 
venient to enlarge their dwellings, as their families 
and means increase. Additions, judiciously made, 
rather add to than detract from the architectural effect 
of the original structure, a quality which is not found, 
at least in so eminent a degree, in any other style. 
We furnish above, an engraved view of a conve¬ 
nient and moderate country house possessing an Italian 
cast, perfectly simple in its structure, and entirely free 
from the campanile and other unnecessary decorations. 
The further roof seen in the view, only eovers, by its 
double sides, the parlor; while the nursery has a lower 
and separate roof, hipped like that of the veranda. 
Below is the plan, which sufficiently explains itself, c c 
being the places for the chimneys, for the reception of 
the pipes of such stoves as may be needed—for these, 
with proper ventilation, are quite as healthy as any 
other mode of heating, notwithstanding the frequent 
remarks of those who possess more poetry and imagi¬ 
nation, than science and fact. 
In estimating the cost of such a house, very much 
will depend on the style of finish, and the size and 
height of the rooms, causing, variation from $1,500 
to $3,000. If built as a plain and simple farm house, 
depending mainly on neat and tasteful planting for its 
decoration, and with rooms only eight or nine feet 
high, it would scarcely exceed the former sum; but if 
the rooms are built eleven or twelve feet high, and in 
a more finished and substantial manner, it could not 
be done for less than $3,000, and the cost might easily 
be run up to four or five thousand 
Successful Method of Grafting the Peach. 
- To successfully graft the peach tree, has been uni¬ 
versally considered next to an impossibility; but in 
consequence of the ease and success of budding, this 
concession has seemed of but little practical importance. 
Yet every one, of the least experience in this matter, 
knows that many trees, where budding had been neg¬ 
lected or unsuccessfully performed, might be saved and 
rendered valuable if grafting could be performed with 
success. 
I am aware that Dr. Page, of Washington, publish¬ 
ed and coppyrighted, about a year ago, a method of 
grafting the peach, for which he claimed success, equal 
to that attending ordinary grafting. HfS plan consist¬ 
ed in checking the growth of the tree simultaneous 
with grafting, by transplanting or root pruning. 
The plan given below is nmre simple, and from lim¬ 
ited experience I should think more successful. 
It consists in grafting early, as for other stone fruits, 
in the manner of the common cleft. The side seams 
are to be waxed in the usual manner, the cleft filled , 
and the end of the stub covered with wai'm or melted 
composition. The whole is then to be wound with 
composition cloth, to prevent curling of the bark. 
That this plan will succeed, is a demonstrated fact, 
but in how great a. proportion of cases, experience is too 
limited to determine. Suffice it to say, that eight sci¬ 
ons set in different branches of the same tree, all lived 
and grew with astonishing rapidity. Will others give 
this plan a trial and report the results. O. C. Gibbs, 
M. _D. Perry , Ohio. 
