Re 4=4«b3iLes r iFEara! sBeifilmet twi3 SHetarml Some SKomjmniorL 
A MODERN VILLA. 
This design is intended to be executed in wood, as 
stone or brick at the present time are too expensive 
materials to be considered in the erection of a dwelling 
of moderate cost. In sections of our country where 
the materials could bo procured at reasonable rates, we 
should prefer brick or stone for the erec¬ 
tion of nearly all classes of buildings. The 
plans show a convenient arrangement of 
rooms, giving sufficient accommodation 
for a family of moderate size. On the 
first floor, we have a large parlor, a din¬ 
ing-room, and a library of convenient size. 
Convenient closets are attached to the 
dining-room, which is separated from the 
kitchen by three doors, thus cutting off 
all odors. A central hall gives access to 
all rooms without passing through others, 
while the rear hall and staircase will be 
found a convenience not to be overlooked. 
The verandas give an air of comfort to 
this design, addiug also an important fea¬ 
ture to its exterior effect, and are easily 
accessible from all the principal rooms. 
On the second floor are fine chambers, 
supplied with abundant closet-rooms, and 
conveniently arranged with regard to each 
other. The small room on this floor is 
intended to be used as a bathing-room, 
for which purpose it is conveniently lo¬ 
cated. A tank in the attic, story supplies 
the bath-room with water, and the plumb¬ 
ing is such as is necessary to supply the 
bath with hot and cold water. 
Several rooms can be finished off in the attic, if 
more accommodation is desired, and the observatory 
in the tower may be also used as a sleeping-room in 
case of emergency. The cellar extends under the 
whole house, is of seven and one-half feet in depth, 
divided by partitions into apartments 
for furnace, coal, vegetables, and 
milk. A furnace of large size is in¬ 
tended to heat the whole house in cold 
weather, but there are also grates in 
parlor, dining-room, and library, to 
be used on cool days in spring and 
fall when it is not considered desirable 
to start the furnace. We advise all 
who contemplate heating houses by 
furnaces, to get the largest size, as it 
is much more convenient and econ¬ 
omical in the consumption of fuel than 
a small one, while the outlay at first 
is comparatively trifling. The interior 
of this house is intended to be stained 
in oak and black walnut, and var¬ 
nished; the exterior to be painted 
with three or four shades of drab or 
gray. 
An elevation of three feet above the 
ground gives an opportunity to light 
the cellar very thoroughly. 
scape view would bo cut off from the rear rooms by 
the kitchen apartments. 
The grounds of such a house should bo laid out in a 
neat and tasteful manner. The services of a compe¬ 
tent landscape gardener should be secured, at least to 
plan the planting and laying out of the walks and 
roads, if the actual superintendence be intrusted to 
other hands. Very many persons imagine that to 
beautify a country place, it is only necessary to plant 
trees and shrubs, and that any one can do this; in 
A Modern Villa. 
consequence we too often see a dozen trees planted 
where one would be sufficient, and an incongruous 
mass of shrubs and trees of all heights and habits of 
foliage, without order or arrangement. 
Second Floor. 
If it were considered de¬ 
sirable, the kitchen could be in the basement, thus 
adding another room to the accommodation of the first 
floor. We are not in favor of basement kitchens, 
especially for country-houses, but in some exceptional 
cases they seem desirable. It sometimes happens that 
a house is located in such a position that a find land- 
First Floor. 
A PARLOR GREENHOUSE. 
derstand is not original with me, for 1 
upon any department of plant culture as “drudgery.” 
Experience is a splendid teacher and aeti labores 
jucundi to contemplate. After much study and many 
experiments I have reached the solution of most of 
the difficulties attending the “house culture” of plants, 
and if flower-lovers will try my method, either upon a 
large or small scale, they will never regret this first 
expenditure. Get a carpenter or “Pater familias” to 
make a box as long as your window is wide, at least 
fifteen inches deep and thirty inches wide; 
ornament the outside with cones, leather- 
work, or painting. For my first window 
garden I had a carpenter make me a box 
3-t feet long, 2 feet wide, and 12 inches 
deep. Half of this depth I had lined with 
zinc to hold water, underneath was a 
laucet; this box was placed upon legs that 
lifted the top even with the window-sill, 
and brass castors were inserted, so that, 
however heavily laden with plants, it 
could be easily moved for sweeping pur¬ 
poses—for you know, dear Cabinet ladies, 
there is dirt, and dirt, the soil in the 
plant is not “matter out of place,” but 
dust and litter on the carpet is certainly 
anything but ornamental. Above, and 
resting upon the zinc, I had a thin board, 
pierced with many auger holes; this board 
was covered with sheets of moss from the 
woods, (such as is used to line hanging 
baskets,) and upon this perforated board 
the pots were placed. In the centre of 
the board was a hole sufficiently large to 
admit the nozzle of a funnel. By pouring 
boiling hot water through this into the 
zinc reservoir below every night, or oftener 
the roots of the plants are warmed, and 
the atmosphere around them is kept humid by the 
slow and almost imperceptible rising of the steam. 
The benefits arising from the use of hot water are: 
First, the warmth to the roots, which induces rapid 
growth; second, the entire extermination of the red 
spider, which will not live in a moist 
atmosphere; and third, the preven¬ 
tion of frost, even in extreme cold 
weather. 
My reservoir holds a pail of water; 
this, when poured in boiling hot, will 
not become entirely cold for ten or 
twelve hours, and in a sunny window 
the plants will need no other warmth 
except in extreme cold weather. I 
planted Geranium seed in March in 
my “Parlor Green-house,” and in 
August following some of them were 
sixteen inches high, with immense 
leaves and large trusses of brilliant 
scarlet flowers—a real green-house 
could hardly have forced a more rapid 
growth. 
At each end of the box were fastened 
cast-iron rods, arching above as high 
as the window-casing, and depending 
from the centre where they crossed 
Floral embellishment of the parlor may be made 
very easy if one begins right, and many ladies would 
doubtless have their parlor windows filled with plants 
if they could have their beauty without so much “dirt 
and drudgery”—this last sentence you will please un- 
was a hanging basket filled with Water Ivy, Lycopo¬ 
dium and other trailing plants, a Begonia occupying the 
centre. Fastened to the rods was “self-constructed” 
ornamental wire-work, and at each corner of the box 
I placed a running vine, which covered the trellises to 
the top of the window. 
Mrs. M. M. B. Goodwin. 
