COTTAGE DESIGNS.-No. VIII.

THE present warm season, during which so many of our city friends are visiting temporarily the thronged hotels at New-Brighton, Long Branch, Newport, &c, &c., either for recreation or health, suggests to our mind the comforts and conveniences of private summer residences at the various beautiful and commanding sites which border the bays, rivers, and inlets of New-Jersey and Long Island, and stud the shores of the Sound, Staten Island, and other delightful locations of the vicinity, presenting inducements to all who have the means to erect tasteful and ornamental cottages, adapted to every domestic and rural comfort, and all the advantages of healthful recreation and real enjoyment. As a single specimen of a marine cottage of this description, we present our readers with a view of the summer residence of Augustus W. Clason, Esq., recently erected after one of Mr. Ranlett's* designs, at Clason's Point, Westchester. This point is about twelve miles from the city, and juts out into the Sound between two beautiful bays, commanding a very extensive prospect. The house is situated on a gentle eminence, rising gradually from the water, and affords one of the finest water views conceivable. The bay windows on the east command a view of the Sound to Whitestown; while on the south, the front catches, through trees, glimpses of the water; on the west, an old wood of oaks and elms partially hides the cottage; while on the north, a lovely village, with its irregular roofs and church spire at a few miles' distance, bounds the view of the observer. The creek near by, gradually narrowing from the bay, creeps slowly and sinuously through the meadows, dotted at intervals with tree-crowned hillocks, and at last loses itself amid their verdure. The grounds contain fifteen acres, of which about five are wooded with a very old growth, and the remainder are in grass. Walks are cut through the lawn, adorned with borders which are beautifully variegated with flowers and shrubbery.

This cottage combines many of the most desirable qualities of a summer residence, while it is sufficiently compact and well adapted to the exigencies of our climate in winter, if it should be desirable to occupy it during this season. It is of that character which meets the wants of the greater part of those who build houses in the suburbs of our cities, and is capable of being enlarged or reduced without destroying the harmony of its parts. The material used in this building is wood, but the style is well adapted either to brick or stone. The bold projection of the roof saves the necessity of a verandah, which, on a small house, has not a pleasing effect. As a convenient, pleasant and commodious dwelling for a moderately sized family, it is decidedly preferable to a large majority of houses constructed at nearly double the cost.

MANAGEMENT OF SOILS.

WE find a short article bearing the above title in the Cottage Gardener. The suggestions which it contains are important. The writer says: "A soil would never get exhausted if managed with skill, but would continue to improve in depth and fertility in proportion to the industry bestowed upon it. The food of plants, it is true, may be exhausted from the soil by a repetition of cropping with any one family of plants, if we neglect the applica

* Ranlitt's Architecture, 2 vols. quarto. Dewitt & Davenport, publishers.

tion of such fertilizers as may have been taken from the soil by that family; but no part of the growing season is required for the soil to rest, or be fallow, if judiciously managed by a successive varying of the crops, or by supplying to them such food as may be a compensation for what has been taken off by the previous crop. The first object to be attained for securing a certain and profitable return of produce from the soil must be thorough drainage; the next object is breaking into the subsoil to the desired depth-not without first considering whether it is proper and profitable to shift or turn up the subsoil at once to the influence of the atmosphere, or whether it be best to break into it well first, by shifting the surface soil and allowing the subsoil to remain and receive first the beneficial influence of the atmosphere, and then, at the trenching, a portion of the subsoil may be safely stirred up and mixed with the surface soil; this practice, continued for every succeeding crop, will establish a healthy, fertilizing surface soil to any desired depth.

By constantly scarifying, hoeing and forking the surface soil, not only obnoxious insects and their larvæ are expelled, but weeds would never make their appearance, much less have a chance of committing their accustomed robbery of the soil and crops. Besides, by such repeated stirring, the soil is always prepared for succeeding crops.

The application of manure is most essential, and may be applied most beneficially when the soil is established in a healthy condition, and maintained thus by a constant attention to surface stirring. Yet the application of manure is a secondary consideration; for though it may be very liberally applied, and with considerable expense, yet, without first insuring the healthiness of the soil, much property and labor will be sacrificed.

FOR THE PLOUGH, THE LOOM, AND THE ANVIL.

ENGLISH AGRICULTURE.

METHOD OF TREATING WHEAT AND OTHER GRAIN IN THE SPRING.

In the month of March, in England, a great deal of labor is bestowed upon the young plants of wheat. When the ground has become hard and bound, it is harrowed over by a light harrow, which, by loosening the soil, causes the roots to extend themselves. If the soil is light and porous, a roller is drawn over it which presses the loose soil around the roots of the plants. The hoe also is used to a great extent. This may appear strange to an American, but a great deal of the grain being put in by dibbling, it leaves room sufficient to use a narrow hoe without cutting out the rising plants. From four to five shillings per acre is paid for this work. At this same season barley and oats are committed to the ground. In sowing, the people of this country are apt to be too sparing in the quantity of seed, and nothing surprised the writer more than when he first heard of the scanty measure the farmers allowed here per acre for seed.

HARVESTING.

In harvesting grain, I never saw the cradle used, but always the scythe, except in the cutting of wheat, which is done by a sickle or reaping-hook. The first has teeth like a fine saw, while the latter has a smooth edge. A man is expected to cut by these instruments about half an acre, or something more, a day; he binds his sheaves as he proceeds, and sets them up in

shooks, where they remain until they become dry and hard, and fit to be carried into the barn or stacked. In carrying grain no rigging is used, but large wagons like those for the road, but lighter, which carry immense loads. The oats and barley are not bound in sheaves, left upon the swath to dry, then turned over, and when sufficiently cured, and the grain hardened, carried to the barn, or stacked in the yard. What renders the barley straw so valuable for fodder is, that there is always a great deal of young clover hay mixed with it, as this seed is almost invariably sown with this grain, to be mown or fed off in the following year.

The harvest month in England is one of the greatest diligence and hilarity. Every workman has double wages, labors extra hours, has allowed him per day so many pints of strong beer, and often as much small as he chooses to drink. Every body seems to be in good humor. The master is kind, and the man is contented and full of mirth. Often when a farmer fixes upon the day when he intends carrying his grain, tradesmen and others offer their services gratis, except being boarded, and think it a treat to turn from their more monotonous callings to enjoy the manly exercise of a day out-doors in the harvest season.

When a field of wheat is cleared, as the last load moves away, hundreds of gleaners rush into it, and are rapidly spread over it, picking up the loose ears of grain; which custom is as ancient, our readers will recollect, as the days of Ruth. A group of gleaners in England is, of all other assemblies, a fit subject upon which the philosopher may well moralize. Old men, widows, wives, young females and children make up the company. Mothers with their babes, little ones by the side of their parents, all in a hurry, scrambling, talking, bawling, running, and singing; and all are full of fun and glee. At such season, you would hardly suppose there could be such things as want and misery in the country. There are three seasons which, to the poor in England, are great blessings, as they insure them for a time a certainty of employment. These are the haying, the harvesting, and the hop-picking. This last closes the gatherings of the summer crops.

A hop garden, when the vines are covered with this fruit, is an enchanting spot, while the pleasant and refreshing odor which perfumes the air adds to the enjoyment. When the picking season commences, the company is divided into groups of about a dozen each, sitting around a large skip or basket, upon which the pole with the vine around it is laid across, and all hands are busy plucking off the hops amidst the jocund conversation, the merry laugh, and the wild song, which tend to pass off the hours of labor with cheerfulness.

The harvest ending, when a rich supper was formerly provided, used to be an evening of great festivity; but of late, that custom is becoming obsolete. Then, as the poet sang,

"Here once a year distinction lowers its crest

The master, servant, and the merry guest
Are equal all."

At the close of the feast, the men generally go out, and in the stillness of the night, a few of them who have the strongest lungs place themselves in couples back to back, and halloo the word, Largess, which is heard for miles around; and this gives the community notice that they may expect to be waited upon to bestow their annual present to these hardy sons of

the soil, who have gathered in the bounty of a kind and beneficent Providence.

INFLUENCE OF RURAL POETRY.

The writings of several of the British poets have contributed not a little to elevate the science of agriculture, as well as to interest the community in its pursuits. Among them we might mention Bloomfield, Thomson, and Cowper, the reading of whose works throws great light upon the climate, the seasons, and the manners of the rural population. Bloomfield was but a poor farmer's boy, who felt his muse inspired by the scenes of the country, while plodding about the fields in his teens. Thomson's writings are of a superior order, but highly descriptive, while Cowper's strains are of a more serious turn; but he is a great admirer of nature, and paints the various changes of the year with the hand of a master.

When Augustus Cæsar became the master of the world, the plains of Italy had become neglected owing to the long civil wars, and agriculture was at a very low ebb. Virgil was requested to write something that should be an incentive to improve the farming interest. He then penned the Georgics, in four books, treating of agriculture in all its branches, including the varied produce of the soil, cattle, vegetables, trees, and bees. The appearance of this work gave an extraordinary impetus to husbandry, and Italy soon became a garden long celebrated for its richness of soil and exuberance of produce.

TURNIPS STUBBLE-WEEDS.

During the harvest weeks in England, the hoeing of turnips is a species of labor which has then to be performed. These plants are always hoed twice; and in looking over the country at this season of the year, the numerous fields of these green vegetables make a beautiful contrast with the other portions of standing corn, arabie land, and fields that have been cleaned of the grain.

The haulm, or stubble, left after the wheat is reaped, is often mowed afterwards, or if left until the winter, is raked off as it becomes tender enough to be broken and collected together then by that instrument, to be thrown down in the yard for manure; sometimes it is ploughed in when a fall crop is put into the ground, when it aids in some degree to mend the soil.

The Oxeyed Daisy, chrysanthemum leucanthemum, which has become such a pest here, is an evil I never heard complained of in England. I think here it is too often mixed with the timothy seed, to which it has some resemblance, and is sown with it. But we have there the charlock, bearing a blossom something like the wild mustard. This plant often appears among the growing oats and barley, rising above them, and covering the whole crop beneath them with a flood of yellow blossoms. This plant is checked in its growth by taking a scythe and cutting off the tops with the flowers, without injury to the rising grain.

PLOUGHS AND HARROWS.

There are two sorts of ploughs used in the mother country: the one rests upon wheels, and these were used very extensively, but are now, I believe, giving place to the common plough without wheels. Where sod ground is turned over, a small wheel with a sharp edge is put where the coulter is usually fixed, and this by its motion cuts the grass and weeds beautifully, and thus enables the ploughman to lay his furrows neatly. The harrow