ures. The grand cove itself is adorned by a chain formed of festoons and groups of flowers and fruits with medallion shields, into which the escutcheons of the United States, surrounded by those of the thirty-seven States of the Union in chronological succession, are worked. The ceil ing is divided into fifteen heavily molded panels, the centers of which are occupied by rosettes conforming with each other in general outline, out each having distinct details. The colors of the hall are in neutral tints, which are diversified mainly by the heraldic colors of the escutcheons. The furniture of the hall consists of elegant glass cases, with solid, dust-proof walnut frames, surmounted by architraves, friezes, and cornices, bearing carved volutes with intermediate vases and busts. Perhaps the most noticeable piece of furniture is the redwood table, the top of which, seven and a half by twelve feet, is formed of the largest plank in the world, sent to the Department froin California.

At the western terminus of the museum are located the working rooms of the entomologist, and a room of extra size, containing in walnut cases a valuable herbarium. At the eastern terminus of the museum are the rooms of the statistician.

The third story of the building contains rooms for miscellaneous purposes, assorting and putting up seeds, &c., and is in direct and easy communication with the basement by means of a large elevator.

The whole building is heated by steam, two boilers thirteen feet long by forty-eight inches diameter being located in a fire-proof apartment of the basement. Most of the rooms are heated by circulated air passing from outside through coils of steam pipes in the basement, and ascending in tin-lined flues, which feed the registers in the rooms. Each room has an independent heating power.

The whole work has been executed under the superintendence of Mr. Adolph Cluss, the architect.

GROUNDS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

For the purpose of preventing dampness in the walls, a water-tight concrete walk closely surrounds the building; opposite the principal front this concrete surface is fifty feet in width the entire length of the building, thus giving ample room for the approach and departure of carriages. The space in the immediate front is laid out as a strictly geometrical flower garden with architectural appendages, such as vases and statuary. It is divided by a terrace wall, to be ornamented with stone balusters and pediments for the reception of plant vases; communication with the lower garden being provided by stone steps, the whole forming a proper arrangement for the harmonious connection of the building and its surroundings. This connection is maintained at the ends by large growing trees, but the immediate front will be kept open, thus avoiding the common error of preventing the building from being viewed as an architectural design, a fault painfully apparent in many fine structures, in which beauty of their architectural features is wholly lest by dense growths of trees and shrubbery.

The plant houses are located west of the Department. The design includes a range of glass structures with a front three hundred and twenty feet in length by thirty feet in width. These include apartments for the culture of exotic fruits, of which a collection is being formed for a complete series of the citrus family, a class of fruits now extensively produced in Florida and other southern States, of which family several fine varieties of oranges and lemons have already been introduced and propagated for trial in this country, and for an extensive collection of

medical plants, also those furnishing textile fibers, useful gums, sugars, and dyes. Structures for orchard houses, cold graperies, and other purposes, are to be extended in the rear; the entire design forming a compact and economic arrangement specially adapted to the various purposes contemplated in its erection.

The largest portion of the inclosed area upon which the building is located will be appropriated to an arboretum or a collection of hardy trees and shrubs. While these are planted in accordance with a botanical system, each order and tribe of plants being united, yet the landscape effect has been carefully studied, thus producing a combination altogether novel, that of forming pleasure-ground scenery, and retaining a strict systematic classification of the trees and shrubs employed in producing it. About ten acres are set apart for experimental purposes, for testing varieties of small fruits, seeds, and for the propagation and culture of hardy plants.

13

HINTS IN HORTICULTURE.

HEDGES AND HEDGE PLANTS.

Live fences, as they are very properly termed, have long been held in high estimation for inclosures when plants suitable for the purpose could be secured. The maintenance of efficient fencing is a heavy tax upon all who occupy land, and the cost is greatly increased when the materials are difficult to procure, and require frequent repairs. If the chronological history of fences should ever be written, it might be divided into three epocns: the temporary, the equivocal, and the permanent; or the period of the wooden fence, the live fence, (possibly including the wire fence,) and the fence of stone. To obtain a good hedge requires a suitable plant, care in its formation, and proper keeping afterwards. Neglect of any one of these essentials will prove fatal to the object in view, whether as a protection against depredators or as a shelter for ameliorating local climates.

For farm hedges there are only two plants which can be considered as being perfectly satisfactory. These are the Osage orange and the honey locust. The Osage orange (Maclura aurantiaca) is perhaps to be preferred in localities where it is sufficiently hardy. It is cheaply produced, of rapid growth, thickens its branches freely when pruned, has formida ble thorns, is not liable to insect injuries, not eaten by cattle, and will grow in any soil of ordinary fertility. The honey locust (Gleditschia triacanthos) is a good plant in more northern localities, where the Osage orange is destroyed by cold. It is also well supplied with thorns, is of rapid growth, and will make a fence as soon as the other. It has very beautiful and delicate foliage, and is more robust, but less dense, than the Osage-which is rather an advantage than otherwise for a strong fence. Some of the best hedges in the country are of this plant.

Seeds or plants of either of the preceding are easily obtained; but, where time is a matter of consideration, it will be advisable to procure plants, which are now produced in large quantities by nurserymen, and sold at prices much less than the cost of growing them on a small scale. It is scarcely possible to form a good hedge by sowing the seed on the position which the hedge is to occupy. The casualties of growth will certainly produce many weak plants that will be eventually destroyed by their stronger neighbors, leaving unsightly blanks, and greatly diminishing the uniform efficiency of the hedge. When the plants are properly assorted as to size before setting, an equality of growth is at once established.

In preparing the soil for a hedge-row, a breadth of three to four feet will be amply sufficient. If plowed, the ridges should be thrown toward the center, forming a slightly mounded finish. In stiff soils this can be done to a greater advantage in autumn by throwing the furrows on each side from the center of the hedge line, so that the frosts of winter may penetrate and loosen the subsoil; and then throwing them together in spring, to be ready for planting.

The best distance to set plants is from ten to fourteen inches apart, and in a single row. On poor soils, or for a mere ornamental dividing hedge, the closer distance may be adopted; and for a strong fence, or on rich soils, the wider will not be too great. They may be set either in