The New Treasury Building, at Washington, D. C., is now completed. This addition or north wing of the Treasury building is 65 by 195 feet, and occupies the site of the old State Department. The entire Treasury building covers an area of 520 by 278 feet, that is 144,550 square feet, or three acres and a half, including two large courts. On the eastern side of the building is a colonnade of thirty pillars, extending 336 feet north and south. On each of the other sides is a portico, each shaft of the columns of which is a monolith or single block of stone, 32 feet in height, and 4 feet 6 inches in diameter, that is 14 feet in circumference. The buttress caps, which partially inclose the steps of the porticoes, are single slabs of granite, 20 feet square by 2 feet thick. The granite was quarried on Dix’s island, off the coast of Maine, and the larger slabs were taken to Washington in the rough, and there dressed. Fronting the north entrance is a fountain, the base of which is 12 feet in diameter, and the height 5 feet. It was cut from a single block of granite.
CORRESPONDENCE.
It must be distinctly understood that we do not hold ourselves accountable for the opinions of correspondents.
Washington,
July 20th, 1869.
“Dear Sir:—Give your readers in your notes on Drawing and Drawing Materials, information that if a little powdered borax (borate of soda) is put into the water with which India Ink is rubbed up, and the mixture is kept in a tight bottle when not in use, it will keep sweet for months.
“The ink with which this is written was rubbed one year ago, and has sufficed for all my drawing during the past twelve months. A hard rubber ink bottle and screwed top has preserved, and it flows well, and the fragrance of the musk is as pleasant as when it was first rubbed.
“I have used the drawing pen for nearly forty years, and only a year ago was, by this receipt given me by a friend, relieved from the trouble of rubbing ink for every day’s work.