1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



81 



floor is thus made. No. 1 is the upper 

 hall, lighted by a dome overhead, which 

 is inserted in the attic floor, and illumi- 

 nated by glass level with the roof, in 

 such a manner as not to be observed 

 from outside the building. 



On one side are large chambers, 2 

 and 3, over the drawing-room ; No. 2 

 being designed for family use, and hav- 

 ing connected with it a large closet. 



In front is a smaller room, No. 4, 

 over the entrance porch. No. 5 is over 

 the family sitting-room, and No, 6 is 

 above the dining-room. Each of these 

 rooms has abundant closet provision, as 

 the plan will show. 



In the wing of the building, a stairway. No. 7, 

 leads to an attic overhead, the partition inclosing 

 which projects into the chamber. No. 6, and to 

 conform to which, on the other side of its window, 

 a closet of similar size is framed, by which means 

 the symmetry of the chamber is preserved. 



No 8 is a chamber of liberal size, connected with 

 which is a large closet, beside the stairway to the 

 attic. 



No. 9 is a corridor, leading from the head of the 

 private stairway to a bathing-room, No. 10, and a 

 servant's sleeping-room, No. 1 1. 



CHAMBER FLOOR. 



In this portion of the building the walls are 

 eight feet high to the top of the plate, the ceihngs 

 following up the rake of the rafters so far as to 

 permit a straight ceiling of about ten feet, or even 

 more, in the highest part of the room. 



The rooms, in the main part of this building 



FRONT ELEVATION. 



upon the chamber floor, are nine feet high in the 

 clear. 



The elevation of the principal front consists of a 

 gabled projecting portion, forming the main mass 

 of the buildi i^', and which is higher than the rest 

 of the edifice. This contains ihp family-room, 

 dining-room, &c., and has an attic above its cham- 

 ber floor, lighted in front by a circular-headed win- 

 dow, in the gable-end, and by a similar windo ,v in 

 the rear. Cost about $4000. 



F<yr the New England Farmer. 



OPEN aUESTIONS AMONG FARM- 

 ERS. 



Probably, in no human jmrsuit, are there so 

 many unsettled and contradictory usages, aa 

 among the agriculturists. Other professions 

 have their thoroughly-settled principles, and 

 these are regarded as axiomatic truths — as 

 the basis of further advancement, and of de- 

 finite, practical results. Richard Cecil tells 

 us, that when he had once thoroughly examined 

 any question in theology or morals, and had 

 made up his mature opmion upon it, he put 

 that question on the shelf, as one never to be 

 opened again. And the lawyers have their 

 "res adjudicata," or principles which have 

 been adjudicated and forever settled. But 

 how few are the modes of farnihig among us 

 which have been "placed upon the shelf." — 

 How few of our farmers have their "res adju- 

 dicata" — their well-settled, uniform practices. 

 Let us see how this matter stands. It ia 

 yet an open question among farmers, whether 

 the Ayrshire, or the Devons, or the Durham,'}, 

 or the Herefords, or even the natives, are the 

 best cows for milking purposes. 



It is an open question among them, wheth- 

 er the Suffolks, or the Essex, or a mixture of 

 breeds, make the most profitable swine. 

 It is an open question what kind of potatoes it 



is best to cultivate, and whether the seed should be 



large or small, and whether it should be cut or im- 



cut. 



It is an open question, whether corn should be 



topped, or cut up by the roots. 



It is an open question, whether common plowing, 



or deep plowing, is, on the whole, the best. 



It is an open question, whether sward land, in- 



