274 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



a large kitchen back of these rooms, and a bed- 

 room at its end. The chambers were arranged 

 pretty much like the rooms below. One of the 

 front rooms, that on the south corner, the kitchen 

 and the bed-room, were usually finished and plas- 

 tered, but often without paper or paint. In hun- 

 dreds of cases, the remaining portions of the house 

 were left untouched either by j^lane, trowel or paint- 

 brush, — a monument of folly, and a verification 

 of the fact, that the builder did not count the cost 

 before he began. Some of these houses remain to 

 this day, the most dismal and dreary looking habi- 

 tations we have. The traveller, as he passes, may 

 see through them in every direction ; for those wlio 

 erected such things were quite sure not to build 

 where trees stood, or if any were there, to cut them 

 down. 



The other style was the less pretending, cheaper, 

 and yet more comfortable and convenient one-storj' 

 house, with a sitting-room on one corner, a small 

 bed-room behind it, a good-sized kitchen on the 

 other end of the house with a bed-room, and a 

 small sink-room behind the chimney. In both 

 styles the chimney stood in the centre, occupying a 

 goodly portion of the whole area, and containing 

 bricks enough to build a modern fortification. 



At present, we believe both these styles are aban 

 doned as the peculiarities of a by-gone age.— 

 It is found in this, as it is in other things, that a 

 careful study of the matter will enable us to con 

 struct a good looking, convenient, and even orna- 

 mented dwelling, at as little cost as one of the ghast 

 ly, unfinished castles of which we have spoken.— 

 The whole matter of building is now reduced to so 

 much of a certainty, that one may see his home in 

 advance, — first, every stick of timber that is to com- 

 pose it, and then in perspective. He may have his 

 plans and estimates, and know, to a dollar, what his 

 structure is to cost, as well as the farmer can give the 

 cost of cultivating an acre of corn. And this every 

 person building should do, and will find it an item 

 of economy in the end. 



It was our intention to speak more of the sur- 

 roundings of the house than of the house itself, — 

 but that must be left for another time. 



males of the family to sew one into each corner, 

 and the thing is completed. It would be an im- 

 provement to enclose the stones in a small bag and 

 suspend them a few inches, which would be thought 

 very little more trouble in so good a cause. No 

 hemming the selvages is necessary. Cast-iron 

 weights of 6 ounces each would cost about one cent 

 apiece, but it is doubtful whether they would an- 

 swer a better purpose than stones. Every farmer 

 should supply himself with these covers at once, as 

 by and by he will be too busy to attend to this 

 matter. The immense losses sustained last year, 

 by wet weather, should admonish him of its utmost 

 importance. There is the best authority for stat- 

 ing that the county of Worcester alone, which 

 produces upwards of 145,000 tons of hay annually, 

 would have saved $20,000 last year if the farmers 

 had been supplied with these hay covers. — Hamp- 

 shire Gazette. 



Hay Covers. — Every Farmer his own Manufac- 

 turer. — Take a piece or more of yard wide im- 

 bleached cotton sheeting, that can be bought for 7 

 to 8 cents per yard, and tack it up on the sunny 

 side of the barn or board fence. Then prepare the 

 following mixture, namely : — For one gallon of lin- 

 seed oil, add about two pounds of beeswax, tn be 

 simmered together, and when taken from the fire, 

 add about a quart of Japan. When it is cold, it 

 should be about the thickness of paint. If too thin, 

 add more wax, and if too thick, add more oil, then 

 paint the cloth over, on one side only, with a com- 

 mon painter's brush, and after drying a day or two, 

 take it down and cut it into squares ; then pick up 

 stones of about 6 or 8 ounces each, and get the fe- 



THE FARMER A MAN OF TASTE. 



But the farmer of to-day should be not only a 

 thorouglily educated man, and possessed of sound 

 accompUshments ; he should be pre-eminently a 

 man of fine taste. He is an in-dweller of Nature's 

 Temple, and is everj' where surrounded by the beau- 

 tiful creations of Art Supreme. Here he may take 

 lessons from the choicest pencillings of a perfect 

 Master. In matters of taste, order and neatness, 

 the American farmer need be second to none ; and 

 these qualifications should be manifested in all his 

 ojjerations. 



When I see a farm laid out without regard to 

 order or system, the fields taking shape as the con- 

 venience of the moment might dictate, I conclude 

 that the owner has never studied taste or economy. 

 When I see the fences of a farm overgrown wth 

 bushes, briars, weeds, etc., it is quite clear to me 

 that the man who "stays" there has very little taste, 

 so far as his business is concerned. 



When in passing the domain of a large farmer, 

 I find his spacious dwelling and his extensive barns 

 and stables, side by side — door-yard and barn-yard 

 in close juxtaposition — the latter odoriferous of its 

 fertilizing contents — I at once see that with all his 

 acquisitions, the proprietor has neglected to store 

 his mind with a Httle humanizing taste — a few ideas 

 and principles of order and propriety — which would 

 have put his barns and stables, with all their un- 

 pleasant accompaniments, back, in rear of the 

 dwelling, where they belong, giving the latter prom- 

 inence and character, showing that the fanner and 

 his household believe themselves superior to the 

 beasts of the stall, and are unwilling to live virtual- 

 ly in their midst. 



When I see a door-yard overgrown with wild 

 grass and weeds, the fence shabby, no flowers or 

 trees about, I know at once that there is no taste 

 there, in doors or out. — Betts' Agricultural Ad- 

 dress. 



CoRX Starch. — Another large manufactory of 

 starch from Indian corn, is about to be estabhshed 

 in the Scotia Valley. A company at Columbus, Ohio, 

 it is reported, are about to put up buildings and 

 machinery sufficient to work up six hundred bush- 

 els of corn a day. Such use of corn will do less 

 mischief in the world than some other modes of 

 using it, largely practiced in Ohio. 



