COTTAGE BUILDING. 



SU 



the field iu the midst of a dense crowd of admiring 

 people. 



" These seven Reaping machines were then adjust- 

 ed for grass and put into a field of luzerne — a kind 

 of grass which resembles clover in appearance, and is 

 very valuable for feeding purposes. Here again the 

 three American machines came out first, MoKenzie 

 in the lead. The performance iu grass, however, was 

 not so perfect as could have been desired, from the 

 fact that the machines for scattering and gathering 

 were allowed to start in immediately after the mow- 

 ers, and thus created confusion and imperfection of 

 work, by throwing the cut on to the uncut grass. — 

 The mowers were thus choked and make to skip. In 

 the gatherers and scatterers, the English machines 

 held the superiority. 



"Thus terminated a day which has added great 

 luster to American inventive genius, and it is gratify- 

 ing to know that the championship on the occasion 

 was frankly and cordially ackuowledged. There were 

 other inventions for reaping at the E.xhibition, and 

 great boasting had been made about the vast superi- 

 ority over all others of a recent French invention, but 

 after the American machines were first seen in mo- 

 tion, only four inventors of those first represented at 

 the E.\hibition, were found bold enough to enter into 

 competition, and these are now so completely van- 

 quished that their patents will possess no value." 



The results of this trial is of course a great satis- 

 faction to every American, and justifies us in making 

 so full a record of the trial in all its particulars. Ten 

 years hence many of our readers will re-peruse this 

 article with pleasure and pride. Still, we have no 

 cause for vain e.xultation. While England furnishes 

 ns with our improved stock, and give us the results 

 of such invaluable agricultural experiments, it is only 

 right that we should do something worthy of a great 

 nation, to advance the cause of agriculture through- 

 out the world. Peace as well as war has her triumphs. 

 We are happy in recording this peaceful triumph. 



COTTAGE BUILDING, WABMING, &c. 



Will you give us a plan or two of the cheapest kind of 

 a cottage, suitable for a gardener or for a man of very 

 Email means to build — plain and cheap, yet neat and 

 appropriate ? Do you tliink furnaces for heating houses 

 healthy? Is there much economy in using them ? Would 

 you advise the use of wood or coal in a furnace, supposing 

 the cost to be about the same ? Is heating a house by hot 

 water pipes a good plan ? 



All these questions are asked by a correspondent, 

 in one letter. It has been said, and very truly, that a 

 fool can ask question that a wise man can not answer. 

 Without for a moment thinking ourselves very wise, 

 or our correspondent very foolish, we shall answer 

 these questions to the best of our ability. We will 

 commence at the bottom and work up. 



Heating a House by Hot Water, is an excellent 



plan. Nothing can be more safe or less injurious to 

 health. We think it, however, a costly method. — 

 Putting in the necessary iron pipes is (luite expensive, 

 and we think the amount of heat obtained from a 

 given amount of fuel will be less, than by stoves or a 

 furnace. On this point, however, we have no positive 

 evidence, and where persons have money enough and 

 to spare, it is a matter of no consequence. 



We would advise the use of coal in a furnace, as 

 being less trouble. A furnace for burning wood re- 

 quires an almost constantattendant. 



So far as the saving of coal is concerned, there is 

 no economy in using a furnace. Burning coal in a 

 good stove is the way to get the most heat for your 

 money. In using a furnace a great deal more heat 

 is used than in using stoves — for instance, a friend 

 calls — ^you turn the register in your library, and in 

 five minutes you have a warm room where you can 

 retire. Some lady friends make a call on your wife, 

 and in five minutes the parlor is warm. If in either 

 case a fire had to be made in a stove, the visitors 

 would have remained in the reception room. With a 

 furnace you have no ashes or charcoal dust or smoke 

 about the house. Coal, ashes, and every thing per- 

 taining to the fire, is in the cellar. There is some- 

 thing saved in this way. 



We do not see why a decently constructed furnace 

 should be unhealthy. The air passes from the street 

 through pipes into your room, being warmed in its 

 passage by coming in contact with the heated fur- 

 nace. If the furnace is only moderately heated, we 

 cannot see how the air is injured, and you thus have 

 a constant fresh supply. If your room is so con- 

 structed that the air, as soon as it becomes unfit for 

 breathing, can pass into the chimney, and thus secure 

 a constant change, we cannot imagine a better ar- 

 rangement for health or comfort. With all our early 

 prejudices in favor of the old-fashioned fire-place and 

 back-log of our early days, we cannot find fault with 

 this arrangement 



Having answered our correspondent thus far, to 

 the best of our ability, and given him deductions 

 from our own experience, we have now only to give 

 " a plan or two " of very cheap cottages. In the 

 first place we give one small enough and cheap 

 enough, as here it would cost about $200. The 

 author of this plan gives his own description : 



When fatigued by a hard day's labor, I take my 

 seat in the front or parlor end of our room, (A.) 

 and while listening to, and being rested, by the prattle 

 of the wee ones, or talking with a guest, I am under no 

 apprehension of being disturbed by the needful open- 

 ing of some door; and, looking across the cooking 



