278 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MARCH 11, 1835- 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAUCH 11, 1835. 



LOCATION & CONSTRUCTION OP HOUSES, &c. 



[ContiiiMcd Ironi page SIG.] 

 It was a good maxim of the old Romans, tliat no 

 degree of ferlUi.Uj should tempt a man to purehase. in an 

 unhraWiy country. Open level countries arc accounted 

 healthy where the soil is dry, not parched or sandy, 

 where wild thyme and other aromatic plants grow 

 spontaneously, and which is not otherwise bare, but 

 interspersed with trees for shade. The countenances 

 of the inhabitants of a country, also, form very good 

 indices of the healthiness or sickliness of a place. 



Judge Peters of Pennsylvania, in Notices for a Young 

 Farme°r, &.C. directs "not to commence farming with 

 erecting costly bidldhigs, but to employ your time, efforts 

 and pecuniary means to your farm, and shift on with 

 tolerable accommodations, until your fields will warrant 

 you in providing better. Let your dwelling house and 

 its appendages be to leeward as respects commonly 

 prevailing winds, (those in winter especially, when 

 fire.s are constant) of your barn and stack yard, to pre- 

 vent accidents by fire." Blr Samuel Gibson, an intel- 

 ligent Pennsylvania farmer, observes that the distance 

 between the house and barn, &c. should not be nearer 

 than sixty, nor farther than one hundred yards. This 

 distance will be sufficient as security from fire, and if 

 any of the family are slot, they will not be annoyed by 

 the efHuvia or noise of the barn or stables. When the 

 case will admit, the farm house, barn, &c. should front 

 the south, be sheltered from the northerly winds, and 

 should enjoy the benefit of the rising sun. 



Mr J. M. Gourgas of Weston, Ms. wrote an e.tcellent 

 article for the l\ew England Farmer, vol. vi. page 20'J, 

 under the head " Economy in Buildings." For the 

 benefit of our readers who may not be able lo obtain 

 this, we present the following extracts. 



" .\ furmer, by the nature of things, ought to be a 

 man of strict economy ; his aim ought to be habitually 

 to prevent waste in anything and in all things. After 

 lie has paid seventyfive dollars for his ox-wagon, and 

 fortyfivc fur the carl, they should not be left exposed to 

 the ardent sun, nor to the rain, but be carefully housed 

 under sheds, when not in use. Ploughs and tools should 

 be secured in the same way ; but the waste which I 

 have more particularly in view, is what results from the 

 nat':re and manner of our buildings, all wood. If we 

 embrace at one view, as one great concern, the whole 

 commonwealth (the cities excepted), the mind is struck 

 with awe at tlrtJ consideration of the extreme perisha- 

 bleness of its habitations— houses, barns and sheds all 

 built of wood ! Taking it for granted that upon an aver- 

 age these buildings would last three generations, it SdI- 

 lowB au a matter of course that once in every third 

 generation, all the liouses, barns and sheds in the com- 

 monwealth (the cities excepted), must be built over 

 again. Truly, this is a great undertaking ; tliis must 

 dig very deep in the pockets of the parties concerned. 



• » • " Hammered or chiselled stone is adapted to 

 public buildings, or the houses of the wealthy, and is 

 expensive ; but comfortable, decent houses may be built 

 ofcommon stone, such as we would use for good field 

 walls. Such stones, laid in strong mortar, will make 

 an excellent building, either by facing the wall with the 

 stones, if fit for the purpose, or by rough casting the 

 wall after it is built. The foundation not to be less 

 than three feet thick ; if granite should be handy, it 

 might be split, and pieces selected for tlie sills and tops 

 of the doors and windows. A farmer would take win- 

 •..T leisure time to collect the materials, and, if rightly 



conducted, there is no doubt but such a house might be 

 built for the same cost, or very little more, than in the 

 present way. In point of comfort, it would be far pref- 

 erable, because stone houses are warmer in winter and 

 cooler in summer; as to the durability, it may be said, 

 without incurring the charge of exaggeration, that a stone 

 house, covered with tiles, and substantially put up, will 

 last three hundred years, and will require little or no 

 repairs the first fifty years. In our climate it happens 

 at times, that very cold weather is succeeded by a thaw, 

 and then severe cold comes again. These changes from 

 extreme to extreme act powerfully upon the mortar, 

 and will at limes loosen it; it would he preferable, on 

 that account, to build facing walls, and avoid rough 

 casting. If the materials for building should be care- 

 fully selected, there would be no difficulty to have 

 sufficient stones with a smooth side to lay out, and a 

 good .mason will raise his walls so as to leave but little 

 on the outside to fill up with mortar. In any case a 

 stronger mortar than common may be made to point the 

 outside of the building. There are, no doubt, various 

 kinds of mortar or cement, which would answer the 

 purpose ; one 1 will name, because I have used it, and 

 found it excellent. The English masons call it blue 

 mortar, from its color, and is made by mixing a small 

 quantity of iron filings, or the thin scales which fly 

 from red hot iron, when under the hammer, upon the 

 anvil, with good strong mortar. It is used for pointing, 

 where the workis much exposed. It should be laid early 

 in the season, because it will take three months to har- 

 den, which should be before frost takes place. It will 

 dry to a great degree of hardness and tenacity ; I have 

 never known it fail, and have been informed, tliat on 

 the forts in Boston harbor, they have used it with suc- 

 cess, where before they could get no mortar to stand 

 long." 



Northampton. — This place promises to assume a new 

 character the ensuing summer. The trivial breaches in 

 the Canal will be early repaired, and the-navigation 

 opened promptly. The IVound Hill School will be 

 resuscitated under the direction of Mr Cogswell early 

 in the spiing, and apian is in contemplation for extend- 

 ing the High School for young ladies, kept by Miss 

 Dwight. A commodious building will be erected this 

 summer. Some enterprising individuals are going into 

 the raising of Mulberry and Silk Worms on an exten- 

 sive scale^and a Cotton and Woollen Manufacturing 

 establishment is in agitation, to be located near the 

 aqueduct on the canal. 



Lt. Governor Armstrong has appointed Thursday, 

 April9, tube observed as a day of Fasting and Prayer 

 throughout this Commonwealth, 



Reprieve of the Pirates.— The Spanish Pirates^ 

 who were sentenced to be executed this day, have been 

 reprieved for three months. It is expected the Presif 

 dent will pardon Bernardo de Soto, the mate. 



Eddcation of the Poor in Paris.— In the 49 chil- 

 dren's schools maintained by the cily, and the 71 estab- 

 lishments under the Hospitals, there are 25,035 scholars. 

 In the 19 adult schools of the city, and seven similar 

 schools of the hospitals, 1893 scholars. In the seven 

 colleges there are, 4,932 pupils, of whom 1,873 are 

 boarders, and 3,059 day scholars. The total number of 

 these several eslablishmcnis is 172, and of the scholars 

 to whom they afiord instruction 35,306, 



Mistake Corbected.— A writer in the New York 

 Farmer for the present month, with the signature O. 

 P. Q. page 74, comments rather piquantly on an article 

 published in the Complete Farmer, page 124 written by 

 Mr Townsend of Andover, Conn., in which the writer 

 appears to direct the application of "fovror fire inches 

 of well, rotted manure' to an acre, preparatory to a 

 wheat crop. The word " inches," by an error of the 

 press, was substituted for the word loads. The passage 

 should have read, "plough three inches deep, and 

 spread on evenly four or five loads of well rotted 

 manure " 



MASS. HORTICUIiTURAL SOCIETY. 



Palurday, March 7. 

 fruits exhibited. 

 A handsome specunen of the Beurre d'Aremberg 

 Pear, in good preservation ; of fine flavor, and indicat- 

 ing excellent qualities— from Mr Cheever Newhall. 

 Pigeonett Apples— from Mr Robert Manning. 



flowers exhibited. 

 By Thomas Mason of Charlestown Vineyard, Azalia 

 coccinea, do. Phcenicia, Cineraria, Cyclamens, Myrtle, 

 Primulas, Tea Roses, Stocks, &c. 

 ■ By S Walker, Roxbury, one pot of Hepatica, rubro- 

 plena, a beautiful production ; Winship's New French 

 Tea Rose, anemone flore. Also, Due de Grammont. 



Liberality.— We are under great obligations to the 

 President and other officers of the Plymouth County 

 Acrricultural Society, for their generous distribution of 

 volumes of the New England Farmer, and Complete 

 Farmer, as premiums to those cultivators, who have 

 distinguished themselves and benefited the community 

 by agricultural improvements. We hope that other 

 similar societies will adopt similar methods of rewarding 

 agricultural merit till every good cultivator, at least 

 in the northern States, shall possess premium copies of 

 the N. E. Farmer, and Complete Farmer, which may 

 prove of use as well to direct as to reward their exer- 

 tions. It should bo a guiding maxim with good farmers. 

 Let us help those who arc endeavoring to help vs. 



CoL. Moseley's Address.— We tender our best ac- 

 knowledgements to the author for a copy of his Address 

 to the Essex Country Agricultural Society, at the last 

 Cuttle Show. 



MASS. HORICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



The Standing Committee of the Massashusetts Hor- 

 ticultural Socie°ty upon Vcgetahles-the products of the 

 Kitchen G«rrfc«-are requested to meet at the New 

 England Farmer office on Saturday next, at 1-2 past 

 10, A.M. 



1D= An adjourned meeting of this Society will bt 

 held at their Hall in Market Street, on Saturday the 

 21st of March, at 11 o'clock, P. M. 



ROBERT T. PAINE, Rec. Sec. 



TIIERMOMETRIC.il.. 



(Rcporli-cl fur llic New England Kaiiner.) 



Range of Thermometer at the Maverick House, Ea5 



Boston, in a shaded Northwesterly exposure, fre 



from the wall, 



PEfillllARY, 1835. 



7, A, M 



Monday, March 2, 

 Tuesday, 3, 

 Wednesday, 4, 

 Thursday, 5, 

 Friday, 0, 

 1 Saturday, 7, 



Hon. Edward Everett will deliver an address on the 

 llHh of April, in Lexington, at the request of that town. * Sunday, 8, 



13 

 11 

 13 

 17 



27 

 32 



I, P. 1M.|9,P. M. Mea 



28 

 20 

 30 

 31 

 42 

 34 

 32 



19 

 10 

 22 

 23 

 2i) 

 33 

 •34 



It 



14 

 21 

 29 

 2S 

 3; 



3: 



