334. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Septembeb, 
lips of the check-rail— this ivould effectually shut 
out all drifts of air, and make the unsightly and 
impracticable "weatherstrip" unnecessary. All 
stairs should have It strings, and treads, and i ris- 
ers, and should be so housed, clued, and keyed, as 
to make them solid ; squeaky stairs are abominable, 
and even when assured of their safety, one feels an 
instinctive suspicion of danger, and will look for 
treachery in every part of the house. Black wal- 
nut paneled newel, molded rail, and fluted balus- 
ters, are intended for the principal flight of stairs. 
Setting the niche is a part of the stair-builder's 
work, and should always be included in his estimate 
for stairs of this character. The trimming of the 
hall, dining-room, and parlor, are of clear pine, the 
architraves are 8 inches wide, and " double-mold- 
ed," with paneled back to each window. Base 7- 
inch and molded. All other rooms have 5-inch 
"single trim," with back molding, and base to 
match. All doors paneled and molded ; all room- 
doors have mortice locks, and closet doors have 
rim locks, all with brass bolts and keys ; knobs and 
eseuteheous of porcelain, and all saddles are of hard 
wood. All parts of this house that are usually 
painted, should have two coats of paint of the best 
materials, and of such colors as shall suit the owner. 
All hard wood, such as the stair-rail, bath-room fin- 
ish, and saddles, should have two coats of linseed- 
oil Cost. — Contractors even-where differ in 
CHAMBER 
CHAMBER 
9-6 A 9 6 
BED BOOM HALL 
i£i3a 
B^TH ROOM 
■r'6 -; 9 - 6 
K 
CHAMBER 
7^/0 
CHAMBER 
0-i « n 
Fig. i. —PLAN OF SECOND FLOOR. 
their estimates for work of any kind. These differ- 
ences are sometimes the result of some peculiar 
circumstance, but most generally they arise 
through some misapprehension of fact, either the 
plans are incomprehensible, or the description of 
them ambiguous, leading to a variety of interpre- 
tations, and consequently a variety of prices, some 
of which are too low, and some too high. The 
low man who usually pi-o/wsfs to do the beet work 
and the most of it, gets the job, and executes the 
work in accordance with bis preconceived ideas, 
gets his money, and leaves the owner in possession 
of something he did not expect. No one can know 
the extent and character of the work better than 
the projector of them, who should be equally quali- 
fied to give exact estimates of quantities, and cost 
of everything connected Tvith their thorough de- 
velopment and execution, and thus truly fulfill his 
mission as the architect of the works. Cost is one 
of the most interesting features in any project, and 
no plan is hardly worth considering tliat does not 
comprehend in some way the expense of its execu- 
tion. Builders, and others interested in such plans, 
will appreciate the detailed estimates, as furnish- 
ing the key to the whole plan, suppljMng the need- 
ed information as to the real quality and character 
of the work ; Estimate. 
6'i ynrda EicaTation, fa '^Sc. per vnrtt |15..'iO 
IS.MOOhard liriclc. fninislicd iinil liikl, @ Jl.i*! 1000 19r..00 
*;Oll yards Lath .inct Pi;isterinp. ^. 3-")C. per yard 24.^.110 
33 feet Stone Steps, o -10 e. per lout rj.80 
24 feet Stone SiUs, <S) :;0. per loot 7.2(1 
2.3n0 feefninber, @ 2^«c. per loot . 51.75 
Til. 2 Sills. 4x7 hi.xM ft. long. 2 Plates, 4x6 iti.x24 ft. I'c. 
2 Sills. 4x7 In. xWSft. luDR. 
4 Posts, 4x7 in. xifirt.lOTiB. 
2 Ties, 4xf> In. x J4 ft. lone. 
2 Tics, 4x6 in. x 2S ft. long. 
2 Plates. 4x6 in. x 2S ft. I'g. 
1 Girt.4sSln. x3 ft. lour. 
30 Beams, 3x1 in. i24 ft. Vz. 
4 Valleys, 3x7 ln.xl2 ft. I'g. 
400 Wall Strips. 2x4 Inches il3 feet long, a 16c. each.... 64.00 
2.^0 Novelty clear Siding Boards,® :*c. fucli 8i.40 
1.5 pounds Tarred Pa[)ur. (^ 5c. per lb 8.15 
1..0 toiigned and trrooved Flooring, @ 35c. eucli S.'.r.l) 
130 Henilocic lioo'f Boaids, nii 2tjc. eaeli Ltj.Oy 
12 Squares of Till liooliiig. @ J[» per square 108.00 
156 leet tiutters and Leaders, lOc. per loot 15.H0 
104 feet Cornice, @ 5(Je. per toot 52.00 
1 IJay Window, with blinds, complete 75.U0 
12 plain v\ indows witli Blinds, complete, @ $18 each. ..210. 00 
8 Cellar IVindows. complete, @ SJ eai-li 32.00 
1 Stoop, (except tin as above,! complete 7ti.00 
2: Doors, complete, @ $11 eacli 243.00 
3 Stairs, complete 9o.(jO 
2 Marble Mantels, and 4 Shelves on Trusses 50.00 
Kange, Plumbing, Sink, Bath, Water Closet and Pump.3.V).00 
Corner Boards, Base, and Shelving 32.50 
N.iils 20.00 
Cartage, average one mile 30.00 
Carpenter's Labor, not included above - 250.' 
Painting lOO.OO 
Total cost, complete $2,.">C0.(» 
Science Applied to Farming.— IX. 
Er Peof. W. O. "Atwateb, Wesletan Univeksitt, 
Middlelown, Conn. 
Use of Conceiilratccl or "Ricli" Footls^Econ- 
oiny and "Waste Ilk 3iixe(l Foddcr^A'itrogeil 
aiail Digestion. 
In some experiments described in the April num- 
ber, (Table 5), oxen fed with barley straw to which 
bean-meal was added, were able to digest about 
forty per cent of the straw. The bean-meal was 
rich in nitrogen, (albuminoids), and supplied the 
lacl of this material iu the straw. But if instead of 
bean-meal, they had mixed with the straw, starch, 
which contains no nitrogen, or some starchy (" car- 
bonaceous") food as potatoes had been mixed 
with the straw, the result would have been very 
different. The starch, instead of increasing, might 
have diminished the digestion of the straw. The 
case may be put still more strongly. For instance, 
good upland hay contains much more nitrogen than 
straw, in fact so much that cattle will thrive upon 
it and digest all of its digestible material without 
the aid of any concentrated food. Clover is still 
richer iu nitrogen. Mix with the hay or clover 
some albuminoid substance as gluten, or some ma- 
terials rich in nitrogen as beans or oil-cake, and the 
animals will still digest them completely and with- 
out waste. But let the gluten be replaced by starch 
or " carbonaceous" foods, and much of the nutri- 
tiotis material of the hay or clover wUl pass off as 
excrement, which, with nitrogenous foods, or with 
no admixture, would have been digested. Now if 
a tailor cuts cloth and linings for a coat so as not 
to use all the material the patterns will allow, he 
wastes cloth. If a farmer so deals out food to 
his stock that part of the digestible material is not 
digested, there is likewise loss. There is a great 
deal of such waste iu the ordinary feeding of stock, 
and much of this comes from not having sufficient 
nitrogen in the food to secure complete digestion. 
In the scarcity and costliness of hay and clover, 
farmers are coming to feel more and more the ne- 
cessity of using oil-cakes, beans, peas, grains, roots, 
and other concentrated or " rich " foods. To know 
how to use these so as to make the most of them 
and of the coarser foods they are mixed with, is a 
very important matter. 
This subject has been studied in a large number 
of feeding trials at the German Experiment Sta- 
tions. As almost no detailed accounts of these 
have to my knowledge ever appeared in the Eng- 
lish language, I will describe some of them. First, 
however, let me say that the experimenters find it 
necessary to distinguish between the more digesti- 
ble foods as grains, roots, bran, oil-cake, etc., and 
the less digestible ones, as hay, straw, chaff, and 
green fodder. The former are called "concentrated" 
and the latter " coarse " or " crude materials." In 
order to unite these coarse and concentrated foods 
in fodder roost profitably, it is important that the 
mixtures contain the right proportions of nitrogen, 
as has been explained and is shown by 
Kxpevimrnts oit llic Influence of Albuminoids 
and Carbn-liydrates upon Digestion. 
These are generally made with oxen, cows, sheep, 
and goats. The plan is to determine how much 
they will digest from hay or clover alone by feed- 
ing these without any admixture.* The effect of 
* For explanation of these dii^estivp experiraeBts see 
No. rv of these articles, in April Amei ican Agrioitiurisf. 
albuminoids or carbo-hydrates on the digestion la 
learned by simply adding some nitrogenous sub- 
stance as gluten, or non-nitrogenous substance as 
starch, and noting the result. Oftener, however, 
the more common concentrated foods are used iu- 
stead of gluten and starch. Beans or oil-cake, for 
instance, are selected for nitrogenous, and po- 
tatoes for non-nitrogenous materials. If these 
concentrated foods are not of themselves com- 
pletely digestible, due allowance is made for the 
substance they contribute to the excrement. 
The albuminoids are found to be without effect 
upon, or to favor, digestion. The carbo-hydrates, 
tend to decrease digestion. And what seems very 
strange, it is chiefly the albuminoids and the fiber, 
(cellulose), whose digestion is hindered by the car- 
bo-hydrates. This is illustrated by some experi- 
•ments made with sheep by Shulze and Marcker, 
at the Station at Weende, in Germany. The ani- 
mals (wethers) received during one period about 
2 lbs. of hay, and during another, 2 lbs. of hay and 
i lb. of starch per head per day. Notice carefully 
the results iu the figures below : 
Table 15. 
Daily Eatics for each Sheep 
Per cmt of Ingredients 
of Ilay Di'jcsted. 
Albuminoids. Fiber. 
2 lbs. Hay 54.1 (iO.2 
2 lbs. Hay -t- Jib. Starch ai.7 54.3 
Of every 100 pounds of albuminoids contained in 
the hay fed alone, the sheep digested 5i pounds. 
But when the starch was added, they digested only 
31 J pounds. So from every 100 parts of crude fiber 
of the pure hay, the sheep digested CO'/s parts. 
But when the starch was added they digested only 
54i parts (per cent). The effect of the starch then 
was to decrease the digestion of the albuminoids by 
over 12.4 per cent, and that of the fiber by not quite 
6 per cent. And this decrease was not due to the 
starch making the ration larger than they could 
economically dispose of. For during another peri- 
od, 4 lb. of gluten was fed with the hay iu the place 
of the starch, and then they digested not only all 
the gluten, but just about as much of the hay as 
when nothing was added. 
Here are some more experiments in which pota- 
toes instead of starch, and clover instead of meadow 
hay, were employed. They were made with sheep 
at Hohenheim, by Dr. Wolff. Two series were per- 
formed, marked A and B. 
Table IC. 
Daily Ration fed to each 
Sheep. 
Series A. 
2 lt)s. clover alone 
2 ft>s. clover -I- 2 lbs. potatoes 
2 B>s. clover -\- 4 lbs. potatoes 
1 lb. clover -}- 4 11.")S. Jjotatoes. 
1 B). clover -\- lbs. potatoes 
Series B. 
2 lbs. clover alone 
2 lbs. clover -j- 2 lbs. potatoes 
2 B)s. clover -|- 4 lbs. potatoes 
Out of eterv 100 lbs. 
■~ i. 
of Ih'efollowinq sub- j fe •? 
stands contained in .S .3 
tlie clorer, the ani-h; ^ 
7nais d:gtxted MeL^ 
nnmber of jK)vnds\:2i'^ ^ 
set under 'each, viz. : ! S -¥ s 
.SS ^ 
•S-St! 
.So 
li 
111 
lbs. 
B)S. 
lbs. 
(13 7 
51.2 
67.4 
1:4.3 
.•iT.T 
48.4 
65.9 ll :5.2 
,50.5 
45.5 
62.8 ll:6.0 
45.7 
43.3 
61.3 
1 ;6.B 
4li.4 
44.8 
60.5 
1:6.8 
65.0 
.50.1 
74.fi 
l:6.fl 
.51-.. 5 
50.1 
66.1 :i : 6.8 
37.6 
47. S 
64.5 
1 : 9.4 
Now look along down the column of albuminoids 
and crude fiber, and notice bow the potatoes de- 
creased the digestion of these in the clover. In A, 
with no admixture, out of every hundred parts of 
albuminoids, 03' ',« parts were digested. With 4 lbs. 
of potatoes added only SO'/a per cent, and with 6 
lbs. of potatoes only 46' j per cent were digested. So 
with the fiber, 4 lbs. of potatoes reduced the diges- 
tion from 51' 2 to 4.5' ~ per cent. Notice now the 
series B. The potatoes h.ave again decreased the 
digestion of the albuminoids and fiber of the clover. 
With 4 lbs. of potatoes, the digestion of albumin- 
oids falls from 65 to ST'/s per cent, and that of fiber 
from 50 to 47'/s. The decrease is greater than in A. 
The effect of the potatoes is worse than before. 
Why is this? We saw that starch decreases diges- 
tion, and that albuminoids cither act indifferently 
or aid it. If this be true, then of two kinds of po- 
tatoes the one which contains the less nitrogen and 
the more starch, ought to reduce digestion the 
