1870.] 
AMERICAX AGRICULTURIST. 
129 
Fig. 5* Second Story.— night in clear, 0^ feet. 
The Family Chamber, F, opens into a dressing-room, 
or bed-room, 0, which will take in a full-sized bed by the 
side of the door. (This room, 0, may be used as a sew- 
ing-room, or a child's room, or a sick-room 1 .) The Mar- 
ble wash-stands, w, w, in F, and G, are placed in arched 
recesses, with an arched light cornice over the top, which 
has a pretty appearance. The rounded Marble table ex- 
tends slightly into the room, and the closet beneath is 
cased, with a door. Marble pieces against the wall protect 
it fr«m water. These basins are supplied with plated 
self-acting snpply pipes for hot and cold water, with 
plated pings, and stench traps. This arrangement of 
wash-stands in recssses, devised by Mr. Judd, has sever- 
al advantages: The wash basins are oat of the way, 
giving much more space in the room; one set of snpply 
and waste pipes answers for two basin3 ; the pipes run 
down by the chimney and arc out of the way of frost, and 
the arched and corniced recesses are quite ornamental. 
In this room, F, there are, also, *SX\ a speaking 
tube to the Kitchen; Sd, one to the Dining-room; 
Sfd, one to the front door, opening over the bell- 
pnll (Sc, fig. 4), for conversing with callers at night; 
Bk, a bell-poll to Kitchen, and BZJi, a bell-pull to the 3d 
Story hall to call servants in the morning, if need be. 
As remarked last month, these little conveniences, put in 
at small cost when building, save tens of thousands of 
steps, and much hallooing through the hall. The House- 
keeper, though an invalid ia her room, can thus call to 
other rooms and speak with the occupants through the 
tubes. So, also, directions may be conveyed to the 
kitchen and dining-rooms, before dressing iu the morn- 
ing. (A piece of flexible 1-inch rubber tube, attached to 
the speaking tubes, and extending on to the bed, will 
enable a sick person, to talk with those in the kitchen or 
dining-room, though unable to rise from the pillow.) The 
Chamber, G, has the double closet and arch, above de- 
scribed ; bell, Bk, to kitchen, register, ?-,etc The Cham- 
bers J/andJV, arc convenient bed-rooms, with closets, and 
a warm-air register, ;*, in N". ...The Balh-Boom, S, has a 
wash-stand, and bathing-tub, b, both supplied with hot and 
cold water cocks, waste-pipes, and stench traps; also, 
a warm-air register, r, and gas pipe. The TTater-closet, 
w, with patent basins and water arrangements, has a 
double cover, or scat, on hinges, so that on raising both, 
the broad-top basin answers for the reception of slops, 
and also as a urinal. It is supplied with water from the 
Tank in the hall above. The waste-pipe is iron, 4 inches 
in diameter, extending down the corner to the cellar, and 
out through the wall below frost, into the glazed pipe, 
6-inch drain, running into the out-door privy vault. The 
floor uudcr id, is cased with lead turned up 4 inches all 
F'l£. 5. — SECOND STORY — FLOOR PLAN. 
round, to catch any possible drip from the watcr-clesct 
apparatus. A bell, Bk, communicates with the kitchen. 
Tlie door has sash, with translucent or ground glass, to 
admit light to the hall, 11. (Both flights of stairs have a 
landing and turn, four steps from the top, which eases 
the ascent, and lowers the floor of the Bath and Tank- 
rooms two and a half or three feet below the hall floors.) 
Fig. 6. Third Story.— Eight, iu the clear, SH 
feet. All rooms in this story arc finished with white 
plaster coat. The outer walls rise perpendicularly S)£ feet, 
and then incline inward with the Mansard roof, which is 
set more nearly perpendicular than has been the common 
custom in this country. The third story or attic rooms 
are thus almost equal, and in some respects superior, to 
those in the second story. The room Z is of ample size 
for a servant's room, leaving the others for general use. 
T is left undivided, and will answer for a childreus' ex- 
ercise and play room, and for drying clothes on rainy 
days, or when too damp to dry them in the laundry. There 
is a very pleasant outlook from the dormer-windows. 
(The houses here described stand ou ground 70 feet above 
tide-water.) The tank is 7 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 3 
feet deep, giving a capacity of7S5 gallons. The waier from 
all the upper roof runs into this, and when it is full the 
surplus discharges through a 5-inch leader into the gen- 
eral reservoir. If emptied in a dry season, it is refilled by 
the forco pump in the laundry. This, of course, keeps the 
the boiler (Z, fig. 3) always full and gives both hot and cold 
water to the second stoiy rooms. A safety pipe from the 
top of the boiler passes up over the top of the tank with 
a goose-neck, and when the fire is brisk, as in a cold day, 
some hot water will flow over into it, which alone would 
prevent freezing, though 'with a considerable body of 
water, and with double lath and plastered walls around 
it, and with the warm air constantly rising up through 
the open stairways (the walnut railing and banisters 
THIRD STOUT— FLOOR PLAN. 
extend into the third story hall) there is no danger of 
frost. The tank is made with a strong frame, covered in- 
side with matched plank and lined with 4 lbs. per 
foot sheet-lead, strongly soldered at the joints, and the 
center of each side supported by plumbers' " tacks, 1 ' that 
is, a circular segment of lead attached to the lining and 
let into the wood. A film soon coats the lead and pre- 
vents its solution in the rain-water, though this is of no 
consequence, as all water for cooking and drinking is 
drawn through tin lined pipes at u, fig. 3. Those, fearful 
of contact of water with lead, can arrange in the tank a 
gate or valve worked by a floating ball and lever, so as to 
turn all the water directly from the roof into the cistern 
when the tank is full. No spring or well water, which 
filters through the soil and necessarily dissolves out more 
or less of mineral salts and organic material, can be so 
pure as the " heaven-distilled 1 ' rain-water from a clean 
upper roof. We have used none other for many years, 
and would use no other. When accustomed to it, it is far 
more agreeable and more salubrious than any compound 
water drawn through the soil. If the roof be exposed 
to leaves and dust, a simple filter of washed sand, or sand 
and charcoal, attached to the cistern will remove these 
impurities. If many leaves are likely to fall on the roof, 
a wire netting should be placed over the entrance to the 
conducting pipe, and the accumulation of leaves be occa- 
sionally removed. (The dormer-windows give ready ac- 
cess to the gutters and roof.) 
Other Items.— See last month, page S9, for various 
items, as grape arbor, siding, moulding (used in first and 
second stories in this house) forpaintiug, etc., etc. There 
are 16 pantries or closets— an important thing to be pro- 
vided in any house. One of the upper rooms may be 
used for a store-room, if desired, as there are iu all 9 
rooms that may be used as bed chambers As a matter 
of due credit and a stimulus to perfection iu workman- 
ship, we give the names of the chief artisans of these and 
the house described last month: General Superintendent, 
as well as architect, and a hard worker himself, John 
Donald ; Mason-work, Hendrickson Jarvis, and Geo. W. 
Lewis (1 house) ; Painters, Torringtou & Brown ; num- 
ber and Gas-fitter, Henry Lewis; Roof- work, and putting 
up Furnaces. Benj. G. Field; Sash and Blinds, Henry 
Christie; Stairs, etc., John L. Smith— all of Flushing 1 ; 
Doors, by Little, Fowler & Fleet, of New York City. 
COST.— We give the actual cost of these houses, which 
may be taken as a comparative criterion. (These were 
built with special economy in purchase of material, and 
work, as noted last month, but probably timber, etc., 
will range below the rates of New York and vicinity, and 
skilled labor averages lower, in most of the country. For 
ordinary country and village residences of the same size 
and conveniences, a less expensive style of finish, out- 
side and in, would often be adopted, so that the cost 
would range all the way from $7,000 to $0,000) : Timber, 
$315 ; lumber of all kinds, $1,105; mason work and ma- 
terial, $1,5-17; carpenter work. $1,103; digging cellar, $90; 
digging and stoning privy vault, $-25 ; grading. $10; cis- 
tern. $35; painting, $350; sash and glassing, $130; blinds, 
$85; roof, slate and tin, including gutters, and window 
and chimney zinc and tin, $150; plumbing, with marble 
and wood-work, $490; range, with water-back con- 
nection, §60 ; outside drains, $50 ; furnace, with setting, 
piping, registers, etc., $300; stairs, $2G0; piazza steps, 
newels, banisters and railing, $150; arbor, privy, and 
lattice screens, $S0 ; fencing, $125 ; sidewalks, $40;" hard- 
ware, nails, locks, hinges, sash-weights, bells, etc., etc., 
$2SS ; mouldings, $130 ; doors, kiln-dried, $1-10; marble 
mantels, $200; summer pieces and grates, $S0; gas pip- 
ing, $60 ; ventilators, $25; cartage, and many sundries, 
$293: average interest on outlay while building, $180. 
Total Cost of House, exclusive of land, $9,flS6. 
* ■ tm-Qm — —m 
Mouse ISnilcling Qaestions.— Numer- 
ous recent inquiries about constructing wash-trays, 
plumbing work, tanks, etc., are necessarily delayed to a fu- 
ture number, for want of room, and to prepare engravings. 
Slaecp in. Colorado.— Mr. Daniel Witter, 
the United States Assessor at Denver, sends ns the fol- 
lowing statement made by a gentleman of his acquaint- 
ance : " I will furnish some items of a flock of sheep 
owned by Mr. Crowell, numbering a little over one "thou- 
sand, of the breed called the Iowa Stock sheep. Their 
clip last season was within a trifle of 41bs. per fleece, av- 
erage, after washing. Their increase per annum, Mr. 
Crowell informs me, is 90 per cent, and to-day, of his 
stock, there are eight hundred fit for the butcher's stall. 
Many of these sheep when driven here were afflicted with 
foot-rot, and other diseases that are common in the 
States, but they rapidly recovered in this climate, and 
now no sign of disease exists among them. Mr. C. says 
this soil and climate is a certain and speedy cure for foot- 
rot. The dry earth and alkali that exist on the surface 
seem to be the natural remedy. The pure water, excel- 
lent climate and nutritious grasses are the great mutton 
and wool producing secrets. The time is not far distant 
when the Arkansas valley of Colorado will contain mil- 
lions of the finest sheep in the world." 
Harris on tJie IMS'- — 2ffr. Joseph Harris, 
of Rochester, has long been a raiser of thorough-bred 
pigs, and has experimented largely in crossing these ani- 
mals on the conftnon swine of the country. Mr. H. now 
presents, iu a neat volume of a little over 200 pages, an 
excellent manual upon the subject. The various foreign 
breeds are described and their qualities discussed, as are 
those breeds which are considered to be purely Ameri- 
can. The principles of breeding, the care of young pigs, 
feeding, fattening, the construction of piggeries, and 
other pertinent matters arc treated with satisfactory full- 
ness. The work is illustrated by numerous engravings 
of the different breeds, plans of houses, troughs, etc. 
We have heretofore, iu this department of agricultural 
literature, been mainly dependent upon reprints of 
foreign works, and we arc glad to be able to present a 
work so well adapted to the wants of the American 
farmer and breeder. Published at this office. Price, 
$1.50, post-paid. 
Bad Smelling Cisterns.— Mrs. "R.B. 
J.,' 1 Delaware. — The bad odor does not arise from the 
cement, but from the organic substances washed into tho 
cistern from the roof. The remedy is to clean the cis- 
tern and wash it out, and then to have all the water that 
flows into it filtered. For the present a filter maybe 
prepared thus : Take a keg holding half a barrel or more, 
put in Cinches of clean coarse gravel, upon this 4 inches 
of sand, then several inches of freshly heated charcoal, 
pounded small, with the dust blown out, to be covered 
with 4 inches of sand and G of gravel. The water is 
poured in at the top and drawn off at the bottom as 
wanted. A coarse bag, filled (while wet) with hot char- 
coal broken up somewhat, and suspended over a cistern or 
well, will often destroy bad odors and flavors in the water. 
ImproTinjEf Hog;$. — "P. P.," Ivuma, III. — 
You cannot do better than to use a thorough-bred Essex 
or Berkshire on your large, grade Chester County sows. 
It will improve the quality of the pork and give more for 
the food consumed. 
Will it Pay to Raise Cattle?— B. L. 
Tudor, Ontario, asks if it will pay to raise cattle when 
tney sell at from 3c. to 6c. per lb. in gold— oats Belling 
for 30c. per bushel and hay $S per ton, and other things in 
proportion, with good pasture in summer ? M It will pay 
better than raising oats and hay and setting them at these 
prices. But be careful to get cattle that will sell at 6c, 
instead of 3c. per lb. 
What are tlie Best Roots to Raise 
for illilcti Cows '—Parsnips and mangel wurzels. For 
feeding late in the fall and early winter, nothing is supe- 
rior to cabbages. But the cows should have bran and 
meal, and hay. corn-stalks or straw in addition. In this 
climate we cannot afford to raise root crops and cab- 
bage? for cows unless we adopt high breeding. 
