360 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
Prairie Cottage, Costing $800 to $1,000. 
Cost, as here Described, $900. 
CLASS I.— 3d PRIZE.—BY JNO. DUNLOP, SOZORRA, ONT. 
Though called by the designer a “Prairie Cot¬ 
tage,” this house is adapted, as a whole, to many 
other rural localities, and furnishes suggestions for 
any farm house or other residence. The truth is, 
no one plan is likely to be exactly suited- to the 
wants, wishes, or tastes of any family ; yet no one 
can carefully examine any plan without deriving 
some hints to be adopted or improved upon. Any 
person intending to erect a dwelling, whether to 
cost $500, or $5,000, or more, should get two or 
three books on the subject and read them care¬ 
fully. The chances are, a thousand to one, that in 
so doing, he will get information and primary or 
secondary ideas that will many-fold repay the sim¬ 
ple cost of the books. Reed’s “ House Plans for 
Everybody,” and such like books, are of the kind 
referred to.—Mr. Dunlop writes essentially as fol¬ 
lows, the manuscript accompanying the drawings : 
The prices of the materials are quotations from 
the current rates in Cass County, Dakota, in 1881.— 
The accommodations are sufficient for a small 
family, with one room for hired help.— S'ixterior 
(figs. 1 and 2).—The foundations show 18 inches 
above the graded earth, which is raised to slope 
from the house outward, with soil taken from the 
cellar. The bight of the building is kept low, the 
better to withstand the strong winds that sweep 
over the treeless prairies. The Veranda, hav¬ 
ing a southern exposure, will be a comfortable 
resting place during hot sunshine, and help keep 
the house cool.—The Cellar (fig. 3) excavations are 
so made that the bight of ceiling above will not be 
less than 6 feet, it extends under the one-story 
part of the building, and has two windows for 
light, the entrance being from the scullery.— 
i*oii n<l Floor (fig. 4).—Hight of ceiling 
of the one-story part, 8 feet; of the t.wo-story 
part, 9 feet. It contains a Parlor, Dining Room, 
Hall, Kitchen, Scullery, Bedroom, Pantry, and a 
closet under stairway. Six-inch thimbles are placed 
in the flues, 2 feet under the ceilings, and through 
the partitions where necessary. The pantry and 
closet are furnished with shelves. The chimney 
flues are built of brick, placed on brackets, 3 feet 
under ceilings of upper flats. 
Second SJocy (fig. 5).—Hight of ceiling, 
8 feet. The throat-ties are carried up the joists 2 
feet, thus concealing the sides of walls to that 
extent. This story contains 3 bedrooms and a hail. 
ConsSrnctioii.— The cellar walls are of rub¬ 
ble stone, foundation pillars and chimneys of brick ; 
plastering, three coats. The frame of sawed pine, 
thoroughly fitted and braced ; the side studding 
extends from sills to plates. The roof and side 
walls (outside) are covered with inch lumber; out¬ 
side walls finished with lap-siding over the lumber ; 
inside walls with lath and plaster. Roof of Ve¬ 
randa covered with ship-lap, and battens over joints. 
The flooring inside is tongued-and-grooved pine. 
Flooring of Veranda, common lumber, jointed. 
The inside wood-work is finished in seasoned pine. 
The exterior is painted two coats of slate or gray 
color. The prices estimated at rates as laid down 
at nearest station. 
Estimate of Cost. 
Excavating 93 yards, @ 20c..*18.60 
630 ft. Stone work, @ 10c. 63.00 
800 Bricks, @ $12. 9.60 
535 yards Plastering, @ 25c.133.75 
Sills and Plate, 16 by 6 by 2. 516 
Stringers, 64 by 6 by 1 . 32 
193 StudB, Spars, and Ties, 16 by 6 by 2. .3,168 
74 Joists, 16 by 8 by 2.1.580 
106 Studs, 16 by 4 by 2.1,450 
25 Ties, 14 by 6 by 2. 350 
Total.7^096 ft., @ 18c. 127.70 
2,000 ft. Roof Sheeting—2,000 ft.'Wall Sheeting, @ 15c.. 6»00 
2,000 ft. Lap-Siding, @ 26c. 52.00 
18,000 Shingles, (St $3.00. 54.00 
50 ft. Tin Valleys, & 9c. 4.50 
1,300 ft. Flooring, @ 32c. 42.00 
Skirtings, $7.50—Lath, $15.00. 22.50 
2 Outside Doors, (3> $5.00. 10.00 
10 Inner Doors, @ $4.00. 40.00 
15 Windows, at $4.00. 60.00 
2 Cellar Windows, @ $3.00 each. 6.00 
Veranda, $30—Painting, $20. 50.00 
Carpenter Work,, extra.100.00 
Incidentals. 46.35 
Total. $900.00 
Chicken Raising.— “ Mrs. A. W.” writes us : 
“ Many persons, in giving directions for the care 
of young chickens, say, ‘ give no water for six or 
eight weeks.’ This would be extremely cruel to 
the ben-mother, for hens are very thirsty fowls, 
and will not do well unless they have plenty of 
drinking water. Of course milk is better for both 
hen and chicks. I have raised a good many chick¬ 
ens, and do not think I ever lost one, and yet I 
have always given them water, which they will 
drink when very small. In my experience, wheat 
screenings have proved to be excellent feed for 
them, with corn-meal given occasionally. Bread 
and rice, as recommended by some poultry rais¬ 
ers, must be very expensive food for chickens.” 
High Prices for Hops. 
Articles and items with the above or similar 
heading were, about the first of August, quite fre¬ 
quently met with in the daily papers. These 
embodied the statements that the hop crop of 
Great Britain was a failure, aud that sales had' 
already been made of American bops at prices 
about double of those made two months earlier. 
We regret to see these unqualified statements, as 
their effect upon the farming community is disas¬ 
trous. Having witnessed two Hop “ booms,” as 
the phrase of the day has it, we do not care to see- 
another. The last was some 12 years ago, in which 
the farmers in some localities, in the desire to be¬ 
come suddenly rich, had planted such extensive 
hop-yards, that they could only get the crop picked 
by bringing in the scum of distant cities, and when 
they were harvested, the hops would not sell for 
the cost of producing them. Before the high 
prices already paid, and the still higher ones likely 
to be paid for hops, have had their effect, and have- 
induced many of our readers to undertake hop- 
growing, we would ask them to consider a few 
points which the flattering accounts of successful 
hop-growing altogether omit. There are several 
crops which, for want of a better name, we have- 
in former years called “ Speculative Crops.” These- 
are crops outside of any regular system of farm¬ 
ing, their products having no relation to any of 
the usual products of the farm. These crops, usu¬ 
ally produced at a large expenditure of the ordinary 
6tock of manure, must be sold off at current rates 
the farmer can not usually afford to keep them for 
a higher market, and they can not, as a general 
thing, be consumed on the farm, either by the 
farmer’s family or by his animals. 
Among crops of this speculative class we include 
Onions, Tobacco, Broom-corn, Castor-oil Beans,. 
Teasels, Peppermint, and Hops ; to some extent 
Flax, at least when grown for its seed only, belongs. 
in this class. Ail of these crops have proved, and 
in the future will no doubt prove highly profitable- 
—under certain conditions. We have termed these 
“speculative crops,” in part for the reason that 
their products being limited, and the quantity 
raised being readily known to operators in the 
markets, they are made use of by speculative deal¬ 
ers, who, by controlling the market, can suddenly 
raise the price, and holding the whole stock, get 
any sum they choose to ask. Whenever high prices 
are quoted for these products, recollect that these 
high prices do not go to the farmer who produces, 
hut to the speculator who sells them. 
Each of these crops has its peculiarities which 
makes it difficult for the average farmer to produce 
it; this is especially the case with Tobacco, which 
requires large houses in which to properly cure it,, 
and with Peppermint. Here the crop has not only 
to be raised, but it must be manufactured, as it is 
only marketable in the shape of Oil of Peppermint. 
This involves considerable outlay for apparatus,, 
which is useful for nothing else, and its proper use 
requires a kind of skill which farmers, and indeed 
people in general, have not had occasion to acquire. 
But let us take the Hop crop, which is at times 
very profitable. This is a crop, the demand for- 
which, though large, is limited ; if it fails in a large 
hop-growing country, as in England the present. 
