104 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
Farm-Ho’ise Plans. 
The accompanying-plan (Fig. 1.) of tlie ground 
floor of a farm house is sent to the American Ag¬ 
riculturist by a subscriber in Williams Co., Ohio, 
who writes, “ I propose to adopt the within 
plan if I can get no better, and ask for any im¬ 
provement on this, or other plan which will suit 
the location.” We present a plan (Fig. 2) which 
We think to be an improvement upon it. 
[Explanations applicable to both plans—a, Front en¬ 
try ; b, Sitting or dining room ; c, Family bedroom ; D, 
outside doors, d, inside doors ; e, Parlor ; /, Parlor bed¬ 
room ; g, Kitchen ; ft, Pantry ; i, Closets ; K, Veranda; 
l, Linen closet; o, Oven ; R, Roof; S, Shed ; w, Windows.] 
In the plan (fig. 1) sent for criticism, 1st, there is 
in proportion a great deal of outside wall; 2nd, 
the kitchen is far from the dining room; 3d, the 
pantry is made a passage way; 4th, the 5 outside 
doors all open into principal rooms; 5th, there 
are no closets; and 6th, the rooms are general¬ 
ly too small. In fig. 2 we remedy the first obj ec- 
tion by making the house square; the 2nd and 3d 
by a different arrangement; the 4th by a front 
entry, and only 2 outside doors; the 5th, by put¬ 
ting a good closet in every room but the parlor; 
and the 6th by economy in the arrangement of 
rooms, only adding 12 feet horizontal measure to 
[1 and 2, are 2nd Story bed-rooms; 3, Maid’s room ; 4, 
Men’s room, with entrance, D, by outside stairs.] 
the outer walls. The bedroom does not open 
into the dining-room or into the kitchen, as one 
never should do, From the front door you pass 
directly either into the sitting room, kitchen, or 
bedroom, down cellar or upstairs. The pantry 
la in the coolest corner of the house. Folding 
doors almost make one large room of the parlor 
and sitting room, and a double window makes 
the kitchen very light. A large Veranda, 10 feet 
wide goes round two sides of the house; it is a 
great and cheap luxury, especially in hot weath¬ 
er. The windows on the west, which if they 
could be so arranged should be the south side, 
ought to reach the floor. We give also a plan of 
the 2d floor for a story-and-a-half house—suffi¬ 
ciently explained by the references. We have 
not “figured upon it,” but judge that the plan 
we propose throwing out the Veranda, would 
be the-cheaper of the two. 
The Patent Office Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment—Where the Money Goes. 
We have more than once taken occasion to 
show up the sham affair at Washington, kept up 
under the specious name of an Agricultural De¬ 
partment. Here is a specimen of the way the 
money is expended—the following figures in¬ 
clude a period of less than seven months, viz.: 
from July 1,1861, to Jan. 23,1862, not including 
the large sum paid.for printing the “Reports.” 
We take the Tribune’s figures, professedly co¬ 
pied from the books at the Patent-office: 
1. Seeds : To Vilmorin, Andrieux & C’ie., Paris, for seeds 
ordered by Mr. Clemens, $14,998 94 ; to Paschall Morris, 
Philadelphia, for seeds, $10,740; also to P. Morris, $85 
for 50 bushels of Mediterranean wheat, and $40 for 100 
bushels of barley ; to Peter Gorman, $85 for 50 bush¬ 
els of Tappahannock wheat; to C. Edwards Lester, 
$50 for 50 ounces tomato seed !; to Chas. A. Leas, $75 27 
for box of Vulgan (?); for seed bags, $1,467 53 ; for fill- 
~ u fgs with seeds, $290 31 ; for freight, $273 7 r 
Total 
2. Salaries .—Under gei 
49, to which.add: P; 
Europe, $1,500 (i Chat 
18,105 84 
1 of “ Salaries,” $11,471 
Browne, for services in 
:e ?); David A. Wells, for 60 
pages of Report, $300 : Samuel J. Parker, for article oi 
grapes, $70; Louis Baker, for article on palm sugar, 
$15; Louis Schade, for article on lupine, $11 50; for 
copying Report. $*93 26 ; for drawing, $15 ; for cutting 
grass and keeping the yard around the Patent-office, 
$284 70. Total.. ....$13,960 95 
:. Sundries. Books and papers, $22; paste, oil. chairs, 
elc., $130 41; use of horse, $238 88; covering Reports, 
$72 25; stationary, $1,408 98(1); rent, $50. Total.$l,922 52 
. Propagating garden.$2,548 77 
Total, in 6 months and 3 weeks.$46,534 08 
We have not arrayed the above figures to 
show the total as anything frightful. Ten or 
twenty times forty-six thousand dollars would 
be cheerfully accorded to the Department of 
Agriculture, if well expended in collecting and 
disseminating useful statistics and other informa¬ 
tion respecting the great industrial prospects of 
the country. But can any one tell us what we 
have, or shall have, to show for the $46,534 08 
expended as above—save, perhaps, the $2,548 
charged to the Propagating Garden? The 
propagating and experimental gardens were 
the only redeeming feature we found after much 
examination of the concern at Washington. 
Take the seed expenses, for example. Can any 
one report anything good that has come, or is 
likely to come, of the twenty-eight thousand 
dollars expended, or of the similar sum expend¬ 
ed annually, for years past ? We hesitate not 
to assert, that there were, during the last Sum¬ 
mer alone, more plants of beautiful flowers, and 
more fields of Chinese sugar cane, of improved 
corn, oats, etc., growing from seeds sent free 
from the office of the American Agriculturist , than 
from all the seeds distributed from the Govern¬ 
ment Seed Store at Washington in five years past, 
(Government derived over $2,700 postage from 
seeds we sent out last year.) And at an ex¬ 
pense of less than $3,000, we shall this year dis¬ 
tribute more parcels of seeds, scatter them among 
ten times as many persons, and secure wider 
and better results in the future, than will come 
of the $28,000 expended at the Patent-office for 
seeds. We say further, that the three chapters 
of Reports on Apples, gathered by the Agricul¬ 
turist last Summer, offered more useful statistical 
information than will be found in any Annual 
Report of the Agricultural Department during 
several years past. Again, the Crop Reports to 
be published in the Agriculturist the coming Sum¬ 
mer, will be worth more to the farming interest 
of the country than any year’s operations yet 
performed at the Government establishment. 
By the way, as the design of the Patent-office 
seed distribution is to gather and distribute rare 
and valuable seeds from foreign countries, we 
should like to know what kind of seeds were 
furnished by the Philadelphia Seedsman, to the 
amount of eleven thousand dollars. 
So much for the past &nd present. As a new 
system—a “ Bureau of Agriculture,”—is now to 
be established, we trust some man will be ap- • 
pointed at the head of it who shall be able to 
strike out upon a new track. Let nim expend 
less money in distributing comm,on seeds, and 
more in getting Statistics upon the amount and 
condition of the growing crops, the different 
modes of cultivation, the kinds of grain, fruits, 
etc., best adapted to the several sections of the 
country. Let new varieties of seeds, cuttings, 
etc., gathered in other countries, be first tried on 
experimental plots at a few points, before large 
purchases are made and the seeds scattered at 
random over the country, often to prove utterly 
worthless, if not an actual pest, as they have 
sometimes proved. In these, and other ways, 
the new Agricultural Bureau may prove of use. 
Light, mellow, and deep sandy loams are 
best, if sufficiently enriched. Lime soils are 
considered bad, and heavy loams do not pro¬ 
duce quite so fine a quality of tobacco, though 
perhaps larger crops. Spread on enough barn¬ 
yard manure, or compost of the best quality to ! 
make a crop of 80 to 100 bushels of shelled 
corn to the acre, and put it fully 7 inches I 
under ground. On sward land, turn the sod 
flat, 10 inches deep, with a Michigan plow, then 
manure and plow it in deep, not disturbing the 
sod. The land must be plowed again in June. 
The present may be as convenient a time as 
any to put up tobacco sheds, and we give figures 
and a description of the kind common in the 
Connecticut Valley. Figure 1 is a section 
showing the frame and poles on which the to¬ 
bacco plants are suspended. Figure 2 shows 
the arrangements for ventilation. The building 
is framed 24 feet wide, the posts 16 feet high. 
On the sides, and through the middle, between 
the posts, are three tiers of scantlings, to which 
-the boarding is nailed, which are placed so 
as to support the 12-foot of rails or poles on 
which the tobacco is hung—25 to 36 plants on 
a rail. In fastening on the outside boarding, a 
about every third board is hung on hinges, „ 
making openings from top to bottom. Venti¬ 
lators are placed in the shingled roof, at least 
one in every 48 feet. These “ sheds ” are set 
up some 18 inches from the ground, on brick 
or stone, and it is best to have shutters swung 
so as to close the opening all around. Thev 
have no floors, and are of indefinite lengtn. 
