1871.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
89 
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Fig. 5. —SECTION OF OUTSIDE WALL. 
rooms, with, one or more closets in each. The hall, hh, 
at the head of the stairs (lighted by head-lights over the 
doors, which also furnish ventilation to the rooms), occu¬ 
pies but little space, yet gives convenient access to all 
the rooms. The family chamber, F, is placed in the 
southeast corner of the house, to receive the warmth of 
the sun in the morning, and to be cool at night. Material 
changes in the planning of the whole house were made 
to secure this very desirable location. If possible, we 
would have all constantly-occupied sleeping-rooms on 
the eatjt side of every house. B, the floor of which is two 
steps down from F, is for a large pantry, or store-room, or 
dressing-room, or for a bath-room. (The most ap¬ 
proved bath-tubs are now made only 4 to 4feet long). 
Supports are placed upon the walls ready for a tank, 
which may receive water from the main roof, and also 
through a pipe carried up from a force-pump in the sink. 
The closet, c, adjacent, may be used from B, or from G. 
with which it is connected by a narrow door. A speak- ■ 
ing-tube, s , in F, extends to the front-door bell (s, c, fig. 4), - 
to communicate with any one calling at night, without i 
having to first dress and go down. F and E can be \ 
warmed by stoves, or by the warm-air registers, r, r. The 
smaller front chamber, 7, has one closet, c, another, c, over 
the stairs, and a platform or wash-stand, o, is cased in ■ 
over the stairs coming up from below, with a cupboard 
or closet underneath. A scuttle-door, over hh, reached 
by movable steps, opens into the attic, where there is 
some store-room—the amount depending upon the hight 
of the attic.It will be seen that there are a 
dozen pantries or closets in the house, and that there is 
hardly an inch of waste room anywhere.The same 
plan and internal arrangement are admirably adapted 
for smaller and larger houses, say from 20x2" to 25x33. 
A Larger House on the same plan in the first 
story, 24x31, besides the addition and piazza, is differently 
arranged in the Second Story, as shown in Fig. 6. 
There are here five convenient bed-rooms, M, N, 0, It, S, 
bath-room, T, etc. There are two chimneys, one from 
the parlor up through M, and one between the dining¬ 
room and kitchen. The closets, c, e, c, c, and the size of 
the rooms, and the hall, h, h, are show'n in fig. 6. 
The rooms in the first story are of course larger than 
those shown in fig. 3, but they are arranged the same. 
Another House, built for a small farm dwelling, 
is constructed on a similar plan in the first story, but is 
carried 3 feet higher, with steep shingle roof, which 
furnishes a good deal of room in the attic. The Second 
Story (Fig. 7) is similar to fig. 4, except in the room 1, 
where there is an attic.stairway, a, s, instead of the closets 
shown in fig. 4. To make a good head room for this attic 
stairs, a dormer window is placed in the roof, which gives 
a pretty effect to the outside of the house. The attic 
is large enough for two sleeping rooms, with windows 
in the gable ends, and for the storage of fruit, furniture, 
Fig. 7. — PART OF TUB SECOND STORY OF A SMALLER 
HOUSE, (21x28,) WITH ATTIC STAIRS. 
etc. This house is 21x2S on the ground, besides the 
rear additions and front piazza. As there were stones and 
sand for cellar walls at hand, and no front steps or piazza 
railing required, the cellar being mainly below the sur¬ 
face, (the house stands on a sandy knoll,) this house 
cost only $2,100 to $2,200. It appears to be a tasteful and 
convenient farm dwelling. It can be seen on the eastern 
road from Flushing to Jamaica, 2 miles from Flushing 
village, near the “ Black Stump School House.”-The 
two other smaller houses are on Barclay-street, and those 
pictured above are on Franklin Place, in Flushing. Un¬ 
til sold and delivered, as they probably soon will be, any 
one can examine them by applying to Stephen F. Good¬ 
ing,Esq.,Superintendent, usually to be found at Mr. Judd’s 
residence, in Flushing—if previous appointment be made. 
Cost, —This depends very much upon the style of 
finish, outside and in, as well as upon the price of lum¬ 
ber, brick, lime, labor, etc. The houses above described 
were built under favorable circumstances. Eight were 
carried on together, securing the advantage of economy 
in the division of labor and use of machinery, in the 
wholesale purchase of materials,etc., and every thing was 
“cash down,” which always reduces the cost. The 
following is a copy from the account-book for one house 
first described above: Digging cellar and grading, $42*; 
cistern, $37; stone sills for door and windows, $9; ma¬ 
son’s brick-work for cellars and chimneys, including 
materials, $244 (brick $9 per 1,000); lath and plastering 
(hard white finish throughout), cornices, center-pieces, 
etc., $364*; timber, lumber, including moldings, etc., and 
delivery, $560* ; carpenter's work, $417; stairs, newels, 
piazza steps and railing, $116*; vault and privy, lattice 
around it, and grape-arbor, $76*; painting, $203; felt for 
lining siding, $12; windows, sash, glazing, frames, and 
blinds (unpainted), $168; doors, $67; tinning roof, piazza, 
window-caps, and leader pipes, $108*; gas-pipes through¬ 
out house, and to street curb, $36**; marble mantle, 
$25* ; summer piece, $7*; heater-pipes, iron lath and 
registers, $30**; hardware, as nails, hinges, locks, bolts, 
etc., $106; sidewalks, S24 1 ** ; picket-fence and painting, 
and board fence in rear, $110** ; cartage and freight, 
$37; iron sink and cistern-pump and pipe, $16; drains, 
etc., to street sewers, $60**; cleaning, and coal for dry¬ 
ing, $16**; interest and insurance while building, $89 ; 
sundry small items not included above, $14. Total, 
$2,993, exclusive of land. The items marked* would be 
materially modified by locality, and by style of house and 
finishing; while the items marked ** could be thrown 
out entirely in ordinary country houses. In many locali¬ 
ties, a plain dwelling, having all the room of this one, 
could be put up for considerably less than $2,900. With 
stone and sand at hand, and with shingle roof, $150, or so, 
would be saved in these two items alone. 
A smaller house, 21x28 feet, with the rooms a little 
smaller, but otherwise entirely like the above, will cost 
$2,500 to $2,600. The figures are not all in yet. The 
cost of these could be considerably reduced, as noted in 
the starred * and ** items above. The Farm-House, 
21x28 feet, with attic, but omitting the double-starred ** 
items and some others, and having some of the mate¬ 
rials on hand, cost $2,100 to $2,200. Another $100 to $200 
could be saved in marble mantle, summer-piece, interest, 
cartage, etc. A very commodious dwelling can be put 
up of this size for just about $2,000 for the house alone. 
Building; and S'liutcUing Stacks. 
—A correspondent at White Plains wonders why we do 
not build good, large stacks of hay and thatch them. We 
have often asked ourselves the same question, but with¬ 
out getting any satisfactory answer. There are probably 
several reasons. Labor is scarce and high; and hay, 
vihen the country was new, brought a low price, as com¬ 
pared with labor, hence it did not pay to take that 
care of it which is practised in Europe. Then, boards 
were comparatively cheap, and enterprising farmers 
found it more economical to build barns for storing hay 
than to take the trouble of making good stacks and 
thatching them. The poor, enterprising farmers were 
the only ones that built stacks, and they had not the skill 
or the energy to build good ones and thatch them. Now, 
boards are costly and hay commands a good price, and it 
would pay well to take pains to build good stacks and 
thatch them. For our own part, we prefer barns; but 
not having sufficient barn room the past season, we have 
thatched all our hay-stacks, and can confidently recom¬ 
mend the practice. We hope never again to let a stack 
of hay go without thatching. A stack, if of good size, 
can be thatched for less than 25 cents per ton, and the 
hay keeps quite as well as in a barn. 
Crops that will Stand. Drouth,— 
J. B. Wright, of Idaho, writes: “ I have a nice tract of 
land, deep soil, which through April, May and June is in 
good condition ; after that, there being no rain in this 
country, it dries out to the depth of eight or ten inches, 
and only a little moist below that. I would like to know 
what would be best to sow on it for either hay or pas¬ 
ture. Would clover roots die under such circumstances?” 
—We think not. If the land was mulched, it would do 
much towards checking evaporation and retaining mois¬ 
ture. If the land was subsoiled, the clover roots would 
go deep into the ground, and stand considerable drouth. 
But of all forage crops, lucerne is probably the best to 
withstand drouth. The tap-roots frequently go down 
several feet into the earth, and if the land is rich enough, 
and the surface is kept free from weeds, an enormous 
growth of green food or fodder can be obtained. 
Prcservadion of Timber, Water, 
and Game. —An admirable suggestion comes from the 
Syracuse Standa ;which every agriculturist, merchant, 
and political economist in the State of New York ought 
to second, and to consummation. It involves, as 
we understand it, the proper supervision, care, judicious 
cutting and marketing of the timber on these immense 
tracts of swamp and timber land in the Counties of Es¬ 
sex, Lewis, Herkimer, St. Lawrence, Franklin, and Ham¬ 
ilton ; the prime object being to preserve the water for 
the canals of the State, the timber being secondary. The 
result would be, that the timber would be of the first im¬ 
portance in less than 25 years—that the game, elk, deer 
fur-bearing animals, birds, and fish, would be second 
in importance and profit to the State—and that valuable 
as is the water for canal and river navigation, it would 
occupy the third*placo as regards the State finances. 
'Flarec Bffoi'scs. Abreast oia :> Mow¬ 
ing-Machine.— II. E. II. We know of no way of 
doing it without having two poles. It must be very 
heavy grass, or a poor machine, that needs three horses. 
Better let one of the horses rest while the other two are 
on the machine, and change at dinner-time and lunch. 
Preparing I.and for at ttarden.- 
“Z. F. II.,” of Illinois, writes: “I want to prepare 
ground for a garden, and have but little barn-yard ma¬ 
nure, but a good many ashes, and can get lime at $1.25 per 
barrel. My land is clay. Would subsoiling be permanent¬ 
ly beneficial? Have any quantity of forest leaves handy. 
Now, what course should I pursue to bring my ground 
into proper condition First, dig some holes, three 
feet deep, in different parts of the land, and if water 
comes in and remains, the land needs underdraining, and 
you cannot have a good garden until it is thoroughly 
drained. Make a compost of the leaves and manure, 
turning it over from time to time, to favor, fermentation. 
Better buy manure than lime at the price named. Use 
the ashes freely,—say one bushel on a square rod, and 
work them thoroughly into the soil. Plow, cultivate, 
harrow and plow again, and then cultiivate and harrow 
and work the land until it is reduced to as fine tilth as 
possible, and then plow in the composted manure. Keep 
the crops clean, and as soon as you have an opportunity, 
plow, and keep plowing as often as possible. With clay 
land, this is the great secret of having a good garden. 
