1875.i American agriculturist. xis 
thoroughly dried, hoth inside and out, before add¬ 
ing the second coat. It must be evident to any one 
that much of the water used in the plastering must 
percolate through and thoroughly saturate every 
part of a house. Sufficient time should be allowed 
for this moisture to pass off, and the whole house 
to become dried out....The nails should then be 
“set,” which will tighten up permanently all the 
laps in the siding, after which the work should be 
properly puttied and the second coat applied. Au¬ 
tumn is the best season to paint, after the extreme 
heat has passed, and insects have disappeared ; the 
process of drying will be slower, and more perfect, 
with less waste by evaporation, leaving a smooth 
solid surface. I am often asked “ what color to 
paint?" Notwithstanding much has been said 
against white for outside painting, and the assur¬ 
ance that there are many cases where white would 
not be suitable, or thought of, yet I believe that for 
suitability and good taste in nine cases out of ten 
very light colors, or pure white are indicated. I 
have known instances where much time has been 
spent to discover a suitable color for a house, where 
nearly all the different pigments were drawn from, 
and after much mixing and testing, the result has 
generallj’ been an unknown and unnamed shade, as 
if everything depended on some sentimental 
“blending with the back ground,” or in other 
words, painting the house out of sight. As a rule 
paint so as to best reveal the true character of 
the building, and this is best done when the colors 
afford the foundation for the natural shadows 
that result from the time and actual projections. 
Cost : The following items, prepared with care, 
embrace the full bill of materials, and labor re¬ 
quired in the construction of this house, together 
with their present cost in the vicinity of New York : 
57 yards Excavation, ^ 20c. per yard.$11.10 
13,'100 Brick, furnished and laid, @ $15 1000. 19.1.00 
500 yards Lath and Plastering, <$ 35c. per yard_ 175.00 
28 feet Stone Stens and Coping. @ 40c. per foot. 11.20 
16 feet Stone Sills, @ 30c. per foot. 4.80 
2370 feet Timber, @ 2Kc. per foot. .. .. 53.81 
viz. 2 Sills, 4x7 in. x3!) ft. long. 6 Posts, 4x7 in. x20 ft. long. 
2 Sills, 4x7 in. x 22 ft. long. 2 Ties, 4x6 in. x 30 ft. long. 
1 Girt, 4x8 in. x 16 ft. long. 2 Ties, 4x6 in. x 22 ft. long. 
1 Girt, 4x3 in. x 8 ft. long. 2 Plates, 4x6 in.x30ft. long. 
26 Beams, 3x7 in. x22 ft. long. 2 Plates, 4x6 in. x 23 ft. l’g. 
' > Jl CiUllJ, «>A I 111. Aid lUII”. y> A IGGL3, OA 4 111. A 1U It. i g, 
400 Wall Strips, 2x4 Inches xl3 feet long, © 16c, each.. 64.00 
200 Novelty Siding Boards, 9% inches, © 38c. each.... 76.00 
160 pounds Tarred Paper, © 5c. per lb. 8.00 
128 tongued and grooved Flooring:, 9% inches, ©35c ea 44.80 
110 Hemlock Boards, © 20c. each.. 2i.Q0 
9% Squares of Tin Hoofing, © 9c. per foot... 85.50 
120 feet Cornice, 30c. per foot. . 86.00 
111 feet Gutter and Leader, 10c. perfoot..... 11.10 
1 Hay Window with Blinds (complete). 75.00 
Materials in Stoop, Lobby, Balcony, Hood, and Cor¬ 
ner boards. 78.00 
8 Windows with Blinds, (complete) © $16 each. 128 00 
4 Cellar Windows, (complete), © $4 each.. 16 00 
24 D.oors, (complete), © $10 each. 240.00 
2 Stairs, (complete). S0.00 
2 Marble Mantels and 4 Pine Mantles.... 75.00 
Base-Boards and Shelving. 25.00 
Nail3, Sink, and Pump...... 34.00 
Cartage, average one mile........ 40.00 
Carpenter’s Labor (not included above). 250.00 
Painting, two coats.. .. .... 100.00 
Extra for Girder Supports, Grading, etc. 60.88 
Total cost of materials and construction.$2,000.00 
Probably the average cost, throughout the coun¬ 
try, may he a little less, as brick and wood are 
cheaper in most localities. Where necessary to 
economize more, some saving may be effected in 
blinds, stone steps, etc., but the small additional 
cost of these will be amply repaid where it can be 
possibly afforded. 
The Element of Pluck. 
People in pecuniary misfortune, in estimating 
their liabilities and resources, seldom consider 
among the latter the element of pluck. The ten¬ 
dency with nearly all unfortunates is to magnify 
difficulties, and undeiTate or wholly forget their 
power to overcome them. A man in good health, 
with unsullied character, need fear no evil, nor be 
robbed of his happiness, no matter how adversely 
things may appear. If he is heavily in debt, and 
can satisfy the community that he is straining 
every nerve and appropriating ail his resources 
to discharge his obligations, there is no danger of 
his losing a well-earned reputation, and there is 
no reason why he should not be cheerful in his 
family and joyous in his own heart. The self-con¬ 
sciousness of integrity, coupled with the approving 
smile of the Father above, should enable a man to 
face every foe and surmount every difficulty. If 
instead of burdensome debt, he is overtaken by fire 
or flood, so that the accumulated comforts of years 
are swept away in an hour, he gains nothing by 
sitting down, folding his arms, and weeping over 
his misfortune. “ Up and at it,” is a familiar, but 
expressive phrase. Pluck is a lever that upheaves 
difficulties. Before a resolute man, the green withes 
of adversity snap like threads of tow. It is not 
enough that a man in trouble has physical force to 
execute, and mental clearness to plan, but behind 
both he needs the impelling power of pluck. The 
steam engine may be ever so perfect and bright, 
the engineer ever so competent, but both would be 
unavailable to draw the long line of cars if steam 
were lacking. Pluck is to a man what steam is to 
the railway train. 
A farmer, a short time ago, came to a well-known 
citizen for advice. He was in low spirits, matters 
had gone wrong with him through loans to friends, 
and speculations outside of his farming business, 
until his debts became exceedingly burdensome. 
Unaccustomed to such interruptions in his hitherto 
unwavering success, his spirits gave way. Brood¬ 
ing over his troubles, he became morose and 
gloomy. He had no cheerful words for family or 
friends. He allowed trifling causes to keep him 
from church, and instead of listening to the en¬ 
couragement of the gospel, he moped on Sundays 
around his house and barns. Wherever he went he 
carried a “liang-dog look,” and whatever he did, 
was done feebly, as though strength and ambition 
were both gone. In this condition of things a 
friend advised him to open his mind to the citizen 
above mentioned, whose long familiarity with tri¬ 
als made him capable hoth of sympathy and coun¬ 
sel. The conversation soon developed the fact that 
the farmer owned a property worth thirty thousand 
dollars, that his entire indebtedness did not exceed 
thirteen thousand dollars, and that his income ex¬ 
ceeded his outgoes, including interest on his in¬ 
debtedness, by one thousand dollars. “ Why,” 
said the citizen, “ have you been disheartened over 
such a condition of affairs as this ? What! a sur¬ 
plus of $17,000, and a net income of $1,000 per year 
to apply to your debts, which will grow less and 
less burdensome as successive payments are made. 
Why, my friend, thousands of poor fellows strug¬ 
gling with debts without any surplus income, 
would be happy to step into your shoes and sing 
like a lark over their good fortune. There is but one 
thing that is the matter with you, my friend, you 
have simply lost pluck! Yes! one other—profess¬ 
ing faith in a Divine Providence, you have also lost 
trust ."—So after many encouraging words on the 
part of the citizen, he bid him good-bye with a 
strong grasp of the hand, and with the parting 
words, “ thank you, sir, I feel better.” And so he 
did ; his eyes were opened to realize that, as in the 
ease of thousands of others, his troubles were im¬ 
aginary. How different the spirit of a furniture 
dealer of my acquaintance, whose entire property 
above ground was recently destroyed by fire in a 
single night. Three buildings, a stock of furniture, 
household comforts, wardrobes, keepsakes, indeed 
everything, so that morning found the family dis¬ 
persed in friendly dwellings with nothing saved but 
the garments in which they fled. 
But see this man’s pluck. In answering a friend’s 
sympathizing letter, he writes : “Your kind letter 
of sympathy at our late mishap was duly received. 
I have so much to tell I hardly know where to be¬ 
gin. Well, thank Providence we are all well, in 
excellent health and full of pluck. We have al¬ 
most forgotten about it, and are tired of talking 
fire, and are on the go-ahead track only. In less 
than 24 hours we had a store rented, and. com¬ 
menced to get ready for a new start. Some folks 
could not understand how I could take it so coolly, 
and if our loss had not been so complete and total, 
I might have been suspected from my coolness 
of having a hand in it. I have been rusting for 
two years, my son ran the business, while I did the 
playing. But now the rust is pretty well rubbed 
off, and I am about as bright as ten years ago.” 
To any one in pecuniary distress, let me suggest 
that the way out of difficulties is not by hang-dog- 
ged-ness, but pluck. C. C. N. 
Science Applied to Farming.—VI. 
By Proe. W. O. Atwater, Wesleyan University, 
Middletown , Conn. 
How Science is Savin* Money and Increasing 
the Profits of Farming—The Proper Time 
for Harvesting Hay and Clover. 
“ Haying time ” is close at hand, and will bring 
with it an opportunity to put in practice some 
principles brought out in previous chapters. And 
while we need Experiment Stations of our own to 
add to our knowledge of these principles, yet the 
recent investigations at the European Stations 
have yielded results worthy of careful attention. 
The proper time to cut hay and clover, depends 
lsf, upon the Feeding Value of the crop gathered ; 
— 2nd, upon the value of the after-growth 3 d, 
upon the value of the roots and stubble left to 
enrich the soil for another crop. 
The Feeding Value depends: First, upon the 
quantity gathered, and Second, upon the greater or 
less proportion of nutritive material it contains.— 
To obtain some definite knowledge concerning 
these points, Dr. Wagner, director of the Experi¬ 
ment Station at Darmstadt, selected a portion of 
a field of red clover, where the growth was uni¬ 
form, and measured three plots, eacli containing 
about 2,300 square feet, (.81 square rods), numbering 
them I, II, III. On May 22nd, just before the clo¬ 
ver began to blossom, plot I was mowed, yielding 
85 lbs. of cured hay. June 13th, when in full blos¬ 
som, plot II was mowed, with a yield of 114 lhs. of 
dry hay. July 1st, near the end of blossoming, 
plot III was £ut, and 128 lbs. of dry hay obtained. 
The gain in 40 days, May 22 to July 1, on 81 
square rods, was 43 lbs., or about 800 lbs. per acre. 
But did the increase of feeding value correspond 
to the gain in weight ? To answer this, Dr. Wagner 
carefully analyzed the several cuttings, and found 
that, as is always the ease, the young succulent 
clover was rich in albuminoids, and contained but 
little crude fiber. But as R grew older, the per¬ 
centage of albuminoids (nitrogen) decreased, while 
the crude fiber as constantly increased. 
Table T. 
I.—Cut May 22. 
II. —Cut Junk IS. 
III. —Cut July 1. 
Yield of Cured 
Hay. 
Organic Sub¬ 
stance in the 
Hay. 
The. Organic Sub¬ 
stance qf the Hay 
contained 
s® 
■So 
<*> . 
^ 5 - 
. 4 
vc* 
< 
lbs. 
Ibs. 
!b8. 
ibe. 
ibs. 
I.—Just before blossom.... 
85 
64.2 
11.8 
21.9 
30.6 
II.— In full briBsom. 
114 
90.5 
12.2 
36.4 
41.9 
III.—Toward end of blossom 
128 
100.2 
12.8 
42.8 
46.9 
Let us study this table carefully. We have pre¬ 
viously learned that the albuminoids (3d column) 
are the most valuable, and the crude fiber the least 
