334r 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
lips of the check-rail—this would effectually shut 
out all drafts of air, and make the unsightly and 
impracticable “weather-strip” unnecessary. All 
stairs should have li strings, and treads, and f ris¬ 
ers, and should be so housed, glued, and keyed, as 
to make them solid ; squeaky stairs are abominable, 
and even when assured of their safety, one feels an 
instinctive suspicion of danger, and will look for 
treachery in every part of the house. Black wal¬ 
nut paneled newel, molded rail, and fluted balus¬ 
ters, are intended for the principal flight of stairs. 
Setting the niche is a part of the stair-builder’s 
work, and should always be included in his estimate 
for stairs of this character. The trimming of the 
hall, dining-room, and parlor, are of clear pine, the 
architraves are 8 inches wide, and “ double-mold¬ 
ed,” with paneled back to each window. Base 7- 
inch and molded. All other rooms have 5-inch 
“single trim,” with back molding, and base to 
match. All doors paneled aud molded ; all room- 
doors have mortice locks, and closet doors have 
rim locks, all with brass holts and keys ; knobs and 
escutcheons of porcelain, and all saddles are of hard 
wood. All parts of this house that are usually 
painted, should have two coats of paint of the best 
materials, and of such colors as shall suit the owner. 
All hard wood, such as the stair-rail, bath-room fin¬ 
ish, and saddles, should have two coats of linseed- 
oil Cost.—Contractors everywhere differ in 
their estimates for work of any kind. These differ¬ 
ences are sometimes the result of some peculiar 
circumstance, but most generally they arise 
through some misapprehension of fact, either the 
plans are incomprehensible, or the description of 
them ambiguous, leading to a variety of interpre¬ 
tations, and consequently a variety of prices, some 
of which are too low, and some too high. The 
low man who usually proposes to do the best work 
and the most of it, gets the job, and executes the 
work in accordance with his preconceived ideas, 
gets his money, and leaves the owner in possession 
of something he did not expect. No one can know 
the extent and character of the work better than 
the projector of them, who should be equally quali¬ 
fied to give exact estimates of quantities, and cost 
of everything connected with their thorough de¬ 
velopment and execution, and thus truly fulfill his 
mission as the architect of the works. Cost is one 
of the most interesting features in any project, and 
no plan is hardly worth considering that does not 
comprehend in some way the expense of its execu¬ 
tion. Builders, and others interested in such plans, 
will appreciate the detailed estimates, as furnish¬ 
ing the key to the whole plan, supplying the need¬ 
ed information as to the real quality and character 
of the work : Estimate. 
62 ym cln Rxcavation, 25c. per yard.$15.50 
111,1100 hard ltrick, furnished and laid, @ $15 1000. 195.00 
700 yards I.aili and Plastering, ® 35c. per yard.245.00 
Hi feet Slone Steps, <ii 10c. per foot. 12.80 
24 feet Stone Sills, <a 30. per loot. 7.20 
2,300 feet Timber, <3 2 Jfe. per foot. 51.75 
Viz. 2 Sills, 4x7 in. x'M fr. long. 2 Plates, 4x6 in. x 24 ft. l'g. 
2 Sills. 4x7 in. x 28 ft. long. 2 Plates, 4x6 in. x 28 ft. Pg. 
4 Posts. 4x7 in. x20ft. lonjj. 1 flirt, 4x8 in. x',’8 ft. long. 
2 Ties, 4x(i in. x 24 ft. lone. 30 Beams. 3x7 in. x24 ft. l'g. 
2 Ties, 4x6 in. x 28It. long. 4 Valleys, 3x7 in.x!2 ft. l’g. 
400 Wall Strips, 2x4 Inches xl3 feet long, a 16c. each_ 64.00 
230 Novelty clear Siding Boards, @ 38c. each . 87.40 
175 pounds Tarred Paper, @ 5c. per lb. 8.75 
150 tongued and grooved Flooring, @ 35c. each. 53.50 
130 Hemlock Koof Boards, ® 20c. each. 26.00 
12 Squares of Tin Hooting, @ $9 per square.108.00 
156 leet Gutters and Leaders, 10c. per foot.15.60 
104 feet Cornice, @ 50c. per loot. 52.00 
1 Bay Window, with blinds, complete. 75.00 
12 plain windows with Blinds, complete, @ $18 each...216 00 
8 Cellar Windows, complete, ® $4 each. . 32.00 
1 Stoop, (except tin as above,) complete. 70.00 
27 Doors, complete, ® $9 each. 243.00 
3 Stairs, complete. 90.00 
2 Marble Mantels, and 4 Shelves on Trusses. 50.00 
Range, Plumbing, Sink, Bath, Water Closet and Pump.35U.00 
Corner Boards, Base, and Shelving. 32.50 
Nails. 20.00 
Cartage, average one mile. 30.00 
Carpenter’s Labor, not included above.250.00 
Painting., . 100.00 
Total cost, complete.$2,500.00 
Science Applied to Farming—IX. 
By Prop. W. O. Atwater, Wesleyan University, 
Middletown, Conn. 
Use of Concentrated or “Ricli” Foods—Econ¬ 
omy and Waste in Mixed Fodder—Nitrogen 
and Digestion. 
In some experiments described in the April num¬ 
ber, (Table 5), oxen fed with barley straw to which 
bean-meal was added, were able to digest about 
forty per cent of the straw* The beau-meal was 
rich in nitrogen, (albuminoids), and supplied the 
lac! of this material in the straw. But if instead of 
bean-meal, they had mixed with the straw, starch, 
which contains no nitrogen, orsome starchy (“ car¬ 
bonaceous”) food as potatoes had been mixed 
with the straw, the result would have been very 
different. The starch, instead of increasing, might 
have diminished the digestion of the straw. The 
case may be put still more strongly. For instance, 
good upland hay contains much more nitrogen than 
straw, in fact so much that cattle will thrive upon 
it and digest all of its digestible material without 
the aid of any concentrated food. Clover is still 
richer in nitrogen. Mix with the hay or clover 
some albuminoid substance as gluten, or some ma¬ 
terials rich in nitrogen as beans or oil-cake, and the 
animals will still digest them completely and with¬ 
out waste. But let the gluten he replaced by starch 
or “ carbonaceous” foods, and much of the nutri¬ 
tious material of the hay or clover will pass off as 
excrement, which, with nitrogenous foods, or with 
no admixture, would have been digested. Now if 
a tailor cuts cloth and linings for a coat so as not 
to use all the material the patterns will allow, he 
wastes cloth. If a farmer so deals out food to 
his stock that part of the digestible material is not 
digested, there is likewise loss. There is a great 
deal of such waste in the ordinary feeding of stock, 
and much of this comes from not having sufficient 
nitrogen in the food to secure complete digestion. 
In the scarcity and costliness of hay and clover, 
farmers are coming to feel more and more the ne¬ 
cessity of using oil-cakes, beans, peas, grains, roots, 
and other concentrated or “ rich ” foods. To know 
how to use these so as to make the most of them 
and of the coarser foods they are mixed with, is a 
very important matter. 
This subject has been studied in a large number 
of feeding trials at the German Experiment Sta¬ 
tions. As almost no detailed accounts of these 
have to my knowledge ever appeared in the Eng¬ 
lish language, I will describe some of them. First, 
however, let me say that the experimenters find it 
necessary to distinguish between the more digesti¬ 
ble foods as grains, roots, bran, oil-cake, etc., and 
the less digestible ones, as hay, straw, chaff, and 
green fodder. The former are called “concentrated” 
and the latter “ coarse ” or “ crude materials.” In 
order to unite these coarse and concentrated foods 
in fodder most profitably, it is important that the 
mixtures contain the right proportions of nitrogen, 
as has been explained and is shown by 
Experiments on tile Influeiiec of Albuminoids 
and Carbo-hydrates upon Digestion. 
These are generally made with oxen, cpws, sheep, 
and goats. The plan is to determine how much 
they will digest from hay or clover alone by feed¬ 
ing these without any admixture.* The effect of 
* For explanation of those digestive experiments see 
No. IV of these articles, in April Ameiican Agriculturist. 
albuminoids or carbo-hydrates on the digestion is 
learned by simply adding some nitrogenous sub¬ 
stance as gluten, or non-nitrogenous substance as 
starch, and noting the result. Oftener, however, 
the more common concentrated foods are used in¬ 
stead of gluten and starch. Beaus or oil-cake, for 
instance, are selected for nitrogenous, and po¬ 
tatoes for non-nitrogenous materials. If these 
concentrated foods are not of themselves com¬ 
pletely digestible, due allowance is made for the 
substance they contribute to the excrement. 
The albuminoids are found to be without effect 
upon, or to favor, digestion. The carbo-hydrates, 
tend to decrease digestion. And what seems very 
strange, it is chiefly the albuminoids and the fiber, 
(cellulose), whose digestion is hindered by the car¬ 
bo-hydrates. This is illustrated by some experi¬ 
ments made with sheep by Shulze and Marcker, 
at the Station at Weende, in Germany. The ani¬ 
mals (wethers) received during one period about 
2 lbs. of hay, and during another, 2 lbs. of hay and 
s lb. of starch per head per day. Notice carefully 
the results in the figures below: 
Table 15. Per cent of Ingredients 
of Hay Digested. 
Daily Ration for each Sheep ,-*-, 
Albuminoids. Fiber. 
2 lbs. Hay.54.1 60.2 
2 lbs. Hay -)- \ lb. Starch.31.7 54.3 
Of every 100 pounds of albuminoids contained in 
the hay fed alone, the sheep digested 54 pounds. 
But when the starch was added, they digested only 
31$ pounds. So from every 100 parts of crude fiber 
of the pure hay, the sheep digested 60'/ 6 parts. 
But when the starch was added they digested only 
541 parts (per cent). The effect of the starch then 
was to decrease the digestion of the albuminoids by 
over 12.4 per cent, and that of the fiber by not quite 
6 per eent. And this decrease was not due to the 
starch making the ration larger than they could 
economically dispose of. For during another peri¬ 
od, i lb. of gluten was fed with the hay in the place 
of the starch, and then they digested not only all 
the gluten, but just about as much of the hay as 
when nothing was added. 
Here are some more experiments in which pota¬ 
toes instead of starch, and clover instead of meadow 
hay, were employed. They were made with sheep 
at Hohenheim, by Dr. Wolff. Two series were per¬ 
formed, marked A and B. 
Talile 16 . 
Daily Ration fed to each 
Siieep. 
Out of every 100 lbs. 
of the following sub¬ 
stances contained in 
the clover, the ani¬ 
mals digested the 
number of pounds 
set under each, viz.: 
$ o 
-rt b 
. 
ssl.'co e 
Albumi¬ 
noids. 
Crude 
fiber. 
Other 
Carbo- hy¬ 
drates. 
•§:§ 
^ 1 
Series A. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
2 lbs. clover alone. 
63.7 
51.2 
67.4 
1 : 4.3 
2 lbs. clover + 2 lbs. potatoes 
57.7 
48.4 
65.9 
1 : 5.2 
2 lbs. clover -f- 4 lbs. potatoes 
50.5 
45.5 
62.8 
1 : 0.0 
1 lb. clover -f 4 lbs. potatoes. 
45.7 
43.3 
61.3 
1 : 6.6 
1 lb. clover -{- (i lbs. potatoes 
Series D . 
46.4 
44.8 
60.5 
1 : 6.8 
2 lbs. clover alone. 
65.0 
50.1 
74.6 
1 : 5.9 
2 lbs. clover + 2 lbs. potatoes 
56.5 
50.1 
60.1 
1 : 6.8 
2 lbs. clover -j- 4 lbs. potatoes 
37.0 
47.2 
04.5 
1 : 9.4 
Now look along down the column of albuminoids 
and crude fiber, and notice how the potatoes de¬ 
creased the digestion of these in the clover. In A, 
with no admixture, out of every hundred parts of 
albuminoids, G3 7 / 10 parts were digested. With 4 lbs. 
of potatoes added only 50‘/ii per cent, and with 6 
lbs. of potatoes only 46 2 / 5 per eent were digested. So 
with the fiber, 4 lbs. of potatoes reduced the diges¬ 
tion from 51>/a to 45>/ 2 per eent. Notice now the 
series B. The potatoes have again decreased the 
digestion of the albuminoids and fiber of the clover. 
With 4 lbs. of potatoes, the digestion of albumin¬ 
oids falls from 65 to 37 3 / 6 per cent, and that of fiber 
from 50 to 47 Vd. The decrease is greater than in A. 
The effect of the potatoes is worse than before. 
Why is this? We saw that starch decreases diges¬ 
tion, and that albuminoids either act indifferently 
or aid it. If this be true, then of two kinds of po¬ 
tatoes the one which contains the less nitrogen and 
the more starch, ought to reduce digestion the 
