288 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
* Fig. 1 . —FRONT ELEVATION. 
No. 9—A House costing 1 $2,200 to $3,000. 
This house we designate as No. 9 of the series mainly 
designed by Mr. Judd, and already tested or being test¬ 
ed by him. It will come within the range of a great 
number of families. The variation in cost will depend 
partly upon location and price of labor and materials, 
and more upon the style of work, cornices, moldings, 
plumbing, whether basement he finished or not, etc., etc. 
The variation may indeed go further, say from $1,800 to 
$3 ,500, without materially changing the general plan or 
size. A careful estimate, at the prices given in our July 
number, page 248, makes this house, in fair style and finish 
with good moldings, and the plumbing described below, 
cost about $2,800, without the land. In none of the plans 
thus far given, has special provision been made for a 
sleeping room on the first floor, as is customary in most 
farm dwellings. The stratum of airnear the ground is al¬ 
ways unhealthful, especially at night. Fogs, dampness, 
and malaria abound near the soil. We see heavy fogs 
along the ground when the air is clear at the bight of 10 
to 15 feet. The same reasons that lead invalids and 
health seekers to go to the mountains or elevated locali¬ 
ties, should always take lodgers to a second or third 
story at night. An invalid, too feeble to be daily moved, 
and requiring constant attention, may he necessarily 
placed upon the first floor—though by no means the best 
place for a feeble person—and a first floor bed-room may 
be indispensable in some cases, though it would usually 
"be preferable to give up the parlor or sitting-room to such 
a person, temporarily.—All the outer walls are filled in 
with brick between the studding. The siding is the 1-inch 
thick “Novelty,” described in fig. 6 of our Marcli number. 
Fig. 1 —Elevation. —The engraving gives the 
general style and appearance, as nearly as the artist can 
do so from the builder’s minute drawings, which are 
plain lines (not in perspective). The basement is 
Fig. 2.— BASEMENT.—FLOOR PLAN. 
mainly above ground, for reasons here and previously 
given. Three or four extra steps elevate the oc¬ 
cupants at all times above the damp soil. For flat 
prairies, or other localities exposed to very violent 
winds, the house is proportionately too high. In such 
cases the basement may be lowered, and the attic be 
omitted, though the latter is always desirable, and adds 
but little to the cost, while it furnishes much store room 
and two or more sleeping rooms if needed. The base¬ 
ment, floors, ceilings, roofing, doors, windows, etc., cost 
no more for a house 20 to 25 feet high, than for one only 15 
to 20 feet high. The cornice, it will he seen, extends 
well out a great help to the appearance of most houses. 
Hie appearance can be materially improved by more 
brackets, and by dentals on the cornice ; by heavier mold¬ 
ings, window caps, etc. The roof is covered with tin, 
which is nearly as cheap as shingles now, (SJ4 to 9*4c. per 
foot,) and cheaper in some places. (For some styles of 
brackets, etc., etc., see our June number, page 208.) 
Fig. S—Basement.—Hight in clear 7>4 feet. Walls 
of brick, 8 inches, with an air-space all through the mid¬ 
dle, except where tie-bricks are thrown across. The 
whole Basement maybe left in one room, as a cellar, with 
three or four piers of brick or locust posts firmly set on 
sunken, flat stones, to support the girders and partition 
walls above. The dotted lines show a good arrangement 
of basement rooms that may be made at first, or which 
can be put in readily afterwards if the means permit, or 
if the enlargement of the family require more room. 
The stairs and windows and fireplaces (/ and g) should be 
adapted to this possible or probable use of the basement. 
In this case D would be the Dining-room, A the Kitchen, 
Cthe Cellar, E a large Pantry, B a Hall, F the rear en¬ 
trance. Or, if desired, simply the room A may be finish¬ 
ed off as a laundry or wash-room, or as a kitchen witli a 
dumb-waiter, to he carried up, say at dw, or to whichever 
one of the rooms above is to be used as a dining-room. 
Fig. 3 — First Story. — Hight in clear, 9 feet. 
A careful examination of the engraving will show the 
general arrangement, the economy of space, the “ saving 
of steps” iii the cooking, and other items of work, the 
provision for closets and pantries, c, c, C, c, etc. The 
Bay-windows add greatly to the apparent as well as real 
size of the rooms, and are ornamental to the exterior. 
The main hall and kitchen would be improved by adding 
fi to 12 inches to the width of the house, where great 
economy is not studied, but they arc of fair and convenient 
size, as indicated.-It will be noted that the doors, 
sink, pump, stationary wash-trays, and large pantry are 
placed near together to save steps. A cooking range, r, 
is intended, hut a place for the copper boiler was over¬ 
looked. It was intended to put it by the side of the 
chimney where the door into the dining-room is now 
placed, and have that door the other side of the chimney 
where the closet is located ; hut that made the distance 
too great from the dining-room table to the kitchen sink. 
The chimney can well he placed a foot or so nearer the 
front of the house, and leave room between that and the 
door for the copper boiler. The exact location of every 
thing should be considered mid decided upon before 
starting the foundations.-The rear, outside platform 
may be covered, or not, as desired. The stairs to the 
basement may be entered from the kitchen, or from the 
front hall when the basement is finished fora dining-room. 
There is sufficient head-room under the stairs to the 
second story.-Aft, in the Parlors, indicates a hell-pull 
to the kitchen. By passing the wire down and along the 
basement ceiling, a bell may be also attached in the base¬ 
ment kitchen (A, fig. 2). The stationery wash-tubs and 
sink are supplied with cold-water cocks from the pump, 
and hot-water cocks from the boiler. The force-pump 
Fig. 4. —SECOND STORY.—FLOOR PLAN. 
draws water from the cistern or well, and when needed 
forces it into the tank placed in the Attic or elsewhere. 
Fig. 4—Second Story.—Hight in clear, 8)4 feet. 
The Hall, H ., is lighted either by sash in the upper half 
of the doors, gd, gd , or by head-lights over these doors, 
which, if swung on hinges or pins, also serve as venti¬ 
lators. (Ventilators, by the way, are to he placed in all 
rooms in both stories, with fines in the walls to carry the 
air to the attic.) Where needed, the flues may he carried 
through beams or girders, by piercing these witli sundry 
auger holes for the passage of air, boring so as not to weak¬ 
en the timbers too much. With the “Novelty Siding,” 
firmly nailed on, a house is very strong, even though the 
timbers he very light, or weakened by cutting or boring. 
--It will he seen that of the four larger chambers each 
has one or more closets. The room J will admit a 3-4 
bed, or, it may be used for a bath-room or store-room, 
F and G may have mantels and fireplaces, or simply 
holes into chimney-flues, for stoves.-In G , the wash- 
sink, w , may be supplied with hot and cold water.-The 
stairs to the Attic are necessarily quite steep to afford 
head-room under the roof. The water-tank to catch water 
from the roof or receive it from the pump, for supplying 
the boiler, etc., is to be placed in the Attic, or if that be 
not raised high enough, it may be placed over the stairs, 
occupying the upper part of the second story. It may be 
of any desired length and width, and any where from 20 
inches to four feet in depth. The larger it is, the less 
pumping up of water will there he. Water comes in from 
the roor, and when the tank is full, the surplus runs over 
through a pipe to the cistern. Wherever a Tank is placed, 
stronger or double studding should always he carried up 
from the basement, to support it firmly and safely.- 
Bell-pulls, Aft, to Kitchen, are located in A’and G, and in 
G a speaking tube, Sk, to the kitchen, and, Sd, to the 
front door, as described previously, for other houses.- 
Blind windows are necessary back of the chimney, at the 
left of the Parlor, and of the Chamber F... In order to 
fully appreciate this plan, one will need to consider the 
many items taken into account, such as the least possible 
building of outer walls for the same space, the saving of 
steps in the arrangement of the working-rooms and ap¬ 
paratus, the securing of an abundant supply of closets or 
pantries, the provision for finishing off the basement in 
whole, or in part, whenever it may he desired, without 
much disturbance to the rest of the house and at small cost. 
♦ ---- *--- 
Dangerous Oils in Delaware.— 
The Council of the City of Wilmington, Del., appointed 
a committee of competent and disinterested citizens to 
examine the oils offered for sale. They presented an in¬ 
teresting account of their experiments, and summed up 
with the conclusions which wc append, believing that 
the subject cannot be too frequently brought to public 
attention. Did a disease maim and destroy so many vic¬ 
tims in a year as does unsafe oil, nearly every family 
would have a preventive or remedy at hand, at any cost. 
The preventive in the case of coal oils is a very cheap 
and simple one—let them alone. The following are the 
conclusions of the Wilmington Committee: “1. That 
Ocean Oil, Sunlight Oil, and Combination Fluids ignite 
at very low temperatures... 2. Their vapors, when mixed 
with common air, arc explosive.... 3. They spread con- 
