AEOUT BUILDING, 
SCIENCE AND PRACTICE 
Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
A WORD TO THE BOYS. 
The winter is the season of the year when 
plans should he laid and preparations made for 
building. It is the right time to collect materi¬ 
als, and the earlier in the winter timber is cut 
the better. Building will of course be pretty 
much suspended on account of scarce labor and 
high prices, and yet it is unwise to delay the 
erection of neemru'y buildings, for the want of 
thou may cost more than the extra expense of 
building now. If you have mmfortdbla and con¬ 
venient buildings, wait till the war is over, and 
the war debt reduced, before you build elegant 
ones, and as a general rule, avoid all expenses on 
account of fancy, luxury and show. It Is worth 
while to consider, however, that, in the matter of 
timber and lumber, the diminishing supply will 
be,followed by higher prices. It Is doubtful 
whether, when the war closes, lumber will be 
materially lower, for the present partial suspen¬ 
sion of operations will naturally be followed by 
extensive building then, and this will tend ’to 
raise the cost of men and material. 
It may he very useful for the public to know 
that in building they are not necessarily oonfined 
to the as< of pine and hemlock lumber. Substitutes 
may and must be found. 
It is a notable confession which Professor 
Yoelcker made at a meeting of a farmer’s club 
recently—that “ it had struck him that one great 
objection to public lectures at the present day 
was that scientific men had been trained in a 
different school from that in which the practical 
farmer had been taught. To instruct practical 
men upon a subject in winch they were very 
much in advance of scientific men, he could not 
hope to do. It was decidedly not the object of 
scientific men to endeavor to teach those who, 
all their life-time, had been occupied in a certain 
business, but to carefully investigate facts, to 
sift them, and reduce them to principles, so as to 
become a general store of useful information to 
all those who might come after them.” 
We say this is a notable confession of a scien¬ 
tific man, because it is the first instance we re¬ 
member to have seen where the relations of 
science to practice have been rightly defined, and 
where the wide difference between the purely 
scientific and the practical man has been pro¬ 
perly acknowledged. Now whar is most wanted 
in this country is a clas- of scientific men who 
will .abor hard to bring science into co-operation 
with practice—who shall labor to find and de¬ 
fine the relation of facts and laws to the varied 
industries of men. Then will seieuce, and scien¬ 
tific investigation, find compensation—then will 
facts, science, have something more than abstract 
interest and value. The artist, whether sculptor 
or painter, who.employs his taste and skill in 
beautifying the useful—in adorning what must be 
created , does not starve in a garret. We have in 
our mind, at this writing, worthy examples of 
success where the educated taste and skill of the 
artist has been turned into practical channels. 
And such diversion does not diminish bnt in¬ 
creases the dignity of art. So science must be 
harnessed to the plow, the cultivator, and made 
to do service iu the farm husbandries. And sci¬ 
entific men must put -on this harness, and kelp 
others to put it on. Then shall it be recognized, 
not only for its wonderful and simple beauty, but 
for its far more wonderful and simple power 
Yes, stick to the farm, boys, stick to the farm, 
and the “old home,” too,—it’s a good place, it’s 
a healthy place, it’s a happy place. Give up your 
plan of going to the great city to rise, though it 
be a long cherished one; think! think! of the 
thousands who have gone there to rise, who have 
fallen , 0! so low. 
No matter though your hands are large, rough 
and brawny, if tlielr great, strong muscles vibrate 
to the impulses of a warm and manly heart. No 
matter though your cheeks are too brown and 
rosy to suit the fastidious taste of dame Fashion, 
'tis a substantial color, the foot-prints of health, 
and where there is health there is purity. No 
matter though your brows are dusky—a happy 
hue caught from the March dirges and summer 
winds,— if the great interior remain pure, and 
white, and spotless — if no turning, scorching 
wind has swept over and crisped, and blackened 
the fair mind,— no matter, then, though the 
casket be a little soiled. 
No matter, though you maybe called “awk¬ 
ward” and “country-fied,” think that you and 
yonr manners are quite as good as your city 
cousins, considering the time it took to “get 
yon up.” You learn your etiquette while you 
are acquiring a more substantial knowledge, but 
for a moment take into appreciative considera¬ 
tion the amount of time our city friends must 
certainly expend in learning their rigmarole of 
etiquette, their excruciating folderols, the whole 
programme of which our pet monkey will go 
through, to perfection, only with more dignity 
and ease. 
No matter though you may be called country 
“bomkins” and “greenhorns.” To be sure, 
neither are classical nor desirable nam:-s, yet we 
must admit they have quite as musical a ring as 
“city buck” and -‘know nothing.” No matter 
though your city cousins may laugh at you for 
your acknowledged greenness in the science of 
Broadway. Bear in mind you are quite as much 
at home there, iu their great noisy thoroughfare, 
as they are in the green, quiet country. No 
matter, boys, it is well enongli to have a little 
greenness with the ripeness of earth. 
Never mind the jeer and taunt. Don't let 
your mind believe every picture that is painted 
for you of gilded city life, for not half as bright 
a picture is shadowed by those great bleak walls, 
as is by the elms and maples that stand guard 
around your country home. 
Yes, stick to the farm, boys, stick to the farm. 
Bens enterprising, be as ambitious, as you have 
a mind to, for both work charmingly with agri¬ 
culture, hut stick to the form. 
Lima. Ind.. 1 $<M. Silas McMannus. 
,A XEW ARRANGEMENT OF THE OLD FORM ; PLANNED FOR A TEN INCH HOLLOW BR[CK WALL. CUT STONE 
CAPS AND SILLS, WOOD VERANDAS AND CORNICE, AND A SHINGLE ROOF. 
Our hard-wood forests 
abound in excellent material for the inside work 
of both platu and elegant houses: chesnnt, oak, 
maple, ash, and cherry may cost ft little more in 
labor—far less In paint—and in point of taste 
and elegance are quite in advance of the usual 
style of finish. Oak or maple may be found 
almost everywhere, nud the fine arts will feel 
greatly obliged when they shall come into gen¬ 
eral use, with a little transparent varnish, in 
ceiling up our houses. Red beach should be put 
down among our invaluable woods, should not 
he taken for fuel, but makes excellent studs, 
braces, joists and larger timbers, and indeed 
white beech does very well when it is straight 
and -tmight-grained. Basswood answers well 
for siding, if always kept painted, and ^especial¬ 
ly when cave troughs and projecting eaves keep 
it mostly dry; hut pine tiding and pine shingles 
of good quality are very desirable for good 
buildings. Beech, black and whke ash, oak and 
elm make very good covering for barns and 
other out buildings; the boards should bo scant 
inch, carefully seasoned, keeping the piles even 
to prevent warping, and covering them from the 
rain. Let the boards run up and down, nail 
them well with greased fence nails to prevent 
warping; paint when oil is cheaper. 
Before you buill study your plan well. Every 
building you see on rollers Is evidence of human 
weakness and folly, and yet a great many build¬ 
ings should be on rollers if that would put 
them where they ought to be. Two principal 
ends should be kept iu view—convenience and 
good looks. There is much every way in good 
arrangements. You can afford to spend « good 
deal of time in perfecting your plans, by visiting 
the best models, consulting the highest authority 
and scrutinizing the minutest details. Some 
build, as they marry, in haste, to repent at 
leisure. 
Leaving the inside of houses to Mrs. Stowe 
and others iu that lino of busiuo.-s, I will remark 
that a square building, of all practicable shapes, 
contains the most room according to its outside 
surface. It is the outside surface, that costs. 
Avoid leantos, projections, all wings over one, 
and all peculiar and distorted shapes. When 
pine shingle bring six dollars a thousand, a roof 
should be a good way from the ground, affording 
ample chambers (the best sleeping rooms) in 
dwelling bouhes, and plenty of storage for, hay 
and grain in barns and sheds. More than any 
man can tell, might have been saved since the 
flood, lmd long posts been used iu the place of 
short oues! 
The larger your building, the less it costs in 
proportion to what it holds. .1 half dozen small 
buildings will cost three times as much ast a larger 
one, holding the same amount. . Put two buildings 
together and you save siding and paint for two 
of their sides. Don't put your barns and stables 
near the house, or make them too prominent in 
your landscape. Barns and sheds should bo so 
arranged as to inclose and protect the cattle 
yards, especially ou the windward side, and be 
careful to make the yards small so they can be 
kept well littered and warm. Place the fodder 
iu a convenient situation for feeding, using judg¬ 
ment and skill in all the arrangements. 
Be sure and make every thing permanent and 
Mubstanlinl. 
I Let terry thing be done neatly and in good taste. 
LL member the world is "progressive," and what 
Is just tolerable now, will be quite intolerable a 
years hence. It costr> in ordinary times but 
bttlv to plane, paint, and put on cheap cornices 
for jont buildings. No man has a right to do 
violence to the fine arts. Outrages upon good 
taste ought to be punished by fine or imprison¬ 
ment. Such crimes are generally committed 
without provocation and without excuse. Every 
man under n free government thinks he has a 
right to be his own architect, so lie proceeds to 
do violcn c to the “ rules of art,” just as though 
they were entitled to no consideration or respect. 
Ordinary arpentors and joiners cannot be 
trusted to furnish drafts and designs for houses 
and other important buildings, and the people at 
large arc no better qualified. Distinguished ar¬ 
chitects are apt to bo too fanciful and elaborate. 
I know a religious society that paid *200 for a 
design for a elum-h. They got a castle at one 
cud aud a sort of an Irish railroad shanty at the 
other. I would have made them a draft nearly 
a* bad for twenty shilling.-. Who shall decide 
wheu doctors disagree ? 
’[ he best way 1 can think of to get at it would 
be tor some strong-min dud men or women, of a 
practical turn of mind, full of worldly wisdom, 
k i\e their attention to architecture, studying 
t its principles aud details patiently aud pro- 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker: —As the long 
winter evenings are now present, giving an 
abundance of time for investigating apples and 
cider,"politics and religion, plans for new houses 
and how the_old ones may be improved, permit 
me the privilege of inclosing a sketch of a house 
which I think peculiarly well designed for a 
“Farmer’s Home” — one having all the eouven- 
returned from an extensive tour through 
rope, where he has been investigating the 
departments of Architecture and Mechanical 
Engineering,—and he thinks this design is as 
much entitled to a premium for a Farm House 
as his “ Premium Barn,” a sketch of which, with 
details, was published in your paper some 
years ago. 
ABOUT DRESSING FURS, 
The Rural continues to receive inquiries 
about furs—tanning, dressing, manufacturing, 
Ae. A correspondent of the Scientific American, 
who says he has seen and dressed hundreds of 
thousands of furs of all kinds, both iu London 
and New York, says the process that has beeu 
used for the last thirty years, both in Germany 
and England, is as follows“ When the furs 
come from the hunter, in the raw state, to the 
furriers, they are sorted over and then prepared 
for tanning: the term we use is ‘ leathering.’ 
They arc greased with common grease on the 
leather side, aud Hurt put iu a tub larire 
enough for a man to get into and work easily 
at them. A cloth is then bound around the 
man’s waist so as to keep the steam in the 
tub, and the skins are then worked by the 
feet until warm, which takes an hour or more; 
they are afterwards taken out aud greased .main; 
when the skiu and grease are worked again a 
few handfuls of mahogany sawdust are thrown in 
and worked to leather. When the skins are 
leathered they are taken out and pulled through 
a rope. they are then pickled over night in 
water and sawdust, and in the morning they are 
ready for the flesher. When fleshed they are 
hungup to dry, then greased again, and leathered 
once more; they are then taken out and the fur 
combed, well beaten and drawn over the knife, 
or * pared' as we call it. The skins are again 
put into the tub with plenty of fresh, clean saw¬ 
dust, and worked iuto the sawdust until the fui- 
is perfectly freed from grease. It may be neces¬ 
sary to change it two or three times. The fur is 
then taken out and well beaten and corned, and 
it is then ready for the cutter. This is the way 
all tine furs are dressed, from the muskrat to the 
Russian sable. Buffalo and bearskins are dressed 
iu a somewhat different style, hut still under the 
same general process.” 
CELLAR PLAN. 
iences that can usually be desired in a new resi¬ 
dence, and at tire same time so similar in its 
general plan to many buildings that are consid¬ 
ered a little “old fashioned,” that it will suggest 
what a neat and tasteful residence may readily 
be produced from the present unsightly struc¬ 
ture by a thiu application of a few “green¬ 
backs.” 
This sketch is from the portfolio of Mr. 
J. Edson Sweet, of this city, who has recently 
roof plan. 
The convenience of the stairways, with the 
0 n trances and apartments, anc#*l e.several apart¬ 
ments with each other, male a composition 
peculiarly appropriate for that class of people 
who believe that a penny saved is as good as a 
penny earned, or, to be up with the times, direct 
movements are preferable to the right or left 
obliques. 
If any one should wish the plans reversed or 
the L turned to the opposite side, let them be 
held before a mirror and the sqectre will accom¬ 
modate him without the-necessity of an expen¬ 
sive architect. Very respectfully, 
Syracuse, N. Y., Dec., 1S64. Born Elliott. 
The blast that drove the storm-cloud across 
the heavens shook the oak, and the acorn-eup, 
loosened from its fruit, fell on the pathway. 
The cloud burst; a rain-drop filled the acorn- 
eup. 
A robin, we i ried by the sultry heat of an au¬ 
tumn day, and troubled by the fury of the storm, 
hopped on the path when all was calm, and 
drank of the rain-drop. Refreshed and gladdened 
he flew to his accustomed place in the ivy that 
overhung the poet's window, and there he trilled 
his sweetest, happiest song. 
The poet heard, and, ruing from his reverie, 
wrote a chant of grateful rejoicing. The chant 
went forth into the world, and entered the house 
of sorrow, and uttered its heart-stirring accents 
by the couch of sickness. The sorrowful were 
comforted, the sick were cheered. 
Many voices praised the poet. He said:—“ The 
chant was inspired by the robin’s song.” 
•• I should have sunk into the earth had not the 
acorn-cu.p received me,” said the rain-drop. 
“ I had not been there to receive you, but for 
the angry blast,” said the acorn-cup, 
Aud so they that were comforted praised the 
blast: hut the blast replied. “Praise Him at 
whose word the stormy wind ariseth, and who 
from darkness can bring light, making his mercies 
oftentimes to pass through unseen, unknown, 
and unsuspected channels, and bringing in due 
time, by his own way, the grateful chant from 
the angry storm-cloud! ” 
DISPENSING WITH STEEPING FLAX, 
It appears from the Society of Arts Journal that 
a French manufacturer named Benin has in¬ 
vented what is reported to be a successful method 
of dispensing with the stceping’of flax. After 
the fibers have been crushed iu the ordinary way, 
M. Benin submits them to.a new process, that of 
friction between two channelled tables, which 
have a sideway as well as to-ond-fro motion; iu 
tact, the action is similar to that of rubbing the 
fibers between the palms of the hands, but under 
considerable pressure, and with great, rapidity. 
The fiber is afterward beaten in water, which 
carries off every particle of woody matter, and 
leaves the tlax completely unbroken and In 
parallel masses. The principle of friction tables 
lias been applied hff M. Berlin in other cases, and 
is said to furnish on economical, rapid, and per¬ 
fect mechanical action. 
PRINCIPAL STORE. 
A, Living Room, IS by SI. B, Sitting Room and 
Library, 15 by 15. C, Sick Room, IS by 15. D, Cook 
and Wash Room, 13 .v by 16. E, Bed Room, 10 by 
l,3j£, F, Panfry, 7 by 10. G. Wood Room, IS by 
17. II, Stove Room, 6 by 17. I, Cistern. J. 
Back Stoop, 0 by I t. K, Bath Room, 5 by 9. L, 
Flail, 5N- M, Veranda, S by 35. 
Sensible Max ims. —Never taste anatom wheu 
you arc uot hungry; it is suicidal. 
Never hire servants who go iu pairs, as sisters, 
cousins, or anything else. 
Never speak of your own father as the “ old 
man.” 
Never reply to the epithet of a drunkard or a 
fool. 
Never speak contemptuously of woman-kind. 
Never abuse oik who was once your bosom 
friend, however bitter now. 
Never smile at the expense of your religion or 
your Bible. 
A good word is as soon said as a bad one. 
That groat is ill saved that shames its master. 
No oue is a fool always; every one sometimes. 
Peace with heaven is the best friendship. 
second story 
A, Chamber, 15 by IS. B, Chifuber, lOjtf by 15. 
C. Bed Room, 9 by 13V.. D, Bed Room, 13 by 13a 
E, Bed Room, s\ by 9, F, Hall, 5 feet wide. U, II, 
Clothes Presses. 
fouiidly. Then let them select from the multi¬ 
tudinous shapes wo have, the most convenient 
and comely forms for us to copy. In other words 
we might take the advice of persons, not too 
fanciful ami poetic, who have considered the sub¬ 
ject of architecture, and select a building that 
comes nearest to our wants and tastes and copy 
that. Wo cau’t tell how how an original plan 
would look till the edifice is finished and then it 
Is too late to alter. It is, therefore, safer to fol¬ 
low lu the footsteps of some oue else, and copy 
the most tasteful and convenient building we can 
find. Probably it will bo a good while, before 
the mass of the people can decide discreetly for 
themselves, or find competent advisers. 
Where is the medicine to cure perverted tastes ? 
If a perfect model is furnished how are all the 
Smitus to know that it is the perfect model? 
They will find out just after they agree upon re¬ 
ligious doctrines. In the meantime let architec¬ 
ture be taught iu the schools. Let the people 
become familiar with the best models, l.et pro¬ 
portions and relations, color and contour, engage 
heir daily thoughts. Let minds he enlarged by 
acquaintance with the fine arts generally, by a 
wider range of investigations and by refined and 
elevated contemplations and studies. Slowly 
and by degrees comely slopes rill supplant the 
architectural blunders that lin■ our roadsides. 
We must believe in a “ a tan da rl of taste”—all 
true proportions are as comely n lStV> as iu the 
year oue. Does the oak five hundred years old 
look ridiculous, like the fashiot able bonnet of 
year before last ? Would you slorten the ueek, 
or lengthen the feathers of the dove? Would 
you amend the plumage of the l<rd of paradise? 
Will you ask the ocean, the sett ng sun, and the 
gauzy skies to do more than icpeat their old 
beauties? So our dwellings stall be comely 
through all time if you adopt firms founded on 
true relations, and “the eternal fitness of things.” 
n. T. B. 
“ Bears and Bulls.” — The singular epithets 
of "bears” and “bulls” were first applied to 
speculators ou the Loudon Exchange about 1834. 
Wheu two parties contract, the one to deliveraad 
tho other take stocks ou a future day at a speci¬ 
fied price, it is the interest of the delivering 
party, in the intervening period, to depress 
stocks, and of the receiving party to raise them. 
The former is styled a “ bear,” in allusion to the 
habit of that animal to pull down things with 
his paws, and the latter a “bull,” from the cus¬ 
tom of that beast to throw an object up with 
his horns. 
A Little Girl, who was walking with her 
mother, was tempted by the sight‘of a bosket of 
oranges, exposed for sale in a store, and quietly 
took oue; but afterwards stricken by conscience, 
returned it. After her return home, she was dis¬ 
covered in tears, and on being asked tho cause 
of her sorrow, replied, sobbing. “ Mamma, I 
haven’t broken any of the commandments, hut 
I think I've rre.eked one a little.” She was for¬ 
given. 
A Farm, with its buildings, should be a finished 
section of tho landscape of which it forms a part, 
or an attractive point witliin it. It should bo 
complete in itself—uot dependent upon acces¬ 
sories to support it. 
Water is not a fashionable beverage for drink¬ 
ing your friend’s health, but it is a capital one 
for drinking your own. 
We promise according to our hopes, we per 
form according to our fears. 
! - 
