‘iVv* 
EXCELSIOR 
83.00 PER YEAR. 
Single Ao., Eight Cent*. 
NEW YORK CITY AND ROCHESTER, N. Y, 
41 Park Row, New York 
83 UufT»lo St., llochcuter. 
FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, MAY 29,1809 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1300. by D. D. T. Moor s. to the ClorkN oiliui; of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.] 
together with mortice and tenon, securely 
pinned. The joist gains should be live 
inches deep front the top of the sill, and two 
inches back. The joist, when ten feet or 
longer, should be two by eight,, framed to lit 
the joist gains In the sills, and have one or 
two tiers of bridging; this is frequently neg¬ 
lected, but it adds materially to the stiffness 
of the floor, and is of small expense. 
Above, the sills l would recommend the 
balloon frame as the strongest, most economi¬ 
cal and simplest. The corner, window and 
door studs should be four by four; all others 
two by four ; and Lhu corner, door and win¬ 
dow studs may lx; two by four, doubled 10 
the height of the doors and windows. 
The best way is to frame them with a 
tenon at the bottom, to enter a mortice In 
the sill, though some who wish to build very 
cheaply, simply toe-nail the stud to the sill. 
The height of the story is a matter for 
each individual to determine, but nine feet 
would be as low as I should wish the lower 
story to he. 
The second floor joist should run cross¬ 
wise of the building, and should he notched 
on to a ribbon. This ribbon is simply a 
strip of one-inch board, four inches wide, 
let into the inside of the studs so that the 
top of it will coinu one inch above the lower 
line of the joist, and then be securely nailed. 
The joist should also be nailed to the studs; 
this forms a secure resting place for the joist. 
The height of the building and pitch of 
the root are matters depending so much on 
local circumstances that nothing need he 
said regarding them. The outside of the 
building should he sheathed over with one 
thickness of one - inch hoards. If of even 
thickness, they may be put on rough; but it, 
is better, it convenient, to have them run 
through a planing mill, bringing them to an 
even thickness. Outside of these put your 
siding or clapboards; this, with good lath 
and plaster, will ordinarily make a warm 
house; but if the location be exposed much 
to winds, or is otherwise in a bleak locality, 
iL may be also boarded on the inside of the 
studs, then furrings nailed on, anil lath and 
plaster on those. 
Inclosed I give section drawing illustrat¬ 
ing the framing described.— b. 
half inch wide. Nail these to inside of stud¬ 
ding three inches from the face; then lay the 
brick on edge, slushing at the end, thus key¬ 
ing with mortar on each side of the strip— 
the first course to he laid flat. A vacuum is 
thus formed on either side the brick wall, 
and therefore must be dry, if you want a 
comfortable frame house in any climate, this 
is thu way to have it. 1). P. McK. 
Davenport, Towa, Muy, 1809. 
ural 
CARRIAGE HOUSE AND STABLE, 
BY J. WELKINSON, 
The engraving, front elevation, shows 
doors of the rectangular, carriage house 
portion of the building; also door to hay loft. 
The carriage house doors are folding, and 
open outward, as they can be made closer 
when hung on hinges than when hung on 
rollers; and as it is desirable that ail doors 
and windows should be as close as practica¬ 
ble, that they may not affect the ventilation, 
the ingress of which is provided for by a 
subterraneous air duct, seen at A, in the 
ground plan. 
An experience of eight years with this 
mode of ventilation, lias satisfied the writer 
that it is nearer perfect than any other yet 
discovered, and that it is equally adapted to 
any description of building in which a 
thorough and constant change of the air and 
a uniform temperature is desired. 
The posts are sixteen feet in length; the 
ceiling of the stable is nine feet in the clear, 
with storage in the loft for twelve tons of hay. 
The oat bin ia a cylinder of one hundred 
bushels capacity, around which circular 
stairs are built. Its location could not he 
more convenient, as six horses can be fed 
grain with walking hut fourteen feet, on ac¬ 
count of the six stalls being with the head 
end around a semicircle of sixteen feet di¬ 
ameter. This circular area is open to the 
cupola, and being supplied with air through 
the floor, under the stairs, and the animals 
all breathing into a common center directly 
under the egress, the air is constantly changed 
without a perceptible current, and it is 
nearly at the temperature of the earth below 
the frost and solar influence; no doors or 
windows need be opened. 
By reference to the plan, it will be seen 
that the stall partitions are radial. The 
stalls are live feet in width in front, and 
eleven feet at the rear end. The stalls V, 
and VI, are arranged with strong gates hung 
to the wall of the building, in a line with the 
stall partitions, which, when closed, as seen 
in stall VI, form spacious, convenient box- 
stalls. There is no partition between the 
carriage house, VII, anil the stable portion of 
the building, except that formed by the stall 
partitions and the gates closed, us seen in 
stall VI. 
The ventilation is so effectual that the air 
of the stable does not alfect the carriage 
house; and it being arranged with three 
drive doors, three pairs of horses to carriages 
may all be driven into the carriage house at 
once, and the doors closed behind them, and 
the horses be taken to their respective stalls. 
There are two harness closets, U, II. 
The rectangular figures in each stable floor, 
are cast-iron drip grates, each covering a 
sink, or pit, into which the urine falls. These 
are all connected by pipes, which all con¬ 
nect with a main inner conduit, laid in the 
ground by way of the stable door. This 
conduit discharges into the manure house. 
The quadrant-shaped figures at the head of 
the stalls, are hinged, iron mangers, which 
may be turned into the feeding passages for 
convenience in feeding, and the mangers may 
he unhinged and removed from the building 
when cleansed. 
The circular figure in the line of the stall 
partitions, is the base of a sheet-iron hay 
tube, which is supported at the height of the 
4 manger, and extends to the upper surface of 
§ tlje loft floor, where it ia supplied with 
\ hay. These tubes have an openiug to each 
p stall, so that one tube supplies two horses, 
?jr thu tube being covered at the top, and 
\ close, except the feeding openings; and the 
i lattice bottom to them protects the hay from 
j air and dust, and is the most perfect and duru- 
P hie hay-ieeding arrangement yet discovered. 
NEW SIDING FOR BUILDINGS 
I inclose you for publication iu the 
Ritual an improved plan for siding frame 
buildings. One inch boards are used, grooved 
ou both edges. An inch hoard costs no more, 
elevation 
Via. I. i-'io. 3 . 
according to its measurement, than a half- 
inch board, and,matched in the way shown, 
a decidedly more substantial and warmer 
siding is secured. Fig. I shows an end view 
of siding nailed against a post. Fig. 2 shows 
an end view also, witli a section of the board 
as nailed to the post or sluil—the boards 
being seven inches wide. The appearance 
of the building so sided is like that of one 
clapboarded. It is a device better deserving 
a patent than nine-tenths of the articles 
patented. j. o. b. 
We are always glad to receive such sug¬ 
gestions as the above — not on our own 
account, simply, hut because we desire the 
Rural to be regarded by our readers as a 
medium for tile exchange of such informa¬ 
tion for their mutual benefit. There are 
hundreds of devices known only to individ¬ 
uals which ought to be used by thousands. 
Thu object of the lattice bottom to thu 
hay tubes, is to preserve the hay seed which 
sheds. It falls into a drawer for the pur¬ 
pose, and the seed thus saved is of excellent 
quality, and the quantity thus collected well 
remunerates for the cost of the arrangement. 
hie. This is independent of tlu» location; 
for, if the location is high, the dirt excavated 
is readily taken care of, and a dry, light 
cellar easily obtained; if, on the oonlrary, 
the ground is level and rather wet, the earth 
excavated is needed to grade up around the 
house, and compensate in some measure for 
the lack of elevations on which to build. If 
the expense of stone is an objection to a 
large cellar, a very convenient one nmy be 
made of brick, circular iu form, built the 
same as a cistern, of a size sufficient to suffice 
the wants of the builder. There are more 
of these circular cellars built iu cities like 
Cleveland, for houses of small dimensions, 
than of all oilier kinds. But with all cellars 
there should he, as essentials, dryness, good 
depth, and thorough ventilation by means of 
windows on opposite sides to allow a circu¬ 
lation of ah. 
An underpinning under the part of the 
house that is not over the cellar, may be 
made by digging a trench of deptli sufficient 
to avoid danger of frost, and from twelve to 
eighteen inches in width; fill this to within 
four inches of the surface with broken stone 
of any description, and thereon build, either 
of brick or stone. Stone is the most dura¬ 
ble; hut hand-burned brick will last for a 
long time. 
HORACE GREELEY’S BARN. 
OUTSIDE BRICK WORK. 
I wish to brick up the outside of a frame. 
The studs are two by four inches, and set one 
foot apart. There are two plans suggested; 
one is, lay the brick, only one course, edge¬ 
wise to the studding, and drive large cut nails 
in the studding and let them extend into the 
wall as it is laid. The other ia to drive 
wrought nails in the studding, and let them 
extend to the outside of the brick and clinch 
down. 
Will you, or some of your numerous read¬ 
ers who have had experience, inform me 
through the Rural, which of these ways is 
best, and if either would be a substantial and 
safe wall, not liable to fall if laid well? th¬ 
is there any better way to cover the frame 
with brick, with only one course? Anysug 
gestions or information would be thankfully 
received. George W. SquiEit. 
Mich., May 11,1869. 
Let such of our readers as have had expe¬ 
rience reply. 
“My barn is a fair success. I placed it on 
the shelf of my hill, nearest to the upper 
(east) side of my place, because a barn-yard 
is a manufactory of fertilizers from mate¬ 
rials of lesser weight; and it is easier to 
draw these down hill than up. I built its 
walls vvluilly of stones gathered or blasted 
from the adjacent slope, to the extent of four 
or five thousand tons, and laid in a box with 
thin mortar of (little) lime and (much) sand, 
filling all the interstices and binding the 
whole in a solid mass, till my walls are 
nearly one solid rock, while the roof is of 
Vermont slate. I drive into three stories — 
a basement for manures, a stable for animals, 
and a story above this for hay, while the 
grain is pitched into t he loft or " scaffold ” 
above, from whose floor the roof rises steep 
to a height of sixteen to eighteen feet. 
There should have been more windows for 
light and uir; but my baru is convenient, 
impervious to frost, and 1 am confident that 
cattle are wintered at a fourth less cost than 
when they shiver in board shanties, with 
cracks between the boards that will admit 
your hand. No part of our rural economy 
is more wasteful than the habitual exposure 
of our animals to pelting, chilling storms, 
ami to intense cold. Building wilh concrete 
is still a novelty, and was far more so ten 
years ago, when I built my barn. I could 
now build bettor and cheaper, but I am glad 
that I need not. T calculate that this barn 
will be abidingly useful long after 1 shall 
have been forgotten; and that, had 1 chosen 
to have my name lettered on its front, it 
would have remained there to honor me as 
a builder long after it had ceased to have 
any other signification.'' 
CARRIAGE ROUSE AND STABLE— GROUND PLAN. 
The cupola is octangular, and has four 
openings, with stationary blinds, and four 
with glazed sash, which thoroughly light the 
hay loft and the feeding passage. 
The building is perfectly lighted and ven¬ 
tilated; there is no light in the harness 
closets, except when the doors are opened. 
It exhibits a pretty elevation from any point 
of view, and is acknowledged by all good 
judges who have examined the plans and 
description, to excel all other plans for a 
carriage house and stable that they have seen. 
If any of the readers of the Rural have a 
better plan of a building for its purposes, I 
hope they will do as I have done, give all 
the benefit of it, as that is the way to pro¬ 
mote general weal. 
Baltimore, Maryland, 1869. 
PRACTICAL BUILDING HINTS. 
I notice you desire information in regard 
to the structure, as well us design, of small 
or tenant houses. Having been engaged for 
many years of ray life in the business of 
building houses, although now engaged iu 
horticultural pursuits, I write you upon the 
subject. 
In the building of houses of the kind 
called for, there are many tilings to be taken 
into consideration — climate, exposure, ex- 
pensivoness of stone, brick and lumber being 
perhaps the most important. 
Commencing at the bottom, if stone is at 
all abundant, a cellar under the whole house, 
or at least a goodly portion of it, is desira- 
RAT AND MICE PROOF HOUSES, 
A profound physician somewhere in New 
Hampshire advises bricking up houses between 
the studs after th<* dap-boardu are ou, and be¬ 
fore lathing and plastering, as u means of mak¬ 
ing u house rat-roof. Tlf n man wants a bouse 
with damp walls— a greater evil than rats—let 
him brick it up in this way; otherwiseohooso 
the lesser of two evils, the ruts. Eds. Rural.)— 
Fartmn' Club Rbpnrl, in Rural of May IB. 
You may have it as dry as a bone if you 
wish, only do it right. I have filled many 
houses in with brick, resulting in a dry wall, 
warm rooms, and rat-proof—thus: Rip a 
lath twice, makiug three strips about one- 
a balloon frame. 
G,Ground Line; X, 8111; J,U, Joist Gains; S, Stud; 
J, Joist; R, Ribbon ; P, Piute : C, J, Ceiling Joints ; 
R, Rafter. 
The superstructure for buildings in this 
locality, (Cleveland,) should have timber sills; 
six by eight is a good size for the wall sills, 
but the cross sills that rest ou piers, and have 
the joist gained into each side, should be 
eight by eight. They should all be framed 
