J PRICE SIX CENTS, 
I 82.50 PER YEAR. 
NEW YORK, AND ROCHESTER, N. Y„ JAN. 27, 1872 
VOL. XXV. NO. 4. 
WHOLE NO. 1148, 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by D. D. T. MOORE, in the office of the librarian of ConirreBs, at Washington.] 
BUILDING FOUNDATIONS 
intends building the coming season, insist 
that his stone foundation wall be laid three 
inches or three and a-half inches larger out¬ 
side than the sills; if his house is to be of 
wood—or the brick walls, if of brick—so as 
to bring the center of the stone work under 
the center of the sills or walls. Then pro¬ 
tect the top of the stone work by a water- 
table which need only project, two inches 
over the face of the 
wall. 
~^ If your builder says 
^ that that is of no use, 
tell him “ he dou’t 
pn know what he is talk¬ 
ing about,” and ought 
to learn. If he or you 
think it wilt not look 
M r as well, it is because 
-g., ■ - your taste is wrong 
___ aud not the looks of 
agaSyaSl the foundation. Was 
Bar ’ aifttL —- ever a really good 
S&'ftisgr 1 ' ~ — building seen that did 
not have a visible and 
t ^ 10 conditions, and if 
more, I will pay It out 
' of my own pocket— 
satisfying himself of 
the advantage of a 
- _~ 3= thin foundation, with 
the weight central, 
over a thick one with 
the weight all ou one 
side, may easily do so 
by laying two blocks of wood of dillerent sizes 
in the mud; let one be three or four inches 
square and the other eight or teu inches 
square. Now, by stepping on the small one 
exactly in the center and the same distance, 
say two inches, from the edge of the larger 
one, they will get a better idea through their 
feet than is possible to get through some peo¬ 
ple’s heads by a volume of words or a lifetime 
of argument. As to the looks, nothing can 
look worse, or in fact more ridiculous, than 
to see a common wood dwelling with pilas¬ 
ters on the corners and bases complete, all 
projecting outside the 
foundations — a part 
that stands on noth¬ 
ing!—a part that sup¬ 
ports nothing, and all 
sorts of structures, 
posts, doors, windows 
and complete build¬ 
ings all cornice and 
no base ! These are 
the most common and 
worst of all architect¬ 
ural blunders. s. 
Fig. 3 is the floor used for horses and the 
Btorage of farm machinery, vehicles, &c., 
and is so arranged that a wagon or cart may 
bo driven In at. either of the large doors on 
the west side of the building (see dotted 
line), and pass out at the other. Along the 
whole length of the east side of this floor 
are horse stalls, thoroughly finished, and 
all provided with hay racks, K, K, K, K, K. 
1 notice in a letter to an English scientific 
paper the writer, in illustrating with what 
reluctance correct principles are accepted 
when at variance with common practice, 
uses the following quotations: — “ Of the 
thousand architects, builders and workmen 
to whom I have explained and convinced 
that the true theory of building foundations 
A FARM BARN AND PLAN 
FotJ will find inclosed a plan and descrip¬ 
tion of a substantial and convenient farm 
barn, which, though a more extensive build¬ 
ing than most farmers 
wish to bo at the ex- - = 
pense of erecting, is -s s 
none too largo for ~ : -j 
housing all the stock 
and storing all the 
hay, grain, &o., of a 
moderate sized farm. 
But those who may 
not wish so large a : ?r - -= ±- 
building may, by our - r--- • T ' 
plan as here illustra¬ 
ted, erect ft barn of 
any size and cost they 
choose. It is much - -SSL- - . — — - — 
better, bowever.when 
a person is building, 
to put up a good-sized - = 
barn than a small one, 
which will only ac¬ 
commodate a portion 
of his stock, and fur¬ 
nish room for the 
eighty feet, aud oue ~ 
wing, built at the 
south end, forty by forty feet, making a 
total length from north to south of a hun¬ 
dred and twenty feet. 
Fig. 2 is the basement floor or ground 
plan, aud is divided into several depart¬ 
ments, eaoh well finished for the purpose it 
is designed. The floor under the main 
building is separated into five divisions. 
The two at the north end, A, A, are neatly 
finished up for hogs, having strong, wooden 
troughs set upon wide, movable platforms, 
too heavy for the hogs to move; and if any¬ 
thing is spilled it is not wasted, but falling 
upon the platform is _ _ 
eaten up. B, is the 
manure pit, and the /I r 
floor is so constructed / \H 
that all the liquid ma¬ 
nure, instead of sink¬ 
ing, as would be the 
case if the floor was 
dirt, is conveyed into 
a small cistern, C, 
from which it can 
be pumped out when 
wanted. I), is an im¬ 
mense root cellar, capable of holding a large 
quantity of this valuable food. E, is a pen 
for calves, and connects by a door with the 
large, roomy department, F, under the wing 
at the south end of the main building, whioh 
is fitted up with a number of roomy stalls 
for milch cows. Each of theBe departments 
have doors, g, g, g, g, opening to the stock 
yard ou the east side of the building. The 
inclosed spaoes next the building at both 
the north and south ends—ope being shown 
in, the elevation, Fig. 1—are areas to admit 
light through the windqws, H, H, II, H, to 
the cow stables and hog pens. 
A. FARM UAH 1ST 
L, L, are two well-finished rooms, which 
are. used as harness room and work shop. 
M, is a large room for putting away all the 
machinery and tools used on the farm. O, 
is ft loose horse box, and there is one also at 
P. Tt, is a stairway loading to the basement 
floor, and S, a stairway leading up to the 
third story, or hay and oats lloor. T, is a 
trap door where the root crop is deposited 
in the cellar. l r , is also a trap door, which 
is opened to throw the accumulations in 
the horse stalls into the manure pit. 
All such things as decaying vegetables. 
- ELEVATION. 
consists in having the center of the founda¬ 
tion exactly under the weight sustained, 
and every part of the foundation of a width 
proportionate to the load, but one ever 
wholly adopted it, and ho Is dead.” 
Now, I believe no one will undertake to 
disput e tho correctness of this principle, but 
it is next to impossible to get masons, carpen¬ 
ters or builders—yes, and even architects 
—to adopt it. They, for some unexplained 
reason, seem to think its no use trying to 
apply principles to anything short of a 
State House or public buildings, when, in 
26X50 
21X50 
25X21 
20X10 
30X10 
Fig. 3.—Plan or Second Floor. 
fact, the principle is as applicable to the 
common dwelling or barn as to any build¬ 
ing, costs nothing, and Ih of just this value: 
that foundations built in strict, accordance 
with this principle are as enduring as the 
materials of which they are composed; 
whereas foundations as we see them under 
every house and barn we come to, are set¬ 
tling or constantly getting out of shape. 
Now as builders will not change their old 
ways for the new there is no alternative but 
to educate the people who pay t-heir money 
to demand that their foundations be set 
right. Let every farmer who reads this, and 
The Clergyman's Cottage, an eleva¬ 
tion and plan of which we published Decem¬ 
ber 30, 1871, has attracted a great deal of at¬ 
tention and resulted in many inquiries. We 
gave all the specifications In our article that 
Mr. Downing did in his. The estimate of 
cost given by Mr. Downing was made 
many years ago, and, as we stated, could not 
be relied on now. But with the data given 
in our article aud with the plan, measure¬ 
ments and character of materials decided 
upon, a builder can estimate the cost ol 
such a house in each locality very accurately. 
