iCULTURE-Jl£ 
S3.00 PER YEAR. 
Single No., Eight Cents, 
5 ilcvliinmi St., New York, 
82 liullalo St., Rochester. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871. by D. D. T. MocmH. in the offlee of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.] 
if properly inserted, provide efficient and 
durable drainage. The driven well is fre¬ 
quently much more valuable for the pur¬ 
poses of drainage than as a means of bring¬ 
ing water to the surface, for in many in¬ 
stances they have choked and ceased to 
operate. 
If they are sunk to a good water stratum, 
and the sand well pumped out, and the top 
of the well pipe is set, say one foot, six 
inches below the cellar bottom, and a well 
three feet in diameter 
excavated around the 
top of the pipe, and 
two inches below it, 
that the sediment 
from the drain may he |L 
deposited in the well, 
instead of fl o w i n g AOPSBBIIksI 
over iuto the driven 
well pipe, all danger jw l||||l|j 
of its stopping up, or Jm @ lip 
clogging at the hot- J f 
tom, is removed. The 
well around the driv- !Bg p|i|il 
en well pipe should 
be filled to within a ^81 |jjf 
few inches of the jfflK jf’Jj 
level of the cellar bot- 
tour with small, brok* ~ | £3 a- IP* 
en stone, having first 
covered the pipe with 
a rough flag, under MEAI 
which the dr 
from ice pits should always be trapped? 
Many icc-hotlaes are rendered worthless for 
want of this simple auxiliary in the drain. 
Without the trap the ice-house drain serves 
to drain out the air from the pit as rapidly 
as it is cooled and becomes more dense than 
the atmosphere at the point of discharge of 
the drain The effect of this is of course to 
draw in a volume of warm air over the ice 
by which it. is rapidly wasted. 
I have frequently been called to repair, 
want of a little timely attention. The com- 
lort ot the household, and safety of the 
property, depend in a great measure on the 
quality and condition of the roof; y< t. there 
are hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted 
every year by the most inexcusable negli¬ 
gence in this matter. 
Many owners of valuable houses 
and the grained side placed upon the work 
to be grained; it is then well rubbed, aud 
after it lias stood some time the paper may 
be washed away with water and a sponge, 
leaving the whole of the figure and grain of 
the oak upon the painted wood. By this 
process we transfer a fac simile of the wood 
to the painted surface, and if the color of 
the ground and the graining color are prop¬ 
erly managed, the work cannot bo distin¬ 
guished from the real wood. 
House lor the JL'rntrleg. 
Inclosed I send you sketch of a house C 
have been planning which I think affords 
much room for the size. Of course a square 
incloses the greatest area with a given 
amount of walls. The object of the arrange¬ 
ment is economy throughout. Not a foot is 
wasted. The boxed-up stairs cost less than 
half where hamsters and railing are used, 
iluntl Jlrdjifotttrt 
BOWEN’S DAIRY BARN, 
Tire accompanying engravings of the 
Meadow Brook Farm Dairy Barn, at Elgin, 
Ill., are furnished for the new work on Prac¬ 
tical Dairy Husbandry, by Geo. S. Bowen, 
Chicago, Ill., proprietor of said farm. The 
barn is 96 by 30 feet in area; the wing, 40 by 
36 feet; bight from ground to ridge pole, 43 
feet. The lower floor is devoted to cattle 
stalls, tnilk-ioom, water trough, root cellar, 
&c. Good ventilation is secured. The stalls 
accommodate sixty-three head of cattle, with 
single feed boxes for each, and long, hinged 
supply lines immediately in front. There is 
a seven foot space from the drop (or recep¬ 
tacle for droppings) to the windows, which 
are large. 
A wind-miil pump is to be supplied to 
raise water iuto a reservoir so constructed an 
to fill the cooling vats in the milk-room, and 
to provide water for the stock during stormy 
weather. 
A protected flight of stairs leads from the 
lower to the upper floor, where there is a 
large room for storing farming utensils; a 
grain bin, 36x20; two bays for hay, one 
76x12 and the other 36x12. The entrance 
floors are 76 and 36 feet respectively, and 
reached by bridges or causeways leading 
from the ground. There are eight large 
sliding double floors, all moving on rollers, 
and four hay slides to get whatever is needed 
to the lower floor. Successive flights of 
stairs communicate with a large cupola. 
The cost of this barn was $3,600. There 
were used in its construction 110,000 feet of 
lumber, 65,000 shingles, and 2,800 pounds of 
nails. 
never 
visit the roofs, and, until admonished by the 
appearance of stained ceilings and discolored 
walls, pay no attention to this important sub¬ 
ject. The renewing of 
a tin roof is attended 
with a considerable 
outlay of money, and 
L , 7; . ? . no small amount ofin* 
i - convenience and trou- 
l ble. A min storm dur- 
L ing the process may in- 
A volve tins ruin of hun- 
k dreds of dollars’ worth 
Jj I RL of expensive and chur- 
I islicd household goods, 
i I v To avoid this, in many 
1 cases, some lioalrum- 
ravender, who advertises 
1 to " cure leaky roofs 
al i| ~ _• fora small considera- 
, tion,” is allowed to eov- 
er the neglected housc- 
top with a coating of 
,j 0N tar and sand, warrant¬ 
ed to remain tight for 
five years. This temporary expedient, how¬ 
ever, like most temporizing, proves a costly 
ainage may reach the pipe. 
The surface of the rubble stone in the 
wall should be covered with gravel, and 
a good coat of cement mortar be laid on 
it, which will exclude rats and other vermin. 
If the quantity of water in the foundation 
trench is small, or it is presumed it will be, a 
depth of three or four inches of broken stone 
iu it, on which to lay the foundation walls, 
will be ample; but there should belaid in 
the center of said trench, a tile drainage pipe 
with open joints, which should extend to the 
drainage well; or should a conduit be used, 
by which to lead the drainage to a surface 
point remotu from the building, the drain 
pipe under the walls should connect with it. 
'Flie joints of the conduit pipe should be 
made with cement mortar, and should ho 
swabbed out. The common stone drain is 
unfit for cellar drainage, as it forms a burrow 
for rats. The conduit pipe should be ce¬ 
mented into the outer face of lhe foundation 
wall, that all ingress for vermin at this point 
may be effectually guarded. 
The backs of stone foundation walls should 
be laid in cement to the bight of one foot 
above the proposed surface grade, and the 
interior lace and center of the wall may he 
laid in common lime mortar. If stone foun¬ 
dations are thus laid, and they are not unu¬ 
sually high ami long 
without a break in P 
them, the earth may 
be filled against the s 
outer or bunk face % 
as rapidly as it fs 
laid up, as the ce- E -- w 
meut is the better 
for setting u n d e it ^ 
ground. 
I find it a 
Prairie House-First Floor. 
and under these are the stairs leading to the 
cellar. There is no outside door to any of 
the rooms, which suits this cold windy coun¬ 
try, The dotted lines show convenient places 
for presses. If you think the plans of any 
value please let your artist make a sketch of 
NOTES FOR BUILDERS, 
FOUNDATIONS FOR BUILDINGS. 
How lo Construcr Foiiiulntiou* and 'Traps 
Tar Drains. 
The value of many costly buildings is 
greatly impaired by want of care, aud per- 
ba P s i lu some instances, for want of knowl¬ 
edge iu constructing the foundation. It mnt- 
ters little what the character of the soil is, if 
it is only uniform aud dry. Even if the site 
be dry, there is danger of more surface water 
from without the building finding its way 
under one portion of the foundation than an¬ 
other, which will cause that portion to settle 
most. To provide for this, it is always ju¬ 
dicious to provide drainage under the foun¬ 
dation ; also to provide an effectual place of 
discharge of water that may rise, or find its 
way under the walls. 
I have found no more effectual and eco¬ 
nomical mode by which to effect drainage 
than to excavate a trench for the walls, an 
average of six to eight inches below the cel¬ 
lar floor. The point in the trench opposite 
to that of discharge, need .be but three to 
four inches below the grade of the cellar bot¬ 
tom, but it should have a uniform fall to the 
place of discharge. 
In case the site is nearly level, so that it 
w »u!d require a long, expensive drain to dis¬ 
charge the drainage water on the surface of 
t ie ground, 1 have frequently found it more 
economical to dispose of it by pit drainage. 
, 9 1 do b y excavating a well iu tho cellar 
bottom, near the lowest point in the founda- 
'on trench. The diameter, or size in cross 
section of the well, should be sufficiently 
large for conveniently excavating it. It is a 
common error to make them too small. If 
j is presumed that the well will require to 
be sunk eight to fifteen feet before a drain- 
sfctionTii k Ul bC reaChed> fourfe <*in cross 
aMywo7ked qUlte ** ^ “ CaU be profi ^ 
thf ^ U . Id the character of the soil be such 
the « .I”!® to wUat is c aUed 
, • 7 , en We pipe > and such pipe is 
econr e 'i U8C ° f Such pipe « ofte » more 
economical than excavating a 
A Cool Workshop Wauled. 
I have built a workshop which I want to 
make as warm in winter and as cool in sum¬ 
mer as possible. I have built a frame with 
four-inch studding, and covered tho outside 
wit.li matched pine siding one inch thick ; I 
intend to ceil the inside with the same. 
Now, had I better till the space between the 
studding with tan-bark, or nail up roofing 
paper between the studs, so as to leave two 
walls of air? In other words, which is the 
best non-conductor of heat ami cold, a solid 
wall four inches thick, or t wo walls of air, 
each two inches thick? Please give me the 
experience of yourself and others.—A Sub¬ 
scriber. 
Section op Brick Thai* for Drains. 
a, tlia pipes : b, «l<le walla ; c. bottom ; e, cover, nil of 
bricks cemented together. The month of the dis¬ 
charge pipe the width of it above the supply. 
The Scientific American says '"A stitch 
in tilin' nam vine” is a somewhat trite say¬ 
ing, but nevertheless well worthy of con¬ 
sideration ; and in nothing connected with 
building ha9 if more significance than in the 
matter of tin roofs. 
For a flat roof, tin is, beyond question, the 
most economical covering that can he ap¬ 
plied. If not neglected, it is absolutely inde- 
Prairie House—Second Floor. 
them. Perhaps some others would like to 
see them in the Rural New-Yorker as 
well a3 myself. 
Plan of first floor, — a, sitting-room, 15 by 
15; b, parlor, 15 by 15; c, bed-room, 15 by 
15 ; d, kitchen, 9 by 15; e, pantry, 6 by 10 ; 
f, porch, 0 by 8 ; g, passage; 4, stairs. 
Plan of second floor.—i, chamber, 15 by 15 ; 
j, chamber, 15 by 15 ; l, bed-room, 12 by 15; 
k, bedroom, 12 by 15; m, hall, 6 by 80; n, 
stairs. Geo. W. Taber. 
Champaign Co., IU. 
A Novel Method of Graining. 
A writer in the Building News thus de¬ 
scribes a most inge¬ 
nious device for im¬ 
itating in paint the 
natural grain of 
wood;—A suitable 
piece of board of 
oak is prepared in a 
particular manner, 
so as to clear out tlie 
soft fiber from out 
the grain or pores. 
This process at the 
same time hardens 
the wood. The 
wood being now 
CORRIDOR 
STALL FORl 
BULL 
The Size of Rooms. 
The American Builder says:—In de¬ 
termining what shall be the size of rooms in 
a house, there is one little item which it 
would always be well lo consider, relating 
as it does, both to future convenience and 
economy. Tin's is to make the surface of 
the floor contain a certain number of yards. 
Carpet merchants complain of the trouble 
caused by the almost universal neglect of 
this simple precaution aud customers com¬ 
plain of the expense, which, in many cases, 
is only Lhe result of their own carelessness. 
Even where it is not possible to make a floor 
to contain even yards, it can be made to 
have no fractional parts of feet, and yet this 
is not always done. It is not a matter of the 
utmost importance, but it is one certainly 
worthy of consideration in fixing the dimen¬ 
sions of rooms, to make them of a size to 
secure economy in carpeting. 
ROOM FOR 
com- 
1 mou practice with, 
stone masons in 
some districts to lay 
the foundation of 
stone walls and both 
the outer and inner 
faces in cement 
mortar, and the in¬ 
terior, or center of 
the wall, in cemmon 
mortar. This is „„ 
. dower floor, 
wrong, as the casing 
and bottom of cement work will set before structil 
the lime mortar can drain, dry and set, and it last a h 
will ih such a condition remain soft for years, when fi 
and will contiuue to give off moisture to the there a 
superstructure. thousai 
Drainage conduits from cellars, also those of slow 
Milk cows 
cooling 
VAT 
CORRIDOR 
UPPER FLOOR. “ w BU F' : ‘ UUU,,B 
color. A particular 
d will kind of transfer paper is theu laid upon the 
ion as board, aud tbe whole is passed under pad- 
Yet (led rollers, and when the paper is taken off, 
York, the whole of the pattern of the oak board is 
rocess printed upon it. This paper may theu he 
of the cut up iuto any sizes as may be required, 
