bedrooms of wbicb one is a hall- 
bedroom. All these rooms are 
properly lighted and connected 
by suitable windows and doors. 
A scuttle gives access from the 
second story to the roof. Neat 
built of hard bricks aud capped 
with blue-stone dags. The en¬ 
tire inside walls and ceilings 
are plastered aud hard-finished 
anil all the interior aud exterior 
woodwork covered with two 
Kood coats of lead paint. The 
picturesque appearance of the 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877. by the Rural Uni.Hisl.i„g Company, in the office „r th, Librarian of OonKress at Weehta^toij' 
VOL. XXXVI. No. 9. 1 
WHOLE No. 1440. f 
NEW YORK CITY, SEPT. 1, 1877.' 
PRICK SIX CENTS 
$4.50 PER YEA ltd 
lineal 3,itl)itctfurc, 
A COMPLETE HOUSE FOR LESS THAN $800. 
BY I.. P. GBAETHER, CIVIL ENGINEER. 
Such a house as that represented in the present 
illustratiou is one of a series, which are economi¬ 
cally designed and are adapted for people of 
limited means, ranging in prices from five hun¬ 
dred to one thousand dollars, being at such 
cost complete in overy particular. They are so 
constructed that they can be enlarged and gen¬ 
erally improved, with no detriment to their 
present structure, and are as well suited to the 
inclement weather of the North, as to the warm 
weather of the sunny South. 
The building, as represented in the foregoing 
diagrams, is built ciii a substantial platform, 
about four feet from the surface of the ground, 
inclosed underneath with lattice work. There is 
a two-fold object in this arrangement, viz: first, 
to prevent dampness in the building, by allowing 
a free circulation of air underneath as is custom¬ 
ary in the extreme South ; and secondly, should 
there afterwards be a desire upon the part of 
the owner of the honso, to excavate for cellar 
and kitchen, this can be done without interfering 
in any way with the house, as there is easy 
access for excavation. y 
lly observing the diagram, it will be under¬ 
stood that the house consists of n main building, 
two stories high, and of a Kitchen extension. It 
has piazzas in the front and rear, and an entire 
frontage of 32 feet and a depth of 25 feet 4 
inches. The first story is divided off into a par¬ 
lor, a sitting-room, halt and kitchen extension ; 
and has a bight of 12 feet in the clear. The 
parlor, sitting-room and kitchen arc each lighted 
by two large windows, the hall by a sky-light 
above the front door and by a window in the 
rear. A door from the kitchen to the rear 
piazza gives direct access from the one to the 
other. In case the owner desires to excavate 
for a cellar, then the kitchen may be placed 
underneath the room which is now called kitchen 
and the latter may bo used for a dining-room 
both being for convenience con¬ 
nected by means of a dumb¬ 
waiter, The kitchen and the 
hall are in direct communication 
witli the front and rear piazzas 
by means of doors as shown 
in plans. A main staircase con¬ 
nects the second story with the 
lloor below. The second story ^ 
is ten feet in the clear and par¬ 
titioned Off into a bal l n.nr! tti k 
wuoaeu manuea are placed in 
the parlor, kitchen and in one 
bedroom. The chimneys are 
bmlding will be much improved 
by employing different harmo- 
uions colors for this purpose, 
ihe roof may be covered with 
good pine shingles and painted 
as above in slate-ooior. The 
weather-boarding and flooring, 
doors, windows, stairs, piazzas 
and cornices are constructed of a good quality of 
pine, and all other woodwork, such as timbers 
etc. of a good quality of spruce. The following 
is an estimate of the cost of the building : 
the artistic is united with the comfortable and 
economical. 
Very often clumsy,Inartistic structures, worthy 
of no better name than shanties, are erected at 
A IV l NO /?. 
/e'x/g.' 
trU 
HITCH EH 
iz 'x u • 
E’apu. of?. 
/y.K /£' 
^VEETAHD a 
A.1N 88(>o house — CrBcoij i '\i> i»r^A_rv. 
Muson-work.(|g (jq 
Carpenter-work. 507 oo 
I'alritin*?. rjo oo 
Sundries. 30 oo 
Total. | 78l oo 
Any additional improvements, such as marble- 
mantles, plumbing etc., can be had at the addi¬ 
tional costs of such improvements. Tho most 
casual observer cannot fail to discover that in 
this house are combined three advantages of im¬ 
portance to people with limited means, for here 
a greater expense than that of the above 
building. These are eyesores to the observer 
and a source of inconvenience and frequent an¬ 
noyance to their inhabitants. In a building of 
the abovo stylo, however, full consideration is 
given not only to convenience of internal arrange¬ 
ment and attractiveness of external appearance, 
but also to the loissibility of future additions, 
as tbe family or means of the owner may in¬ 
crease. (See page 136.) 
35 Bayard Street, N. Y. 
zVjV 188*00 IIOU8E — ELEVATION. 
<$ann OBtoitontg. 
THOUGHTS FROM A FARM. 
LET THE FARM REMAIN UNKNOWN FOR THE PRESENT AND 
THE WRITER REMAIN INCOGNITO. 
The great agricultural public are hereby res¬ 
pectfully solicited to help a man out in bis think¬ 
ing. When ho thinks wrong set him right, and 
let tho thoughts of many bo made serviceable. 
The farm has hill aud vale as also a deal of 
hi 11-side some of which is steep and the thinker 
thinks the side hills, if cultivated, wilt lose all 
the fine mold, as the h tonus wash all the little 
knolls on the edge of the valleys, so that those 
plowed have little left but small gravelly stones; 
therefore he thinks the larger sido-hills and all 
the stoop slopes between the top of the hills and 
tho bottom of tho valleys should lie continually 
iu grass, and lie grazed by cutt le and sheep, the 
latter preponderating. As tho price of live stock 
is likely to lie as high in proportion as com and 
grain, on account of the cheaper transportation 
of Bloat to England, he thinks it would bo pru¬ 
dent. to keep tlm greater portion of the vale laud, 
which is inclined to grow blue grass, in perpetual 
meadow and pastm.., and let the boat native 
grasses maintain tfioir snpromacy; for having 
had great experience in England, ho has had 
proof that tho native grasses, or us they are 
called hero, tho tamo grasses, will fatten cattle 
nmohj faster than those sown, and not only so 
but tho hay made 1'rorn those old meadows is far 
superior to auy made from grass grown in rota¬ 
tion on the arable lands. Accordingly he is in¬ 
clined to think that when old meadows whicli 
are mowed every year, become poorer and cut 
lighter crops of hay, they should bo well covered 
with manure instead of being plowed. 
A neighbor of ids was telling him, a few days 
since, that his own father had mudo a great mis¬ 
take in plowing a dairy pasture; for it had 
never been so good since, and the butter from 
his cows was not nearly as good after the land 
was cleared, as when it lay with no grass except 
that whieh came naturally. With this corrobo¬ 
ration of bis views, the thinker fools that it 
would bo unwise to plow aud 
cultivate, at any rate till ho has 
tried what a dressing of com¬ 
post or manure will do for any 
of the meadows Unit are wear¬ 
ing out. lie is of opinion that 
as beef, mutton, butter, wool 
and live stock generally are 
likely to be higher iu price, in 
comparison with other products 
of the soil, it will pay better to 
■(V buy grain, oil-eakc and any forc- 
V, ing food, and make an extra 
quantity of meat. In this way 
there will be much more ma- 
yjfaj nure, and it will be so rich as 
greatly to increaso the yield of 
alt the land fertilized with it. 
Having heard a deal about 
“ rolling ” land and seeing it 
& mentioned as if it was a recom¬ 
mendation, he thinks it objec¬ 
tionable ; for he has noticed 
when sheep have been lying on 
the sides of tho knolls that the 
manure disappears with the first 
rain. This rolling surface is al- 
together bad, in his estimation, 
and those who think differently 
. CP will much oblige by stating its 
advantages. Iu harvesting any 
crop, it does not seem to be ad- 
WjPBKBB gg vantageous as the wagon can- 
g gjejj[ggfH not move so easily; in plowing, 
harrowing, or manuring, it is not 
bo convenient as level ground. 
