©EG <6 
848 
yield a second crop or not, it is the best late 
variety l have yet tested. Nelson Ritter. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
[We gave the Captain Jack a fair trial, hav- 
iug procured plants when first it was an¬ 
nounced. As our report three years ago will 
show, it did not thrive at the Rural Grounds. 
We hear it well spoken of, however,in various 
parts of the West —Eds ] 
A CONVENIENT AND CHEAP FARM 
HOUSE. 
The accompanying illustration of a neat 
farm house was taken from a photograph fur¬ 
nished us by Mr. M. D. Clinton. Newark Val¬ 
ley, N. Y. The building cost about *1,300 last 
year, but Mr. Clinton thinks it would cost 
fully 10 percent more this year. He made 
his own plan, his main object being to, have 
the rooms light and conveniently situated. 
The three stairways from Cellar to earret are 
arranged one above the other, thus economiz¬ 
ing space. Being in the center of the build¬ 
ing, all rooms on the second floor are easy of 
access from the stairway, without having to 
pass through adjoining rooms. Another point 
was to have as much room as possible under 
one roof, hence the hmise was made fully two- 
story and the roof’was made steep giving a 
quite spacious garret. The cellar lies beneath 
the whole buildiug excepting that part where 
the wood room G, is located. Brick was used 
for underpinning or foundation. The studs 
are 20 feet in the first floor and 9' n the 
second. By reference to the plans it will be 
seen that the rooms are conveniently arranged, 
each being easy of access, and they are well 
lighted from without. The general appear¬ 
ance • f the house is an attractive one though 
the exterior is plain. The bay window be¬ 
sides being ornamental without, also gives 
more space and an increased cheerfulness to 
the room within. 
PLAN OF FIRST FLOOR. 
At Fig. 474, the first floor plan is given which 
may be described as follows: 
A. parlor; B, sitting-room; C, sleeping or dining 
room; D, kitchen; E, pantry; F. wash room; O, 
wood house, a a, porches; 4, 4, stoves; C, sink with 
p mp from tank In cellar; d, cellar stairs: e, e, sash 
doors. 
SECOND FLOOR. 
A, B, are sleeping rooms; 1,2, 2, clothes closets; H, 
clothes closet and passage to garret. 
The looms D, E. F, G, were Intended as a snlte for a 
single person- They are well adapted to the wants 
of an elderly lady for keeping house by herself. 
ITEMS OF COST. 
Team hauling stone . ... *9 00 
Man, is days laying cellar wall . 2i 00 
Self ami other help. .. 85 00 
4,501 brick at $7 00 delivered...31 5u 
67 bushels mortar at 2-1 eeuts. 13 40 
36 bushels sund at 5 cents. 1 80 
5 bushels stone lime. 1 i5 
5 bushels water lime. 1 TO 
Coat Of cellar......$181 20 
Hemlock frame. 17,000 feet, at §8 00. $131! 00 
Hemlock flooring, 2,'IK) feet, ai $15 00 . 80 M 
Hard iluorlng, &w feet, at $2 ix). 10 00 
Ouk for celling. }0 00 
Piur iUttlDtfr. .... . ..* 58 
Pine sldleg, t non feet, at $13 00. 13 00 
Other siding, 1,» 00 feet, at *15 00. 24 00 
Shingles, 33 bunches . 88 UCl 
Hath. ... .* . 20 00 
BIlneH, best uu&llty. . 26 20 
Doors,.,,.. ..*.* jjiJB 
Nulla .. 32*2 
Windows. 4, 55 
ho ks butts, etc..., .. 3145 
Eavp (rough aud gutter. 12 85 
M Winns, etc ... ... •• *. 28 28 
Lime and saud for chimney. *9 /3 
Chimney tops . ' 00 
While lead, 3UU pounds.. 33 63 
Oil. 13 gallons ., . « 06 
32 :'A days’ work at $1 50. 3*i IK) 
100 days' work at $1 10. 100 00 
Carpenter’s board. 52 00 
Total cost.$1,105 19 
l 
The Rural Garden Treasures; 50 differ¬ 
ent kinds mixed in one packet for the ladp 
readers of the Rural Ni£W-Y0RKKR. It 
will be found that these mixed seeds are 
those, of the choicest hardy shrubs, hardy 
herbaceous perenn ials,biennials and annuals, 
in cult i cat ion. Many of them, are not of- i 
freed by seedsmen. If properly planted, and ! 
cared for, they cannot fail to create or in- < 
crease a love of the beautiful about country 
homes. 
iiliscfllatxmts. 
« _ 
CATALOGUES RECEIVED, ETC. 
Hiram Sibley & Co., Rochester, N. Y. 
Farmers’ Almanac for 1883. This is quite au 
original combination of interesting matter for 
the rural home. It begins with a valuable 
essay from the pen of Mr. A. W. Cheever on 
Potato Growing, followed by another by Dr. 
George B. Lorinz on Root Crops; a third by 
Professor Beal on Grasses for Meadow?, Pas¬ 
tures aud Lawns, and others on Cabbage 
Growing, Cucumbers for Profit, etc.—in all 
filling 38 pages. Then follow the usual cata¬ 
logue and almanac, and finally a list of novel¬ 
ties, among which we notice the Rochester 
Tomato, Sibley’s Pride of the East and 
Waushakum Corn, Rural Branching Sorghum, 
Cow Peas, etc.,etc. Among potatoes the White 
Elephant, Magnum Bonum, Early Ohio, Mam¬ 
moth Pearl, Pride of America, etc,, are of¬ 
fered. This book of reference is well worth 
the price charged for it—10 cents. 
-- 
RURAL BRIEFLETS. 
We have received the following note from 
Mr. Foote, of Indiana: “ I notice a communi- 
raiaed potatoes for 30 years and therefore 
know something about the raising of them I 
have also tested a great many new varieties 
lately.” There ix nothing that puts us out 
more than doubts thrown upon the accuracy 
of our reports—because we have always been 
so conservative and so careful to state the ex¬ 
act truth as nearly as it could be stated. We 
have again and again offended some of onr 
best advertising patrons by making reports of 
our tests, which seemed to them unjust or to 
injure the reputation of the plant or article 
of Second Floor.—Fig. 474. 
cation from a Georgia man, saying that Ru¬ 
ral Branching Sorghum will not mature its 
seed there. Last May, at edge of my garden, 
I planted a little row of seed received the pre¬ 
vious year from the Rural. O wing to the seed 
being old, or, more likely, on account of the 
cold, wet weather, only one grain germinated. 
This matured seed, which I cut In October, 
some of which I inclose to you. This is lati¬ 
tude 39>£ degrees north... 
We have received from Mr. John Burr, of 
Leavenworth, Kan., one vine each of Early 
Victor, Nos. 1, dark; 2, dark; 3, black; 4, 
white; 7. white; 9, color of Delaware. Mr. 
Burr says that all are healthy, hardy aud 
vigorous-growing vines. No appearance of 
mildew on any so far, nor the least foxiness 
in either. No. 9 is a Delaware seedling as 
large as Catawba and considered by many 
quite equal in quality to its parent—some say 
better. All are good. No. 1 is the earliest 
grape out. Nothing among fruits interests 
the Rural more than new grapes, and in no 
branch of pomological industry is there more 
which they sought to popularize. Now, we 
tried 50 kinds of potatoes (mostly new) last 
season in garden soil well enriched and thor¬ 
oughly cultivated. The yields of manv of 
them w ?re over 400 busnels to the acre, while 
several kinds yielded over 600 bushels, as will 
appear in our reports to be published. The 
best of the two trials of the Blush > ielded, as 
stated, over 700 bushels to the acre, and to the 
truth of this statement we pledge the Rural’s 
word of honor. If our doubting friend will 
procure seed of the Blush and treat it in the 
same way it was treated at the Rural 
Grounds, perhaps he will be willing another 
season to admit that he doubted our state¬ 
ment without reason. When our great corn 
yields were published many doubted their 
truth, notwithstanding the land and yields 
were measured by men whose names are well 
known the country over. It is the easiest 
thing in the world to doubt, and we cannot 
in reason reproach people who are slow to 
credit the extravagant statements which ap¬ 
pear in print from time to time to attract at¬ 
’vVbi 'll 
Elevation of Country Dwelling.—From a Photograph —Fig. 475. 
room for improvement*, as we thiuk the next 
five years will suffice to show. 
A subscriber writes us from Tiffin, Seneca 
County, O : *• In the Rural of November 18 
I read that the Blush Potato yielded at the 
rate of 726 bushels per acre at the Rural 
Grounds. I say this statement must be an 
exaggeration: had the alleged yield been 400 
bushels I should still have doubted. I have 
tention and induce sales. But, instead of ex¬ 
aggerating the y ield of the Blush, we hesitated 
to publish it at all, fearing that, as in an 
other year it will be tested from Maine to 
Florida and from New York to California, 
we should raise expectations never to be rea¬ 
lized. which would simply tend to weaken the 
confidence of our readers in any future state¬ 
ments the Rural New-Yorker might make. 
In answer to questions which we asked Sir 
J. B. Lawes, of “ Rithamated,” England, he 
replies as follows: “With regard to potatoes, 
the largest crop I have ever grown any one 
has been about 470 bushels per acre. This was 
on land which had received nothing but chem- 
cal fertilizers for 30 years. We hill up our 
potatoes. I think, however, if I grew pota¬ 
toes in your climate I should prefer the flat. 
As a rule, we have plenty of moisture and 
sometimes too much. With you it is import¬ 
ant to keep your soil as moist as possible. No 
one but ourselves knows what enormous 
quantities of water a crop will remove from 
a soil.”.......... 
Among the Rural Garden Treasures will be 
a small percentage of Hibiscus Moscheutos. 
We have often thought that this showy flower 
should change under cultivation, and we hope, 
should our subscribers observe any varia¬ 
tions, that they will report them to ns. The 
flowers vary from white to a dark pink, al¬ 
ways with a different colored base, and some¬ 
times measure eight inches in diameter. 
The Most Popular Grape - Itisgomgthe 
rounds of the press that, according to the re¬ 
port of the Fruit Committee of the American 
Pomological Society, the Concord has the 
highest commendation throughout the Union, 
being recommended in 35 States, and in 24 of 
these it is reported as possessing great superi¬ 
ority and value. The Delaware is likewise 
recommended in 35 States, but receives the 
h'ghest commendation in 19 only. Next to 
these are Hartford and Ives, each of which is 
recommended in 27 States, etc., etc. Now. 
the fact is simply that the newer grapes, from 
which great expectations may justly be enter¬ 
tained, have not been tested generally, and it 
will be years before they are. It is plain, 
therefore, that such statements have refer¬ 
ence only to the older grapes wDicb have been 
tested in all the States. The fact that to day 
the Concord receives the highest commenda¬ 
tion is no proof that a score of others would 
not receive a higher commendation were they 
cultivated over the same extent of country.... 
Owing to the fact that irrigation was not 
given at the proper time, Professor Blount’s 
crop of the true Black bearded Centennial 
wheat was so damaged and shrunken that we 
have received from him not over one-third of 
the quantity which we require in order to send 
a liberal sample to each applicant. In our 
frantic endeavors to increase our stock we 
have written to everyone we could hear of 
who is reported as having raised this wheat 
in small quantities, and the following is a fair 
sample of the disappointing replies received: 
“Your favor of ISch inst. received. In reply 
I would say that 1 did not raise any of the 
Black bearded Wheat, and regret that I can¬ 
not at this time secure you even a sample. 
Some was raised in an adjoining county, and 
I have tried to secure some, even in small 
quantities, for some friends, but have failed. 
Every grain has been disposed of I had two 
heads, which I exhibited last Summer to some 
parties in Kentucky while on a visit there, 
and it created quite a sensation: and had I had 
a thousand bushels I could readily have dis¬ 
posed of all simply from the sample without 
any guarantee of its quality. I really know 
nothing of the wheat except what was told 
me by the gentleman who raised it, viz.: that 
it yielded 50 bushels to the acre, weighed 60 
pounds, etc. 1 was struck with its appear¬ 
ance. It certainly is the largest and most 
beautiful grain I ever saw.” 
Warsaw, Va. 
One Acre of Wheat.— Professor" f-helton 
informs us through the Industrialist that the 
experimental acre of wheat west of the Kan¬ 
sas Ag. College farm has just leen thrashed, 
showing a yield of 47 bushels. “ threshers’ 
measure,” which is something less than the 
true measure—60 pounds to the bushel— 
would give. The total > ield of this acre was 
1.665 pounds of thoroughly dry and well- 
cured straw and grain: or, to separate the 
two, 2,820 pounds of grain of excellent qual¬ 
ity and 7,845 pounds of straw. It will be seen 
from this that one bushel of wheat grew upon 
166 pounds of straw. The tremendous growth 
of straw upon this acre will be appreciated if 
we bear in mind that, as a rule, a bushel 
of wheat grows on 100 pounds of straw. 
The yield of this acre is remarkable from 
the fact that it bad received no manure or 
other special treatment; but, on the contrary, 
had grown a crop of wheat the previous sea¬ 
son, the crop in question having been “stub- 
bled in,” as sowing upon inverted stubble 
land is called. It is expected to continue the 
growth of wheat upon this acre indefinitely, 
to enable the Professor to study the effect of 
such a scourging method upon Kansas soil. 
