Yoii. XXXIX. No. 30. 
Whole No. 1691. 
NEW YORK, 
I Price Five Cents. 
) $2.00 Per Tear. 
[Entered according 1 to Act of Congress, in the year IS80, by the Rural 
*orker, in tile office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
‘Mural ^rrljitrriurr, 
A FIRST-CLASS FARM-HOUSE. 
The architectural illustrations given in this 
issue, are those of a farm-house recently 
erected in Grafton, Massachusetts. The design 
is in a somewhat modified Gothic style. Fig¬ 
ure 336, represents the front elevation. As 
will be seen it consists of three stories, the 
attic or third floor being lighted with dormer 
windows. The building is more ornamental 
than is generally tne case with farm-houses. 
On the first floor are two bay-windows at the 
front, one on each side of the spacions piazza. 
This arrangement gives a certain cozy and re¬ 
tired aspect to the entrance, which has a very 
pleasing effect. The bay-window on the left 
in the engraving, is reproduced also iu the 
second story, and directly above this in the 
third story is a finished balcony. This fea¬ 
ture prevents the plainness and monotony that 
are inseparable from bare, straight walls, and 
gives an uncommonly lively tone to the struc¬ 
ture. The roof is finished in a deck and orna¬ 
mented with finial and iron cresting. 
We give the plan of the first floor, figure 387, 
in connection with the front elevation. From 
this it will be seen that there is a spacious hall, 
(9x29 feet) running through the center of the 
house, giving abundant opportunity lor venti¬ 
lation in warm weather. On either side of this 
are arranged the four main rooms cn this floor, 
the dining-room and kitchen on the right, 
separated by a large pantry, and the parlor 
and sitting-room on the left. The L, or rear 
wmg of the house, is occupied by wash-room, 
milk-rooui, store-room and refrigerators, and 
all the appointments of a well-appointed 
modern farm-house. 
From the plau of this floor a very good idea 
can be obtained of the arrangement on the 
second floor, of wbieh no plan is given. There 
are four chambers, each about 14xl4J feet, re¬ 
spectively over the four rooms below, and each 
having a spacious closet. The chamber to the 
left, over the parlor, is somewhat larger than 
the others, and has a bay-window, as seen in 
the elevation. It may be called a family 
chamber, and connected with it, immediately 
ovei the front part of the hall below, is a small 
room, 9x9 feet which may be used as a sewing- 
room or a childrens’ chamber. In the L, which 
is continued up throught all three stories, are 
the bath room aud another chamber, 13 xlG feet, 
and back stairs loading from the kitchen floor. 
The uttic floor is so arranged as to give good 
hight to the ceilings, and can be cut up into 
very commodious rooms for servants, guests, 
or for members of the family. 
The structure Is estimated to coat from 
$0,090 to $8,000, according to the degree of 
finish bestowed upon it. A house so spacious, 
convenient and ornamental, must, of course, 
be costly in proportion to its advantages. 
This original plan is furnished us by Biek- 
nell and Comstock, 194 Broadway, New York, 
who will supply any particulars desired be¬ 
yond those we have given. 
Ipuntfllogiral, 
WESTERN FARMING.—IX. 
W. I. CHAMBERLAIN. 
Artificial Fruiting. 
It has long been a question whether the 
“ bearing” year of fruit trees could be changed 
and controlled, aud whether trees late in 
coming to bearing could be artificially fruited. 
These are two distinct questions, and it has 
been supposed that distinct and different 
means must be employed to secure each result. 
Late fruiting or prolonged barrenness, espe¬ 
cially in apple or pear trees, has usually been 
the result of over-growth of limb, i. e.. too 
rapid wood-making, and it has long been 
noticed that anything that checked this growth 
one year would fruit the tree the next. This 
occurs when the tree is wounded, when mice 
or rabbits girdle it, and often when a tree or 
orchard which ha=. been under cultivation with 
low hoed crops is seeded to Timothy and the 
wood-growth greatly checked. But girdling 
has always been deemed a blow at the life of 
the tree. Mice and rabbits have been deemed 
pests, as they are, and the malicious girdling 
of fruit trees by the hand of man is a peniten¬ 
tiary offence, aud has recently, in my owu 
town in Ohio, been visited with the full pen¬ 
alty of the law. Fruiting iu the barren year, 
too, has been secured by the laborious process 
of bud-picking, but this mode is entirely im¬ 
practicable in large orchards. 
FARM HOUSE—FRONT ELEVATION.—Fig. 236. 
PLAN OF FIRST FLOOR.—FIO. 337. 
Great was my surprise, therefore, a few 
days since, in visiting the extensive and splen¬ 
did nurseries aud orchards of J. B. Spaulding 
&Co , of Springfield, 111., to find abundant and 
healthy fruiting produced at will iu any tree 
or hundred trees, or miscellaneous and arbi¬ 
trary selection ot‘ trees of any age—produced, 
too, without failure in a single instance, with¬ 
out damage to the tree, and Lu an exceedingly 
easy and simple way—in fact the very way sug¬ 
gested by the mice. 
In connection with their'extensive nurseries 
(of which I cannot now speak, though they 
are the premium nurseries of Illinois, and in 
maDy respects the best in the land) the Messrs. 
Spaulding & Co. have some 14.000 apple trees 
set out in orchards, aud of various ages. They 
are set fifteen feet apart each way, the inten¬ 
tion being in time to take out every other 
row, and then every other tree in each alter¬ 
nate row. Hence the life of three-quarters of 
these trees is of no great value, aud Mr. 
Spaulding has used them freely In his various 
experiments. He started more than five years 
ago with the theory that the moderate girdling 
or disbarking of trees of rampant growth at 
the proper time of year would cheek the wood- 
growth. form fruit spurs for next year, and 
not injure or shorten the life of the tree. The 
first part of this belief was accepted loug sines 
by many pomologists, including Chas. Down¬ 
ing; but the last part, viz : that it would not 
injure the tree or endanger its life, was en¬ 
tirely, and even indignantly, denied by all. 
But Mr. Spaulding’s experiments have been 
thorough, numerous, varied, and accurate, 
and, to his mind, and the minds of all who 
examine the results, establish beyond doubt 
or question the great value of hi3 discovery 
(for such in reality it is) to the Western or- 
chardist. Hi3 work is of two kinds, 11 ring¬ 
ing " and *• girdling ” or “ disbarking,” In the 
case of a tree of moderate growth the •* ring¬ 
ing ” is practiced; that is, the knife is drawn 
firmly around the trunk, just below the limbs, 
cutting the tree clean to the hard wood. This 
checks the growth moderately, and starts the 
fruit buds or spurs for nn-t year's fruit crop. 
This work is done in May or June, white the sap 
is flowing freely. If the tree has a rampant 
growth, as trees on the rich soil of Illinois are 
apt to have, a ring of bark is removed entirely 
around the tree to the width of a quarter to 
half an inch. 
I saw several thousand trees, of various agi s 
and sizes, on which one or the other of these 
methods had been practiced, aud iu every case 
with complete success. There was in every 
ease a fine setting of thrifty fruit, well devel¬ 
oped, and already ripe in the case of the early 
varieties, and in no case did the tree seem to 
be injured. The bark iu a few weeks com¬ 
pletely closes over the wood, trom which it has 
beeu taken, so as hardly to leave a scar, and 
the next year ilia tree bears fruit in abundance. 
Mr. Spaulding has such confidence in the vi¬ 
tality of the trees that he has removed the bark 
clear around the tree for a distance even of 
twelve inches, to see if it would kill the tree. 
I saw such trees, girdled ten days before, on 
which a film of new, green bark was rapidly 
forming already. But. of course, this is simply 
experiment. All that is needed is a ring from 
a quarter to half au inch in width, and I saw 
abundaut evidence that girdling to this width, 
even for several years, does uot injure or 
threaten the life of apple trees, at least where 
they have thrifty, luxuriant growth. Whether 
it will do for the slow-growing trees on light 
soils or ou heavy clay soils. I cannot tell. But 
for ihe rich soils of llliuois, where the ten¬ 
dency Is to over-growtli of body and limb 
and slowness in fruiting, this discovery of Mr. 
Spaulding seems to me to be a valuable one. 
There is no patent ou it, aud I have his full 
permission to call atteutiou to it. 
The reaeou this girdliug does not kill the 
tree, like that done by mice and rabbits, seems 
to be because it is done during the time of most 
