i^TR'Y ho 
Vo l. XLIII. No. 1810 . 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 4, 1884. 
PRICK FIVE CKNT8. 
$3.00 PER YEAR. 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, in tile year 1H44, by the Rural New-Yorker in the olUce of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.! 
^*rd)itectuw. 
A CHEAP BARN. 
HE barn illustrated on this 
page, at Figs. 377 and 378, was 
built by T. S. Strohecker, of 
Venango Co., Penu., uud wo 
are indebted to him for the 
drawings and also for thut of 
the old barn (Fig. 370), which 
was used in building the new 
one. Having a shop with a 
sot of carpenter’s tools, he con¬ 
structed the new burn at an expense of about 
$350 for matoiials, and with the aid of only a 
young son, devoting to it spare time that many 
waste loafing about groceries. 
The frame of the old barn forms the center 
of the new. To this are built additions at 
each end, 40x10 feet. The frout of the new 
barn is thus the length of the old barn—40 
feet in addition to the width of the additions, 
16 feet each—making, in all, 72 feet. 'The ells 
being longer than the width of the old barn, 
there is between them at the back an inter¬ 
vening space which contains a "lean-to” for a 
cow stable. The old frame is timber frame; 
the new is balloon frame. The building is 
boarded up and down, the boards planed and 
stripped. The bam is painted a light French 
gray and the trimmings a dark gray. 
By referring to the plan (Fig. 378), it will be 
seen the burn will accommodate five horses and 
12 cows. The stationary windluss is used in 
lifting the box from the farm-wagon, also in 
connection wltfi the hay tackle to hoist beeves. 
Huy is put on the mows from the wagon 
stunding on the barn floor, by the aid of a 
railroad track carrier along the comb of the 
roof, extending the whole length from each 
side. The hay for feeding is thrown on the 
barn floor or sent through chutes, marked A 
and B, which are near the feeding-troughs of 
the cows and mangers of the horses. The cows 
are fastened by stanchions, and stand on plat¬ 
forms 8)£ feet long. The illustration makes 
plain the arrangement of the rest of the inte¬ 
rior. 
farm Copies. 
THE POTATO AND ITS RELATIONS. 
L. I. TEMPLIN. 
Plants, like people, are arranged in fami¬ 
lies. A study of their relationships and re¬ 
semblances is often of interest, not only for 
the knowledge gained of the family history, 
but also because it often throws more or less 
light on obscure points in connection with the 
principal subject. From its earliest introduc¬ 
tion into European countries, the potato has 
beeu of great interest both to the botanist and 
the agriculturist. It has diverged into nu¬ 
merous well-marked varieties; but whether 
there is more than one well defined species is, 
I believe, au unsettled question. 
Recently, several distinct kinds of wild po¬ 
tatoes have been found in New Mexico; but 
whether they are to take their places as well- 
defiued speeies I do not know. The potato— 
Rolauum tuberosum — is a member of the 
Night-shade Family, which embraces some of 
our most useful and also some very poisonous 
plants. Of the same genus with the potato is 
found the Egg-plant—S. Melongena—which 
has of late years gained a somewhat promi¬ 
nent place among cultivated esculents. The 
fruit of this plant grows in an oblong, or egg- 
shape form, from two to six inches long, and 
is either purple or white. Some prickles are 
found on the plant. 
The Horse Nettle—S. Carolinense—a very 
rough, prickly, useless and troublesom > weed 
in the South, is also a member of this genus. 
Somewhat similar to this is the S. rostratum, 
which is found growing in profusion on the 
plains west of the Mississippi. This Is a very 
prickly, dwarfish annual, with a yellow flow¬ 
er that frequently gives this color to extensive 
patches of ground. It is said to bo the uative 
food plant of the Colorado Potato Beetle, and 
certainly this insect does scorn to prefer it to 
all other plants. The Black Night-shade— 
S. nigrum—a smooth plunt with small, white 
flowers, ami globular black berries, also be¬ 
Cherry, Several species of this have been 
introduced to cultivation to a greater or less 
extent. They are doubtless capable of still 
farther improvement, till they will become 
more desirable than they have yet become. 
Every oue is acquainted with Red Pepper— 
Capsicum aunuum—bub every one does not 
kuow that this plant, with its pungent pods 
and seed, is also a cousin to the potato. 
Another common plant, the Tobacco—Nieo- 
tiana Tabaeum—is also cousin to our favorite 
tuber. While the potato has proved oue of 
the most useful plants in cultivation, the to¬ 
NEW BARN. Fig. 377. 
longs to this genus. Its fruit is poisonous, and 
it is a worthless weed, and should beextermina- 
ted. There is btill another member of tbisgroup 
worthy of notice, which is the climbing Bitter¬ 
sweet, 8. Dulcamara. This is worthy of at¬ 
tention for its beautiful, glossy, green, ovate 
or heart-shaped leaves, uud, when ripe, Its 
oval, red berries, which hang on all Winter, 
giving it quite au ornamental appearance. 
0ray sayR this was introduced from Europe; 
but 1 have seen it growing in the native for¬ 
ests of Indiaua, where it certainly had no ap¬ 
pearance of being an introduced foreigner. 
As an ornamental climber, this is worthy a 
place iu all suitable situations. 
bacco plant has doubtless proved the most del¬ 
eterious. Tobacco coutaius an essential oil 
—nicotine—that is a deadly poison, and which 
cannot be habitually takeu into the system 
without deleterious effects. Could this plant 
be banished from cultivation and use, it would 
prove very beneficial to the health of the bu¬ 
reau family. Auother poisonous plant of this 
family is the Black Henbane of Europe. This 
plant, knowu to botanists as Hyoscyumus nig- 
er, has become a weed in some localities in this 
country. It possesses highly poisonous and 
narcotic properties, and is used to a consider¬ 
able extent, as a medicine. It is extensively 
employed also to destroy insect parasites, 
Stable for Calves, 
10 x 16 . 
Feeding ^ Alley. 
Cow Stable. 
_ 
Cow Stable. 
Stable for Cows 
when Calving. 
1 
2 
o 
Passage. 
Granary, 10x10 
Meal Chest. 
Corn Crib. | 
Covered Feoding Alley, b, 
cS 
Feeding Space, 
Hay and Grain Overhead. 
oo <5 
*a 
e 
4 
S' 
x 
& 
Plan of Barn. 
FLAN OF BARN. Fig. 378. 
The well-known and highly-appreciated 
tomato—Lycopersicum escul entum—belongs 
to a different genas of the family of which the 
tomato is a member, and may therefore be 
said to be an own cousin to it. This is a tropi¬ 
cal plant that has been extensively natural¬ 
ized in the temperate zone. Under the vary¬ 
ing influences of cultivation, this fruit has 
assumed innumerable variations of shape, 
color, size, and season of ripening. Its ex¬ 
cellence has made it, in popularity and im¬ 
portance, second only to the potato itself. In 
another genus—Physalis—we find another 
esculent that is probably worthy of more at¬ 
tention than it receives; this is the Ground 
both on plants and animals. Belladonna— 
Atropa—is another plant of very poisonous 
qualities found iu this family. This, like 
the preceding one, is used both as a medicine 
and au insecticide. The Jimson Weed 
or Thorn Apple—Datura stramonium—may 
also be mentioned as another of the family. 
This large, coarse, unsightly weed is but too 
well known to the farmers of the country. It 
persists in growing iu neglected lots and va¬ 
cant corners about the farm. Both plant and 
seeds contain a strong narcotic poison. The 
leaves and seeds, when pulverized and 
then mixed with saltpeter and burned 
and the smoke inhaled, form the surest 
relief for the attacks of asthma of all the so- 
called cures extant. Indeed, these substances 
form the bases, and in many cases the sum 
and substance of nearly all of these cures. 
Euough of this weed might be permitted to 
grow to meet auy local demand for this pur¬ 
pose, and all the rest, should be studiously de¬ 
stroyed. 
Such are some, but by no moans all, of the 
family relations of the potato. It is some¬ 
what remarkable that so many of those plants 
are poisonous; ami this will account for the 
fact that on its introduction into European 
countries, the potato bail the reputation of be¬ 
ing Itself poisonous. And, indeed, it is said 
that the loaves of tho potato contain a poison 
in small quantities. This poison, called sola- 
nine, is also said to bo developed to some ex¬ 
tent in the tubers when permitted to lie in tho 
sunshine a few days. Iu this glance at the 
Night-shade Family we at once see the superi¬ 
ority of tho potato to ail other members of the 
family. _ _ _ 
CLOVERS AS NITROGEN COLLECTORS. 
It is well kuown to all farmers that clover 
has a peculiarly effective manurial actiou 
when growu as a preparatory crop to corn or 
wheat, or auy of the cereals. All the legumi¬ 
nous plauts—the clovers, peas, etc.—possess 
more or less of this useful property. Chem¬ 
ists find that they obtain and store in their 
structure more nitrogen than other plauts, and 
so supply the chief ingredient of nitric acid 
which is developed by the heat and moisture 
of the Summer, provided the air has access 
Fig. 379. 
through the surface soil. The question how 
the clovers,etc., obtain this amount of nitrogen 
beyond what cereals show, is not fully settled. 
The Bokburu Clover, a gigantic variety of the 
common Melilot, or Sweet Clover, has beeu 
known to grow 18 feet Idgh. All the Mul- 
ilot Clovere will grow and make a largo 
amount of forage on soils too poor for other 
crops, but tho stems arc woody uud hard; yot 
it is likely that in many places Sweet Clover 
may prove a good ensilage crop. W here once 
introduced, it remains, although au uuuuul,ua 
it seeds freely, and sends its ro 5ts deeper and 
leaves higher than other crops, aud so subdues 
them. Sir J. li. Lawes examined the soil iu 
which Bokhara Clover had grown to a bight 
of about six feet before it flowered. It was 
found full of the roots to the depth of 54 
laches (4J£ feet), aud was very hard and dry, 
although there had been abundant rain. This 
dryness of the soil was apparently due, almost 
wholly, to the evaporation of tho water from 
the surface of the plauts. It was also appar¬ 
ent that much water must have beeu absorbed 
by the roots from a greater depth than 54 
inches, together with any such soluble salts, as 
the nitrates, that may have laseu dissolved 
in it. 
White Clover was grown iu a plat adjoining 
that occupied by the Bokhara. Its roots were 
chiefly near the surface, very few descending 
27 inches. Both water and nitric acid were 
found in minimum amount as far as the roots 
extended. Between 30 and 45 inches the soil 
of the White Clover plat was found to have 
retained five times more nitric acid than 
the Bokhara plat, evidently because the roost 
