430 
JUNE 30 
out of small refuse stones and brickbats, water- 
lime and sand. 
Planks were used to sustain the grout until 
the mortar was sufficiently hard to bind the 
mass together. The stones were placed in the 
mould about six inches deep, when thin mor¬ 
tar was poured upon them, then another layer 
of stone and mortar, and so on till the wall 
was carried to the top of the planks. In about 
three hours it had hardened enough so that 
the mould could be raised and the work pro¬ 
ceeded with without injury to the wall. No 
stone should touch the plank, or the wall will 
be disturbed when the mould is raised. See 
Fig. 227/ 
Fig. 227. 
Stones varying from 10 pounds to a few 
ounces were used to form the foundation of 
the floor; the larger stones were placed at the 
bottoii i,v ! e mass was thoroughly saturated with 
water and all forced into the earth with a 
heavy wooden pounder. A thin coat of gravel 
was next spread over the whole and solidified 
in the san < way. When the superstructure 
was completed the mass was again wet and 
treated with a coat of thin mortar composed 
of four parts of sand and one of water-lime, 
and this solidified as above. When sufficient¬ 
ly hard to sustain the workmen, the whole was 
covered with a coat three-quarters of an inch 
thick made of three parts sand and one of 
Rosendale cement. Akron cement is better 
than water-lime and equally as good as Rosen¬ 
dale. After about 24 hours the floor was 
sprinkled with water, and also whenever 
thereafter it had the appearance of drying too 
rapidly. The floor appears to depart too 
much from a straight line; but a long use of 
the building shows that this is the best form. 
Racks placed near the walls form level shelves 
upon which to place cans and pails. The de¬ 
scent from end to end of the building is about 
six inches. It is found in practice that the 
labor of keeping the floor clean is very much 
diminished by the rapid descent. 
A six-inch vitrified sewer-pipe is placed at 
the lowest point, Fig. 229, which carries all 
water a few feet across a road, where it is used 
for irrigating a garden. The pipe has a metal 
cover, has no trap and is easily swabbed out 
and steamed. 
The sills are 4x4, the plates are 2x4 doubled, 
and the studding 2x4, 14 feet long, placed 16 
inches apart, forming a story-aud-three-quar¬ 
ter building. The wall has four dead-air 
spaces, formed by three divisions of paper 
placed perpendicularly, and the outside and 
inside boarding. 
To construct the paper partitions (b. Fig. 
228) between the studding, strong building 
paper was cut to half width and bent thus 
•—and secured by nailing common lath to 
the studs. To form the outside and inside di¬ 
visions (a a Fig.228,) paper of full width,reach¬ 
ing from top of plate to bottom of sill, and 
lapped on alternate studs was secured by nail¬ 
ing strips 1x2 inches to the faces of the stud¬ 
ding. The rafters are so framed that the air 
can pass freely upwards between the roof- 
boards and the ceiling of the upper room (see 
arrow, Fig. 228), and out at the extreme gable 
ends through a latticed window, not shown 
in diagram. By this simple contrivance a 
current of air is kept constantly passing be¬ 
neath the roof boards, which keeps the upper 
room cool in summer, but not warm enough 
in winter to prevent freezing, unless there is a 
fire in the lower room. In dwelling houses 
this space should be closed by notching the 
frieze board around the rafters and extending 
it upward till it meets the lower side of the 
roof-board. The windows should be either 
double or double-glazed. The partition and 
door dividing the work room from the cold 
room is constructed the same as the outside 
walls. The joists of the second floor are cov¬ 
ered with heavy paper on the bottom and top 
before the ceiling and flooring are laid. The 
insides of all the rooms are covered with 
matched Georgia pine and treated with two 
coats of lard oil. The upper story is used as 
a storage room, and for the curing of cheese. 
Heat is admitted through the trap-door over 
the stairs when desired. 
The ground-plan, Fig 229, shows the arrange¬ 
ment of fixtures so plainly that little descrip¬ 
tion of it is deemed necessary. The water for 
washing the utensils is heated by steam which 
is carried from the boiler through a pipe with 
a short piece of hose attached. The small 
steam pipe which passes through the stone 
table, as shown in Fig 229, enables the dairy¬ 
man to make perfect work in cleaning utensils; 
this is done by inverting them over the open¬ 
ing in the table, where they are filled with the 
escaping steam and heated to a temperature 
which destroys all germs, and obviates the 
necessity of wiping them. 
The cold room has been tested and found en¬ 
tirely satisfactory, not only for dairy purposes, 
but for keeping apples and grapes. In very 
cold localities the walls for fruit-houses should 
be made thicker than shown, by using studding 
six to eight inches wide so that the two inside 
air spaces may contain a greater amount of 
confined air. 
Burnt Copies. 
9 
COMMERCIAL AND MINERAL FERTIL¬ 
IZERS vs. BARN-YARD AND 
STABLE MANURE. 
B. F. JOHNSON. 
Good English authority declares stable ma¬ 
nure of all kinds the most costly of all 
fertilizers \but this granted,another author¬ 
ity says it is the best; fertilizers for old 
and newly cropped lands; in Illinois $20 
worth of commercial fertilizers produces 
better results than $100 worth o f manure ; 
fine effects of commercial fertilizers on a 
grass lot ; stock greatly prefer fertilized to 
manured grass ; comparative cost of fertil" 
izers and manures. 
In a recent issue of the Journal of the Royal 
Agricultural Society of England, there are, as 
usual, many interesting and valuable papers; 
but perhaps none more so for the corn and 
cattle counties of Illinois, than one by a Mr. 
Valentine on the comparative values of ma¬ 
nures and fertilizers. He declares and ap¬ 
pears to prove what be says, that cattle ma¬ 
nure, whether from the barn-yard or the sta¬ 
ble, is the most costly of all fertilizers, and 
that the same or similar results can be ob¬ 
tained with a good deal less cost by the judi¬ 
cious use of commercial fertilizers. Referring 
to Mr. Valentine’s bold dissent from the com¬ 
monly accepted opinion, the North British 
Agriculturist does not deny the correctness of 
the conclusion, and goes no further than to 
declare that barn and stable manure, if the 
dearest, are the best of all fertilizers when 
properly secured and applied. For the United 
Kingdom, where much of the soil has been in 
cultivation for a thousand years, and has been 
cropped and cropped until most of the vege¬ 
table matter has disappeared, and where in 
consequence,the agents of nitrogen are few and 
that element scarce, stable manure, very 
largely vegetable matter in a state of decay, 
furnishes the land these substances which no 
other fertilizer does. In the West and espec¬ 
ially in the grass, corn, and cattle counties of 
the black soil, the land still holds sufficient ni¬ 
trogen for all, or nearly all crops, and there¬ 
fore if on British soils stable and barn-yard 
manure is the most expensive, it is also that 
and something more on Illinois soils which 
are comparatively unexhausted. But it is 
not necessary to press the latter point, and if 
I undertake to show that $25 worth of com¬ 
mercial fertilizers will produce better and 
more satisfactory results than $100 worth of 
stable manure, it is about all that will be tol- 
ated in the present state of agricultural opin¬ 
ion. 
The writer has possession of a five-acre 
pasture lot, that has been used as a cow pasture 
for more than a dozen years. In course of 
that time the land has been fertilized, per¬ 
haps a half dozen times, having received, every 
second year or so, superphosphate, or nitrate 
of soda, or fine bone. The application in the 
spring of 1887 consisted of 500 pounds of fine 
ground bone, early in April. Five cows were 
put oq early in the season, in July two were 
taken off, and three remained to December. 
It is hardly necessary to say that the gras s 
was eaten so short it is doubtful if 100 poundg 
of dry herbage could have been scraped from 
the whole five acres when the stock left the 
lot in December. The second week in April 
of this year 1000 pounds of alkaline bone of 
the Farmers’ Fertilizing Company of New 
York, were sown broadcast. Cows were not 
turned on as usual on May 1, and on the 25th 
of the same month, just before the heavy 
rains, another 1000 pounds were distributed. 
For the purpose of learning more fully what 
the effects of the fertilizers would be, the cows 
have been kept off, and to-day, June 8th., the 
show of grass is magnificent. The field pre¬ 
sents an even surface of Blue Gras just com¬ 
ing into blossom, with here and there a bunch 
of growing Timothy. The average hight of 
the grass is fully two feet, as shown by the 
way it hides the fences surrounding the field. 
As forj the stand, it is complete, except in a 
few rods square, on the edge of what used to 
be a slough, where there are unmistakable 
signs of a buffalo wallow, frequented by these 
beasts less probably than a century ago. The 
ton of fertilizers used contained, according 
to the guarantee of the company, total phos¬ 
phoric acid, 11 to 13 per cent; available acid, 
9 to 11 per cent; insoluble acid, 2 to 3 per 
cent; potash, 6 to 8 per cent. 
Comparing the burden of grass in this pas¬ 
ture with grass in other pastures where stable 
manure has been applied to the surface, a fair 
estimate would seem to be that it would re¬ 
quire one common two-horse wagon-load of 
stable manure to every four rods square, to 
produce as heavy grass growth as that devel¬ 
oped by the fertilizers. In the five acres, 
there are 800 square rods, and, of course, 200 
loads of manure would require to be hauled 
and spread to effect the same results as the 
ton of fe tilizers easily sown broadcast and 
carefully distributed in course of a day of ten 
hours. If the manure costs nothing, the haul¬ 
ing, at 25 cents a load, would amount to $50, 
and if valued at 25 cents each load the cost 
would be $100. After the sowing of the fer¬ 
tilizer, if turned on the pasture, the stock 
commence eating at once, and seem to choose 
rather where the stuff is put on thickest than 
elsewhere. In the case of grass land manured 
to the extent of a two-horse wagon-load to 
every four square rods, it would be several 
weeks, if not months, before anything but 
half-starved stock would fill themselves and 
lie down for a rest before eight o’clock in the 
morning, as they will invariably do where 
commercial fertilizers are used with discretion 
and the herbage is heavy. 
But the objection may be urged that though 
the fertilizer may give the best results the 
first year, in the long run, the manure would 
prove the better investment. Perhaps so, if 
the soil were a very thin one and poor in vege¬ 
table matter and nitrogen. But these defi¬ 
ciencies are not those of the soils we are talk¬ 
ing about—the black soil of the Western prai. 
ries. In restoring the partial impoverishment 
of the black soil from overcropping, it is not 
difficult to see that the renewal of fertility 
can never, except on a very limited scale, be 
brought about by the use of barn-yard or 
st able manures. Suppose we have a 40-acre 
pasture we wish to double the grass yield 
upon. Ten tons of alkaline bone will do it at 
a cost not exceeding $250. But 40 acres con¬ 
tain 6,400 square rods, and if we undertake to 
do as much with manure, we shall have to 
haul and spread 1,600 two-horse wagon-loads 
at a cost for that large quantity, manure in¬ 
cluded, of not less than $800. But where is 
the manure to come from, even for the 40 
acres, and where indeed for the many other 
hundred thousand 40’s requiring the same 
treatment. 
In conclusion, and considering the case of 
the half-exhausted black-soil pasturage and 
meadows (to leave the equally important mat¬ 
ter of exhausted corn lands out of the account) 
there is no possible way of restoring them, 
except by the direct application of such com¬ 
mercial fertilizers as are extensively manu¬ 
factured in Chicago and other great pork and- 
beef-packing and canning centers. 
Champaign Co., Ills. 
VARIED HARDINESS OF TREES. 
PROF. J. L. BUDD. 
A late editorial note on the difference in 
hardiness of the common and hardy Catalpa 
is suggestive. Few realize the difference in 
hardiness of given species indigenous to both 
the Eastern and Western States. The Eastern 
Box Elder is as tender here as a peach tree; 
while our form will live on the Red River of 
the North. The Eastern and Southern Red 
Cedar will not endure our summers or winters) 
while the Western form thrives on the Black 
Hills. The East ;rn Sugar Maple will not 
thrive here, while our form is one of our hard¬ 
iest and most beautiful trees. The same may 
be said of the Eastern and Western Soft Maple, 
ash, and indeed nearly of all species common 
to the East and West. The same difference 
in hardiness of species is found with all ligne¬ 
ous plants common to the East and West slopes 
of the Rocky Mountains, and the East and 
West slopes of the Ural Mountains, in Asia. 
As instances, the Silver Spruce (Picea pungens) 
of the West slopes of the Rockies is tender 
here, while that East of the divide is our most 
perfect and beautiful conifer. For like reas¬ 
ons the Phellodendron from the East slopes of 
the Ural is as tender here as a peach tree, 
while that from the West of the divide is per¬ 
fect on our prairies. 
Iowa Agricultural College. 
STRAWBERRY NOTES. 
This is a season when the strawberry beds 
which have been well covered till safe weather 
arrived, show special advantage. Our grounds 
having been well covered look specially well. 
There is a promise for a most abundant crop. 
Of the new varities, 
The Ontario seems an improved Sharp¬ 
less. 
The Bubach, No. 5, is looking very well 
indeed. 
May-King is profuse in bloom, but seldom 
carries out its full promise. The quality of 
the fruit is excellent, but the size is rather 
small. 
Jessie and Belmont both promise well. 
Mammoth (if we have it right) is looking 
feeble, and seems subject to rust; it is not 
promising. 
Haviland, Dorchester and Omega, set 
last fall, look fairly well. 
Henderson is excellent, but not very pro¬ 
ductive or attractive. Most of them went 
in as “seconds” last year. 
Gold is not as strong as Jewell, but it is 
better in quality, multiplies much faster, and 
is better adapted to a light soil. 
Gipsy is always good in quality. It is not 
large or sufficiently productive to plant 
largely for market, but for early use at home 
it is most excellent. 
Cumberland with us is lower in rank than 
formerly. 
Sharpless is good, but I think the Ontario 
an improvement. Neither is as productive as 
the Bubach or Jewell. 
Jersey Queen is excellent, and with us 
more productive than Sharpless. 
Lida promises to take a front rank. 
Jewell, under our culture, is still ahead of 
all others in size, beauty, productiveness and 
profit. 
Cardinal, B, 411, has the strongest plant 
in my collection, and is promising. 
Beseck No. A. 87, is another very promis¬ 
ing variety. Our No. A. 70 is another variety 
we are extending largely—a large dark, 
glossy berry, productive, beautiful and good. 
p. M. AUGUR. 
THE BRIGHTON GRAPE IN CENTRAL 
NEW YORK. 
I have been much interested in the fruit 
lists given in the Rural. Out of 17 lists of the 
“Three Best Red Grapes,” I find the Brighton 
given in 16 and the Catawba in one. In this 
large grape-growing region (Central New 
York) many of us are almost wholly engaged 
in growing grapes for profit. My 300 Brighton 
vines have fruited three times and each year 
have blossomed for a large crop, ampas soon 
as the berries formed they began to drop off 
until the fruit ripened and there remained 
hardly a perfect cluster on the vines, there 
being many stems with six or eight berries. 
I do not think the cause was rot, for Salem 
Agawam, Delaware and Concord grow to perl 
fection around the Brightons. I have trimmed 
them according to the best information and 
