1883. J 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
317 
kitchen, and may be reached from each direct.... 
Second Story (fig. 4).—Hight of ceiling is 9 
feet. This story has a central hall, three cham¬ 
bers, three closets, and a trunk-room. The stairs 
to the attic are placed above those of the first 
story .. .Attic (fig. 5).—Hight of ceiling is 3 feet 
at the plates or sides, and follows the rafters to 
the full hight of 7 feet. A hall and three cham¬ 
bers are finished on this floor, with the doors and 
windows placed in the center of the ends of each. 
.... 4'oils(ruction. — The foundations and 
chimneys are of hard brick, laid in good mortar. 
The frame is of sawed spruce; with siding, for 
the body, of clapboards laid on thicknessed sheath¬ 
ing and building felt. The gables and frieze 
courses are of red-wood shingles, also on sheath¬ 
ing. The main roof is of dark slate, laid on sheath¬ 
ing and tarred felt. The veranda roofs are also of 
slate, laid on inverted pine flooring. The flooring 
outside is of li by 4i-inch T and G pine ; inside, of 
li by 7-inch T and G spruce. The windows have 
plank frames, with li-incli sash, glazed with sec¬ 
ond quality French glass. The doors are of sea¬ 
soned pine, panelled and molded. The inside 
finish is clear pine, reeded, with blocks. The in¬ 
side walls and ceilings are hard-finished on two 
coats of brown mortar, and the principal rooms of 
the first story have neat stucco cornices. The 
painting is two-coat work, of selected colors. 
Estimate.—Cost of Materials ami Labor. 
160 yards Excavation, @ 25c. $ yd...$ 40.00 
15,000"Brick, Foundation and CliinmeyB (complete, 
@ $15 34 M. 225.00 
82 feet Blue Stone, Steps and Sills, @ 30c. ?! ft.. 9.60 
1,000 yards Plastering, @ 30c. $1 yd. 800.00 
210 Stucco Cornices, @ 20c. $ ft. 42.00 
5,< 00 feet Timber, @ $20 * M. 100.00 
100 Joists, @ 16c. each. 16.00 
250 Wall Strips, @ 11c. each. 27.50 
4,500 feet Sheathing. @ 3c. $ ft. 135.00 
450 Clapboards, @ 16c. each. 72.00 
21 bunches Shingles, @ $1.50 $ bunch. 31.50 
24 X squares Slate, @ *9 $ square. 220.50 
950 feet Outside Flooring, @ 5c. ft. 47.50 
2,650 feet Inside Flooring, & 4c. @ ft. 106.00 
5 Cellar Windows, @ $3 each. 15.00 
23 Full-sized Windows, at $8 each. 184.00 
11 Half-Windows, @ $5 each. 55.00 
29 Doors, at $7 each. 203.00 
3 Stairs, @ $10 each. 30.00 
Veranda and Porch finish. 50.00 
5 kegs Nails, @ $4 each. 20 00 
4 Closet finish. 20.00 
Mantels. 30.00 
Tin Gutters and Leaders. 20.00 
Carting,. 20.00 
Painting. 180.00 
Carpenter’s labor (not Included above). 240.00 
Pump, Sink, and Incidentals. 60.00 
Total, complete.$2,500.00 
Application of Plant Food. 
BY PROF. J. W. SANBORN, AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE OF 
MISSOURI. 
In the April number I gave the results of trials 
of manure plowed under, versus manure surface 
applied. These results were contrary to my ex¬ 
pectations and the common belief; and I know 
of no similar trials on record, as these covered sev¬ 
eral years and different crops. I question the cor¬ 
rectness of present reasoning upon the surface 
application of manure. This reasoning is founded 
partly upon English research and opinion; it is 
borrowing facts'formed under one set of condi¬ 
tions, and applying them to another. The rainfall 
of England is less than that of our country, but 
the number of cloudy and rainy days very much 
exceeds that of the United States. One of the 
effects of our dryer atmosphere is an increased 
evaporation, and the leaching of water into the 
subsoil is less here than in the mother coun¬ 
try. The tests of percolation by both Stock- 
bridge and Sturtevant, on open sandy loam, or 
gravelly soil, has shown but little over one-half the 
inches of water of percolation, found by Lawes 
on heavy retentive soil. Our land is frost-locked 
for five months of the year, months in which per¬ 
colation is active in England, as shown by J. B. 
Lawes investigation of fall-applied chemicals, ver¬ 
sus spring-applied. While we have but little per¬ 
colation of water on our more compact soils, it is 
to be remembered that this little does not occur to 
any noteworthy extent, during the growing season; 
in fact, the trials make it probable that during 
* June, July, and August, evaporation exceeds rain- 
fall. The application 1 would make of these facts 
is, that the upward movement of water in the soil, 
may at times exceed the downward, and instead of 
the manure, when plowed under, moving from 
the surface roots of plants, it may pass towards 
them. The upward and downward movements 
of water, caused by rains and capillary attraction, 
to supply surface water for evaporation, causes a 
slight movement of soluble materials of the soil, 
but with less loss of nitrogen in volatile com¬ 
pounds when plowed under. It is generally claim¬ 
ed, on the basis of Vcelcker’s noteworthy investi¬ 
gations, that manure exposed doe6 not lose ni¬ 
trogen by escape into the air. Dr. Vcelcker’s trials 
never showed that there was no loss, but only a 
small loss of nitrogen from covered manure. 1 do 
not claim much loss of nitrogen from exposed 
manure, by escape into the atmosphere, or from 
manure in the soil near its surface. It is well un¬ 
derstood that nitrogen is dissipated into the air 
from the surface of tilled grouud. Under favor¬ 
able conditions (without presenting a long ar¬ 
ray of facts), I believe that my trials were careful 
and extended enough to warrant calling in ques¬ 
tion the present views regarding the application 
of manure, as far as heavy clay loams are con¬ 
cerned. Thus far, in speaking of surface applica/- 
tion of manure, I have had reference to manure 
harrowed into the surface of plowed ground. I 
have considerable experience in top-dressing grass 
lands with most sorts of manure, chemicals, and 
indirect agents of plant nutrition, like lime, plas¬ 
ter, etc., and with all of these have failed to ob¬ 
tain satisfactory results. The fact is more clear to 
my mind, than the reasons why. I have seeded 
down large areas to grass, at different seasons of 
the year, and am confident that the commingling 
of the manure with the earth has been far more 
economical than surface fertilization on the un¬ 
broken sod. New roots from seeding and stirring 
of the soil may be factors in the case. Entire sur¬ 
face application may have a tendency to induce too 
superficial a rooting of plants. The best results 
that I have observed from surface use of manures 
for grass, have been upon moist soils. It is only 
upon fields difficult to till that I would be induced 
to use manures (in our climate) without first 
breaking up the ground. 
Do apples, of different varieties mix by means 
of their pollen? In Wisconsin a number of 
years ago, a neighbor had a Yellow Bellflower 
and a Russet, standing so near together that their 
branches nearly touched. One autumn I helped 
gather the apples, and we found the fruit on the 
adjacent sides of the two trees to be mixed very 
evenly throughout the body of the apple. Those 
on the Bell-flower tree were tinged with the brown 
color of the Russet, and the flesh partook of the 
Russet flavor, and was firmer in texture than the 
true Bell-flower. Those on the Russet tree were 
thinner skinned than the true Russet, tinged 
with light yellow, and the flesh had somewhat the 
flavor of the Bell-flower. The fruit on the sides 
/O‘x/4' 
Fig. 5.—ATTIC OF HOUSE COSTING $2,500. 
of the trees farthest from each other, were true, 
each to its own kind. It did not occur to me at 
the time, to examine the seed-vessels to see if they 
were changed in form ; but there is no doubt in my 
mind that the pollen from the two apple trees was 
mixed. J. E. B., Rockport, D. T. 
