1883 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
521 
Eary for attachment of fixtures.l*:i inline'.— 
Two coats outside, and wood-finish inside. The 
mantels in each story are of neat design in wood. 
Estimate of Materials aud Cost. 
156 yards Excavation, @ 25c. $ yard. $39.00 
1,600 feet Stone Foundation (complete), @ 15c. ^ ft.. .240.00 
4,500 Brick in Chimneys, Piers (complete;, © $15 $ M.. 67.50 
1 Stone Hearth (complete). . 5.00 
1,300 yards Plastering (complete), @ 35c. per yard.455.00 
405 feet Stucco Work (complete), @ 25c. iS it.101.25 
6 Centers and Corbels (complete), @ $1 each. 6.00 
135 yards Concrete (complete), @25c. $ yard. 83.75 
15,000 feet Timber, © $20 V M.300.00 
350 Sheathing Boards, © 17c. each. 59.50 
o o 
Fig. 5.—FOUNDATION PLAN. 
425 Clapboards, @ 16c. each. 68.00 
Felting. 15.00 
180 bunches Shingles, @ $1.50 per bunch..195.00 
2,800 feet Hemlock Boards, @ 3c. foot. 84.00 
Cornices, outside (complete).110.00 
Tin Valleys, Gutters, and Leaders (complete)... .100.00 
1,400 feet Flooring (spruce), @ 4c. $ foot. 56.00 
3,000 feet Flooring (inside), @ 5c. $ foot.150.00 
1,500 feet Flooring (outside), @ 4c. $ foot. 60.00 
Stairs (complete), $200; Verandas (do.), $250.450.00 
48 Windows, full (complete), @ $12 each.576.00 
6 Windows, cellar (complete), @ $6 each. 36 00 
23 Doors (complete), @ $10 each.230.00 
6 kegs Nails, at 4c.. $24; Mantels, $50 . 74.00 
Plumbing, $200; Gas-pipe, $50.250.00 
Furnace, $200; Painting, $400.600.00 
Carting, $50; Incidentals, $89.139.00 
Carpenters’ labor (not included above).500.00 
Total cost, complete.$5,000.00 
Utilizing the Power of the Wind. 
same speed—with a varying wind, the difficulty 
would still be but partly overcome. Sometimes just 
when work is most needed, the wind stops blowing 
and nothing can be done. 
There is also a special difficulty in making very 
powerful wind-mills strong enough so that they will 
not be wrecked in some of our storms. Ingenuity 
has not yet been able to combine strength, means 
of adjustment to the varying direction of the wind, 
and the necessary lightness of parts, so as to 
make these large wind-mills successful. 
With the mills now in use, and capable of with¬ 
standing any storm not great enough to destroy ordi¬ 
nary buildings, all the minor operations of the farm, 
such as churning, cutting feed, slicing roots, etc., 
may be done, provided some cheap method of stor¬ 
ing up power shall be discovered. The wind-mill 
should be so arranged that when not needed for 
pumping, it may run and store up power, to be 
used for a few hours at a time when needed. 
Several ways have been suggested for storing 
power, but all are open to some objections. One 
is, to pump water from a lower level to a higher, 
into a reservoir to be used in driving machinery in 
the usual way. The objections to this plan which 
first suggest themselves are that there would be 
considerable waste from evaporation, leakage, fric¬ 
tion of pumps, etc., and that the machinery needed 
to utilize the water power would be too costly, it 
is feared, to allow any such device to come into 
general use. Another plan suggested is to com¬ 
press air into a large receptable aud use it to drive 
the machinery of the wind-mill. This plan is 
open to the same objections as the preceding. 
It is also proposed to store power by raising a 
weight slowly by a train of wheels, and then take 
power from this weight in descending. We are not 
aware that any practicable device for using such a 
motor has yet been invented. The whole subject is 
commended to the attention of ingenious mechanics, 
in the confident assurance that there is a fortune to 
be made by somebody out of this needed invention. 
Begin now to collect your subscriptions for clubs 
or premiums, or for both. For two cents postage 
you can now write us for any required informa¬ 
In the West but little use is made of winds ex¬ 
cept to pump water. For this purpose it is exten¬ 
sively employed, and its use is rapidly extending. 
Enough wind power goes to waste every year to 
drive all the machinery which will be used in the 
State for a century. This is due to the fact that, as 
yet, wind-power can only be used with profit for 
work not requiring a uniform, steady motion. All 
the wind-mills in use are to some extent self-regu¬ 
lating. The wind is constantly varying in force, 
and the motion of the mill varies with it, but not 
to the same extent. Most mills will stop entirely 
in a heavy storm. In some of the very large wind 
engines, a regulator is used which approximates to 
a uniform speed. But even if some one should 
make a mill so regulated as to run steadily—at the 
tion, not already given, regarding the American 
Agriculturist Premiums, etc. We have department 
heads to immediately answer all questions, and to 
immediately forward you all the needed circulars, 
specimen copies, etc., etc., you may require. 
Is Horse-Racing Necessary at Fairs? 
At a large majority of the thousands of agricul¬ 
tural exhibitions held the present year, the speed 
track—really, the race track—has been a prominent 
feature. Among the premiums awarded, the largest 
in amounts have been given to trotting and running 
horses. Formerly, these trials of speed were merely 
an incident—a “tail piece” to the general exhibit 
of agricultural and horticultural products, imple¬ 
ments, and modes of culture, and of generally use¬ 
ful domestic animals. Latterly, the tail seems to 
wag the whole body. Comparatively few of the 
public-spirited men who get up and manage the 
fairs, fully approve of this feature; but a large 
number deem it a necessary evil. The Committee 
on “ Ways and Means ” reason that while the body 
of staid farmers will come for the sake of the real 
object of such fairs, the “trials of speed” attract 
a large floating population from towns and cities 
who care not a fig for agriculture, but whose admis¬ 
sion fees supply the sinews of war. 
It is already time to begin plans for next year’s 
exhibitions, and while the present season’s expe¬ 
riences and observations are fresh in mind, the race¬ 
track should be well considered. Shall it be the 
leading feature, or only an incidental, or shall it be 
left out ? As heretofore, the financial feature will 
largely govern, especially with men who reckon the 
value of an exhibition according to its magnitude, 
rather than by its educating, social, and moral re¬ 
sults. That the fairs in many parts of the country 
are deteriorating, is certain. Not a few of our best 
farmers are questioning whether fairs are, on the 
whole, useful. There is certainly a large class in 
most communities who are disgusted with the grow¬ 
ing influence of the race-tracks, and are unwilling 
to bring their families under their influence. If all 
of this class are alienated, will not our fairs soon 
become little more than an annual race-course? 
There are several examples that may well be con¬ 
sidered. The Agricultural Society of the Empire 
State has steadily and persistently set its face 
against the introduction of this feature, and no 
other society has more prosperously gone forward 
with grand agricultural exhibitions every year—• 
never in financial straits, but always making a large, 
useful, instructive, genuine, agricultural show. As 
another illustration, take the Orange County (N. Y.) 
Agricultural Society, one of the largest and most 
prosperous. Not long ago the race-track threatened, 
to get the supremacy, and speed premiums were 
abolished. Many predicted decline and failure. 
The results last year and this, show the contrary. 
There were in the horse department two hundred 
and thirty-one entries last year, and two hundred, 
and seventy-seven this year, numbering with colts 
three hundred and thirty-nine animals, including 
twenty-six stallions, forty-eight teams, one hundred 
and forty-five single horses, etc. Instead of the 
race, all the exhibited animals were marshalled in 
grand cavalcade each afternoon and, preceded by a 
stirring band of music, marched in classes, follow¬ 
ing each other, two or three times around the track 
that encircled the chief buildings, and in view of 
all present. The quiet, earnest attention and study 
we saw in the faces of ten to fifteen thousand look¬ 
ers-on were, we are sure, indications of far more 
practical information carried home, than could have 
been derived from seeing a few fleet-footed animals 
dashing past at their utmost speed under the lash 
of professional jockeys. Racing is not necessary. 
