1817 . 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
217 
Second Floor. —Fig. 48. 
11 three story brick/’ situated in a quiet and picturesque 
valley. 
I prefer the bracketed style to the common modifica¬ 
tions of Grecian styles, for its greater availability for 
domestic uses, and because it is less common. 
In the construction of this house, the roof of the main 
part should extend over the avails about three feet, and 
the roof of the rear two feet. This, more than any 
other feature, will give the house a sheltered, comfort¬ 
able, home expression. Such a projection must be sup¬ 
ported by brackets. These may be made of almost any 
form to suit the fancy of the builder. Fig. 49 represents 
Projection of Roof. —Fig. 49. 
sections of the roof projection, supported by two simple 
forms of brackets, a. is a neat and common form; b. is 
less common, but very pretty. In the cut, g. repre¬ 
sents the side of the house— i. frieze— e. roof-boards and 
shingles— c. eave trough— d. plate—/, rafter. The 
part below the dotted line represents the brackets as 
displayed at the gables. The brackets should be cut 
out of two, or two and a half inch plank. The frieze 
should be of thick stuff, put on in the usual way. To 
this the bracket must be firmly nailed or mortised. The 
roof-boards to be nailed on to the brackets must be 
smoothed on the under side and nicely jointed. The 
eave-trough is made by nailing a board at right angles 
to the board that projects over the bracket, as at o, and 
lining it with tin. In order that the roof may not come 
down too far over the upper windows, it will be neces¬ 
sary to make the top of the plate about two feet or 
eighteen inches above the floor of the garret, which will 
make the posts of the house about 22 feet long. 
It will be seen that there is but one chimney, and no 
fire-place in the main house. Stoves, inconsequence of 
being more economical of fuel, and giving a more even 
heat, are now pretty generally preferred to fire places. 
There being no fire-places there will be no need of man¬ 
tels, which, with fire-places and extra chimneys, are 
quite an item of expense. If a shelf is wanted for a 
clock, a short one can be put up where needed, support¬ 
ed by neatly carved brackets—opposite the bay window 
in the sitting-room would be an appropriate and conve. 
nient place. 
The cellar can be made under the whole house, or 
merely under the kitchen part. 
Estimate. — I am not able to make a very close es¬ 
timate of the cost of this house, if neatly finished 
throughout; but from the opinions I have gathered 
from builders, I think it cannot be built as it should 
be for less than $1,,800. This is supposing that the 
proprietor bestows no labor upon it himself. 
F. J. Scott. 
Toledo, Ohio, May 10, 1847. 
THE REVOLVING HORSE RAKE. 
This implement, well known in many parts of the 
country, and in use for many years, holds nearly the 
same relation to the common hand-rake, in saving la¬ 
bor, as the plow and cultivator bear to the hand-hoe. 
A large portion of our farmers have not yet availed 
themselves of its eminent advantages. The amount of 
work it will perform with a single horse and driver, 
may be easily estimated by any one, when it is stated 
that a strip of hay on the ground, ten feet wide, may 
be raked up into winrows as fast as the horse will 
walk; that is, if the horse travels three miles per hour, 
more than three acres will be raked in that time, or 
twenty-four acres per day. The only labor in unload¬ 
ing each rakeful of hay, is a slight lifting of the handles, 
which causes the teeth to make a semi-revolution, and 
drop the load, without stopping. It is not merely the 
saving of labor at the moment, that gives this rake all 
its value;—the rapidity with which a large field of hay 
may be secured from a threatening storm, in case of 
emergency, is often of the greatest value. 
The teeth of this rake lie flat on the ground during 
its operation, and not, as has been represented in most 
of our agricultural papers, running on their points. 
Profitable Hens. —J. W. Bissel, of Rochester, who 
keeps his hens in a warm, dry, clean, and light hen¬ 
house, and feeds them in winter with mill screenings, 
butchers’ scraps, and sometimes with warm boiled po¬ 
tatoes and cabbages, finds them to lay the greatest num¬ 
ber of eggs in 2d mo., (Feb ,) when they sell highest in 
market. “ The greatest number laid in any one day 
during that month, was 27, worth 42 cents; the ave¬ 
raged price of their food each day was 7 cents.” The 
cost of attendance is not stated. 
