1852 
THE CULTIVATOR 
pal story, are two parlors, or a front parlor and dining 
room, 15 feet by 17 feet, and 10 feet high, connected by 
sliding doors—a bedroom, 11 by 12 feet, off from the 
PRINCIPAL FLOOR. 
dining room, with a dressing room 5 by 8 feet, and 
closet. A front and back hall, with stairs in back hall 
for access to chambers, and underneath to cellar, an¬ 
swering as private stairs, or for all purposes for a family, 
being much more economical than open stairs, and which 
are so placed as to accomodate all parts of the house. 
From this hall is a door opening into a closet at the end 
of the hall, and also a door (with sash to light back 
hall,) opening into the kitchen. Connected with the 
kitchen, is a pantry 6 by 9 feet—a closet for kettles, &c., 
6 by 4 feet, and an entry 7 by 8 feet, in which is a sink, 
with a pump to raise water from the cistern underneath. 
The sink should have a good drain, to carry off the 
the waste water. On the right, in the front hall, a door 
enters a sitting room or library, 12 by 13 feet, from 
which a door enters a bedroom 12 by 12 feet, with 
two closets opening into it. A door may lead from the 
bedroom into the back hall, or kitchen, if desired. All 
the rooms in the lean-to part, are designed to be 9 feet 
in height. Up stairs are two bed rooms, 8 by 13 feet 
each, and a chamber 16 by 16 feet, and 9 feet in height, 
with any reasonable number of closets. 
The cellar is under the main 
part of the building,which gives 
as much cellar room as is usual¬ 
ly wanted—if more is desired, 
it can be had by excavating 
under the lean-to part. 
The chimneys are ornamen¬ 
tal, which, with the verge 
boards under the eaves, gives 
a finish to the building in good 
keeping with the idea of a cot¬ 
tage or country house. The 
outside finish is of inch boards 
matched, and put on vertically, with battens four inches 
in width, and not less than one inch thick, rough or 
planed, painted and sanded, with a coat of paint over 
the sand. This makes a handsome finish, far superior to 
clap-boards, and looks much better. In framing, use 
timber five by ten inches for posts and girth beams, and 
for the principal floor, limber eight inches square; in¬ 
113 
stead of framing in scantling as in houses covered with 
clapboards, frame scantling three and four inches every 
three feet upward from 
the sill, horizontally— 
the four inch side next 
the outside covering. 
On these, nail boards 
vertically inside,to lath 
and plaster upon; then 
furr out with inch 
boards over the plaster 
and put on another 
coat of lath and plas¬ 
ter—making a double 
coat of plastering all 
around the outside, or 
exposed part of the 
building. This makes 
a house much warmer, 
and the extra expense 
is soon saved in fuel, 
windows, are six by five inches. By using guch timber, 
the projections in the corners of the room as in case of 
square timber being used, is avoided; and is sufficiently 
strong. By nailing cleats to the joists, and cutting in 
short pieces of boards between them, and putting upon 
this, one or one and a half inches of mortar, before lay¬ 
ing the floors in the principal story, it will tend to keep 
out the dampness from the cellar and add to the warmth 
of the house. J. Clinton , N. Y. 
How Science affects Agriculture. 
A lecture on this subject by Chas. Daubeny, M. D., 
F. R. S., has been published in the North British Agri¬ 
culturist, which shows clearly that the often repeated 
assertion, that scientific investigation can accomplish noth¬ 
ing for the industrial classes, is without foundation, and 
originates in entire ignorance of the facts in the case. 
New discoveries become so soon public property and ap¬ 
propriated to private interest, that the community lose 
sight of their origin and forget to whom they are indebted 
for the improvements,which all are so ready to avail them¬ 
selves of. More careful observation will show that science, 
by referring facts to general principles, affords the only 
safe-guard against imposition, and also the only reliable 
guide to inquiry for truth. The lecturer instances several 
discoveries of great practical benefit to the agricultural 
world, which have owed their rise to science. 
The dairy lands in Cheshire, England, were observed 
to become exhausted, the grass did not thrive, and cows 
fed upon it, could not derive the constituents of their 
milk. A lucky accident (in no way attributable to 
science) disclosed the fact that the application of bones 
restored fertility to the soil, but scientific men were not 
slow in accounting for this fertilizing property of bones, 
and in suggesting great advantages to be derived from it. 
If the phosphates, which the plants in the process of 
growth draw from the soil, could by external application 
be restored, the soil would retain its native productive¬ 
ness. This led to farther investigation and the discovery 
of very valuable deposits, in which the phosphate of lime 
was a large component. Aside from the worth of the 
The timbers, each side of the 
