VOL. XXVII.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., APRIL 9, 1892.
NO. 15
ADMIHISTBATIOK BUILDIKG, WOBLD'S
FAIE.
By popular verdict the Administration
Building is pronounced the gem and
crown of tbe Exposition palaces. It is located at the west end of the great court in
the southern part of the site, looking eastward, and at iti rear are the transportation
facilities and depots. The most, conspicuous object which wiU attract the gaze of
visitors on reaching the grounds is the
gilded dome of this lofty building. This
imposing edifice will cost about ?450,000.
The architect is Richard M. Hunt, of New
York, President of the American Institute
of Architects, to whose established reputation it is a notable contribution. It covers an area of 260 feet square and consists
of four pavilions 84 feet square, one at
eachof the fouranglesof thesquareand connected by a great central dome 120 feet in
diameter and 220 feet in height. The first
great story is in the Doric order, of heroic
proportions, surrounded by a lofty balustrade and having the great tiers of the angle
of each pavilion crowned with sculpture.
The second story, with its lofty and spacious colonnade, is of the Ionic order.
The interior features of this great building even exceed in beauty and splendor
those of the exterior. Batween every two
of the grand entrances, and connecting
the intervening pavilion with the great
rotunda, is a hall or loggia 30 feet square,
giving access to the offices and provided
"mtTBroid^cirouIar stairways and'swift-
running elevators.
Above the balcony is the second story,
•50 feet in height. From the top of the cornice of this story rises the interior dome,
200 feet from the floor, and inthe center
is an opening 50 feet in diameter, transmitting a flow of light from the exterior
dome overhead.
Written for the Indiana Farmei:
Transportation Problems.—n6. 7.
BT JOHH M. STAHL.
Very few of us know how much would
be gained by a comparatively small expenditure on our highways. We do not
know that the draft of a loaded vehicle
on the .roadway be reduced twenty-five
Per cent by paring ofl a few feet from tbe
wps of hills and pnt.iog tne earth in
the valleys between them. Prof. Carson,
of the University of Tennessee, has made
a special study of highways and has made
many experiments in this field; his assertions about any matter connected with
W gb.ways is entitled to the greatest consid
oration. He says that the tables in
tten.Giimoro's-'Raacig. Streets and Pavements," and which give the results of
uen. Gllmore's Experiments, "agree with
_h0g__eralaverageof results obtained by
we best experimenters." These taDles
™)w ^at the power that will draw 100
Ponnds on a level earth road will draw on-
'7-5 lbs. on a grade of three feet to a hun-
wea, only 60 pounds when  the grade is
«_. _ ^ 0nly 50 lbs> wnen the grade ** nin<>
°My 60 pounds when the grade is* nine
fe_\M__°nly37 when th8 K™^ is 15
t__ e mind"-d.   How  many hills
a__.W..th*tC0nldbe lowered ten feet at
de.?*-?!-?50 and **• earth t™™ «"- t<>P be
£__?_!* * the ,00t <* *» hlU! Can
av«! any r6M01»ble doubt that on the
well,? 6.!°adthIs expense of ?20 would be
"Paid for h,side of three months. Cer-
1°; "J* tt **• Gllmore's tables are cor-
^ and the best authorities agree with
g*_S_" Gilmore'8 tables show that on a
P*!?. _.Certain -?°wer ^ draw 139
ona^_ ^!W6ight' *"»*" ^m draw
«>t *__f ^ road' 0ca eartb roads are
LeavW ea!thr0ads3° days of the year.
.tJ,011'01 account the Unfes when
it i.^j!0848 "".practically impassable,
<*-. be r,^8*7 that when oir earth roads
used w"l» a vehicle,  on the aver
age not more than 40 per cent of the load
can be hauled on them that can be hauled
on a good earth road. That Is, on a gocd
earth road one could haul 250 per cent of
the load that he can haul, on tbe average
on our roads when they are passable. It
is plain to see that in addition to the
gain from having a good road (a gravel
one) when now our dirt roads are impassable, we would have the further gain of
being able to haul at other times three
and one-half times as much on the average
were our earth roads exchanged for good
gravel roads; for a good gravel road is always in good condition—as favorable to
travel three hours after a rain as three
days after.
New England Ways.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
One bright morning ln the month of last
August, I stood before an old fashioned
barn in Connecticut, watching with interest a rye-threshing going on within.
The work was done by one man. The
bundles of rye were spread out on the
floor before him, and with an ancient flail
in his hands the rye was threshed in the
liter&l sense of the word.
In watching this performance I was inclined to think it only child's play. It
looked so easy that I asked the man to let
me try, and he did, greatly to the amusement of my companions, who were careful to stand at a  safe distance from the
ADMINISTRATION BUH-DINO AT THE WOBLD S FAIK.
As I am limiting myself io transportation problems, it would be improper for
me to write at length of any other advantages of good highways other than those
that appertain to the transportation of onr
farm products; but I can not refrain from
a mention of the fact that good highways
would be very advantageous to usboth socially and politically, It is the isolation
of the farmer, the extreme difficulty ot
social enjoyment in the country, that is
chiefly responsible for so many of our
boys and girls leaving the farm. It Is a
slander to say that the drudgery of the
farm drives them to the city, they are not
lazy, and, besides, they have to work folly
as hard in the city as in the country. But
God made them sociable creatures and
they are impelled by a natural and strong
desire for social intercourse. If we had
good country roads, country people could
oftener meet in social gatherings and farm
life would not be so distasteful anderk-
some to young people.
Farmers cannot exert much Influence
politically unless they are formed in com-
pactlive.or ganizations, and it is impossible
to maintain suoh organizations while our
highways are in their present condition.
Farmers must be Invited to regular attendance at the meetings of the organization by a pleasant drive over good roads;
but now they are repelled by nearly Im
passable roads, and'as a result only cranks
and place seekers attend regularly, the organization passes under their control, is
soon made ridiculous and wrecked. The
farmer will never have justice done him
politically until there are good country
highways.
wild efforts of my nnpracticed hands. After a few attempts I gave up the task with
the belief that such tools were made only
for people of genius.
Turning toward the road which lay near
this barn I saw something not to be found
in Indiana. This was a home-made wagon,
loaded with salt-meadow hay and drawn
by four groat plodding oxen. These slow
methods of working impressed me as being out of date, lt seems that in some
things Eastern people are behind us, and
Indiana farmers, rather than complain ot
hard times should rejoice at their ad vantages and make the most of opportunities.
It ls generally known that in New En-
land, farming is not carried on as an extensive occupation. It is not a paying business, Inasmuch as the soil is very thin
and rocky. If the farm, by persistent fertilizing, yields products sufficient for family use, the farmer is content. The first
duty ln getting a piece of land ready for
cultivation there is to clear off the stone,
and everywhere these are used as fencing;
stone walls being as common in New England as are rail and board fences here.
These stone walls are not a 'desirable
part of tho farm. They cover too much of
the soil, but using them for walls is the
only way of disposing profitably of the
many stones which form a part of every
inherited or purchased piece of land.
Theso walls have a good quality in that,
when once made, they last long after
the industrious farmer has ceased
his work and "has been resolved gto
earth again" his stone walls remain,monu-
ments of his efforts with nature.
For picturesque scenery, nothing in^the
New England landscape is so attractive as
a moldering stone wall, gray with years,
and here »nd there bright with the red
and yellow leaves of some clinging vine.
Dairying in Connecticut is an occupation which helps to swell the farmer's
profits and a country woman's milk house
is a bright and shining spot. One finds
none of our potter's crockery in use there.
Instead there are rows upon rows of tin
milk pans, kept in a state of brightness by
the energetic hands of the Yankee house
wife.;
In a Connecticut kitchen or pantry is
found every desirable piece of tin ware,
upon which the typical Yankee woman is
constantly using rushes or white sand,
and her untiring energy. She could not
rest at night if every pan were not bright
as a mirror. If a speck or spot Is upon
her white kitchen floor there is no ease of
mind for her.
She prides herself upon a white sink and
a polished stove. Look into her pantry
or cupboard and you see her thrift and
neatness showing forth in every article
found there. You may form a picture of
the woman by her work,—a firm determined face, with energy in every action
of the slim figure. A Yankee woman with
well-rounded figure Is hard to had. There
is not time in her busy life for the accumulation of flesh. This entering into
detail in all household tasks is wearing
upon the system. There is too great a sacrifice of physical energy, and of necessity
a neglect of mental culture, so important
to real enjoyment and true living.
I-ife is too short to scrub one's kitchen
floor every day. There is so much that is
more vital. The3e women who labor from
four o'clock in the morning till long after
dark, with constantly repeated household
duties, have never found the time to read
Ruskin's opinion of detail in work. He
says "Holbien draws skeleton after skeleton, but never so much as counts their
ribs. He neither knows nor cares how
many ribs a skeleton has, and I triumph
in him. Nothing has ever pleased me
more than this grand negligence. Nobody wants to know how many ribs a
skeleton has, any more than how many
bars a grid-iron has, so long as the one can
breathe and the other broil, acd still less
when the breath and the fire are both
out."
Seemingly these Yankee women have
for their motto the more familiar quotation, "The gods see everywhere."
There are many stories afloat concerning
frugality of. living among Connecticut
people. Judging from my own association among them lam inclined to believe
that these stories are told merely for
amusement. There is nothing more pleasant than the manner in which one is received as a guest in an Eastern home.
If there is a wocden nutmeg Yankee in
Connecticut, he&is the exception and not
the rule.
The old gentleman who taught his
children to butter their. bread on the
"waney" side in order to save butter; the
penurious brother who compelled
his old maid sister to pay—according to
her own story—ten cents for every piece
of worm-hole, knot-hole pie she ate in
his house; or the family who served their
guest for her first dinner, bread made of
wheat flour, for the second, bread of a
mixture of wheat and rye flour, and for
the third, "just rye by itself;"—these people, I think, are only imaginary beings
originated for a story telling occasion.
Jennie Blatchley.
* * Rockville, Ind.
The volume of transactions of Indiana
Horticultural Society for 1891 is'now completed, except the binding. Secretary
Ragan hopes to get it into the hands of
the members of the society in a very few
days.