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LIBRARY
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UNIVERSIT OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
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Social Sciences & Humanities Library
University of California, San Diego
P,easoNc«e: This item is subiecno rec*
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UCSD Lib.
Cl 39 (5/97)
.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE,
BEING A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION
OF
FARM HOUSES, COTTAGES,
AND
OUT BUILDINGS,
COMPRISING
WOOD HOUSES, WORKSHOPS. TOOL HOUSES, CARRIAGE AND WAGON
HOUSES, STABLES, SMOKE AND ASH HOUSES, ICE HOUSES,
APIARY OR BEE HOUSE, POULTRY HOUSES, RAB-
BIXRY, DOVECOTE, PIGGERY, BARNS AND
SHEDS FOR CATTLE, &c., &c., &a.
TOGETHER WITH
LAWNS, PLEASURE GROUNDS AND PARKS ; THE FLOWER, FRUIT ANB
VEGETABLE GARDEN. ALSO, USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL
DOMESTIC ANIMALS FOR THE COUNTRY
RESIDENT, fcC., tC., fcC.
ALSO,
THE BEST METHOD OF
CONDUCTING WATER INTO CATTLE YARDS AND HOUSES.
BY LEWIS F. ULLEN.
V^*-*""
BEAUTIFULLY ILLU ST. BATED.
NEW YORK:
A . O . MOORE,
(LATE O. M. BAXTON A CO..)
AGRICULTURAL BOOK PUBLISHER,
140 FULTON STREET.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852.
BY LEWIS F. ALLEN,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for tiie
Southern District of New York.
Stereotyped by
JEWKTT, THOMAS AMI OO.
Buflklo. N. Y.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The writer of these pages ought, perhaps, to apologize for
attempting a work on a subject, of which he is not a profes-
sional master, either in design or execution. In the science
of Farm buildings he claims no better knowledge than a long
practical observation has given him. The thoughts herein
submitted for the consideration of those interested in the
subject of Farm buildings are the result of that observation,
added 'to his experience in the use of such buildings, and a
conviction of the inconveniences attending many of those
already planned and erected.
Nor is it intended, in the production of this work, to niter-
fere with the labors of the professional builder. To such
builder all who may be disposed to adopt any model or
suggestion here presented, are referred, for the various details,
hi their specifications, and estimates, that may be required;
presuming that the designs and descriptions of this work will
be sufficient for the guidance of any master builder, in their
erection and completion.
iV ADVERTISEMENT.
But for the solicitation of those who believe that the
undersigned could offer some improvements in the construction
of Farm buildings for the benefit of our landholders and
practical farmers, these pages would probably never have
appeared. They are offered in the hope that they may be
useful in assisting to form the taste, and add to the comfort of
those who are the main instruments in embellishing the face
of our country in its most pleasing and agreeable features —
the American Farmer.
LEWIS F. ALLEN.
BLACK ROCK, N. Y. 1851.
NOTE. — For throwing the Designs embraced in these pages
into their present artistic form, the writer is indebted to Messrs.
Otis <fe Brown, architects, of Buffalo, to whose skill and experi-
ence he takes a pleasure in recommending such as may wish
instruction hi the plans, drawings, specifications, or estimates
relating to either of the designs here submitted, or for others
of any kind that may be adapted to their purposes.
L. F. A.
CONTENTS.
PREFATORY, ................................................ 9
INTRODUCTORY, .............................................. 13
General Suggestions, ........................................ 19
Style of Building — Miscellaneous, ............................ 23
Position of Farm Houses, .................................... 29
Home Embellishments, ...................................... 32
Material for Farm Buildings, .................................. 37
Outside Color of Houses, ................................ ----- 42
A Short Chapter on Taste, ................................... 48
The Construction of Cellars, .................................. 54
Ventilation of Houses, ....................................... 56
Interior Accommodation of Houses, ............... . ........... 65
Chimney Tops, ............................................. 68
Preliminary to our Designs, .................................. 69
DESIGN I. A Farm House, ................................... 72
Interior Arrangement, ................................. 75
Ground Plan, ......................................... 76
Chamber Plan, ........................................ 77
Miscellaneous, ........................................ 80
As a Tenant House, ................................... 81
DESIGN II. Description, ..................................... 84
Ground and Chamber Plans, ............................ 89
Interior Arrangement, .................................. 90
Miscellaneous Details, .................................. 95
DESIGN III. Description, .................................... 101
Ground and Chamber Plans, ............................ 105
Interior Arrangement, .................................. 106
Miscellaneous, ........................................ Ill
TI CONTENTS. ,
Page
DESIGN IV. Description, 114
Interior Arrangement, 118
Ground Plan, 119
Chamber Plan, 120
Surrounding Plantations, Shrubbery, Walks, <fec. 125
Tree Planting in the Highway, 129
DESIGN V. Description, 133
Interior Arrangement, 135
Ground Plan, 136
Chamber Plan, 142
Construction, Cost of Building, <fcc., 147
Grounds, Plantations, and Surroundings, 149
DKSIGN VI. A Southern, or Plantation House, 154
Interior Arrangement, 159
Chamber Plan, 162
Carriage House, 163
Miscellaneous, 163
Lawn and Park Surroundings, 166
An Ancient New England Family, 168
An American Homestead of the Last Century, 169
Estimate of Cost of Design VI, 172
DESIGN VII. A Plantation House, 175
Interior Arrangement, 176
Ground Plan, 177
Chamber Plan, 178
MISCELLANEOUS, ; 179
Lawns, Grounds, Parks, and Woods, 181
The Forest Trees of America, 183
Influence of Trees and Forests on the Character of men, 184
Hillhouse and Walter Scott as Tree Planters, 187
DoctorJohnson.no Rural Taste, 188
Fruit Garden — Orchard, 194
How to lay out a Kitchen Garden, 197
Flowers, 202
Wild Flowers of America, 203
Succession of Home Flowers, 206
FARM COTTAGES, 208
DESIOX I, and Ground Plan, 213
Interior Arrangement 214
CONTENTS. VU
Page.
DESIGN II, and Ground Plan, 216
Interior Arrangement, 216
DESIGN III, and Ground Plan, 220
Interior Arrangement, 220
DESIGN IV, and Ground Plan, 226
Interior Arrangement, 229
Cottage Outside Decoration, 231
Cottages on the Skirts of Estates, 233
House and Cottage Furniture, 235
APIARY, OR BEE HOUSE, 246
View of Apiary and Ground Plan, and description, 249
Mode of Taking the Honey, 252
AN ICE HOUSE, 258
Elevation and Ground Plan, 260
AN ASH HOUSE AND SMOKE HOUSE, 264
Elevation and Ground Plan, 265
THE POULTRY HOUSE, 267
Elevation and Ground Plan, 269
Interior Arrangement, 271
THE DOVECOTE, 275
Different Varieties of Pigeons, 278
A PIGGERY, 279
Elevation and Ground Plan, 281
Interior Arrangement, 282
Construction of Piggery — Cost, 283
FARM BARNS, 286
DESIGN I. Description, 291
Interior Arrangement, and Main Floor Plan, 293
Underground Plan, and Yard, 295
DESIGN II. Description, 300
Interior Arrangement, — 303
Floor Plan, 304
BARN ATTACHMENTS, 308
RABBITS, 311
Mr. Rotch's Description of his Rabbits, 313
Rabbits and Hutch, 315
Dutch, and English Rabbits, 318
Mode of Feeding, 319
Mr. Rodman's Rabbitry, Elevation, and Floor Plan, 322
rrii CONTENTS.
Psg».
Explanations, 323
Loft or Garret, Explanation, 324
Cellar plan, Explanation, 325
Front and Back of Hutches, and Explanation, 326
DAIRY BUILDINGS, 330
Cheese Dairy House, 330
Elevation of Dairy House and Ground Plan, 331
Interior Arrangement, 333
The Butter Dairy, 335
THE WATER RAM, 237
Figure and Description, 338
GRANARY — Rat-proof, 343
IMPROVKD DOMESTIC ANIMALS, 345
Remarks 353
WATERFOWLS, 358
The African Goose, 358
China Goose, 359
Bremen Goose, 360
A WORD ABOUT DOGS, 362
Smooth Terrier, 365
Shepherd Dog, 369
FISH-PONDS, 372
PEEFATOEY.
THIS work owes its appearance to the absence of any cheap
and popular book on the subject of Rural Architecture, exclu-
sively intended for the farming or agricultural interest of the
United States. Why it is, that nothing of the kind has been
heretofore attempted for the chief benefit of so large and im-
portant a class of our community as our farmers comprise, is
not easy to say, unless it be that they themselves have indicated
but little wish for instruction in a branch of domestic economy
which is, in reality, one of great importance, not only to their
domestic enjoyment, but their pecuniary welfare. It is, too,
perhaps, among the category of neglects, and in the lack of
fidelity to their own interests which pervades the agricultural
community of this country, beyond those of any other profes-
sion — for we insist that agriculture, in its true and extended
sense, is as much a profession as any other pursuit whatever.
To the reality of such neglects they have but of late awaked,
and indeed are now far too slowly wheeling into line for more
1*
A PREFATORY.
active progress in the knowledge pertaining to their own
advancement As an accessory to their labors in such ad-
vancement, the present work is intended.
It is an opinion far too prevalent among those engaged in
the more active occupations of our people, — fortified indeed in
such opinion, by the too frequent example of the farmer him-
self— that everything connected with agriculture and agricul-
tural life is of a rustic and uncouth character; that it is a
profession in which ignorance, as they understand the term, is
entirely consistent, and one with which no aspirations of a high
or an elevated character should, or at least need be connected.
It is a reflection upon the integrity of the great agricultural
interest of the country, that any such opinion should prevail ;
and discreditable to that interest, that its condition or example
should for a moment justify, or even tolerate it
Without going into any extended course of remark, we
shall find ample reason for the indifference which has prevailed
among our rural population, on the subject of their own do-
mestic architecture, in the absence of familiar and practical
works on the subject, by such as have given any considerable
degree of thought to it; and, what little thought has been
devoted to this branch of building, has been incidentally rather
than directly thrown off by those professionally engaged in the
finer architectural studies appertaining to luxury and taste,
instead of the every-day wants of a strictly agricultural popula-
tion, and, of consequence, understanding but imperfectly the
wants and conveniences of the farm house in its connection with
the every-day labors and necessities of farm life.
I'liLl-'ATOIiY. XI
It is not intended, in these remarks, to depreciate the efforts
of those who have attempted to instruct our farmers in this
interesting branch of agricultural economy. We owe them a
debt of gratitude for what they have accomplished in the intro-
duction of their designs to our notice ; and when it is remarked
that they are insufficient for the purposes intended, it may be
also taken as an admission of our own neglect, that we have so
far disregarded the subject ourselves, as to force upon others
" the duty of essaying to instruct us in a work of which we our-
selves should long ago have been the masters.
Why should a farmer, because he is a farmer, only occupy
an uncouth, outlandish house, any more than a professional man,
a merchant, or a mechanic ? Is it because he himself is so
uncouth and outlandish in his thoughts and manners, that he
deserves no better ? Is it because his occupation is degrading,
his intellect ignorant, his position in life low, and his associa-
tions debasing? Surely not Yet, in many of the plans and
designs got up for his accommodation, in the books and publi-
cations of the day, all due convenience, to say nothing of the
respectability or the elegance of domestic life, is as entirely
disregarded as if such qualities had no connection with the
farmer or his occupation. We hold, that although many of
the practical operations of the farm may be rough, laborious,
and untidy, yet they are not, and need not be inconsistent with
the knowledge and practice of neatness, order, and even ele-
gance and refinement within doors; and, that the due accom-
modation of the various things appertaining to farm stock, farm
labor, and farm life, should have a tendency to elevate the social
\li PREFATORY.
position, the associations, thoughts, and entire condition of the
farmer. As the man himself — no matter what his occupa-
tion — be lodged and fed, so influenced, in a degree, will be
his practice hi the daily duties of his life. A squalid, miserable-
tenement, with which they who inhabit it are content, can lead
to no elevation of character, no improvement in condition, either
social or moral, of its occupants. But, the family comfortably
and tidily, although humbly provided in their habitation Mid
domestic arrangements, have usually a corresponding character
in their personal relations. A log cabin, even, — and I speak
of this primitive American structure with profound affection
and regard, as the shelter from which we have achieved the
most of our prodigious and rapid agricultural conquests, — may
be so constructed as to speak an air of neatness, intelligence,
and even refinement in those who inhabit it.
Admitting, then, without further argument, that well con-
ditioned household accommodations are as important to the
farmer, even to the indulgence of luxury itself, when it can be
afforded, as for those who occupy other and more active pur-
suits, it is quite important that he be equally well instructed
in the art of planning and arranging these accommodations,
and in designing, also, the various other structures which are
necessary to his wants in their fullest extent As a question
of economy, both in saving and accumulating, good and suffi-
cient buildings are of the first consequence, in a pecuniary
light, and when to this are added other considerations touching
our social enjoyment, our advancement in temporal condition,
our associations, our position and influence in life, and, not least,
PKEFATOKY. X1U
the decided item of national good taste which the introduction
of good buildings throughout our extended agricultural country
will give, we find abundant cause for effort in improvement
It is not intended in our remarks to convey the impression
that we Americans, as a people, are destitute of comfortable,
and, in many cases, quite convenient household and farm ar-
rangements. Numerous farmeries in every* section of the
United States, particularly in the older ones, demonstrate most
fully, that where our farmers have taken the trovble to think
on the subject^ their ingenuity has been equal, in the items of
convenient and economical arrangement of their dwellings and
out-buildings, to their demands. But, we are forced to say,
that such buildings have been executed, in most cases, with
great neglect of architectural system, taste, or effect; and, in
many instances, to the utter violation of all propriety in appear-
ance, or character, as appertaining to the uses for which they
are applied.
The character of the farm should be carried out so as to
express itself in everything which it contains. All should bear
a consistent relation with each other. The farmer himself is a
plain man. His family are plain people, although none the less
worthy, useful, or exalted, on that account His structures, of
every kind, should be plain, also, yet substantial, where sub-
stance is required. All these detract nothing from his respect-
ability or his influence in the neighborhood, the town, the
county, or the state. A farmer has quite as much business
in the field, or about his ordinary occupations, with ragged gar-
ments, out at elbows and a crownless hat, as he has to occupy
XIV FREFATOKY.
a leaky, wind-broken, and dilapidated house. Neither is he
any nearer the mark, with a ruffled shirt, a fancy dress, or
gloved hands, when following his plough behind a pair of fancy
horses, than in living in a finical, pretending house, such as we
see stuck up in conspicueus places in many parts of the country.
All these are out of place in each extreme, and the one is as
absurd, so far as true propriety is concerned, as the other. A
itness of things, or a correspondence of one thing with another,
should always be preserved upon the farm, as elsewhere ; and
there is not a single reason why propriety and good keeping
should not as well distinguish it Nor is there acy good cause
why the fanner himself should not be a man of taste, in the
arrangement and architecture of every building on his place, as
well as other men. It is only necessary that he devote a little
time to study, hi order to give his mind a right direction in all
that appertains to this department. Or, if he prefer to employ
the ingenuity of others to do his planning, — which, by the way,
is, in most cases, the more natural and better course, — he cer-
tainly should possess sufficient judgment to see that such plans
be correct and will answer his purposes.
The plans and directions submitted in this work are intended
to be of the most practical kind ; plain, substantial, and appli-
cable, throughout, to the purposes intended, and such as are
within the reach — each in their kind — of every farmer m our
country. These plans are chiefly original; that is, they are
not copied from any in the books, or from any structures with
which the writer is familiar. Yet they will doubtless, on
examination, be found in several cases to resemble buildings,
PBEFATOltY. XV
both in outward appearance and interior arrangement, with
which numerous readers may be acquainted. The object, in
addition to our own designs, has been to apply practical hints,
gathered from other structures in use, which have seemed
appropriate for a work of the limited extent here offered, and
that may serve to improve the taste of all such as, in building
useful structures, desire to embellish their farms and estates in
an agreeable style of home architecture, at once pleasant to the
eye, and convenient in their arrangement
INTRODUCTORY.
THE lover of country life who looks upon rural objects
in the true spirit, and, for the first time surveys the
cultivated portions of the United States, will be struck
with the incongruous appearance and style of our farm
houses and their contiguous buildings ; and, although,
on examination, he will find many, that in their interior
accommodation, and perhaps relative arrangement to
each other, are tolerably suited to the business and
convenience of the husbandman, still, the feeling will
prevail that there is an absence of method, congruity,
and correct taste in the architectural structure of his
buildings generally, by the American farmer.
We may, in truth, be said to have no architecture at
all, as exhibited in our agricultural districts, so far as
any correct system, or plan is concerned, as the better
taste in building, which a few years past has introduced
among us, has been chiefly confined to our cities and
towns of rapid growth. Even in the comparatively
few buildings in the modern style to be seen in our
funning districts, from the various requirements of
INTRODUCTORY.
those buildings being partially unknown to the ar-
chitect and builder, who had their planning — and
upon whom, owing to their own inexperience in such
matters, their employers have relied — a majority of
Buch dwellings have turned out, if not absolute fail-
ures, certainly not what the necessities of the farmer
has demanded. Consequently, save in the mere item
of outward appearance — and that, not always — the
farmer and cottager have gained nothing, owing to the
absurdity in style or arrangement, and want of fitness
to circumstances adopted for the occasion.
We have stated that our prevailing rural architecture
is discordant in appearance; it may be added, that it is
also uncouth, out of keeping with correct rules, and,
ofttimes offensive to the eye of any lover of rural har-
mony. Why it is so, no matter, beyond the apology
already given — that of an absence of cultivation, and
thought upon the subject. It may be asked, of what
consequence is it that the farmer or small property-
holder should conform to given rules, or mode, in the
style and arrangement of his dwelling, or out-buildings,
so that they be reasonably convenient, and answer his
purposes ? For the same reason that he requires sym-
metry, excellence of form or style, in his horses, his
cattle, or other farm stock, household furniture, or per-
sonal dress. It is an arrangement of artificial objects,
in harmony with natural objects ; a cultivation of the
sympathies which every rational being should have,
more or less, with true taste; that costs little or nothing
in the attainment, and, when attained, is a source of
gratification through life. Every human being ia
mTBODUCTOEY. 15
hound, under ordinary circumstances, to leave the
world somewhat better, so far as his own acts or exer-
tions are concerned, than he found it, in the exercise
of such faculties as have been given him. Such duty,
among thinking men, is conceded, so far as the moral
world is concerned: and why not in the artificial?
So far as the influence for good goes, in all practi-
cal use, from the building of a temple, to the knocking
together of a pig-stye — a labor of years, or the work
of a day — the exercise of a correct taste is important,
in a degree.
In the available physical features of a country, no
land upon earth exceeds North America. From scen-
ery the most sublime, through the several gradations
of magnificence and grandeur, down to the simply pic-
turesque and beautiful, in all variety and shade; in
compass vast, or in area limited, we have an endless
variety, and, with a pouring out of God's harmonies in
the creation, without a parallel, inviting every intelli-
gent mind to study their features and character, in
adapting them to his own uses, and, in so doing, to
even embellish — if such a thing be possible — such
exquisite objects with his own most ingenious handi-
work. Indeed, it is a profanation to do otherwise ; and
when so to improve them requires no extraordinary
application of skill, or any extravagant outlay in ex-
pense, not to plan and to build in conformity with good
taste, is an absolute barbarism, inexcusable in a land
.ike ours, and among a population claiming the intelli-
gence we do, or making but a share of the general
progress which we exhibit.
16 INTRODUCTORY.
It is the idea of some, that a house or building which
the farmer or planter occupies, should, in shape, style,
and character, be like some of the stored-up commodi-
ties of his farm or plantation. We cannot subscribe to
this suggestion. We know of no good reason why the
walls of a farm house should appear like a hay rick, or .
its roof like the thatched covering to his wheat stacks,
because such are the shapes best adapted to preserve
his crops, any more than the grocer's habitation should
be made to imitate a tea chest, or the shipping mer-
chant's a rum puncheon, or cotton bale. We have
an idea that the farmer, or the planter, according to
his means and requirements, should be as well housed
and accommodated, and in as agreeable style, too, as
any other class of community ; not in like character, in
all things, to be sure, but in his own proper way and
manner. Nor do we know why a farm house should
assume a peculiarly primitive or uncultivated style of
architecture, from other sensible houses. That it be a
farm house, is sufficiently apparent from its locality
upon the farm itself; that its interior arrangement be
for the convenience of the in-door farm work, and the
proper accommodation of the farmer's family, should be
quite as apparent; but, that it should assume an un-
couth or clownish aspect, is as unnecessary as that the
fanner himself should be a boor in his manners, or a
dolt in his intellect.
The farm, in its proper cultivation, is the foundation
of all human prosperity, and from it is derived the
main wealth of the community. From the farm chiefly
springs that energetic class of men, who replace tno
INTRODUCTORY. 17
enervated and physically decaying multitude continual-
ly thrown off in the waste-weir of our great commercial
and manufacturing cities and towns, whose population,
without the infusion — and that continually — of the
strong, substantial, and vigorous life blood of the coun-
try, would soon dwindle into insignificance and decrep-
itude. Why then should not this first, primitive, health-
enjoying and life-sustaining class of our people be
equally accommodated in all that gives to social and
substantial life, its due development? It is absurd to
deny them by others, or that they deny themselves,
the least of such advantages, or that any mark of caste
oe attempted to separate them from any other class or
profession of equal wealth, means, or necessity. It is
quite as well to say that the fanner should worship on
the Sabbath in a meeting-house, built after the fashion
of his barn, or that his district school house should look
like a stable, as that his dwelling should not exhibit all
that cheerfulness and respectability in form and feature
which belongs to the houses of any class of our popula-
tion whatever. Not that the farm house should be like
the town or the village house, in character, style, or
architecture, but that it should, in its own proper char-
acter, express all the comfort, repose, and quietude
which belong to the retired and thoughtful occupation
of him who inhabits it. Sheltered in its own secluded,
yet independent domain,' with a cheerful, intelligent
exterior, it should exhibit all the pains-taking in home
embellishment and rural decoration that becomes its
position, and which would make it an object of attrac-
tion and regard.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
GENERAL SUGGESTIONS.
IN ascertaining what is desirable to the convenien-
ces, or the necessities in our household arrangement, it
may be not unprofitable to look about us, and consider
somewhat, the existing condition of the structures too
many of us now inhabit, and which, in the light of true
fitness for the objects designed, are inconvenient, ab-
surd, and out of all harmony of purpose ; yet, under
the guidance of a better skill, and a moderate outlay,
might be well adapted, in most cases, to our conven-
ience and comfort, and quite well, to a reasonable
standard of taste in architectural appearance.
At the threshold — not of the house, but of this
treatise — it may be well to remark that it is not here
assumed that there has been neither skill, ingenuity,
nor occasional good taste exhibited, for many genera-
tions back, in the United States, in the construction of
farm and country houses. On the contrary, there are
found in the older states many farm and country houses
20 KVRAL ARCHITECTURE.
that are almost models, in their way, for convenience
in the main purposes required of structures of their
kind, and such as can hardly be altered for the better.
Such, however, form the exception, not the rule; yet
instead of standing as objects for imitation, they have
been ruled out as antiquated, and unfit for modern
builders to consult, who have in the introduction of
some real improvements, also left out, or discarded
much that is valuable, and, where true comfort is con-
cerned, indispensable to perfect housekeeping. Altera-
tion is not always improvement, and in the rage for
innovation of all kinds, among much that is valuable, a
great deal in house-building has been introduced that
is absolutely pernicious. Take, for instance, some of
our ancient-looking country houses of the last cen-
tury, which, in America, we call old. See their
ample dimensions; their heavy, massive walls; their
low, comfortable ceilings; their high gables; sharp
roofs ; deep porches, and spreading eaves, and contrast
them with the ambitious, tall, proportionless, and card-
sided things of a modern date, and draw the comparison
in true comfort, which the ancient mansion really
affords, by the side of the other. Bating its huge
chimneys, its wide fire-places, its heavy beams drop-
ping below the ceiling overhead, and the lack of some
modern conveniences, which, to be added, would give
all that is desired, and every man possessed of a proper
judgment will concede the superiority to the house of
the last century.
That American house-building of the last fifty years
is out of joint, requires no better proof than that the
EUKAL AROHITBCTDKE. 21
main improvements which have been applied to our
rural architecture, are in the English style of farm and
country houses of two or three centuries ago ; so, in
that particular, we acknowledge the better taste and
judgment of our ancestors. True, modern luxury, and
in some particulars, modern improvement has made
obsolete, if not absurd, many things considered indis-
pensable in a ruder age. The wide, rambling halls and
rooms ; the huge, deep fire-places in the chimneys ; the
proximity of out-buildings, and the contiguity of stables,
ricks, and cattle-yards — all these are wisely contracted,
dispensed with, or thrown off to a proper distance ; but
instead of such style being abandoned altogether, as has
too often been done, the house itself might better have
been partially reformed, and the interior arrangement
adapted to modern convenience. Such changes have
in some instances been made ; and when so, how often
does the old mansion, with outward features in good
preservation, outspeak, in all the expression of home-
bred comforts, the flashy, gimcrack neighbor, which in
its plenitude of modern pretension looks so flauntingly
down upon it !
We cannot, in the United States, consistently adopt
the domestic architecture of any other country, through-
out, to our use. We are different in our institutions,
our habits, our agriculture, our climates. Utility is our
chief object, and coupled with that, the indulgence of
an agreeable taste may be permitted to every one who
creates a home for himself, or founds one for his family.
The frequent changes of estates incident to our laws,
and the many inducements held out to our people to
22 EUKAL AKCHTrECimBE.
change their locality or residence, in the hope of better
ing their condition, is a strong hindrance to the adop-
tion of a universally correct system in the construction of
our buildings ; deadening, as the effect of such changes,
that home feeling which should be a prominent trait of
agricultural character. An attachment to locality is
not a conspicuous trait of American character; and if
there be a people on earth boasting a high civilization
and intelligence, who are at the same time a roving
race, the Americans are that people ; and we acknowl-
edge it a blemiah in our domestic and social con
stitution.
Such remark is not dropped invidiously, but as a
reason why we have thus far made«o little progress in
the arts of home embellishment, and in clustering about
our habitations those innumerable attractions which
win us to them sufficiently to repel the temptation so
often presented to our enterprise, our ambition, or love
of gain — and these not always successful — in seeking
other and distant places of abode. If, then, this tend-
ency to change — a want of attachment to any one
spot — is a reason why we have been so indifferent to
domestic architecture; and if the study and practice of
a better system of building tends to cultivate a homo
feeling, why should it not be encouraged ? Home at-
tachment is a virtue. Therefore let that virtue be cher-
ished. And if any one study tend to exalt our taste,
and promote our enjoyment, let us cultivate that study
to the highest extent within our
RURAL ABOHITBOTTrRE.
STYLE OF BUILDING.— MISCELLANEOUS
Diversified as are the features of our country in cli-
mate, soil, surface, and position, no one style of rural
architecture is properly adapted to the whole ; and it is
a gratifying incident to the indulgence in a variety of
taste, that we possess the opportunity which we desire in
its display to almost any extent, in mode and effect.
The Swiss chalet may hang in the mountain pass ; the
pointed Gothic may shoot up among the evergreens of
the rugged hill-side ; the Italian roof, with its overlook
ing campanile, may command the wooded slope or the
open plain; or the quaint and shadowy style of the old
English mansion, embosomed in its vines and shrub-
bery, may nestle in the quiet, shaded valley, all suited
to their respective positions, and each in harmony with
the natural features by which it is surrounded. Nor
does the effect which such structures give to the land-
scape in an ornamental point of view, require that they
be more imposing in character than the necessities of
the occasion may demand. True economy demands a
structure sufficiently spacious to accommodate its oc-
cupants in the best manner, so far as convenience and
>
24 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
comfort are concerned in a dwelling; and its conform-
ity to just rules in architecture need not be additionally
expensive or troublesome. He who builds at all, if it
be anything beyond a rude or temporary shelter, may
as easily and cheaply build in accordance with correct
rules of architecture, as against such rules ; and it no
more requires an extravagance in cost or a wasteful
occupation of room to produce a given effect in a house
suited to humble means, than in one of profuse accom-
modation. Magnificence, or the attempt at magnifi-
cence in building, is the great fault with Americans
who aim to build out of the common line; and the
consequence of such attempt is too often a failure, ap-
parent, always, at a glance, and of course a perfect
condemnation in itself of the judgment as well as taste
of him who undertakes it.
Holding our tenures as we do, with no privilege of
entail to our posterity, an eye to his own interest, or to
that of his family who is to succeed to his estate, should
admonish the builder of a house to the adoption of a
plan which will, in case of the sale of the estate,
involve no serious loss. He should build such a house
as will be no detriment, in its expense, to the selling
value of the land on which it stands, and always fitted
for the spot it occupies. Hence, an imitation of the
high, extended, castellated mansions of England, or the
Continent, although in miniature, are altogether un-
suited.to the American farmer or planter, whose lands,
instead of increasing in his family, are continually sub-
ject to division, or to sale in mass, on his own demise;
and when the estate is encumbered with unnecessarily
KUEAL ARCHITECTURE. 25
large and expensive buildings, they become an abso-
lute drawback to its value in either event. An expen-
sive house requires a corresponding expense to maintain
it, otherwise its effect is lost, and many a worthy owner
of a costly mansion has been driven to sell and aban-
don his estate altogether, from his unwillingness or
inability to support " the establishment " which it en-
tailed; when, if the dwelling were only such as the
estate required and could reasonably maintain, a con-
tented and happy home would have remained to him-
self and family. It behooves, therefore, the American
builder to examine well his premises, to ascertain the
actual requirements of his farm or plantation, in con
venieuce and accommodation, and build only to such
extent, and at such cost as shall not impoverish his
means, nor cause him future disquietude.
Another difficulty with us is, that we oftener build
to gratify the eyes of the public than our own, and fit
up our dwellings to accommodate " company" or visit-
ors, rather than our own families ; and in the indul-
gence of this false notion, subject ourselves to perpetual
inconvenience for the gratification of occasional hospi-
tality or ostentation. This is all wrong. A house
should be planned and constructed for the use of the
household, with incidental accommodation for our im-
mediate friends or guests — which can always be done
without sacrifice to the comfort or convenience of the
regular inmates. In this remark, a stinted and parsi-
monious spirit is not suggested. A liberal appropria-
tion of rooms in every department; a spare chamber
or two, or an additional room on the ground floor,
26 KTJBAL
looking to a possible increase of family, and the indul-
gence of an easy hospitality, should always govern the
resident of the country in erecting his dwelling. The
enjoyments of society and the intercourse of friends,
sharing for the time, our own table and fireside, is a
crowning pleasure of country life ; and all this may be
done without extraordinary expense, in a wise con-
struction of the dwelling.
The farm house too, should comport in character and
area with the extent and capacity of the farm itself,
and the main design for which it is erected. To the
farmer proper — he who lives from the income which
the farm produces — it is important to know the extent
of accommodation required for the economical manage-
ment of his estate, and then to build in accordance with
it, as well as to suit his own position in life, and the
station which he and his family hold in society. The
owner of a hundred acre farm, living upon the income
he receives from it, will require less house room than
he who tills equally well his farm of three, six, or ten
hundred acres. Yet the numbers in their respective
families, the relative position of each in society, or
their taste for social intercourse may demand a larger
or smaller household arrangement, regardless of the
size of their estates ; still, the dwellings on each should
bear, in extent and expense, a consistent relation to
the land itself, and the means of its owner. For in-
stance : a farm of one hundred acres may safely and
economically erect and maintain a house costing eight
hundred to two thousand dollars, while one of five hun-
dred to a thousand acres may range in an expenditure
M BUBAL ABCHTTECTIJBE. 27
of twenty-five hundred to five thousand dollars in its
dwelling, and all be consistent with a proper economy
in farm management.
Let it be understood, that the above sums are named
as simply comporting with a financial view of the sub-
ject, and such as the economical management of the
estate may warrant. To one who has no regard to
such consideration, this rule of expenditure will not
apply. He may invest any amount he so chooses in
building beyond, if he only be content to pocket the
loss which he can never expect to be returned in an
increased value to the property, over and above the
price of cheaper buildings. On the other hand, he
would do well to consider that a farm is frequently
worth less to an ordinary purchaser, with an extrava-
gant house upon it, than with an economical one, and
in many cases will bring even less in market, in pro-
portion as the dwelling is expensive, fancy purchas-
ers are few, and fastidious, while he who buys only for
a home and an occupation, is governed solely by the
profitable returns the estate will afford upon the capital
invested.
There is again a grand error which many fall into in
building, looking as they do only at the extent of wood
and timber, or stone and mortar in the structure, and
paying no attention to the surroundings, which in most
cases contribute more to the effect of the establishment
than the structure itself, and which, if uncultivated or
neglected, any amount of expenditure in building will
fail to give that completeness and perfection of charac-
ter which every homestead should command. Thus
RURAL ARCHITECT-TEE.
** -»**
the tawdry erections in imitation of a cast-oil' feudalism
in Europe, or a copying of the massive piles of more
recent date abroad, although in miniature, both in
extent and cost, is the sheerest affectation, in which no
sensible man should ever indulge. It is out of all
keeping, or propriety with other things, as we in this
country have them, and the indulgence of all such
fancies is sooner or later regretted. Substance, conve-
nience, purpose, harmony — all, perhaps, better summed
up in the term EXPRESSION — these are the objects which
should govern the construction of our dwellings and
out-buildings, and in their observance we can hardly
err in the acquisition of what will promote the highest
enjoyment which a dwelling can bestow.
BUBAL ARCHITECTURE. 29
POSITION".
The site of a dwelling should be an important study
with every country builder; for on this depends much
of its utility, and in addition to that, a large share of
the enjoyment which its occupation will afford. Cus-
tom, in many parts of the United States, in the location
of the farm buildings, gives advantages which are
denied in others. In the south, and in the slave states
generally, the planter builds, regardless of roads, on
the most convenient site his plantation presents ; the
farmer of German descent, in Pennsylvania and some
other states, does the same : while the Yankee, be he
settled where he will, either in the east, north, or west,
inexorably huddles himself immediately upon the high-
way, whether his possessions embrace both sides of it
or not, disregarding the facilities of access to his fields,
the convenience of tilling his crops, or the character of
the ground which his buildings may occupy, seeming
to have no other object than proximity to the road — as
if his chief business was upon that, instead of its being
simply a convenience to his occupation. To the last,
but little choice is left ; and so long as a close connec-
tion with the thoroughfare is to control, he is obliged
2*
30 BUBAL AECHITECTUEE.
to conform to accident in what should be a matter of
deliberate choice and judgment. Still, there are right
and wrong positions for a house, which it is necessary
to discuss, regardless of conventional rules, and they
should be considered in the light of propriety alone.
A fitness to the purposes for which the dwelling is
constructed should, unquestionably, be the governing
point in determining its position. The site should be
dry, and slightly declining, if possible, on every side ;
but if the surface be level, or where water occasionally
flows from contiguous grounds, or on a soil naturally
damp, it should be thoroughly drained of all super-
fluous moisture. That is indispensable to the preser-
vation of the house itself, and the health of its inmates.
The house should so stand as to present an agreeable
aspect from the main points at which it is seen, or the
thoroughfares by which it is approached. It, should
be so arranged as to afford protection from wind and
storm, to that part most usually occupied, as well as be
easy of access to the out-buildings appended to it. It
should have an unmistakable front, sides, and rear;
and the uses to which its various parts are applied,
should distinctly appear in its outward character. It
should combine all the advantages of soil, cultivation,
water, shade, and shelter, which the most liberal grati-
fication, consistent with the circumstances of the owner,
may demand. If a site on the estate command a pros-
pect of singular beauty, other things equal, the dwel-
ling should embrace it ; if the luxury of a stream, or a
, sheet of water in repose, present itself, it should, if
possible, be enjoyed; if the shade and protection of a
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 31
grove be near, its benefits should be included ; in fine,
any object in itself desirable, and not embarrassing to
the main purposes of the dwelling and its appendages,
should be turned to the best account, and appropriated
in such manner as to combine all that is desirable both
in beauty and effect, as well as in utility, to make up
a perfect whole in the family residence.
Attached to the building site should be considered
the quality of the soil, as affording cultivation and
growth to shrubbery and trees, — at once the ornament
most effective to all domestic buildings, grateful to the
eye always, as objects of admiration and beauty —
delightful in the repose they offer in hours of las-
situde or weariness ; and to them, that indispensable
feature in a perfect arrangement, the garden, both fruit
and vegetable, should be added. Happily for the
American, our soils are so universally adapted to the
growth of vegetation in all its varieties, that hardly a
farm of considerable size can be found which does not
afford tolerable facilities for the exercise of all the taste
which one may indulge in the cultivation of the garden
as well as in the planting and growth of trees and
shrubbery; and a due appropriation of these to an
agreeable residence is equal in importance to the stylo
and arrangement of the house itself.
The site selected for the dwelling, and the character
of the scenery and objects immediately surrounding it,
should have a controlling influence upon the style in
which the house is to be constructed. A fitness and
harmony in all these is indispensable to both express-
ion and effect. And in their determination, a single
32 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
object should not control, but the entire picture, as
completed, should be embraced in the view ; and that
style of building constituting the most agreeable whole,
as filling the eye with the most grateful sensations,
should be the one selected with which to fill up and
complete the design.
HOME EMBELLISHMENTS.
A discussion of the objects by way of embellishment,
which may be required to give character and effect to
a country residence, would embrace a range too wide,
in all its parts, for a simply practical treatise like this ;
and general hints on the subject are all indeed, that
will be required, as no specific rules or directions can
be given which would be applicable, indiscriminately,
to guide tiie builder in the execution of his work. A
dwelling house, no matter what the style, standing
alone, either on hill or plain, apart from other objects,
would hardly be an attractive sight. As a mere rep-
resentation of a particular style of architecture, or as a
model of imitation, it might excite our admiration, but
it would not be an object on which the eye and the
imagination could repose with satisfaction. It would be
incomplete unless accompanied by such associates as
the eye is accustomed to embrace in the full gratifica-
tion of the sensations to which that organ is the
KT7RAL ARCHITECTURE. 33
conductor. But assemble around that dwelling subor-
dinate structures, trees, and shrubbery properly dis-
posed, and it becomes an object of exceeding interest
and pleasure in the contemplation. It is therefore,
that the particular style or outward arrangement of the
house is but a part of what should constitute the gen-
eral effect, and such style is to be consulted only so far
as it may in itself please the taste, and give benefit or
utility in the purposes for which it is intended. Still,
the architectural design should be in harmony with the
features of the surrounding scenery, and is thus im-
portant in completing the effect sought, and which
cannot be accomplished without it.
A farm with its buildings, or a simple country resi-
dence with the grounds which enclose it, or a cottage
with its door-yard and garden, should be finished
sections of the landscape of which it forms a part, or
attractive points within it; and of consequence, com-
plete each within itself, and not dependent upon distant
accessories to support it — an imperium in imperio, in
classic phrase. A tower, a monument, a steeple, or
the indistinct outline of a distant town may form a
striking feature in a pictorial design and the associa-
tions connected with them, or, the character in which
they are contemplated may allow them to stand naked
and unadorned by other objects, and still permit them
to fill up in perfect harmony the picture. This idea
will illustrate the importance of embellishment, not
only in the substitution of trees as necessary append-
ages to a complete rural establishment, but in the
erection of all the buildings necessary for occupation
34 RTTBAL AECHITECTUEE.
in any manner, in form and position, to give effeci
from any point of view in which the homestead ma/y
be seen. General appearance should not be confine-!
to one quarter alone, but the house and its surround
ings on every side should show completeness in design
and harmony in execution ; and although humble, ami
devoted to the meanest purposes, a portion of these
erections may be, yet the character of utility or neces
sity which they maintain, gives them an air of dignity ,
if not of grace. Thus, a house and out-buildingo
flanked with orchards, or a wood, on which they
apparently fall back for support, fills the eye at once
with not only a beautiful group, in themselves com
bined, but associate the idea of repose, of comfort,
and abundance — indispensable requisites to a perfec1
farm residence. They also seem to connect the house
and out-buildings with the fields beyond, which are oi
necessity naked of trees, and gradually spread the
view abroad over the farm until it mingles with, 01
is lost in the general landscape.
These remarks may seem too refined, and as out of
place here, and trenching upon the subject of Land
scape Gardening, which is not designed to be a part,
or but an incidental one of the present work, yet they
are important in connection with the subject under
discussion. The proper disposition of trees and shrub-
bery around, or in the vicinity of buildings is far too
little understood, although tree planting about our
dwellings is a practice pretty general throughout our
country. Nothing is more common than to see a man
build a house, perhaps in most elaborate and expensive
•
EUKAL AKCHTTECTURE. , 35
style, and then plant a row of trees close upon the
front, which when grown will shut it almost entirely
out of view; while he leaves the rear as bald and
unprotected as if it were a barn or a horse-shed — as
if in utter ignorance, as he probably is, that his house
is more effectively set off by a flanking and back-
ground of tree and shrubbery, than in front. And this
is called good taste ! Let us examine it. Trees near
a dwelling are desirable for shade ; shelter they do not
afford except in masses, which last is always better
given to the house itself by a veranda. Immediately
adjoining, or within touching distance of a house, trees
create dampness, more or less litter, and frequently
vermin. They injure the walls and roofs by their
continual shade and dampness. They exclude the
rays of the sun, and prevent a free circulation of air.
Therefore, close to the house, trees are absolutely per-
nicious, to say nothing of excluding all its architectural
effect from observation; when, if planted at proper
distances, they compose its finest ornaments.
If it be necessary to build in good taste at all, it is
quite as necessary that such good taste be kept in
view throughout. A country dwelling should always
be a conspicuous object in its full character and out-
line, from one or more prominent points of observation ;
consequently all plantations of tree or shrubbery in its
immediate vicinity should be considered as aids to
show off the house and its appendages, instead of be-
coming the principal objects of attraction in themselves.
Their disposition should be such as to create a perfect
and agreeable whole, when seen in connection with the
86 RURAL AECHITECTUKE.
house itself. They should also be so placed as to open
the surrounding landscape to view in its most attractive
features, from the various parts of the dwelling. Much
in the effective disposition of trees around the dwelling
will thus depend upon the character of the country-
seen from it, and which should control to a great extent
their position. A single tree, of grand and stately
dimensions, will frequently give greater effect than the
most studied plantations. A ledge of rock, in the
clefts of which wild vines may nestle, or around which
a mass of shrubbery may cluster, will add a charm to
the dwelling which an elaborate cultivation would fail
to bestow ; and the most negligent apparel of nature
in a thousand ways may give, a character which we
might strive in vain to accomplish by our own inven-
tion. In the efforts to embellish our dwellings or
grounds, the strong natural objects with which they
are associated should be consulted, always keeping in
view an expression of the chief character to which the
whole is applied.
RUEAL AECHITEOTTJEE. 87
MATERIAL FOR FARM BUILDINGS.
In a country like ours, containing within its soils
and upon its surface such an abundance and variety of
building material, the composition of our farm erections
must depend in most cases upon the ability or the
choice of the builder himself.
Stone is the most durable, in the long run the cheap-
est, and as a consequence, the lest material which can
be furnished for the walls of a dwelling. With other
farm buildings circumstances may govern differently ;
still, in many sections of the United States, even stone
cannot be obtained, except at an expense and incon-
venience altogether forbidding its use. Yet it is a
happy relief that where stone is difficult, or not at all
to be obtained, the best of clay for bricks, is abundant ;
and in almost all parts of our country, even where
building timber is scarce, its transportation is so com-
paratively light, and the facilities of removing it are
so cheap, that wood is accessible to every one. Hence
we may indulge in almost every fitting style of archi-
tecture and arrangement, to which either kind of these
materials are best adapted. We shall slightly discuss
them as applicable to our purposes.
BUBAL AECHITECTUBE.
Stone is found either on the surface, or in quarries
under ground. On the surface they lie chiefly as
bowlders of less or greater size, usually of hard and
durable kinds. Large bowlders may be either blasted,
or split with wedges into sufficiently available shapes
to lay in walls with mortar ; or if small, they may with
a little extra labor, be fitted by the aid of good mortar
into equally substantial wall as the larger masses. In
quarries they are thrown out, either by blasting or
splitting in layers, so as to form regular courses when
laid up; and all their varieties may, unhammered,
except to strike off projecting points or angles, be laid
up with a sufficiently smooth face to give fine effect to
a building. Thus, when easily obtained, aside from
the greater advantages of their durability, stone is as
cheap in the first instance as lumber, excepting in new
districts of country where good building lumber is the
chief article of production, and cheaper than brick in
any event. Stone requires no paint. Its color is a
natural, therefore an agreeable one, be it usually what
it may, although some shades are more grateful to the
eye than others; yet it is always in harmony with
natural objects, and particularly so on the farm where
everything ought to wear the most substantial appear-
ance. The outer walls of a stone house should always
be ftrred off inside for lathing and plastering, to keep
them thoroughly dry. Without that, the rooms are
liable to dampness, which would penetrate through the
stone into the inside plastering unless cut off by an
open space of air between.
Bricks, where stone is not found, supply its place
KTJBAL ARCHITECTURE. 39
tolerably well. When made of good clay, rightly
tempered with sand, and well burned, they will in a
wall remain for centuries, and as far as material is
concerned, answer all purposes. Brick walls may be
thinner than stone walls, but they equally require
"firring off " for inside plastering, and in addition,
they need the aid of paint quite as often as wood, to
give them an agreeable color — bricks themselves not
usually being in the category of desirable colors or
shades.
Wood, when abundant and easily obtained, is worked
with the greatest facility, and on many accounts, is the
cheapest material, for the time, of which a building
can be constructed. But it is perishable. It requires
every few years a coat of paint, and is always asso-
ciated with the idea of decay. Yet wood may be
moulded into an infinite variety of form to please
the eye, in the indulgence of any peculiar taste or
fancy.
We cannot, in the consideration of material for
house-building therefore, urge upon the farmer the
adoption of either of the above named materials to the
preference of another, in any particular structure he
may require ; but leave him to consult his own circum-
stances in regard to them, as best he may. But this
we will say: If it be possible, never lay a cellar or
underground wall of perisha,ble material, such as wood
or soft bricks ; nor build with soft or uribumt bricks
in a wall exposed to the weather wnywhere / nor with
stone which is liable to crumble or disintegrate by the
action of frost or water upon it. We are aware that
40 KUBAL AEGHITEOTURE.
unburnt bricks have been strongly recommended for
house-building in America; but from observation, we
are fully persuaded that they are worthless for any
permanent structure, and if used, will in the end
prove a dead loss in their application. Cottages, out-
buildings, and other cheap erections on the farm, for
the accommodation of laborers, stock, or crops, may be
made of wood, where wood is the cheapest -and most
easily obtained ; and, even "taking its perishable nature
into account, it may be the most economical. In their
construction, it may be simply a matter of calculation
with him who needs them, to calculate the first cost of
any material he has at hand, or may obtain, and to
that add the interest upon it, the annual wear and tear,
the insurance, and the period it may last, to determine
this matter to his entire satisfaction • — always provided
he have the means at hand to do either. But other
considerations generally control the American farmer.
His pocket is apt more often to be pinched, than his
choice is to be' at fault; and this weighty argument
compels him into the "make shift" system, which
perhaps in its results, provided the main chance be
attained, is quite as advantageous to his interests as
the other.
As a general remark, all buildings should show for
themselves, what they are built of. Let stone be
stone ; bricks show on their own account ; and of all
things, put no counterfeit by way of plaster, stucco, or
other false pretence other than paint, or a durable
wash upon wood : it is a miserable affectation always,
and of no possible use whatever. All counterfeit of
BUBAL ABCHlTEOTUBE. 41
any kind as little becomes the buildings of the farmer,
as the gilded pincTibeck watch would fit the finished
attire of a gentleman.
Before submitting the several designs proposed for
this work, it may be remarked, that in addressing
them to a climate strictly American, we have in every
instance adopted the wide, steeply-pitched roof, with
broad eaves, gables and cornices, as giving protection,
shade, and shelter to the walls ; thus keeping them dry
and in good preservation, and giving that well housed,
and comfortable expression, so different from the stiff,
pinched, and tucked-up look in which so many of the
haberdasher-built houses of the present day exult.
We give some examples of the hipped roof, because
they are convenient and cheap in their construction;
and we also throw into the designs a lateral direction
to the roofs of the wings, or connecting parts of the
building. This is sometimes done for effect in archi-
tectural appearance, and sometimes for the economy
and advantage of the building itself. "Where roofs
thus intersect or connect with a side wall, the connect-
ing gutters should be made of copper, zinc, lead, gal-
vanized iron, or tin, into which the shingles, if they be
covered with that material, should be laid so as to
effectually prevent leakage. The eave gutters should
be of copper, zinc, lead, galvanized iron or tin, also,
and placed at least one foot back from the edge of the
roof, and lead the water into conductors down the wall
into the cistern or elsewhere, as may be required. If
the water be not needed, and the roof be wide over the
walls, there is no objection to let it pass off naturally,
EUEAL ARCHITECTURE.
if it be no inconvenience to the ground below, and can
run off, or be absorbed into the ground without detri-
ment to the cellar walls. All this must be subject to
the judgment of the proprietor himself.
OUTSIDE COLOR
We are not among those who cast off, and on a
sudden condemn, as out of all good taste the time-hon-
ored white house with its green blinds, often so taste-
fully gleaming out from beneath the shade of .summer
trees ; nor do we doggedly adhere to it, except when
in keeping, by contrast or otherwise, with everything
around it. For a century past white has been the
chief color of our wooden houses, and often so of brick
ones, in the United States. This color has been sup-
posed to be strong and durable, being composed chiefly
of white lead ; and as it reflected the rays of the sun
instead of absorbing them, as some of the darker colors
do, it was thus considered a better preserver of the
weather-boarding from the cracks which the fervid
heat of the sun is apt to make upon it, than the darker
colors. White, consequently, has always been consid-
ered, until within a few years past, as a fitting and
tasteful color for dwellings, both in town and country.
A new school of taste in colors has risen, however,
within a few years past, among us ; about the same
time, too, that the recent gingerbread and beadwork
BUBAL AECHITECTUKB. 43
style of country building was introduced. And these
were both, as all new things are apt to be, carried to
extremes. Instead of toning down the glare of the
white into some quiet, neutral shade, as a straw color ;
a drab of different hues — always an agreeable and
appropriate color for a dwelling, particularly when the
door and window casings are dressed with a deeper or
lighter shade, as those shades predominate in the
main body of the house ; or a natural and soft wood
color, which also may be of various shades ; or even
the warm russet hue of some of our rich stones — quite
appropriate, too, as applied to wood, or bricks — the
fashion must be followed without either rhyme or
reason, and hundreds of our otherwise pretty and
imposing country houses have been daubed over with
the dirtiest, gloomiest pigment imaginable, making
every habitation which it touched look more like a
funeral appendage than a cheerful, life-enjoying home
We candidly say that we have no sort of affection for
such sooty daubs. The fashion which dictates them is
a barbarous, false, and arbitrary fashion ; void of all
natural taste in its inception; and to one who has a
cheerful, life-loving spirit about him, such colors have
no more fitness on his dwelling or out-buildings, than
a tomb would have in his lawn or dooryard.
Locality, amplitude of the buildings, the purpose to
which they are applied — every consideration con-
nected with them, in fact, should be consulted, as to
color. Stone will give its own color; which, by the
wny, some prodigiously smart folks paint — quite as
decorous or essential, as to " paint the lily." Brick
44 BUBAL AKCHirECTUitE.
sometimes must be painted, but it should be of a colof
in keeping with its character, — of substance and dig-
nity ; not a counterfeit of stone, or to cheat him whc
looks upon it into a belief that it may be marble, or
other unfounded pretension. A warm russet is most
appropriate for brick- work of any kind of color — the
color of a russet apple, or undressed leather — shades
that comport with Milton's beautiful idea of
" Russet lawns and fallows gray."
Red and yellow are both too glaring, and slate, or lead
colors too somber and cold. It is, in fact, a strong
argument in favor of bricks in building, where they
can be had as cheap as stone or wood, that any color
can be given to them which the good taste of the
builder may require, in addition to their durability,
which, when made of good material, and properly
burned, is quite equal to stone. In a wooden struc-
ture one may play with his fancy in the way of coloi,
minding in the operation, that he does not play the
mountebank, and like the clown in the circus, make
his tattooed tenement the derision of men of correct
taste, as the other does his burlesque visage the ridicule
of his auditors.
A wooden country house, together with its out-build-
ings, should -always be of a cheerful and softly-toned
color — a color giving a feeling of warmth and comfort;
nothing glaring or flashy about it. And yet, such
buildings should not, in their color, any more than in
their architecture, appear as if imitating either stone
or brick. Wood, of itself, is light. One cannot build
KUBAi AROHITECTUIiE. 4:5
a heavy house of wood, as compared with brick or
stone. Therefore all imitation or device which may
lead to a belief that it may be other than what it really
is, is nothing less than a fraud — not criminal, we admit,
but none the less a fraud upon good taste and archi-
tectural truth.
It is true that in this country we cannot afford to
place in stone and brick buildings those ornate trim-
mings and appendages which, perhaps, if economy
were not to be consulted, might be more durably con-
structed of stone, but at an expense too great to be
borne by those of moderate means. Yet it is not
essential that such appendages should be of so expen-
sive material. The very purposes to which they are
applied, as a parapet, a railing, a balustrade, a portico,
piazza, or porch ; all these may be of wood, even when
the material of the house proper is of the most durable
kind ; and by being painted in keeping with the build-
ing itself, produce a fine effect, and do no violence to
good taste or the most fastidious propriety. They may
be even sanded to a color, and grained, stained, or
otherwise brought to an identity, almost, with the
material of the house, and be quite proper, because
they simply are appendages of convenience, necessity,
or luxury, to the building itself, and may be taken
away without injuring or without defacing the main
structure. They are not a 'material part of the build-
ing itself, but reared for purposes which may be dis-
pensed with. It is a matter of taste or preference, that
they were either built there, or that they remain per-
manently afterward, and of consequence, proper that
46 BUBAL ABOHTTEOTTTKE.
they be of wood. Yet they should not imitate stone or
brick. They should still show that they are of wood,
but in color and outside preservation denote that they
are appendages to a stone or brick house, by complying
with the proper shades in color which predominate in
the building itself, and become their own subordinate
character.
JSTot being a professional painter, or compounder of
colors, we shall offer no receipts or specifics for paint-
ing or washing buildings. Climate affects the compo-
sition of both paints and washes, and those who are
competent in this line, are the proper persons to dictate
their various compositions; and we do but common
justice to the skill and intelligence of our numerous
mechanics, when we recommend to those who contem-
plate building, to apply forthwith to such as are masters
of their trade for all the information they require on
the various subjects connected with it. One who sets
out to be his own architect, builder, and painter, is
akin to the lawyer in the proverb, who has a fool for
his client, when pleading his own case, and quite as
apt to have quack in them all. Hints, general out-
lines, and oftentimes matters of detail in interior con-
venience, and many other minor affairs may be given
by the proprietor, when he is neither a professional
architect, mechanic, or even an amateur; but in all
things affecting the substantial and important parts of
his buildings, he should consult those who are proficient
and experienced in the department on which he con-
sults them. And it may perhaps be added that none
professing to be such, are competent, unless well
KUKAL ARCHITECTURE. 4:7
instructed, and whose labors have met the approbation
of those competent to judge.
There is one kind of color, prevailing to a great
extent in many parts of our country, particularly the
northern and eastern, which, in its effect upon any one
having an eye to a fitness of things in country build-
ings, is a monstrous perversion of good taste. That is
the glaring red, made up of Venetian red, ochre, or
Spanish brown, with doors and windows touched off
with white. The only apology we have ever heard
given for such a barbarism was, that it is a good,
strong, and lasting color. We shall not go into an
examination as to that fact, but simply answer, that if
it be so, there are other colors, not more expensive,
which are equally strong and durable, and infinitely
more tasteful and fitting. There can be nothing less
comporting with the simplicity of rural scenery, than a
glaring red color on a building. It connects with
nothing natural about it; it neither fades into any
surrounding shade of soil or vegetation, and must of
necessity, stand out in its own bold and unshrouded
impudence, a perfect Ishmaelite in color, and a perver-
sion of every thing harmonious in the design. "We
eschew red, therefore, from every thing in rural ar-
chitecture.
48 KUEAL AKCHITECTDKB
A SHOKT CHAPTER ON TASTE.
The compound words, or terms good-taste and 'bad-
taste have been used in the preceding pages without,
perhaps, sufficiently explaining what is meant by the
word taste, other than as giving vague and unsatisfac-
tory terms to the reader in measuring the subject in
hand. Taste is a term universally applied in criticism
of the fine-arts, such as painting, sculpture, architec-
ture, &c., &c., of which there are many schools — of
taste, we mean — some of them, perhaps natural, but
chiefly conventional, and all . more or less arbitrary.
The proverb, " there is no accounting for taste," is as
old as the aforesaid schools themselves, and defines
perfectly our own estimate of the common usage of
the term.
As we have intended to use it, Webster defines the
word taste to be " the faculty of discerning beauty,
order, congruity, proportion, symmetry, or whatever
constitutes excellence; style; manner with respect to
what is pleasing." "With this understanding, therefore ;
a fitness to the purpose for which a thing is intended —
got up in a manner agreeable to the eye and the mind —
RTJKAL ABCHirECTTTRE. 4:9
preserving also a harmony between its various parts
and uses; pleasing to the eye, as addressed to the
sense, and satisfactory to the mind, as appropriate to
the object for which it is required ; — these constitute
good-taste, as the term is here understood.
The term style, also, is " the manner or form of a
thing." "When we say, " that is a stylish house," it
should mean that it is in, or approaches some partic-
ular style of building recognized by the schools. It
may or may not be in accordance with good taste, and
is, consequently, subject to the same capricious test in
its government. Yet styles are subject to arrangement,
and are classified in the several schools of architecture,
either as distinct specimens of acknowledged orders,
as the Doric, the Ionic, the Corinthian, in Grecian
architecture, or, the Tuscan and Composite, which are,
more distinctly, styles of Roman architecture. To
these may be added the Egyptian, the most massive
of all ; and either of them, in their proper character,
grand and imposing when applied to public buildings
or extensive structures, but altogether inapplicable,
from their want of lightness and convenience, to coun-
try or even city dwellings. Other styles — not exactly
orders — of architecture, such as the Italian, the Ro-
manesque, the Gothic, the Swiss, with their modifica-
tions — all of which admit of a variety of departures
from fixed rules, not allowed in the more rigid orders —
may be adapted in a variety of ways, to the most
agreeable and harmonious arrangement in architectu-
ral effect, for dwellings and structures appurtenant
to them.
50 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
The Italian style of architecture, modified somewhat
in pretension and extent, is admirably adapted to most
parts of the United States. Its general lightness, open-
ness, and freedom gives a wide range of choice ; and
its wings, verandas, and terraces, stretching off in any
and almost every direction desired, from the main
building, make it exceedingly appropriate for general
use. The modern, or rural Gothic, branching off some-
times into what is termed the English cottage style,
and in many instances blending so intimately with the
Italian, as hardly to mark the line of division, is also a
beautiful arrangement of building for country dwel-
lings. These, in ruder structures, may also be carried
into the Rustic — not a style proper, in itself — but so
termed as approximating in execution or pretension to
either of the above ; while the Swiss, with its hanging
roofs, and sheltering eaves may be frequently brought
in aid to show out the rustic form in more complete-
ness, and in greater harmony with surrounding objects,
than either of the others.
For farm houses, either of these awangements or
departures from a set and positive style, are better fit-
ted than any which we have noticed ; and in some one
or other of the modifications named, we have applied
them in the examples submitted in this work. They
may not therefore be viewed as distinct delineations
of an order of architecture, or style proper, even ; but
as a mode appropriate to the object required. And so
long as they do not absolutely conflict with true taste,
or in their construction commit a barbarism upon any
acknowledged system of architecture, in any of its
BUBAL AECHITEOTUEE. 51
modifications, we hazard no impropriety in introducing
them for the imitation of country builders. Congruity
with the objects to which it is applied should be the
chief merit of any structure whatever ; and so long as
that object be attained, good taste is not violated, and
utility is fully subserved.
Intimately connected with this subject, in rural build
ings, is the shape of the structure. Many of the
designs recently introduced for the imitation of build-
ers, are full of angles and all sorts of zig-zag lines,
which, although they may add to the variety of style,
or relieve the monotony of straight and continuous
lines, are carried to a needless excess, expensive in
their construction, and entail infinite trouble upon the
owner or occupant, in the repairs they subject him to,
in the leakages continually occurring, against which
last, either of wind or rain, it is almost impossible to
guard. And what, let us ask, are the benefits of a
parcel of needless gables and peaked windows, running
up like owl's ears, above the eaves of a house, except
to create expense, and invite leakage and decay ? If
in appearance, they provoke an association of that
kind, they certainly are not in good taste ; and a foot
or two of increased height in a wall, or a low window
sufficient for the purpose intended, would give a tone
of dignity, of comfort, and real utility, which a whole
covey of such pretentious things could not. All such
trumpery should be scouted from the dwelling house
of the farmer, and left to the special indulgence of the
town builder.
A square form of house will afford more area within
52 BTTKAL ARCHTTECTITBE.
a given line of wall than any other sensible form which
may be adopted. Yet a square house is not so agree-
able to the eye as an oblong. Thus, a house should
stand somewhat broader on one front than on another.
It should also be relieved from an appearance of mon-
otony and tameness, by one or more wings ; and such
wings should, at their junction with the main building,
retreat or advance a sufficient distance from a contin-
uous line, as to relieve it effectually from an appearance
of stiflhess, and show a different character of occupa-
tion from that of the main structure. The front of a
house should be the most imposing and finished in its
architecture of any one of its parts ; and unless some
motive of greater convenience control otherwise, its
entrance the most highly wrought, as indicating the
luxury of the establishment — for even the humblest
habitations have their luxuries. The side rooms, or
more usually occupied apartments, require less pre-
tension in both architectural effect and finish, and
should wear a more subdued appearance; while the
kitchen section, and from that, the several grades of
apartments stretching beyond it, should distinctly show
that they are subservient in their character, and wear
a style and finish accordingly. Thus, each part of the
house speaks for itself. It is its own finger-board,
pointing the stranger to its various accommodation, as
plainly as if written on its walls, and saying as signifi-
cantly as dumb walls can do, that here dwells a well
regulated family, who have a parlor for their friends ;
a library, or sitting-room for their own leisure and com-
fort; an ample bedroom and nursery, for the parents
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 53
and the little ones; a kitchen\for the cooking; and
a scullery and closets, and all the other etceteras which
belong to a perfect family homestead.
And so with the grounds. The lawn or " dooryard,"
should be the best kept ground on the place. The
most conspicuous part of the garden should show its
shrubbery and its flowers. The side or rear approach
should be separated from the lawn, and show its con-
stant business occupation, and openly lead off to where
men and farm stock meet on common ground, devoted
to every purpose which the farm requires. Such
arrangement would be complete in all its parts, satis-
factory, and lasting. Tinsel ornament, or gewgaw
decoration should never be permitted on any building
where the sober enjoyment of agricultural life is de-
signed. It can never add consideration or dignity to
the retired gentleman even, and least of all should it
be indulged in by the farmer, dwelling on his own
cultivated acres.
3«
54 BTTRAL ARCHITECTURE.
THE CONSTEUCTIOlSr OF CELLAES.
Every farm house and farm cottage, where a family
of any size occupy the latter, should have a good,
substantial stone-walled cellar beneath it. No room
attached to the farm house is more profitable, in its
occupation, than the cellar. It is useful for storing
numberless articles which are necessary to be kept
warm and dry in winter, as well as cool in summer, of
which the farmer is well aware. The walls of a cellar
should rise at least one, to two, or even three feet
above the level of the ground surrounding it, according
to circumstances, and the rooms in it well ventilated
by two or more sliding sash windows in each, accord-
ing to size, position, and the particular kind of storage
for which it is required, so that a draft of pure air can
pass through, and give it thorough ventilation at all
times. It should also be at least seven and a half feet
high in the clear ; and if it be even nine feet, that is
not too much. If the soil be compact, or such as will
hold water, it should be thoroughly drained from the
lowest point or corner, and the drain always kept open ;
(a stone drain is the best and most durable,) and if
KURAL ARCHITECTURE. 55
floored with a coat of flat, or rubble stones, wtJl set in
good hydraulic cement — or cement alone, when the
stone cannot be obtained — all the better. This last
will make it rat proof . For the purpose of avoiding
these destructive creatures, the foundation stones in
the wall should be brought to a joint, and project at
least six inches on each side, from the wall itself, when
laid upon this bottom course ; as the usual manner of
rats is to burrow in a nearly perpendicular direction
from the surface, by the side of the wall, when intend-
ing to undermine it. On arriving at the bottom, if
circumvented by the projecting stones, they will usu-
ally abandon their work. Plank of hard wood, or hard
burnt bricks, may answer this purpose when stone
cannot be had.
All cellar walls should be laid in good lime mortar,
or if that be not practicable, they should be well
pointed with it. This keeps them in place, and ren-
ders them less liable to the ingress of water and vermin.
The thickness of wall should not be less than fifteen to
eighteen inches, in any event, when of stone ; and if
the house walls above be built of stone or brick, two
feet is better ; and in all cases the cellar wall should be
full three inches thicker than the wall resting upon it.
In the cellar of every farm house there should be
an outside door, with a flight of steps by which to pass
roots and other bulky or heavy articles, to which a
wagon or cart may approach, either to receive or dis-
charge them. This is indispensable.
Every out-building upon the farm, let it be devoted
to what purpose it may, having a wooden floor on the
56 KTJRAL ARCHITECTURE.
ground story, should be set up sufficiently high from
the surface to admit a cat or small terrier dog beneath
such floor, with openings for them to pass in and out,
or these hiding places will become so many rat war-
rens upon the premises, and prove most destructive to
the grain and poultry. Nothing can be more annoy-
ing to the farmer than these vermin, and a trifling
outlay in the beginning, will exclude them from the
foundations and walls of all buildings. Care, there-
fore, should be taken to leave no haunt for their
convenience.
With these suggestions the ingenuity of every builder
will provide sufficient guards against the protection of
vermin beneath his buildings.
VENTILATION OF HOUSES.
Pure air, and enough of it, is the cheapest blessing
one can enjoy; and to deny one's self so indispensable
an element of good health, is little short of criminal
neglect, or the sheerest folly. Yet thousands who build
at much needless expense, for the protection of their
health and that of their families, as they allege, and
no doubt suppose, by neglecting the simplest of all
contrivances, in the work of ventilation, invite disease
and infirmity, from the very pains they eo unwittingly
take to ward off such afflictions.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 57
A inau, be he farmer or of other profession, finding
himself prosperous in life, sets about the very sensible
business of building a house for his own accommoda-
tion. Looking back, perhaps, to the days of his boy-
hood, in a severe climate, he remembers the not very
highly-finished tenement of his father, and the wide,
open fireplace which, with its well piled logs, was
scarcely able to warm the large living-room, where the
family were wont to huddle in winter. He possibly
remembers, with shivering sympathy, the sprinkling
of snow which he was accustomed to find upon his bed
as he awaked in the morning, that had found its way
through the frail casing of his chamber window — but
in the midst of all which he grew up with a vigorous
constitution, a strong arm, and a determined spirit.
He is resolved that Ms children shall encounter no
such hardships, and that himself and his excellent
helpmate shall suffer no such inconvenience as his
own parents had done, who now perhaps, are enjoying
a strong and serene old age, in their old-fashioned, yet
to them not uncomfortable tenement. He therefore
determines to have a snug, close house, where the cold
cannot penetrate. He employs all his ingenuity to
make every joint an air-tight fit; the doors must swing
to an air-tight joint; the windows set into air-tight
frames ; and to perfect the catalogue of his comforts,
an air-tight stove is introduced into every occupied
room which, perchance, if he can afford it, are further
warmed and poisoned by the heated flues of an air-
tight furnace in his air-tight cellar. In short, it is an
air-tight concern throughout. His family breathe an
58 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
air-tight atmosphere ; they eat their food cooked in an
" air-tight kitchen witch," of the latest " premium pat-
tern;" and thus they start, father, mother, children,
all on the high road — if persisted in — to a galloping
consumption, which sooner or later conducts them to
an air-tight dwelling, not soon to be changed. If such
melancholy catastrophe be avoided, colds, catarrhs,
headaches, and all sorts of bodily afflictions shortly
make their appearance, and they wonder what is the
matter ! They live so snug ! their house is so warm !
they sleep so comfortable ! how can it be ? True, in
the morning the air of their sleeping- rooms feels close,
but then if a window is opened it will chill the rooms,
and that will give them colds. What can be the
matter? The poor creatures never dream that they
have been breathing, for hour after hour, decomposed
air, charged with poisonous gases, which cannot es-
cape through the tight walls, or over the tight win-
dows, or through the tight stoves ; and thus they keep
on in the sure course to infirmity, disease, and pre-
mature death — all for the want of a little ventilation !
Better indeed, that instead of all this painstaking, a
pane were knocked out of every window, or a panel
out of every door in the house.
"We are not disposed to talk about cellar furnaces for
heating a farmer's house. They have little to do in
the farmer's inventory of goods at all, unless it be to
give warmth to the hall — and even then a snug box
stove, with its pipe passing into the nearest chimney
is, in most cases, the better appendage. Fuel is usu
ally abundant with the farmer; and where so, its
EUEAL ARCHITECTURE. 59
benefits are much better dispensed in open stoves or
fireplaces, than in heating furnaces or " air-tights."
We have slightly discussed this subject of firing in
the farm house, in a previous page, but while in the
vein, must crave another word. A farmer's house
should look hospitable as well as be hospitable, both
outside and in; and the broadest, most cheerful look
of hospitality within doors, in cold weather, is an open
fire in the chimney fireplace, with the blazing wood
upon it. There is no mistake about it. It thaws you
out, if cold ; it stirs you up, if drooping ; and is the
welcome, winning introduction to the good cheer that
is to follow
A short time ago we went to pay a former town
friend a visit. He had removed out to a snug little
farm, where he could indulge his agricultural and hor-
ticultural tastes, yet still attend to his town engage-
ments, and enjoy the quietude of the country. We
rang the door bell. A servant admitted us; and
leaving overcoat and hat in the hall, we entered a lone
room, with an " air-tight " stove, looking as black and
solemn as a Turkish eunuch upon us, and giving out
about the same degree of genial warmth as the said
eunuch would have expressed had he been there — an
emasculated warming machine truly! On the floor
was a Wilton carpet, too fine to stand on ; around the
room were mahogany sofas and mahogany chairs, all
too fine to sit on — at all events to rest one upon if he
were fatigued. The blessed light of day was shut out
by crimson and white curtains, held up by gilded
arrows ; and upon the mantle piece, and on the center
60 BURAL ARCHITECTURE.
and side tables were all sorts of gimcracks, costly and
worthless. In short, there was no comfort about the
whole concern. Hearing onr friend coming up from
his dining-room below, where too, was his cellar kitch-
en— that most abominable of all appendages to a farm
house, or to any other country house, for that matter —
we buttoned our coat up close and high, thrust our
hands into our pockets, and walked the room, as he
entered. "Glad to see you — glad to see you, my
friend ! " said he, in great joy ; " but dear me, why so
buttoned up, as if you were going ? What 's the mat-
ter?" "My good sir," we replied, "you asked us to
come over and see you, ' a plain farmer, ,' and ' take a
quiet family dinner with you.' -We have done so;
and here find you with all your town nonsense about
you. No fire to warm by; no seat to rest in; no
nothing like a farm or farmer about you ; and it only
needs your charming better half, whom we always ad-
mired, when she lived in town, to take down her
enameled harp, and play
' In fairy bowers by moonlight hours,'
to convince one that instead of ruralizing in the coun-
try, you had gone a peg higher in town residence!
No, no, we '11 go down to farmer Jocelyn's, our old
schoolfellow, and take a dinner of bacon and cabbage
with him. If he does occupy a one-story house, he
lives up in sunshine, has an open fireplace, with a
blazing wood fire on a chilly day, and his ' latch string
is always out.' "
Our friend was petrified — astonished ! "We meant
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 61
to go it rather strong upon him, but still kept & frank,
good-humored face, that showed him no malice. He
began to think he was not exactly in character, and
essayed to explain. "We listened to his story. His
good wife came in, and all together, we had a long talk
of their family and farming arrangements ; how they
had furnished their house ; and how they proposed to
live; but wound up with a sad story, that their good
farming neighbors did'nt call on them the second
time — kind, civil people they appeared, too — and
while they were in, acted as though afraid to sit down,
and afraid to stand up ; — in short, they were dreadfully
embarrassed; for why, our friends couldn't tell, but
now began to understand it. "Well, my good friends,"
said we, " you have altogether mistaken country life in
the outset. To live on a farm, it is neither necessary
to be vulgar, nor clownish, nor to affect ignorance.
Simplicity is all you require, in manners, and equal
simplicity in your furniture and appointments. Now
just turn all this nonsense in furniture and room
dressing out of doors, and let some of your town
friends have it. Get some simple, comfortable, cottage
furniture, much better for all purposes, than this, and
you will settle down into quiet, natural country life
before you are aware of it, and all will go ' merry as a
marriage bell ' with you, in a little time " — for they both
loved the country, and were truly excellent people.
"We continued, "I came to spend the day and the
night, and I will stay ; and this evening we '11 go down
to your neighbor Jocelyn's; and you, Mrs. N ,
shall go with us; and we will see how quietly and
62 BUBAL AECHITECTUBE.
comfortably he and his family take the world m a
farmer's way."
We did go ; not in carriage and livery, but walked
the pleasant half mile that lay between them; the
exercise of which gave us all activity and good spirits.
Jocelyn was right glad to see us, and Patty, his staid
and sober wife, with whom we had romped many an
innocent hour in our childhood days, was quite as glad
as he. But they looked a little surprised that such
" great folks " as their new neighbors, should drop in
so unceremoniously, and into their common " keeping
room," too, to chat away an evening. . However, the
embarrassment soon wore off. We talked of farming ;
we talked of the late elections ; we talked of the fruit
trees and the strawberry beds ; and Mrs. Jocelyn, who
was a pattern of good housekeeping, told Mrs. N"
how she made her apple jellies, and her currant tarts,
and cream cheeses ; and before we left they had ex-
changed ever so many engagements, — Mrs. Patty to
learn her new friend to do half a dozen nice little mat-
ters of household pickling and preserving ; while she,
in turn, was to teach Nancy and Fanny, Patty's two
rosy-cheeked daughters, almost as pretty as their moth-
er was at their own age, to knit a bead bag and work
a fancy chair seat! And then we had apples and nuts,
all of the very best — for Jocelyn was a rare hand at
grafting and managing his fruit trees, and knew the
best apples all over the country. We had, indeed, a
capital time ! To cut the story short, the next spring
our friend sent his fancy furniture to auction, and
provided his house with simple cottage furnishings, at
EURAI, AECHITECTURE. 63
less than half the cost of the other ; which both he and
his wife afterward declared was infinitely better, for all
house-keeping purposes. He also threw a neat wing
on to the cottage, for an upper kitchen and its offices,
and they now live like sensible country folks ; and with
their healthy, frolicksome children, are worth the envy
of all the dyspeptic, town-fed people in existence.
A long digression, truly; but so true a story, and
one so apt to our subject can not well be omitted.
But what has all this to do with ventilation? We'll
tell you. Jocelyn's house was ventilated as it should
be; — for he was a methodical, thoughtful man, who
planned and built his house himself — not the mechan-
ical work, but directed it throughout, and saw that
it was faithfully done; and that put us in mind of
the story.
To be perfect in its ventilation, every room in the
house, even to the closets, should be so arranged that a
current of air may pass through, to keep it pure and
dry. In living rooms, fresh air in sufficient quantity
may usually be admitted through the doors. In sleep-
ing rooms and closets, when doors may not be left
open, one or more of the lower panels of the door may
be filled by a rolling blind, opening more or less, at
pleasure ; or a square or oblong opening for that pur-
pose, may be left in the base board, at the floor, and
covered by a wire netting. And in all rooms, living
apartments, as well as these, an opening of at least
sixty -four square inches should be made in the wall,
near the ceiling, and leading into an air flue, to pass
into \he garret. Such opening may bo filled by a
64 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
rolling blind, or wire screen, as below, and closed or
kept open, at pleasure. Some builders prefer an air
register to be placed in the chimney, over the fireplace
or stove, near the ceiling ; but the liability to annoy-
ance, by Smoke escaping through it into the room, if
not thoroughly done, is an objection to this latter
method, and the other may be made, in its construc-
tion, rather ornamental than otherwise, in appearance.
All such details as these should be planned when the
building is commenced, so that the several flues may be
provided as the building proceeds. In a stone or brick
house, a small space may be left in the walls, against
which these air registers may be required; and for
inner rooms, or closets, they may pass off into the
openings of the partitions, and so up into the garret ;
from which apertures of escape may be left, or made
at the gables, under the roof, or by a blind in a window.
For the admission of air to the first floor of the
house, a special opening through the walls, for that
purpose, can hardly be necessary ; as the doors leading
outside are usually opened often enough for such object.
One of the best ventilated houses we have ever seen, is
that owned and occupied by Samuel Cloon, Esq., of
Cincinnati. It is situated on his farm, three miles out
of the city, and in its fine architectural appearance and
finished appointments, as a rural residence and first-
class farm house, is not often excelled. Every closet is
ventilated through rolling blinds in the door panels;
and foul air, either admitted or created within them, is
passed off at once by flues uear the ceiling overhead,
passing into conductors leading off through the garret
KUKAL AKCHITECTUBE. 65
Where chambers are carried into the roof of a house,
to any extent, they are sometimes incommoded by the
summer heat which penetrates them, conducted by the
chamber ceiling overhead. This heat can best be
obviated by inserting a small window at each opposite
peak of the garret, by which the outside air can circu-
late through, above the chambers, and so pass off the
heated air, which will continually ascend. All this is
a simple matter, for which any builder can provide,
without particular expense or trouble.
INTERIOR ACCOMMODATION OF HOUSES.
Ground, in the country, being the cheapest item
which the farmer can devote to building purposes, hia
object should be to spread over, rather than to go
deeply into it, or climb high in the aii above it. "We
repudiate cellar kitchens, or under-ground rooms for
house work, altogether, as being little better than a
nuisance — dark, damp, unhealthy, inconvenient, and
expensive. The several rooms of a farm dwelling
house should be compact in arrangement, and contig-
uous as may be to the principally -occupied apartments.
Such arrangement is cheaper, more convenient, and
labor-saving ; and in addition, more in accordance with
a good and correct taste in the outward appearance of
the house itself.
66 EUKAL ARCHITECTURE.
The general introduction of cooking stoves, and othei
stoves and apparatus for warming houses, within the
last twenty years, which we acknowledge to be a great
acquisition in comfort as well as in convenience and
economy, has been carried to an extreme, not only in
shutting up and shutting out the time-honored open
fireplace and its broad hearthstone, with their hal-
lowed associations, but also in prejudice to the health
of those who so indiscriminately use them, regardless
of other arrangements which ought to go with them.
A farm house should never be built without an ample,
open fireplace in its kitchen, and other principally
occupied rooms; and in all rooms where stoves are
placed, and fires are daily required, the open Franklin
should take place of the close or air-tight stove, unless
extraordinary ventilation to such rooms be adopted
also. The great charm of the farmer's winter evening
is the open fireside, with its cheerful blaze and glow-
ing embers ; not wastefully expended, but giving out
that genial warmth and comfort which, to those who
are accustomed to its enjoyment, is a pleasure not
made up by any invention whatever ; and although the
cooking stove or range be required — which, in addi-
tion to the fireplace, we would always recommend, to
lighten female labor — it can be so arranged as not to
interfere with the enjoyment or convenience of the
open fire.
In the construction of the chimneys which appear
in the plans submitted, the great majority of them —
particularly those for northern latitudes — are placed
in the interior of the house. They are less liable to
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 67
communicate fire to the building, and assist greatly in
warming the rooms through which they pass. In
southern houses they are not so necessary, fires being
required for a much less period of the year. Yet even
there they may be oftentimes properly so placed.
Where holes, for the passage of stovepipes through
floors, partitions, or into chimneys, are made, stone,
earthen, or iron thimbles should be inserted ; and, except
in the chimneys, such holes should be at least one to
two inches larger than the pipe itself. The main flues
of the chimney conducting oif the smoke of the differ-
ent fires, should be built separate, and kept apart by a
partition of one brick in thickness, and carried out
independently, as in no other way will they rid the
house of smoky rooms.
An illustration in point: Fifteen years ago we
purchased and removed into a most substantial and
well-built stone house, the chimneys of which were
constructed with open fireplaces, and the flues carried
up separately to the top, where they all met upon the
same level surface, as chimneys in past times usually
were built, thus. Every fireplace in
the house (and some- of them had
stoves in.) smoked intolerably; so
much so, that when the wind was in
some quarters the fires had to be
put out in every room but the kitch-
en, which, as good luck would have it, smoked less —
although it did smoke there — than the others. After
balancing the matter in our own mind some time,
whether we should pull down and rebuild the chimneys
DO BUBAL ARCHITECTURE.
altogether, or attempt an alteration ; as we had given
but little thought to the subject of chimney draft, and
to try an experiment was the cheapest, we set to work
a bricklayer, who, under our direction, simply built
over each discharge of the several flues a separate top
of fifteen inches high, in this wise :
The remedy was perfect. "We have
had no smoke in the house since,
blow the wind as it may, on any and
all occasions. The chimneys can't
smoke; and the whole expense for
four chimneys, with their twelve
flues, was not twenty dollars! The remedy was in
giving each outlet a distinct current of air all around,
and on every side of it.
CHIMNEY TOPS.
Nothing adds more to the outward expression of a
dwelling, than the style of its chimneys. We have
just shown that independent chimney tops pass off
their smoke more perfectly, than when only partitioned
inside to the common point of outlet. Aside from the
architectural beauty which a group of chimney flues
adds to the building, we have seen that they are really
useful, beyond the formal, square-sided piles so com-
mon throughout the country. They denote good cheer
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 69
social firesides, and a generous hospitality within —
features which should always mark the country dwell-
ing ; and more particularly that of the farmer.
The style and arrangement of these chimney groups
may be various, as comporting with the design of the
house itself; and any good architect can arrange them
as fitted to such design. Our illustrations will show
them of different kinds, which are generally cheap
in construction, and simple, yet expressive in their
arrangement.
PRELIMINARY TO OUR DESIGNS.
We have discussed with tolerable fullness, the chief
subjects connected with farm buildings — sufficiently
so, we trust, to make ourselves understood as desiring
to combine utility with commendable ornament in all
that pertains to them. The object has been, thus far,
to give hints, rather than models, in description. But
as the point to which we have endeavored to arrive
will be but imperfectly understood without illustration,
we shall submit a few plans of houses and outbuildings,
as carrying out more fully our ideas.
We are quite aware that different forms or fashions
of detail and finish, to both outside and inside work,
prevail among builders in different sections of the
United States. Some of these fashions are the result
of climate, some of conventional taste, and some of
4
70 KUKAL AKCHTTECTUBE.
education. "With them we are not disposed to quarrel.
In many cases they are immaterial to the main objects
of the work, and so long as they please the taste 01
partialities of those adopting them, are of little conse-
quence. There are, however, certain matters of prin-
ciple, both in general construction and in the detail of
finish, which should not be disregarded ; and these, in
the designs submitted, and in the explanations which
follow, will be fully discussed, each in its place. The
particular form or style of work we have not directed,
because, as before remarked, we are no professional
builder, and of course free from the dogmas which are
too apt to be inculcated in the professional schools and
workshops. "We give a wide berth, and a free tolera-
tion in all such matters, and are not disposed to raise a
hornet's nest about our ears by interfering in matters
where every tyro of the drafting board and work-bench
assumes to be, and probably may be, our superior. All
minor subjects we are free to leave to the skill and
ingenuity of the builder — who, fortunately for the coun-
try, is found in almost every village and hamlet of
the land.
Modes and styles of finish, both inside and outside
of buildings, change ; and that so frequently, that what
is laid down as the reigning fashion to-day, may be
superseded by another fashion of to-morrow — imma-
terial in themselves, only, and not aifecting the shape,
arrangement, and accommodation of the building itself,
which in these, must ever maintain their relation with
the use for which it is intended. The northern dwel-
ling, with its dependencies and appointments, requires
BURAL ARCHITECTURE.
a more compact, snug, and connected arrangement
than that of the south ; while one in the middle states
may assume a style of arrangement between them both,
each fitted for their own climate and country, and in
equally good taste. The designs we are about to sub-
mit are intended to be such as may be modified to any
section of the country, although some of them are
made for extremes of north and south, and are so dis-
tinguished. Another object we have had in view is,
to give to every farmer and country dweller of mod-
erate means the opportunity of possessing a cheap work
which would guide him in the general objects which
he wishes to accomplish in building, that he may ha/ce
Ms awn notions on the subject, and not be subject to
the caprice and government of such as profess to
exclusive knowledge in all that appertains to such
subjects, and in which, it need not be offensive to say,
that although clever in their way, they are sometimes
apt to be mistaken.
Therefore, without assuming to instruct the profess-
ional builder, our. plans will be submitted, not without
the hope that he even, may find in them something
worthy of consideration; and we offer them to the
owner and future occupant of the buildings themselves,
as models which he may adopt, with the confidence
that they will answer all his reasonable purposes.
72 KUKAL AECHITECTURE.
DESIGN I.
"We here present a farm house of the simplest and
most unpretending kind, suitable for a farm of twenty,
fifty, or an hundred acres. Buildings somewhat in
this style are not unfrequently seen in the New Eng-
land States, and in ISTew York ; and the plan is in fact
suggested, although not copied, from some farm houses
which we have known there, with improvements and
additions of our own.
This house may be built either of stone, brick, or
wood. The style is rather rustic than otherwise, and
intended to be altogether plain, yet agreeable in out-
ward appearance, and of quite convenient arrangement.
The body of this house is 40x30 feet on the ground,
and 12 feet high, to the plates for the roof; the lower
rooms nine feet high ; the roof intended for a pitch of
35° — but, by an error in the drawing, made less —
thus affording very tolerable chamber room in the roof
story. The L, or rear projection, containing the wash-
room and wood-house, juts out two feet from the side of
the house to which it is attached, with posts 7i feet
high above the floor of the main house ; the pitch of
the roof being the same. Beyond this is a building
32x24 feet, with 10 feet posts, partitioned off into a
Bwill-room, piggery, workshop, and wagon-house, and
a like roof with the others. A light, rustic porch,
: HOUSE.
,o — 74
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 75
12x8 feet, with lattice work, is placed on the front
of the house, and another at the side door, over which
vines, by way of drapery, may run ; thus combining
that sheltered, comfortable, and home-like expression
so desirable in a rural dwelling. The chimney is car-
ried out in three separate flues, sufficiently marked by
the partitions above the roof. The windows are hood-
ed, or sheltered, to protect them from the weather, and
fitted with simple sliding sashes with 7x9 or 8x10
glass. Outer blinds may be added, if required ; but it
is usually better to have these inside, as they are no
ornament to the outside of the building, are liable to
be driven back and forth by the wind, even if fasten-
ings are used, and in any event are little better than a
continual annoyance.
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
The front door, over which is a single sash-light
across, opens into a hall or entry 9x7 feet, from which
a door opens on either side into a sitting-room and
parlor, each 16x15 feet, lighted by a double, plain
window, at the ends, and a single two-sash window in
front. Between the entrance door and stove, are in
each room a small pantry or closet for dishes, or other-
wise, as may be required. The chimney stands in the
center of the house, with a separate flue for each front
room, into which a thimble is inserted to receive the
stovepipes by which they are warmed ; and from the
inner side of these rooms each has a door passing to
the kitchen, or chief living room. This last apartment
W.S. 16X10
PIO \6X\*i
SWILL
WH. 30xlG
W.R. 16x14
B.9x8
K.
E. 9x6
D
9x6
B R.
3x8
..
S.R. 16x15
P. 16x15
PORCH
10 » 0
XX XX>
FLAW.
BURAL ARCHITECTURE.
77
-- p
y 9X14
2.2.XI6
T "
• 1 8 X/5
— —
I
CHAMBER PLAN.
is 22x15 feet, with a broad fireplace containing a
crane, hooks, and trammel, if required, and a spacious
family oven — affording those homely and primitive
comforts still so dear to many of us who are not ready
to concede that all the virtues of the present day are
combined in a "perfection" cooking stove, and a
"patent" heater; although there is a chance for these
last, if they should be adopted into the peaceful atmos-
phere of this kitchen.
On one side of the kitchen, in rear of the stairs, is
a bedroom, 9x8 feet, with a window in one corner.
Adjoining that, is a buttery, dairy-room, or closet, 9x6
feet, also having a window. At the inner end of the
stairway is the cellar passage ; at the outer end is the
chamber passage, landing above, in the highest part of
the roof story. Opposite the chamber stairs is a door
leading to the wash-room. Between the two windows,
Dn the rear side of the kitchen, is a sink, with a waste
pipe passing out through the wall. At the further
corner a door opens into a snug bedroom 9x8 feet,
lighted by a window in rear; and adjoining this is a
78 RURAL ARCniTECTTJRE.
side entry leading from the end door, 9x6 feet in area;
thns making every room in the house accessible at
once from the kitchen, and giving the greatest possible
convenience in both living and house-work.
The roof story is partitioned into convenient-sized
bedrooms ; the ceiling running down the pitch of the
roof to within two feet of the floor, unless they are cut
short by inner partitions, as they are in the largest
chamber, to give closets. The open area in the cen-
ter, at the head of the stairs, is lighted by a small
gable window inserted in the roof, at the rear, and
serves as a lumber room ; or, if necessary, a bed may
occupy a part of it.
In rear of the main dwelling is a building 44x16
feet, occupied as a wash-room and wood-house. The
wash-room floor is let down eight inches below the
kitchen, and is 16x14 feet, in area, lighted by a
window on each side, with a chimney, in which is set
a boiler, and fireplace, if desired, and a sink in the
corner adjoining. This room is 7i feet in height. A
door passes from this wash-room into the wood-house,
which is 30x16 feet, open iu front, with a water-closet
in the further corner.
The cellar is 7i feet in height — and is the whole
size of the house, laid with good stone wall, in lime
mortar, with a flight of steps leading outside, in rear
of the kitchen, and two or more sash-light windows at
the ends. If not in a loose, gravelly, or sandy soil, the
cellar should be kept dry by a drain leading out on to
lower ground.
The building beyond, and adjoining the wood house,
BT7KAL ARCHITECTURE. 79
contains a swill-house 16x12 feet, with a window in
one end; a chimney and boiler in one corner, with
storage for swill barrels, grain, meal, potatoes, &c.,
for feeding the pigs, which are in the adjoining pen of
same size, with feeding trough, place for sleeping, &c.,
and having a window in one end and a door in the
rear, leading to a yard.
Adjoining these, in front, is a workshop and tool-
house, 16x10 feet, with a window at the end, and an
entrance door near the wood house. In this is a join-
er's work-bench, a chest of working tools, such as saw,
hammer, augers, &c., &c., necessary for repairing im-
plements, doing little rough jobs, or other wood work,
&c., which every farmer ought to do for himself; and
also storing his hoes, axes, shovels, hammers, and other
small farm implements. In this room he will find
abundant rainy-day employment in repairing his uten-
sils of various kinds, making his beehives, hencoops,
&c., &c. Next to this is the wagon-house, 16x14 feet,
with broad doors at the end, and harness pegs around
the walls.
The posts of this building are 10 feet high ; the rooms
eight feet high, and a low chamber overhead for storing
lumber, grain, and other articles, as may be required.
Altogether, these several apartments make a very com-
plete and desirable accommodation to a man with the
property and occupation for which it is intended.
On one side and adjoining the house, should be the
garden, the ciothes-yard, and the bee-house, which last
should always stand in fall sight, and facing the most
frequented room — say the kitchen — that they can be
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
seen daily during the swarming season, as those per-
forming household duties may keep them in view.
MISCELLANEOUS,
In regard to the surroundings, and approach to this
dwelling, they should be treated under the suggestions
already given on these subjects. This is an exceed-
ingly snug tenement, and everything around and about
it should be of the same character. No pretension or
frippery whatever. A neat garden, usefully, rather
than ornamentally and profusely supplied ; a moderate
court-yard in front; free access to the end door, from
the main e very-day approach by vehicles — not on the
highway, but on the farm road or lane — the business
entrance, in fact ; which should also lead to the barns
and sheds beyond, not far distant. Every feature
should wear a most domestic look, and breathe an air
of repose and content. Trees should be near, but not
so near as to cover the house. A few shrubs of simple
kind — some standing roses — • a few climbing ones ; a
syringa, a lilac, a snow ball, and a little patch or two
of flowers near the front porch, and the whole express-
ion is given ; just as one would^wish to look upon as a
simple, unpretending habitation.
It is not here proposed to give working plans, or
estimates, to a nicety; or particular directions for
building any design even, that we present. The mate-
rial for construction best suited to the circumstances
and locality of the proprietor must govern all those
matters: and as good builders are in most cases at
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 81
hand, who are competent to give estimates for the cost
of any given plan, when the material for construction
is once settled, the question of expense is readily fixed.
The same sized house, with the same accommodation,
may be made to cost fifty to one hundred per cent,
over an economical estimate, by the increased style, or
manner of its finish ; or it may be kept within bounds
by a rigid adherence to the plan first adopted.
In western ]S"ew York this house and attachments
complete, the body of stone, the wood-house, wagon-
house, <fec., of wood, may be built and well finished in
a plain way for $1,500. If built altogether of wood,
with grooved and matched vertical boarding, and bat-
tens, the whole may be finished and painted for $800,
to $1,200. For the lowest sum, the lumber and work
would be of a rough kind, with a cheap wash to color
it; but the latter amount would give good work, and a
lasting coat of mineral paint both outside and within.
As a tenant house on a farm of three, four, or even
five hundred acres, where all who live in it are labor-
ers in the field or household, this design may be most
conveniently adopted. The family inhabiting it in
winter may be well accommodated for sleeping under
the main roof, while they can at all seasons take their
meals, and be made comfortable in the several rooms.
In the summer season, when a larger number of
laborers are employed, the lofts of the carriage or
wagon-house and work-shop may be occupied with beds,
and thus a large share of the expense of house build-
ing for a very considerable farm be saved. Luxury
is a quality more or less consulted by every one who
82 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
builds for his mon occupation on a farm, or elsewhere ;
and the tendency in building is constantly to expand, to
give a higher finish, and in iact, to over-build. Indeed,
if we were to draw the balance, on our old farms, be-
tween scantily-accommodated houses, and houses with
needless room in them, the latter would preponderate.
Not that these latter houses either are too good, or too
convenient for the purpose for which they were built,
but they have too much room, and that room badly
appropriated and arranged.
On a farm proper, the whole establishment is a
workshop. The shop out of doors, we acknowledge,
is not always dry, nor always warm ; but it is exceed-
ingly well aired and lighted, and a place where indus-
trious people dearly love to labor. Within doors it is
a work-shop too. There is always labor and occupation
for the family, in the general business of the farm;
therefore but little room is wanted for either luxury or
leisure, and the farm house should be fully occupied,
with the exception, perhaps, of a single room on the
main floor, (and that not a large one,) for some regular
business purpose. All these accommodated, and the re-
quirements of the house are ended. Owners of rented
farms should reflect, too, that expensive houses on their
estates entail expensive repairs, and that continually.
Many tenants are careless of highly-finished houses.
Not early accustomed to them, they misappropriate,
perhaps, the best rooms in the house, and pay little
attention to the purposes for which the owner designed
them, or to the manner of using them. It is therefore
a total waste of money to build a house on a tenant
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 83
estate anything beyond the mere comfortable wants of
the family occupying it, and to furnish the room neces-
sary for the accommodation of the crops, stock, and
farm furniture, in the barns and other out-buildings —
all in a cheap, tidy, yet substantial way.
So, too, with the grounds for domestic purposes
around the house. A kitchen garden, sufficient to
grow the family vegetables — a few plain fruits — a
posey bed or two for the girls — and the story is told.
Give a larger space for these things — anything in-
deed, for elegance — and ten to one, the plow is intro-
duced, a corn or potato patch is set out, field culture is
adopted, and your choice grounds are torn up, defaced,
and sacrificed to the commonest uses.
Notwithstanding these drawbacks, a cheerful, home-
expression may be given, and should be given to the
homestead, in the character and construction of the
buildings, be they ever so rough and homely. We
can call to mind many instances of primitive houses —
log cabins even — built when none better could be had,
that presented a most comfortable and life-enjoying
picture — residences once, indeed, of those who swayed
"the applause of listening senates," but under the
hands of taste, and a trifle of labor, made to look
comfortable, happy, and sufficient. We confess, there-
fore, to a profound veneration, if not affection, for the
humble farm house, as truly American in character;
and which, with a moderate display of skill, may be
made equal to the main purposes of life and enjoyment
for all such as do not aspire to a high display, and
who are content to make the most of moderate means.
84 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
DESIGN II.
This is the plan of a house and out-buildings based
chiefly on one which we built of wood some years since
on a farm of our own, and which, in its occupation,
has proved to be one of exceeding convenience to the
purposes intended. As a farm business house, we
have not known it excelled; nor in the ease and facility
of doing up the house-work within it, do we know a
better. It has a subdued, quiet, unpretending look;
yet will accommodate a family of a dozen workmen,
besides the females engaged in the household work,
with perfect convenience ; or if occupied by a farmer
with but his own family around him, ample room is
afforded them for a most comfortable mode of life, and
sufficient for the requirements of a farm of two, to
three or four hundred acres.
This house is, in the main body, 36x22 feet, one
and a half stories high, with a projection on the rear
34x16 feet, for the kitchen and its offices; and a
still further addition to that, of 26x18 feet, for wash-
room. The main body of the house is 14 feet high to
1 he plates ; the lower rooms are 9 feet high ; the roof
has a pitch of 35° from a horizontal line, giving par-
tially-upright chambers in the main building, and roof
lodging rooms in the rear. The rear, or kitchen part,
KUEAL ARCHITECTURE. 87
is one story high, with 10 feet posts, and such pitch of
roof (which last runs at right angles to the main body,
and laps on to the main roof,) as will carry the peak
up to the same air line. This addition should retreat
6 inches from the line of the main building, on the side
given in the design, and 18 inches on the rear. The
rooms on this kitchen floor are 8 feet high, leaving one
foot above the upper floor, under the roof, as a cham-
ber garret, or lumber-room, as may be required. Be-
yond this, in the rear, is the other extension spoken
of, with posts 9 feet high, for a buttery, closet, or dairy,
or all three combined, and a wash-room ; the floor of
which is on a level with the last, and the roof running
in the same direction, and of the same pitch. In front
of this wash-room, where not covered by the wood-
house, is an open porch, 8 feet wide and 10 feet long,
the roof of which runs out at a less angle than the
others — say 30° from a horizontal line. Attached to
this is the wood-house, running off by way of L, at
right angles, 36x16 feet, of same height as the wash-
room.
Adjoining the wood-house, on the same front line, is
a building 50x20 feet, with 12 feet posts, occupied
as a workshop, wagon-house, stable, and store-room,
with a lean-to on the last of 15x10 feet, for a pig-
gery. The several rooms in this building are 8 feet
high, affording a good lumber room over the work-
shop, and hay storage over the wagon-house and stable.
Over the wagon-house is a gable, with a blind window
swinging on hinges, for receiving hay, thus relieving
the long, uniform line of roof, and affording ample
88 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
accommodation on each side to a pigeon-house or dove-
cote, if required.
The style of this establishment is of plain Italian, or
bracketed, and may be equally applied to stone, brick,
or wood. The roofs are broad, and protect the walls
by their full projection over them, 25 feet. The small
gable in the front roof of the main dwelling relieves it
of its otherwise straight uniformity, and affords a high
door-window opening on to the deck of the veranda,
which latter should be 8 or 10 feet in width. The
shallow windows, also, over the wings of the veranda
give it a more cheerful expression. The lower end
windows of this part of the house are hooded, or shel-
tered by a cheap roof, which gives them a snug and
most comfortable appearance. The veranda may ap-
pear more ornamental than the plain character of the
house requires ; but any superfluous work upon it may
be omitted, and the style of finish conformed to the
other. The veranda roof is flatter than that of the
house, but it may be made perfectly tight by closer
shingling, and paint; while the deck or platform in
the centre may be roofed with zinc, or tin, and a coat
of sanded paint laid upon it. The front chimney is
plain, yet in keeping with the general style of the
house, and may be made of ordinary bricks. The two
parts of the chimney, as they appear in the front rooms,
are drawn together as they pass through the chamber
above, and become one at the roof. The kitchen chim-
neys pass up through the peaks of their respective
roofs, and should be in like character with the othe»
BAMBK& FLAN.
OKOUND FLAW.
90 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
The front door of this house opens into a small entry
or hall, 9x6 feet, which is lighted by a low sash of
glass over the front door. A door leads into a room
on each side; and at the inner end of the hall is a
recess between the two chimneys of the opposite rooms,
in which may be placed a table or broad shelf to
receive hats and coats. On the left is a parlor 22x15
feet, lighted on one side by a double window, and
in front by a single plain one. The fireplace is cen-
trally placed on one side of the room, in the middle of
the house. On one side of the fireplace is a closetj three
feet deep, with shelves, and another closet at the inner
end of the room, near the kitchen door ; or this closet
may be dispensed with for the use of this parlor, and
given up to enlarge the closet which is attached to
the bedroom. Another door opens directly into the
kitchen. This parlor is 9 feet high between joints.
The sitting-room is opposite to the parlor, 19x15 feet,
and lighted and closeted in nearly the same manner,
as will be seen by referring to the floor plan.
The kitchen is the grand room of this house. It is
24x16 feet in area, having an ample fireplace, with its
hooks and trammels, and a spacious oven by its side.
It is lighted by a double window at one end, and a
single window near the fireplace. At one end of this
kitchen is a most comfortable and commodious fam-
ily bedroom, 13x10 feet, with a large closet in one
corner, and lighted by a window in the side. Two
EUEAL ARCHTTECTTJRE. 91
windows may be inserted if wanted. A passage leads
by the side of the oven to a sink-room, or recess, be-
hind the chimney, with shelves to dry dishes on, and
lighted by the half of a double window, which accom-
modates with its other half the dairy, or closet adjoin-
ing. A door also opens from this recess into the closet
and dairy, furnished with broad shelves, that part of
which, next the kitchen, is used for dishes, cold meat
and bread cupboards, &c. ; while the part of it adjoin-
ing the window beyond, is used for milk. This room is
14x6 feet, besides the L running up next to the kitchen,
of 6x4 feet. From the kitchen also opens a closet
into the front part of the house for any purpose needed.
This adjoins the parlor, and sitting-room, closets. In
the passage to the sitting-room also opens the stairway
leading to the chambers, and beneath, at the other end
of it, next the outside wall, is a flight leading down
cellar. The cellar is excavated under the whole house,
being 36x22, and 34x16 feet, with glass windows, one
light deep by four wide, of 8x10 glass; and an outer
door, and flight of steps outside, under either the sitting-
room or kitchen windows, as may be most convenient.
A door opens, also, from the kitchen, into a passage 4
feet wide and 12 feet long leading to the wash-room,
18x16 feet, and by an outside door, through this passage
to the porch. In this passage may be a small window
to give it light.
In the wash-room are two windows. A chimney at the
far end accommodates a boiler or two, and a fireplace,
if required. A sink stands ad joining the chimney. A
flight of stairs, leading to a garret over head on one side.
92 RURAL AECHITECTUEE.
and to the kitchen chamber on the other, stands next
the dairy, into which last a door also leads. In this
wash-room may be located the cooking stove in warm
weather, leaving the main kitchen for a family and eat-
ing room. A door also leads from the wash-room into
the wood-house.
The wood-house stands lower than the floor of th
wash-room, from which it falls, by steps. This is large,
because a plentiful store of wood is needed for a dwell-
ing of this character. If the room be not all wanted
for such purpose, a part of it may devoted to other
necessary uses, there seldom being too much shelter of
this kind on a farm ; through the rear wall of this wood-
house leads a door into the garden, or clothes-yard, as
the case may be ; and at its extreme angle is a water
closet, 6x4: feet, by way of lean-to, with a hipped
roof, 8 feet high, running off from both the wood-house
and workshop. This water-closet is lighted by a slid-
ing sash window.
On to the wood-house, in a continuous front line, joins
the workshop, an indispensable appendage to farm
convenience. This has a flight of stairs leading to the
lumber-room above. For the furnishing of this apart-
ment, see description of Design I. Next to the work-
house is the wagon and tool-house, above which is the
hay loft, also spread over the stable adjoining ; in which
last are stalls for a pair of horses, which may be re-
quired for uses other than the main labors of the farm —
to run to market, carry the family to church, or else-
where. A pair of horses for such purposes should
always be kept near the house. The horse-stalls
KUKAL ARCHITECTUBE. 93
occupy a space of 10x12 feet, with racks and feeding
boxes. The plans of these will be described hereafter.
The door leading out from these stalls is 5 feet wide,
and faces the partition, so that each horse may be led
out or in at an easy angle from them. Beyond the
stalls is a passage 4 feet wide, leading to a store-room
or area, from which a flight of rough stairs leads to the
hay loft above. Beyond this room, in which is the oat
bin for the horses, is a small piggery, for the conven-
ience of a pig or two, which are always required to con-
sume the daily wash and offal of the house ; and not
for the general pork stock of the farm ; which, on one
of this size, may be expected to require more commo-
dious quarters.
The chamber plan of this house is commodious, fur-
nishing one large room and three smaller ones. The
small chamber leading to the deck over the porch, may,
or may not be occupied as a sleeping room. The
small one near the stairs may contain a single bed, or
be occupied as a large clothes-closet. Through this, a
door leads into the kitchen chamber, which may serve
as one, or more laborers' bed-chambers. They may be
lighted by one or more windows in the rear gable.
If more convenient to the family, the parlor and sit-
ting-room, already described, may change their occu-
pation, and one substituted for the other.
The main business approach to this house should be
by a lane, or farm road opening on the side next the
stable and wagon-house. The yard, in front of these last
aamed buildings, should be separated from the lawn,
or front door-yard of the dwelling. The establishment
94 KUEAL AKCHITEOTDRE.
should stand some distance back from the traveled
highway, and be decorated with such trees, shrubbery,
and cultivation, as the taste of the owner may direct.
No general rules or directions can be applicable to this
design beyond what have already been given ; and the
subject must be treated as circumstances may suggest.
The unfrequented side of the house should, however, be
flanked with a garden, either ornamental, or fruit and
vegetable ; as buildings of this character ought to com-
mand a corresponding share of attention with the
grounds by which they are surrounded.
This house will appear equally well built of wood,
brick, or stone. Its cost, according to materials, or
finish, may be $1,000 or $1,500. The out-buildings at-
tached, will add $400 to $600, with the same conditions
as to finish ; but the whole may be substantially and
well built of either stone, brick, or wood, where each
may be had at equal convenience, for $2,000 in the in-
terior of New York. Of course, it is intended to do
all the work plain, and in character for tl e occupation
to which it is intended.
BUBAL ARCHITECTURE. 95
MISCELLANEOUS DETAILS.
At this point of our remarks a word or two may be
offered on the general subject of inside finish to farm
houses, which may be applicable more or less to any
one, or all of the designs that may come under our ob-
servation ; therefore what is here said, may be applied
at large. Different sections of the United States have
their own several local notions, or preferences as to the
mode of finish to their houses and out-buildings, accord-
ing to climate, education, or other circumstances. In
all these matters neither taste, fashion, nor climate
should be arbitrary. The manner of finish may be
various, without any departure from truth or propri-
ety— always keeping in mind the object for which it is
intended. The material for a country house should be
strong, and durable, and the work simple in its details,
beyond that for either town or suburban houses. It
should be strong, for the reason that the interior of the
farm house is used for purposes of industry, in finishing
up and perfecting the labors of the farm ; labors indis-
pensable too, and in amount beyond the ordinary house-
keeping requirements of a family who have little to do
but merely to live, and make themselves comfortable.
The material should be durable, because the distance
at which the farm house is usually located from the
96 KUKAL A-RCHITECTUKE.
residences of building mechanics, renders it particu-
larly troublesome and expensive to make repairs, and
alterations. The work should be simple, because cheap-
er in the first place, in construction, and finish ; quite
as appropriate and satisfactory in appearance ; and de-
manding infinitely less labor and pains to care for, and
protect it afterward. Therefore all mouldings, archi-
traves, chisel-work, and gewgawgery in interior finish
should be let alone in the living and daily occupied
rooms of the house. If, to a single parlor, or spare
bedchamber a little ornamental work be permitted, let
even that be in moderation, and just enough to teach
the active mistress and her daughters what a world of
scrubbing and elbow work they have saved themselves
in the enjoyment of a plainly-finished house, instead
of one full of gingerbread work and finery. None
but the initiated can tell the affliction that chiseled
finishing entails on housekeepers in the spider, fly, and
other insect lodgment which it invites — frequently the
cause of more annoyance and daily disquietude in
housekeeping, because unnecessary, than real griefs
from which we may not expect to escape. Bases, cas-
ings, sashes, doors — all should be plain, and painted
or stained a quiet russet color — a color natural to the
woods used for the finish, if it can be, showing, in their
wear, as little of dust, soiling, and fly dirt as possible.
There is no poetry about common housekeeping. Cook-
ing, house-cleaning, washing, scrubbing, sweeping, are
altogether matter-of-fact duties, and usually considered
work, not recreation ; and these should all be made
easy of performance, and as seldom to be done as
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 97
possible; although, the first item always was, and al-
ways will be, and the last item should be, an every-day
vocation for somebody; and the manner of inside finish
to a house has a great deal to do with all these labors.
In a stone, or brick house, the inside walls should
be firred off for plastering. This may be done either
by " plugging," that is, driving a plug of wood strongly
into the mortar courses, into which the firring should
be nailed, or by laying a strip of thin board in the mor-
tar course, the entire length of each wall. This is better
than Hocks laid in for such purpose, because it is ef-
fectually bound by the stone, or brick work ; whereas, ,
a block may get loose by shrinking, but the nails which
hold the firring to the plug, or to the thin strip of board
will split and wedge it closer to the mason work of the
outside wall. This is an important item. It makes
close work too, and leaves no room for rats, mice, or
other vermin ; and as it admits a space — no matter
how thin — so that no outside damp from the walls can
communicate into, or through the inner plastering, it
answers all purposes. The inside, and partition walls
should be of coarse, strong mortar, floated off as smooth-
ly as may be, not a hard finish, which is fine, and
costly; and then papered throughout for the better
rooms, and the commonly-used rooms whitewashed.
Paper gives a most comfortable look to the rooms, more
so than paint, and much less expensive, while nothing is
so sweet, tidy, and cheerful to the working rooms of the
house as a lime wash, either white, or softened down
with some agreeable tint, such as light blue, green, drab,
fawn, or russet, to give the shade desired, and for which
98 BUBAL ARCHITECTURE.
every professional painter and whitewasher in the vi-
cinity, can furnish a proper recipe applicable to the
place and climate. On such subjects we choose to
prescribe, rather than to play the apothecary by giv-
ing any of the thousand and one recipes extant, for the
composition.
Our remarks upon the strength and durability of
inaterial in house-building do not apply exclusively to
brick and stone. Wood is included also ; and of this,
there is much difference in the kind. Sound white
oak, is, perhaps the best material for the heavy frame-
work of any house or out-building, and when to be
had at a moderate expense, we would recommend it in
preference to any other. If white oak cannot be had,
the other varieties of oak, or chesnut are the next best.
In light frame-timbers, such as studs, girts, joists, or
rafters, oak is inclined to spring and warp, and we
would prefer hemlock, or chesnut, which holds a nail
equally as well, or, in its absence, pine, (which holds a
nail badly,) whitewood, or black walnut. The outside
finish to a wooden house, may be lighter than in one of
stone or brick. The wood work on the outside of the
latter should always be heavy, and in character with
the walls, giving an air of firmness and stability to the
whole structure. No elaborate carving, or beadwork
should be permitted on the outside work of a country
house at all ; and only a sufficient quantity of ornamen-
tal tracery of any kind, to break the monotony of a
plainness that would otherwise give it a formal, or un-
couth expression, and relieve it of what some would
consider a pasteboard look. A farm house, in fact, of
RURAL, ARCHITECTURE. 99
any degree, either cheap 01 expensive, should wear the
same appearance as a well-dressed person of either sex ;
so that a stranger, not looking at them for the purpose
of inspecting their garb, should, after an interview, be
unable to tell what particular sort of dress they wore,
so perfectly in keeping was it with propriety,
In the design now under discussion, a cellar is made
under the whole body of the house ; and this cellar is
a shallow one, so far as being sunk into the ground is
concerned, say 5 \ feet, leaving 2} feet of cellar wall
above ground — 8 feet in all. A part of the wall above
ground should be covered by the excavated earth, and
sloped off to a level with the surrounding surface. A
commodious, well-lighted, and well-ventilated cellar is
one of the most important apartments of the farm house.
It should, if the soil be compact, be well drained from
some point or corner within the walls into a lower level
outside, to which point within, the whole floor surface
should incline, and the bottom be floored with water-
lime cement. This will make it hard, durable, and dry.
It may then be washed and scrubbed off as easily as
an upper floor. If the building site be high, and in a
gravelly, or sandy soil, neither drain nor flooring will
be required. The cellar may be used for the storage
of root crops, apples, meats, and household vegetables.
A partitioned room will accommodate either a summer
or a winter dairy, if not otherwise provided, and a
multitude of conveniences may be made of it in all well
arranged farmeries. But in all cases the cellar should
be well lighted, ventilated, and dry. Even the ash-
house and smoke-house may be made in it with perfect
100 KURAL ARCHITECTURE.
convenience, by brick or stone partitions, and the smoke-
house ilue be earned up into one of the chimney flues
above, and thus make a more snug and compact ar-
rangement than to have separate buildings for those
objects. A wash-room, in which, also, the soap may be
made, the tallow and lard tried up, and other extraor-
dinary labor when fire heat is to be used, may properly
be made in a cellar, particularly when on a sloping
ground, and easy of access to the ground level on one
side. But, as a general rule, such room is better on
a level with the main floor of the dwelling, and there
are usually sufficient occupations for the cellar without
them.
All cellar walls should be at least 18 inches thick,
for even a wooden house, and from that to 2 feet for
a stone or brick one, and well laid in strong lime-mor-
tar. Unmortared cellar walls are frequently laid under
wooden buildings, and pointed with lime-mortar inside ;
but this is sometimes dug out by rats, and is apt to
crumble and fall out otherwise. A com/plete cellar
wall should be thoroughly laid in mortar.
BUBAL ARCHITECTURE. 103
DESIGN III.
We here present the reader with a substantial, plain,
yet highly-respectable stone or brick farm house, of
the second .class, suitable for an estate of three, to five
hundred acres, and accommodation for a family of a
dozen or more persons. The style is mixed rural
Gothic, Italian, and bracketed; yet in keeping with
the character of the farm, and the farmer's standing
and occupation.
The main body of this house is 42x24 feet on the
ground, and one and three quarter stories high — the
chambers running two or three feet into the roof, as
choice or convenience may direct. The roof has a
pitch of 30 to 40° from a horizontal line, and broadly
spread over the walls, say two and a half feet, showing
the ends of the rafters, bracket fashion. .The chimneys
pass out through the peak of the roof, where the hips
of what would otherwise be the gables, connect with
the long sides of the roof covering the front and rear.
On the long front is partly seen, in the perspective, a
portico, 16x10 feet — not the chief entrance front, but
rather a side front, practically, which leads into a lawn
or garden, as may be most desirable, and from which
the best view from the house is commanded. Over
this porch is a small gable running into the roof, to
break its monotony, in which is a door- window leading
from the upper hall on to the deck of the porch. This
104: BTTRAL ARCHITECTURE.
gable has the same finish as the main roof, by brackets.
The chamber windows are two-thirds or three-quarters
the size of the lower ones; thus showing the upper
story not full height below the plates, but running two
to four feet into the garret. The rear wing, containing
the entrance or business front, is 24x32 feet, one and
a half stories high, with a pitch of roof not less than
35°, and spread over the walls both at the eaves and
gable, in the same proportion as the roof to the main
body. In front of this is a porch or veranda eight feet
wide, with a low, hipped roof. In the front and rear
roofs of this wing is a dormar window, to light the
chambers. The gable to this wing is bold, and gives
it character by the breadth of its roof over the walls,
and the strong brackets by which it is supported. The
chimney is thrown up strong and boldly at the point
of the roof, indicating the every-day uses of the fire-
places below, which, although distinct and wide apart
in their location on the ground floors, are drawn to-
gether in the chambers, thus showing only one escape
through the roof.
The wood-house in the rear of the wing has a roof
of the same character, and connects with the long
building in the rear, which has the same description
of roof, but hipped at one end. That end over the
workshop, and next the wood-house, shows a bold
gable like the wing of the house, and affords room and
light to the lumber room over the shop, and also gives
variety and relief to the otherwise too great sameness of
roof-appearance on the further side of the establishment.
GROUND PLAK.
CHAMBER
106 EURAL ARCHITECTURE.
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
As has been remarked, the main entrai ce front to
this house is from the wing veranda, from which a well
finished and sizeable door leads into the principal hall,
24x8 feet in area, and lighted by a full-sized window
at the front end. Opposite the entrance door is the
door leading into the parlor ; and farther along is the
staircase, under the upper landing of which a door
leads into a dining or sitting-room, as may be deter-
mined. This hall is 10 feet high, as are all the rooms
of this lower main story. In the chimney, which
adjoins the parlor side of this hall, may be inserted a
thimble for a hall stovepipe, if this method of warming
should be adopted. The parlor, into which a door
leads from the hall, is 18x16 feet, with two windows
on the side, shown in perspective, and one on the front
facing the lawn, or garden. It has also a fireplace
near the hall door. At the further angle is a door
leading to an entry or passage on to the portico. E is
the entry just mentioned, six feet square, and lighted
by a short sash, one light deep, over the outside door.
This portico may be made a pleasant summer afternoon
and evening resort for the family, by which the occu-
pied rooms connect with the lawn or garden, thus
adding to its retired and private character.
Opposite the parlor, on the other side of this entry,
a door leads into a room 18x12 feet, which may be
occupied as a family bedroom, library, or small sitting-
room. This is lighted by two windows, and has a
closet of 6x5 feet. A fireplace is on the inner side of
SUEAL AKCniTECTtJRE. 107
this room ; and near to that, a door connects with a
dining-room of the same size, having a window in one
end, and a fireplace, and closet of the same size as the
last. Through the rear wall is a door leading into a
pantry, which also communicates with the kitchen ;
and another door leads to the hall, and from the hall,
under the staircases, (which, at that point, are suffi-
ciently high for the purpose,) is a passage leading to
the kitchen.
Under the wing veranda, near the point of intersec-
tion of the wing with the main body of the house, is
an every-day outer door, leading into a small entry,
6x5 feet, and lighted by a low, one-sash window over
the door. By another door, this leads to the kitchen,
or family room, which is lighted by three windows.
An ample fireplace, with oven, &c., accommodates
this room at the end. A closet, 7x5 feet, also stands
next to the entry ; and beyond that, an open passage,
to the left, leading out under the front hall stairs to the
rooms of the main building. A door also leads from
that passage into a lest pantry, for choice crockery,
sweetmeats, and tea-table comforts. Another door,
near the last, leads into a dairy or milk-room, 9x8 feet,
beyond the passage ; in which last, also, may be placed
a tier of narrow shelves. This milk, or dairy-room, is
lighted by a window in the end, and connects also, by a
door in the side, with the outer kitchen, or wash-room.
Next to this milk-room door, in the front kitchen, is
another door leading down cellar; and through this
door, passing by the upper, broad stair of the flight of
cellar steps, is another door into the wash-room. At
5*
1
108 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
the farther angle of the kitchen is still another door,
opening into a passage four feet wide ; and, in that pas-
sage, a door leading up a flight of stairs into the wing
chambers. This passage opens into the back kitchen,
or wash-room, 16x16 feet in area, and lighted by two
windows, one of which looks into the wood-house. In
this wash-room is a chimney with boilers and fireplace,
as may be required. The cellar and chamber stairs,
and the milk-room are also accessible direct, by doors
leading from this wash-room.
The chamber plan will be readily understood, and
requires no particular description. The space over the
wing may be partitioned off according to the plan, or
left more open for the accommodation of the " work
folks," as occasion may demand. But, as this dwell-
ing is intended for substantial people, " well to do in
the world," and who extend a generous hospitality to
their friends, a liberal provision of sleeping chambers
is given to the main body of the house. The parlor
chamber, which is the best, or spare one, is 18x16
feet, with roomy side-closets. Besides this, are other
rooms for the daughters Sally, and Nancy, and Fanny,
and possibly Mary and Elizabeth — who want their
own chambers, which they keep so clean and tidy,
with closets full of nice bedclothes, table linen, towels,
&c., «fec., for certain events not yet whispered of, but
quite sure to come round. And then there are Fred-
erick, and Robert, and George, fine stalwart boys
coming into manhood, intending to be " somebody in
the world," one day or another; they must have their
rooms — and good ones too; for, if any people are to
BUBAL ABCHITECTUBE. 109
be well lodged, why not those who toil for it? All
such accommodation every farm house of this character
should afford. And we need not go far, or look sharp,
to see the best men and the best women in our state
and nation graduating from the wholesome farm house
thus tidily and amply provided. How delightfully
look the far-off mountains, or the nearer plains, or
prairies, from the lawn porch of this snug farm house !
The distant lake; the shining river, singing away
through the valley; or the wimpling brook, stealing
through the meadow ! Aye, enjoy them all, for they
are God's best, richest gifts, and we are made to love
them.
The wood-house strikes off from the back kitchen,
retreating two feet from its gable wall, and is 36x14
feet in size. A bathing room may be partitioned off
8x6 feet, on the rear corner next the wash-room, if
required, although not laid down in the plan. At the
further end is the water-closet, 6x4 feet. Or, if the
size and convenience of the family require it, a part of
the wood-house may be partitioned off for a wash-room,
from which a chimney may pass up through the peak
of the roof. If so, carry it up so high that it will be
above the eddy that the wind may make in passing
over the adjoining wing, not causing it to smoke from
that cause.
At the far end of the wood-house is the workshop and
tool-house, 18x16 feet, lighted by two windows, and
a door to enter it from beneath the wood-house. Over
this, is the lumber and store-room.
Next to this is the swill-room and pigsty for the
110 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
house pigs, as described in the last design ; and over
it a loft for farm seeds, small grains, and any other
storage required.
Adjoining this is the wagon and carriage-house ; and
above, the hayloft, stretching, also, partly over the
stable which stands next, with two stalls, 12x5 feet
each, with a flight of .stairs leading to the loft, in the
passage next the door. In this loft are swinging win-
dows, to let in hay for the horses.
This completes the household establishment, and we
leave the surroundings to the correct judgment and
good taste of the proprietor to complete, as its position,
and the variety of objects with which it may be con-
nected, requires.
Stone and brick we have mentioned as the proper
materials for this house ; but it may be also built of
wood, if more within the means and limits of the
builder. There should be no pinching in its propor-
tions, but every part carried out in its full breadth and
effect.
The cost of the whole establishment may be from
$2,000, to $3,000 ; depending somewhat upon the ma-
terial used, and the finish put upon it. The first-named
sum would build the whole in an economical and plain
manner, while the latter would complete it amply in
its details.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. Ill
MISCELLANEOUS.
It may be an objection in the minds of some persons
to the various plans here submitted, that we have con-
nected the out-buildings immediately with the offices
of the dwelling itself. We are well aware that such
is not always usual ; but many years observation have
convinced us, that in their use and occupation, such
connection is altogether the most convenient and eco-
nomical. The only drawback is in the case of fire;
which, if it occur in any one building, the whole estab-
lishment is liable to be consumed. This objection is
conceded ; but we take it, that it is the business of
every one not able to be his own insurer, to have his
buildings insured by others ; and the additional cost of
this insurance is not a tithe of what the extra expense
of time, labor, and exposure is caused to the family by
having the out-buildings disconnected, and at a fire-
proof distance from each other. There has, too, in the
separation of these out-buildings, (we do not now speak
of barns, and houses for the stock, and the farm work
proper,) from the main dwelling, crept into the con-
struction of such dwellings, by modern builders, some
things, which in a country establishment, particularly,
ought never to be there, such as privies, or water-closets^
as they are more genteelly called. These last, in our esti-
mation, have no business in & farmer's house. They are
an effeminacy, only, and introduced by city life. An
appendage they should be, but separated to some dis-
tance from the living rooms, and accessible by sheltered
112 BUBAL ABCHITEOTUEE.
passages to them. The wood-house should adjoin the
outer kitchen, because the fuel should always be handy,
and the outer kitchen, or wash-room is a sort of slop-
room, of necessity ; and the night wood, and that for the
morning fires may be deposited in it for immediate use.
The workshop, and small tool-house naturally comes
next to that, as being chiefly used in stormy weather.
Next to this last, would, more conveniently, come the
carriage or wagon-house, and of course a stable for a
horse or two for family use, always accessible at night,
and convenient at unseasonable hours for farm labor.
In the same close neighborhood, also, should be a small
pigsty, to accommodate a pig or two, to eat up the
kitchen slops from the table, refuse vegetables, parings,
dishwater, &c., &c., which could not well be carried to
the main piggery of the farm, unless the old-fashioned
filthy mode of letting the hogs run in the road, and a
trough set outside the door-yard fence, as seen in some
parts of the country, were adopted. A pig can always
be kept, and fatted in three or four months, from the
wash of the house, with a little grain, in any well-reg-
ulated farmer's family. A few fowls may also be kept
in a convenient hen-house, if desired, without offence —
all constituting a part of the household economy of the
place.
These out-buildings too, give a comfortable, domes-
tic look to the whole concern. Each one shelters and
protects the other, and gives an air of comfort and
repose to the whole — a family expression all round.
What so naked and chilling to the feelings, as to see
a country dwelling-house all perked up, by itself
BUKAL ARCHITECTURE. 113
standing, literally, out of doors, without any dependen-
cies about it ? No, no. First should stand the house,
the chief structure, in the foreground ; _appendant to
that, the kitchen wing; next in grade, the wood-house;
covering iii, also, the minor offices of the house. Then
by way of setting up, partially on their own account,
should come the workshop, carriage-house, and stable,
as practically having a separate character, but still sub-
ordinate to the house and its requirements ; and these
too, may have their piggery and hen-house, by way of
tapering off to the adjoining fence, which encloses a
kitchen garden, or family orchard. Thus, each struc-
ture is appropriate in its way — and together, they
form a combination grateful to the sight, as a complete
lural picture. All objections, on account of filth or
vermin, to this connection, may be removed by a cleanly
keeping of the premises — a removal of all offal imme-
diately as it is made, and daily or weekly taking it on
to the manure heaps of the barns, or depositing it at
once on the grounds where it is required. In point of
health, nothing is more congenial to sound physical
condition than the occasional smell of a stable, or the
breath of a cow, not within the immediate contiguity
to the occupied rooms of the dwelling. On the score
of neatness, therefore, as we have placed them, no bar
can be raised to their adoption.
114 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
DESIGN IY.
This is perhaps a more ambitious house than either
of the preceding, although it may be adapted to a
domain of the same extent and value. It is plain and
unpretending in appearance; yet, in its ample finish,
and deeply drawn, sheltering eaves, broad veranda,
and spacious out-buildings, may give accommodation
to a larger family indulging a more liberal style of
living than the last.
By an error in the engraving, the main roof of the
house is made to appear like a double, or gambrel-
roof, breaking at the intersection of the gable, or hang-
ing roof over the ends. This is not so intended. The
roofs on each side are a straight line of rafters. The
Swiss, or hanging style of gable-roof is designed to
give a more sheltered effect to the elevation than to
run the end walls to a peak in the point of the roof.
By a defect in the drawing, the roof of the veranda
is not sufficiently thrown over the columns. This roof
should project at least one foot beyond them, so as
to perfectly shelter the mouldings beneath from the
weather, and conform to the style of the main roof of
the house.
The material of which it is built may be of either
stone, brick, or wood, as the taste or convenience of
the proprietor may suggest. The main building is
44x36 feet, on the ground. The cellar wall may show
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 11Y
18 to 24 inches above the ground, and be pierced by
windows in each end, as shown in the plan. The
height of the main walls may be two full stories below
the roof plates, or the chambers may run a foot or two
into the garret, at the choice of the builder, either of
which arrangements may be permitted.
The front door opens from a veranda 28 feet long by
10 feet in depth, dropping eight inches from the door-
sill. This veranda has a hipped roof, which juts over
the columns in due proportion with the roof of the
house over its walls. These columns are plain, with
brackets, or braces from near their tops, sustaining the
plate and finish of the roof above, which may be
covered either with tin or zinc, painted, or closely
shingled.
The walls of the house may be 18 to 20 feet high
below the plates ; the roof a pitch of 30 to 45°, which
will afford an upper garret, or store, or small sleeping
rooms, if required; and the eaves should project two
to three feet, as climate may demand, over the walls.
A plain finish — that is, ceiled underneath — is shown
in the design, but brackets on the ends of the rafters,
beaded and finished, may be shown, if preferred. The
gables are Swiss-roofed, or truncated, thus giving them
a most sheltered and comfortable appearance, particu-
larly in a northerly climate. The small gable in front
relieves the roof of its monotony, and affords light to
the central garret. The chimneys are carried out with
partition flues, and may be topped with square caps,
as necessity or taste may demand.
Ketreating three feet from the kitchen side of the
118 BUBAL AECHITECTUBE.
house runs, at right angles, a wing 30x18 feet, one and
a half stories high, with a veranda eight feet wide in
front. Next in rear of this, continues a wood-house,
30x18 feet, one story high, with ten feet posts, and
open in front, the ground level of which is 18 inches
below the floor of the wing to which it is attached.
The roof of these two is of like character with that of
the main building.
Adjoining this wood-house, and at right angles with
it, is a building 68x18 feet, projecting two feet outside
the line of wood-house and kitchen. This building is
one and a half stories high, with 12 feet posts, and roof
in the same style and of equal pitch as the others.
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
The front door from the veranda of the house opens
into a hall, 18x8 feet, and 11 feet high, amply lighted
by sash windows on the sides, and over the door. From,
the rear of this hall runs a flight of easy stairs, into the
upper or chamber hall. On one side of the lower hall,
a door leads into a parlor, 18 feet square, and 11 feet
high, lighted by three windows, and warmed by an
open stove, or fireplace, the pipe passing into a chim-
ney flue in the rear. A door passes from this parlor
into a rear passage, or entry, thus giving it access to
the kitchen and rear apartments. At the back end of
the front hall, a door leads into the rear passage and
kkchen; and on the side opposite the parlor, a door
opens into the sitting or family room, 18x16 feet in
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
119
area, having an open fireplace, and three windows. On
the hall side of this room, a door passes into the
kitchen, 22x16 feet, and which may, in case the re-
quirements of the family demand it, be made the
chief family or living room, and the last one described
converted into a library. In this kitchen, which is
GKOUND PLAN.
20IX
PIG
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5 WILL MOM
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WACCOH H
18 X 18
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120
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
CHAMBKB PLAX.
lighted by two windows, is a liberal open fireplace, with
an ample oven by its side, and a sink in the outer cor-
ner. A flight of stairs, also, leads to the rear chambers
above ; and a corresponding flight, under them, to the
cellar below. A door at each end of these stairs, leads
into the back entry of the house, and thus to the other
interior rooms, or through the rear outer door to the
back porch. This back entry is lighted by a single
sash window over the outside door leading to the porch.
Another door, opposite that leading down cellar, opens
into the ^passage through the wing. From the rear
hall, which is 16x5 feet, the innermost passage leads
into a family bedroom, or nursery, 16x14 feet, lighted
by a window in each outside wall, and warmed by an
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 121
open fireplace, or stove, at pleasure. Attached to this
bedroom is a clothes-closet, 8x4 feet, with shelves, and
drawers. Next the outer door, in rear end of the hall,
is a small closet opening from it, 6x4 feet in dimen-
sions, convertible to any use which the mistress of the
house may direct.
Opening into the wing from the kitchen, first, is a
large closet and pantry, supplied with a table, drawers,
and shelves, in which are stored the dishes, table fur-
niture, and edibles necessary to be kept at a moment's
access. This room is 14x8 feet, and well lighted by a
window of convenient size. If necessary, this room
may have a partition, shutting off a part from the
everyday uses which the family requires. In this
room, so near to the kitchen, to the sink, to hot-water,
and the other little domestic accessories which good
housewives know so well how to arrange and appre-
ciate, all the nice little table-comforts can be got up,
and perfected, and stored away, under lock and key, in
drawer, tub, or jar, at their discretion, and still their
eyes not be away from their subordinates in the other
departments. Next to this, and connected by a door,
is the dairy, or milk-room, also 14x8 feet; which, if
necessary, may be sunk three or four feet into the
ground, for additional coolness in the summer season,
and the floor reached by steps. In this are ample
shelves for the milkpans, conveniences of churning,
&c., &c. But, if the daily be a prominent object of
the farm, a separate establishment will be required,
and the excavation may not be necessary for ordinary
household uses. Out of this milk-room, a door leads
122 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
into a wash-room, 18x14 feet. A passage from the
kitchen also leads into this. The wash-room is lighted
by two windows in rear, and one in front. A sink is
between the two rear windows, with conductor leading
outside, and a closet beneath it, for the iron ware. In
the chimney, at the end, are boilers, and a fireplace;
an oven, or anything else required, and a door leading
to a platform in the wood-house, and so into the yard.
On the other side of the chimney, a door leads into a
bathing-room, 7x6 feet, into which hot water is drawn
from one of the boilers adjoining, and cold water may
be introduced, by a hand-pump, through a pipe leading
into the well or cistern.
As no more convenient opportunity may present it-
self, a word or two will be suggested as to the location
of the bath-room in a country house. In city houses,
or country houses designed for the summer occupancy
of city dwellers, the bathing-rooms are usually placed
in the second or chamber story, and the water for their
supply is drawn from cisterns still above them. This
arrangement, in city houses, is made chiefly from the
want of room on the ground floor; and, also, thus ar-
ranged in the city-country houses, because they are so
constructed in the city. In the farm house, or in the
country house proper, occupied by whom it may be,
such arrangement is unnecessary, expensive, and in-
convenient. Unnecessary, because there is no want of
room on the ground ; expensive, because an upper cis-
tern is always liable to leakages, and a consequent
wastage of water, wetting, and rotting out the floors,
and all the slopping and dripping which such accidents
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 123
occasion ; and inconvenient, from the continual up-
and-down-stair labor of those who occupy the bath, to
say nothing of the piercing the walls of the house, for
the admission of pipes to lead in and let out the water,
and the thousand-and-one vexations, by way of plum-
bers' bills, and expense of getting to and from the
house itself, always a distance of some miles from the
mechanic.
The only defence for such location of the bath-room
and cisterns is, the convenience and privacy of access
to them, by the females of the family. This counts
but little, if anything, over the place appropriated in
this, and the succeeding designs of this work. The ac-
cess is almost, if not quite as private as the other, and,
in case of ill-health, as easily approachable to invalids.
And on the score of economy in construction, repair,
or accident, the plan here adopted is altogether prefer-
able. In this plan, the water is drawn from the boiler
by the turning of a cock ; that from the cistern, by a
minute's labor with the hand-pump. It is let off by
the drawing of a plug, and discharges, by a short pipe,
into the adjoining garden, or grassplat, to moisten and
invigorate the trees and plants which require it, and
the whole affair is clean and sweet again. A screen
for the window gives all the privacy required, and the
most fastidious, shrinking female is as retired as in the
shadiest nook of her dressing-room.
So with water-closets. A fashion prevails of thrust-
ing these noisome things into the midst of sleeping
chambers and living rooms — pandering to effemi-
nacy, and, at times, surcharging the house — for they
124: EUKAL ARCHITECTURE.
cannot, at all times, and under all circumstances, be
kept perfectly close — with their offensive odor. Out
of the house they belong; and if they, by any means,
find their way within its walls proper, the fault will not
be laid at our door.
To get back to our description. This bathing-room
occupies a corner of the wood-house.
A raised platform passes from the wash-room in,
past the bath-room, to a water-closet, which may be
divided into two apartments, if desirable. The vaults
are accessible from the rear, for cleaning out, or intro-
ducing lime, gypsum, powdered charcoal, or other
deodorizing material. At the extreme corner of the
wood-house, a door opens into a feed and swill-room,
20x8 feet, which is reached by steps, and stands quite
eighteen inches above the ground level, on a stone
under-pinning, or with a stone cellar beneath, for
the storage of roots in winter. In one corner of this
is a boiler and chimney, for cooking food for the pigs
and chickens. A door leads from this room into the
piggery, 20x12 feet, where half-a-dozen swine may be
kept. A door leads from this pen into a yard, in the
rear, where they will be less offensive than if confined
within. If necessary, a flight of steps, leading to the
loft overhead, may be built, where corn can be stored
for their feeding.
Next to this is the workshop and tool-house, 18x14
feet ; and, in rear, a snug, warm house for the family
chickens, 18x6 feet. These chickens may also have
the run of the yard in rear, with the pigs, and apart-
ments in the loft overhead for roosting.
KURAL AECHITECTTJEE. 125
Adjoining the workshop is the carriage-house, 18x18
feet, with a flight of stairs to the hayloft above, in
idiich is, also, a dovecote ; and, leading out of the car-
:iage floor, is the stable, 18x12 feet, with stalls for two
•>r four horses, and a passage of four feet wide, from
the carriage-house into it ; thus completing, and draw-
ing under one continuous roof, and at less exposure
than if separated, the chief every-day requirements of
living, to a well-arranged and highly-respectable family.
The chamber plan of the dwelling will be readily
understood by reference to its arrangement. There are
a sufficiency of closets for all purposes, and the whole
are accessible from either flight of stairs. The rooms
over the wing, of course, should be devoted to the male
domestics of the family, work-people, &c.
SURROUNDING PLANTATIONS, SHRUBBERY, WALKS, ETC.
After the general remarks made in the preceding
pages, no particular instructions can be given for the
manner in which this residence should be embellished
in its trees and shrubbery. The large forest trees,
always grand, graceful, and appropriate, would become
such a house, throwing a protecting air around and
over its quiet, unpretending roof. Yines, or climbing
roses, might throw their delicate spray around the
columns of the modest veranda, and a varied selection
of familiar shrubbery and ornamental plants checker
the immediate front and sides of the house looking
out upon the lawn ; through which a spacious walk, or
6
126 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
carriage-way should wind, from the high road, or chief
approach.
There are, however, so many objects to be consulted
in the various sites of houses, that no one rule can be
laid down for individual guidance. The surface of the
ground immediately adjoining the house must be con-
sidered ; the position of the house, as it is viewed from
surrounding objects; its altitude, or depression, as
affected by the adjacent lands ; its command upon sur-
rounding near, or distant objects, in the way of pros-
pect; the presence of water, either in stream, pond, or
lake, far or near, or the absence of water altogether —
all these enter immediately into the manner in which
the lawn of a house should be laid out, and worked,
and planted. But as a rule, all filagree work, such as
serpentine paths, and tortuous, unmeaning circles, arti-
ficial piles of rock, and a multitude of small orna-
ments— so esteemed, by some — should never be intro-
duced into the lawn of a farm house. It is unmeaning,
in the first place ; expensive in its care, in the second
place ; unsatisfactory and annoying altogether. Such
things about a farm establishment are neither dignified
nor useful, and should be left to town's-people, having
but a stinted appreciation of what constitutes natural
beauty, and wanting to make the most of the limited
piece of ground of which they are possessed.
Nor would we shut out, by these remarks, the beauty
and odor of the flower-borders, which are so appropri-
ately the care of the good matron of the household and
her comely daughters. To them may be devoted a
well-dug plat beneath the windows, or in the garden.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 127
Enough, and to spare, they should always have, oi
such cheerful, life-giving pleasures. We only object to
their being strewed all over the ground, — a tussoc of
plant here, a patch of posey there, and a scattering of
both everywhere, without either system or meaning.
They lower the dignity and simplicity of the country
dwelling altogether.
The business approach to this house is, of course,
toward the stables and carriage-house, and from them
should lead off the main farm-avenue.
The kitchen garden, if possible, should lie on the
kitchen side of the house, where, also, should be placed
the bee-house, in full sight from the windows, that
their labors and ewarming may be watched. In fact,
the entire economy of the farm house, and its append-
ages, should be brought close under the eye of the
household, to engage their care and watchfulness, and
to interest them in all the little associations and endear-
ments— and they are many, when properly studied
out — which go to make agricultural life one of the
most agreeable pursuits, if not altogether so, in which
our lot in life may be cast.
A fruit-garden, too, should be a prominent object
near this house. We are now advancing somewhat
into the elegances of agricultural life ; and although
fruit trees, and good fruits too, should hold a strong
place in the surroundings of even the humblest of all
country places — - sufficient, at least, for the ample use
of the family — they have not yet been noticed, to any
extent, in those already described. It may be remark-
ed, that the fruit-garden — the orchard, for market
«28 KUEAL AECHITECTUEE.
purposes, is not here intended — should be placed in
near proximity to the house. All the small fruits, for
household use, such as strawberries, raspberries, cur-
rants, gooseberries, blackberries, grapes, as well as
apricots, plums, nectarines, peaches, pears, apples,
quinces, or whatever fruits may be cultivated, in dif-
ferent localities, should be close by, for the convenience
of collecting them, and to protect them from destruc-
tion by vermin, birds, or the depredations of creatures
called human.
A decided plan of arrangement for all the planta-
tions and grounds, should enter into the composition of
the site for the dwelling, out-houses, gardens, &c., as
they are to appear when the whole establishment is
completed ; and nothing left to accident, chance, or
after-thought, which can be disposed of at the com-
mencement. By the adoption of such a course, the
entire composition is more easily perfected, and with
infinitely greater expression of character, than if left
to the chance designs, or accidental demands of the
future.
Another feature should be strictly enforced, in the
outward appointments of the farm house, — and that
is, the entire withdrawal of any use of the highway
in its occupation by the stock of the farm, except in
leading them to and from its enclosures. Nothing
looks more slovenly, and nothing can be more un-
thrifty, in an enclosed country, than the running of
farm stock in the highway. What so untidy as the
approach to a house, with a herd of filthy hogs root-
ing about the fences, basking along the sidewalk, or
AECHITECTUKE. 129
feeding at a huge, uncouth, hollowed log, in the road
near the dwelling. It may be out of place here to
speak of it, but this disgusting spectacle has so often
offended our sight, at the approach of an otherwise
pleasant farm establishment, that we cannot forego the
opportunity to speak of it. The road lying in front,
or between the different sections of the farm, should
be as well, and as cleanly kept as any portion of the
enclosures, and it is equally a sin against good taste
and neighborhood-morality, to have it otherwise.
TEEE-PLANTING IN THE HIGHWAY.
This is frequently recommended by writers on coun-
try embellishment, as indispensable to a finished deco-
ration of the farm. Such may, or may not be the fact.
Trees shade the roads, when planted on their sides,
and so they partially do the fields adjoining, making
the first muddy, in bad weather, by preventing the sun
drying them, and shading the crops of the last by their
overhanging foliage, in the season of their growth.
Thus they are an evil, in moist and heavy soils. Yet,
in light soils, their shade is grateful to the highway
traveler, and not, perhaps, injurious to the crops of the
adjoining field ; and when of proper kinds, they add
grace and beauty to the domain in which they stand.
130 BUBAL AKCHITECTTTKE.
"We do not, therefore, indiscriminately recommend
them, but leave it to the discretion of the farmer, to
decide for himself, having seen estates equally pleas-
ant with, and without trees on the roadside. Nothing,
however, can be more beautiful than a clump of trees
in a pasture-ground, with a herd, or a flock beneath
them, near the road ; or the grand and overshadowing
branches of stately tree, in a rich meadow, leaning,
perhaps, over the highway fence, or flourishing in its
solitary grandeur, in the distance — each, and all,
imposing features in the rural landscape. All such
should be preserved, with the greatest care and so-
licitude, as among the highest and most attractive
ornaments which the farm can boast.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. * 133
DESIGN Y.
We here present a dwelling of a more ambitious and
pretending character than any one which we have, as
yet, described, and calculated for a large and wealthy
farmer, who indulges in the elegances of country life,
dispenses a liberal hospitality, and is every way a
country gentleman, such as all our farmers of ample
means should be. It will answer the demands of tho
retired man of business as well ; and is, perhaps, as
full in its various accommodation as an American farm
or country house may require. It claims no distinct
style of architecture, but is a composition agreeable in
effect, and appropriate to almost any part of the coun-
try, and its climate. Its site may be on either hill or
plain — with a view extensive, or restricted. It may
look out over broad savannas, cultivated fields, and
shining waters ; it may nestle amid its own quiet woods
and lawn in its own selected shade and retirement, or
lord it over an extensive park, ranged by herds and
flocks, meandered by its own stream, spreading anon
into the placid lake, or rushing swiftly over its own
narrow bed — an independent, substantial, convenient,
and well conditioned home, standing upon its own broad
acres, and comporting with the character and standing
of its occupant, among his friends and neighbors.
134: *RTTKAL AKCmTECTUEE.
The main building is 50x40 feet in area upon tho
ground, two stories high ; the ground story 11 feet high,
its floor elevated 2J or 3 feet above the level of the
surrounding surface, as its position may demand ; the
chambers 9 feet high, and running 2 feet into the roof.
The rear wing is one and a half stories high, 36x16
feet ; the lower rooms 11 feet high, with a one story
lean-to range of closets, and small rooms on the weather
side, 8 feet in width and 9 feet high. In the rear of
these is a wood-house, 30x20 feet, with 10 feet posts,
dropped to a level with the ground. At the extremity
of this is a building, by way of an L, 60x20 feet, one
airtl a half stories high, with a lean-to, 12x30 feet, in
the rear. The ground rooms of this are elevated 1J
feet above the ground, and 9 feet high. A broad roof
covers the whole, standing at an angle of 40 or 45°
above a horizontal line, and projecting widely over the
walls, 2J to 3 feet on the main building, and 2 feet
on the, others, to shelter them perfectly from the storms
and damps of the weather. A small cupola stands out
of the ridge of the rear building, which may serve as
a ventilator to the apartments and lofts below, and in
it may be hung a bell, to summon the household, or
the field laborers, as the case may be, to their duties
or their meals.
The design, as here shown, is rather florid, and per-
haps profusely ornamental in its finish, as comporting
with the taste of the day ", but the cut and moulded
trimmings may be left off by those who prefer a plain
finish, and be no detriment to the general effect which
tho deep friezes of the roofs, properly cased beneath.
RURAL AJJCBTTECTTJRE. 135
may give to it. Such, indeed, is our own taste ; but
this full finish has been added, to gratify such as wish
the full ornament which this style of building may
admit.
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
The front of this house is accommodated by a porch,
or veranda, 40 feet long, and 10 feet wide, with a
central, or entrance projection of 18 feet in length, and
12 feet in width, the floor of which is eight inches
below the main floor of the house. The wings, or
sides of this veranda may be so fitted up as to allow a
pleasant conservatory on each side of the entrance area
in winter, by enclosing them with glass windows, and
the introduction of heat from a furnace under the main
hall, in the cellar of the house. This would add to its
general effect in winter, and, if continued through the
summer, would not detract from its expression of dig-
nity and refinement. From the veranda, a door in
the center of the front, with two side windows, leads
into the main hall, which is 26x12 feet in area, two
feet in the width of which is taken from the rooms on
the right of the main entrance. On the left of the hall
a door opens into a parlor or drawing-room, marked P,
20 feet square, with a bay window on one side, con-
taining three sashes, and seats beneath. A single
window lights the front opening on to the veranda.
On the opposite side to this is the fireplace, with blank
walls on each side. On the opposite side of the hall is
a library, 18x16 feet, with an end window, and a
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RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 137
corresponding one to the parlor, in front, koking out
on the veranda. In case these portions of the veranda,
opposite the two front windows are occupied as conser-
vatories, these windows should open to the floor, to
admit a walk immediately into them. At the farther
corner of the library a narrow door leads into an office,
or business apartment, 12x8 feet, and opening by a
broad door, the upper half of which is a lighted sash.
This door leads from the office out on a small porch,
with a floor and two columns, 8x5 feet, and nine feet
high, with a gable and double roof of the same pitch
as the house. Between the chimney flues, in the rear
of this room may be placed an iron safe, or chest for
the deposit of valuable papers ; and, although small, a
table and chairs sufficient to accommodate the business
requirements of the occupant, may be kept in it. A
chimney stands in the center of the inner wall of the
library, in which may be a fireplace, or a flue to
receive a stovepipe, whichever may be preferred for
warming the room.
Near the hall side of the library a door opens into a
passage leading into the family bedroom, or nursery.
A portion of this passage may be shelved and fitted up
as a closet for any convenient purpose. The nursery
is 18x16 feet in size, lighted by two windows. It may
have an open fireplace, or a stove, as preferred, let
into the chimney, corresponding to that in the library.
These two chimneys may either be drawn together in
the chambers immediately above, or carried up sepa-
rately into the garret, and pass out of the roof in one
stack, or they may be built in one solid mass from the
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
cellar bottom ; but they are so placed here, as saving
room on the floors, and equally accommodating, in
their separate divisions, the stovepipes that may lead
into them. On the inner side of the nursery, a door
leads into a large closet, or child's sleeping-room, 9x8
feet ; or it may be used as a dressing-room, with a
sash inserted in the door to light it. A door may also
lead from it into the small rear entry of the house, and
thus pass directly out, without communicating with the
nursery. On the extreme left corner of the nursery is
a door leading into the back entry, by which it com-
municates either with the rear porch, the dining-room,
or the kitchen. Such a room we consider indispensable
to the proper accommodation of a house in the country,
as saving a world of up-and-down-stairs' labor to her
who is usually charged with the domestic cares and
supervision of the family.
On the right -of the main hall an ample staircase
leads into the upper hall by a landing and broad stair
at eight feet above the floor, and a right-angled flight
from that to the main floor above. Under this main
hall staircase, a door and stairs may lead into the cellar.
Beyond the turning flight below, a door leads into the
back hall, or entry, already mentioned, which is 13x4
feet in area, which also has a side passage of 8x4 feet,
and a door leading to the rear porch, and another
into the kitchen at its farther side, near the outer one.
Opposite the turning flight of stairs, in the main hall,
is also a door leading to the dining-room, 20x16 feet.
This is lighted by a large double window at the end.
A fireplace, or stove flue is in the center wall, and on
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 139
each side a closet for plate, or table furniture. These
closets come out flush with the chimney. At the
extreme right corner a door leads into the rear entry —
or this may be omitted, at pleasure. Another door
in the rear wall leads into the kitchen, past the passage
down into the cellar — or this may be omitted, if
thought best. Still another door to the left, opens into
a large dining closet of the back lean-to apartments,
8x8 feet. This closet is lighted by a window of proper
architectural size, and fitted up with a suite of drawers,
shelves, table, and cupboards, required for the prepar-
ation and deposit of the lighter family stores and edi-
bles. From this closet is also a door leading into the
kitchen, through which may be passed all the meats
and cookery for the table, either for safe-keeping,
or immediate service. Here the thrifty and careful
housekeeper and her assistants may, shut apart, and
by themselves, get up, fabricate, and arrange all their
table delicacies with the greatest convenience and pri-
vacy, together with ease of access either to the dining-
room or kitchen — an apartment most necessary in a
liberally -arranged establishment.
From the rear entry opens a door to the kitchen,
passing by the rear chamber stairs. This flight of
stairs may be entered directly from the kitchen, lead-
ing either to the chamber, or under them, into the
cellar, without coming into the passage connecting
with the entry or dining-room, if preferred. In such
case, a broad stair of thirty inches in width should
be next the door, on which to turn, as the door would
be at right angles with the stairs, either up or down.
14:0 EUKAL AKCHITECTDRE.
Tlie kitchen is 20x16 feet, and 11 feet high. It has
an outer door leading on the rear porch, and a win-
dow on each side of that door ; also a window, under
which is a sink, on the opposite side, at the end of a
passage four feet wide, leading through the lean-to.
It has also an open fireplace, and an oven by the side
of it — old fashion. It may be also furnished with a
cooking range, or stove — the smoke and fumes leading
by a pipe into a flue into the chimney. On the lean-to
side is a milk or dairy-room, 8x8 feet, lighted by a
window. Here also the kitchen furniture and meats
may be stored in cupboards made for the purpose. In
rear of the kitchen, and leading from it by a door
through a lighted passage next the rear porch, is the
wash-room, 16x16 feet, lighted by a large window
from the porch side. A door also leads out of the rear
on to a platform into the wood-house. Another door
leads from the wash-room into a bath-room in the lean-
to 8x8 feet, into which warm water is drawn by a
pipe and pump from the boiler in the wash-room ; or,
if preferred, the bath-room may be entered from the
main kitchen, by the passage next the sink. This bath-
room is lighted by a window. Next to the bath-room
is a bedroom for a man servant who has charge of the
fires, and heavy house-work, wood, &c., &c. This
bedroom is also 8x8 feet, and lighted by a window in
the lean-to. In front of this wash-room and kitchen is
a porch, eight inches below the floor, six feet wide,
with a railing, or not, as may be preferred. (The
railing ia made in the cut.) A platform, three feet
wide, leads from the back door of the wash-room to a
KUKAL ARCinTECTUEE. 14:1
water-closet for the family proper. The wood-house is
open in front, with a single post supporting the center
of the roof. At the extreme outer angle is a water-
closet for the domestics of the establishment.
Adjoining the wood-house, and opening from it into
the L before mentioned, is a workshop, and small-tool-
house, 20x16 feet, lighted by a large double window
at one end. In this should be a carpenter's work-
bench and tool-chest, for the repairs of the farming
utensils and vehicles. Overhead is a store-room for
lumber, or whatever else may be necessary for use in
that capacity. Next to this is a granary or feed-room,
20x10 feet, with a small chimney in one corner, where
may be placed a boiler to cook food for pigs, poultry,
&c., as the case may be. Here may also be bins for
storage of grain and meal. Leading out of this is a
flight of stairs passing to the chamber above, and a
passage four feet wide, through the rear, into a yard
adjoining. At the further end of the stairs a door
opens into a poultry house, 16x10 feet, including the
stairs. The poultry room is lighted at the extreme left
corner, by a broad window. In this may be made
roosts, and nesting places, and feeding troughs. A low
door under the window may be also made for the fowls
in passing to the rear yard. Adjoining the granary,
and leading to it by a door, is the carriage-house,
20x20 feet, at the gable end of which are large doors
for entrance. From the carriage-house is a broad
passage of six feet, into the stables, which are 12 feet
wide, and occupy the lean-to. This lean-to is eight
feet high bebw the eaves, with two double stalls for
142 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
horses, and a door leading into the side yard, with the
doors of the carriage-house. A window also lights the
rear of the stables. A piggery 12 feet square occupies
the remainder of the lean-to in rear of the poultry-
house, in which two or three pigs can always be kept,
and fatted on the offal of the house, for small pork, at
any season, apart from the swine stock of the farm.
A door leads out of the piggery into the rear yard,
where range also the poultry. As the shed roof shuts
down on to the pigsty and stables, no loft above them
is necessary. In the loft over the granary, poultry,
and carriage-house is deposited the hay, put in there
through the doors which appear in the design.
CHAMBER PLAN. — This is easily understood. At
the head of the stairs, over the main hall, is a large
passage leading to the porch, and opening by a door-
window on the middle deck of the veranda, which
is nearly level, and tinned, or coppered, water-tight, as
are also the two sides. On either side of this upper
hall is a door leading to the front sleeping chambers,
which are well closeted, and spacious. If it be desira-
ble to construct more sleeping-rooms, they can be par-
titioned laterally from the hall, and doors made to
enter them. A rear hall is cut off from the front,
lighted by a window over the lower rear porch, and a
door leads into a further passage in the wing, fo'jr feet
wide, which leads down a flight of stairs into the
kitchen below. At the head of this flight is a chamber
20x12 feet, for the female domestic's sleeping-room, in
which may be placed a stove, if necessary, passing ita
pipe into the kitchen chimnev which passes through it.
BURAL ARCHITECTURE.
143
16 X 16
20X12
12X12
16X18
20X18 26X12 16X13
CHAMBEB. FLAW.
It is also lighted by a window over the lean-to, on the
side. Back of this, at the end of the passage, is
the sleeping-room, 16 feet square, for the " men-folks,"
lighted on both sides by a window. This may also be
warmed, if desired, by a stove, the pipe passing into
the kitchen chimney.
The cellar may extend under the entire house and
wing, as convenience or necessity may require. If it
be constructed under the main body only, an offset
should be excavated to accommodate the cellar stairs,
tliree feet in width, and walled in with the rest. A
144 EHRAL AECHITECTTTKE.
wide, outer passage, with a flight of steps should also
be made under the rear nursery window, for taking in
and passing out bulky articles, with double doors to
shut down upon it ; and partition walls should be built
to support the partitions of the large rooms above.
Many minor items of detail might be mentioned, all of
which are already treated in the general remarks,
under their proper heads, in the body of the work, and
which cannot here be noticed — such as the mode of
warming it, the construction of furnaces, &c.
It may, by some builders, be considered a striking
defect in the interior accommodation of a house of this
character, that the chief entrance hall should not be
extended through, from its front to the rear, as is com-
mon in many of the large mansions of our country.
We object to the large, open hall for more than one
reason, except, possibly, in a house for summer occu-
pation only. In the first place it is uncomfortable, in
subjecting the house to an unnecessary draught of air
when it is not needed, in cold weather. Secondly, it
cuts the house into two distinct parts, making them
inconvenient of access in crossing its wide surface.
Thirdly, it is uneconomical, in taking up valuable room
that can be letter appropriated. For summer ventila-
tion it is unnecessary ; that may be given by simply
opening the front door and a chamber window con-
nected with the hall above, through which a current
of fresh air will always pass. Another thing, the hail
belongs to the front, or dress part of the house, and
should be cut off from the more domestic and common
apartments by a partition, although accessible to them,
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 145
and not directly commimi eating with such apartments,
which cannot of necessity, be in keeping with its showy
and pretending character. It should contain only the
front flight of stairs, as a part of its appointments,
oesides the doors leading to its best apartments on the
ground floor, which should be centrally placed — its
rear door being of a less pretending and subordinate
character. Thus, the hall, with its open doors, con-
necting the best rooms of the house on each side, with
its ample flight of stairs in the background, gives a
distinct expression of superiority in occupation to the
other and humbler portions of the dwelling.
In winter, too, how much more snug and comfortable
is the house, shut in from the prying winds and shiv-
ering cold of the outside air, which the opposite outer
doors of an open hall cannot, in their continual opening
and shutting, altogether exclude! Our own experi-
ence, and, we believe, the experience of most house-
keepers will readily concede its defects ; and after full
reflection we have excluded it as both unnecessary and
inconvenient.
Another objection has been avoided in the better
class of houses here presented, which has crept into
very many of the designs of modern builders ; which is,
that of using the living rooms of the family, more or
less, as passages from the kitchen apartments in pass-
ing to and from the front hall, or chief entrance. Such
we consider a decided objection, and hence arose,
probably, the older plans of by-gone years, of making
the main hall reach back to the kitchen itself. This is
here obviated by a cutting up of the rear section of the
146 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
hall, by which a passage, in all cases of the better kind
of dwelling, is preserved, without encroaching upon
the occupied rooms in passing out and in. To be sure,
the front door is not the usual passage for the laborers
or servants of the house, but they are subject, any hour
of the day, to be called there to admit those who may
come, and the continual opening of a private room for
such purposes is most annoying. Therefore, as mat-
ter of convenience, and as a decided improvement on
the designs above noticed, we have adhered strictly to
the separate rear passage.
The garret, also, as we have arranged our designs, is
either altogether left out, or made a quite unimportant
part of the dwelling. It is but a lumber room, at best ;
and should be approached only by a flight of steps
from a rear chamber or passage, and used as a recep-
tacle for useless traps, or cast-off furniture, seldom
wanted. It is hot in summer, and cold in winter, unfit
for decent lodging to any human being in the house,
and of little account any way. We much prefer run-
ning the chambers partially into the roof, which we
think gives them a more comfortable expression, and
admits of a better ventilation, by carrying their ceilings
higher without the expense of high body walls to the
jiouse, which would give them an otherwise naked
look. If it be objected that thus running the chambers
above the plates of the roof prevents the insertion of
proper ties or beams to hold the roof plates together to
prevent their spreading, we answer, that he must be a
poor mechanic who cannot, in framing the chamber
partitions so connect the opposite plates as to insure
BUBAL ARCHITECTURE. 147
them against all such difficulty. A sTieltered, comfort-
able aspect is that which should distinguish every farm
house, and the cottage chamber is one of its chiefest
characteristics ; and this can only be had by running
such apartments into the roof, as in our design.
CONSTRUCTION".
A house of this kind must, according to its locality,
and the material of which it is built, be liable to wide
differences of estimate in its cost ; and from our own
experience in such matters, any estimate here made
we know cannot be reliable >as a rule for other locali-
ties, where the prices of material and labor are differ-
ent from our own. Where lumber, stone, and brick
abound, and each are to be had at reasonable prices,
the cost of an establishment of this kind would not
vary much in the application of either one of these
materials for the walls, if well and substantially con-
structed. There should be no sham, nor slight, in any
part of the building. As already observed, the design
shows a high degree of finish, which, if building for
ourself, we should not indulge in. A plain style of
cornice, and veranda finish, we should certainly adopt.
But the roof should not be contracted in its projecting
breadth over the walls, in any part of the structure —
if anything, it should be more extended. The bay-
window is an appendage of luxury, only. Great care
should be had, in attaching its roof to the adjoining
outer wall, to prevent leakage of any kind. If the
148 BUBAL ABCHITECTTIRfc.
walls be of brick, or stone, a beam or lintel of wood
should be inserted in the wall over the window-opening,
quite two inches — three would be better — back from
its outer surface, to receive the casing of the window,
that the drip of the wall, and the driving of the storms
may fall over the connecting joints of the window
roof, beyond its point of junction with it. Such, also,
should be the case with the intersection of the veranda
or porch roof with the wall of the house, wherever a
veranda, or porch is adopted ; as, simply joined on to
a f/ush surface, as such appendages usually are — even
if ever so well done — leakage and premature decay
is inevitable.
The style of finish must, of course, influence, in a
considerable degree, its cost. It may, with the plain-
est finish, be done for $4,000, and from that, up to
$6,000. Every one desirous to build, should apply to
the best mechanics of his neighborhood for informa-
tion on that point, as, in such matters, they are the
best judges, and from experience in their own particu-
lar profession, of what the cost of building must be.
The rules and customs of housekeeping vary, in dif-
ferent sections of the United States, and the Canadas.
These, also, enter into the estimates for certain depart-
ments of building, and must be considered in the
items of expenditure.
The manner in which houses should be warmed, the
ventilation, accommodation for servants and laborers,
the appropriations to hospitality — all, will have a beai-
ing on the expense, of which we cannot be the proper
judge.
EITRAL AKCHITECTUKE. 149
•
A sufficient time should be given, to build a Louse
of this character. A house designed and built in a
hurry, is never a satisfactory house in its occupation.
A year is little enough, and if two years be occupied
hi its design and construction, the more acceptable will
probably be its finish, and the more comfort will be
added in its enjoyment.
GROUNDS, PLANTATIONS, AND SURROUNDINGS.
A house of this kind should never stand in vulgar
and familiar contact with the highway, but at a dis-
tance from it of one hundred to a thousand yards ; or
even, if the estate on which it is built be extensive, a
much greater distance. Breadth of ground between
the highway and the dwelling adds dignity and char-
acter to its appearance. An ample lawn, or a spread-
ing park, well shaded with trees, should lay before it,
through which a well-kept avenue leads to its front,
and most frequented side. The various offices and
buildings of the farm itself, should be at a respectable
distance from it, so as not to interfere with its proper
keeping as a genteel country residence. Its occupant
is not to be supposed as under the necessity of toiling
with his daily laborers in the fields, and therefore,
although he may be strictly a man of business, he has
sufficient employment in planning his work, and man-
aging his estate through a foreman, in the various
labor-occupations of the estate. His horse may be at
his door in the earliest morning hours, that he may
150 ETJKAL ARCHITECTURE.
inspect Ins fields, and give timely directions to his
laborers, or view his herds, or his flocks, before his
breakfast' hour ; or an early walk may take him to his
stables, his barns, or to see that his previous directions
are executed.
The various accommodation appurtenant to the dwell-
ing, makes ample provision for the household conven-
ience of the family, and the main business of the farm
may be at some distance, without inconvenience to the
owner's every-day affairs. Consequently, the indul-
gence of a considerable degree of ornament may be
given, in the surroundings of his dwelling, which the
occupant of a less extensive estate would neither re-
quire, nor his circumstances warrant. A natural forest
of stately trees, properly thinned out, is the most ap-
propriate spot on which to build a house of this char-
acter. But that not at hand, it should be set off with
plantations of forest trees, of the largest growth, as in
keeping with its own liberal dimensions. A capacious
kitchen garden should lead off from the rear apart-
ments, well stocked with all the family vegetables, and
culinary fruits, in their proper seasons. A luxuriant
fruit-garden may flank the least frequented side of the
house. Neat and tasteful flower beds may lie beneath
the windows of the rooms appropriated to the leisure
hours of the family, to which the smaller varieties of
shrubbery may be added, separated from the chief
lawn, or park, only by a wire fence, or a simple railing,
such as not to cut up and checker its simple and digni-
fied surface ; and all these shut in on the rear from the
adjoining fields of the farm by belts of large shrubbery
RURAL ARCHITECTURE 151
closely planted, or the larger orchards, thus giving it a
style of its own, yet showing its connection with the
pursuits of the farm and its dependence upon it.
These various appointments, however, may be either
carried out or restricted, according to the requirements
of the family occupying the estate, and the prevailing
local taste of the vicinity in which it is situated ; but
no narrow or stingy spirit should be indicated in the
general plan or in its execution. Every appointment
connected with it should indicate a liberality of pur-
pose in the founder, without which its effect is pain-
fully marred to the eye of the man of true taste and
judgment. Small yards, picketed in for small uses,
have no business in sight of the grounds in front, and
all minor concerns should be thrown into the rear,
beyond observation from the main approach to the
dwelling. The trees that shade the entrance park, or
lawn, should be chiefly forest trees, as the oak, in its
varieties, the elm, the maple, the chestnut, walnut,
butternut, hickory, or beech. If the soil be favorable,
a few weeping willows may throw their drooping spray
around the house ; and if exotic, or foreign trees be
permitted, they should take their position in closer
proximity to it than the natural forest trees, as indica-
ting the higher care and cultivation which attaches to
its presence. The Lombardy poplar, albeit a tree of
disputed taste with modern planters, we would now
and then throw in, not in stiff and formal rows, as
guarding an avenue, but occasionally in the midst of
a group of others, above which it should rise like a
church spire from amidst a block of contiguous houses —
7
152 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
a cheerful relief to the monotony of the rounder-headed
branches of the more spreading varieties. If a stream
of water meander the park, or spread into a little pond,
trees which are partial to moisture should shadow it at
different points, and low, water shrubs should hang
over its border, or even run into its margin. Aquatic
herbs, too, may form a part of its ornaments, and a
boat-house, if such a thing be necessary, should, under
the shade of a hanging tree of some kind, be a conspic-
uous object in the picture. An overhanging rock, if
such a thing be native there, may be an object of great
attraction to its features, and its outlet may steal away
and be hid in a dense mass of tangled vines and brush-
wood. The predominating, natural features of the
place should be cultivated, not rooted out, and meta-
morphosed into something foreign and unfamiliar. It
should, in short, be nature with her hair combed out
straight, flowing, and graceful, instead of pinched,
puffed, and curling — a thing of luxuriance and beauty
under the hand of a master.
The great difficulty with many Americans in getting
up a new place of any considerable extent is, that they
seem to think whatever is common, or natural in the
features of the spot must be so changed as to show,
above all others, their own ingenuity and love of ex-
pense in fashioning it to their peculiar tastes. Hocks
must be sunk, or blasted, trees felled, and bushes
grubbed, crooked water-courses straightened — the
place gibbeted and put into stocks ; in fact, that their
own boasted handiwork may rise superior to the
wisdom of Him who fashioned it in his own good
RTJBAL ARCHITECTURE. 153
pleasure ; forgetting that a thousand points of natural
beauty upon the earth on which they breathe are
" When unadorned, adorned the most ; "
and our eye has been frequently shocked at finding the
choicest gems of nature sacrificed to a wanton display
of expense in perverting, to the indulgence of a mis-
taken fancy, that, which, with an eye to truth and
propriety, and at a trifling expense, might have be-
come a spot of abiding interest and contentment.
BUBAL AECIHTECTUBE.
DESIGN YI.
A SOUTHERN OB PLANTATION HOUSE. — The proprie-
tor of a plantation in the South, or South-west, re-
quires altogether a different kind of residence from the
farmer of the Northern, or Middle States. He resides
in the midst of his own principality, surrounded by a
retinue of dependents and laborers, who dwell distant
and apart from his own immediate family, although
composing a community requiring his daily care and
superintendence for a great share of his time. A por-
tion of them are the attaches of his household, yet so
disconnected in their domestic relations, as to require
a separate accommodation, and yet be in immediate
contiguity with it, and of course, an arrangement of
living widely different from those who mingle in the
same circle, and partake at the same board.
The usual plan of house-building at the South, we
are aware, is to have detached servants' rooms, and
offices, and a space of some yards of uncovered way
intervene between the family rooms of the chief dwell-
ing and its immediate dependents. Such arrange-
ment, however, we consider both unnecessary and
inconvenient; and we have devised a plan of house-
hold accommodation which will bring the family of
the planter himself, and their servants, although under
BUBAL ABCHITECTUBE. 157
different roofs, into convenient proximity with each
other. A design of this kind is here given.
The style is mainly Italian, plain, substantial, yet,
we think, becoming. The broad veranda, stretching
around three sides, including the front, gives an air of
sheltered repose to what might otherwise appear an
ambitious structure; and the connected apartments
beyond, show a quiet utility which divests it of an
over attempt at display. Nothing has been attempted
for appearance, solely, beyond what is necessary and
proper in the dwelling of a planter of good estate, who
wants his domestic affairs well regulated, and his
family, and servants duly provided with convenient
accommodation. The form of the main dwelling is
nearly square, , upright, with two full stories, giving
ample area of room and ventilation, together with that
appropriate indulgence to ease which the enervating
warmth of a southern climate renders necessary. The
servants' apartments, and kitchen offices are so dis-
posed, that while connected, to render them easy of
access, they are sufficiently remote to shut off the
familiarity of association which would render them
obnoxious to the most fastidious — all, in fact, under
one shelter, and within the readiest call. Such should
be the construction of a planter's house in the United
States, and such this design is intended to give.
A* stable and carriage-house, in the same style, is
near by, not connected to any part of the. dwelling, as
in the previous designs — with sufficient accommoda-
tion for coachman and grooms, and the number of
saddle and carriage horses that may be required for
158 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
either business or pleasure ; and to it may be connected,
in the rear, in the same style of building, or plainer,
and less expensive, further conveniences for such do-
mestic animals as may be required for family use.
The whole stands in open grounds, and may be sep-
arated from each other by enclosures, as convenience
or fancy may direct.
The roofs of all the buildings are broad and sweep-
ing, well protecting the walls from storm and frosts,
as well as the glaring influences of the sun, and com-
bining that comfortable idea of shelter and repose so
grateful in a well-conditioned country house. It is
true, that the dwelling might be more extensive in
room, and the purposes of luxury enlarged ; but the
planter on five hundred, or five thousand acres of land
can here be sufficiently accommodated in all the rea-
sonable indulgences of family enjoyment, and a lib-
eral, even an elegant and prolonged hospitality, to
which he is so generally inclined.
The chimneys of this house, different from those in
the previous designs, are placed next the outer walls,
thus giving more space to the interior, and not being
required, as in the others, to promote additional warmth
than their fireplaces will give, to the rooms. A deck
on the roof affords a pleasant look-out for the family
from its top, guarded by a parapet, and giving a finish
to its architectural appearance, and yet making no
ambitious attempt at expensive ornament. It is, in
fact, a plain, substantial, respectable mansion for a gen-
tleman of good estate, and nothing beyond it.
HUKAL ARCHITECTURE.
159
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
This house stands 50 x 40 feet on the ground. The
front door opens from the veranda into a hall, 24 x 14
feet, in which is a flight of stairs leading to the cham-
bers above. On the left a door leads into a library, or
GROCXD PLAX.
160 RURAJL ARCHITECTURE.
business room, 17x17 feet, lighted by three windows.
A fireplace is inserted in the outer wall. Another
door leads into a side hall, six feet wide, which sepa-
rates the library from the dining-room, which is also
17x17 feet in area, lighted and accommodated with a
fireplace like the other, with a door leading into it from
the side hall, and another door at the further right
hand corner leading into the rear hall, or entry.
On the right of the chief entrance hall, opposite the
library, a door opens into the parlor or drawing-room,
23x19 feet in area, lighted by three windows, and
having a fireplace in the side wall. A door leads from
the rear side of the parlor into a commodious nursery,
or family bedroom, 19x16 feet in size, lighted by a
window in each outer wall. A fireplace is also inserted
on the same line as in the parlor. From the nursery a
door leads into and through a large closet, 9x7 feet,
into the rear hall. This closet may also be used as a
sleeping-room for the children, or a confidential ser-
vant-maid, or nurse, or devoted to the storage of bed-
linfen for family use. Further on, adjoining, is another
closet, 7x6 feet, opening from the rear hall, and lighted
by a window.
Leading from the outer door of the rear hall is a
covered passage six feet wide, 16 feet long, and one
and a half stories high, leading to the kitchen offices,
and lighted by a window on the left, with a door
opening in the same side beyond, on to the side front
of the establishment. On the right, opposite, a door
leads on to the kitchen porch, which is six feet wide,
passing on to the bath-room and water-closet, in the
RUKAL ARCHITECTURE. 163
far rear. At the end of the connecting passage from
the main dwelling, a door opens into the kitchen,
which is 24x18 feet in size, accommodated with two
windows looking on to the porch just described. At
one end is an open fireplace with a cooking range on
one side, and an oven on the other. At the left of the
entrance door is a large, commodious store-room and
pantry, 12x9 feet, lighted by a window; and adjoining
it, (and may be connected with it by a door, if neces-
sary,) a kitchen closet of the same size, also connected
by a corresponding door from the opposite corner of
the kitchen. Between these doors is a flight of stairs
leading to the sleeping-rooms above, and a cellar pas-
sage beneath them. In the farther right corner of the
kitchen a door leads into a smaller closet, 8x6 feet,
lighted by a small window looking on to the rear porch
at the end. A door at the rear of the kitchen leads
out into the porch of the wash-room beyond, which is
six feet wide, and another door into the wash-room
itself, which is 20x16 feet, and furnished with a chim-
ney and boilers. A window looks out on the extreme
right hand, and two windows on to the porch in front.
A door opens from its rear wall into the wood-house,
32x12 feet, which stands open on two sides, supported
by posts, and under the extended roof of the wash-room
and its porch just mentioned. A servants' water-
closet is attached to the extreme right corner of the
wood-house, by way of lean-to.
The bath-room is 10x6 feet in area, and supplied
with water from the kitchen boilers adjoining. The wa
ter-closet beyond is 6 feet square, and architecturally.
7*
162
BTTKAL ARCHITECTURE.
in its roof, may be made a fitting termination to that
of the porch leading to it.
15 X 17
15X12
16X10
10 X 17
22 X 19 I
' 15 X 17
CHAMBEK PLAN.
The main flight of stairs in the entrance hall leads
on to a broad landing in the spacious upper hall, from
which doors pass into the several chambers, which
may be duly accommodated with closets. The pas-
sage connecting with the upper story of the servants'
offices, opens from the rear section of this upper hall,
and by the flight of rear stairs communicates with the
kitchen and out-buildings. A garret flight of steps
may be made in the rear section of the main upper
hall, by which that apartment may be reached, and
the upper deck of the roof ascended.
The sleeping-rooms of the kitchen may be divided
off as convenience may dictate, and the entire structure
thus appropriated to every accommodation which a
well-regulated family need require.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
163
CARRIAGE HOUSE.
The carriage-house is 48x24 feet in size, with a
projection of five feet on the entrance front, the door
of which leads both into the carriage-room and stables.
On the right is a bedroom, 10x8 feet, for the grooms,
lighted by a window ; and beyond are six stalls for
horses, with a window in the rear wall beyond them.
A flight of stairs leads to the hayloft above. In the
rear of the carriage-room is a harness-room, 12x4 feet,
and a granary of the same size, each lighted by a
window. If farther attachments be required for the
accommodation of out-building conveniences, they may
be continued indefinitely in the rear.
MISCELLANEOUS.
It may strike the reader that the house just described
has a lavish appropriation of veranda, and a needless
side-front, which latter may detract from the precise
architectural keeping that a dwelling of this pretension
should maintain. In regard to the first, it may be
remarked, that no feature of the house in a southern
climate can be more expressive of easy, comfortable
164 RUKAI, ARCniTKCTUKE.
enjoyment, than a spacious veranda. The habits of
southern life demand it as a place of exercise in wet
weather, and the cooler seasons of the year, as well as
a place of recreation and social intercourse during the
fervid heats of the summer. Indeed, many southern
people almost live under the shade of their verandas.
It is a delightful place to take their meals, to receive
their visitors and friends ; and the veranda gives to a
dwelling the very expression of hospitality, so far as
any one feature of a dwelling can do it. No equal
amount of accommodation can be provided for the
same cost. It adds infinitely to the room of the U&use
itself, and is, in fact, indispensable to the full enjoy-
ment of a southern house. „
The side front in this design is simply a matter of
convenience to the owner and occupant of the estate,
who has usually much office business in its manage-
ment ; and in the almost daily use of his library, where
such business may be done, a side door and front is
both appropriate and convenient. The chief front
entrance belongs to his family and guests, and should
be devoted to their exclusive use ; and as a light fence
may be thrown oft' from the extreme end of the side
porch, separating the front lawn from the rear approach
to the house, the veranda on that side may be reached
from its rear end, for business purposes, without intru-
ding upon the lawn at all. So we would arrange it.
Objections may be made to the sameness of plan, in
the arrangement of the lower rooms of the several
designs which we have submitted, such as having the
nursery, or family sleeping-room, on the main floor of
RITUAL ARCHITECTURE. 165
the house, and the uniformity, in location, of the others ,
and that there are no new and striking features in them.
The answer to these may be, that the room appropriated
for the nursery, or bedroom, may be used for other pur-
poses, equally as well ; that when a mode of accommo-
dation is already as convenient as may be, it is poorly
worth while to make it less convenient, merely for the
sake of variety ; and, that utility and convenience are
the main objects to be attained in any well-ordered
dwelling. These two requisites, utility and conven-
ience, attained, the third and principal one — comfort —
is secured. Cellar kitchens — the most abominable
nuisances that ever crept into a country dwelling —
might have been adopted, no doubt, to the especial
delight of some who know nothing of the experimental
duties of housekeeping; but the recommendation of
these is an offence which we have no stomach to answer •
for hereafter. Steep, winding, and complicated stair-
cases might have given a new feature to one or another
of the designs ; dark closets, intricate passages, unique
cubby -holes, and all sorts of inside gimcrackery might
have amused our pencil ; but we have avoided them,
as well as everything which would stand in the way of
the simplest, cheapest, and most direct mode of reach-
ing the object in view: a convenient, comfortably-
arranged dwelling within, having a respectable, digni-
fied appearance without — and such, we trust, have
been thus far presented in our designs.
166 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
LAWN, AND PARK SURROUNDINGS.
The trees and shrubbery which ornament the ap-
proach to this house, should be rather of the graceful
varieties, than otherwise. The weeping-willow, the
horse-chesnut, the mountain-ash, if suitable to the cli-
mate ; or the china-tree of the south, or the linden, the
weeping-elm, and the silver-maple, with its long slen-
der branches and hanging leaves, would add most to
the beauty, and comport more closely with the charac-
ter of this establishment, than the more upright, stiff,
and unbending trees of our American forests. The
Lombardy-poplar — albeit, an object of fashionable
derision with many tree-fanciers in these more tasty
days, as it was equally the admiration of our fathers,
of forty years ago — would set off and give effect
*to a mansion of this character, either in a clump at the
back-ground, as shown in the design, or occasionally
shooting up its spire-like top through a group of the
other trees. Yet, if built in a fine natural park or
lawn of oaks, with a few other trees, such as we have
named, planted immediately around it, this house
would still show with fine effect.
The style of finish given to this dwelling may appear
too ornate and expensive for the position it is supposed
to occupy. If so, a plainer mode of finish may be
adopted, to the cheapest degree consistent with the
manner of its construction. Still, on examination, there
will be found little intricate or really expensive work
upon it. Strength, substance, durability, should all
enter into its composition ; and without these elements,
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 167
a house of this appearance is a mere bauble, not fit t j
stand upon the premises of any man of substantial
estate.
If a more extensive accommodation be necessary,
than the size of this house can afford, its style will
admit of a wing, of any desirable length, on each side,
in place of the rear part of the side verandas, without
prejudice to its character or effect. Indeed, such wings
may add to its dignity, and consequence, as comport-
ing with the standing and influence which its occupant
may hold in the community wherein he resides. A
man of mark, indeed, should, if he live in the country,
occupy a dwelling somewhat indicating the position
which he holds, both in society and in public affairs.
By this remark, we may be treading on questionable
ground, in our democratic country ; but, practically,
there is a fitness in it which no one can dispute. Not
that extravagance, pretension, or any other assumption
of superiority should mark the dwelling of the distin-
guished man, but that his dwelling be of like character
with himself: plain, dignified, solid, and, as a matter
of course, altogether respectable.
It is a happy feature in the composition of our repub-
lican institutions, both social and political, that we can
afford to let the flashy men of the day — not of time —
flaunter in all their purchased fancy in house-building,
without prejudice to the prevailing sober sentiment of
their neighbors, in such particulars. The man of
money, simply, may build his " villa," and squander
his tens of thousands upon it. He may riot within it,
and fidget about it for a few brief years ; he may even
168 RUKAL ARCHITECTURE.
hang his coat of arms upon it, if he can fortunately do
so without stumbling over a lapstone, or greasing his
coat against the pans of a cook-shop ; but it is equally
sure that no child of his will occupy it after him, even
if his own changeable fancy or circumstances permit
him to retain it for his natural life. Such are the
episodes of country house-building, and of frequent
attempts at agricultural life, by those who affect it as a
matter of ostentation or display. For the subjects of
these, we do not write. But there is something exceed-
ingly grateful to the feelings of one of stable views in
life, to look upon an estate which has been long in an
individual family, still maintaining its primitive char-
acter and respectability. Some five-and-twenty years
ago, wrhen too young to have any established opinions
in matters of this sort, as we were driving through one
of the old farming towns in Massachusetts, about twenty
miles west of Boston, we approached a comfortable,
well-conditioned farm, with a tavern-house upon the
high road, and several great elms standing about it.
The road passed between two of the trees, and from a
cross-beam, lodged across their branches, swung a
large square sign, with names and dates painted upon
it — name and date we have forgotten ; it was a good
old Puritan name, however — in this wist:
" JOHN ENDICOTT, 1652."
"JonN ENDICOTT, 1696."
" JOHN ENDICOTT, 1749."
"JOHN ENDICOTT, 1784."
" JOHN ENDICOTT, 1817."
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 169
As our eyes read over this list, we were struck with
the stability of a family who for many consecutive
generations had occupied, by the same name, that ven-
erable spot, and ministered to the comfort of as many
generations of travelers, and incontinently took off' our
hat in respect to the record of so much worth, drove
our horse under the shed, had him fed, went in, and
took a quiet family dinner with the civil, good-tempered
host, and the equally kind-mannered hostess, then in
the prime of life, surrounded with a fine family of
children, and heard from his own lips the history of
his ancestors, from their first emigration from Eng-
land — not in the Mayflower, to whose immeasurable
accommodations our good New England ancestors are
so prone to refer — but in one of her early successors.
All over the old thirteen states, from Maine to Geor-
gia, can be found agricultural estates now containing
families, the descendants of those who founded them —
exceptions to the general rule, we admit, of American
stability of residence, but none the less gratifying to
the contemplation of those who respect a deep love of
home, wherever it may be found. For the moral
of our episode on this subject, we cannot refrain from
a description of a fine old estate which we have fre-
quently seen, minus now the buildings which then
existed, and long since supplanted by others equally
respectable and commodious, and erected by the suc-
cessor of the original occupant, the late Dr. Boyls-
ton, of Roxbury, who long made the farm his sum-
mer residence. The description is from an old work,
"The History of the County of "Worcester, in the
170 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
State of Massachusetts, by the Rev. Peter Whitney,
1793 : "
" Many of the houses (in Princeton,) are large and
elegant. This leads to a particular mention, that in
this town is the country seat of the Hon. Moses Gill,
Esq., (' Honorable ' meant something in those days,)
who has been from the year 1775 one of the Judges of
the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Worces-
ter, and for several years a counsellor of this common-
wealth. His noble and elegant seat is about one mile
and a quarter from the meeting-house, to the south.
The farm contains upwards of three thousand acres.
The county road from Princeton to Worcester passes
through it, in front of the house, which faces to the
west. The buildings stand upon the highest land of
the whole farm ; but it is level round about them for
many rods, and then, there is a very gradual descent.
The land on which these buildings stand is elevated
between twelve hundred and thirteen hundred feet
above the level of the sea, as the Hon. James Win-
throp, Esq. informs me. The mansion house is large,
being 50x50 feet, with four stacks of chimnies. The
farm house is 40 feet by 36 : In a line with this stand
the coach and chaise-house, 50 feet by 36. This is
joined to the barn by a shed 70 feet in length — the
barn is 200 feet by 32. Yery elegant fences are
erected around the mansion house, the out-houses, and
the garden.
" The prospect from this seat is extensive and grand,
taking in a horizon to the east, of seventy miles, at
least. The blue hills in Milton are discernible with
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 171
the naked eye, from the windows of this superb edifice,
distant not less than sixty miles ; as also the waters in
the harbor of Boston, at certain seasons of the year.
When we view this seat, these buildings, and this farm
of so many hundred acres, now under a high degree of
profitable cultivation, and are told that in the year
1766 it was a perfect wilderness, we are struck with
wonder, admiration, and astonishment. The honorable
proprietor thereof must have great satisfaction in con-
templating these improvements, so extensive, made
under his direction, and, I may add, by his own active
industry. Judge Gill is a gentleman of singular viva-
city and activity, and indefatigable in his endeavors to
bring forward the cultivation of his lands ; of great
and essential service, by his example, in the employ-
ment he finds for so many persons, and in all his
attempts to serve the interests of the place where he
dwells, and in his acts of private munificence, and
public generosity, and deserves great respect and es-
teem, not only from individuals, but from the town
and country he has so greatly benefited, and especially
by the ways in which he makes use of that vast estate
wherewith a kind Providence has blessed him."
Such was the estate, and such the man who founded
and enjoyed it sixty years ago; and many an equal
estate, founded and occupied by equally valuable men,
then existed, and still exist in all our older states ; and
if our private and public virtues are preserved, will
ever exist in every state of our union. Such pictures,
too, are forcible illustrations of the morals of correct
building on the ample estates of many of our American
172 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
planters and farmers. The mansion house, which is so
graphically described, we saw but a short time before
it was pulled down — then old, and hardly worth
repairing, being built of wood, and of style something
like this design of our own, bating the extent of
veranda.
The cost of this house may be from $5000 to $8000,
depending upon the material of which it is constructed,
the degree of finish given to it, and the locality where
it is built. All these circumstances are to be consid-
ered, and the estimates should be made by practical
and experienced builders, who are competent judges
in whatever appertains to it.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 175
DESIGN VII.
A PLANTATION HOUSE. — Another southern house is
here presented, quite different in architectural design
from the last, plain, unpretending, less ornate in its
finish, as well as less expensive in construction. It
may occupy a different site, in a hilly, wooded coun-
try of rougher surface, but equally becoming it, as
the other would more fitly grace the level prairie,
or spreading plain in the more showy luxury of its
character.
This house stands 46x44 feet on the ground, two
stories high, with a full length veranda, 10 feet wide
in front, and a half length one above it, connecting
with the main roof by an open gable, under which is a
railed gallery for summer repose or recreation, or to
enjoy the scenery upon which it may open. The roof
is broad and overhanging, thoroughly sheltering the
walls, and giving it a most protected, comfortable look.
Covering half the rear is a lean-to, with shed roof, 16
feet wide, communicating with the servants' offices in
the wing, the hall of which opens upon a low veranda
on its front, and leading to the minor conveniences of
the establishment. The main servants' building is
30x20 feet, one and a half stories high, with a roof in
keeping with the main dwelling, and a chimney in
176 KTJRAL ARCHITECTURE.
the center. In rear of this is attached a wood-house,
with a shed roof, thus sloping off, and giving it a
reposed, quiet air from that point of view. A narrow
porch, 23 feet long and 8 feet wide, also shades the
remaining rear part of the main dwelling, opening on
to the approach in rear.
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
The front door opens into a hall 34 feet long and 10
feet wide, with a flight of stairs. On the left of this
opens a parlor or dining-room, 22x18 feet, lighted by
two windows in front and one on the side, and connect-
ing with the dining-room beyond, which is 18x16 feet,
with two small dining closets between. The dining-
room has two windows opening on to the rear veranda.
Under the cross flight of stairs in the hall, a partition
separates it from the rear hall, into which is a door.
On the right of the entrance hall is a library, 18x18
feet, lighted by three windows. At the farther end
is a closet, and by the side of it a small entry leading
into the nursery or family bedroom, 18x15 feet in size,
which also has a corresponding closet with the library.
On the rear of the nursery is a flight of back stairs
opening from it. Under these stairs, at the other end
a door opens to another flight leading into the cellar
below. A door also leads out from the nursery into
the rear passage, to the offices; another door on the
further side of the room opens into the rear hall of the
house. The nursery should have two windows, but
RURAL, ARCHITECTURE.
177
GEOUND PLAN.
the drawing, by an error, gives only on 8. From this
rear hall a door opens on the rear veranda, and
another into the passage to the rear offices. This pas-
sage is six feet wide and 34 feet long, opening at its
left end on to the veranda, and on the right, to the
^servants' porch, and from its rear side into three small
rooms, 10 feet square each, the outer one of which
may be a business room for the proprietor of the es-
tate; the next, a store-room for family supplies; and
the other a kitchen closet. Each of these is lighted by
a window on the rear. A door also lead/3 from the
178
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
rear passage into the kitchen, 20x16 feet in area, with
a window looking out in front and two others on the
side and rear, and a door into the wood-house. In this
is placed a large chimney for the cooking establish-
ment, oven, &c., &c. A flight of stairs and partition
divides this from the wash-room, which is 14x14 feet,
with two windows in the side, and a door into the
wood-house. This wood-house is open on two sides,
and a water-closet is in the far corner. The small
veranda, which is six feet wide, fronting the kitchen
apartments, opens into the bath-room, 9x6 feet, into
which the water is drawn from the kitchen boilers
in the adjoining chimney. Still beyond this is the
entrance to the water-closets, 6x5 feet.
10X10 I
18X16-
18X14
13X18
18X16
18 X
PLATFORM.
CHAMBEK PLAN.
The chamber plan is simple, and will be readily
comprehended. If more rooms are desirable, they can
be cut off from the larger ones. A flight of garret
stairs may also be put in the rear chamber hall. The
RT7BAL ABCHTTECTURE. 179
main hall of the chambers, in connection with the
upper veranda, may be made a delightful resort for
the summer, where the leisure hours of the family may
be passed in view of the scenery which the house may
command, and thus made one of its most attractive
features.
MISCELLANEOUS.
"We have given less veranda to this house than to
the last, because its style does not require it, and it is
a cheaper and less pains-taking establishment through-
out, although, perhaps, quite as convenient in its ar-
rangement as the other. The veranda may, however,
be continued round the two ends of the house, if
required. A screen, or belt of privet, or low ever-
greens may be planted in a circular form from the
front right-hand corner of the dwelling, to the corres-
ponding corner of the rear offices, enclosing a clothes
drying yard, and cutting them off from too sightly an
exposure from the lawn in front. The opposite end of
the house, which may be termed its business front,
may open to the every-day approach to the house, and
be treated as convenience may determine.
For the tree decoration of this establishment, ever-
greens may come in for a share of attraction. Their
conical, tapering points will correspond well with its
general architecture, and add strikingly to its effect;
otherwise the remarks already given on the subject of
park and lawn plantation will suffice. As, however,
in the position where this establishment is supposed to
180 KTJEAL ARCHITECTURE.
be erected, land is plenty, ample area should be appro-
priated to its convenience, and no pinched or parsimo-
nious spirit should detract from giving it the fullest
eifect in an allowance of ground. Nor need the
ground devoted to such purposes be at all lost, or
unappropriated ; various uses can be made of it, yield-
ing both pleasure and profit, to which a future chapter
will refer; and it is one of the chief pleasures of
retired residence to cultivate, in the right place, such
incidental objects of interest as tend to gratify, as well
as to instruct, in whatever appertains to the elevation
of our thoughts, and the improvement of our condition.
All these, in their place, should be drawn about oiir
dwellings, to render them as agreeable and attractive
as our ingenuity and labor may command.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 181
LAWNS, GKOUKDS, PAKKS, AND WOODS.
Having essayed to instruct our agricultural friends
in the proper modes of erecting their houses, and
providing for their convenient accommodation within
them, a few remarks may be pardoned touching such
collateral subjects of embellishment as may be con-
nected with the farm residence in the way of planta-
tions and grounds in their immediate vicinity.
We are well aware that small farms do not permit
any considerable appropriation of ground to waste
purposes, as such spots are usually called which are
occupied with wood, or the shade of open trees, near
the dwelling. But no dwelling can be complete in all
its appointments without trees in its immediate vicinity.
This subject has perhaps been sufficiently discussed in
preceding chapters ; yet, as a closing course of remark
upon what a farm house, greater or less in extent,
ehould be in the amount of shade given to it, a further
suggestion or two may be permitted. There are, in
almost all places, in the vicinity of the dwelling, por-
tions of ground which can be appropriated to forest
trees without detriment to other economical uses, if
applied in the proper way. Any one who passes along
182 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
a high road and discovers the farm house, seated ou
the margin or in the immediate vicinity of a pleasant
grove, is immediately struck with the peculiarly rural
and picturesque air which it presents, and thinks to
himself that he should love such a spot for his own
home, without reflecting that he might equally as well
create one of the same character. Sites already occu-
pied, where different dispositions are made of contigu-
ous ground, may not admit of like advantages ; and
such are to be continued in their present arrangement,
with such course of improvement as their circumstances
will admit. But to such as are about to select the sites
of their future homes, it is important to study what can
best embellish them in the most effective shade and
ornament.
In the immediate vicinity of our large towns and
cities it is seldom possible to appropriate any consider-
able breadth of land to ornamental purposes, excepting
rough and unsightly waste ground, more or less occu-
pied with rock or swamp ; or plainer tracts, so sterile
as to be comparatively worthless for cultivation. Such
grounds, too, often lie bare of wood, and require plant-
ing, and a course of years to cover them with trees,
even if the proprietor is willing, or desirous to devote
them to such purpose. Still, there are vast sections of
our country where to economize land is not important,
and a mixed occupation of it to both ornament and
profit may be indulged to the extent of the owner's
disposition. All over the United States there are
grand and beautiful sweeps and belts of cultivated
country, interspersed with finely-wooded tracts, which
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 183
offer the most attractive sites for the erection of dwell-
ings on the farms which embrace them, and that
require only the eye and hand of taste to convert them,
with slight labor, into the finest-wooded lawns and
forested parks imaginable. No country whatever pro-
duces finer trees than North America. The ever-
greens of the north luxuriate in a grandeur scarcely
known elsewhere, and shoot their cones into the sky to
an extent that the stripling pines and firs, and larches
of England in vain may strive to imitate. The elm of
New England towers up, and spreads out its sweeping
arms with a majesty unwonted in the ancient parks or
forests of Europe; while its maples, and birches, and
beeches, and ashes, and oaks, and the great white-
armed buttonwood, make up a variety of intervening
growth, luxuriant in the extreme. Pass on through
the Middle States, and into the far west, and there
they still flourish with additional kinds — the tulip and
poplar — the nut-trees, in all their wide variety, with
a host of others equally grand and imposing, inter-
spersed; and shrub-trees innumerable, are seen every-
where as they sweep along your path. Beyond the
Alleghanies, and south of the great lakes, are vast
natural parks, many of them enclosed, and dotted with
herds of cattle ranging over them, which will show
single trees, and clumps of forest that William the
Conqueror would have given a whole fiefdom in his
Hampshire spoliations to possess; while, stretching
away toward the Gulf of Mexico, new varieties of tree
are found, equally imposing, grand, and beautiful,
throughout the whole vast range, and in almost every
184 KURAL ARCHITECTURE.
locality, susceptible of the finest possible appropriation
to ornament and use. Many a one of these noble
forests, and open, natural parks have been appropria-
ted already to embellish the comfortable family estab-
lishment which has been built either on its margin, or
within it; and thousands more are standing, as yet
unimproved, but equally inviting the future occupant
to their ample protection.
The moral influences, too, of lawns and parks around
or in the vicinity of our dwellings, are worthy of con-
sideration. Secluded as many a country dweller may
be, away from the throng of society, there is a sym-
pathy in trees which invites our thoughts, and draws
our presence among them witn unwonted interest, and
in frequent cases, assist materially in stamping the
feelings and courses of our future lives — always with
pure and ennobling sentiments —
" The groves were God's first temples."
The thoughtful man, as he passes under their shel-
tering boughs, in the heat of summer, with uncovered
brow, silently worships the Hand that formed them
there, scarcely conscious that their presence thus ele-
vates his mind to holy aspirations. Among them, the
speculative man
" Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones.'
Even children, born and educated among groves of
trees, drink in early impressions, which follow them
for good all their days ; and, when the toils of their
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 185
after life are passed, they love to return to these grate-
ful coverts, and spend their remaining days amid the
tranquillity of their presence. Men habituated to the
wildest life, too, enjoy the woods, the hills, and the
mountains, beyond all the captivation and excitement
of society, and are nowhere at rest, but when in their
communion.
The love of forest scenery is a thing to be culti-
vated as a high accomplishment, in those whose early
associations have not been among them. Indeed,
country life is tame, and intolerable, without a taste,
either natural or acquired, for fine landscape scenery ;
and in a land like this, where the country gives occu-
pation to so great a proportion of its people, and a
large share of those engaged in the active and ex-
citing pursuits of populous towns, sigh and look for-
ward to its enjoyment, every inducement should be
offered to cultivate a taste for those things which make
one of its- chief attractions. ISTor should seclusion from
general society, and a residence apart from the bus-
tling activity of the world, present a bar to the due
cultivation of the taste in many subjects supposed
to belong only to the throng of association. It 'is one
of the advantages of rural life, that it gives us time
to think; and the greatest minds of whose labors in
the old world we have had the benefit, and of later
times, in our own land, have been reared chiefly in
the solitude of the country. Patrick Henry loved to
range among the woods, admiring the leafy magnif-
icence of nature, and to follow the meandering courses
of the brooks, with his hook and line. Washington,
J86 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
/
when treading the vast solitudes of central Yirginia,
with his surveyor's instruments on his back, conceived
the wonderful resources of the great empire of which
he will ever be styled the "father." The dwelling of
the late John C. Calhoun, sheltered by noble trees,
stands on an elevated swell of a grand range of moun-
tain land, and it was there that his prolific genius
ripened for those burning displays of thought which
drew to him the affections of admiring thousands.
Henry Clay undoubtedly felt the germ of his future
greatness while sauntering, in his boyhood days,
through the wild and picturesque slashes of Hanover.
Webster, born amid the rugged hills of New Hamp-
shire, drew the delightful relish of rural life, for which
he is so celebrated, from the landscapes which sur-
rounded his early home, and laid the foundation of his
mighty intellect in the midst of lone and striking
scenery. Bryant could never have written his "Than-
atopsis," his "Rivulet," and his "Green River," but
from the inspiration drawn from his secluded youthful
home in the mountains of Massachusetts. Nor, to
touch a more sacred subject, could Jonathan Edwards
ever have composed his masterly " Treatise on the
Will," in a pent-up city ; but owes his enduring fame
to the thought and leisure which he found, while min-
istering, among the sublime mountains of the Housa-
tonic, to a feeble tribe of Stockbridge Indians.
And these random names are but a few of those
whose love of nature early imbibed, and in later life
enjoyed in their own calm and retired homes, amid
the serene beauty of woods and waters, which might
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 187
be named, as illustrations of the influence which fine
ecenerj may exercise upon the mind, to assist in mould-
ing it to greatness. The following anecdote was told
us many years ago, by a venerable man in Connec-
ticut, a friend of the elder Hillhouse, of New Haven,
to whom that city is much indebted for the magnifi-
cent trees by which it has become renowned as " the
City of the Elms : " While a member of the General
Assembly of that state, when Hillhouse was in Con-
gress, learning that he had just returned home from
the annual session, our informant, with a friend, went
to the residence of the statesman, to pay him a visit.
He had returned only that morning, and on their way
there, they met him near his house, with a stout young
tree on his shoulder, just taken from a neighboring
piece of forest, which he was about to transplant in the
place of one which had died during his absence. After
the usual salutations, our friend expressed his surprise
that he was so scon engaged in tree-planting, before
he had even had time to look to his private and more
pressing affairs. "Another day may be too late,"
replied the senator; "my tree well planted, it will
grow at its leisure, and I can then look to my own
concerns at my ease. So, gentlemen, if you will just
wait till the tree is set, we '11 walk into the house, and
settle the affairs of state in our own way."
Walter Scott, whose deep love of park and forest
scenery has stamped with his masterly descriptions, his
native land as the home of all things beautiful and
useful in trees and plantations, spent a great share of
his leisure time in planting, and has written a most
188 KUEAL ARCHITECTUKE.
instructive e^say on its practice and benefits. He puts
into the mouth of " the Laird of Dumbiedikes," tho
advice, " Be aye sticking in a tree, Jock ; it will be
growing while you are sleeping." But Walter Scott
had no American soil, to plant his trees upon ; nor do
the grandest forest parks of Scotland show a tithe of
the luxuriance and majesty of our American forests.
Could he but have seen the variety, the symmetry,
and the vast size of our oaks, and elms, and ever-
greens, a new element of descriptive power would
have grown out of the admiration they had created
within him ; and he would have envied a people the
possession of such exhaustless resources as we enjoy, to
embellish their homes in the best imaginable manner,
with such enduring monuments of grace and beauty.
To the miscellaneous, or casual reader, such course of
remark may appear merely sublimated nonsense. No
matter ; we are not upon stilts, talking down to a class
of inferior men, in a condescending tone, on a sub-
ject above their comprehension ; but we are address-
ing men, and the sons of men, who are our equals —
although, like ourself, upon their farms, taking their
share in its daily toils, as well as pleasures — and can
perfectly well understand our language, and sympa-
thize with our thoughts. They are the thoughts of
rural life everywhere. It was old Sam Johnson, the
great lexicographer, who lumbered his unwieldy gait
through the streets of cities for a whole life, and with
all his vast learning and wisdom, had no appreciation
of the charms of the country, that said, " Who feeds
fat cattle should himself be fat; " as if the dweller on
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 189
the farm should not possess an idea above the brutes
around him. We wonder if he ever supposed a mer-
chant should have any more brain than the parcel that
he handled, or the bale which he rolled, or directed
others to roll for him ! But, loving the solitude of the
farm, and finding a thousand objects of interest and
beauty scattered in profusion, where those educated
among artificial objects would see nothing beyond
things, to them, vulgar and common-place, in convers-
ing with our rural friends upon what concerns their
daily comfort, and is to constitute the nursery of those
who succeed them, and on the influences which may,
in a degree, stamp their future character, we cannot
forbear such suggestions, connected with the family
Home, as may induce them to cultivate all those acces-
sories around it, which may add to their pleasure and
contentment. We believe it was Keats, who said,
" A tiling of Beauty is a joy for ever."
And the thought that such " beauty " has been of our
own creation, or that our own hands have assisted in
its perpetuation, should certainly be a deep "joy" of
our life.
We have remarked, that the farm house is the chief
nursery on which our broad country must rely for that
healthy infusion of stamina and spirit into those men
who, under our institutions, guide its destiny and
direct its councils. They, in the great majority of
their numbers, are natives of the retired homestead.
It is, therefore, of high consequence, that good taste,
intelligence, and. correct judgment, should enter into
190 ETJRAL ARCHITECTURE.
all that surrounds the birth-place, and early see nes oi
those who are to be the future actors in the prominent
walks of life, either in public or private capacity ; and
as the love of trees is one of the leading elements of
enjoyment amid the outward scenes of country-life, we
commend most heartily all who dwell in the pure air
and bright sunshine of the open land to their study
and cultivation.
Every man who lives in the country, be he a prac-
tical farmer or not, should plant trees, more or less.
The father of a family should plant, for the benefit of
his children, as well as for his own. The bachelor and
the childless man should plant, if for nothing more
than to show that he has left same living thing to per-
petuate his memory. Boys should early be made
planters. None but those who love trees, and plant
them, know the serene pleasure of watching their
growth, and anticipating their future beauty and gran-
deur ; and no one can so exquisitely enjoy their grate-
ful shade, as he whose hand has planted and cared for
them. Planting, too, is a most agreeable pastime to
a reflecting mind. It may be ranked among the pleas-
ures, instead of the toils of life. We have always so
found it. There is no pleasanter sight of labor than
to see a father, with his young lads about him, plant-
ing a tree. It becomes a landmark of their industry
and good taste ; and no thinking man passes a planta-
tion of fine trees but inwardly blesses the man, or the
memory of the man who placed them there.
Aside from all this, trees properly distributed, give
a value to an estate far beyond the cost of planting,
RUBA.L ARCHITECTURE. 191
and tending their growth, and which no other equal
amount of labor and expense upon it can confer.
Innumerable farms and places have been sold at high
prices, over those of perhaps greater producing value,
merely for the trees which embellished them. Thus,
in a pecuniary light, to say nothing of the pleasure
and luxury they confer, trees are a source of profitable
investment.
It is a happy feature in the improving rural character
of our country, that tree-planting and tree preservation
for some years past have attracted much more attention
than formerly ; and with this attention a better taste is
prevailing in their selection. We have gained but
little in the introduction of many of the foreign trees
among us, for ornament. Some of them are absolutely
barbarous in comparison with our American forest
trees, and their cultivation is only a demonstration of
the utter want of good taste in those who apply them.
For ordinary purposes, but few exotics should be
tolerated ; and those chiefly in collections, as curiosi-
ties, or for arboretums — in which latter the farmer can-
not often indulge; and for all the main purposes of
shade, and use, and ornament, the trees of no country
can equal our own.
Varied as our country is, in soils and climates, no
particular directions can be given as to the individual
varieties of tree which are to be preferred for planting.
Each locality has its own most appropriate kinds, and
he who is to plant, can best make the selections most
fitted to his use. Rapid-growing trees, when of fine
symmetry, and free from bad habits in throwing up
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
suckers ; not liable to the attacks of insects ; of early,
dense, and long-continued foliage, are most to be
commended ; while their opposites in character should
be avoided in all well-kept grounds. It requires, in-
deed, but a little thought and observation to guide
every one in the selection which he should make, to
produce the best effect of which the tree itself is
capable.
Giving the importance we have, to trees, and their
planting, it may be supposed that we should discuss
their position in the grounds to which they should be
appropriated. But no specific directions can be given
at large. All this branch of the subject must be left
to the locality, position, and surface of the ground
sought to be improved. A good tree can scarcely
stand in a wrong place, when not injurious to a build-
ing by its too dense shade, or shutting out its light, or
prospect. Still, the proper disposition of trees is a
study, and should be well considered before they be
planted. Bald, unsightly spots should be covered by
them, when not devoted to more useful objects of the
farm, either in pasturage or cultivation. A partial
shading of the soil by trees may add to its value for
grazing purposes, like the woodland pastures of Ken-
tucky, where subject to extreme droughts, or a scorch
ing sun.
If the planter feels disposed to consult authorities, as
to the best disposition of his trees, works on Landscape
Gardening may be studied ; but these can give only
general hints, and the only true course is to strive to
make his grounds look as much like nature herself as
BUBAL ABCHITECTUBE. 193
possible — for nature seldom makes mistakes in her
designs. To conclude a course of remark, which the
plain farmer, cultivating his land for its yearly profit
alone, may consider as foreign to the subject of our
work, we would not recommend any one to plant trees
who is not willing to spend the necessary time to nurse
and tend them afterward, till they are out of harm's
way, and well established in a vigorous growth. All
this must be taken into the account, for it is better to
have even but a few trees, and those what trees should
be, than a whole forest of stinted things, writhing and
pining through a course of sickly existence.
A chapter might also be written upon the proper
mode of taking up and planting trees, but as this
would lead us to a subject more directly belonging to
another department, the proper authorities on that
head must be co isulted.
194 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
FRUIT GARDEN- -ORCHARDS.
As the fruit garden and orchards are usually near
appendages to the dwelling and out-buildings, a few
remarks as to their locality and distribution may be
appropriate. The first should always be near the
house, both for convenience in gathering its fruits, and
for its due protection from the encroachments of those
not entitled to its treasures. It should, if possible,
adjoin the kitchen garden, for convenience of access ;
as fruit is, or should be, an important item in the daily
consumption of every family where it can be grown
and afforded. A sheltered spot, if to be had, should
be devoted to this object ; or if not, its margin, on the
exposed side, should be set with the hardiest trees to
which it is appropriated — as the apple. The fruit gar-
den, proper, may also contain the smaller fruits, as
they are termed, as the currant, gooseberry, raspberry,
and whatever other shrub-fruits are grown ; while the
quince, the peach, the apricot, nectarine, plum, cherry,
pear, and apple may, in the order they are named,
stand in succession behind them, the taller and more
hardy growth of each successive variety rising ' gher,
and protecting its less hardy and aspiring nj ^hbor.
The soil for all these varieties of tree is supposed to be
EUKAL ARCHITECTURE. 195
congenial, and our remarks will only be directed to
their proper distribution.
The aspect for the fruit garden should, if possible,
front the south, south-east, or south-west, in a northerly
climate. In the Middle and Southern States the ex-
posure is of less consequence. Currants, gooseberries
raspberries, &c., should, for their most productive bear
ing, and the highest quality of their fruits, be set at
least four feet apart, in the rows, and the rows six feet
distant from each other, that there may be abundant
room to cultivate them with the plow, and kept clean
of weeds and grass. The quince, peach, apricot, nec-
tarine, and plum should be 16 feet apart each way.
The pear, if on quince stock, may be 12 feet apart, and
if on its own stock, 20 to 24 feet; while the apple
should always be 30 to 36 feet apart, to let in the
requisite degree of sun and air to ripen as well as give
growth, color, and flavor to its fruit. The tendency of
almost all planters of fruit trees is to set them too
close, and many otherwise fine fruit gardens are utterly
ruined by the compact manner in which they are
planted. Trees are great consumers of the atmosphere ;
every leaf is a lung, inhaling and respiring the gases,
and if sufficient breathing room be not allowed them,
the tree sickens, and pines for the want of it ; there-
fore, every fruit tree, and fruit-bearing shrub should
be so placed that the summer sun can shine on every
part of its surface at some hour of the day. In such
position, the fruit will reach its maximum of flavor,
size, and perfection.
The ground, too, should be rich; and, to have the
196 BUBAL ABCHTTECTUKE.
greatest benefit of the soil, no crops should be grown
among the trees, after they have arrived at their full
maturity of bearing. Thus planted, and nursed, with
good selections of varieties, both the fruit garden and
the orchard become one of the most ornamental, as
well as most profitable portions of the farm.
In point of position, as affecting the appearance of
the homestead, the fruit garden should stand on the
weatJier-s'lde of the dwelling, so as, although protected,
in its several varieties, by itself, when not altogether
sheltered by some superior natural barrier, it should
appear to shelter both the dwelling and kitchen gar-
dens, which adjoin them.
As this is a subject intended to be but incidentally
touched in these pages, and only then as immediately
connected in its general character with the dwelling
house and its attachments, we refrain from going into
any particulars of detail concerning it. It is also a
subject to which we are strongly attached, and gladly
would we have a set chat with our readers upon it ;
but as the discussion for so broad a field as we should
have to survey, would be in many points arbitrary,
and unfitting to local information as to varieties, and
particular cultivation, we refer the reader, with great
pleasure, to the several treatises of Downing, and
Thomas, and Barry, on this interesting topic, with
which the public are fortunately in possession ; observ-
ing, only, that there is no one item of rural economy
to which our attention can be given, which yields more
of luxury, health, and true enjoyment, both to the
body and the mind, than the cultivation of good fruits.
RURAL ABCHITECTUKE. 197
HOW TO LAY OUT A KITCHEN GAKDEN.
The kitchen garden yields more necessaries and com-
forts to the family, than any other piece of ground on
the premises. It is, of consequence, necessary that it
be so located and planned as to be ready of access,
and yield the greatest possible quantity of products
for the labor bestowed upon it; and as locality and
plan have much to do with the labor bestowed upon
it and the productions it may yield, both these sub-
jects should be considered.
As to locality, the kitchen garden should lie in the
warmest and most sheltered spot which may be con-
venient to the kitchen of the house. It should, in
connection with that, be convenient of access to the
dung-yards of the stables. The size may be such as
your necessities or your convenience may demand.
The shape, either a parallelogram or a square ; for it
will be recollected, that this is a place allotted, not for
a show or pleasure ground, but for profit. If the gar-
den be large, this shape will better allow the use of the
plow to turn up the soil, which, in a large garden, is a
much cheaper, and, when properly done, a better mode
198
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
than to spade it ; and if small, and it be worked with
the spade, right lines are easier made with the spade
than curved ones. One or more walks, at least eight
feet wide, should be made, leading from a broad gate,
or bars, through which a cart and horse, or oxen, may
enter, to draw in manure, or carry out the vegetables ;
and if such walk, or walks, do not extend around the
garden, which, if in a large one, they should do, a
sufficient area should be thrown out at the farther ex-
tremity, to turn the cart upon. If the soil be free, and
stony, the stones should be taken out dean, when
large — and if small, down to the size of a hen's egg —
and the surface made as level as possible, for a loose
soil will need no draining. If the soil be a clay, or
clayey loam, it should be underdrained two and a half
feet, to tie perfect, and the draining so planned as to
lead off to a lower spot outside. This draining warms
the soil, opens it for filtration, and makes it friable.
Then, properly fenced, thoroughly manured, and plowed
deep, and left rough — no matter how rough — in the
fall of the year, and as late before the setting in of
winter as you dare risk it, that part of the preparation
is accomplished.
The permanent or wide walks of the garden, after
being laid out and graded, should never be plowed nor
disturbed, except by the hoe and rake, to keep down
the weeds and grass ; yet, if a close, and well-shorn
grass turf be kept upon them, it is perhaps the cheap-
est and most cleanly way of keeping the walks. They
need only cutting off close with the hand-hook, in
summer.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 199
"We have known a great many people, after laying
out a kitchen garden, and preparing it for use, fill it
up with fruit trees, supposing that vegetables will grow
quite as well with them as without. This is a wide
mistake. No tree larger than a currant or gooseberry
lush should ever stand in a vegetable garden. These
fruits being partially used in the cooking department,
as much in the way of vegetables, as of fruits, and
small in size, may be permitted ; and they, contrary
to the usual practice, should always stand in open
ground, where they can have all the benefits of the
sun and rain to ripen the fruit to perfection, as well as
to receive the cultivation they need, instead of being
placed under fences around the sides of the garden,
where they are too frequently neglected, and become
the resort of vermin, or make prolific harbors for weeds.
Along the main walks, or alleys, the borders for
perennial plants, as well as the currant and gooseberry
bushes, should be made — 'for the plow should run par-
allel to, and not at right angles with them. Here may
stand the rhubarbs, the sea kales, the various herbs, or
even the asparagus beds, if a particular quarter be not
set apart for them ; and, if it be important, a portion
of these main borders may be appropriated to the
more common flowers and small shrubbery, if desired
to cultivate them in a plain way ; but not a peach,
apricot, or any other larger tree than a currant or rasp-
berry, should come within it. They not only shade
the small plants, but suck up and rob them of their
food and moisture, and keep off the sun, and prevent
the circulation of air — than which nothing needs all
200 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
these more than garden vegetables, to have them ii
high perfection. If it be necessary, by means of i
cold exposure on the one side, to have a close planta-
tion of shrubbery to screen the garden, let it be out-
side the fence, rather than within it ; but if within, let
there be a broad walk between such shrubbery and
the garden beds, as their roots will extend under the
vegetables, and rob them of their food.
A walk, alley, or cartway, on the sides of the gar-
den, is always better next to the fence, than to fill that
space with anything else, as it is usually shaded for a
portion of the day, and may be better afforded for such
waste purposes than the open, sunny ground within.
It will be observed that market gardeners, men who
always strive to make the most profit from their land
and labor, and obtain the best vegetables, cultivate
them in open fields. Not a tree, nor even a bush is
permitted to stand near the growing crop, if they can
prevent it ; and where one is not stinted in the area of
his domain, their example should be followed.
A word upon plowing gardens. Clays, or clayey
loams, should always be manured and plowed in the
fall, just before the setting in of the winter frosts. A
world of pounding and hammering of lumps, to make
them fine, in spring, is saved by fall plowing, besides
incorporating the manure more thoroughly with the
soil, as well as freezing out and destroying the eggs of
worms and insects which infest it. Thrown up deeply
and roughly with the plow or spade, the frosts act
mechanically upon the soil, and slack and pulverise
it so thoroughly that a heavy raking in early spring, is
KUKAL ARCHITECTURE. 201
all that becomes necessary to put it in the finest con-
dition for seeds, and make it perhaps the very best and
most productive of all garden soils whatever. A light
sandy loam is better to lie compact in winter, and
manured and turned up in early spring. Its friable
nature leaves it always open and light, and at all times
in the absence of frost, accessible to the spade or the
hoe. On these accounts, it is usually the most desir-
able and convenient soil for the kitchen garden, and
on the whole, generally preferred where either kind
may be a matter simply of choice.
202 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
FLOWERS.
Start not, gentle reader ! "We are not about to in-
flict upon you a dissertation on Pelargoniums, Calla-
Ethiopias, Japonicas, and such like unmentionable
terms, that bring to your mind the green-house, and
forcing-house, and all the train of expense and vexa-
tion attending them; but we desire to have a short
familiar conversation about what is all around you, or
if not around you, should be, and kept there, with
very little pains or labor on your part. Still, if you
dislike the subject, just hand this part of our book
over to your excellent wife, or daughters, or sisters, as
the case may be, and we will talk to them about this
matter.
Flowers have their objects, and were made for our
use and pleasure ; otherwise, God would never have
strewed them, as he has, so bountifully along our paths,
and filled the world with their fragrance and beauty.
Like all else beautiful, which He made, and pro-
nounced "good," flowers have been objects of ad-
miration and love since man's creation; and their
cultivation has ever been a type of civilization and
refinement among all people who have left written
BUBAL ABCHITECTUBE. 203
records behind them. Flowers equally become the
cottage and the palace, in their decoration. The hum-
blest cottager, and the mightiest monarch, have equally
admired their beauty and their odor ; and the whole
train of mortals between, have devoted a portion of
their time and thoughts to the development of their
peculiar properties.
But let that pass. Plain country people as we are,
there are enough of sufficient variety all around us,
to engage our attention, and give us all that we desire
to embellish our homes, and engage the time which
we have to devote to them. Among the* wild flowers,
in the mountains and hills of the farthest North, on
the margin of their hidden brooks, where
" Floats the scarc«-rooted •watercress ; "
and on their barren sides, the tiny violet and the
laurel bloom, each in their season, with unwonted
beauty ; and, sloping down on to the plains beneath,
blush out in all their summer garniture, the wild rose
and the honeysuckle. On, through the Middle States,
the lesser flowers of early spring throw out a thousand
brilliant dyes, and are surrounded by a host of sum-
mer plants, vieing with each other in the exuberance
of their tints. On the AUeghanies, through all their
vast range, grow up the magnificent dogwood, kal-
mia, and rhodendendron, spangling mile upon mile of
their huge sides and tops with white, and covering
crags and precipices of untold space with their blushing
splendor. Further west, on the prairies, and oak open-
ings, and in the deep woods, too, of the great lakes,
204 EUEAL ARCHITECTURE.
and of the Mississippi valley, with the earliest grass,
shoot up, all over the land, a succession of flowers,
which in variety and profusion of shape, and color,
and odor, outvie all the lilies of the gardens of Solo-
mon ; and so they continue till the autumnal frosts cut
down both grass and flower alike. Further south,
along the piney coast, back through the hills and over
the vast reach of cotton and sugar lands, another class
of flowers burst out from their natural coverts in equal
glory ; and the magnolia, and the tulip-tree, and the
wild orange throw a perfume along the air, like the
odors of Palestine. In the deep lagoons of the south-
ern rivers, too, float immense water-lilies, laying their
great broad leaves, and expanded white and yellow
flowers, upon the surface, which the waters of the Nile
in the days of Cleopatra never equaled. And these
are nature's wild productions only.
Flowers being cultivated, not for profit, but for show
and amusement, need not intrude upon the time which
is required to the more important labors of the farm.
A little time, given at such hours when it can be best
spared, will set all the little flower-beds in order, and
keep the required shrubbery of the place in trim — and
should not be denied in any family who enjoy a taste
for them. Even the simplest of their kind, when
carefully disposed, produce a fine effect; and the hardy
bulbous, and tuberous-rooted plants require but slight
aid in producing the highest perfection of their bloom ;
while the fibrous-rooted perenials, and the flowering
shrubs, bloom on from year to year, almost uncared for
and untouched.
BUBAL ARCHITECTURE. 205
The annuals require the most attention. Their seeds
must be planted and gathered every year ; they must
be weeded and nursed with more care than the others ;
yet they richly repay all this trouble in their fresh
bloom when the others are gone, and will carry their
rich flowers far into the frosts of autumn, when their
hardier companions have composed themselves for a
winter's rest.
The position of the flower-bed, or borders, may be
various. As a matter of taste, however, they should
be near the house, and in view of the windows of the
most frequented rooms. They thus give more enjoy-
ment in their sight, than when but occasionally seen
in special visits ; and such spots can usually be set
apart for them. If not in the way of more important
things, they should always be thus placed, where they
are ever objects of interest and attraction.
The ground which flowering plants occupy should
be devoted to them alone, and the soil be made deep
and rich. They should not be huddled up, nor crowded,
but stand well apart, and have plenty of breathing-
room for their branches and leaves, and space for the
spread of their roots. They are consumers of the fer-
tilizing gases, and require, equally with other plants,
their due supply of manures — which also adds to the
brilliance and size of their bloom, as • well as to the
growth of their stems. Their roots should be protected
in winter by coarse litter thrown over them, particu-
larly the earlier flowering plants, as it gives them an
early and rapid start in the spring.
In variety, we need scarcely recommend what may
206 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
be most desirable. The crocus, and snowdrop are
among (if not quite) the earliest in bloom ; and to
these follow the hyacinth, and daffodil, the jonquil,
and many-varied family of Narcissus, the low-headed
hearts-ease, or pansy ; with them, too, comes the flow-
ering-almond, the lilac, and another or two flowering
shrubs. Then follow the tulips, in all their gorgeous
and splendid variety of single, double, and fringed.
To these follow the great peonies, in their full, dash-
ing colors of crimson, white and pink, and the tree-
like snow-ball, or guelder-rose. By the side of these
hangs out the monthly-trumpet-honeysuckle, gracing
the columns of your veranda, porch, or window, and
the large Siberian honeysuckle, with its white and pink
flowers ; and along with them, the various Iris family,
or fleur-de-lis, reminding one of France and the Bour-
bons, the Prussian lilac, and the early phloxes. Then
blush out, in all their endless variety of shade and
tint, from the purest white to the deepest purple, the
whole vast family of roses ; and in stature, from the
humblest twig that leans its frail stem upon the ground,
up to the hardy climber, whose delicious clusters hang
over your chamber window ; and a month of fragrance
and beauty of these completes the succession of bulbs,
and tubers, and perennial plants and shrubs — scores
of which have not been noticed.
Now commence the annuals, which may carry you
a month further into the season, when the flaunting
dahlia of every hue, and budding from its plant of
every size, from the height of little Tommy, who is
jnst toddling out with his mother to watch the first
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 207
opening flower, up to the top of his father's hat, as he
stands quite six feet, to hold the little fellow up to
try to smell of another, which, like all the rest, has
no sign of odor. Then come, after a long retinue of
different things — among which we always count the
morning-glory, or convolvulus, running up the kitchen
windows, — the great sun-flower, which throws his
broad disk high over the garden fence, always cheerful,
and always glowing — the brilliant tribe of asters,
rich, varied, and beautiful, running far into the autum-
nal frosts ; and, to close our floral season, the chrysan-
themum, which, well cared-for, blooms out in the open
air, and, carefully taken up and boxed, will stay with
ns, in the house, till Christmas. Thus ends the bloom-
ing year. Now, if you would enjoy a pleasure per-
fectly pure, which has no alloy, save an occasional
disappointment by casualty, and make home interest-
ing beyond all other places, learn first to love, then to
get, and next to cultivate flowers.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
FAKM COTTAGES.
Altogether too little attention has been paid in our
country to these most useful appendages to the farm,
both in their construction and appearance. Nothing
adds more to the feeling of comfort, convenience, and
home expression in the farm, than the snug-built labor-
ers' cottage upon it. The cottage also gives the farm
an air of respectability and dignity. The laborer
should, if not so sumptuously, be as comfortably
housed and sheltered as his employer. This is quite
as much to the interest of such employer as it is bene-
ficial to the health and happiness of the laborer.
Building is so cheap in America, that the difference in
cost between a snugly-finished cottage, and a rickety,
open tenement, is hardly to be taken into consideration,
as compared with the higher health, and increased
enjoyment of the laborer and his family ; while every
considerate employer knows that cheerfulness and
contentment of disposition, which are perhaps more
promoted by good home accommodations for the work-
ingman than by any other influence, are strong incen-
tives to increased labor on his part, and more fidelity
fi its application.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 209
A landed estate, of whatever extent, with its re-
spectable farm house, in its own expressive style of
construction, relieved and set off by its attendant cot-
tages, either contiguous, or remote, and built in their
proper character, leaves nothing wanting to fill the
picture upon which one loves to gaze in the contem-
plation of country life; and without these last in
due keeping with the chief structures of the estate, a
blank is left in its completeness and finish. The little
embellishments which may be given, by way of archi-
tectural arrangement, or the conveniences in accom-
modation, are, in almost all cases, appreciated by those
who occupy them, and have an influence upon their
character and conduct ; while the trifling decorations
which may be added in the way of shrubbery, trees,
and flowering plants, costing little or nothing in their
planting and keeping, give a charm to the humblest
abode.
The position of cottages on a farm should be con-
trolled by considerations of convenience to the place
of labor, and a proper economy in their construction ;
and hardly a site can be inappropriate which ensures
these requirements. In the plans which are submitted,
due attention has been paid to the comfort of those
who inhabit them, as well as to picturesque effect in
the cottage itself. Decency, order, and respectability
are thus given to the estate, and to those who inhabit
the cottages upon it, as well as to those whose more
fortunate position in life has given the enjoyment
of a higher luxury in the occupancy of its chief
mansion.
210 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
On all estates where the principal dwelling is located
at any considerable distance from the public road, or
where approached by a side road shut off from the
highway by a gate, a small cottage, by way of lodge,
or laborer's tenement, should be located at or near the
entrance. Such appendage is not only ornamental in
itself, but gives character to the place, and security to
the enclosure ; in guarding it from improper intrusion,
as well as to receive and conduct into the premises
those who either reside upon, or have business within
it. It is thus a sort of sentry-box, as well as a laborer's
residence.
Elevation.
W.H.IO*|2.
I 5"8- 8x8
6- B.R.
13.*. 12.
H
L. R.
Plan.
Page 211.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 213
DESIGN I.
This cottage is 10 feet high, from the sill to the
plates, and may be built of wood, with a slight frame
composed of sills and plates only, and planked up
and down (vertically) and battened ; or grooved and
tongued, and matched close together; or it may be
framed throughout with posts . and studs, and covered
with rough boards, and over these clapboards, and
lathed and plastered inside. The first mode would be
the cheapest, although not so warm and durable as the
other, yet quite comfortable when warmed by a stove.
On the second plan of building, it will cost near or
quite double the amount of the first, if neatly painted.
A small brick chimney should rest upon the floor
overhead, in the side of which, at least a foot above
the chamber floor, should be inserted an earthen or
iron thimble, to receive the stovepipe and guard
against fire ; unless a flat stone, 14 to 16 inches square,
and 2 to 4 inches thick, with a pipe-hole — which is
the better plan — should rest on the floor immediately
over the pipe. This stone should be, also, the founda-
tion of the chimney, which should pass immediately
up through the ridge of the roof, and, for effect, in the
center, longitudinally, of the house. Such position
9*
214 KUEAL ARCHITECTTIRE.
will not interfere with the location of the stove, which
may be placed in any part of the room, the pipe reach-
ing the chimney by one or more elbows.
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
The main body of this cottage is 18x12 feet, with a
lean-to, 8 feet wide, running its whole length in rear.
This lean-to may be 8 or 9 inches lower, on the floor,
than the main room, and divided into a passage, (lead-
ing to an open wood-house in rear, 10x12 feet, with a
shed roof, ) a large closet, and a bedroom, as may be
required ; or, the passage end may be left open at the
side, for a wood shelter, or other useful purpose. The
roof, which is raftered, boarded, and shingled in the
usual mode, is well spread over the gables, as well as
over the front and rear — say 18 inches. The porch
in front will give additional convenience in summer,
as a place to sit, or eat under, and its posts so fitted
with grooves as to let in rough planks for winter en-
closure in front and at one end, leaving the entrance
only, at the least windy, or stormy side. The extra
cost of such preparation, with the planks, which should
be 1J or li inches thick, and jointed, would not
exceed ten or fifteen dollars. This would make an
admirable wood-house for the winter, and a perfect
snuggery for a small family. While in its summer
dress, with the porch opened — the planks taken out
and laid overhead, across the beams connecting the
porch with the house — it would present an object of
quiet comfort and beauty. A hop vine or honeysuckle
BUBAL ARCHITECTURE. 215
might be trained outside the posts, and give it all the
shade required.
In a stony country, where the adjoining enclosures
are of stone, this cottage may be built of stone, also,
at about double the cost of wood. This would save
the expense of paint, or wash of any kind, besides the
greater character of durability and substance it would
add to the establishment. Trees, of course, should
shelter it; and any little out-buildings that may be
required should be nestled under a screen of vines
and shrubbery near by.
This being designed as the humblest and cheapest
kind of cottage, where the family occupy only a single
room, the cost would be small. On the plan first
named, stained with a coarse wash, it could be built
for $100. On the second plan, well-framed of sills,
plates, posts, studs, &c. &c., covered with vertical
boarding and battens, or clapboarded, and well painted
in oil, it might cost $150 to $200. Stone, or brick,
without paint, would add but little, if anything in cost
over the last sum. The ceiling of the main floor is 8
feet high, and a low chamber or garret is afforded
above it, into which a swing-step ladder ascends ; and
when not in use, it may be hung to the ceiling over-
head by a common hook and staples.
216 BTTRAL ARCHITECTURE.
DESIGN II.
This cottage is a grade beyond the one just described,
both in appearance and accommodation. It is 20x16
feet on the ground, with a rear wing 26x8 feet in area.
The main body is 10 feet high, to the roof, vertically
boarded and battened. A snug, half-open (or it may
be closed, as convenience may require,) porch shelters
the front door, 5x4 feet in area. The cottage has a
square or hipped roof, of a 30° pitch from a horizontal
line, which spreads full two feet over the walls and
bracketed beneath. The rear wing retreats two feet
from the wall line of the main building, and has also
a hipped roof of the same pitch as the main one, with
eight-feet posts. The open end of the wing advances
6 feet toward the front of the main part for wood-house
and storage. The construction of this is in the same
style as Design I. The windows are plain, two-sashed,
of six lights each, 8x12 glass in front, and 8x10 in
the rear.
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
The front door opens into a common living room,
16x12 feet, with two windows, in which is a stove-
chimney running up from the main floor next the par-
tition, or placed over it in the chamber, and running
F i
iij K icx s
L R
12X16
B R
XIO
Fayes ^17 — 218.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 219
up tlirough the center of the roof. On one side of the
living room is a bedroom, 10x8 feet, with two win-
dows. Next to this bedroom is a large closet, 8x6
feet, with one window, and shelves, and tight cupboard
within. These rooms are 9 feet high, and over them
is a chamber, or garret, 20x16 feet, entered by a swing
step ladder, as in Design No. I. This garret is lighted
by a small dormer window in the rear roof, over the
shed or lean-to. A bed may be located in this cham-
ber, or it may serve as a storage and lumber-room.
The wing contains a small kitchen, in case the living
room be not occupied for that purpose, 10x8 feet,
lighted by a side-window, and having a small chimney
in the rear wall. It may contain, also, a small closet,
3 feet square. A door passes from this small kitchen
into the wood-house, which is 16x8 feet, or with its
advance L, 14 feet, in the extreme outer corner of
which is a water-closet, 5x3 feet ; thus, altogether, giv-
ing accommodation to a family of five or six persons.
The construction of this cottage is shown as of wood.
Other material, either brick or stone, may be used, as
most convenient, at a not much increased cost. The
expense of this building may be, say fifty per cent,
higher than that of No. I, according to the finish, and
may be sufficiently well done and painted complete for
$300 ; which may be reduced or increased, according
to the style of finish and the taste of the builder.
A cellar may be made under this cottage, which
can be reached by a trap-door from the living room,
opening to a flight of steps below.
220 BUBAL AKCHITEOTUKE.
DESIGN III.
This cottage is still in advance of No. II, in style
and arrangement, and may accommodate not only the
farm laborer or gardener, but will serve for a small
farmer himself, or a village mechanic. It is in the
French style of roof, and allied to the Italian in its
orackets, and gables, and half-terraced front. The
body of the cottage is 22x20 feet, with twelve-feet
posts ; the roof has a pitch of 50° from a horizontal
line, in its straight dimensions, curving horizontally
toward the eaves, which, together with the gables, pro-
ject 3 feet over the walls. The terrace in front is 5
feet wide. On the rear is a wood-house, 18x16 feet
in area, open at the house end, and in front, with a
roof in same style as the main house, and posts, 8 feet
high, standing on the ground, 2 feet below the surface
of the cellar wall, which supports the main building.
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
The front d^or opens, in the center of the front wall,
into a hall, 12x8 feet, with a flight of stairs on one
side, leading to the chamber above ; under the stairs,
at the upper end, is a passage leading beneath them
into the cellar. On one side of this hall is a bedroom
W H
18X16
Plan.
COTTAGE
Pages 221—22:3
RUEAL AKCHTTECTUKE. 223
8x10 feet, lighted by a window in front, and part of
the hooded double window on the side. On the inner
side, a door leads from the hall into the living room
or kitchen, 18x12 feet. On one side of this is a bed-
room, or pantry, as may be most desirable, 9x6 feet,
from which leads a close closet, 3 feet square. This
bedroom has a window on one side, next the hall. A
door from the kitchen leads into a closet, 3 feet wide,
which may contain a sink, and cupboard for kitchen
wares. The living room is lighted by a part of the
double hooded window on one side, and another on
the rear. A door leads into the wood-house, which is
12x16 feet, in the extreme corner of which is the
water-closet. 5x3 feet. The rooms in this cottage are
9 feet high. A chimney leads up from the floor of the
living room, which may receive, in addition to its own
fireplace, or stove, a pipe from the stove in the hall, if
one is placed there.
The chamber has two feet of perpendicular wall,
and the sharp roof gives opportunity for two good
lodging rooms, which may be partitioned off as con-
venience may require, each lighted by a window in
the gables, and a dormer one in the roof, for the pas-
sage leading into them.
The hall may serve as a pleasant sitting or dining-
room, in pleasant weather, opening, as it does, on to
the terrace, which is mostly sheltered by the over-
hanging roof.
The construction of this cottage may be of either
stone, brick, or wood, and produce a fine effect. Al-
though it has neither porch, nor veranda, the broad
224: BUBAL ABOHITEOTUBE.
eaves and gables give it a well-sheltered appearance,
and the hooded windows on the sides throw an air of
protection over them, quite agreeable to the eye. The
framing of this roof is no way different, in the rafters,
from those made on straight lines, but the curve and
projection is given by planks cut into proper shape,
and spiked into the rafters, and apparently supported
by the brackets below, which should be cut from two
to three-inch plank, to give them a heavy and substan-
tial appearance. The windows are in casement form,
as shown in the design, but may be changed into the
ordinary sash form, if preferred, which is, in this
country, usually the better way. It will be observed,
that we have in all cases adopted the usual square'
sided form of glass for windows, as altogether more
convenient and economical in building, simple in re-
pairing, and, we think, quite as agreeable in appear-
ance, as those out-of-the-way shapes frequently adopted
to give a more picturesque effect.
In a hilly, mountainous, and evergreen country, this
style of cottage is peculiarly appropriate. It takes
additional character from bold and picturesque scenery,
with which it is in harmony. The pine, spruce, cedar,
or hemlock, or the evergreen laurel, planted around
or near it, will give it increased effect, while among
deciduous trees and shrubs, an occasional Lombardy
poplar, and larch, will harmonize with the boldness of
its outline. Even where hill or mountain scenery is
wanting, plantations such as have been named, would
render it a pleasing style of cottage, and give agree-
able effect to its bold, sharp roof and projecting eaves
ETTEAL ARCHITECTURE. 225
In a snowy country, the plan of roof here presented
is well adapted to the shedding of heavy snows, on
which it can find no protracted lodgment. Where
massive stone walls enclose the estate, this style of
cottage will be in character, as comporting with that
strong and solid air which the rustic appearance of
stone alone can give. It may, too, receive the same
amount of outer decoration, in its shrubbery and plan-
tations, given to any other style of building of like
accommodation, and with an equally agreeable effect.
226 KUKAL ARCHITECTURE
DESIGN IV.
This cottage is still in advance of the last, in its
accommodation, and is suitable for the small farmer,
or the more liberal cottager, who requires wider room,
and ampler conveniences than are allowed by the hith-
erto described structures. It is a first class dwelling,
of its kind, and, in its details and finish, may be
adapted to a variety of occupation, while it will afford
a sufficient amount of expenditure to gratify a liberal
outlay, to him who chooses to indulge his taste in a
moderate extent of decoration and embellishment.
The ground plan of this cottage is 30x22 feet, in
light rural-Gothic style, one and a half stories high,
the posts 14 feet in elevation. It has two chimneys,
passing out through the roof on each side of the ridge,
uniformly, each with the other. The roof has a pitch
of 45° from a horizontal line, giving it a bold and
rather dashing appearance, and deeply sheltering the
walls. The side gables give variety to the roof, and
light to the chambers, and add to the finish of its
appearance ; while the sharp arched double window in
the front gable adds character to the design.
The deep veranda in front covers three-quarters of
its surface in length, and in the symmetry of its roof,
and airiness of its columns, with their light braces,
Pluu.
COT"
KUBAL ARCHITECTURE.
give it a style of completeness ; and if creeping vines
or climbing shrubs be trained upon them, will produce
an effect altogether rural and beautiful.
Or, if a rustic style of finish be adopted, to render
it cheaper in construction, the effect may still be im-
posing, and in harmony with the purposes to which it
is designed. In fact, this model will admit of a variety
of choice in finish, from the plainest to a high degree
of embellishment, as the ability or fancy of the builder
may suggest.
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
From the veranda in the center of the front, a door
opens into a hall, 17 x7 feet, with a flight of stairs
leading, in three different angles, to the chambers
above. Opposite the front door is the passage into
the living room, or parlor, !Yxl5 feet, lighted by three
windows, two of which present an agreeable view of
an adjacent stream and its opposite shores. At the
line of partition from the hall, stands a chimney, with
a fireplace, if desirable, or for a stove, to accommodate
both this room and the hall with a like convenience ;
and under the flight of stairs adjoining opens a china
closet, with spacious shelves, for the safe-keeping of
household comforts. From this room, a door leads into
a bedroom, 10x13 feet, lighted by a window opening
into the veranda, also accommodated by a stove, which
leads into a chimney at its inner partition. Next to
this bedroom is the kitchen, 12x13 feet, accommodated
with a chimney, where may be inserted an open fire-
place, or a stove, as required. In this is a flight of
230 KUEAL AJRCHITECTIIRE.
back chamber and cellar stairs. This room is lighted
by two windows — one in the side, another in the rear.
A door leads from its rear into a large, roomy pantry,
8 feet square, situated in the wing, and lighted by a
window. Next to this is a passage, 3 feet in width,
leading to the wood-house, (in which the pantry just
named is included,) 16x12 feet, with nine-feet posts,
and roof pitched like the house, in the extreme corner
of which is a water-closet, 5x3 feet. Cornering upon
the wood-house beyond, is a small building, 15x12
feet, with ten-feet posts, and a roof in same style as
the others — with convenience for a cow and a pig,
with each a separate entrance. A flight of stairs leads
to the hay-loft above the stables, in the gable of which
is the hay-door ; and under the stairs is the granary ;
and to these may be added, inside, a small accommo-
dation for a choice stock of poultry.
The chamber plan is the same as the lower floor,
mainly, giving three good sleeping-rooms ; that over
the kitchen, being a T)ack chamber, need not have a
separate passage into the upper hall, but may have a
door passage into the principal chamber. The door
to the front bedroom leads direct from the upper
hall. Thus, accommodation is given to quite a nu-
merous family. Closets may be placed in each of
these chambers, if wanted ; and the entire establish
ment made a most snug and compact, as well as
commodious arrangement.
RURAL AEOHITECTUEE. 231
COTTAGE OUTSIDE DECOKATIOtf.
Nothing so perfectly sets off a cottage, in external
appearance, as the presence of plants and shrubbery
Ifcound it. A large tree or two, by giving an air of
protection, is always in place ; and creeping vines, and
climbing shrubs about the windows and porch, are in
true character ; while a few low-headed trees, of vari-
ous kinds, together with some simple and hardy annual
and other flowers — to which should always be added,
near by, a small, well-tended kitchen garden — fill up
the picture.
In the choice of what varieties should compose these
ornaments, one can hardly be at a loss. Flanking the
cottage, and near the 3$itchen garden, should be the
fruit trees. The elm, maples, oak, and hickory, in
all their varieties, black-walnut, butternut — the last
all the better for its rich kernel — are every one appro-
priate for shade, as large trees. The hop, morning-
glory, running beans — all useful and ornamental as
summer climbers ; the clematis, bitter-sweet, ivy, any
of the climbing roses ; the lilac, syringa, snow-ball,
and the standard roses ; while marigolds, asters, pinks,
282 KTTKAL ARCHITECTURE.
the phloxes, peonies, and a few other cf the thousand-
and-one simple and charming annuals, biennials, and
perennials, with now and then a gorgeous sunflower,
flaunting in its broad glory, will fill up the catalogue.
Rare and costly plants are not required, and indeed,
are hardly in place in the grounds of an ordinary cot-
tage, unless occupied by the professional gardener.
They denote expense, which the laboring cottager can-
not afford ; and besides that, they detract from the
simplicity of the life and purpose which not only the
cottage itself, but everything around it, should express.
There is an affectation of cottage building, with sorn^e-
people who, with a seeming humilty, really aim ^
higher flights of style in living within them, than truth
of either design or purpose will admit. But as such
cases are more among villagers, and those temporarily
retiring from the city for summer residence, the farm
cottage has little to do with it. Still, such fancies are
contagious, and we have occasionally seen the ambi-
tious cottage, with its covert expression of humility,
insinuating itself on to the farm, and for the farmer's
own family occupation, too, which at once spoiled, to
the eye, the substantial reality of the whole establish-
ment. A farmer should discard all such things as
ornamental cottages. They do not belong to the farm.
If he live in a cottage himself, it should be a plain one;
yet it may be very substantial and well finished —
something showing that he means either to be content
in it, in -its character of plainness, or that he intends,
at a future day, to build something better — when this
may serve for the habitation of one of his laborers.
KURAL ARCHITECTURE. 233
The cottage should never occupy a principal, or
prominent site on the farm It should take a subor-
dinate position of ground. This adds to its expression
as subordinate in rank, among the lesser farm build-
ings. A cottage cannot, and should not aspire to be
chief in either position or character. Such should be
the farm house proper; although unpretending, still,
in style, above the cottage ; and if the latter, in addi-
tion, be required on the farm, it should so appear, both
in construction and finish ; just what it is intended
for — a tenement for economical purposes.
There is another kind of cottage, the dwellers in
O '
which, these pages will probably never reach, that
expresses, in its wild structure, and rude locality, the
idea of Moore's pretty song —
" I knew by the smoke that so gracefully curled
Above the green elms, that a cottage was near."
Yet, in some parts of our country, landlords may build
Biich, for the accommodation of tenants, which they
may make useful on the outskirts of their estates, and
add indirectly to their own convenience and interest in
so doing. This may be indulged in, poetically too — for
almost any thinking man has a spice of poetry in his
composition — vagabondism, a strict, economizing utili-
tarian would call it. The name matters not. One
may as well indulge his taste in this cheap sort of
charitable expenditure, as another may indulge, in his
dogs, and guns, his horses and equipages — and the
first is far the cheapest. They, at the west and south,
understand this, whose recreations are occasionally
234: BUBAL AKCHITECTT7BE.
with their hounds, in chase of the deer, and the fox,
and in their pursuit spend weeks of the fall and winter
months, in which they are accompanied, and assisted,
as boon companions for the time, by the rude tenants
of the cottages we have described :
" A cheerful, simple, honest people."
Another class of cottage may come within the farm
enclosures, half poetical, and half economical, such as
Milton describes :
" Hard by a cottage chimney smokes,
From betwixt two aged oaks ; "
and occupied by a family pensioner and his infirm old
wife — we don't think all "poor old folks" ought to
go to the alms-house, because they cannot work every
day of the year — of which all long-settled families of
good estate have, now and then, one near to, or upon
their premises. Thousands of kind and liberal hearts
among our farming and planting brethren, whose im-
Dulses are —
"Open as the day to melting charity,"
are familiar with the wants of those who are thus made
their dependents; and in their accommodation, an eye
may be kept to the producing of an agreeable effect in
locating their habitations, and to rudely embellish,
rather than to mar the domain on which they may be
lodged.
In short, cottage architecture, in its proper character,
may be made as effective, in all the ornament which it
should give to the farm, as that of any other structure ;
ETJKAL ARCHITECTURE. 235
and if those who have occasion for the cottage will
only be content to build and maintain it as it should
be, and leave off that perpetual aspiration after some-
thing unnatural, and foreign to its purpose, which so
many cottage builders of the day attempt, and let it
stand in its own humble, secluded character, they will
save themselves a world of trouble, and pass for —
what they now do not — men possessing a taste for
truth and propriety in their endeavors.
HOUSE AND COTTAGE FUKjSTITURE.
This is a subject so thoroughly discussed in the
books, of late, that anything which may here be said,
would avail but little, inasmuch as our opinions might
be looked upon as "old-fashioned," " out of date," and
" of no account whatever," — for wonderfully modern
notions in room-furnishing have crept into the farm
house, as well as into town houses. Indeed, we confess
to altogether ancient opinions in regard to household
furniture, and contend, that, with a few exceptions,
" modern degeneracy " has reached the utmost stretch
of absurdity, in house-furnishing, to which the ingenu-
ity of man can arrive. Fashions in furniture change
about as often as the cut of a lady's dress, or the shape
of her bonnet, and pretty much from the same source,
10
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
too — the fancy shops of Pare", once, in good old Eng-
lish, Paris, the capital city of France. A farmer, rich
or poor, may spend half his annual income, every year
of his life, in taking down old, and putting up new
furniture, and be kept uncomfortable all the time;
when, if he will, after a quiet, good-tempered talk
with his better-half, agree with her upon the list of
necessary articles to make them really comfortable;
and then a catalogue of what shall comprise the luxu-
rious part of their furnishings, which, when provided,
they will fixedly make up their mind to keep, and be
content with, they will remain entirely free from one
great source of " the ills which flesh is heir to."
It is pleasant to see a young couple setting out in
their housekeeping life, well provided with convenient
and properly-selected furniture, appropriate to all the
uses of the family ; and then to keep, and use it, and
enjoy it, like contented, sensible people ; adding to it,
now and then, as its wear, or the increasing wants of
their family may require. Old, familiar things, to
which we have long been accustomed, and habituated,
make up a round share of our actual enjoyment. A
family addicted to constant change in their household
furniture, attached to nothing, content with nothing,
and looking with anxiety to the next change of fashion
which shall introduce something new into the house,
can take no sort of comfort, let their circumstances be
ever so affluent. It is a kind of dissipation in which
some otherwise worthy people are prone to indulge,
but altogether pernicious in the indulgence. It de-
tracts, also, from the apparent respectability of a family
KURAI ARCHITECTURE. 237
to find nothing old about them — as if they themselves
were of yesterday, and newly dusted out of a modern
shop-keeper's stock in trade. The furniture of a house
ought to look as though the family within it once had a
grandfather — and as if old things had some veneration
from those who had long enjoyed their service.
We are not about to dictate, of what fashion house-
hold furniture should be, when selected, any further
than that of a plain, substantial, and commodious
fashion, and that it should comport, so far as those
requirements in it will admit, with the approved modes
of the day. But we are free to say, that in these times
the extreme of absurdity, and unfitness for use, is more
the fashion than anything else. What so useless as
the modern French chairs, standing on legs like pipe-
stems, garote-ing your back like a rheumatism, and
frail as the legs of a spider beneath you, as you sit in
it; and a tribe of equally worthless incumbrances,
Avhich absorb your money in their cost, and detract
from your comfort, instead of adding to it, when you
have got them ; or a bedstead so high that you must
have a ladder to climb into it, or so low as to scarcely
keep you above the level of the floor, when lying on
it. No; give us the substantial, the easy, the free,
and enjoyable articles, and the rest may go to tickle
the fancy of those, who have a taste for them. Nor do
these flashy furnishings add to one's rank in society,
or to the good opinion of those whose consideration is
most valuable. Look into the houses of those people
who are the really substantial, and worthy of the land.
There will be found little of such frippery with them
KUKAL ARCHITECTURE.
Old furniture, well-preserved, useful in 6 very tiling,
mark the well-ordered arrangement of their rooms, and
give an air of quietude, of comfort, and of hospitality
to their apartments. Children cling to such objects in
after life, as heir-looms of affection and parental regard.
Although we decline to give specific directions about
what varieties of furniture should constitute the fur-
nishings of a house, or to illustrate its style or fashion
by drawings, and content ourself with the single re-
mark, that it should, in all cases, be strong, plain, and
durable — no sham, nor ostentation about it — and
such as is made for use : mere trinkets stuck about
the room, on center tables, in corners, or on the man-
tel-piece, are the foolishest things imaginable. They
are costly ; they require a world of care, to keep them
in condition ; and then, with all this care, they are
good for nothing, in any sensible use. We have fre-
quently been into a country house, where we antici-
pated better things, and, on being introduced into the
"parlor," actually found everything in the furniture
line so dainty and "prinked up," that we were afraid
to sit down on the frail tilings stuck around by way of
seats, for fear of breaking them ; and everything about
it looked so gingerly and inhospitable, that we felt an
absolute relief when we could fairly get out of it, and
take a place by the wide old fireplace, in the common
living room, comfortably ensconced in a good old easy,
high-backed, split-bottomed chair — there was positive
comfort in that, when in the " parlor" there was noth-
ing but restraint and discomfort. No ; leave all this
vanity to town-folk, who have nothing better — or
KURAL AKOHITEOTUBE.
who, at least, think they have — to amuse themselves
with; it has no fitness for a country dwelling, what-
ever. All this kind of frippery smacks of the board-
ing school, the pirouette, and the dancing master, and
is out of character for the farm, or the sensible retire-
ment of the country.
In connection with the subject of furniture, a remark
may be made on the room arrangement of the house,
which might, perhaps, have been more fittingly made
when discussing that subject, in the designs of our
houses. Some people have a marvellous propensity
for introducing into their houses a suite of rooms, con-
nected by wide folding-doors, which must always be
opened into each other, furnished just alike, and de-
voted to extraordinary occasions ; thus absolutely sink-
ing the best rooms in the house, for display half a
dozen times in the year, and at the sacrifice of the
every-day comfort of the family. This is nothing but
a bastard taste, of the most worthless kind, introduced
from the city — the propriety of which, for city life,
need not here be discussed. The presence of such
arrangement, in a country house, is fatal to everything
like domestic enjoyment, and always followed by great
expense and inconvenience. No room, in any house,
should be too good for occupation by the family them-
selves— not every-day, and common-place — but occu-
pation at any and all times, when convenience or plea-
sure demand it. If a large room be required, let the
single room itself be large ; not sacrifice an extra room
to the occasional extension of the choicer one, as in
the use of folding-doors must be done. This " parlor "
240 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
may be better furnished — and so it should be — than
any other room in the house. Its carpet should be not
too good to tread, or stand upon, or for the children to
roll and tumble upon, provided their shoes and clothes
be clean. Let the happy little fellows roll and tumble
on it, to their heart's content, when their mother or
elder sisters are with them — for it may be, perhaps,
the most joyous, and most innocent pleasure of their
lives, poor things ! The hearth-rug should be in keep-
ing with the carpet, also, and no floor-cloth should be
necessary to cover it, for fear of soiling; but every-
thing free and easy, with a comfortable, inviting,
hospitable look about it.
Go into the houses of our great men — such as live
in the country — whom God made great, not money —
and see how they live. We speak not of statesmen
and politicians alone, but great merchants, great schol-
ars, great divines, great mechanics, and all men who,
in mind and attainments, are head and shoulder above
their class in any of the walks of life, and you find no
starch, or flummery about them. We once went out
to the country house — he lived there all the time, for
that matter — of a distinguished banker of one of our
great cities, to dine, and spend the day with him. He
had a small farm attached to his dwelling, where he
kept his horses and cows, uis pigs, and his poultry.
He had a large, plain two-story cottage house, with
a piazza running on three sides of it, from which a
beautiful view of the neighboring city, and water,
and land, was seen in nearly all directions. He was
an educated man. His father had been a statesman of
EUEAL ARCHITECTURE. 241
distinguished ability and station at home, and a diplo-
matist abroad, and himself educated in the highest cir-
cles of business, and of society. His wife, too, was
the daughter of a distinguished city merchant, quite
his equal in all the accomplishments of life. His own
wealth was competent ; he was the manager of mil-
lions of the wealth of others ; and his station in society
was of the highest. Yet, with all this claim to pre-
tension, his house did not cost him eight thousand dol-
lars— and he built it by "days-work," too, so as to
have it faithfully done ; and the furniture in it, aside
from library, paintings, and statuary, never cost him
three thousand. Every room in it was a plain one,
not more highly finished than many a farmer's house
can afford. The furniture of every kind was plain,
saving, perhaps, the old family plate, and such as he
had added to it, which was all substantial, and made for
use. The younger children — and of these, younger
and older, he had several — we found happy, healthy,
cheerful, and frolicking on the carpets ; and their wor-
thy mother, in the plainest, yet altogether appropriate
garb, was sitting among them, at her family sewing,
and kindly welcomed us as we took our seats in front
of the open, glowing fireplace. " Why, sir," we ex-
claimed, rubbing our hands in the comfortable glow of
warmth which the fire had given — for it was a cold
December day — " you are quite plain, as well as won-
derfully comfortable, in your country house — 'quite
different from your former city residence ! " " To .be
sure we are," was the reply ; " we stood it as long as
we could, amid the starch and the gimcracks of
242 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
street, where we rarely had a day to ourselves, and
the children could never go into the streets but they
must be tagged and tasselled, in their dress, into all
sorts of discomfort, merely for the sake of appearance.
So, after standing it as long as we could, my wife and
I determined we would try the country, for a while,
and see what we could make of it. We kept our town-
house, into which we returned for a winter or two ; but
gave it up for a permanent residence here, with which
we are perfectly content. "We see here all the friends
we want to see ; we all enjoy ourselves, and the chil-
dren are healthy and happy." And this is but a speci-
men of thousands of families in the enjoyment of
country life, including the families of men in the
highest station, and possessed of sufficient wealth.
Why, then, should the farmer ape the fashion, and
the frivolity of the butterflies of town life, or permit
his family to do it? It is the sheerest possible folly in
him to do so. Yet, it is a folly into which many are
imperceptibly gliding, and which, if not reformed, will
ultimately lead to great discomfort to themselves, and
ruin to their families. Let thoughtless people do as
they choose. Pay no attention to their extravagance ;
but watch them for a dozen years, and see how they
come out in their fashionable career ; and observe the
fate of their families, as they get " established " in the
like kind of life. He who keeps aloof from such temp-
tation, will then have no cause to regret that he has
maintained his own steady course of living, and taught
his sons and daughters that a due attention to their
own comfort, with economical habits in everything
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 243
relating to housekeeping, will be to their lasting benefit
in future.
But, we have said enough to convey the ideas in
house-furnishing we would wish to impart; and the
reader will do as he, or she, no doubt, would have
done, had we not written a word about it — go and
select such as may strike their own fancy.
We received, a day or two since, a letter from a
person at the west, entirely unknown to us, whose
ideas so entirely correspond with our own, that we
give it a place, as showing that a proper taste does
prevail among many people in this country, in regard
to buildings, and house-furnishings ; and which we
trust he will pardon us for publishing, as according
entirely with our own views, in conclusion :
-, ILL, Dec. 18, 1851.
DEAR SIB, — I received, a few days since, a copy of
the first number of a periodical called the " Plough,"
into which is copied the elevation of a design for a
farm house, purporting to be from a forthcoming work
of yours, entitled " Rural Architecture." Although a
perfect stranger to you, you will perhaps allow me to
make one or two suggestions.
I have seen no work yet, which seems fully to meet
the wants of our country people in the matter of fur-
niture. After having built their houses, they need
showing how to furnish them in the cheapest, most
neat, comfortable, convenient, and substantial manner.
The furniture should be designed for use, not merely
for show. I would have it plain, but not coarse — just
10*
244 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
enough for the utmost convenience, but nothir g super-
fluous. The articles of furniture figured, and partially
described in the late works on those subjects, are
mostly of too elaborate and expensive a cast to be gen-
erally introduced into our country houses. There is
too much ndbobery about them to meet the wants, or
suit the taste of the plain American farmer.
As to out-houses — the barn, stable, carriage and
wagon-house, tool-house, piggery, poultry-house, coii-
crib, and granary, (to say nothing of the " rabbit-wai-
ren" and "dovecote,") — are necessary appendages of
the farm house. !N"ow, as cheapness is one great de-
sideratum with nearly all our new beginners in this
western region, it seems to me, that such plans as will
conveniently include the greatest number of these
under the same roof, will be best suited to their neces-
sities. I do not mean to be understood that, for the
sake of the first cost, we should pay no regard to the
appearance, :>r that we should slight our work, or suffer
it to be constructed of flimsy or perishable materials :
we should not only have an eye to taste and durability,
but put in practice the most strict economy.
I hope, in the above matters, you may be able to
furnish something better suited to the necessities and
means of our plain farmers, than has been done by
any of your predecessors.
I remain, &c., most respectfully yours,
BTJRAL ARCHITECTUKE. 245
Having completed the series of Designs for dwelling
houses, which we had proposed for this work, and fol-
lowed them out with such remarks as were thought
fitting to attend them, we now pass on to the second
part of our subject : the out-buildings of the farm, in
which are to be accommodated the domestic animals
which make up a large item of its economy and man-
agement; together with other buildings which are
necessary to complete its requirements. We trust that
they will be found to be such as the occasion, and the
wants of the farmer may demand; and in economy,
accommodation, and extent, be serviceable to those for
whose benefit they are designed.
246 BUBAL ARCHITECTURE.
AN APIAEY, OE BEE-HOUSE.
Every farmer should keep bees — provided he have
pasturage for them, on his own land, or if a proper
range for their food and stores lie in his immediate
vicinity. Bees are, beyond any other domestic stock,
economical in their keeping, to their owners. Still
they require care, and that of no inconsiderable kind,
and skill, in their management, not understood by
every one who attempts to rear them. They ask no
food, they require no assistance, in gathering their
daily stores, beyond that of proper housing in the
cheapest description of tenement, and with that they
are entirely content. Yet, without these, they are a
contingent, and sometimes a troublesome appendage
to the domestic stock of the farm.
"We call them domestic. In one sense they are so ;
in another, they are as wild and untamed as when buz-
zing and collecting their sweets in the vineyard of
Timnath, where the mighty Sampson took their honey
from the carcass of the dead lion ; or, as when John
the Baptist, clothed with camel's hair, ate "locusts
and wild honey" in the arid wastes of Palestine.
Although kept in partial bondage for six thousand
years, the ruling propensity of the bee is to seek a
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 247
home and shelter in the forest, when it emerges in a
swarm from the parent hive ; and no amount of domes-
tic accommodation, or kindness of treatment, will in-
duce it willingly to migrate from its nursery habitation
to another by its side, although provided with the
choicest comforts to invite its entrance. It will soon
fly to the woods, enter a hollow and dilapidated tree,
and carve out for itself its future fortunes, amid a
world of labor and apparent discomfort. The bee, too,
barring its industry, patience, and sweetened labors, is
an arrant thief — robbing its nearest neighbors, with
impunity, when the strongest, and mercilessly slaugh-
tering its weaker brethren, when standing in the way
of its rapacity. It has been extolled for its ingenuity,
its patience, its industry, its perseverance, and its vir-
tue. Patience, industry, and perseverance it has,
beyond a~ doubt, and in a wonderful degree ; but in-
genuity, and virtue, it has none, more than the spider,
who spins his worthless web, or the wasp, who stings
you when disturbing his labors. Instinct, the bee has,
like all animals ; but of kind feeling, and gratitude, it
has nothing; and with all our vivid nursery remem-
brance of good Doctor Watts' charming little hymn —
"How doth the little busy bee," (fee. <fec.,
we have long ago set it down as incorrigible to kind
treatment, or charitable sympathy, and looked upon it
simply as a thing to be treated kindly for the sake of
its labors, and as composing one of that delightful
family of domestic objects which make our homes
attractive, pleasant, and profitable.
248 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
The active labors of the bee, in a bright May or
June morning, as they fly, in their busy order, back
and forth from their hives, or the soothing hum of their
playful hours, in a summer's afternoon, are among the
most delightful associations of rural life ; and as a
luxury to the sight, and the ear, they should be asso-
ciated with every farmer's home, and with every
laborer's cottage, when practicable. And as their due
accommodation is to be the object of our present
writing, a plan is presented for that object.
In many of the modern structures held out for imi-
tation, the bee-house, or apiary, is an expensive, pre-
tentious affair, got up in an ambitious way, with efforts
at style, in the semblance of a temple, a pagoda, or
other absurdity, the very appearance of which frightens
the simple bee from its propriety, and in which we
never yet knew a colony of them to become, and remain
successful. The insect is, as we have observed, wild
and untamable — a savage in its habits, and rude in
its temper. It rejects all cultivated appearances, and
seeks only its own temporary convenience, together
with comfortable room for its stores, and the increase
of its kind ; and therefore, the more rustic and simple
its habitation, the better is it pleased with its position.
The bee-house should front upon a sheltered and
sunny aspect. It should be near the ground, in a clean
and quiet spot, free from the intrusion of other crea-
tures, either human or profane, and undisturbed by
noisome smells, and uncouth sounds — for it loathes all
these instinctively, and loves nothing so much as the
wild beauty of nature itself. The plan here presented
BTTRAT. A-ROHTTKCrJKE.
249
U U U LJ
U U Li
«• 5 < 7 » 5 « 3 IT
GROUND PLAN.
250 BTTKAL ARCHITECTURE.
is of the plainest and least expensive kind. Nine
posts, or crutches, are set into the ground sufficiently
deep to hold them firm, and to secure them from heav-
ing out by the frost. The distance of these posts apart
may be according to the size of the building, and to
give it strength enough to resist the action of the wind.
The front posts should be 9 feet high, above the ground ;
the rear posts should be V feet — that a man, with his
hat on, may stand upright under them — and 6 feet
from the front line. The two end posts directly in the
rear of the front corner posts, should be 3 feet back
from them, and on a line to accommodate the pitch of
the roof from the front to the rear. A light plate is to
be fitted on the top line of the front posts ; a plate at
each end should run back to the posts in rear, and
then another cross-plate, or girt, from each one of these
middle posts, to the post in rear of all, to meet the
plate which surmounts this rear line of posts ; and a
parallel plate, or rafter, should be laid from the two
intermediate posts at the ends, to connect them, and
for a central support to the roof. Intermediate central
posts should also be placed opposite those in front, to
support the central plate, and not exceeding 12 feet
apart. A shed roof, of boards, or shingles, tightly
laid, should cover the whole, sufficiently projecting
over the front, rear, and sides, to give the house abun-
dant shelter, and make it architecturally agreeable to
the eye — say 12 to 18 inches, according to its extent.
A corner board should drop two feet below the plate,
with such finish, by way of ornament, as may be desir-
able. The ends should be tightly boarded up against
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 251
the weather, from bottom to top. The rear should also
be tightly boarded, from the bottom up to a level with
the stand inside, for the hives, and from 15 to 18 inches
above that to the roof. Fitted into the space thus left
in the rear, should be a light, though substantial, swing
door, hung from the upper boarding, made in sections,
extending from one post to the other, as the size of
the house may determine, and secured with hooks, or
buttons, as may be convenient. The outside of the
structure is thus completed.
The inside arrangement for the hives, may be made
in two different ways, as the choice of the apiarian
may govern in the mode in which his hives are secured.
The most usual is the stand method, which may be
made thus : At each angle, equidistant, say 18 to 24
inches, inside, from the rear side and ends of the build-
ing — as shown in the ground plan — and opposite to
each rear and end post, suspend perpendicularly a line
of stout pieces of two-inch plank, 4 inches wide, well
spiked on to the rafters above, reaching down within
two feet of the ground — which is to hold up the bottom
of the stand on which the hives are to rest. From
each bottom end of these suspended strips, secure
another piece of like thickness and width, horizontally
back to the post in rear of it, at the side and ends.
Then, lengthwise the building, and turning the angles
at the ends, and resting on these horizontal pieces just
described, lay other strips, 3x2 inches, set edgewise —
one in front, and another in rear, inside each post and
suspended strip, and close to it, and secured by heavy
nails, so that there shall be a double line of these
252 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
strips on a level, extending entirely around the inte-
rior, from the front at each end. This forms the hang-
ing frame-work for the planks or boards on which the
hives are to rest.
Now for the hives. First, let as many pieces of
sound one and a half, or two-inch plank as you have
hives to set upon them, be cut long enough to reach
from the boarding on the rear and ends of the build-
ing, to one inch beyond, and projecting over the front
of the outer strip last described. Let these pieces of
plank be well and smoothly planed, and laid length-
wise across the aforesaid strips, not less than four
inches apart from each other — if a less number of
hives be in the building than it will accommodate at
four inches apart, no matter how far apart they may
be — these pieces of plank are the ferms for the hives,
on which they are to sit. And, as we have for many
years adopted the plan now described, with entire
success, a brief description is given of our mode of
hive, and' the process for obtaining the surplus honey.
"We say surplus, for destroying the bees to obtain their
honey, is a mode not at all according to our notions of
economy, or mercy ; and we prefer to take that honey
only which the swarm may make, after supplying their
own wants, and the stores for their increasing family.
This process is given in the report of a committee of
gentlemen appointed by the New York State Agricul-
tural Society, on a hive which we exhibited on that
occasion, with the following note attached, at their
ehow at Buffalo, in 1848 :
BUBAL ARCHITECTURE. 253
" I have seen, examined, and used several different
plans of patent hive, of which there are probably thirty
invented, and used, more or less. I have found all
which I have ever seen, unsatisfactory, not carrying
out in full, the benefits claimed for them.
"The bee works, and lives, I believe, solely by in-
stinct. I do not consider it an inventive, or very
ingenious insect. To succeed well, its accommodations
should be of the simplest and securest form. Therefore,
instead of adopting the complicated plans of many of
the patent hives, I have made, and used a simple box,
like that now before you, containing a cube of one foot
square inside — made of one and a quarter inch sound
pine plank, well jointed and planed on all sides, and
put together perfectly tight at the joints, with white
lead ground in oil, and the inside of the hive at the
bottom champered off to three-eighths of an inch thick,
with a door for the bees in front, of four inches long
by three-eighths of an inch high. I do this, that there
may be a thin surface to come in contact with the shelf
on which they rest, thus preventing a harbor for the
bee-moth. (I have never used a patent hive which
would exclude the bee-moth, nor any one which would
so well do it as this, having never been troubled with
that scourge since I used this tight hive.) On the top
of the hive, an inch or two from the front, is made a
passage for the bees, of an inch wide, and six to eight
inches long, to admit the bees into an upper hive for
surplus honey, (which passage is covered, when no
vessel for that purpose is on the top.) For obtaining
the honey, I use a common ten or twelve-quart water
254 BUBAL ABCHITECTUBE.
pail, inverted, with the bail turned over, in which the
bees deposit their surplus, like the sample before you.
The pail will hold about twenty pounds of honey.
This is simple, cheap, and expeditious; the pail cost-
ing not exceeding twenty-five cents, is taken off in a
moment, the bail replaced, and the honey ready for
transportation, or market, and always in place. If
there is time for more honey to be made, (my bees
made two pails-full in succession this year,) another
pail can be put on at once.
" Such, gentlemen, in short, is my method. I have
kept bees about twenty years. I succeed better on this
plan than with any other."
In addition to this, our hives are painted white, or
other light color, on the outside, to protect them from
warping, and as a further security against the bee-
moth, or miller, which infests and destroys so many
carelessly-made hives, as to discourage the efforts of
equally careless people in keeping them. Inside the
hive, on each end, we fasten, by shingle nails, about
half-way between the bottom and top, a small piece rf
half-inch board, about the size of a common wind »w
button, and with a like notch in it, set upward, but
stationary, on whichj when the hive is to receive the
swarm, a stick is laid across, to support the comb as
is built, from falling in hot weather. At such time,
also, when new, and used for the first time, the under-
side of the top is scratched with the tines of a table
fork, or a nail, so as to make a rough surface, to which
the new comb can be fastened. In addition to the pails
KTJRAL ARCHITECTURE. 255
on the top of the hives, to receive the surplus honey,
we sometimes use a flat box, the size of the hive in
diameter, and six or seven inches high inside, which
will hold twenty-five to thirty pounds of honey. The
pails we adopted as an article of greater convenience
for transporting the honey.
The other plan of arranging the hives alluded to, is
suspending them between the strips before described,
by means of cleats secured on to the front and rear
sides of the hive, say two-thirds the way up from the
bottom. In such case, the strips running lengthwise
the house must be brought near enough together to
receive the hives as hung by the cleats, and the bottom-
boards, or forms, must be much smaller than those
already described, and hung with wire hooks and sta-
ples to the sides, with a button on the rear, to close
up, or let them down a sufficient distance to admit
the air to pass freely across them, and up into the
hive — Weeks' plan, in fact, for which he has a patent,
together with some other fancied improvements, such
as chambers to receive the boxes for the deposit of
surplus honey. This, by the way, is the best "patent"
we have seen ; and Mr. Weeks having written an in-
genious and excellent treatise on the treatment of the
bee, we freely recommend his book to the attention of
every apiarian who wishes to succeed in their manage-
ment. As a rule, we have no confidence in patent
liives. We have seen scores of them, of different
kinds, have tried several of great pretension to sundry
virtues — such as excluding moths, and other marvel-
ous benefits — and, after becoming the victim of bee
256 RURAI, AUCHITECTUKE.
empirics to the tune of many a dollar, have thrown
aside the gimcracks, and taken again to a common-
sense method of keeping our bees, as here described
The bees themselves, we feel bound to say, seem to
hold these patent-right habitations in quite as sovereign
contempt as ourself, reluctantly going into them, and
getting out of them at the first safe opportunity. But,
as a treatise on bee-keeping is not a part of this present
work, we must, for further information, commend the
inquirer on that subject to some of the valuable trea-
tises extant, on so prolific a subject, among which we
name those of Bevan, Weeks, and Miner.
The bee-house should be thoroughly whitewashed
inside every spring, and kept clean of cobwebs,
wasp's nests, and vermin ; and it may be painted out-
side, a soft and agreeable color, in keeping with the
other buildings of the farm. Its premises should be
clean, and sweet. The grass around should be kept
mowed close. Low trees, or shrubbery, should stand
within a few yards of it, tliat the new swarms may
light upon them when coming out, and not, for want
of such settling places, be liable to loss from flying
away. It should, also, be within sight and hearing,
and at no great distance from a continually-frequented
room in the dwelling — perhaps the kitchen, if con-
venient, that, in their swarming season, they may be
secured as they leave the parent hive. The apiary is
a beautiful object, with its busy tenantry ; and to the
invalid, or one who loves to look upon God's tiny
creatures, it may while away many an agreeable
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 257
hour, in watching their labors — thus adding pleasure
to profit.
The cost of a bee-house, on the plan given, may be
from ten to fifty dollars, according to the price of
material, and the amount of labor expended upon it.
It should not be an expensive structure, in any event,
as its purpose does not warrant it. If a gimcrack
affair be wanted, for the purposes of ornament, or ex-
pense, any sum of money may be squandered upon it
which the fancy of its builder may choose tr. epaie,
25S KUEAL ARCHITECTURE.
AN ICE-HOUSE.
Among the useful and convenient appendages to the
farm and country family establishment, is the ice-
house. Different from the general opinion which pre-
vailed in our country before ice became so important
an article of commerce, and of home consumption, the
building which contains it should stand above-ground,
instead of below it. And the plainer and more simple
it can be constructed, the better.
The position of the ice-house may be that which is
most convenient to the dwelling, or to the wants of
those who use it. If it can be placed beneath the
shade of trees, it will so far be relieved from the influ-
ence of the sun ; but it should be so constructed that
sunshine will not affect the ice within it, even if it
stand unsheltered ; and as it has, by the ice-merchants
of our eastern cities, who put up large quantities for
exportation abroad, and others in the interior, who
furnish ice in quantity 'for home consumption, been
proved to be altogether the better plan to build the
ice-house entirely above ground, we shall present no
other mode of construction than this. It may be
added, that five years' experience with one of our own
BUBAL ABOHTTECTUBE. 259
building, has confirmed our opinion of the superiority
of this over any other plan which may be adopted.
The design here presented is of the most economical
kind, yet sufficiently ornamental to make it an agree-
able appendage to any family establishment. The size
may be 12 feet square — less than that would be too
small for keeping ice well — and from that up to any
required extent. The idea here given is simply the
principle of construction. The posts should be full
eight feet high above the ground, to where the plate
of the roof is attached, and built thus :
Mark out your ground the size you require for the
house ; then, commencing at one corner, dig, opposite
each other, a double set of holes, one foot deep, and
two and a half feet apart, on each side of the intended
building, say three feet equidistant, so that when the
posts stand up they will present a double set, one and
a half feet apart. Then set in your posts, which should
be of oak, chestnut, or some lasting wood, and pack
the earth firmly around them. If the posts are sawed,
they may be 4x6 inches in size, set edgeways toward
each other. If not sawed, they may be round sticks
cut from the woods, or split from the body of a tree,
quartered — but sizable, so as to appear decent — and
the insides facing each other as they stand up, lined to
a surface to receive the planking. Of course, when
the posts are set in the ground, they are to show a
square form, or skeleton of what the building is to be
when completed. When this is done, square off the
top of each post to a level, all round ; then frame, or
spike on to each line of posts a plate, say six inches
f HUt
f
CKUKNl) 1'LAS.
ETJEAL AKCHITECTURE. 261
wide, and four to six inches deep, and stay the two
plates together strongly, so as to form a double frame.
Now, plank, or board up closely the inside of each
line of posts, that the space between them shall be a
fair surface. Cut out, or leave out a space for a door
i\ the center of the side where you want it, two and a
ialf or three feet wide, and six and a half feet highy
and board up the inner partition sides of this opening,
so as to form a door-casing on each side, that the space
between the two lines of posts may be a continuous box
all around. Then fill up this. space between the posts
with moist tan-bark, or saw-dust, well packed from
the ground up to the plates ; and the body of the house
is inclosed, sun-proof, and air-proof, to guard the ice.
Now lay down, inside the building, some sticks —
not much matter what, so that they be level — and on
them lay loose planks or boards, for a floor. Cover
this floor with a coating of straw, a foot thick, and it
is ready to receive the ice.
For the roof, take common 3x4 joists, as rafters;
or, in place of them, poles from the woods, long enough,
in a pitch of full 35° from a horizontal line, to carry
the roof at least four feet over the outside of the plates,
and secure the rafters well, by pins or spikes, to them.
Then board over and shingle it, leaving a small aper-
ture at the top, through which run a small pipe, say
eight inches in diameter — a stove-crock will do — for
a ventilator. Then set in, 4 little posts, say two feet
high — as in the design — throw a little four-sided,
pointed cap on to the top of these posts, and the roof
is done. If you want to ornament the under side of
KUEAL AKCHITECTUKE.
the roof, in a rude way — and we would advise it-
take some pieces of 3x4 scantling, such, as were used
for the roof, if the posts are of sawed stuif — if not,
rough limbs of trees from the woods, to match the
rough posts of the same kind, and fasten them to
the posts and the under side of the roof, by way of
brackets, as shown in the design.
When the ice is put into the house, a close floor of
boards should be laid on joists, which rest on the
plates, loosely, so that this floor can be removed when
putting in ice, and that covered five or six inches deep
with tan, or saw-dust — straw will do, if the other can
not be had — and the inside arrangement is complete.
Two doors should be attached to the opening, where
the ice is put in and taken out ; one on the inner side
of the lining, and the other on the outer side, both
opening out. Tan, saw-dust, or straw should also be
placed on the top of the ice, when put in, so as to keep
the air from it as much as possible ; and as the ice is
removed, it will settle down upon, and still preserve it.
Care must be taken to have a drain under the floor of
the house, to pass off the water which melts from the
ice, as it would, if standing there, injure its keeping.
It will be seen, that, by an error in the cut of the
ground plan, the inside line of posts does not show, as
in the outer line, which they should do ; nor is the out-
side door inserted, as is shown in the elevation. These
defects, however, will be rectified by the builder.
We have given considerable thought to this subject,
and can devise no shape to the building more appro-
priate than this, nor one cheaper in construction. It
BUBAL ABCHTTEOTUBE. 263
may be built for fifty to a hundred dollars, according
to the cost of material and labor, and the degree of
finish given to it.
It is hardly worth while to expatiate upon the con-
venience and economy of an ico-house, to an Ameri-
can. Those who love well-kept meats, fruits, butter,
milk, and various etceteras for the table, understand
its utility well ; to say nothing of the cooling draughts,
in the way of drinks, in hot weather, to which it
adds — when not taken to extremes — such positive
luxury. We commend the ice-house, well-filled, most
heartily, to every good country housekeeper, as a
matter of convenience, economy, and luxury, adding
next to nothing to the living expenses, and, as an
appendage to the main buildings, an item of little cost,
and a considerable degree of ornament.
If an under-ground ice-house be preferred to the
plan here shown, a side hill, or bank, with a northerly
exposure, is the best location for it ; and the manner
of building should be mainly like this, for the body of
the house. The roof, however, should be only two-
sided, and the door for putting in and taking out the
ice may be in the gable, on the ground level. The
drainage under the floor, and precautions for keeping
the :?,e, should be quite as thorough as we have de-
scribed; as, otherwise, the earth surrounding it on
three sides, at least, of the house, will be a ready con-
ductor of warmth, and melt the ice with great rapidity.
If the under-ground plan is adopted, but little more
than the roof will show, and of course, be of littte
ornament in the way of appearance.
264 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
THE ASH-HOUSE AND SMOKE-HOUSE.
These two objects may, both for convenience and
economy, be well combined under one roof; and we
have thus placed them in connection. The building is
an exceedingly simple structure, made of stone, or
brick ; the body 10 feet high, and of such size as may
be desirable, with a simple roof, and a plain, hooded
chimney.
In the ground plan will be seen a brick, or stone
partition — which may extend to such height as may be
necessary to contain the bulk of ashes required for stor-
age within it — on one side of the building, to which
a door gives access. The opposite side, and overhead,
is devoted to the smoke-house, in which the various
girts and hooks may be placed, for sustaining the
meats to be smoked. The building should be tied
together by joists at the plates, properly anchored into
the walls, to prevent their spreading. A stove, or
pans, or neither, as the method of keeping the smoke
alive may govern, can be placed inside, to which the
chimney in the roof may serve as a partial escape,
or not, as required. The whole process is so simple,
ASH HOUSE AND SMOKE HOUSE.
99816 f & » t f 0
GROUND PLAN.
266 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
and so easily understood, that further explanation is
unnecessary.
A great advantage that a house of this construction
has, is the convenience of storing the smoked meats
for an indefinite time, even through the whole season,
keeping them dark, dry, and cool ; and permitting, at
any time, a smoke to be made, to drive out the flies,
if they find their way into it.
The ashes can, of course, be removed at any time,
by Jie door at which they are thrown in.
RTJKAL AKCHITEOTUBB. 267
THE POULTKT-HOUSE.
As poultry is an indispensable appendage- to the
farm, in all cases, the poultry-house is equally indis-
pensable, for their accommodation, and for the most
profitable management of the fowls themselves, and
most convenient for the production of their eggs and
young. Indeed, without well-arranged quarters for
the fowls of the farm, they are exceedingly trouble-
some, and of doubtful profit; but with the proper
buildings devoted to them exclusively, they become
one of the most interesting and agreeable objects with
which either the farm or the country house is associated.
It is hardly worth while to eulogize poultry. Their
merits and virtues are written in the hearts of all prov-
ident housekeepers ; and their beauty and goodness are
familiar to every son and daughter of the rural home-
stead. We shall, then, proceed at once to discuss
their proper accommodation, in the cheapest and most
familiar method with which we are acquainted.
The hen-house — for hens (barn-door fowls, we mean)
are the first and chief stock, of the kind, to be pro-
vided for, and with them most of the other varieties
11*
268 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
can be associated — should be located in a warm, shel-
tered, and sunny place, with abundant grounds about it,
where they can graze — hens eat grass — and scratch,
and enjoy themselves to their heart's content, in all
seasons, when the ground is open and they can scratch
into, or range over its surface. Some people — indeed,
a good many people — picket in their gardens, to keep
hens out; but we prefer an enclosure to keep the hens
in, at all seasons when they are troublesome, which,
after all, is only during short seasons of the year, when
seeds are planted, or sown, and grain and vegetables
are ripening. Otherwise, they may range at will, on
the farm, doing good in their destruction of insects,
and deriving much enjoyment to themselves ; for hens,
on the whole, are happy things.
We here present the elevation of a poultry-house in
perspective, to show the principle which we would
adopt in its construction, and which may be extended
to any required length, and to which may be added
any given area of ground, or yard-room, which the
circumstances of the proprietor may devote to it. It
is, as will be seen, of a most rustic appearance, and
built as cheaply, yet thoroughly, as the subject may
require. Its length, we will say, is 20 feet, its breadth
16, and its height 10 feet, made of posts set into the
ground — for we do not like sills, and floors of wood,
because rats are apt to burrow under them, which are
their worst enemies — and boarded up, either inside or
outside, as in the case of the ice-house previously de-
scribed, though not double. Plates are laid on these
posts, to connect them firmly together; and the rafters
POULTRY LAWN.
**&76S43*/C
Sli»l I ' ' ' ' -J ' — '- -J '-
GROUND PLAN.
270 KURAL ARCHITECTURE.
rest on the plates, as usual. The chamber floor is 9
feet high, above the ground, and may be used either
for laying purposes by the fowls, or reserved as a stor-
age-room for their feed. The roof is broadly drawn
over the body of the building, to shelter it, and through
the point of the roof, in the center, is a ventilator, with
a covered top, and a vane significant of its purpose.
It is also sufficiently lighted, with glass windows, into
which our draughtsman has put the diamond-paned
glass, contrary to our notions ; but, as he had, no doubt,
an eye to the " picturesque," we let it pass, only re-
marking, that if we were building the house on our
own account, there should be no such nonsense about
it. The front windows are large, to attract the warmth
of the winter's sun. A section of picket fence is also
attached, and trees in the rear — both of which are
necessary to a complete establishment; the first, to
secure the poultry in the contiguous yards, and the
trees to give them shade, and even roosting-places, if
they prefer such lodgings in warm weather — for which
we consider them eminently wholesome.
The wooden floor is dispensed with, as was remarked,
to keep rid of the vermin. If the ground be gravelly,
or sandy, it will be sufficiently dry. If a heavy or
damp soil be used, it should be under-drained, which
will effectually dry it, and be better for the fowls than
a floor of either wood, brick, or stone. Doors of suffi-
cient size can be made on the yard sides of the house,
near the ground, for the poultry to enter either the liv-
ing or roosting apartments, at pleasure, and hung with
butts on the upper side, to be closed when necessary.
BUBAL AKCHITECTUKE. 871
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
The front door opens into the main living room. At
each end, and in the rear, are tiers of boxes, one foot
wide, one and a half feet long, and one and a half feet
high — the lowest tier elevated two feet above the
ground — and built one tier above the other, and
snugly partitioned between, with a hole at one corner
of each, ten inches high, and eight inches wide, for
passing in to them ; and a shelf, or passage-board, nine
inches wide, in front. These are the nesting boxes,
and should be kept supplied with short, soft straw, or
hay orts, for that purpose. Hens love secrecy in their
domestic economy, and are wonderfully pleased with
the opportunity to hide away, and conceal themselves
while laying. Indeed, such concealment, or the sup-
position of it, we have no doubt promotes fecundity,
as it is well known that a hen can stop laying, almost
at pleasure, when disturbed in her regular habits and
settled plans of life. Burns says —
" The best laid schemes of mice and men
Gang aft agley;"
and why not hen's ? "We think so. If turkeys be kept
in the premises, the females can also be accommodated
in these boxes, as they are fond of laying in company
with the hens, and frequently in the same nests, only
that they require larger entrances into them; or, a
tier of boxes may be made on the ground, for their
convenience.
272 BTTRAL ARCHITECTURE.
A door leads from the rear of this room into tlie
roosting apartment, through which is a passage to the
back side of the building, and a door opposite, leading
out into the yard. On each side of this passage are
roosts, rising, each behind and above the other, 18
inches apart. The lowest roosts may be three feet
from the ground, and the highest six feet, that they
may easily fly from one to the other ; and in this way
they may all be approached, to catch the fowls, when
required. For the roosts, slender poles, two to three
inches in diameter — small trees, cut from the woods,
with the bark on, are the best — may be used; and
they should be secured through augur holes in board
slats suspended from the floor joists overhead. This
apartment should be cleaned out as often as once a
fortnight, both for cleanliness and health — 'for fowls
like to be clean, and to have pure air. A flight of
stairs may be made in one corner of the front room, to
go into the chamber, if preferred ; but a swing ladder,
hung by one end, with hinges, to the joists above,
is, for such purpose, a more cleanly mode of access ;
which, when not in use, may be hooked up to the
under side of the floor above ; and a trap door, shutting
into the chamber floor, and also hung on hinges, will
accommodate the entrance.
For feeding troughs, we have seen many ingenious
contrivances, and among them, possibly, a Yankee
patent, or two ; but all these we put aside, as of little
account. A common segar box, or any other cast-off
thing, that will hold their food, is just as good as the
most complicated invention ; and, in common feeding,
BUBAL ABCHITECTUBE. 273
there is no better mode than to scatter abroad their
corn, and let them pick it up at their pleasure — when
spread on a clean surface. We think, also, that, except
for fattening poultry, stated hours of feeding are best
for the birds themselves, and that they be fed only
such quantity as they will pick up clean. Water
should, if possible, be kept constantly by them ; and
if a small running stream could pass through the yard,
all the better.
If it be desirable to have fresh eggs during winter —
and that is certainly a convenience — a box stove may
be set in the living room, and properly protected by a
grating around it, for warming the living apartment.
It may be remarked, however, that this winter-laying
of hens is usually a forcing business. A hen will lay
but about a given number of eggs in a year ; say a
hundred — we believe this is about the number which
the most observant of poultry-keepers allow them —
and what she lays in winter must be substracted from
the number she would otherwise lay in the spring, sum-
mer, or autumn. Yet a warm house will, laying, aside,
keep the fowls with less food, and in greater comfort,
than if cold, and left to their own natural warmth.
There is usually little difficulty in keeping hens, tur-
kies, ducks, and geese together, in the same inclosure,
during winter and early spring, before the grass grows.
Bat geese and turkies require greater range during the
warm season than the others, and should have it, both
for convenience to themselves and profit to their own-
ers. For winter quarters, low shelters may be made
for the water-fowls in the yards, and the turkies will
274: BUBAL ABCHITEOTUBE.
frequently prefer to share the shelter of the hens, on
the roosts in the house. Guinea-hens — cruel, vindic-
tive things, as they are — should never be allowed
within a common poultry yard. Always quarrelsome,
and never quiet, they should take to the farmyard,
with the cattle, where they may range at will, and
take their amusement in fisticuffs with each other, at
pleasure. Neither should peacocks be allowed to come
into the poultry inclosures, during the breeding season ;
they are anything but amiable in their manners to
other birds.
With the care and management of the poultry de-
partment, after thus providing for their accommodation,
it is not our province to interfere ; that is a subject
too generally understood, to require further remark.
ISTor need we discuss the many varieties of poultry
which, at the present time, so arrest the attention of
many of our good country people ; and we will leave
so important a subject to the meditations of the " ISTew
England Poultry Society," who have taken the galli-
naceous, and other tribes under their special cognizance,
and will, doubtless, in due time, illumine tne world
with various knowledge in this department of rural
economy, not yet "dreamt of in our philosophy."
The recently published poultry books, too, with an
amplitude and particularity in the discussion of the
different breeds and varieties, which shuts all suspi-
cions of self-interest into the corner, have given such
a fund of information on the subject, that any further
inquiry may, with entire good will, be turned over to
their pages.
•TJBAL ARCHITECTURE. 275
THE DOYECOTE.
This is a department, in itself, not common among
the farm buildings, in the United States ; and for the
reason, probably, that the domestic pigeon, or house-
dove, is usually kept more for amusement than for
profit — there being little actual profit about them —
and is readily accommodated in the spare lofts of
sheds and out-buildings devoted to other purposes.
Pigeons, however, add to the variety and interest of
the poultry department ; and as there are many differ-
ent breeds of them, they are general favorites with the
juveniles of the family.
Our present object is, not to propose any distinct
building for pigeon accommodation ; bat to give them
a location in other buildings, where they will be con-
veniently provided with room, and least annoying by
their presence — for, be it known, they are oft-times a
most serious annoyance to many crops of the farm,
when kept in any considerable numbers, as well as in
the waste and havoc they make in the stores of the
barns anl granaries. Although graceful and beautiful
birds, generally clean and tidy in their personal habits
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
out of doors, they are the filthiest housekeepers imag-
inable, and no building can be especially devoted to
their use, if not often swept and cleaned, but what will
soon become an intolerable nuisance within, and not
much better without, and the ground immediately
around the premises a dirty place. The common
pigeon is a pugnacious cavalier, warring apparently
upon mere punctilio, as we have often seen, in the dis-
tant strut-and-coo of a stranger bird to his mate, even
if she be the very incarnation of " rejected addresses."
On all these accounts, we would locate — unless a
small and select family of fancy birds, perhaps — the
pigeon stock at the principal farm-yard, and in the
lofts of the cattle sheds, or the chambers of the stable.
Wherever the pigeon accommodations are designed
to be, a close partition should separate their quarters
from the room occupied for other purposes, with doors
for admission to those who have to do with them, in
cleaning their premises, or to take the birds, when
needed. A line of holes, five inches high, and four
inches wide — the top of the hole slightly arched —
should be made, say 18 inches apart, for the distance
of room they are to occupy in the building. A foot
above the top of these, another line may be made ; and
so on, tiering them up to the height intended to devote
to them. A line of shelves, or lighting-boards, six to
eight inches wide, should theu be placed one inch
below the bottom of these holes, and firmly braced
beneath, and nailed to the weather-boarding of the
house. Inside, a range of box should be made, of cor-
ro^ponding length with the line of holes, to embrace
KTTKAL AKCmTECTITRE. 277
every entrance from the outside, 18 inches wide, and
partitioned equidistant between each entrance, so as to
give a square box of 18 inches to each pair of birds.
The bottom board of each ascending tier of boxes will,
of course, be the top of the boxes below, and these
must be made perfectly tight, to prevent the offal of
the upper ones from falling through, to the annoyance
of their neighbors below. The back of these boxes
should have a line of swing doors, hung with butts, or
hinges, from the top, and fastened with buttons, or
hooks, at the bottom, to allow admission, or examina-
tion, at any time, to those who have the care of them.
This plan of door is indispensable, to clean them out —
which should be done as often as once a week, or fort-
night, at farthest — and to secure the birds as they
may be wanted for the table, or other purposes — for it
will be recollected that squabs, just feathered out, are
considered a delicious dish, at the most sumptuous
tables. It will be understood, that these boxes above
described, are within a partitioned room, with a floor,
in their rear, with sufficient space for the person in
charge of them to pass along, and to hold the baskets,
or whatever is to receive the offal of their boxes, as it
is taken out. This offal is valuable, as a highly stimu-
lating manure, and is sought for by the morocco tan-
ners, at a high price — frequently at twenty-five cents
a bushel.
As pigeons are prolific breeders, laying and hatch-
ing six or seven times a year, and in warm climates
c ener, they require a good supply of litter — short
( t, soft straw is the best — which should be freely
278 BUBAL ABCHITECTTTRE.
supplied at every new incubation, and the old litter
removed. The boxes, too, should be in a warm place,
snugly made, and well sheltered from the wind and
driving storms ; for pigeons, although hardy birds
when grown, should be well protected while young.
The common food of the pigeon is grain, of almost
any kind, and worms, and other insects, which they
pick up in the field. On the whole, they are a pleas-
ant bird, when they can be conveniently kept, and are
worth the trifling cost that their proper housing may
demand.
If our opinion were asked, as to the best, and least
troublesome kind of pigeon to be kept, we should say,
the finest and most hardy of the common kind, which
are usually found in the collections throughout the
the country. But there are many fancy breeds — such
as the fan-tail, the powter, the tumbler, the ruifler, and
perhaps another variety or two — all pretty birds, and
each distinct in their appearance, and in some of their
domestic habits. The most beautiful of the pigeon
kind, however, is the Carrier. They are the very per-
fection of grace, and symmetry, and beauty. Their
colors are always brilliant and changing, and in their
flight they cleave the air with a rapidity which no
other variety — indeed, which scarce any other bird,
of any kind, can equal. History is full of examples
of their usefulness, in carrying tidings from one coun-
try to another, in letters, or tokens, fastened to their
necks or legs, for which they are trained by those who
have thus used them ; but which, now, the well known
telegraph wire has nearly superseded.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 279
All these fancy breeds require great care in their
management, to keep them pure in blood, as they will
all mix, more or less, with the common pigeon, as they
come in contact with them ; and the selection of what-
ever kind is wanted to be kept, must be left to those
who are willing to bestow the pains which their neces-
sary care may demand.
A PIGGEEY.
The hog is an animal for which we have no especial
liking, be he either a tender suckling, nosing and tug-
ging at the well-filled udder of his dam, or a well-
proportioned porker, basking in all the plenitude of
swinish luxury ; albeit, in the use of his flesh, we affect
not the Jew, but liking it moderately well, in its vari-
ous preparations, as a substantial and savory article of
diet. Still, the hog is an important item of our agri-
cultural economy, and his production and proper treat-
ment is a valuable study to all who rear him as a
creature either of profit or convenience. In the west-
ern and southern states, a mild climate permits him to
be easily reared and fed- off for market, with little
heed to shelter or protection ; while in the north, he
requires care and covering during winter. Not only
this ; in all places the hog is an unruly, mischievous
creature, and has no business really in any other
280 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
place than where lie can be controlled, and kept at a
moment's call.
But, as tastes and customs differ essentially, with
regard to his training and destiny, to such as agree
with us in opinion, that his proper place is in the sty,
particularly when feeding for pork, a plan of piggery
is given, such as may be economical in construction,
and convenient in its arrangement, both for the swine
itself, and him who has charge of him.
The design here given, is for a building, 36 feet long,
and 24 feet wide, with twelve-feet posts ; the lower, or
living room for the swine, 9 feet high, and a storage
chamber above, for the grain and other food required
for his keeping. The roof has a pitch of 40° from a
horizontal line, spreading over the sides and gables at
least 20 inches, and coarsely bracketed. The entrance
front projects 6 feet from the main building, by 12 feet
in length. Over its main door, in the gable, is a door
with a hoisting beam and tackle above it, to take in
the grain, and a floor over the whole area receives it.
A window is in each gable end. A ventilator passes
up through this chamber and the roof, to let off the
steam from the cooking vats below, and 4he foul air
emitted by the swine, by the side of which is the fur-
nace-chimney, giving it, on the whole, as respectable
an appearance as a pigsty need pretend to.
PIGGERY.
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GROUND PLAN.
282 BUBAL ABOHITEOTDBB.
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
At the left of the entrance is a flight of stairs, (5,)
leading to the chamber above. On the right is a small
area, («,) with a window to light it. A door from this
leads into the main room, (c,) where stands a chimney,
(d,) with a furnace to receive the fuel for cooking the
food, for which are two kettles, or boilers, with wooden
vats, on the top, if the extent of food demands them ;
these are secured with broad wooden covers, to keep
in the steam when cooking. An iron valve is placed
in the back flue of the furnace, which may fall upon
either side, to shut off the fire from either of the ket-
tles, around which the fire may revolve ; or, the valve
may stand in a perpendicular position, at will, if both
kettles be heated at the same time. But, as the most
economical mode is to cook one kettle while the other
is in process of feeding out, and vice versa, scarcely
more than one at a time will be required in use. Over
each kettle is a sliding door, with a short spout to slide
the food into them, when wanted. If necessary, and
it can be conveniently done, a well may be sunk under
this room, and a pump inserted at a convenient place ;
or if equally convenient, a pipe may bring the water
in from a neighboring stream, or spring. On three
sides of this room are feeding pens, (<?,) and sleeping
partitions, (/",) for the swine. These several apart-
ments are accommodated with doors, which open into
separate yards on the sides and in rear, or a large ona
for the entire family, as may be desired.
BUBAL ABOHITECTUBE 283
CONSTRUCTION.
The frame of this building is of strong timber, and
stout for its size. The sills should be 8 inches square,
the corner posts of the same size, and the intermediate
posts 8x6 inches in diameter. In the center of these
posts, grooves should be made, 2 inches wide, and
deep, to receive the plank sides, which should be 2
inches thick, and let in from the level of the chamber
by a flush cutting for that purpose, out of the grooves
inside, thus using no nails or spikes, and holding the
planks tight in their place, that they may not be rooted
out, or rubbed off by the hogs, and the inner projec-
tion of the main posts left to serve as rubbing posts for
them — for no creature so loves to rub his sides, when
fatting, as a hog, and this very natural and praise-
worthy propensity should be indulged. These planks,
like the posts, should, particularly the lower ones, be
of hard wood, that they may not be eaten off. Above
the chamber floor, thinner planks may be used, but all
should be well jointed, that they may lie snug, and
shut out the weather. The center post in the floor plan
of the engraving is omitted, by mistake, but it should
stand there, like the others. Inside posts at the cor-
ners, and in the sides of the partitions, like the outside
ones, should be also placed and grooved to receive the
planking, four and a half feet high, and their upper
ends be secured by tenons into mortices in the beams
overhead. The troughs should then, if possible, be
made of cast iron, or, in default of that, the hardest of
12
284 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
white oak plank, strongly spiked on to the floor and
sides; and the apartment may then be called hog-
proof — for a more unquiet, destructive creature, to a
building in which he is confined, does not live, than
the hog. The slide, or spout to conduct the swill and
other feed from the feeding-room into the trough,
should be inserted through the partition planks, with a
steep slant the whole length of the trough, that the
feed may be readily thrown into any or all parts of it.
This slide should be of two-inch white-oak plank, and
l">und along the bottom by a strip of hoop-iron, to
]>. event the pigs from eating it oft' — a habit they are
jrone to; then, firmly spiked down to the partition
planks, and through the ends, to the adjoining studs,
and the aftair is complete. With what experience we
Lave had with the hog, and that by no means an agree-
able one, we can devise no better method of accom-
modation than this here described, and it certainly is
the cheapest. But the timber and lumber used must
bu sound and strong; and then, properly put together,
it may defy their most destructive ingenuity. Of the
separate uses to which the various apartments may be
pat, nothing need be said, as the circumstances of
every farmer will best govern them.
One, to three hundred dollars, according to price of
material and labor, will build this piggery, besides fit-
ting it up with furnace and boilers. It may be con-
tracted, or enlarged in size, as necessity may direct;
but no one, with six to twenty porkers in his fatting
pens, a year, will regret the expense of building a con-
venient appurtenance of this kind to his establishment.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 285
A word may be pardoned, in relation to the too uni-
versal practice of permitting swine to prowl along the
highways, and in the yards and lawns of the farm
house. There is nothing so slovenly, wasteful, and
destructive to one's thrift, and so demoralizing, in a
small way, as is this practice. What so revolting to
one, of the least tidy nature whatever, as a villainous
brute, with a litter of filthy pigs at her heels, and the
slimy ooze of a mud-puddle reeking and dripping from
their sides ? See the daubs of mud marking every
fence-post, far and near, along the highway, or where-
ever they run ! A burrow is rooted up at every shady
point, a nuisance at every corner you turn, and their
abominable snouts into everything that is filthy, or
obscene — a living curse to all that is decent about
them. An Ishmaelite among the farm stock, they are
shunned and hated by every living thing, when at
large. But, put the creature in his pen, with a ring
in his nose, if permitted to go into the adjoining yard,
and comfortably fed, your pig, if of a civilized breed,
is a quiet, inoffensive — indeed, gentlemanly sort of
animal ; and as such, he is entitled to our toleration — •
regard, we cannot say ; for in all the pages of our read-
ing, we learn, by no creditable history, of any virtuoua
sympathies in a hog.
286 BUBAL AECHITECTT7BE.
FAKM BARNS.
The farm barn, next to the farm house, is the most
important structure of the farm itself, in the Northern
and Middle States ; and even at the south and south-
west, where less used, they are of more importance
in the economy of farm management than is generally
supposed. Indeed, to our own eyes, a farm, or a
plantation appears incomplete, without a good barn
accommodation, as much as without good household
appointments — and without them, no agricultural es-
tablishment can be complete in all its proper economy.
The most thorough barn structures, perhaps, to be
seen in the United States, are those of the state of
Pennsylvania, built by the German farmers of the
lower and central counties. They are large, and ex-
pensive in their construction ; and, in a strictly econ-
omical view, perhaps more costly than required. Yet,
there is a substance and durability in them, that is
exceedingly satisfactory, and, where the pecuniary
ability of the farmer will permit, may well be an
example for imitation.
In the structure of the barn, and in its interior ac-
commodation, much will depend upon the branches of
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 287
agriculture to which the farm is devoted. A farm cul-
tivated in grain chiefly, requires but little room for
stabling purposes. Storage for grain in the sheaf, and
granaries, will require its room ; while a stock farm
requires a barn with extensive hay storage, and stables
for its cattle, horses, and sheep, in all climates not
admitting such stock to live through the winter in the
field, like the great grazing states west of the Allegha-
nies. Again, there are wide districts of country where.
a mixed husbandry of grain and stock is pursued,
which require barns and out-buildings accommodating
both ; and to supply the exigencies of each, we shall
present such plans as may be appropriate, and that
may, possibly, by a slight variation, be equally adapted
to either, or all of their requirements.
It may not be out of place here, to remark, that
many designers of barns, sheds, and other out-build-
ings for the accommodation of farm stock, have in-
dulged in fanciful arrangements for the convenience
and comfort of animals, which are so complicated that
when constructed, as they sometimes are, the practical,
common-sense farmer will not use them ; and, in the
lea/rning required in their use, are altogether unfit for
the use and treatment they usually get from those who
have the daily care of the stock which they are in-
tended for, and for the rough usage they receive from
the animals themselves. A very pretty, and a very
plausible arrangement of stabling, and feeding, and all
the etceteras of a barn establishment, may be thus
got up by an ingenious theorist at the fireside, which
will work to a charm, as he dilates upon its good
288 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
qualities, untried ; but, when subjected to experiment
will be utterly worthless for practical use. All this
we, in our practice, have gone through ; and after
many years experience, have come to the conclusion
that the simplest plan of construction, consistent with
an economical expenditure of the material of food for
the consumption of stock, is by far the most preferable.
Another item to be considered in this connection, is
the comparative value of the stock, the forage fed to
them, and the labor expended in feeding and taking
care of them. We will illustrate : Suppose a farm
to lie in the vicinity of a large town, or city. Its
value is, perhaps, a hundred dollars an acre. The hay
cut upon it is worth fifteen dollars a ton, at the barn,
and straw, and coarse grains in proportion, and hired
labor ten or twelve dollars a month. Consequently,
the manager of this farm should use all the economy
in his power, by the aid of cutting-boxes, and other
machinery, to make the least amount of forage supply
the wants of his stock ; and the internal economy of
his barn arranged accordingly; because labor is his
cheapest item, and food the dearest. Then, for any
contrivance to work up his forage the closest — by way
of machinery, or manual labor — by which it will serve
the purposes of keeping his stock, is true economy;
and the making, and saving of manures is an item of
the first importance. His buildings, and their arrange-
ments throughout, should, on these accounts, be con-
structed in accordance with his practice. If, on the
other hand, lands are cheap and productive, and labor
comparatively dear, a different practice will prevail.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
He will feed his hay from the mow, without catting.
The straw will be either stacked out, and the cattle
turned to it, to pick what they like of it, and make
their beds on the remainder ; or, if it is housed, he will
throw it into racks, and the stock may eat what they
choose. It is but one-third, or- one-half the labor to
do this, that the other mode requires, and the saving
in this makes up, and perhaps more than makes up fur
the increased quantity of forage consumed. Again,
climate may equally affect the mode of winter feeding
the stock. The winters may be mild. The hay may
be stacked in the fields, when gathered, or put into
small barns built for hay storage alone ; and the ma-
nure, scattered over the fields by the cattle, as they arc
fed from either of them, may be knocked to pieces
with the dung-beetle, in the spring, or harrowed ami
bushed over the ground; and with the very small
quantity of labor required in all this, such practice
will be more economical than any other which can be
adopted. It is, therefore, a subject of deliberate study
with the farmer, in the construction of his out-build-
ings, what plans he shall adopt in regard to them, and
their fitting up and arrangement.
With these considerations before us, we shall submit
such plans of barn structures as may be adapted for gen-
eral use, where shelters for the farm crops, and farm
stock, are required ; and which may, in their interior
arrangement, be fitted for almost any locality of our
country, as the judgment and the wants of the builder
may require.
290 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
DESIGN I.
This is a design of barn partially on the Pennsyl-
vania plan, with under-ground stables, and a stone-
walled basement on three sides, with a line of posts
standing open on the yard front, and a wall, pierced
by doors and windows, retreating 12 feet under the
building, giving, in front, a shelter for stock. Two
sheds, by way of wings, are run out to any desired
length, on each side. The body of this barn, which is
built of wood, above the basement, is 60x46 feet; the
posts 18 feet high, above the sills ; the roof is elevated
at an angle of 40° from a horizontal line, and the
gables hooded, or truncated, 14 feet wide at the verge,
so as to cover the large doors at the ends. The main
roof spreads 3 to 4 feet over the body of the barn, and
runs from the side eaves in a straight line, different
from what is shown in the engraving, which appears of
a gambrel or hipped fashion. The sides are covered
with boards laid vertically, and battened with narrow
strips, 3. inches wide. The large doors in the ends are
14 feet wide, and 14 feet high. A slatted blind win-
dow is in each gable, for ventilation, and a door, 9x6
feet, on the yard side.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
293
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
A main floor, A, 12 feet wide, runs the whole length
through the center of the barn. £, 8, are the large
doors. j£T, H, are trap doors, to let hay or straw down
to the alleys of the stables beneath. B, is the princi-
pal bay for hay storage, 16 feet wide, and runs up to
the roof. (7, is the bay, 26x16 feet, for the grain mow,
MAIN FLOOR PLAN.
if required for that purpose. j9, is a granary, 13x16
feet, and 8 feet high. E, a storage room for fanning
mill, cutting-box, or other machinery, or implements,
of same size and height as the granary. F, is a pas-
sage, 8 feet wide, leading from the main floor to the
yard door, through which to throw out litter. Over
this passage, and the granary, and store-room, may be
stored grain in the sheaf, or hay. The main floor will
accommodate the thrashing-machine, horse-power, cut-
ting box, &c., &c., when at work. A line of movable
sleepers, or poles, may be laid across the floor, 10 feet
above it, on a line of girts framed into the main posts,
for that purpose, over which, when the sides of the
294 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
bam are fall, either hay or grain may be deposited, up
to the ridge of the roof, and thus afford Isirge storage.
And if the demands of the crops require it, after the
sides and over the floor is thus filled, the floor itself
may, a part of it, be used for packing away either hay
or grain, by taking off the team after the load is in,
and passing them out by a retreating process, on the
side of the cart or wagon ; and the vehicle, when un-
loaded, backed out by hand. We have occasionally
adopted this method, when crowded for room for in-
creased crops, to great advantage. It requires some-
what more labor, to be sure, but it is much better than
stacking out ; and a well-filled barn is a good sight to
look upon.
Underneath the body of the barn are the stables,
root cellar, calf houses, or any other accommodation
which the farm stock may require ; but, for the most
economical objects, is here cut up into stables. At the
ends, ?, Z, are passages for the stock to go into their
stalls ; and also, on the sides, for the men who attend
to them. The main passage through the center double
line of stalls is 8 feet wide; and on each side are
double stalls, 6 J feet wide. From the two end walls,
the cattle passages are 5 feet wide, the partition be-
tween the stalls running back in a slant, from 5 feet
high at the mangers to the floor, at that distance from
the walls. The mangers, j, j, are 2 feet wide, or may
be 2i feet, by taking an additional six inches out of
the rear passage. The passage is, between the man-
gers, 3 feet wide, to receive the hay from the trap
<l(fors in the floor above.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
295
UNDER-GROUND PLAN AND YARD.
The most economical plan, for room in tying cattle
in their stalls, is to fasten the rope, or chain, whichever
is used, (the wooden stanchion, or stancTiel, as it is
called, to open and shut, enclosing the animal by the
neck, we do not like,) into a ring, which is secured
by a strong staple into the post which sustains the par-
tition, just at the top of the manger, on each side of
the stall. This prevents the cattle in the same stall
from interfering with each other, while the partition
effectually prevents any contact from the animals on
each side of it, in the separate stalls. The bottom of
the mangers, for grown cattle, shou'/d be a foot
296 RTTRAL ARCHITECTURE.
the floor, and the top two and a half feet, which makes
it deep enough to hold their food ; and the whole, both
sides and bottom, should be made of two-inch, sound,
strong plank, that they may not be broken down. The
back sides of the stalls, next the feeding alleys, should
be full 3£ feet high; and if the cattle are large, and
disposed to climb into their mangers with their fore-
feet, as they sometimes do, a pole, of 2 J or 3 inches in
diameter, should be secured across the front of the
stall, next the cattle, and over the mangers — say 4:J
feet above the floor, to keep them out of the manger,
and still give them sufficient room for putting their
heads between that and the top of the manger, to get
their food. Cattle thus secured in double stalls, take
up less room, and lie much warmer, than when in sin-
gle stalls ; besides, the expense of fitting them up being
much less — an experience of many years has con-
vinced us on this point. The doors for the passage of
the cattle in and out of the stables, should be five
feet wide, that they may have .plenty of room.
In front of these stables, on the outside, is a line of
posts, the feet of which rest on large flat stones, and
support the outer sill of the barn, and form a recess,
before named, of 12 feet in width, under which may
be placed a line of racks, or mangers for outside cattle,
to consume the orte, or leavings of hay rejected by the
in-door stock ; or, the manure may be housed under it,
which is removed from the stables by wheel-barrows.
The low line of sheds wrhich extend from the barn on
each side of the yard, may be used for the carts, and
wagons of the place ; or, racks and mangers may be
RURAL. ARCHITECTURE. 297
fitted up in them, for outside cattle to consume the
straw and coarse forage; or, they may be carried
higher than in our plan, and floored overhead, and
hay, or other food stored in them for the stock. They
are so placed merely to give the idea.
There may be no more fitting occasion than this,
perhaps, to make a remark or two on the subject of
managing stock in stables of any kind, when kept in
any considerable numbers; and a word may not be
impertinent to the subject in hand, as connected with
the construction of stables.
There is no greater benefit to cattle, after coming
into winter quarters, than a straight-forward regularity
in everything appertaining to them. Every animal
should have its own particular stall in the stable,
where it should always be kept, and in no other. The
cattle should be fed and watered at certain hours of
the day, as near as may be. When let out of 'the
stables for water, unless the weather is very pleasant,
when they may be permitted to lie out an hour or two,
they should be immediately put back, and not allowed
to range about with the outside cattle. They are more
quiet and contented in their stables than elsewhere,
and eat less food, than if permitted to run out ; and
are every way more comfortable, if properly bedded
and attended to, as every one will find, on trying it.
The habit of many people, in turning their cattle out
of the stables in the morning, in all weathers — letting
them range about in a cold yard, hooking and thorning
each other — is of no possible benefit, unless to rid them-
selves of the trouble of cleaning the stables, which
298 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
pays twice its cost in the saving of manure. The out-
side cattle, which occupy the yard, are all the better,
that the stabled ones do not interfere with them. They
become habituated to their own quarters, as the others
do to their's, and all are better for being each in their
own proper place. It may appear a small matter to
notice this ; but it is a subject of importance, which
every one may know who tries it.
It will be seen that a driving way is built up to the
barn doors at the ends ; this need not be expensive,
and will add greatly to the ease and convenience of
its approach. It is needless to remark, that this barn
is designed to stand on a shelving piece of ground, or
on a slope, which will admit of its cellar stables with-
out much excavation of the earth ; and in such a posi-
tion it may be economically built. No estimate is
given of its cost, which must depend upon the price
of materials, and the convenience of. stone on the
farm. The size is not arbitrary, but may be either
contracted or extended, according to the requirements
of the builder.
KUKAL ARCHITECTURE. 301
DESIGN II.
Here is presented the design of a barn built by our-
self, about sixteen years since, and standing or. the
farm we own and occupy ; and which has proved so
satisfactory in its use, that, save in one or two small
particulars, which are here amended, we would not,
for a stock barn, alter it in any degree, nor exchange
it for one of any description whatever.
For the farmer who needs one of but half the size,
or greater, or less, it may be remarked that the extent
of this need be no hindrance to the building of one
of any size — as the general design may be adopted,
and carried out, either in whole or in part, according
to his wants, and the economy of its accommodation
preserved throughout. The principle of the structure
is what is intended to be shown.
The main body of this barn stands on the ground,
100x50 feet, with eighteen-feet posts, and a broad,
sheltering roof, of 40° pitch from a horizontal line, and
truncated at the gables to the width of the main doors
below. The sills stand 4 feet above the ground, and a
raised driving way to the doors admits the loads of
grain and forage into it. The manner of building the
whole structure would be, to frame and put up the
302 EURAL ARCHITECTURE.
main building as if it was to have no attachment what-
ever, and put on the roof, and board up the gable ends.
Then frame, and raise adjoining it, on the long sides,
and on the rear end — for the opposite gable end to
that, is the entrance front to the barn — a continuous
lean-to, 16 feet wide, attaching it to the posts of the
barn, strongly, by girts. These ranges of lean-to stand
on the ground level, nearly — high enough, however,
to let a terrier dog under the floors, to keep out the
rats — but quite 3 feet below the sills of the barn. The
outer posts of the lean-to's should be 12 feet high, arid
12 i feet apart, from center to center, except at the ex-
treme corners, which would be 16 feet. One foot below
the roof-plates of the main building, and across the
rear gable end, a line of girts should be framed into
the posts, as a rest for the upper ends of the lean-to
rafters, that they may pass under, and a foot below
the lower ends of the main roof rafters, to make a
break in the roof of one foot, and allow a line of eave
gutters under it, if needed, and to show the lean-to
line of roof as distinct from the other. The stables
are 7 feet high, from the lower floor to the girts over-
head, which connect them with the main line of bam
posts; thus giving a loft of 4 feet in height at the
eaves, and of 12 feet at the junction with the barn.
In this loft is large storage for hay, and coarse forage,
and bedding for the cattle, which is put in by side
windows, level with the loft floor — as seen in the
plate. In the center of the rear, end lean-to, is a large
door, corresponding with the front entrance to the barn,
as shown in the design, 12 feet high, and 14 feet wide,
KTJBAL ARCHITECTURE. 303
to pass out the wagons and carts which have discharged
their loads in the barn, having entered at the main
front door. A line of board, one foot wide, between the
line of the main and lean-to roofs, is then nailed on, to
shut up the space; and the rear gable end boarded
down to the roof of the lean-to attached to it. The
front end, and the stables on them vertically boarded,
and battened, as directed in the last design ; the proper
doors and windows inserted, and the outside is finished.
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
Entering the large door, (#,) at the front end, 14 feet
wide, and 14 feet high, the main floor (<?,) passes
through the entire length of the barn, and rear lean-to,
116 feet — the last 1C feet through the lean-to — and
sloping 3 feet to the outer sill, and door, (a,) of that
appendage. On the left of the entrance is a recess, (e,)
of 20x18 feet, to be used as a thrashing floor, and for
machinery, cutting feed, &c., &c. — 5 feet next the end
being cut off for a passage to the stable. Beyond this
is a bay, (£,) 18xTO feet, for the storage of hay, or
grain, leaving a passage at the further end, of 5 feet
wide, to go into the further stables. This bay is
bounded on the extreme left, by the line of outside
posts of the barn. On the right of the main door is a
granary, (^,) 10x18 feet, two stories high, and a flight
of steps leading from the lower into the upper room.
Beyond this is another bay, (J,) corresponding with
the one just described on the opposite side. The pas-
sages at the ends of the bays, (( <?,) have steps of 3
304:
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
feet descent, to bring them down on to a level with
the stable floors of the lean-to. A passage in each of
the two long side lean-to's, (<?, «,) 3 feet wide, receives
the hay forage for cattle, or other stock, thrown into
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FLOOB PLAN.
them from the bays, and the lofts over the stables;
and from them is thrown into the mangers, (A, A.) The
two apartments in the extreme end lean-to, (/",,/,)
34x16 feet each, may be occupied as a hospital for
invalid cattle, or partitioned off for calves, or any other
KUEAL ARCHITECTURE. 305
purpose. A calving house for the cows which come in
during the winter, is always convenient, and one of
these may be used for such purpose. The stalls, (*', *,)
are the same as described in Design I, and back of
them is the passage for the cattle, as they pass in and
out of their stalls. The stable doors, (j,j,} are six in
number. Small windows, for ventilation, should be
cut in the rear of the stalls, as marked, and for throw-
ing out the manure, with sliding board shutters. This
completes the barn accommodation — giving twenty-
eight double stalls, where fifty-six grown cattle may
be tied up, with rooms for twenty to thirty calves in
the end stables. If a larger stock is kept, young cattle
may be tied up, with their heads to the bays, on the
main floor, beyond the thrashing floor, which we prac-
tice. This will hold forty young cattle. The manure
is taken out on a wheel-barrow, and no injury done to
the floor. They will soon eat out a place where their
forage can be put, and do no injury beyond that to the
hay in the bays, as it is too closely packed for them
to draw it out any farther. In this way we can
accommodate more than a hundred head of cattle, of
assorted ages.
The hay in the bays may drop three feet below the
level of the main floor, by placing a tier of rough tim-
bers and poles across them, to keep it from the ground,
and many tons of additional storage be thus provided.
"We have often stored one hundred and fifty tons of hay
in this barn ; and it will hold even more, if thoroughly
packed, and the movable girts over the main floor be
used, as described in Design I.
306 KUKAL ARCHITECTURE.
The chief advantages in a barn of this plan are, the
exceeding convenience of getting the forage to the
stock. When the barn is full, and feeding is first com-
menced, with a hay knife, we commence on each side
next the stables, on the top of ^the bays, cut a well
down to the alley way in front of the mangers, which
is left open up to the stable roof. This opens a pas-
sage for the hay to be thrown into the alleys, and in a
short time it is so fed out on each side, that, the sides
of the main barn being open to them, the hay can bo
thrown along their whole distance, and fed to the cattle
as wanted ; and so at the rear end stables, in the five-
foot alley adjoining them. If a root cellar be required,
it may be made under the front part of the main floor,
and a trap-door lead to it. For a milk dairy, this ar-
rangement is an admirable one — we so used it for four
years; or for stall-feeding, it is equally convenient.
One man will do more work, so far as feeding is con-
cerned, in this barn, than two can do in one of almost
any other arrangement ; and the yards outside may be
divided into five separate inclosures, with but little
expense, and still be large enough for the cattle that
may want to use them. It matters not what kind of
stock may be kept in this barn ; it is convenient for
all alike. Even sheep may be accommodated in it
with convenience. But low, open sheds, inclosed by
a yard, are better for them ; with storage for hay over-
head, and racks and troughs beneath.
This barn is built of wood. It may be well con-
structed, with stone underpinning, without mortar, for
$1,000 to $1,500, as the price of materials may govern.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 307
And if the collection of the water from the roofs be
an object, cheap gutters to carry it into one or more
cisterns may be added, at an expense of $200 to $300.
As before observed, a barn may be built on this
principle, of any size, and the stables, or lean-to's may
only attach to one side or end ; or they may be built
as mere sheds, with no storage room over the cattle.
The chief objection to stabling cattle in the l)ody of the
barn is, the continual decay of the most important tim-
bers, such as sills, sleepers, &c., <fec., by the leakage of
the stale, and manure of the cattle on to them, and the
loss of so much valuable storage as they would occupy,
for hay and grain. By the plan described, the stables
nave no attachment to the sills, and other durable barn
timbers below; and if the stable sills and sleepers
decay, they are easily and cheaply replaced with others.
Taking it altogether, we can recommend no better,
nor, as we think, so good, and so cheap a plan for a
stock barn, as this.
We deem it unnecessary to discuss the subject of
water to cattle yards, as every farm has its own partic-
ular accommodations, or inconveniences in that regard ;
and the subject of leading water by pipes into different
premises, is too well understood to require remark.
Where these can not be had, and springs or streams are
not at hand, wells and pumps must be provided, in as
much convenience as the circumstances of the case will
admit. Water is absolutely necessary, and that in
quantity, for stock uses ; and every good manager will
exercise his best judgment to obtain it.
13
308 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
BAKN ATTACHMENTS.
It may be expected, perhaps, that in treating so
folly as we have of the several kinds of farm building,
a full cluster of out-buildings should be drawn and
exhibited, showing their relative positions and accom-
modation. This can not be done, however, except as a
matter of "fancy;" and if attempted, might not be
suited to the purposes of a single individual, by reason
of the particular location where they would be situated,
and the accommodation which the buildings might
require. Convenience of access to the barns, from the
fields where the crops are grown, a like convenience
to get out manures upon those fields, and a ready
communication with the dwelling house, are a part of
the considerations which are to govern their position,
or locality. Economy in labor, in the various avoca-
tions at the barn, and its necessary attachments ; and
the greatest convenience in storage, and the housing of
the various stock, grains, implements, and whatever
else may demand accommodation, are other consider-
ations to be taken into the account, all to have a bear-
ing upon them. Compactness is always an object in
such buildings, when not obtained at a sacrifice of
BUBAL ABCHITECTUKE. 309
some greater advantage, and should be one of the
items considered in placing them; and in their con-
struction, next to the arrangement of them in the most
convenient possible manner for their various objects, a
due regard to their architectural appearance should be
studied. Such appearance, where their objects are
apparent, can easily be secured. Utility should be
their chief point of expression ; and no style of archi-
tecture, or finish, can be really bad, where this expres-
sion is duly consulted, and carried out, even in the
humblest way of cheapness, or rusticity.
We have heretofore sufficiently remarked on the
folly of unnecessary pretension in the farm buildings,
of any kind ; and nothing can appear, and really be
more out of place, than ambitious structures intended
only for the stock, and crops. Extravagant expendi-
ture on these, any more than an extravagant expendi-
ture on the dwelling and its attachments, does not add
to the setting value of the farm, nor to its economical
management, in a productive capacity ; and he who is
about to build, should make his proposed buildings a
study for months, in all their different requirements
and conveniences, before he commences their erection.
Mistakes in their design, and location, have cost men a
whole after life of wear-and-tear of temper, patience,
and labor, to themselves, and to all who were about
them ; and it is better to wait even two or three years,
to fully mature the best plans of building, than by
hurrying, to mis-locate, mis-arrange, and miss, in fact,
the very best application in their structure of which
such buildings are capable.
310 ETTEAL ARCHITECTUKE.
A word might also be added about barn-yards.
The planning and management of these, also, depends
much upon the course the farmer has to pursue in the
keeping of his stock, the amount of waste litter, such
as straw, &c., which he has to dispose of, and the de-
mands of the farm for animal and composted manures.
There are different methods of constructing barn-yards,
in different parts of the country, according to climate
and soils, and the farmer must best consult his own
experience, the most successful examples about him,
and the publications which treat of that subject, in its
connection with farm husbandry, to which last subject
this item more properly belongs.
BUBAL ABOHITEOTUBB. 311
BABBITS.
It may appear that we are extending our "Rural
Architecture '2 to an undue length, in noticing a sub-
ject so little attended to in this country as Rabbit
accommodations. But, as with other small matters
which we have noticed, this may create a new source
of interest and attachment to country life, we conclude
to give it a place.
It is a matter of surprise to an American first vis-
iting England, to see the quantities of game which
abound at certain seasons of the year in the London
and other markets of that country, in contrast with the
scanty supply, or rather no supply at all, existing in
the markets of American cities. The reason for such
difference is, that in England, Scotland, Wales, arid
Ireland, every acre of the soil is appropriated to some
profitable use, while we, from the abundance of land in
America, select only the best for agricultural purposes,
and let the remainder go barren and uncared for.
Lands appropriated to the rearing of game, when fit
for farm pasturage or tillage, is unprofitable, generally,
with us ; but there are thousands of acres barren for
other purposes, that might be devoted to the breeding
312 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
and pasturage of rabbits, and which, by thus appro-
priating them, might be turned . to profitable account.
All the preparation required is, to enclose the ground
with a high and nearly close paling fence, and the erec-
tion of a few rude hutches inside, for winter shelter and
the storage of their food. They will burrow into the
ground, and breed with great rapidity; and in the fall
and winter seasons, they will be fat for market with
the food they gather from the otherwise worthless soil
over whicb. they run. Rocky, bushy, and evergreen
grounds, either hill, dale, or plain, are^good for them,
wherever the soils are dry and friable. The rabbit is
a gross feeder, living well on what many grazing ani-
mals reject, and gnawing down all kinds of bushes,
briars, and noxious weeds.
The common domestic rabbits are probably the best
for market purpoaes, and were they to be made an
object of attention, immense tracts of mountain land
in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the New York and
New England highlands could be made available for
this object.
Some may think this a small business. So is mak-
ing pins, and rearing chickens, and bees. But there
are an abundance of people, whose age and capacity
are just fitted for it, and for want of other employment
are a charge upon their friends or the public; and
now, when our cities and large towns are so readily
reached by railroads from all parts of the country, our
farmers should study to apply their land to the pro-
duction of everything that will find a profitable mar-
ket. Things unthought of, a few years ago, now find
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 313
a large consumption in our large cities and towns,
by the aid of railroads ; and we know of no good rea-
son, why this production and traffic should not con-
tinue to an indefinite extent. When the breeding of
rabbits is commenced, get a good treatise on the breed-
ing and rearing of them, which may be found at many
of the bookstores.
As the rearing of rabbits, and their necessary ac-
commodation, is not a subject to which we have given
much personal attention, we applied to Francis Rotch,
Esq., of Morris, Otsego county, New York, who is
probably the most accomplished rabbit " fancier " in
the United States, for information, with which he has
kindly furnished us. His beautiful and high-bred ani-
mals have won the highest premiums, at the shows of
the New York State Agricultural Society. He thus
answers :
" I now forward you the promised plan from Mr.
Alfred Hodman, of Dedham, Massachusetts, which,
I think, will give you the information you wish upon
these subjects.
" Rabbits kept for profit in the vicinity of a city, and
where there are mills, may be raised at a very small
cost ; and when once known as an article of food, will
be liberally paid for by the epicure, for their meat is
as delicate as a chicken's, and their fat mild, and
very rich.
" I am surprised they are not more generally kept,
as a source of amusement, and for the purposes of
experiment.
314 KURAL ARCHITECTURE. .
" There is, I think, in many, a natural fondness for
animals, but not easily indulged without more room
than is often to be found in city residences. Fowls,
and pigeons, trespass on our neighbors, and are a fre-
quent cause of trouble. This objection does not hold
good against the rabbit, which occupies so small a
space, that where there is an outhouse there may be a
rabbitry. English children are encouraged in their
fondness for animals, as tending to good morals and
good feelings, and as offering a home amusement, in
contradistinction to street associations "
Mr. Rotch continues :
"I have just finished the enclosed drawing of a
* fancy rabbit,' which I hope will answer your pur-
pose, as an illustration of what the little animal should
be in form, color, marking, and carriage, according to
the decisions of the various societies in and out of
London, who are its greatest admirers and patrons.
These amateurs hold frequent meetings for its exhibi-
tion, at which premiums are awarded, and large prizes
paid for such specimens as come up to their standard
of excellence. This standard is, of course, conven-
tional ; and, as might be expected, is a combination
of form and color very difficult to obtain — based, it
is true, on the most correct principles of general breed-
ing; but much of fancy and beauty is added to com.
plete the requisites of a prize rabbit. For instance,
the head must be small and clean ; the shoulders
wide and full ; the chest broad and deep ; the back
wide, and the loin large. Thus far, these are tho
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 317
characteristics of all really good and improved animals ;
to which are to be added, on the score of ' fancy,' an
eye round, full, and bright; an ear long, broad, and
pendant, of a soft, delicate texture, dropping nearly per-
pendicularly by the side of the head — this is termed
its l carriage.' The color must be in rich, unmixed
masses on the body, spreading itself over the back,
side, and haunch, but breaking into spots and patches
on the shoulder, called the ' chain ; ' while that on
the back is known as the 'saddle.' The head must
be full of color, broken with white on the forehead and
cheeks ; the marking over the bridge of the nose and
down on both sides into the lips, should be dark, and
in shape somewhat resembling a butterfly, from which
this mark takes its name ; the ear, however, must be
uniform in color. Add to all this, a large, full dewlap,
and you will have a rabbit fit to ' go in and win.''
"The most esteemed colors are black and white;
yellow and white ; tortoise-shell and white ; blue and
white, and gray and white. These are called ' broken
colors,' while those of one uniform color are called
'selfs.'"
It will be observed that Mr. Rotch here describes
a beautiful "fancy" variety of "lop-eared" rabbits,
which he brought from England a few years since.
They were, originally, natives of Madagascar. He
continues :
" The domestic rabbit, in all its varieties, has always
been, and etill is, a great favorite, ia many parts of
the European continent :
318 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
" In Holland, it is bred with reference to color only,
which must be a pure white, with dark ears, feet, legs,
and tail; this distribution has a singular effect, but,
withal, it is a pretty little creature. The French breed
a long, rangy animal, of great arppa/rent size, but defi-
cient in depth and breadth, and of course, wanting
in constitution ; no attention is paid to color, and its
marking is matter of accident. The White Angola,
with its beautiful long fur and red eyes, is also a great
favorite in France.
"In England, the rabbit formerly held the rank of
' farm stock ! ' and thousands of acres were exclusively
devoted to its production; families were supported,
and rents, rates, and taxes were paid from its increase
and sale. The ''gray-skins'* went to the hatter, the
' silver-skins ' were shipped to China, and were dressed
as furs ; while the flesh was a favorite dish at home.
This was the course pursued in Yorkshire, Lincoln-
shire, and many other counties, with their light sandy
soils, before the more general introduction of root cul-
ture, and the rotation of crops, gave an increased value
to such land. Since then, however, I remember visit-
ing a farm of Lord Onslow's, in Surrey, containing
about 1,400 acres. It was in the occupation of an
eminent flock-master and agriculturist, who kept some
hundreds of hutched rabbits for the sake of their ma-
nure, which he applied to his turnep crop ; added to
this, their skins and carcasses were quite an item of
profit, notwithstanding the care of them required an
old man and boy, with a donkey and cart. The food
used was chiefly brewer's grains, miller's waste, bran
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 319
and hay, with clover and roots, the cost of keeping not
exceeding two pence a week. The hutches stood under
a long shed, open on all sides, for the greater conven-
ience of cleaning and feeding. I was told that the
manure was much valued by the market gardeners
round London, who readily paid 2s. 6d. a bushel at the
rabbi tries. These rabbitries are very numerous in all
the towns and cities of England, and form a source of
amusement or profit to all classes, from the man of
fortune to the day laborer. Kor is it unfrequent that
this latter produces a rabbit from an old tea-chest, or
dry-goods box, that wins the prize from its competitor
of the mahogany hutch or ornamental rabbitry.
"The food of the rabbit embraces great variety,
including grain of all kinds, bran, pea-chaff', miller's
waste, brewer's grains, clover and other hay, and the
various weeds known as plantain, dock, mallow, dan-
delion, purslain, thistles, &c., &c.
" The rabbit thus easily conforms itself to the means,
condition, and circumstances of its owner; occupies
but little space, breeds often, comes early to maturity,
and is withal, a healthy animal, requiring however,
to be kept clean, and to be cautiously fed with succu-
lent food, which must always be free from dew or
rain — water is unnecessary to them when fed with
'greens.' My own course of feeding is, one gill of
oats in the morning, with a medium-sized cabbage leaf,
or what I may consider its equivalent in any other
vegetable food, for the rabbit in confinement must be.
as already stated, cautiously fed with what is succu-
lent. At noon, I feed a handful' of cut hay or clover
320 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
chaff, and in the evening the same as in the morning
To does, when suckling, I give what they will eat of
both green and dry food. The cost to me is about
three cents per week, per head.
" I by no means recommend this as the best, or the
most economical mode of feeding, but it happens to
suit my convenience. "Were I in a town, or near mills,
I should make use of other and cheaper substitutes.
My young rabbits, when taken from the doe, say at
eight, ten, or twelve weeks old, are turned out together
till about six months old, when it becomes necessary
to take them up, and put them in separate hutches, to
prevent their fighting and destroying each other. The
doe at that age is ready to breed ; her period of gesta-
tion is about thirty-one or two days, and she produces
from three or four to a dozen young at a ' litter.' It
is not well to let her raise more than six, or even four
at once — the fewer, the larger and finer the produce.
" Young rabbits are killed for the table at any age,
from twelve weeks to twelve months old, and are a
very acceptable addition to the country larder. The
male is not allowed to remain with the doe, lest he
should destroy the young ones.
" Hutches are made singly, or in stacks, to suit the
apartment, which should be capable of thorough ven-
tilation. The best size is about three feet long, twc
feet deep, and fourteen inches high, with a small apart-
ment partitioned off from one end, nearly a foot wide,
as a breeding place for the doe. A wire door forms
the front, and an opening is left behind for cleaning ;
the floor should have a descent to the back of the
RURAL AECHTTECTTTRE. 821
hutch of two inches. All edges should be tinned, to
save them from being gnawed.
" Having now given the leading characteristics and
qualities which constitute a good ' fancy lop-eared rab-
bit,' and its general management, allow me to remark
on the striking difference observable between Ameri-
cans and the people of many other countries, as to a
fondness for animals, or what are termed ' fancy pets,'
of and for which we, as a people, know and care very
little. Indeed, we scarcely admit more than a selfish
fellowship with the dog, and but too seldom does our
attachment even for this faithful companion, place him
beyond the reach of the omnipotent dollar.
" The operatives, mechanics, and laborers, in other
countries, seem to have a perfect passion for such pur-
suits, and take the greatest interest and pride in breed-
ing and perfecting the lesser animals, though often
obliged to toil for the very food they feed to them.
Here, too, home influences are perceived to be good,
and are encouraged by the employer, as supplying the
place of other and much more questionable pursuits
and tastes."
We here present the elevation, and floor plan of Mr.
Rodman's rabbitry, together with the front and rear
views of the hutches within them :
NO. I. ELEVATION.
NO It. — MAIN FLOOR FLAM.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 323
No. 1 is the gable end elevation of the building, with
a door and window.
No. 2 is the main-floor plan, or living room for the
rabbits.
EXPLANATION.
A, the doe's hutches, with nest boxes attached. B,
hutches three feet long, with movable partitions for
the young rabbits ; the two lower hutches are ased for
the stock bucks. C, a tier of grain boxes on the floor
for feeding the rabbits — the covers sloping out toward
the room. D, small trapdoor, leading into the ma-
nure cellar beneath. E, large trapdoor leading into
root cellar. F, troughs for leading off urine from rear
of hutches into the manure cellar at K, K. G, wood-
en trunk leading from chamber above No. 3, through
this into manure cellar. H, trap opening into manure
cellar. I, stairs leading into loft No. 3, with hinged
trapdoor overhead ; when open, it will turn up against
the wall, and leave a passage to clear out the hutches.
NOTE. — The grain boxes are one foot high in front,
and fifteen inches at the back, with sloping bottoms,
and sloping covers. The floors of the hutches have a
slope of two inches back. The hutches are furnished,
at the- back of the floor, with pieces of zinc, to keep
them free from the drippings from above. The hutches
are 16 inches high, 3 feet long, and 2 feet deep.
The foregoing plans and explanations might perhaps
be sufficient for the guidance of such as wish to con-
struct a rabbitry for their own use ; but as a complete
arrangement of all the rooms which may be conveni-
ently appropriated to this object, to make it a complete
324
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
thing, may be acceptable to the reader, we conclude,
even at the risk of prolixity, to insert the tipper loft,
and cellar apartments, with which we have been fur-
nished ; hoping that our youthful friends will set them-
selves about the construction of a branch of rural
employment so home-attaching in its associations.
si 9 a
i r i
7 ff 6 * 3
I 1 I ' 1
/ 0
I I
NO. III. — LOFT OR GARRET.
No. 3 is the loft or chamber story, next above the
main floor.
EXPLANATION.
A, place for storing hay. B, stairs leading from
below. C, room for young rabbits. D, trapdoor
into trunk leading to manure cellar. E, partition four
feet high. This allows of ventilation between the two
windows, in summer, which would be cut off, were the
partition carried all the way up.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
325
NO. IV. CELLAR.
No. 4: is the cellar under the rabbitry.
EXPLANATION.
A, manure cellar. B, root cellar. C, stairs lead-
ing to first, or main floor. D, stairs leading outside.
E, window — lighting both rooms of cellar.
!N"o. 5 is a front section of rabbit hutches, eight in
number, two in a line, four tiers high, one above
another, with wire-screened doors, hinges, and buttons
for fastening. A, the grain trough, is at the bottom.
No. 6 is the floor section of the hutches, falling, as
before mentioned, two inches from front to rear.
A, is the door to lift up, for cleaning out the floors.
B, is the zinc plate, to carry off the urine and running
MO. V.
'!'"l!l!!'lllli'llll!l|"H!lll
NO. VI
lillliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuitiiiiiiii
1
fotaies'tdzjio
I i I I I I I I i j l
FRONT OF HUTCH.
D
NO. VII.
IIUlUUIIlHtlik
— A
RBAR OF HUTCH.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 327
wash of the floors. C, is the trough for carrying off
this offal into the manure cellars, through the trunk,
as seen in No. 2.
No. 7 is a rear section of hutches, same as in No. 5,
with the waste trough at the bottom leading into the
trench before described, with the cross section, No. 8,
before described in No. 6.
A, a grated door at the back of the hutch, for ventila-
tion in summer, and covered with a thin board in winter.
B, a flap-door, four inches wide, which is raised for
cleaning out the floor ; under this door is a space of one
inch, for passing out the urine of the rabbits. C, are
buttons for fastening the doors. D, the backs of the
bedrooms, without any passage out on back side.
This matter of the rabbitry, and its various explana-
tions, may be considered by the plain, matter-of-fact
man, as below the dignity of people pursuing the useful
and 'money-making business of life. Very possible.
But many boys — for whose benefit they are chiefly
introduced — and men, even, may do worse than to
spend their time in such apparent trifles. It is better
than going to a horse-race. It is better even than
going to a trotting match, where fast men, as well as
fast horses congregate. It is better, too, than a thou-
sand other places where boys want to go, when they
have nothing to interest them at home.
One half of the farmer's boys, who, discontented at
home, leave it for something more congenial to their
feelings and tastes, do so simply because of the exces-
sive dullness, and want of interest in objects to attract
them there, and keep them contented. Boys, in
328 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
America at least, are apt to be smart. So their parents
think, at all events ; and too smart they prove, to stay
at home, and follow the beaten track of their fathers,
as their continual migration from the paternal roof too
plainly testifies. This, in many cases,. is the fault of
the parents themselves, because they neglect those
little objects of interest to which the minds and tastes
of their sons are inclined, and for want of which they
imagine more attractive objects abroad, although in
the search they often fail in finding them. We are a
progressive people. Our children are not always con-
tent to be what their fathers are ; and parents must
yield a little to " the spirit of the age " in which they
live. And boys pay too, as they go along, if properly
treated. They should be made companions, not ser-
vants. Many a joyous, hearty spirit, who, when prop-
erly encouraged, comes out a whole man at one-and-
twenty, if kept in curb, and harnessed down by a hard
parent, leaves the homestead, with a curse and a kick,
determined, whether in weal or in woe, never to return.
Under a different course of treatment, he would have
fixed his home either at his birthplace, or in its im-
mediate vicinity, and in a life of frugality, usefulness,
and comparative ease, blessed his parents, his neigh-
borhood, and possibly the world, with a useful exam-
ple— all, perhaps, grown out of his youthful indul-
gence in the possession of a rabbit-warren, or some
like trifling matter.
This may appear to be small morals, as well as small
business. "We admit it. But those who have been
well, and indulgently, as well as methodically trained,
KUEAL ARCHITECTURE. 329
may look back and see the influence which all such
little things had upon their early thoughts and inclina-
tions ; and thus realize the importance of providing
for the amusements and pleasures of children in their
early years. The dovecote, the rabbitry, the poultry-
yard, the sheep-fold, the calf-pen, the piggery, the
young colt of a favorite mare, the yoke of yearling
steers, or a fruit tree which they have planted, and
nursed, and called it, or the fruit it bears, their own, —
anything, in fact, which they can call theirs — are so
many objects to bind boys to their homes, and hallow
it with a thousand nameless blessings and associations,
known only to those who have been its recipients.
Heaven's blessings be on the family homestead !
" Be it ever so humble, there '& no place like home 1 "
sung the imaginary maid of Milan, the beautiful crea-
tion of John Howard Payne, when returning from
the glare and pomp of the world, to her native cottage
in the mountains of Switzerland. And, although all
out of date, and conventionally vulgar this sentiment
may be now considered, such is, or should be the sub-
dued, unsophisticated feeling of all natives of the farm
house, and the country cottage. We may leave the
quiet roof of our childhood ; we may mix in the bustling
contentions of the open world ; we may gain its treas-
ures ; we may enjoy its greatness, its honors, and its
applause ; but there are times when they will all fade
into nothing, in comparison with the peace, and qui-
etude, and tranquil happiness of a few acres of land,
a comfortable roof, and contentment therewith 1
330 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
DAIEY BUILDINGS.
"Wherever the dairy is made an important branch of
farm production, buildings for its distinct accommo-
dation are indispensable. The dairy is as much a
manufactory as a cotton mill, and requires as much
conveniences in its own peculiar line. We therefore
set apart a building, on purpose for its objects ; and
either for cheese, or butter, separate conveniences are
alike required. We commence with the
CHEESE DAIRY HOUSE.
This building is one and a half stories high, with a
broad, spreading roof of 45° pitch ; the ground plan
is 10 feet between joists, and the posts 16 feet high.
An ice-house, made on the plan already described, is
at one end, and a wood-shed at the opposite end, of the
same size. This building is supposed to be erected
near the milking sheds of the farm, and in contiguity
to the feeding troughs of the cows, or the piggery, and
adapted to the convenience of feeding the whey tc
CHEESE DAIRY HOUSE.
o
GROUND PLAN.
HTTRAL ARCHITECTURE. 333
whichever of these animals the dairyman may select,
as both, or either are required to consume it ; and to
which it may be conveyed in spouts from the dairy-
room.
INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.
The front door is protected by a light porch, (a,)
entering by a door, (5,) the main dairy room. The
cheese presses, (e, c,) occupy the left end of the room,
between which a passage leads through a door, (£,) into
the wood-shed, (A,) open on all sides, with its roof rest-
ing on four posts set in the ground. The large cheese-
table, (<#,) stands on the opposite end, and is 3 feet
wide. In the center of the room is a chimney, (<?,)
with a whey and water boiler, and vats on each side.
A flight of stairs, (/,) leading into the storage room
above, is in the rear. A door, (5,) on the extreme
right, leads into the ice-house, (<?.) There are four
windows to the room — two on each side, front and
rear. In the loft are placed the shelves for storing the
cheese, as soon as sufficiently prepared on the tempo-
rary table below. This loft is thoroughly ventilated by
windows, and the heat of the sun upon it ripens the
cheese rapidly for market. A trapdoor, through the
floors, over which is hung a tackle, admits the cheese
from below, or passes it down, when prepared for
market.
The cheese house should, if possible, be placed on a
sloping bank, when it is designed to feed the whey to
pigs ; and even when it is fed to cows, it is more con-
venient to pass it to them on a lower level, than to
334 KUBAL AKCHITECTUKE.
carry it out in buckets. It may, however, it' on level
ground, be discharged into vats, in a cellar below, and
pumped out as wanted. A cellar is convenient — in-
deed, almost indispensable — under the cheese dairy;
and water should be so near as to be easily pumped,
or drawn, into the vats and kettles used in running up
the curd, or for washing the utensils used in the work.
When the milk is kept over night, for the next morn-
ing's curd, temporary tables may be placed near the
ice-room, to hold the pans or tubs in which it may be
set, and the ice used to temper the milk to the proper
degree for raising the cream. If the dairy be of such
extent as to require larger accommodation than the
plan here suggested, a room or two may be partitioned
ofl* from the main milk and pressing-room, for wash-
ing the vessels and other articles employed, and for
setting* the milk. Every facility should be made for
neatness in all the operations connected with the work.
Different accommodations are required, for making
the different kinds of cheese which our varied markets
demand, and in the fitting up of the dairy-house, no
positive plan of arrangement can be laid down, suited
alike to all the work which may be demanded. The
dairyman, therefore, will best arrange all these for the
particular convenience which he requires. The main
plan, and style of building however, we think will be
generally approved, as being in an agreeable architec-
tural style, and of convenient construction and shape
for the objects intended.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 835
THE BUTTER DAIRY.
This, if pursued on the same farm with the cheese
dairy, and at different seasons of the year, may be
carried on in the lower parts of the same building.
But as it is usually a distinct branch of business, when
prosecuted as the chief object on a farm, it should have
accommodations of its own kin<^ which should be fitted
up specially for that purpose.
We cannot, perhaps, suggest a better model of a
building for the butter dairy, than the one just sub-
mitted for the cheese-house, only that there is no neces-
sity for the upper story ; and the posts of the main
building should not stand more than nine feet above
the sills. A good, walled cellar, well lighted, as a
room for setting the milk, is indispensable, with a
broad, open flight of steps, from the main floor above,
into it. Here, too, should stand the stone slabs, where
the butter is worked, and the churns, to be driven by
hand, or water, or animal power, as the two latter may
be provided, and introduced into the building by belt,
shaft, or crank. If running water can be brought on
336 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
to the milk-shelves, from a higher level, which, fo
this purpose, should have curbs two or three inches
high on their sides, it can flow in a constant gentle
current over them, among the pans, from a receiving
vat, in which ice is deposited, to keep the milk at the
proper temperature — about 55° Fahrenheit — for rais-
ing the cream ; and if the quantity of milk be large,
the shelves can be so a -ranged, by placing each tier of
shelf lower than the Last, like steps, that the water
may pass among them all before it escapes from the
room. Such a mode of applying water and ice, ren-
ders the entire process of cream-rising almost certain
in all weathers, and is highly approved wherever it has
been practiced. The low temperature of the room, by
the aid of water and ice, is also beneficial to the butter
packed in kegs, keeping it cool and sweet — as much
like a spring-house as possible, in its operation.
The washing and drying of pans, buckets, churns,
and the heating of water, should all be done in the
room above, where the necessary kettles are set, and
kept from contact with the cool atmosphere of the
lower room. The latter apartment should have a well-
laid stone or brick floor, filled and covered with a
strong cement of water lime, and sloping gradually to
the outer side, where all the water may pass off by a
drain, and everything kept sweet and clean. The but-
termilk may, as in the case of the whey, in the cheese
dairy, be passed off in spouts to the pigsty, which
should not be far distant.
As all this process of arrangement, however, must
conform somewhat to the shape of the ground, the
BUBAL ARCHITECTURE. 337
locality, and the facilities at hand where it may be
constructed ; it is hardly possible to give any one system
of detail which is applicable to an uniform mode of
structure ; and much will be left to the demands and
the skill of the dairyman himself, in the plan he may
finally adopt.
THE WATER RAM.
As water, and that of a good quality, and in abun-
dant quantity, is indispensable to the various demands
of the farm, it is worth some pains to provide it in the
most economical manner, and at the most convenient
points for use. In level grounds, wells are generally
dug, and the water drawn up by buckets or pumps.
In a hilly country, springs, and streams from higher
grounds, may be brought in by the aid of pipes, the
water flowing naturally, under its own head, wherever
it may be wanted, away from its natural stream.
But, of all contrivances to elevate water from a
lower fountain, or current, to a higher level, by its own
action, the Water Ram is the most complete in its
operation, and perfect in its construction, of anything
within our knowledge. And as it may not be generally
known to our readers, at our request, Messrs. A. B.
ALLEN & Co., of New York — who keep them of all
sizes for sale, at their agricultural warehouse, No's.
338
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
189 and 191, "Water-street — have kindly furnished us
with the following description of the machine, given
by W. & B. Douglass, of Middletown, Connecticut,
manufacturers of the article :
WATER RAM.
"H, spring or brook. C, drive, or supply-pipe,
from brook to ram. Gr, discharge pipe, conveying
water to house or other point required for use. B, D,
A, E, I, the Ram. J, the plank or other foundation
to which the machine is secured for use.
"The various uses of the ram are at once obvious,
viz., for the purposes of irrigating lands, and supply-
ing dwellings, barnyards, gardens, factories, villages,
engines, railroad stations, &c., with running water.
" The simplicity of the operation of this machine,
together with its effectiveness, and very apparent dura-
bility, renders it decidedly the most important and
BUBAL ARCHirECTUBE. 339
valuable apparatus yet developed in hydraulics, for
forcing a portion of a running stream of water to any
elevation, proportionate to the fall obtained. It is per-
fectly applicable where no more than eighteen inches
fall can be had ; yet, the greater the fall applied, the
more powerful the operation of the machine, and the
higher the water may be conveyed. The relative pro-
portions between the water raised, and wasted, is de-
pendent entirely upon the relative height of the spring
or source of supply above the ram, and the elevation
to which it is required to be raised. The quantity
raised varying in proportion to the height to which it
is conveyed, with a given fall ; also, the distance which
the water has to be conveyed, and consequent length
of pipe, has some bearing on the quantity of water
raised and discharged by the ram ; as, the longer the
pipe through which the water has to be forced by the
machine, the greater the friction to be overcome, and
the more the power consumed in the operation ; yet, it
is common to apply the ram for conveying the water
distances of one and two hundred rods, and up eleva-
tions of one and two hundred feet. Ten feet fall from
the spring, or brook, to the ram, is abundantly sufficient
for forcing up the water to any elevation under say one
hundred and fifty feet in height, above the level of the
point where the ram is located ; and the same ten feet
fall will raise the water to a much higher point than
above last named, although in a diminished quantity,
in proportion as the height is increased. When a suf-
ficient quantity of water is raised with a given fall, it
is not advisable to increase said fall, as in so doing the
14*
340 JSUKAL ABCHITECTUKE.
force with which the ram works is increased, and tue
amount of labor which it has to perform greatly aug-
mented, the wear and tear of the machine proportion-
ably increased, and the durability of the same lessened ;
BO that economy, in the expense of keeping the ram
in repair, would dictate that no greater fall should be
applied, for propelling the ram, than is sufficient to
raise a requisite supply of water to the place of use.
To enable any person to make the calculation, as to
what fall would be sufficient to apply to the ram, to
raise a sufficient supply of water to his premises, we
would say, that in conveying it any ordinary distance,
of say fifty or sixty rods, it may be safely calculated
that about one-seventh part of the water can be raised
and discharged at an elevation above the ram five
times as high as the fall which is applied to the ram,
or one-fourteenth part can be raised and discharged,
say ten times as high as the fall applied ; and so in
that proportion, as the fall or rise is varied. Thus, if
the ram be placed under a head or fall of five feet, of
every seven gallons drawn from the spring, one may
be raised twenty-five feet, or half a gallon fifty feet.
Or with ten feet fall applied to the machine, of every
fourteen gallons drawn from the spring, one gallon
may be raised to the height of one hundred feet above
the machine ; and so in like proportion, as the fall or
rise is increased or diminished.
" It is presumed that the above illustrations of what
the machine will do under certain heads and rise, will
be sufficient for all practical purposes, to enable pur-
chasers of the article to determine, with a sufficient
BUBAL ARCHITECTURE. 341
degree of nicety, as to the head or fall to apply to the
ram for a given rise and distance, which they may
wish to overcome in raising water from springs 01
brooks to their premises, or other places where water
is required. Yet, we have the pleasure of copying the
following article, which we find in the 'American
Agriculturist,' a very valuable journal published by
C. M. Saxton, 152 Fulton-street, New York, which
may serve to corroborate our statements as to what our
ram will accomplish under given circumstances :
" ' The following is a correct statement of a water
ram I have had in successful operation for the last six
months :
'"1. The fall from the surface of the water in the
spring is four feet. 2. The quantity of water delivered
per ten minutes, at my house, is three and a quarter
gallons, and that discharged at the ram twenty-five
gallons. Thus, nearly one-seventh part of the water
is saved. 3. The perpendicular height of the place of
delivery above the ram is nineteen feet — say fifteen
feet above the surface of the spring. 4. The length
of the pipe leading from the ram to the house is one
hundred and ninety feet. 5. The pipe leading from
the ram to the house has three right angles, rounded
by curves. 6. The ram is of Douglass' make, of a
small size. 7. The length of the drive or supply-pipe
is sixty feet. Its inner diameter one inch. 8. The
depth of water in the spring, over the drive pipe, is
six inches. 9. The inner diameter of the pipe, con-
ducting the water from the ram to the house, is three-
eighths of an inch.
BUBAL ARCHITECTURE.
" ' I consider it very essential that the drive or
supply-pipe should be laid as straight as possible, as
in the motion of the water in this pipe consists the
power of the ram.
Y. H. HALLOCK.
NORTH-EAST CENTER, N. Y., April 3d, 1849.' "
We have seen several of these rams at work ; and in
any place where the required amount of fall can be
had, with sufficient water to supply the demand, we
are entirely satisfied that no plan so cheap and effi-
cient can be adopted, by which to throw it to a higher
level, and at a distance from the point of its flow. We
heartily commend it to all who need a thing of the
kind, and have at hand the facilities in the way of a
stream for its use.
It is hardly worth while to add, that by the aid of
the ram, water can be thrown into every room in the
dwelling house, as well as into the various buildings,
and yards, and fields of the farm, wherever it may be
required.
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
343
RAT-PROOF GRANARY.
This plan, and description, we take from an agri-
cultural periodical published in New York — "The
Plow." "We can recommend no plan of a better kind
for the objects required. It is an old-fashioned struc-
ture, which many of our readers will recognize — only,
that it is improved in some of its details.
The illustration above needs but little description.
The posts should be stone, if procurable, one foot
square, and four feet long, set one-third in the ground,
and capped with smooth flat stones, four to six inches
3-14: EUKAL ARCHITECTURE.
thick, and two feet, at least, across. If wooden posts
are used, make them sixteen inches square, and set
them in a hole previously filled, six inches deep, with
charcoal, or rubble stone and lime grouting, and fill
around the posts with the same. Four inches from the
fop, nail on a flange of tin or sheet iron, six inches
wide, the projecting edge of which may be serrated,
as a further preventive against the depredating rascals
creeping around. The steps are hinged to the door-
sill, and should have a cord and weight attached to the
door, so that whenever it is shut, the steps should be
up also ; this would prevent the possibility of careless-
ness in leaving them down for the rats to walk up.
The sides should be made of slats, with large cracks
between, and the floor under the corn-crib, with numer-
ous open joints ; no matter if shattered corn falls
through, let the pigs and chickens have it ; the circu-
lation of the air through the pile of corn, will more
than pay for all you will lose through the floor. If
you intend to have sweet grain, be sure to have a ven-
tilator in the roof, and you may see by the vane on
the top of it, hew the wind will always blow favorably
for you.
BUBAL AKCHITECTUBE. 345
IMPKOVED DOMESTIC ANIMALS.
Having completed the series of subjects which we
had designed for this work, we are hardly content to
send it out to the public, without inviting the attention
of our farmers, arid others who dwell in the country
and occupy land, to the importance of surrounding
themselves with the best breeds of domestic animals,
as an item of increased profit in their farm manage-
ment, and as a subject of interest and satisfaction to
themselves in the embellishment of their grounds.
"We have addressed ourselves through these pages to
the good sense of men who, in their general character
and pursuits, comprise the most stable class of our
population. TVe have endeavored to impress upoi.
them the importance of providing all the conveniences
and comforts to themselves, in their dwellings, as well
as the due provision for their animals and crops, in
the rougher farm buildings, which their circumstances
will admit ; and we trust they have been shown that
it is proper economy so to do. We have, in addition
to these, somewhat dilated upon objects of embellish-
ment, in the way of grounds to surround them, and
trees to beautify them, which will in no way interfere
with a just economy, and add greatly to the pleasure
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
and interest of their occupation. "We now want them
to introduce into those grounds such domestic animals
as shall add to their ornament, and be far more profit-
able to themselves, than the inferior things which are
called the common, or native stock of the country.
Without this last lesson, half our object would be lost.
Of what avail will be the best provision for the con-
veniences of a family, and the labors of the farm, if
the farm be badly cultivated, and a worthless or infe-
rior stock be kept upon it? The work is but half done
at best ; and the inferiority of the last will only become
more conspicuous and contemptible, in contrast with
the superior condition of the first.
It is not intended to go into an examination of the
farm-stock of our country at large, nor into their modes
of treatment; but, to recommend such varieties of
animals as are profitable in their breeding and keep-
ing, both to the professional farmer in his vocation, and
to such as, beyond this, find them an object of con-
venience, or of pleasure.
"We, in America, are comparatively a young people.
Yet, we have surmounted necessity. We have arrived
at the period when we enjoy the fruits of competence —
some of us, the luxuries of wealth. A taste for supe-
rior domestic animals has been increasing, and spread-
ing over the United States for many years past; so
that now, a portion of our farmers and country people
understand somewhat of the subject. It has been tho-
roughly demonstrated, that good farm stock is better,
and more profitable than poor stock. Still, a taste for
good stock, and the advantages of keeping them, over
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 347
the common stock of the country, is not geiierally
understood ; and that taste has to be cultivated. It is
not altogether a thing of nature, any more than other
faculties which require the aid of education to devel-
ope. We have known many people who had a fine
perception in many things : an eye for a fine house,
pleasant grounds, beautiful trees, and all the surround-
ings which such a place might command; and when
these were complete, would place about it the veriest
brutes, in the way of domestic animals, imaginable.
The resident of the city, who lives at his country-house
in summer, and selects a picture of mean or inferior
quality, to hang up in his house by way of ornament,
would be laughed at by his friends ; yet he may drive
into his grounds the meanest possible creature, in the
shape of a cow, a pig, or a sheep, and it is all very
well — for neither he nor they know any better; yet,
the one is quite as much out of place as the other.
The man, too, who, in good circumstances, will keep
and drive a miserable horse, is the ridicule of his
neighbors, because everybody knows what a good horse
is, and that he should be well kept. Yet, the other
stock on his farm may be the meanest trash in exis-
tence, and it creates no remark. On the contrary, one
who at any extra cost has supplied himself with stock
of the choicer kinds, let their superiority be ever so
apparent, has often been the subject of ribaldry, by
his unthinking associates. And such, we are sorry to
say, is still the case in too many sections of our coun-
try. But, on the whole, both our public spirit, and
our intelligence, is increasing, in such things.
•RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
Now, we hold it to be a practical fact, that no farm,
or country place, can be complete in its appointments,
without good stock upon it ; and it is useless for any-
one to suppose that his farm, or his place, is finistied,
without it. The man who has a fine lawn, of any
extent, about his house, or a park adjoining, should
have something to graze it — for he cannot aiford to let
it lie idle ; nor is it worth while, even if he can aiford
it, to be mowing the grass in it every fortnight during
the summer, to make it sightly. Besides this, grass
will grow under the trees, and that too thin, and short,
for cutting. This ground must, of course, be pastured.
Now, will he go and get a parcel of mean scrubs of
cattle, or sheep, to graze it, surrounding his very door,
and disgracing him by their vulgar, plebeian looks, and
yielding him no return, in either milk, beef, mutton,
or wool ? Of course not, if he be a wise, or a provi-
dent man, or one who has any true taste in such mat-
ters. H*e will rather go and obtain the best stock he
can get, of breeds suited to the climate, and soil, which
will give him a profitable return, either in milk, or
flesh, or their increase, for his outlay ; and which will
also embellish his grounds, and create an interest in
his family for their care, and arrest the attention of
those who visit him, or pass by his grounds. Of the
proper selection of this branch of his stock, we shall
now discourse.
In cattle, if your grounds be rich, and your grass
abundant, the short-horns are the stock for them. They
are "the head and front," in appearance, size, and
combination of good qualities — the very aristocracy
KURAL AKCIHTKCTURE. 349
cf all neat cattle. A well-bred, and well developed
short-horn cow, full in the qualities which belong to
ner character, is the very perfection of her kind. Her
large, square form ; fine orange, russet, or nut-colored
muzzle ; bright, prominent, yet mild, expressive eye ,
small, light horn ; thin ears ; clean neck ; projecting
brisket ; deep, and broad chest ; level back, and loin ;
broad hips'; large, and well-spread udder, with its
silky covering of hair, and clean, taper, wide-standing
teats, giving twenty to thirty quarts of rich milk in a
day ; deep thigh, and twist ; light tail ; small, short
legs ; and, added to this, her brilliant and ever- varying
colors of all, and every -intermingling shades of red, and
white, or either of them alone; such, singly, or in groups,
standing quietly under the shade of trees, grazing in the
open field, or quietly resting upon the grass, are the very
perfection of a cattle picture, and give a grace and
beaut}' to the grounds which no living thing can equal.
Nor, in this laudation of the short-horns, are we at
all mistaken. Go into the luxuriant blue-grass pas-
tures of Kentucky ; the rich, and wide-spread grazing
regions of central and lower Ohio; the prairies of
Indiana, and Illinois, just now beginning to receive
them; the sweet, and succulent pastures of central
and western New York, or on the Hudson river ; and
now and then, a finely -cultivated farm in other sections
of the United States, where their worth has become
established ; and they present pictures of thrift, of
excellence, of beauty, and of profit, that no other neat
cattle can pretend to equal.
As a family cow, nothing can excel the short-horn
in the abundance and richness of her rnilk, and in the
profit she will yield to her owner; and, on every place
where she can be supplied with abundance of food,
350 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
she stands without a rival. From the short-horns,
spring those magnificent fat oxen and steers, which
attract so much admiration, and carry off the prizes,
at our great cattle shows. Thousands of them, of less
or higher grade in blood, are fed every year, in the
Scioto, the Miami, and the other great feeding valleys
of the west, and in the fertile corn regions of Kentucky,
and taken to the New York and Philadelphia markets.
As a profitable beast to the grazier, and the feeder,
nothing can equal them in early maturity and excel-
lence. For this purpose, the short horns are steadily
working their way all over the vast cattle-breeding
regions of the west ; and, for the richness and abun-
dance of her milk, the cow is eagerly introduced into
the dairy, and milk-producing sections of the other
states, where she will finally take rank, and maintain her
superiority over all others, on rich and productive soils.
On lighter soils, with shorter pastures ; or on hilly
and stony grounds, another race of cattle may be kept,
better adapted to such localities, than those just de-
scribed. They are the Devons — also an English breed,
and claimed there as an aboriginal race in England ;
and if any variety of cattle, exhibiting the blood-like
beauty, and fineness of limb, the deep uniformity of
color, and the gazelle-like brilliancy of their eye, can
claim a remote ancestry, and a pure descent, the De-
vons can make such claim, beyond almost any other.
They were introduced — save now and then an isolated
animal at an earlier day — into the United States some
thirty-two or three years ago, about the same time with
the short-horns ; and like them, have been added to,
and improved by frequent importations since ; until
now, probably our country will show some specimens
equal m quality to their high general character in
liUKAL AiCUUTKCTlltK. 351
the laud of their nativity. Unlike the short-horn, the
Devon is a much lighter animal, with a like fine ex-
pression of countenance ; an elevated horn ; more agile
in form ; yet finer in limb and bone ; a deep mahog-
any-red in color ; and of a grace, and beauty in figure
excelled by no other breed whatever. The Devon cow
is usually a good milker, for her size ; of quiet temper ;
docile in her habits ; a quick feeder ; and a most satis-
factory animal in all particulars. From the Devons,
spring those beautifully-matched red working-oxen,
so much admired in our eastern states ; the superiors
to which, in kindness, docility, endurance, quickness,
and honesty of labor, no country can produce. In the
quality of their beef, they are unrivaled by any breed
of cattle in the United States ; but in their early matu-
rity for that purpose, are not equal to the short-horns.
Several beautiful herds of Devons are to be found
in New York, in Maryland, in Connecticut, and in
Massachusetts ; and some few in other states, where they
can be obtained by those who wish to purchase.
Another branch of domestic stock should also excite
the attention of those who wish to embellish their
grounds, as well as to improve the quality of their
mutton — obtaining, withal, a fleece of valuable wool.
These are the Southdown, and the Cotswold, Leicester,
or other improved breeds of long-wooled sheep. There
is no more peaceful, or beautiful small animal to be
seen in an open park, or pleasure ground, or in the
paddock of a farm, than these.
The Southdown, is a fine, compact, and solid sheep,
with dark face and legs ; quiet in its habits, mild in
disposition, of a medium quality, and medium weight
of fleece ; and yielding a kind of mutton unsurpassed
in flavor and delicacy — equal, in the estimation of many.
72
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
to the finest venison. The carcass of a Southdown
wether, when well fatted, is large, weighing, at two to
three years old, a hundred to a hundred and twenty
pounds. The ewe is a prolific breeder, and a good
nurse. They are exceedingly hardy, and will thrive
equally well in all climates, and on all our soils, where
they can live. There is no other variety of sheep which
has been bred to that high degree of perfection, in Eng-
land. The great Southdown breeder, Mr. Webb, of
Batraharn, has often received as high as fifty, to one
hundred guineas, in a season, for the use of a single
ram. Such prices show the estimation in which the
best Southdowns are held there, as well as their great
popularity among the English farmers.
The Cotswold, New Oxford, and Leicester sheep, of
the long-wooled variety, are also highly esteemed, in
the same capacity as the Southdowns.
They are large ; not so compactly built as the South-
downs ; producing a heavy fleece of long wool, mostly
used for combing, and making into worsted stuffs.
They are scarcely so hardy, either, as the Southdowns,
nor are they so prolific. Still, they have many excel-
lent qualities ; and although their mutton has not the
fine grain, nor delicacy, of the other, it is of enormous
weight, when well fattened, and a most profitable
carcass. It has sometimes reached a weight of two
hundred pounds, when dressed. They are gentle, and
quiet in their habits ; white in the face and legs ; and
show a fine and stately contrast to the Southdowns, in
their increased size, and breadth of figure. They re-
quire, also, a somewhat richer pasture ; but will thrive
on any good soil, yielding sweet grasses.
That the keeping of choice breeds of animals, and
the cultivation of a high taste for them, is no vulgat
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 3i>o
matter, with even the most exalted intellects, and of
men occupying the most honorable stations in the state,
and in society ; and that they concern the retired gen-
tleman, as well as the practical farmer, it is only neces-
sary to refer to the many prominent examples in Great
Britain, and our own country, within the last fifty
years.
The most distinguished noblemen of England, and
Scotland, have long bred the finest of cattle, and em-
bellished their home parks with them. The late Earl
Spencer, one of the great patrons of agricultural im-
provement in England, at his death owned a herd of
two hundred of the highest bred short-horns, which he
kept on his home farm, at Wiseton. The Dukes of
Bedford, for the last century and a half, have made
extraordinary exertions to improve their several breeds
of cattle. The late Earl of Leicester, better known,
perhaps, as Mr. Coke, of Holkham, and the most cele-
brated farmer of his time, has been long identified
with his large and select herds of Devons, and his
flocks of Southdowns. The Duke of Richmond has
his great park at Goodwood stocked with the finest
Southdowns, Short-horns, and Devons. Prince Albert,
even, has caught the infection of such liberal and use-
ful example, and the royal park at Windsor is tenanted
with the finest farm stock, of many kinds ; and he is
a constant competitor at the great Smithfield cattle
shows, annually held in London. Besides these, hun-
dreds of the nobility, and wealthy country gentlemen
of Great Britain, every year compete with the intelli-
gent farmers, in their exhibitions of cattle, at the
354 BUBAL ABCHITECTUEE.
royal and provincial shows, in England, Scotland, and
Ireland.
In the United States, Washington was a great pro-
moter of improvement in farm stock, and introduced
on to his broad estate, at Mount Yernon, many foreign
animals, which he had sent out to him at great expense ;
and it was his pride to show his numerous and distin-
guished guests, his horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs.
Henry Clay, of Kentucky, was among the first pro-
moters of the improvement of domestic animals in the
fertile region, of which his own favorite Ashland is the
center ; and to his continued efforts in the breeding of
the finest short-horns, and mules, is the state of Ken-
tucky greatly indebted for its reputation in these de-
scriptions of stock. Daniel Webster has introduced
on to his estate, at Marshfield, the finest cattle, and
sheep suited to its soil and climate, and takes much
pride in showing their good qualities. Indeed, we
have never heard either of these two last remarkable
men more eloquent, than when discoursing of their
cattle, and of their pleasure in ranging over their pas-
tures,, and examining their herds and flocks. They
have both been importers of stock, and liberal in their
dissemination among their agricultural friends and
neighbors. Public-spirited, patriotic men, in almost
every one of our states, have either imported from
Europe, or drawn from a distance in their own conn
try, choice animals, to stock their own estates, and
bred them for the improvement of their several neigh-
borhoods. Merchants, and generous men of other pro-
fessions, have shown great liberality, and the finest
RURAL ARCmTECTUKE. 355
taste, in importing, rearing, and distributing over the
country the best breeds of horses, cattle, sheep, and
pigs. Their own beautiful home grounds are embel-
lished with them, in a style that all the dumb stat-
uary in existence can not equal in interest — models
of grace, and beauty, and utility, which are in vain
sought among the sculpture, or paintings of ancient
time. And many a plain and unpretending farmer of
our country, emulating such laudable examples, now
shows in his luxuriant pastures, and well-filled barns
and stables, the choicest specimens of imported stock ;
and their prizes, won at the cattle shows, are the laud-
able pride of themselves, and their families.
Nor is this laudable taste, confined to men alone.
Females of the highest worth, and domestic example,
both .abroad and at home, cultivate a love for such
objects, and take much interest in the welfare of their
farm stock. "We were at the annual state cattle show,
in one of our large states, but a short time since, and
in loitering about the cattle quarter of the grounds,
met a lady of our acquaintance, with a party of her
female friends, on a tour of inspection among the beau-
tiful short-horns, and Devons, and the select varieties
of sheep. She was the daughter of a distinguished
statesman, who was also a large farmer, and a patron
of great liberality, in the promotion of fine stock in his
own state. She was bred upon the farm, and, to rare
accomplishments in education, was possessed of a deep
love for all rural objects ; and in the stock of the farm
she took a peculiar interest. Her husband was an
extensive fanner, and a noted breeder of fine animals.
856 RURAL AECJITTECTTJKE.
She had her own farm, too, and cattle upon it, equally
as choice as his, in her own right ; and they were both
competitors at the annual exhibitions. Introduced to
her friends, at her request, we accompanied them in
their round of inspection. There were the beautiful
cows, and the younger cattle, and the sheep — all
noticed, criticised, and remarked upon ; and with a
judgment, too, in their various properties, which con-
vinced us of her sound knowledge of their physiology,
and good qualities, which she explained to her asso-
ciates with all the familiarity that she would a tam-
bouring frame, or a piece of embroidery. There was
no squeamish fastidiousness ; no affectation of prudery,
in this j but all natural as the pure flow of admiration
in a well-bred lady could be. At her most comfort-
able, and hospitable residence, afterward, she showed
us, with pride, the several cups, and other articles of
plate, which her family had won as prizes, at the agri-
cultural exhibitions; and which she intended to pre-
serve, as heir-looms to her children. This is not a
solitary example ; yet, a too rare one, among our fair
countrywomen. Such a spirit is contagious, and we
witness with real satisfaction, their growing taste in
such laudable sources of enjoyment : contrary to the
parvenue affectation of a vast many otherwise sensible
and accomplished females of our cities and towns —
comprising even the wives and daughters of farmers,
too — who can saunter among the not over select, and
equivocal representations, among the paintings and
statuary of our public galleries ; and descant with en-
tire freedom, on the various attitudes, and artistical
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 357
merits of the works before them ; or gaze with appa-
rent admiration upon the brazen pirouettes of a public
danci.ig girl, amid all the equivoque of a crowded
theater ; and yet, whose delicacy is shocked at the ex-
hibitions of a cattle show ! Such females as we have
noticed, can admire the living, moving beauty of ani-
mal life, with the natural and easy grace of purity
itself, and without the slightest suspicion of a stain of
vulgarity. From the bottom of our heart, we trust
that a reformation is at work among our American
women, in the promotion of a taste, and not only a
taste, but a genuine love of things connected with coun-
try life. It was not so, with the mothers, and the
wives, of the stern and earnest men, who laid the
foundations of their country's freedom and greatness
They were women of soul, character, and stamina;
who grappled with the realities of life, in their labors ;
and enjoyed its pleasures with truth and honesty. This
over-nice, mincing delicacy, and sentimentality, in
which their grand-daughters indulge, is but the off-
throw of the boarding-school, the novelist, and the
prude — mere "leather and prunella." Such remarks
may be thought to lie beyond the line of our immediate
labor. But in the discussion of the collateral subjects
which have a bearing upon country life and residence,
we incline to make a clean breast of it, and drop such
incidental remark as may tend to promote the enjoy-
ment, as well as instruction, of those whose sphere of
action, and whose choice in life is amid the pure atmos-
phere, and the pure pleasures of the country.
358 BtTRAL ABCHITEOTtTBB
WATEK-FOWLS.
If a stream flow through the grounds, in the vicinity
of the house ; or a pond, or a small lake be near, a
few varieties of choice water-fowls may be kept, adding
much to the interest and amusement of the family.
Many of the English nobility, and gentry, keep swans
for such purpose. They are esteemed a bird of much
grace and beauty, although silent, and of shy, unsocial
habits, and not prolific in the production of their young.
For such purposes as they are kept in England, the
great African goose, resembling the China, but nearly
double in size, is a preferable substitute in this country.
It is a more beautiful bird in its plumage ; equally
graceful in the water ; social, and gentle in its habits ;
breeding with facility, and agreeable in its voice, par-
ticularly at a little distance. The African goose will
attain a weight of twenty to twenty-five pounds. Its
body is finely formed, heavily feathered, and its flesh
is of delicate flavor. The top of the head, and the
back of its neck, which is long, high, and beautifully
arched, is a dark brown ; its bill black, with a high
protuberance, or knob, at its junction with the head ; a
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 359
dark hazel eye, with a golden ring around it; the
tinder part of the head and neck, a soft ash- color ; and
a heavy dewlap at the throat. Its legs and feet are
orange-colored ; and its belly white. Taken altogether,
a noble and majestic bird.
CHINA GOOSE.
The small brown China goose is another variety
which may be introduced. She is nearly the color of
the African, but darker ; has the same black bill, and
high protuberance on it, but without the dewlap under
the throat ; and has black legs and feet. She is only
half the size of the other ; is a more prolific layer, —
frequently laying three or four clutches of eggs in a
year ; has the same character of voice ; an equally
high, arched neck, and is quite as graceful in the water.
The neck of the goose in the cut should be one-third
longer, to be an accurate likeness.
360 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
The White China is another variety, in size and shape
like the last, but perfectly white, with an orange col-
ored bill and legs. Indeed, no swan can be more
beautiful than this, which is of the same pure, clean
plumage, and, in its habits and docility, equally a
favorite with the others we have described.
The Bremen goose is still another variety, of about
the same size as the African, but in shape and appear-
ance, not unlike the common goose, except in color,
which is pure white. Young geese of this breed, at
nine months old, frequently weigh twenty pounds,
alive. We have had them of that weight, and for the
table, none can be finer. They are equally prolific as
the common goose, but, as a thing of ornament, are far
behind the African and the China. Still, they are a
stately bird, and an acquisition to any grounds where
water-fowls are a subject of interest, convenience, or
profit.
All these birds are more domestic, if possible, than
the common goose, and we have found them less
troublesome, not inclined to wander abroad, and, in
all the qualities of such a bird, far more agreeable.
We have long kept them, and without their presence,
should consider our grounds as incomplete, in one ot
the most attractive features of animated life.
It is too much a fault of our farming population, that
they do not pay sufficient attention to many little things
which would render their homes more interesting, both
to themselves, if they would only think so, and to their
families, most certainly. If parents have no taste
for such objects as we have recommended, or even
RUKAL ARCHITECTURE. 3C1
others more common, they should encourage their chil
dren in the love of them, and furnish them for their
amusement. The very soul of a farmer's home is to
cluster every thing about it which shall make it attract-
ive, and speak out the character of the country, and of
his occupation, in its full extent. Herds and flocks upon
the farm are a matter of course ; and so are the horses,
and the pigs. But there are other things, quite as in-
dicative of household abundance, and domestic enjoy-
ment. The pigeons, and the poultry of all kinds, and
perhaps the rabbit warren, which are chiefly in charge
of the good housewife, and her daughters, and the
younger boys, show out the domestic feeling and be-
nevolence of character in the family, not to be mis-
taken. It is a sign of enjoyment, of domestic content-
ment, and of mental cultivation, even, that will lead to
something higher, and more valuable in after life ; and
it is in such light that it becomes an absolute duty of
the farmer who seeks the improvement and education
of his children, to provide them with all these little
objects, to engage their leisure hours and promote their-
happiness. How different a h^me like this from one
— which is, really, not a home — where no attention ig
paid to such minor attractions ; where a few starve-
ling things, by way of geese, perhaps, picked half a
dozen times a year, to within an inch of their Ifves,
mope about the dirty premises, making their nightly
sittings in the door yard, if the house has one ; a stray
turkey, or two, running, from fear of the untutored
dogs, into the nearest wood, in the spring, to make
their rude nests, and bring out half a clutch of y oung,
362 BUBAL ARCHITECTURE.
and creeping about the fields through the summer with
a chicken or two, which the foxes, or other vermin,
have spared, and -then dogged down in the winter, to
provide a half got-up Christmas-dinner ; and the hens
about the open buildings all the year, committing their
nuisances in every possible way ! There need be no
surer indication than this, of the utter hopelessness of
progress for good, in such a family.
A WOED ABOUT DOGS.
"We always loved a dog; and it almost broke our
little heart, when but a trudging schoolboy, in our first
jacket-and-trowsers, our kind mother made us take back
the young puppy that had hardly got its eyes open,
which we one day brought home, to be kept until it
was fit to be taken from its natural nurse. "We are
now among the boys, John, Tom, and Harry ; and in-
tend to give them the benefit of our own experience in
this^line, as well as to say a few words to the elder
brothers, — and fathers, even, — if they do not turn up
their noses in contempt of our instruction, on a subject
so much beneath their notice.
"We say that we love dogs : not all dogs, however.
But we love some clogs — of the right breeds. There
BUBAL ARCHITECTURE. 363
is probably no other civilized country so 'dog-ridden as
this, both in
" Mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound,
And curs of low degree."
Goldsmith, kind man that he was, must have been a
capital judge of dogs, like many other poetical gentle-
men. Still, other men than poets are sometimes good
judges, and great lovers of dogs ; but the mass of peo-
ple are quite as well satisfied with one kind of dog as
with another, so that it be a dog ; and they too often
indulge in their companionship, much to the annoy-
ance of good neighborhood, good morals, and, indeed,
of propriety, thrift, and common justice. Of all these
we have nothing to say — here, at least. Ours is a
"free country" — for dogs, if for nothing else. Nor
shall we discuss the various qualities, or the different
breeds of dogs for sporting purposes. We never go
out shooting ; nor do we take a hunt — having no taste
that way. Perhaps in this we are to be pitied ; but
we are content as it is. Therefore we shall let the
hounds, and pointers, and setters, the springers, and
the land and the water spaniels, all alone. The mas-
tiffs, and the bull dogs, too, we shall leave to those who
like them. The poodle, and the little lap-dog of other
kinds, also, we shall turn over to the kindness of those
who — we are sorry for them, in having nothing better
to interest themselves about — take a pleasure in keep-
ing and tending them.
We want to mix in a little usefulness, as well as
amusement, in the way of a dog ; and after a whole
life, thus far, of dog companionship, and the trial of
RUKAL ARCHITECTURE.
pretty much fevery tiling in the line of a dog — frcin
the great Newfoundland, of a hundred pounds weight,
down to the squeaking little whiffet, of six — we have,
for many years past, settled down into the practical
belief that the small ratting terrier is the only one,
except the shepherd dog, we care to keep ; and of these,
chiefly, we shall speak.
There are many varieties of the Terrier. Some are
large, weighing forty or fifty pounds, rough-haired, and
savage looking. There is the bull-terrier, of less size,
not a kindly, well-disposed creature to strangers ; but
irrascibly inclined, and unamiable in his deportment ;
still useful as a watch-dog, and a determined enemy to
all vermin, whatever. Then, again, are the small rat-
terriers, as they are termed, weighing from a dozen to
twenty pounds ; some with rough, long, wiry hair ; a
fierce, whiskered muzzle ; of prodigious strength for
their size ; wonderful instinct and sagacity ; kind in
temper; and possessing valuable qualities, bating a
lack of beauty in appearance. . They are of all colors,
but are generally uniform in their color, whatever it
be. Another kind, still, is the smooth terrier, of the
same sizes as the last ; a very pretty dog indeed ; with
a kinder disposition to mankind ; yet equally destruct-
ive to vermin, and watchful to the premises which they
inhabit, or of whatever else is put under their charge.
The fidelity of the terrier to his master is wonderful ;
equal, if not superior to any other dog whatever. In
courage and perseverance, in hardihood, and feats of
daring, he has hardly an equal ; and in general useful
ness, no dog can compare with him.
BUBAL ABCHITECTURE. 366
THE SMOOTH TERRIER
Sir "Walter Scott, who was a great friend to dogs, as
well as a nice and critical judge of their qualities, used
to tell this story : — When a young man, first attend-
ing, as an advocate, the Jedburgh assizes, a notorious
burglar engaged Sir "Walter to defend him on his trial
for housebreaking in the neighborhood. The case was
a hard one ; the proof direct and conclusive ; and no
ingenuity of the defence could avoid the conviction ot
the culprit. The matter was settled beyond redemp-
tion ; and before he left for his imprisonment, or trans-
portation, the thief requested Sir "Walter to come into
his cell. On meeting, the fellow frankly told his coun-
sel that he felt very grateful to him for his efforts to
clear him ; that he had done the best he could ; but
the proof was too palpable against him. He would
gladly reward Sir "Walter for his services ; but he had
866 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
no money, and could only give him a piece of advice,
which might, perhaps, be serviceable hereafter. Sir
"Walter heard him, no doubt, with some regret at losing
his fee ; but concluding to hear what he had to say.
" You are a housekeeper, Mr. Scott. For security to
your doors, use nothing but a common lock — if rusty
and old, no matter ; they are quite as hard to pick as
any others. (Neither Chubbs' nor Hobbs' non-pickdble
locks were then invented.) Then provide yourself with
a small rat terrier, and keep him in your house at night.
There is no safety in a mastiff, or bull-dog, or in a
large dog of any breed. They can always be appeased
and quieted, and burglars understand them ; but a ter-
rier can neither be terrified nor silenced ; nor do we
attempt to break in where one is known to be kept."
Sir "Walter heeded the advice, and, in his housekeeping
experience, afterward, confirmed the good qualities of
the terrier, as related to him by the burglar. He also
commemorated the conversation by the following not
exceedingly poetical couplet :
" A terrier dog and a rusty key,
Was Walter Scott's first Jedburgh fee."
The terrier has a perfect, thorough, unappeasable
instinct for, and hatred to all kinds of vermin. He
takqs to rats and mice as naturally as a cat. He will
scent out their haunts and burrows. He will lie for
hours by their places of passage, and point them with
the sagacity of a pointer at a bird. He is as quick as
lightning, in pouncing upon them, when in sig'ut, and
rarely misses them when he springs. A single bite
EUEAL ARCHITECTURE. 3C7
settles the matter; and where there are several rats
found together, a dog will frequently dispatch half a
dozen of them, before they can get twenty feet from
him. A dog of our own has killed that number, before
they could get across the stable floor. In the grain
field, with the harvesters, a terrier will catch hundreds
of field-mice in a day ; or, in the hay field, he is
equally destructive. With a woodchuck, a raccoon, or
anything of their size — even a skunk, which many
dogs avoid — he engages, with the same readiness that
he will a rat. The night is no bar to his vigils. He
has the sight of an owl, in the dark. Minks, and
weasels, are his aversion, as much as other vermin.
He will follow the first into the water, till he exhausts
him with diving, and overtakes him in swimming.
He is a hunter, too. He will tree a sqirrel, or a rac-
coon, as readily as the best of sporting dogs. He will
catch, and hold a pig, or anything not too large or
heavy for him. He will lie down on your garment,
and watch it for hours ; or by anything else left in his
charge. He will play with the children, and share
their sports as joyfully as a dumb creature can do ;
and nothing can be more affectionate, kind, and gen-
tle among them. He is cleanly, honest, and seldom
addicted to tricks of any kind.
We prefer the high-bred, smooth, English terrier, to
any other variety. They are rather more gentle in
temper, and very much handsomer in appearance, than
the rough-haired kind ; but perlmps no better in their
useful qualities. We have kept them for years; we
t^m now and no reasonable inducement would
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
let us part with them. A year or two ago, having
accidentally lost our farm terrier, and nothing remain-
ing on the place but our shepherd dog, the buildings
soon swarmed with rats. They were in, and about
everything. During the winter, the men who tended
the horses, and cattle, at their nightly rounds of inspec-
tion, before going to bed, would kill, with their clubs,
three or four, in the barns and stables, every evening.
But still the rats increased, and they became unen-
durable. They got into the grain-mows, where they
burrowed, and brought forth with a fecundity second
only to the frogs of Egypt. They gnawed into the
granaries. They dug into the dairy. They entered
the meat barrels. They carried off the eggs from the
hen-nests. They stole away, and devoured, the young
ducks, and chickens. They literally came into the
"kneading troughs" of the kitchen. Oh! the rats
were intolerable ! Traps were no use. Arsenic was
innocuous — they would n't touch it. Opportunity
favored us, and we got two high-bred, smooth, English
terriers — a dog, and a slut. Then commenced such a
slaughter as we seldom see. The rats had got bold.
The dogs caught them daily by dozens, as they came
out from their haunts, fearless of evil, as before. As
they grew more shy, their holes were watched, and
every morning dead rats were found about the prem-
ises. The dogs, during the day, pointed out their
holes. Planks were removed, nests were found, and
the rats, young and old, killed, instanter. Hundreds
on hundreds were slaughtered, in the first few weeks ;
and in a short time, the place was mostly rid of them,
BUBAL ARCHITECTURE. 3G9
until enough only are left to keep the dogs "in play,"
and to show that in spite of all precaution, they will
harbor wherever there is a thing to eat, and a possible
place of covert for them to burrow.
To have the terrier in full perfection, it is important
that the breed be pure. TVe are so prone to mix up
everything we get, in this country, that it is sometimes
difficult to get anything exactly as it should be ; but a
little care will provide us, in this particular. He
should be properly trained, too, when young. That is,
to mind what is said to him. His intelligence will be
equal to all your wants in the dog-line ; but he should
not be fooled with. His instincts are sure. And,
with a good education, the terrier will prove all you
need in a farm, and a watch-dog. We speak from
long experience, and observation.
The shepherd dog is another useful — almost indis-
pensable— creature, on the sheep, or dairy farm.
This cut is an accurate representation of the finest of
the breed. To the flock-master, he saves a world of
labor, in driving and gathering the flocks together, or
from one field, or place, to another. To the sheep-
drover, also, he is worth a man, at least ; and in many
cases, can do with a flock what a man can not do. But
for this labor, he requires training, and a strict, thor-
ough education, by those who know how to do it. He
is a peaceable, quiet creature ; good for little else than
driving, and on a stock farm will save fifty times his
cost and keeping, every year. He is a reasonably
good watch-dog, also ; but he has neither the instinct,
nor sagacity of the terrier, in that duty. To keep him
370
RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
THE SHEPHERD DGtt.
in his best estate, for his own peculiar work, he should
not be troubled with other labors, as it distracts his
attention from his peculiar duties. "We had a remark-
ably good dog, of this kind, a few years since. He
was worth the services of a stout boy, in bringing up
the cattle, and sheep, until an idle boy or two, in the
neighborhood, decoyed him out in " cooning, " a few
nights during one autumn — in which he proved a
most capital hunter ; and after that, he became worth-
less, as a cattle dog. He was always rummaging around
among the trees, barking at birds, squirrels, or any
live thing that he could find ; and no man could coax
EURAL ARCHITECTURE. 371
him back to the dull routine of his duty. A shepherd
dog should never go a-hunting.
We would not be understood as condemning every-
thing else, excepting the dogs we have named, for farm
use. The Newfoundland, and the mastiff, are enor-
mously large dogs, and possessed of some noble quali-
ties. They have performed feats of sagacity and fidel-
ity which have attracted universal admiration; but,
three to one, if you have them on your farm, they will
kill every sheep upon it ; and their watchfulness is no
greater than that of the shepherd dog, or the terrier.
We have spoken of such as we have entire confidence
in, and such as we consider the best for useful service.
There are some kinds of cur dog that are useful. They
are of no breed at all, to be sure ; but have, now and
then, good qualities ; and when nothing better can be
got, they will do for a make-shift. But as a rule, we
would be equally particular in the breed of our dog,
as we would in the breed of our cattle, or sheep.
There are altogether too many dogs kept, in the coun-
try, and most usually by a class of people who have
no need of them, and which prove only a nuisance to
the neighborhood, and a destruction to the goods of
others. Thousands of useful sheep are annually de-
stroyed by them ; and in some regions of the country,
they can not be kept, by reason of their destruction by
worthless dogs, which are owned by the disorderly
people about them. In a western state, some time
ago, in conversing with a large farmer, who had a
flock of perhaps a hundred sheep running in one of
his pastures, and who also kept a dozen hounds, for
372 RUKAL AliCIIITEOTUBK.
0
hunting, we asked him whether the dogs did not kill
his sheep ? " To be sure they do." was his reply ,
"but the dogs are worth more than the sheep, for they
give us great sport in hunting deer, and foxes ; and
tbe sheep only give us a little mutton, now and then,
and some wool for the women to make into stockings !"
This is a mere matter of taste, thought we, and the
conversation on that subject dropped. Yet, this man
had a thousand acres of the richest land in the world ;
raised three or four hundred acres of corn, a year ; fed
off a hundred head of cattle, annually ; and sold three
hundred hogs every year, for slaughtering !
FISH-PONDS.
Wherever water in sufficient, quantity can be intro-
duced by a side-cut from a stream, by damming the
stream itself or by drawing it from a large spring, and
the face of the ground in the vicinity of the house
can afford a suitable place, either by inclosing a natural
hollow or ravine by a dam, or by excavation, a fish-
pond is well worthy the attention of a country resident,
even if he be but a small farmer. As an ornamental
feature of the place, it is of the most agreeable charac-
ter ; its utility will be unquestioned. The size of the
pond is immaterial, beyond half an acre in area — less it
jhould not be — and if it embrace even twenty, thirty,
or fifty acres, provided the proprietor can afford to de-
RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 373
vote so much land to that object, it will be all the bet-
ter for the fish, both in numbers and in quality.
The depth of water may vary — no matter how deep
— but the deepest part should not be less than ten feet,
that there may be a cool retreat for the fish in summer,
and a warm resting-place in winter ; and if a depth to
that extent can be made close to the margin on a part
of the boundary, it will be all the better, as the fish
may then enjoy the overhanging shade of the bank.
The shore should be undulating if possible ; irregular
in its outline, and a part of it shaded by trees and
shrubbery, as fish love shade as well as sunshine. A
part of the shore should be shallow, and shelve off
gradually into the deep water, and if partially grown
up with rushes, or lying on a smooth, clean sand or
gravel, it will accommodate the different varieties of fish
to bed and spawn upon ; some preferring the shady and
muddy bottom of the rush beds, and others the pebbly,
clear and sunny floor of the pond for that object. The
temperature of the water will vary, according to its
depth and" proximity to the shore, from ten to twenty
degrees at any given time, thus affording accommodation
to different varieties of the fish which may inhabit it
in the various conditions of breeding, growth, and
feeding, as they are enabled to treat themselves in their
natural haunts in wild waters.
According to the clearness, temperature, and purity
of the water, will depend the selection of the kinds of
fish which are to inhabit it. If the soil forming the
bed of the pond be light, and clean, and stony, and the
water be let in from a spring, or a spring brook of a
low temperature, the Speckled Trout, and the cold-
water fishes which are found in the same natural waters
with them, may be introduced. Yet for trout, the
374 EUKAL ARCHITECTURE.
water should have some current. They are a playful
and active fish, and nothing delights them more than
the bubbling water of a spring, or the rapid shooting
of a stream over a rugged bed. Still in cool and clear
water, a pond will satisfy them if the circulation be
such as to avoid stagnation. The trout, too, love a deep
hole, under a shaded bank, by the side of a projecting
rock, or beneath the roots of a huge tree. There the
larger ones love to gather, and from such haunts are
the finest specimens to be drawn with the hook. They
love to spawn in clear eddies, in sunny spots, over a
stony or sandy bed, where their young fry can feed upon
the animalculi and insects which play about the margin.
The Yellow Perch, a beautiful and delicious fish,
may also be introduced into clear and cool water. It
is quick and active in its movements, bites readily at
the hook, and is exceedingly prolific. In the spring
and summer season it loves to lie among rushes on
the margin of a gently-flowing stream or a still pond,
when it spawns and breeds. The perch will thrive in
water too warm and sluggish for the trout, but like the
trout, it loves to retreat and hide itself under a bank in
the deep shadow during the day.
If the pond be sufficiently extensive, the Bass, in its
varieties may be introduced ; but as they are a much
larger fish than the trout or the perch, they require a
greater depth of water and a wider range for their
food. The bass is an excellent table fish, and prolific in
the propagation of its kind.
The Pike might also be added, in clear and cool
waters. But it is a voracious, heartless wretch prey-
ing upon every other fish of lesser size within its reach,
and by its rapid movements enabled to dart and seize
upon everything inhabiting the same waters from which
RTTRAL ARCHITECTURE. 375
ft cannot escape. A single pike or two, introduced into
a close pond, has been known within a few months to
entirely depopulate it of all other sizeable fish. Al-
though, in its natural haunts, a fish of excellent quality
of flesh, they should hardly be introduced into the do-
mestic pond.
The Yellow Carp (the gold fish) is a beautiful crea-
ture to throw into the pond. They are not a fish of
prey upon its fellows, but live chiefly on insects and
worms. They may be domesticated like the perch,
and fed from the hand, and called by a bell to their ac-
customed feeding places in the pond. When turned
out at large, their progeny will change into silver and
brown varieties of color, while some of them will re-
tain the deep orange of the originals. On the whole
they are a beautiful and interesting fish, and should
always be introduced into the pond.
In dark waters, resting on an oozy or muddy bot-
tom, the European Carp is a capital and appropriate
fish for propagation. It feeds like the yellow carp,
chiefly on water-worms, and has a " sucker" mouth,
and grows to the weight of five, to ten or twelve pounds.
The Mullet is also a good fish and of equal size to
the carp, and when the waters are cold, of the finest
flavor for the table. In warm weather, its flesh is apt
to become soft and flavorless. The mullet also takes
its food by suction. It is a fish of exceeding beauty,
having large scales of most brilliant varying shades of
silver, purple and yellow, which give it an uncommon
richness in appearance. These " sucker-mouthed" fish
do not take the hook like the trout, the perch, or the
bass, but may be caught by the net, or spear, as they
lie in the shallow water near the shore, either in the
day-time, or by torch-light at night.
376 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
The Silver Eel may also be put into the muddy bot-
tom pond, but when confined, they make sad havoc
with the other fish, as well as with young ducks or
goslings, if they are permitted to swim in it. Although
a migratory fish, they will remain in confined waters ;
but they have too many disagreeable qualities in their
social relations to be the companions of the better fish
that we have named.
In all waters where edible fish are kept, smaller
varieties should be introduced, as the Chub, the Sun
Fish or Roach, the Dace, the Shiner, the Smelt, and
the Minnow ; they are prolific in breeding, and furnish
abundant food for the Bass, the Trout, and the Perch,
which fatten upon them. The larger of these yield
the finest of sport to the children, with their pin hooks
and thread lines if they have no better. They are a
nice pan fish also, bating the multitude of their little
bones ; but fried to a crisp, they are seldom in the way.
In stocking a new pond, a sufficient variety of both
the smaller and the larger kinds should be introduced,
so that a fair trial may be had with each, and such as
the waters best suit will ultimately become the chief
tenants of the domain ; but if Pike and Eels be intro-
duced, let them by all means be put in together, and
alone, to feed upon the frogs and lizards, or each other
as chance and might may govern. As a rule however,
the small fry should have possession of the waters for
at least one year in advance, that they may multiply to
a sufficient extent to supply partial food to the larger
ones ; and as they spawn, and keep in the shallowest
waters, they will thus propagate in sufficient abundance
to prevent a future scarcity when their more voracious
fellow-lodgers are introduced.
In ponds of sufficient extent, fish may be kept and
KTTEA.L ARCHITECTURE. 377
propagated to profit, aside from supplying the family
with so great a luxury in food as fresh fish are usually
esteemed. They may be fed with the offal meats of
the slaughter-house or the farm, or with balls of flour
or meal, boiled or baked. They may be called to a
particular point of the pond to feed at regular hours, if
they become accustomed to it. Such extra feeding will
give them an earlier and increased growth, and having
less need to prey upon the smaller fish, the stock of
course will be largely increased.
The feeding and care of fish will also be a source of
pleasure and amusement to the members of the family ;
and while away many an hour of leisure or idleness
that might otherwise tempt away the younger ones to
resorts of dissipation or vice. In short, aside from its
useful objects, we would have the fish-pond, as we
would the dove-cote or the rabbitry, to give pleasure
and variety to the farm, and to cluster around it all the
endearments with which life in the country should be
surrounded.
To give the fish-pond its most ornamental features as
an object of interest or beauty, it should be partially
clothed with trees and shrubs. In trees .we would se-
lect the soft or water maples, the willows, the water,
or black ash, the birch, and the lowland poplar. In
the way of shrubbery, the black alder, the wild
rose, and the osier willow, make a beautiful fringe to a
water margin. A certain expression of wildness should
be given to the pond, where it is of any size, and if it
have some hidden nooks and recesses difficult to ap-
proach from the shore, it will be all the better. Fish
love seclusion. Indeed, a pond haunted on every side
by the foot of man, or the tread of animals, is but ac
indifferent spot for their welfare, and the more it can
378 RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
resemble, in outward appearance and keeping, the wild
water of the river, the lake, or the natural pond, the
more congenial will it be to the tastes and habits of the
fish, and of course more profitable to the proprietor.
It is scarcely necessary to add that the pond should
have an outlet of sufficient capacity to let off its sur-
plus water, and be thoroughly secured against accident
in bursting away, as an occurrence of this kind might
in a few hours, destroy the labor and solicitude of
years.
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