_LOCATING THE HOUSE_
Since more than three-fourths of the life of the farmer and his family
are spent in sight of home, more than one-half of life in the house, and
more than one-fourth in bed, the house, the place where they live,
should receive most careful attention. Having secured sufficient land to
maintain a home, and having made certain that these lands are productive
and profitable, a problem is presented in locating and building the
house which demands a high degree of intelligence, long, painstaking
study, and a good understanding of what constitutes fitness, beauty and
durability.
Life in the country gives one the idea of repose, of strength and
breadth, of largeness, of solidity and durability, of healthy,
symmetrical, solid development. Things which are evanescent, unreal,
shoddy; things which are simply for show or vulgar display; things which
have the appearance of aping that which may be appropriate under
different conditions, but are totally out of place in rural life, must
be avoided if utility, natural beauty and comfort, economy and repose
are to be secured.
The pioneer in the wooded districts built the home in some sequestered
nook or valley at the base of the hill or table land, where the spring
or the stream issued from the wood-covered heights. The rural house of
the pioneer allowed free circulation of the frosty air; the problem of
ventilation they solved without knowing it. Unwittingly they adopted the
correct principle; viz., ventilation by many small, gentle streams of
air instead of by a few large openings, which create dangerous drafts.
It must be admitted that our forefathers overdid the ventilation in most
cases, and rheumatism and chilblains were the result; but the principle
was correct.
Now the spring has dried up, the water from the deforested hills comes
rushing to the lowlands until the streams overflow their banks, and
these and other changed conditions indicate that the future farmsteads
should be erected on higher land, on the slopes of the hills. From the
one extreme we have gone, in some cases, to the other, and the home has
been built on the very apex of some lofty hill. Such locations may be
well adapted for summer residences, where little or no farming is
carried on, but are not suitable for the farm home.
Now that the house is constructed by more skilled workmen than
formerly, and out of better material, there is little need of locating
the home in the sheltered nook, except possibly in the extreme north, or
on plains subject to tornadoes. The object in locating the house on
somewhat elevated lands is fourfold. First, air drainage. In deep,
crooked, narrow valleys the air is pocketed, especially at night, and
the damp, cold air settles in the lowest land as certainly as water
finds the low-lying pool. In these pockets between the hills, frosts
come early and remain late.
While traveling in western North Carolina in the late summer and fall, I
could not but observe how every little break in the hillside and every
narrow valley was filled at sunrise, to the crest of the adjoining hill,
with a dense fog. Slowly the sun, as it approached the zenith,
dissipated the fog, but the narrow valleys were often free from fog for
only a few hours each day. Here the home might be situated well up the
mountain side, as shown at the right in Fig. 5.
[Illustration: Fig. 5. A house in the bottom of the valley and one on
the mountain side.]
In a little pocket about twenty feet deep, formed by hills, with a road
embankment at its mouth, fruits failed, although they flourished on the
adjoining land, where there was good air drainage (Fig. 6). If fruits do
not thrive on these undrained areas, the natural conclusion is that the
children will not. It is found that the upper stories of city buildings
are healthier than the lower ones, and that the ground floor is the most
unhealthy of all. This is the only objection to a one-story house. On
the level prairies little opportunity is offered for locating the house
above the level of the surrounding country. Fortunately, many of the
prairies are undulating, and furnish most beautiful locations for
country homes. Much may be done, even in the level country, to overcome
the disadvantages of the site by placing the cellar of the house only
two or three feet in the ground and grading up to within a short
distance of the top of the wall. A pool or two, or a miniature lake near
the barns, and skilful planting of trees will lend a diversity and charm
well worth the attention and time given to them.
[Illustration: Fig. 6. A frosty pocket.]
A pool may be made by scooping a place in hard earth or by damming a
stream (Fig. 7). If no water is allowed to flow over the dam and it is
raised some two feet above the overflows, it will serve every purpose as
well as an expensive grout or stone structure. It will be noticed in the
picture that provision has been made by digging shallow ditches on the
right and left for carrying off the surplus water when the miniature
lake is full. In constructing the dam, a trench two feet wide, at right
angles to the stream, should be dug to the depth of one foot, or until
solid ground, unmixed with vegetable matter, is reached. Fill the trench
with clayey earth which is free from humus, which will prevent the dam
from leaking at the bottom where it meets the natural soil. The stream
which feeds the lake or pond should be small, and need not be perennial
if the dam is raised as high as it should be. If the water is dammed
back to the depth of twelve to fourteen feet, and the banks of the pond
are rather steep (A, Fig. 7), a cool, useful miniature lake will be
formed, and not an unsightly marsh, during the dry months of summer.
[Illustration: Fig. 7. A useful pond.]
Dryish, gravelly soil and subsoil is to be much preferred as a site for
a house to clayey or dark, damp soil which contains much humus. If the
ideal soil cannot be secured, then thorough drainage should be provided.
In locating on a gentle declivity, there is a constant tendency for
water to penetrate the wall next the hillside or to pass under the wall
and appear in the bottom of the cellar. Unless this can certainly be
prevented, another location had better be selected.
The house should be situated on somewhat elevated ground, to promote
both surface and house drainage. If it is the purpose to introduce into
the house more water than has been furnished heretofore, then full
provision should be made for carrying all waste water and fecal matter
to a safe distance from the house, and to do this beyond a peradventure,
sufficient fall must be secured to give permanency to the work and an
unobstructed outlet.
One of the objections urged against a country home is that it is “too
quiet,” too much shut up from the outside world. This, in part, is true.
It detracts much from the enjoyment and beauty of the country home if
vision is shut in to a few acres just about the house. The American
farmer is not content to live under the conditions which delight the
Transvaal Dutch farmer, so isolated that he cannot see the smoke from
his neighbor’s chimney nor hear the bark of his neighbor’s dog.
When visiting the home of the Hon. Edwin Morgan, I found that he was
having three large trees cut down. It seemed to the uninstructed like
vandalism. When asked the reason for sacrificing these noble trees,
nourished and tended for half a century, he answered: “I have many more
trees, but I have but one lake--Cayuga--and I must have vistas through
which I can watch the white sail, the crested waves, the ever-changing
colors of the water as the winds open vistas in the fleecy clouds. I
love the trees not less, but the soft reflection of the moonbeams on the
rippling wave more, and so the trees must give way.”
The outlook from the vine-covered veranda should be broad and extended.
If possible, the hill and dale, the stream and wood, neighbors’ houses
nestled in plantations of trees and shrubs, all should be in sight. As
life advances, I see more and more clearly the effect of that noble
lake, its now boisterous now placid surface of the rippling water which
laved the stony beach. I see its effect on that “tow-headed” lad who at
one time breasted the waves, at another sat dreamily casting pebbles
into the clear expanse, wondering what life had in store, what the
great unknown world offered for the nut-brown, high-tempered, crude
country boy. Then plant the country home where nature in her happiest
moods has showered her richest gifts!
But beauty loses much of its charm where healthy vigor gives not the
power to appreciate and enjoy it. So the house should be located on a
healthy eminence. But it is not easy to find a location which shall
combine convenience, beauty, air and water drainage, and healthfulness
all in the highest degree. In the case of the farmer, convenience as to
carrying on the various operations of the farm and healthfulness are
paramount. Drainage may be artificially improved, vistas opened,
miniature lakes constructed, and surroundings made more beautiful. The
farm and its equipment is the workshop, and must be convenient in all
its appointments, or much energy is spent for naught; health must be
maintained at the highest, or work may become but toil and drudgery.
In locating a house, its relation to the size of the farm, its
productiveness and agricultural capabilities should be considered. In
locating the site, two places should be carefully avoided: First, at the
end of a long lane in the middle of the farm. It may be said that the
buildings form the natural nucleus in and around which the work
centers, and therefore they should be placed near the middle of the
estate. But the work carried on in the fields forms but a small part of
the farmer’s activities. He must ever, in these modern times, be in
touch with the school, the church, the post office, the railway, the
market, and his neighbors. When an infrequent call is made at the end of
this long lane, the children appear like frightened deer as they seek
shelter in the shrubbery or behind the corner of a building, and the
more the inherited timidity and reserve, the wilder they appear.
The other location to be avoided is within a few feet of the highway.
Such locations are only admissible in the city, where land sells by the
square foot. What fortunes are sometimes spent in the city to secure
some amplitude of space between the dusty, noisy street and the
residence! What dignity and repose an ample, well kept house-yard gives
to even a plain, modest house! The effect of the mistake of locating the
house too close to the highway is often accentuated by locating the
barns on the other side and immediately upon the highway, and in front
of the house. The location of the house, as to the highway, should be
governed, in part, by the size and productive power of the farm. If
ample acres and means are available, then the grounds should be ample;
if limited, the grounds should be made to correspond.
In moderate-sized holdings, a clear space of from 100 to 200 feet
between the house and the highway, and width equal to or exceeding the
length, will give room for a few shade trees and an ample grass plat.
The site should be either suited to the house or the house to the site.
Therefore, the character of the proposed house and the site should be
considered at the same time. One location may be suited to a one-story,
another to a two-story house. No location is suited to a
story-and-a-half house.
It may be said that on most farms the house is already located, and has
grouped around it plantations and barns. In many cases it would be
inexpedient to change the site of the house, as this would necessitate
many changes of outbuildings and other permanent improvements. But if a
careful inspection is made of farmsteads, it will appear that many of
the houses are in need of repairs and additions, and that the cost of
making them would be but slightly increased if either the house or the
outbuildings were removed to a more desirable site. In the great
majority of cases, the old barns should be gathered together into one
structure, or into two at most, and adapted to the needs of modern
agriculture (as will be explained in a subsequent chapter). All changes
presuppose well matured plans and long and careful study of problems
which will have to be solved if the location of the house or barn is
changed.
The scope, and particularly the cost, of the changes should be known
approximately before the execution of the plan begins. “For which of
you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down and counteth the cost,
whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply after he hath laid
the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin
to mock him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to
finish.” Far better live in the old house, with its inconveniences, and
get the greatest possible happiness out of the ancient structure, than
to build a new one and cover it with shining paints of many colors and a
mortgage which sticks longer than the paints.
Some of these old farm houses embody many beautiful and reposeful
characteristics, are well located, and need only slight modifications to
make them fit the site as nicely as a bird fits its nest. If thought can
be awakened as to the possibilities of these neglected homes and some
information imparted as to their treatment, or, in other words, if the
eyes and understanding can be trained to take in the fundamental
principles of beauty, dignity, fitness, and repose, we shall soon see
fewer architectural monstrosities. That there are not more is a wonder.
What lad or lass has ever had the slightest instruction by teacher in
rural or city school along the lines of fitness, beauty, and
healthfulness of sites for country homes? The few youths who reach the
institutions of higher learning are scarcely better off. Some of these
are taught to see the beauties and wonders of nature through a
microscope, and, in rare cases, one may be taught to observe the lines
of symmetry and form as exhibited in a poor plaster cast of some
mythological Roman warrior; but as for any instruction which leads
directly to a broad understanding or keen appreciation of nature in her
broader, happier, and grander aspects, it is painfully conspicuous by
its absence. So, is it any wonder that the farmer is deficient in
appreciation of the fitness and beauty of the tree-clad, gently rolling
plateau for a home site, when the “liberally” educated fail to see the
innumerable beauty-spots which cover the face of nature?