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 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 or partialities of those adopting them, are of little
consequence. There are, however, certain matters of _principle_, 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 toleration 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 country, 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fashion to-day, may be superseded by another fashion of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--immaterial in themselves, only, and not affecting 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 dwelling, with its dependencies and appointments, requires
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 submit 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 distinguished.
Another object we have had in view is, to give to every farmer and
country dweller of moderate 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 _have his own 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 professional 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.