It is not our design to give an extended view of rural architecture. But
this work can not be complete without a brief notice of farm-buildings,
and a few plans for such buildings, adapted to the wants of those
possessing limited means. We hope these directions and plans will prove
important aids in getting up cheap, yet convenient and beautiful,
country residences, especially in all the newer parts of the country.
Our reading on rural architecture, and an extensive observation in many
states of the Union, have made us acquainted with nothing, combining
beauty, cheapness, and utility, better than the following.
The scale at the bottom will enable any mechanic to determine the size
of each of these buildings, and their relation to each other. They can,
on the same general plan, be made of any dimensions, to suit the wishes
of the proprietor.
The wagon-house in the range is forty feet long, affording ample shelter
for all kinds of vehicles, connected by a covered way with the
horse-stables and barn-floor.
[Illustration: Range of Farm-Buildings.]
A lean-to is built on the north side of the wagon-house, in which is a
tool-house opening into it, and a stable for eight milch-cows, that will
thus be convenient for winter-milking; these cows are fed from the loft
over the wagon-house. The barn is thirty by forty feet, with floor in
the middle and bay on each side: this can be driven into on one side and
out on the other. From the floor is a covered way to cattle and horse
stables, and into the wagon and tool house, without going outdoor.
_The Piggery._--Large and small swine do not do so well together; hence,
the larger ones are to occupy the feeding-pen and bed on the right (in
the cut), those of medium size on the left, and the smaller ones in the
rear. The dimensions and relative size of apartments can be determined
from the plan.
The other buildings sufficiently explain themselves in the cut.
[Illustration: Ground-plan of Piggery.]
With this range of buildings, let a farmer do his own thrashing, with a
small horse-power, and thrash a part at a time during the winter,
keeping the straw in an apartment in the bay, dry for litter, and for
cut feed for cattle and horses, and it will be the best and most
economical method of thrashing and keeping stock. Every farmer should do
at least a part of his thrashing in this way, during the winter, for the
benefit of fresh straw, &c.
_Country Residence._--This includes the range of buildings given
opposite, their distance from the house, and all the parts of a complete
residence, with all the comforts and conveniences that can be crowded
into such a space, and at a very reasonable expense. Three fourths of an
acre are devoted to the ornamental grounds; except the walks and small
flower-beds, it is all green turf. Plowed very deep and thoroughly
enriched, the trees are set out, and all then made very level, and one
and a half bushels grass-seed sown on it and brushed in very smooth.
This soon makes a very thick green turf, to be cut every ten days during
the most growing season, and less frequently as the season advances. The
trees, for a few years, need careful working around and mulching. The
gravel carriage-road is twelve feet wide, and winding around shrubbery,
it leads to the carriage-house in the range of buildings. The foot-walks
are five feet wide. The curves in the walks may be accurately laid out
in the following manner. Determine the general position by a few points
measured off. Lay a pole upon the ground, in the direction of the walk;
stick a peg in the ground at the first end and at its middle; move the
pole round a little, leaving the middle the same,--then stick a peg at
its end, and move it forward--moving it forward and round equally, each
time, by measurement. A longer or shorter curve is made by a greater or
less side-movement of the pole. In a regular curve, the movements are
the same; but in going from a shorter to a longer, or from a longer to a
shorter curve, the side-measurement must increase or diminish regularly.
[Illustration: Country Residence, Farm Buildings, Grounds, and
Fruit-Gardens.]
[Illustration: Laying out Curves.]
[Illustration: First floor.]
[Illustration: Chambers.]
The following cuts show the plan of the house: three principal rooms and
a bed-room below, and four rooms above. The hall extends through the
house, affording good ventilation in summer, and entrance to each room,
without passing through another. The chimney in the centre economizes
heat. This small and cheap house affords more conveniences than most
large ones. One of the finest things about such a house is a good
cellar. For a farm-house, the cellar should be under the whole; make it
eight feet deep, gravel and water lime made smooth on the bottom,
flagging under the bottom of the wall extending out a foot, the wall
above ground built double, the inside four inches thick, with brick,
with a space of two inches, and outside stone wall a foot thick. The
windows should be double and well fitted, the inside one hung on hinges;
the outside one to be removed in spring, and its place supplied with a
well-fitted frame, covered with wire-cloth to admit air and exclude
intruders during summer. This will not freeze, and never need banking.
No rat can enter, for they always work close to the wall, and coming to
the projecting flat stone at the bottom, they give it up. On one side of
the cellar, under the kitchen, make a large rain-water cistern, with a
pump in the kitchen and a faucet in the cellar, and the whole
arrangement is perfect. If the farm be large, you will need some of the
good, but cheap houses described in the following part of this article,
where your men will live and board themselves, which is always the best
and cheapest way. An open view from the house in the country residence
extends to the summer-house (_b_) on the right. This is one of the
neatest cheap summer-houses that can be made. The following directions
for making it may be useful. Set eight cedar posts, six inches in
diameter, in the ground, in a circle; saw them off even at the top, and
connect them by plank nailed on their tops. Make an eight-sided roof of
boards; nail lath from post to post, forming lattice-work, leaving a
space between two posts for a door. Put a seat around on the inside.
Leave all the materials except the seat unplaned, and cover with a white
or brown wash, and it need not cost more than five or six dollars, and,
covered with vines of some kind, it will be ornamental.
[Illustration: Summer-house.]
[Illustration: Laborer's Cottage.]
[Illustration: Plan of Laborer's Cottage.]
This form of a cheap house is convenient and pleasant. Built of
four-inch scantling, the plates and sills being connected only by the
upright plank, and the wings thoroughly bracing the upright posts; when
lumber is cheap, it may be built for one hundred and fifty or two
hundred dollars, with cellar, well, and cistern. Occasional whitewash is
as good as paint. With cellar under the whole, filled in with brick, and
having blinds, it may cost three hundred and fifty dollars. The plan of
the house sufficiently explains itself.
The next cut illustrates a neat country-house, for a family who think
more of neatness, comfort, and intellectual pursuits, than of mere
ornament, and may serve the purpose of a farmhouse, or the residence of
a retired or professional gentleman. It has the unconstrained air of
the Italian style, without a rigid adherence to any rules, and may
therefore be altered or added to without destroying its effect.
[Illustration: Italian Farmhouse.]
[Illustration: Plan of Italian Farm House.]
The plan is intelligible without explanation. Built in a plain way, the
four large rooms not larger than fifteen by seventeen, and ten feet
high, plain in its finish, it would cost about sixteen hundred dollars
complete. It may go up from that, according to size and height of rooms,
and style of finish, to three thousand dollars. It then makes as good a
house as any person ever need to occupy, out of great cities.