494 



Reading-Course for Farmers. 



wherein he may enjoy the fruits of his labor, — has not as yet been carried 

 out to a satisfactory solution. Mr. Robert Spencer, Jr., of Chicago, has 

 written from time to time in both popular and technical magazines on the 

 subject of the farm house, and has made many valuable suggestions and 

 some very clever plans for farm houses under varying conditions ; but, 

 after all, if it be fair to criticize one who has done so much more than 

 the rest of us in the solution of a difficult problem, it seems to the writer 

 that there is much yet to be done before the real farmer and the real 

 architect can get together on a satisfactory working basis. 



Professor Bailey has written pointedly and sensibly relative to the 

 external aspect of the house. What he has to say in this connection is 



Fig. 304. — Another compact and condensed house. This and Fig. 303 

 show western styles of houses. Colorado Springs. 



ajiplicable as well to the plan. Art, expression, and sentiment must have 

 ])lacc ill the ])lan as well as in the outer shell. A badly planned and incon- 

 venient house in nowise suited to its purpose cannot be a thing of beauty 

 or a joy to any one obliged to live in it, however thoroughly the exterior 

 may be studied to refine and beautify it. Utility and fitness are absolutely 

 first requisites in a building planned for any useful purpose, and no build- 

 ing can be really beautiful or be good architecturally when these con- 

 siderations are ignored or even given secondary consideration. 



The proper time to plan a house is, obviously, before it is built. The 

 repetition of this truism might seem absurd were it not for the fact that so 



