2o8 Reading-Course for Farmers. 



is very largely a matter of minor detail, such as enamel paint and gold 

 stripes on the outside of the bath, fancy marble and elaborate nickel legs 

 or brackets for the lavatory, mahogany or quartered oak seat and tank 

 for the water-closet, etc., all of which may be well worth the cost if one 

 has the money to pay for it. 



Every separate plumbing fixture should have a separate trap in the 

 waste pipe, and in no case should the Avaste from a fixture have to pass 

 through two traps. These are fundamental rules in good plumbing and 

 are essential to proper construction from both the sanitary and the me- 

 chanical points of view. 



Another thing not at all an essential, but very desirable, is that there 

 should be stops or " shut-offs " in the supply pipes to the separate fix- 

 tures. This makes it possible to shut ofif the supply to any one fixture 

 for repairs without having to close down the whole system, a state of 

 afifairs that would be especially annoying in the country if the repairs 

 were of such a nature as to require the services of a plumber who might 

 have to be brought from a considerable distance. Another thing that 

 architects preach with more zeal than they practice it, is that all pipes 

 should, so far as possible, be kept in plain sight and not run inside of 

 walls or between floors and ceilings where it is difficult to locate leaks or 

 other troubles and still more difficult to correct them. 



Acknozvledgemeut. Books, etc. 



For the few floor-plans accompanying this paper, writer and reader 

 are alike indebted to ]\Ir. Robert C. Spencer, architect ; and to the pub- 

 lishers of The Brickbuilder. These houses are personal and individual, 

 and each one has very clearly been planned, as every house should be, with 

 reference to its particular location and to meet certain definite require- 

 ments. _ 



It has been suggested that a ])ropcr adjunct to a discussion of this 1 

 kind would be a list ox books on the subject of country houses ; but, un- 

 fortunately, all the books of which the writer can speak with knowledge 

 are so unsatisfactory that he cannot find even one that he would be will- 

 ing to recommend. If the reader is really interested in house building a 'i 

 year's subscription to American Homes and Gardens, a monthly magazine 

 published by Munn & Co., 361 Broadway, N. Y., $3.00 a year, would be 

 vastly better than any like amount invested in books. Other monthly 

 magazines that are helpful and full of suggestions along the lines of 

 home building are House and Garden, published by John C. Winslow Co., 

 Phila., $5.00 a year; and The House Beautiful, published by Herbert S. 

 Stone, 1326 Republic Bldg., Chicago, at $2.00 a year. Neither of these 

 latter, however, will give so many plans or so much information relative 

 to houses of very moderate cost as will the first named magazine. 



