280 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



bers in the ell is a small closet for the storage of boots and 

 shoes, — things too often left "kicking around," to use an 

 expressive phrase. On the southerly side are the force- 

 pump and sink, the latter being supplemented with a drop- 

 table, to be used when washing dishes. It is a trial of most 

 women's good nature to wash floors, and it is a test of a 

 builder's good sense to so construct the floors to be washed 

 that they shall be easy to cleanse. This subject received my 

 close attention, and I accordingly selected black birch as the 

 material best calculated to answer the purposes named. I 

 have found the selection a good one : black birch does not 

 "grime;" nor does the dirt brought in upon one's shoes tread 

 into it ; it retains its smooth, glassy surface, and wears like 

 iron. It should be laid in narrow strips, and blind nailed : 

 treated thus, it will not curl or warp. In the dining-room, 

 between the doors that open into the kitchen, I have built a 

 sideboard (strictly a temperance one) for the accommodation 

 of frequently-used table-ware, cloths, and other conveniences. 



The parlor and sitting-room, which are upon opposite sides 

 of the front-entry, are pleasant and large apartments ; but 

 we will pass up stairs to the chambers. These, the rooms 

 in winch most of us pass a third of our time, when we are 

 tired, unconscious, and helpless, sustain to us a relation that 

 no other rooms do ; and it seems to me that they demand the 

 best thought and care, both in regard to their comfort and 

 their healthfulness. Only one of my eight chambers is less 

 than fourteen feet square : all are well ventilated, so that 

 a cross-current of air can circulate freely, without coming 

 directly in contact with the sleeper. Besides this sanitary 

 arrangement, the bath-room is an all-important accessory to 

 a farmhouse, and in my family is duly appreciated as a 

 luxury of no common account. No people need bathing as 

 farmers do, to relax their tired muscles, cleanse their dusty 

 bodies, and tone up their exhausted systems, preparing them 

 for refreshing sleep, and assisting them to expel and repel 

 sickness and disease. 



In closing, it may be well to consider, by way of encour- 

 agement, some of the circumstances, misfortunes, and disap- 

 pointments that led me to the farm. This allusion to trouble 

 hi made in no boastful spirit ; but as nearly every one thinks 

 his lot is the hardest, fraught with the greatest discourage- 



