THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



335 



have an inclination sufficient to carry the water to one 

 of the four corners, where a drain will receive and con- 

 vey it from the dwelling. The whole area must be filled 

 with small broken stones to the height on which the 

 floor of the cottage will be laid, and the top filled 

 and levelled with mortar, for the purpose of 

 supporting- the flooring brLoks. This interstitial 

 cavity below the floor, and the water being 

 gathered to a corner by the slope of the bottom of the 

 excavation, and carried away by a drain, will pro- 

 vide a dry flooring to the cottage, which is a most es- 

 sential advantage to any human habitation. The thick- 

 ness of the walls may be 18 inches of bricks, or 2 feet 

 of stonos, and treated with mortar in the usual way. The 

 Bub-division walls will be 1 foot of thickness in bricks. 

 The height of the walls above the floor will be 14 feet^ 

 which will place the bed rooms in the side walls and 

 partly in the roof; or the height of 18 feet will allow 

 the walled position of the sleeping apartments. The 

 pitch of the roof may be l-5th above the rectangle ; and 

 slates are the best materials for covering, and tiles next, 

 and then thatch, which admits a flatter hypofhcnuse or 

 side of the roof. The roof projects over the gables and 

 side walls, as it tends much to keep the walls dry, and is 

 also a kind of ornament to the humble dwelling. 



The exterior length of the cottage is 40 feet, which 

 allows two living apartments in length, and of very suf- 

 ficient size, after deducting the width of the inner 

 and outer walls. The width is 20 feet over walls. 

 The door of entry is best in the front of any 

 habitation, and must be central, and dividing the house 

 into equal halves. A porch is a useful and ornamen- 

 tal appendage, as it affords some little interior accom- 

 modation, and breaks the exterior sameness of bare walls. 

 Like the preface to a book, it may indicate good treat- 

 ment and comfort within. The back door opens be- 

 hind, in the furthermost corner of the baqk wall of the 

 living apartment, and leads directly into the back area ; 

 ventilation is thus promoted, and not by a blast or 

 strong current of wind, as when the front and back doors 

 are placed directly opposite, but by a zigzag direction of 

 air, which introduces fresh respiration, and removes the 

 contaminated effluvia, without causing any perception of 

 colds or currents. The side walls of the ground floor 

 rooms are 9 or 10 feet high, in order to give the inesti- 

 mable advantage, along with the constant introduction 

 of unrespired gas, of the inmates breathing in a large 

 volume of air. This point has ever been much over- 

 looked ; but not one is deserving of more serious atten- 

 tion. It must be joined with the removal of every filth 

 from the living apartments to the back area of small ac- 

 commodations. The floors of the rooms are paved with 

 flooring bricks, and the best room may be boarded, as 

 local circumstances direct. The walls are covered with 

 two coats of plain plastering, and the roofs of the rooms 

 are ceiled. When the bedrooms are placed partly in 

 the roof of the cottage, the ceiling will be fastened to the 

 purlings and joinings of the bearers. The flooring 

 of the sleeping apartments is of plain boards, and 

 grooved. The stair springs from the kitchen at the back 

 wall, and rises to the second floor, in the centre of the 



cottage. The cavity beneath the stair affords a cellar of 

 neatness and convenience. The best room is provided 

 with a small fire-place, of the common size; and in the 

 kitchen is placed a fire-place of larger dimensions, with 

 an oven and boiler, on each side of it. These artisles 

 are the permanent occupants of the cottage. 



The back area of small buildings is confined in extent 

 to the length of the cottage, and extends backwards in 

 the extent, to admit the necessary number of accommo- 

 dations. These small houses are — washhouse, fuel, 

 ashes, privy, pig-sty, lumber, and poultry-house. The 

 exterior surrounding wall is 10 feet high, and the build- 

 ings lean to it, with one side of a roof, and are 12 feet 

 wide. Poultry are natives of a warm latitude, and 

 require much warmth ; and they form a very agreeable 

 and profitable employment to the labourer's family. It 

 is a good design to place the poultry-house under 

 the roof of the cottage, and forming part of the house, 

 occupying a width of six or eight feet between the two 

 fire-places, and thus enjoying the heat of the fuel. The 

 door opens backward into the area, and being provided 

 with a pane of glass in the upper part, will admit the 

 necessary light. The length of forty feet will allow two 

 sufficiently large apartments after the deduction of the 

 poultry-house ; when it is not introduced the cottage 

 may be thirty-four or thirty-six feet in length. The 

 placing of the poultry-house in the immediate con- 

 tiguity of warmth is a large improvement in the design- 

 ing of labourers' cottages. The back area or open space 

 is indispensable for the feeding and assembling of the 

 animals. 



The site of cottages should be on dry ground, near to 

 or fronting a road, and surrounded by or forming the 

 front line of a garden of one-eighth or one-sixth of an 

 acre in extent. The aspect is best in the south and 

 south-east quarters, for the reasons before given ; and, 

 in the words of Palladius, " ita lecto fruatur aspectu." 

 The preferable style of building is the plain Old English, 

 with as much ornament as fancy or ability may direct. 

 The two vents will form two chimneys in the centre of 

 the cottage, standing on a square platform across the 

 roof, and joining in the angles of a square or hexagon. 

 The windows are of diamond panes of glass, in light 

 iron frames ; and one-half must be made to open, and 

 that at pleasure. The northern parts of the kingdom 

 require the stronger construction of wooden sashes 

 and timber frames. Climate is the parent and promoter 

 of ornament ; and the substantial naked style of build- 

 ing in Scotland has been compelled by the boisterous 

 and savage elements to which external fabrics are ex- 

 posed. This consideration will have influence in choos- 

 ing the aspect and fixing the style of execution of build, 

 ings. 



The preferable mode of supplying water to all coun- 

 try buildings, as farmeries and cottages which are not 

 far distant, is, by seeking a spring of water in some 

 higher ground, and directing it, or a natural issue of 

 water, in a covered conduit or pipe to a cistern or tank 

 to hold a quantity, from which a pipe will convey the 

 water to every required locality, and the consumption 

 regulated by a ballcock. One pipe will serve several 



