134 



THE FLOKAL WOELD AND (>ARt)EN GUIDE. 



cottager, a series of papers imder the re- 

 visiou of so able a hand would be i-eceived 

 with pleasure. 



In selecting a site for a residence, you 

 must consider that health is a primary 

 object to be attained, therefore, avoid a 

 damp situation. The vicinity of marshy 

 and stagnant water is a very injurious site 

 for a dwelling, for, independent of the 

 malaria which issues from these waters, 

 especially in summer, they create an atmo- 

 spheric dampness, which is a great source 

 of epidemical disease, besides which, an 

 injury will be committed on your furniture 

 and wearing apparel. 



Near Ongar, in Essex, there is a little 

 cottage, which, the proprietor informs us, 

 cost him imder £10. " It is a building 

 three rooms in length, erected on a spare 

 nook, which could not be well turned to any 

 other profitable purpose. The walls are 

 built of 'clay lumps,' that is, clay worked 

 in the same manner as for bricks, moulded 

 into lumps twenty-seven inches long, seven 

 deep, and ten wide, aud well dried in the 

 sun in the heat of summer. These are 

 laid, just as if building with bi'icks and 

 moitar, and when, plastered over on both 

 sides, form a wall exceedingly hard and 

 firni, which no cold or damp can pene- 



Tlie best aspect for the front of a 

 dwelling is south, or south-east, and the 

 cellar, pantry, or dairy, should have a 

 northern aspect. See that you have also 

 every facility for obtaining good water. 



In Erecting a cottage you must, of 

 course, be guided by yonr mcaus. If very 

 limited, a slab-hut may suffice. Slab-huts 

 are built of wood, or thin boards ; a frame 

 is made, and the slabs are nailed to a wall 

 plate at the top, and fastened to a sleeper 

 laid on the surface of tlie crrouhd. Sucli 

 houses are quickly madt>, cheap, and com- 

 fortable. The covering m ly b ; either thalch 

 or shingle, or, in lieu of tliat, prepared felt 

 which is only one penny per square 

 foot. 



Irate. Tlie roof is shaped with poles, ciit 

 from a wood on the larra, the place of 

 thatch-laths being supplied with strong 

 sticks, over this an excellent coating of 

 thatch is neatly laid, and the inside is 

 plastered and wliitewashed. The windows 

 are formed of large panes, a bar passing 

 down the centre, and the transverse sup- 

 ports of tlie glass are of lead, so that the 

 expense of a regular window-frame is 

 saved. The floor is composed of a sort of 

 concrete made of the biick earth and fiiie 

 sand, anl tlie cliimney contaujs a cosy 

 enclosed corner for the libourcr. Ah 

 extra window in the shape of a crOss, 

 studded with fragments of coloured glass, 

 has been introduced by the taste of the 



