160 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



of which only a small part can be finished and furnished while the rest, 

 with all the idle money which it represents, is a constant burden to the 

 housewife who is often broken in health in her attempt to do herself 

 justice in a large and useless house on limited means. 



As the family grows larger, and the poclvct-book fuller, additions can 

 be made, or^ what is better, the small house can be used as a tenant 

 house and a larger one built in its place. It is a mistake to think that 

 a very small house may not be both convenient and artistic. With 

 living room, kitchen, pantry and wash room on first floor any small 

 family maj^ be comfortable. The living room furnished with Holland 

 shades, and a few hardy houseplants at the windows, a dining table 

 that can be converted into a center table with bright spread and stu- 

 dent lamp, a case of well selected books, two or three choice pictures, 

 a couch and chairs, a hardwood floor with rugs, and you have a room 

 into which you may invite your guests with pride. A wash-room in a 

 house of limited resources can be used for many things besides the laun- 

 dry work. It can be used for a bath room, for washing milk cans and 

 other rough work, and everyday hats, coats and bonnets can be hung 

 there. In the upper rooms we settle the perplexing question, "How 

 shall the chamber in a country home be heated?" A little upstairs sit- 

 ting room is formed by cutting off a small corner of each bedroom thus 

 forming an octagon, in the center of which is a drum on the stovepipe 

 of the living room stove. Your bedrooms can thus be comfortably 

 warmed by waste heat — the heat from the chimney of the kitchen and 

 wash room stoves, the waste heat from the living room, that goes up 

 the stairs and the heat from the pipe through the drum. 



The larger house. — When one can afford a larger house, how will we 

 proceed? I would say, start with the kitchen. So much of the house- 

 keeper's time must be spent in the kitchen, at work that, at the best, 

 is hard enough and monotonous enough, this room should be just as 

 bright and handy as possible. If practicable, locate the kitchen on the 

 west side of the house with the pantry on the north. It will be much 

 cooler in the forenoon while the work is in progress. An, east front 

 for the house is desirable for, in the summer, the family wish to sit 

 on the porch in the afternoon, and in winter we have the advantage 

 of the morning sun. A south and east exposure leave nothing to be 

 desired for a winter family room. Be sure your walls are double 

 boarded with building paper between. This will make a wall both dry 

 and warm. Have both well and cistern pump in the kitchen. To this 

 end it is not necessary to have both well and cistern under the kitchei\ 

 floor; they may be outside the house, and the water drawn in laterally. 

 The fuel supply for the kitchen stove should also be stored on a level 

 with the kitchen, thus avoiding steps. 



There are farmhouses in Michigan where the water supply is 

 brought by woman power from the creek at the foot of the hill, and an 

 ax leaning against a log of green wood points to the fuel supply, and 

 this when we know it costs less to take care of a woman than to bury 

 her. There are many really fine houses where every pail of water, every 

 hod of coal, or armful of wood, must be brought up several steps. 



There are no objections to steps at the front of the house but at the 

 back, where there is so much going out and in with burdens, steps 

 should be avoided. 



