30 The Housing of the Agricultural Lahourer. 



porch outside the door, another door or gate can be hung in 

 this porch giving on the yard or covered space, so that access 

 to the outbuildings is obtained under cover and there is no 

 necessity for any unseemliness about the doorway to meet the 

 visitor's eye. This arrangement is shown in the plans illus- 

 trated in Figs. 2, 3 and 5. 



The larder is an important feature in the plan of a rural 

 cottage, much more important than in url)an districts, where a 

 small ventilated cupboard, or the space under a staircase, is 

 often considered sufficient. The agricultural labourer requires 

 to store a larger supply of food, and he may have to salt his pig 

 in the larder, so that he requires a greater area and more ample 

 headroom than the town Avorker. In districts where bacon- 

 curing is still carried on in the cottage, it seems to be customary 

 to salt the pig on the concrete floor rather than in a tub, the brine 

 being confined within a basin formed with a few bricks. The 

 operation might perhaps be facilitated by forming a dish in the 

 concrete at one side of the larder with a shallow channel to run 

 the brine off through the outer wall. It is to be feared that 

 larders are very often made too small. The minimum area of 

 18 sq. ft. recommended by the Departmental Committee should 

 in no case be reduced, and a larger area is much to be desired. 

 A window should of course be provided in addition to a couple 

 of air bricks as ventilators, and it should either have a north 

 aspect or be otherwise protected from direct sunlight. In 

 pairs or blocks of cottages with east and west aspects this is 

 generally hard to arrange, but it can sometimes be contrived by 

 placing the window in a porch or other covered 0]}e\\ space 

 (Fig. 3). It is undesirable to have the larder window near the 

 E.G. When the wash-house is planned adjoining the larder, 

 care should be taken that the copper furnace is not placed 

 directly against the dividing wall, in which position it would 

 inevitably raise the temperature of the larder. 



With a scullery-kitchen plan it is especially important that 

 there should be adequate cupboard accommodation in order 

 that the room may be kept tidy, and at least one large cupboard 

 should be provided in which brooms and pails and cleaning 

 apparatus generally can be kept. A smaller cupboard with 

 shelves is desirable near the kitchen range. 



Local building by-laws very often insist that the E.G. shall 

 be situated at a distance of at least 10 ft. from the main 

 building, and no doubt this is on the whole a good regulation. 

 Nevertheless, much depends upon the general plan of the 

 cottage, and when the rule is not enforced, and when there are 

 no living-room, bedi-oom, or larder windows on the same side 

 of the house, there does not seem to be any objection to having 

 the E.G. under the main roof provided that it is entered by an 



