514 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



a supposed economy. A house can l>e made beautiful without being extrav- 

 agant or expensive. Every house should be designed in harmony with its 

 surroundings. There is as certainly a style about a building as about 

 a horse or a coat, and harmony applies to architecture as much as it does 

 to music. No one possessed of the smallest knowledge denies this, yet 

 many imagine that it applies only to cathedrals, palaces or mansions, at 

 the very least. But it is not so limited. Proportion and harmony are as 

 indispensable in a small dwelling as in a mammoth structure. More than 

 that, small defects and variations from what is correct are more notice- 

 able in the former than in the latter. Pass along a street faced with 

 modest dwellings and some marked contrasts are seen. One exterior will 

 be seen that is pleasing to the eye because taste and style were exercised 

 in making the plans after which it was built, while another jars the 

 beholder like a false note in music. It is well constructed, of good 

 material and costs as much, possibly more than the former, but something 

 is wanting to render It pleasing, or else something is put in that destroys 

 the effect of other good features. It is out of harmony with its suiTound- 

 ings, and instead of adding to their beauty as evei-y well designed dwelling 

 should, it detracts therefrom. A well-designed, 'beautiful building, with 

 all its parts in proportion, costs no more than one wanting those qualities. 

 Besides it has an educational value. Beautiful and well proportioned 

 habitations produce a profound effect upon character and destiny. The 

 taste of the American people at large is rapidly developing in the line of 

 beautiful buildings, and this spirit is manifesting itself in private resi- 

 dences, in the humble cottage as well as in the more stately mansion or 

 public building. 



From the views above presented it will be seen readily that a building 

 fulfilling the conditions described must be designed by one who has made 

 a study of such conditions and is competent to produce them. In other 

 words, no one contemplating the building of a home, be it ever so humble, 

 can afford to dispense with the services of a competent and practical archi- 

 tect. Many of the failures of life are chargeable, not to general inability, 

 but to inexperience, positive ignorance, sometimes, of the task one attempts 

 to perform. One person can not properly master many trades and callings 

 and "Jacks of all trades" are nearly always "masters of none," and are 

 seldom successful in any way. Many prospective builders look upon the 

 fees or percentage of an architect as a foolish and useless expenditure 

 of money. If an architect approaclies them on the subject, they say 

 contemptuously, "I don't want any pictures. I have my plans all in my 

 head, and I expect to employ men by the day, and I can tell them just 

 what I want, and arrange matters as we go along." Hence' in order to 

 effect a supposed saving of money he decides to leave everything to a 

 foreman or contractor, or be himself the "boss." This prospective builder 

 would doubtless employ a doctor in a case of severe illness, or a dentist 

 for false teeth, or a lawyer to avoid legal difficulties, and yet he feels com- 



