280 TUE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 



wretchedly ill-adapted to their wants, one single year after you are able to 

 provide a better one. 



30G. What constitutes a couvcnicnt Farm-house. — "We can only speak in 

 general terms of the plans of farm-houses, because every plan is modified by 

 location and the wants of the proprietor ; but we can give an opinion that 

 will be some guide to the new beginner in farm life, or one about to construct 

 a farm-house. 



We will suppose a farm of one or two hundred acres, and a family of four 

 adults and four children, besides the necessary hirelings, which in most of 

 the Northern States, are domiciled in the family dwelling. It should, there- 

 fore, have a family -room located in the most pleasant part of the house, 

 where the evenings, and all other leisure hours, are, or should be, spent ; 

 where the young mother devotes many days and nights of toil to her 

 children ; where all the family feel " at home," more than in any other 

 room. 



Adjoining this room there should be a large family bed-room, with conve- 

 niences for warming it, so that it can be used as a sick-room when necessary. 

 There should also be a parlor, or spare-room ; for it is not always desirable 

 to introduce company into the family-room. There should be a dining-room, 

 largo enough not only to accommodate the family, but, if necessary, a dozen 

 guests. This room should be so aiTanged that upon occasion, particularly in 

 Winter, it can be used for a part of the cooking. This would often save the 

 necessity of kindling a fire in the kitchen in a cold Winter morning, to get 

 an early breakfast. The farm-house kitchen, where so much of woman's 

 work must be done, should be a large, cheerful, light apartment, with all the 

 conveniences that modern ingenuity has made to facilitate labor. It should 

 also, above all other considerations, be so ventilated that there would be no 

 necessity for opening a door or window to let out the smoke of a broiling 

 steak, or that of the buckwheat cake griddle. Tlie best cooking apparatus is 

 a good range, permanently set in the chimney. One of suitable size for such 

 a family as we have indicated, will cost about thirty dollars wltiiout cook- 

 ing utensils. Tlie two ovens of a range obviate the necessity of a brick oven 

 in the kitchen chinmey. It will be convenient to have such an oven in the 

 wash-room, which should be attached to every farm-house kitchen. Tliis 

 should have an open fire-place, a kettle set in an arch, a brick floor, a large 

 sink, and a pump which draws soft water from the well or cistern. Divided 

 oft' from this wash-room, there should be a large store-room, for such coarse 

 things as barrels of flour, fruit, fresh meat, and articles of kitchen furniture 

 not in every-day use. Beyond the wash-room, there should be a room for 

 fuel ; and the best of all, when it can be had at a moderate cost, is anthracite 

 coal. Opening out of the kitchen there should be a pantry, large enough, 

 and with conveniences to store all the groceries and food in every-day use. 

 In this, or some other convenient place, bo sure to have a refrigerator ; and 

 adjoining the kitchen, there should be a milk and butter room, where nothing 

 else is ever kept. If cheese is made, it must have a separate room. Butter 



