Book IV. FARM-HOUSES. * 417 



other large implements, are generally built close on three sides, with the fourth open, 

 and the roof supported with posts or pillars. Sometimes they are open on all sides ; but 

 this admits too much wind, which carries moisture with it in tlie cold seasons of the year, 

 and dries up and shrinks wooden articles in summer. Their situation in the square 

 should be apart from the buildings for live stock, and also the barn, straw, and root- 

 houses : generally the first part of the east or west side on entering, is devoted to the 

 purpose of cart-sheds and tool-houses. 



2708. The tool-lwtise is used for keeping the smaller implements used in manual labor 

 in the fields, as spades, rakes, forks, &c. It is essential that this apartment be dry and 

 free from damps ; and when convenient, it should have a loft for the better preserv- 

 ation of sacks, cordage, sowing sheets, baskets, spare harness, &c. 



2709. Some other buildings, besides those of this and the preceding section, will be 

 wanted in most farm-yards of any extent, as stables for young horses, riding-horses, an 

 hospital stable, &c. Particular descriptions of farms also require appropriate buildings, 

 as dairies, cheese-rooms, hop kilns, and wool-lofts, which will be considered in treat- 

 ing of dairy farms, hop culture, the management of sheep, &c. 



2710. Sleeping-rooms for single men should be made over the stable, and for the 

 feeder or cow-keeper, over the cattle-sheds> that they may hear any accident 

 which takes place among the horses or cattle during the night, and be at hand to 

 remedy it. 



2711. A smithy and carpenter s work-room sometimes form part of the buildings on a 

 large farm. Instead of going to a distance to the residence of these necessary mechanics, 

 arrangements are made with them to attend at stated periods or when sent for, by which 

 a saving both of time and money is effected. Sometimes these buildings are set down at 

 aJittle distance from the square to prevent danger from fire, and lessen the expense of 

 insurance. The fixtures, as the anvil, bellows, bench, vice, lathe, &c. and some of the 

 larger tools, belong to the farmer, but the others the mechanics bring with them. A 

 small stock of iron, steel, and timber, is kept to be in readiness, and also the cast-iron 

 work of ploughs, carts, &c. and sometimes the smaller pinions, and other parts of the 

 threshing machines. 



Sect. III. Of the Farmer's Dwellings House. 



2712. The dwelling-house of tlie farmer is generally detached from the farmery on the 

 south side, and separated from it by a road, grass-plat, garden, or pond, or all of these, 

 according to circumstances. In size and accommodations it ought to be proportioned to 

 the capital requisite for the farm ; that is, it ought to be on a par with the houses of 

 other members of society of similar property and income. In design it ought to be sim- 

 ple and unostentatious ; utility and convenience being its recommendatory beauties. 

 At the same time, as observed in the Code of Agriculture j " every landlord of taste, 

 in fixing on the site and plan of a new farm-house and offices, ought certainly not to 

 overlook the embellishment of the country." How much of the beauty of a country, 

 and of the ideas of the comfort and happiness of its inhabitants, depends on the appear- 

 ance of its farm-houses And cottages, every traveller is aware ; and every agriculturist 

 who has travelled through the British isles, can recognize at once a well cultivated 

 district by the forms of the farm-yards, and the position of the farmer's dwelling-house. 

 The difference between the best and worst cultivated English counties in this respect 

 are sufficiently striking ; and the ideas of wealth, comfort, order, and scientific agricul- 

 ture, which the farmers and cottages of Northumberland and Berwickshire excite in 

 the mind, are totally unfelt in passing through even Hertfordshire and Essex ; where 

 the scattered, straggling hovels of all sizes and shapes, the monstrous barns, and rickety, 

 shapeless farm-houses, indicate a low state of culture, and an ignorant, tasteless set of 

 occupiers. Even in Norfolk and Suffolk, the want of symmetry in the farmeries of 

 opulent fanners, is every where conspicuous, and the want of taste and decorum in 

 setting the dwelling-houses among dung heaps and urine ponds, no less so. But the 

 farmers in Norfolk, as in most parts of England, though wealthy, are in general 

 ignorant and gross in their habits and taste. They are accustomed to look on them- 

 selves as an order of beings different from the trading classes of the community, 

 superior as possessing houses and land, and inferior as not daring to enjoy wealth or 

 better their condition, beyond a certain extent, lest the landlord should raise their rent. 

 Till this feeling, which is one among other vestiges of feudal times, and the metayer 

 system, is more or less done away both on the part of the landlord and tenant, no great 

 improvement in farm-houses can be expected. 



2713. In selecting a few examples of farm-houses the first we shall notice is that of 

 the smallest size where the farmer keeps no servant and cultivates only a few acres. Tlie 

 ground plan of such a house {fg. 359.) should contain an entry [a] ; kitchen (/>) ; 

 dairy and pantry (c) ; parlour (rf) ; light closet oflT the parlor as a store-room, or for a 



Ee 



