132 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1892. 



the stately and picturesque homes of England, many of which 

 are made of brick, will claim that a brick house is out of place 

 amid the greenery of nature, or that brick cannot be used with 

 charming effect in domestic architecture. 



In strength and durability, l)rick is equal if not superior to 

 stone, and no one can make a mistake in building in an artistic 

 manner a dwelling-house of brick. And if anyone cannot afford 

 to build the whole of his house of stone or brick, he cannot 

 make a mistake in putting up the first story of either of these 

 materials and then topping out with wood ; which for house- 

 building purposes is ahnost equal to either stone or brick. 



A well-built wooden house, tightly boarded, with a hiyer of 

 felting or sheathing-puper under the clapboards, makes a dwelling 

 dry and warm, and I'or health and comfort all the year round, 

 equal to any stone or brick house ever constructed. 



Every house should be pleasantly windowed. All the pleas- 

 ant prospects around should be made to look in upon its inmates, 

 and every attractive scene in the neighborhood should be made 

 to appear at its best from one or more of the windows. The 

 most beautiful views should not be cut off or obstructed by win- 

 dowless wall-spaces, or by outbuildings ; and when there are 

 permanent buildings or other objects already in the way, the 

 windows should be arranged to make the most of the available 

 scenery still left. Light and sunshine should be familiar with 

 every nook and cranny in the house, and the buildings should be 

 so situated as to catch the first and last rays of the rising and 

 setting sun, as in this way the dawn may be hastened and the 

 twilight prolonged, and the health and enjoyment of its inmates 

 promoted. 



Low and wide windows conduce to the pleasantness of a 

 house and give it an air of hospitality and life. There are some 

 houses which always appear silent and devoid of life. Although 

 they arc well occupied, j'et from all outward appearances they 

 are dead houses from which life has fled, or, if life is there, it is 

 shut uj) within. Sometimes the cause of this lifelessness is 

 owing to the disposition and hal)its of the occupants. They 

 keep all the doors and windows shut, draw the curtains and 

 close the blinds, hush every noise and curb the expression of 



