CONSTRUCTION OF A FARM-HOUSE AND OFFICES. 17 



pies ou'rht to be kept in view, when such buildings are to 

 be erected. 



1. The house and offices should be on a scale propor- 

 tionate to the size and produce of the farm, having utility, 

 and not ornament, principally in view ; though, at the same 

 time, every landlord of taste, in fixing on the site and plan 

 of a new tarm-house and offices, will certainly not totally 

 overlook the embellishment of the country. Not only the 

 original cost, but the very expence of keeping unnecessary 

 buildings in repair, is a heavy burden upon any property, 

 which it is for the interest both of the landlord and of the 

 tenant to avoid. The house and offices should afford am- 

 ple convenience to the farmer in carrying on his business. 

 On the other hand, all superfluous buildings, and useless 

 decorations, ought to be avoided ; for, as Dr Coventry 

 has well observed, durable economy should be preferred to 

 shifting taste.* Nothing can be more absurd, than the 

 enormous barns usually attached to all the great farms in 

 England. Grain in the straw, keeps infinitely better in the 

 open air, than in close barns ; it is less apt to be destroyed 

 by vermin, and saves the enormous expence of construct- 

 ing and repairing great barns. Threshing-mills, when ge- 

 nerally introduced, will soon prove the absurdity of erect- 

 ing such unnecessary buildings. 



2. The accommodations necessary for preparing the grain 

 for market ought never to be too scrimp. The threshin^- 

 barii, for instance, must be sufficiently spacious to contain 

 one stack of grain in the straw, in case of an unfavourable 

 season. In good weather, it is the common practice to 

 take in the corn when it is threshed, in which case no more 

 room is necessary than to hold the machinery, and the peo- 



* See Discourses on Agriculture, p. 5. 

 VOL. I. B 



