THE GENESEE FAEMER 



DESIGN FOR A SMALL COTTAGE. 



LABORER'S COTTAGES. -FARMER'S WIVES." 



Editors Genesee Farmer :^It lias been truly 

 said that, "no greater drawback to the comforts 

 and attractions of country life exists, than in the 

 drudgery and discomfort to which farmers' wives 

 ,and daughters are sulyected in boarding and lodg- 

 ing large numbers oi hired men. Laborers' and me- 

 chanics' wives have a comparatively easy life, hav- 

 ing but small families to provide for ; but the wife 

 fof a large farmer, wlio must supply hearty meals for 

 .fifteen or twenty persons at least three times a day,, 

 passes a life of hopeless drudgery." No wonder,. 

 truly, that " we so frequently see them broken down 

 with premature old age" and that the "young 

 folks" of the larmer's family seek to escape from 

 .such a lot. How shall this be remedied, you ask? 

 Every large farmer should provide small and com- 

 fortable cottages so that lie can employ married men 

 and have them board themselves. He can then get 

 better hands, and save the frequent changes often 

 necessary, as well as relieve himself of a portion of 

 •a loss of rainy days, for such a man could find work 

 about his own premises, when a single man could 

 ■do little or nothing for his employer. How much 

 more convenient and agreeable to his own family, 

 every farmer can answer, even if he has had but 

 one hired man to sit at his table through the season, 

 and his wife finds a still greater difference in the 

 care and labor required. To the laborer himself it 

 will be far pleasanter, so in the end both parties will 

 be benefitted by the provision of cottages as here 

 recommended and described. 



.Among the best designs of a suitable character for 

 this purpose, which we have seen, is that shown 

 above, found in the " Country Houses " of the late 

 A. J. Downing. It is simple and cheap ; and yet 

 tasteful and substantial. The vertical boarding, the 

 projecting roof, the rafter-brackets, and window- 

 hoods, give it a picturesque, home-like expression, at 

 but slight increase of cost, while the trees' by which 

 -it is, surrounded make it appear far more pleasant. 

 The elevation and ground plan need but little ex- 



planation. We think the back porch a particularly 

 happy tliought— a room oyiening du'ectly into the 

 open air is often uncomfortable in winter. The 

 wood room might be enlarged at small expense, and 

 if the bed-rooms were required for constant use, 

 it would be well to have it open into the living room, 

 as it would be more convenient as well as warmer 

 in winter. The cellar stairs are under those leading 

 to the chamber, and the latter contains two oon> 

 fortable bed-rooms. 



GROIND PL.\N. 



The writer first quoted, J. J. Thomas, estimates 

 the cost of building after this plan at $850, with 

 good cellar, and the walls filled in with brick, wliile 

 without the cellar and of cheap lumber it could be 

 constructed for $200. We hope this subject will 

 receive attention from those of your correspondents 

 who have given it trial or consideration, for we 

 heartily desire the emancipation of farmers' wives 

 from the slavery of "keeping Irish," or Dutch, or 

 even Yankee " boarding houses." m. hill. 



Oak-field, N. Y. 



Cube fob Heaves. — Keep the horse one winter 

 on cornstalks ; and if you feed any grain, let it be 

 corn in the ear. In the Southern States, where 

 horses are kept exclusively on corn blades (the 

 leaves of corn stripped from the stalk and di-ifid) 

 and corn, heaves are imknown. 



