COUNTRY MANSION'S. 355 



inspected by the master. The buildings which are to compose the farmery 

 will depend on the kind of farming to be carried on ; but as, in almost every 

 case, there must be a portion of the farm devoted to the growth of corn, for 

 the sake of the straw for litter, so, in every home farmery, a barn will be 

 required. Where the extent of the lands under the plough at any one time 

 does not exceed twenty or thirty acres, a threshing-machine is scarcely 

 necessary ; but, above that quantity, it will be found a source of both conve- 

 nience and profit. The barn should generally form the main feature of the 

 farm-yard ; and. if threshing with the flail be adopted, it should be at least 

 20 ft, wide, and 40 ft. long, with the side walls 10 or 12 feet high, and open 

 to the roof. Where a threshing-machine is introduced, the side walls require 

 to be higher. The stable and cow-houses may be arranged to the right and 

 left of the barn ; and there may be a cart-shed on one side, with a granary 

 over, and piggeries on the other, which, with a root-house, and a boiling- 

 house for preparing food, may complete three sides of a square, or parallelo- 

 gram, which should be open to the south. It is not, however, intended in 

 this work to enter into the det iils of farm buildings ; and we must therefore 

 refer the reader, who may wish to know more on the subject, to our Encyclo- 

 p^edia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture. The farm buildings which 

 are of most interest in a villa residence, are, the cow-house, dairy, piggery, 

 poultry-houses, and rabbit-house ; and with these we may also very pro- 

 perly include the aviary, the apiary, fishponds, &c. ; not of course attempt- 

 ing to give any lengthened details on the subject, but merely offering a 

 few general remarks. 



433. The cow-house, in Britain, is a rude neglected building, compared 

 with what it is on the Continent, among proprietors who take a pleasure in 

 having fine cows. In Holland, the cow-houses, even of the common farmers, 

 are kept in a very superior degree of cleanliness, and are lighted and venti- 

 lated in a much better manner than the cow-houses of villa residences ai*e 

 in England, though the greatest attention be paid to the dairies. One reason 

 of this may be, that, in many parts of England, the winter is so mild, that 

 the cows are kept during that season in open yards, having sheds attached, 

 in which they are left to take shelter at pleasure ; thus no skill is required for 

 constructing the cow-house, and no art for its proper management. In Ger- 

 many, however, from the severity of the climate, the milch cows are obliged 

 to be kept in closed houses half the year ; and hence the greater attention 

 that has been paid in that country to the construction of cow-houses. It may 

 also be observed, that, as the pastures in most parts of Germany are of a very 

 thin and inferior description, the cows kept by proprietors who pay much 

 attention to this subject are generally stall-fed throughout the year. We 

 cannot, however, recommend this practice for England ; since cows so treated 

 can never be in so healthy a state as those which are allowed to take free 

 exercise in the open air, at least a portion of every fine day. When only two 

 or three cows are kept, instead of tying them up, we would allow them to run 

 at large in a yard which had a proper cow-house attached to it, for them to 

 shelter in ; and we would only tie them up when they were being milked, or 

 in extremely severe weather, when it might be necessary to shut them up in 

 the cow-house. As a few points which deserve particular attention in the 

 construction of cow-houses, we may mention the following. The floor on 

 which the cow stands should be perfectly level ; and behind the stall there 



2 A 2 



