COTTAGE. 



or width of the doors ; placing these 

 vertically, tliey will till the space, i 

 Put a wide batten on the bottom and 

 a narrow one on the top, with strips 

 on the side, and a strip in the middle. 



where clay is usually found about fif- 

 teen inches below the surface, and 

 where stone and lime are often both 

 very cheap. The article of brick for 

 chimneys is found to be quite an 



This door will be a batten door, but , item of expense in wooden houses. 



presenting two long panels on one 

 side and a smooth surface on the 

 other. If a porch or veranda is 

 wanted, it may be roofed with boards 

 laid Willi light joints and covered 



In these mud houses no brick is 

 needed, except for the top of the 

 chimneys, the oven, and casing of 

 the fire-place, though this last might 

 be well disponed with. A cement, 



with a thick paper dipped in tar, and , to put around the chimneys, or to fill 

 then adding a good coat, after sprink- 1 any other crack, is easily made by a 

 ling it with sand from a sand-box or mixture of one part of sand, two of 

 other dish wiih small holes. j ashes, and three of clay. This soon 



'• Houses built in this way are dry, j hardens, and will resist the weather, 

 warm in winter and cool in summer, j A little lard or oil may be added, to 

 and furnish no retreat for vermin. ! make the composition still harder. 

 Such houses can be made by com- i " Such a cottage will be as cheap 

 mon labourers, if a little carpenter's ! as a log cabin, less expensive than 

 work is excepted, in a very short ! pine buildings, and durable for cen- 



time, with a small outlay for mate- 

 rials, exclusive of lioors, windows, 

 doors, and roof 



" The question will naturally arise, 

 "Will the wall stand against the rain 

 and frost ] I answer, They have 

 stood well in Europe, and the Hon. 

 Mr. Poinsett remarked to me that he 

 had seen them in South America, af- 

 ter having been erected three hun- 

 dred years. Whoever has noticed 

 the rapid absorption of water by a 

 brick that has been burned, will not 

 wonder why brick walls are damp 



turiGS. I have tried the experiment 

 in this city by erecting a building 

 eighteen by fifty-four feet, two sto- 

 ries high, adopting the different sug- 

 gestions now made. Although many 

 doubted the success of the underta- 

 king, all now admit that it has been 

 very successful, and presents a con- 

 venient and comfortable building, 

 that appears well to public view, and 

 offers a residence combining as many 

 advantages as a stone, brick, or wood- 

 en house presents. I will add what 

 Loudon says in his most excellent 



The burning makes the brick porous, : work, the Encyclopedia of Agriculture, 



while the unburned brick is less ab- 

 sorbent ; but it is not proposed to 

 present the unburned brick to the 

 weather, ^^■hoever has erected a 

 building with merchantable brick will 

 at once perceive the large number of 

 soft and yellow brick, partially burn- 

 ed, that it contains, brick that would 

 soon yield to the mouldering in- 

 fluence of frost and storms. Such 

 brick are, however, placed within, 

 beyond the reach of rain, and always 

 kept dry. A good cabin is made by 

 a single room twenty feet square. A 

 better one is eighteen feet v,-ide and 

 twenty-four feet long, cutting off 

 eight feet on one end for two small 

 rooms, eight feet by nine each 



p. 74 and 

 " ' The 



lo : 



great art in building an 

 economical cottage is to employ the 

 kind of materials and labour which 

 are cheapest in the given locality. 

 In almost every part of the world the 

 cheapest article of which the walls 

 can be made will be found to be the 

 earth on which the cottage stands, 

 and to make good walls from the 

 earth is the principal art of the rus- 

 tic or primitive builder. Soils, with 

 reference to building, may be divided 

 into two classes : clays, loams, and 

 all such soils as can neither be called 

 gravels nor sands, and sands and 

 gravels. The former, whether they 

 are stiff or free, rich or poor, mixed 



How easily could a settler erect with stones, or free from stones, may 

 such a cabin on the ^\■estern prairie, j be formed into walls in one of these 

 R 193 



