I] THE FARM YARD AND HOUSE 43 



profitable as far as the buildings are concerned if in 

 building you aim at the thrift of the old-time farmers 

 rather than the extravagance of the moderns. For 

 the former built farmhouses to match the farm 

 produce, the latter to gratify their unrestrained self- 

 indulgence. And, as we should expect, the farm- 

 houses of the ancients cost more than their suburban 

 villas, but nowadays they generally cost less. In 

 old times a farmhouse was praised if it had a good 

 farm-kitchen, roomy stables, wine and oil store- 

 rooms of a size suitable to the farm, with a 

 paved runnel sloping to a vat; for often when new 

 wine is laid down, jars, as in Spain, and butts, as 

 in Italy, are burst by the fermentation of the must. 

 And they saw to it that in a farm of this kind there 



17 should be everything else needed for working. But 

 now on the other hand the size and decoration of a 

 man's country-house is his main care, and he tries 

 to rival those country-houses of Metellus or Lucul- 

 lus, the building of which had the worst conse- 

 quences for the State. To-day people are anxious 

 that their summer suite of dining-rooms shall face 

 the coolness of the East, and their winter suite the 



il West, instead of doing as the ancients, whose care 

 vas the aspect of the windows in the wine or oil 



I ^tore-rooms, since the produce of the grape seeks 

 comparatively cold air for its casks while the oil 

 store-room needs hotter air. Again, if there is a 

 hill, see that your farmhouse be placed near it — 

 unless there is something to prevent your doing so. 



