Book IV. PRIVATE GARDENS, OR RESIDENCES. 102? 



7293. The farmer s garden should not be placed adjoining the rick-yard, on account of 

 the straw liable to be blown into it: and should be well enclosed to exclude poultry, pigs, 

 and other domestic animals. Supposing the farm-buildings to occupy three sides of a 

 square, and the farm-house to be placed in the middle of the south side, and the rick-yard 

 to be placed beyond the north side ; then the kitchen-garden may be placed adjoining the 

 east or west side of the square ; the grass-orchard, which may also be the drying-ground, 

 and area for rearing young poultry, on the opposite and corresponding side ; and a small 

 flower-garden may serve as an entrance-court to the farm-house. But in the case of 

 farmeries on a larger scale, where the house is detached from the court of offices, the three 

 gardens should be united with a small portion of lawn, and a pond, so as to form about 

 an acre (more or less, according to circumstances), of garden and pleasure-ground round 

 the house. (Jig- 662.) The part destined for the growth of culinary vegetables should be 

 laid out in right-lined plots and borders ; the orchard-trees planted in rows or quincunx ; 

 and the flowers and flowering shrubs arranged in groups or beds on turf. The most use- 

 ful and prolific fruit-trees should be chosen ; including some plants of hops, and one or 

 two walnut or chestnut trees in the exposed side of the orchard, if the climate is such as 

 will ripen their fruits. No class of men have it in their power to form and cultivate a 

 garden at less expense than that of the farmer; but unfortunately few farmers have a 

 taste for the subject ; perhaps, because gardening is not sufficiently contrasted to agri- 

 culture, to afford the farmer that sort of relief sought for in recreative and pleasurable 

 pursuits. 



7294. The laborers' cottage and garden. This may be reckoned too humble a country- 

 residence for the consideration of the landscape-gardener ; but we conceive it to be of very 

 great importance to the general good, that these should be improved, and their inhabitants 

 ameliorated. "What v/e shall advance is founded on the principle, that whatever renders 

 the cottager more comfortable and happy at home, will render him a better servant and 

 subject, and in every respect a more valuable member of society. Besides, one of the most 

 constantly occurring objects in the country is the laborer's cottage, whether detached by 

 the road-side, or grouped in hamlets and villages ; and therefore to render such buildings 

 and their scenery more ornamental must, independently of every other consideration, be a 

 very laudable object. 



7295. The accommodation contained in the cottage, and the size of the garden, should, no doubt, be regu- 

 lated by the family of the cottager, and the facilities afforded him by his line of employment to live well, 

 or bring up a large family, &c. But we shall take the lowest case that can occur, and state what we con- 

 sider to be the minimum of accommodation, which a humane employer in England would wish to be en- 

 joyed by his serving laborer, even if he had no other family than his wife. 



7296. The whole space to be enclosed, including the garden and the site of the house, cannot be less than 

 One eighth part of a statute acre. The cottage should, if possible, be placed in the centre, fronting the 

 south-east, by which means, if it be a square or a parallelogram, the sun will shine on each of the four sides 

 a part of every day in the year. Its floor should be raised two steps above the level of the garden ; its 

 principal windows to the south-east. A gutter should be placed under the eaves, to prevent the ground, 

 at the base of the walls, from receiving extreme moisture, and thus rendering the interior damp and un- 

 wholesome. The cottage should consist of the following parts : 



7297. A porch to throw off the rain from the steps of the door, and prevent it from being blown in bv the 

 wind. On the smallest scale, two broad boards, or two slates or flag-stones, placed pediment- wise over the 

 door will suffice. 



7298. A lobby, broad passage, or other space inside the door, to contain lumber, fuel, garden-tools, and to 

 serve as a place for washing, or working at coarse work, &c. 



7299. A cooking and living-room entered by the lobby or outer room ; the fire-place, with an oven and 

 small boiler, both included in a cast-iron grate. 



7300. A sleeping-room over the living-room, and entered by a stair from the lobby or outer room. 



7301. A garret, or children or lodger's sleeping-room, or small room for any purpose, over the lobby or 

 outer room. 



7302. A pantry, taken off the lobby, with a small window to the north-west. 



7303. A closet, for utensils and articles used in the living-room, taken off that room, with a window to 

 the north-west or south-east. 



7304. A hen-roost, forming part of the garret over the lobby, and entered by a poultry-ladder, placed 

 against a small opening near the bottom of the outer wall. 



7305. In the garden should be a well, with a pump, if deep ; unless some other source of good water is 

 near. 



7306. A water-closet placed in a hidden part of the garden, behind the house, so contrived that the visitor 

 may neither be seen from the windows of the cottage nor the public road, with a going and returning, or an 

 incidental approach, instead of the direct cut de sac paths which commonly lead to such places. 



7307. A pigsty attached to the north-east or south-west front. 



7308. A dunghill, or a small spot adjoining the pigsty, surrounded by a dwarf wall. 



7309. A niche in the wall of the south-east front of the house, to hold two or more beehives, with 

 two iron bars, joined and hinged at one end> and with a staple at the other to lock them up to prevent 

 stealing. 



7310. The surrounding fence may be a wall, close pales, a holly, thorn, sloe-thorn, or damson-plum hedge, 

 according to circumstances ; if a hedge of any kind, then standard plum, pear, apple, or cherry trees, may 

 be planted in it ; if a wall, the same sorts may be trained against it. Next to the fence, a border should 

 be carried round the whole ; a similar border may be formed round the house ; and the area for culture 

 will then be thrown into two compartments, one behind the house, and one in front of it. The compartments 

 may be surrounded with a line of gooseberries and currants, and a few standard apples or plums (as being the 

 two most useful cottage fruits) scattered over the whole. Against the house may be planted currants, pears, 

 or a vine, according to the situation and climate. Honeysuckles and monthly roses may be planted next 

 the porch ; ivy against the water-closet ; and the scented clematis against the pigsty. The border round 

 the house should be devoted to savory pot-herbs, as parsley, thyme, mint, chives, &c. and to flowers and 

 low flowering shrubs. The surrounding border, under the wall or hedge, should be devoted to early and 

 late culinary crops, as early potatoes, pease, turnips, kidneybeans, &c. No forest trees, especially the ash 



3U 2 



