176 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



RURAL ARCHITECTURE. 

 COTTAGE HOUSE AND GROUND, BY GEO. E. HARNEY, LYNN, MASS. 



DKSIGKED AND KNORAVED 1£XPKK.S.SI.T FOK TIIK NEW KNGLANI) VAItMER. 



There seems to us to be no reason why the 

 humble cottage of the poor man should not be 

 as attractive and pleasing iu appearance as the 

 extensive facades and lordly proportions of the 

 millionaire's mansion. To be sure, one cannot ex- 

 pect with a few hundred dollars to have the ex- 

 tensive accommodations and elegant effect of the 

 halls, galleries and arches of the mansion that 

 would cost twenty thousand or more, nor with his 

 half acre of ground can he expect to have the 

 sweeping lawns and park-like effect of the estate 

 comprising many acres. 



But there is a way in which a man may give 

 his small cottage and grounds an air of taste, a 

 certain snugness and cosiness which a larger 

 place cannot have. Nature will ornament his 

 simple dwelling for him in her own peculiar way, 

 producing, in a short time, effects which com- 

 pletely throw into the shade the skill of the clev- 

 erest workman, or the effects of the most creative 

 designs. Let flowering vines be planted around 

 it, and let them cover its sides and trail along 

 its projections. Let a "Queen of the Prairies" 

 form a fragrant bower around and over its prin- 

 cipal window. Have a seat underneath, where 

 it will be a pleasure to sit of a summer evening, 

 when the day's work is done, and spend an hour, 

 indulging with the children in their sports, or in 



friendly discussion with a neighbor Mho has "just 

 dropped over." Let a Wistaria twine around the 

 columns and run along the roof of the veranda, 

 if there be one. Plant a hardy English ivy at its 

 northern corner, a honeysuckle at its southern 

 corner, and near it make a garden, and fill it 

 with rare and beautiful flowers. 



This is where the poor man, in adorning his 

 little cottage, has the decided advantage over the 

 owner of the elegant villa ; for we all have no- 

 ticed that, in proportion as a building is increased 

 in size, does it lose that comfortable, inviting air 

 that a small building, properly designed, and 

 with appropriate surroundings, always has. And 

 in proportion as finely-wrought architectural de- 

 tails are introduced, just in that proportion must 

 we discard those other ornaments, the living dra- 

 pery which Nature has provided ; for it would be 

 utter folly to enrich a building with elaborate 

 and beautiful ornamentation, and then hide the 

 whole by a covering of vines and flowers. 



Let Nature adorn our humble cottages, and 

 leave it to Art to decorate the princely mansion. 



Then, too, the grounds about the cottage may 

 have a character of their own. Introduce here 

 but few large trees, for they tend to diminish the 

 apparent size of the lot ; but rather depend upon 

 heavy shrubbery and flowers ; planting a few 



