84 MY FARM. 



obtained from the farm wood ; and from the same 

 source might also be derived the saw logs for exterior 

 covering. But from the fact that pine is very much 

 more suitable and durable for cover, than the ordi- 

 nary timber of New England woods, the e'conomy of 

 such a procedure would be very doubtful ; nor would 

 it demonstrate so palpably and unmistakably, as I 

 was desirous of doing, that the building was of home 

 growth. I had seen very charming little farmhouses 

 on the Downs of Hampshire, made almost entirely 

 from the flints of the neighboring chalkbeds ; and in 

 Cumberland and Westmoreland very substantial and 

 serviceable cottages are built out of the rudest stones, 

 the farm laborers assisting in the work. Now, there 

 were, scattered along the roadside, as along most 

 country roadsides of New England, a great quantity 

 of small, ill-shapen stones, drawn thither in past years 

 from the fields, and serving only as the breeding 

 ground for pestilent briars. These stones I deter- 

 mined to convert into a cottage. 



Of course, if such an experiment should involve a 

 cost largely exceeding that of a simple wooden house 

 of ordinary construction, its value would be partially 

 negatived ; since I was particularly anxious to demon- 

 strate not only the possibility of employing the humblest 

 materials at hand, but also of securing durability and 

 picturesqueness in conjunction with a rigid economy. 



