?*3^^!P ',. f: rT^wpspT':- 



=-^-';js^|^T^;"i7?j^iSP ^- ■SJ^br'' - ■■" ^' ■ :' 



be a eoBtlj edifice. It is feared there is an in- 

 creasing extravagance, among the upper classes, 

 in buildlHg orer-costly dwellings. Tke wealthy 

 set the txample, and men of more limited means 

 rain themielres io trjing to follow. 



It thtre is any s«bject on which a beck is 

 Dzsdsd, it is on the conitractioB of chtap and 

 commodious dwellings. A house nay be built 

 in a square form, two stories high, hipped roof, 

 medallion corxioe, good projoction and plain 

 brackets, with a cheap ballastrads portico in 

 front, all in plain style. Such a house presents 

 a good appearance, and secsres a larga amount 

 of room at a moderate expense. If a pic- 

 turesque diversity in the situation seems io de- 

 mand a rural gothic cottage, such buildings can 

 be built appropriate to a coontry plaee with- 

 out so much little, carved, expensive, fliMsy 

 trimmings. Our pressnt subject doss not re- 



late to the internal arrangement of the dwelling, 

 but to the external feature of the komeBtead. 

 Anong the many evils that demand reform in 

 ©ur country is the habit of American females of 

 excluding themselves, almost wholly, from the 

 open air. Our hcmesteads should have more 

 outside attractions. If the pale faced consamp' 

 tive*-looking inmates of the drawingrooat and 

 parlor would invigorate their lungs with the 

 fresh air of morBing, and spend the same amount 

 of time in the flower garden that they spend in 

 useless needlework, it would impart life and 

 buoyancy to their spirits and the bloom of health 

 to their cheeks. Better for a house to be with-^ 

 out a "parlor" than withont its open air attract 

 tions. 



That some of the foregoing SHSgestions may 

 be better understood, it is thought proper ta 

 present the followiag^ — 



M&A. 



CXSIQV FOK A HOHISTIAD. 



The hoase, A, (Gg. 1,} staads on rising 

 ground, over 10 rods from the road. The high- 

 way, H, curves around the situation, so as to 

 keep on level ground. The barn is seen at B, 

 northeast of the house, on Ivwer ground, with a 

 point of the barn yard extending to the high- 

 way. A wire fence starts at the entranee gate 

 and contin«c8 along the south side of the car- 

 riage track, E, and finally unites with the bars 

 yard; and thus the whole extent, in front and east 

 of the house, extending to the barn yard, is pas-^ 

 tured by sheep, inclsding nearly two acres, but 

 will appear to be much larger. The garden is 

 located at 0; the erchard at D, protected, on the 

 north, by a hedge. A walk leads to the road 



eastward. Another walk winds off east of the 

 house, through a dense shade, down to a natural 

 arbor, at the foot of a declivity, The sane path 

 comes np the ascent and leads towards the road. 

 Another path strikes off to where the sheep are 

 turned from the lawn into the b*rB yard. 



A, full view is preserved westward to the 

 orchard and road; also, several other lines Af 

 view are had to the road, thro«gh vistas of the 

 lawi, and the dwelling is seen from the road, for 

 some distance, from both tke cast and the west. 

 Situations similar to the foregoing can be ar- 

 ranged almost any where on the rolling prairies. 



We will contlude this essay with a — 





