306 On architectural, rural, domestic, and other Improvements. 



Localities which are occasionally subject to great changes in their 

 condition, and in their influence on the atmosphere. 



5. What considerations are to be taken into view in the choice of 

 sites in given cases, as of plains, valleys, hills, mountains, banks of 

 rivers, exposure to winds and storms, particular geological formations? 



6. What considerations are to be regai:ded, in given cases, re- 

 specting the depth of cellars, the elevation of the first floor from the 

 level of the adjacent grounds, and the position, height, and form of 

 houses, reference being had to the position of other dwelhngs, and ta 

 that of out-buildings, gardens, roads, streets, and distant scenery, and 

 to exposure to winds, storms, cold and heat ? 



7. What, with relation to dwellings and to each other, should he 

 the position of barns and other out-buildings ? 



8. What cautions ought to be observed in the location and con- 

 struction of dwellings and out-houses to guard each and all of them 

 against the hazard of fire ? 



9. What plans and measures are to be adopted respecting door- 

 yards, courts, gardens, shrubbery, vines and trees ? 



10. What is to be aimed at in respect to water for household use, 

 and in what cases are pumps or aqueducts to be preferred to wells 

 and fountains ? 



11. What plans and materials for fences are to be preferred? 



12. What plans and materials are most eligible for walks, intend- 

 ed to be dry, durable, and tasteful ? 



These and the like heads of enquiry, would give scope for the 

 most valuable instruction and advice, applicable to every part of our 

 country, and which would, one cannot doubt, be extensively well re- 

 ceived, adopted and carried into practical effect. 



Of the thousands and tens of thousands who every year engage 

 in the erection of dwellings, how few possess or are in any condi- 

 tion to obtain the knowledge which is needful to guide their judg- 

 ments in respect to the most essential of the above particulars, or 

 with a view either to economy, convenience, durability, elegance, 

 health, security from fire, effect on price, or any other advantage, 

 private or public ? In how many thousands of instances, even in lo- 

 cahtles which present, to an informed and observant eye, unobject- 

 ionable sites, are all these benefits lost, and great inconveniences and 

 evils incurred for want of such hints and advices as might be com- 

 prised in a tract of a few pages? In numerous cases, both of single 

 dwellings and of neighborhoods it would seem that no one of these 



