156 Cottage Husbandry and Architecture. 



Figs. 30 to 40. Plans, sections, and elevations hi perspective, of a cottage 

 with the requisite accommodations for a labourer and four children, on one 

 floor ; and for a cow, pigs, ducks, hens, pigeons, and bees, in the out-offices. 



Fig. 30. a, The kitchen or living-room ; the floor of tiles, or paved ; in the 

 ceiling, nearly over the hearth, a trap-door to the loft, which, in summer, 

 may be partially opened to promote ventilation, there being a false flue in the 

 chimney for that purpose, which will hereafter be described. 



b, A small parlour, with a fire-place and boarded floor ; as it will receive a 

 good deal of heat from the kitchen fire, it will seldom require a fire made on 

 purpose for it. It ought to have a small ventilator in the ceiling, near the 

 stack of chimneys, communicating with the false or ah - flue, for summer use. 



c, Family bedroom ; the floor of tiles, or paved, of the same material as 

 that of the kitchen. 



d, Bedroom for girls ; the floor boarded. 



e, Bedroom for boys ; the floor boarded. There may be a door in the par- 

 tition between these small rooms, which it may be convenient in some cases 

 to use instead of the door between the girls' bedroom and the family bed- 

 room. 



f, Water-closet for the mother, girls, and females, supplied by water as to 

 be hereafter described. 



The basin may be of brown earthenware or of cast iron, so as to cost very little ; the door 

 ought to open inwards, and the small window outwards, so that every movement of the door may 

 act as a ventilator. The basins of both closets communicate with an earthen pipe, which empties 

 itself into the reservoir of the cesspools for liquid manure. The liquid [manure thus gained will 

 be of so much value to the garden, as alone, independently of cleanliness and decency, to justify 

 the expense of two closets, and both of these loader-closets. 



g, Tool-house, and man and boys' water-closet, with an opening to the 

 loft for ventilation : supplied with water from the same source as the other 

 water-closet. 



h, Cowhouse, with a post and trough for food in one corner, and a loft 

 for hay and straw over ; this loft may be got at through a trap-door, by the 

 vise of a common ladder. 



i, House for fuel, lumber, or for various other purposes, such as roots or 

 other food for the cow and pigs. In cases where the cottager grows corn, 

 it may be made his barn ; and if it were desired to have this barn larger, it 

 could easily be made so, by projecting the whole lean-to 2 or 3 ft. farther 

 from the main body of the house. 



k, Place for ducks or geese, with a small poultry-stair or ladder to hen- 

 loft over/andg. This loft ought to be lined with straw on the top and 

 sides, in order to keep the poultry warm in winter and cool in summer. 



/, Cistern for receiving half of the water which falls on the roof. 



r Considering it to be desirable that every cottager should be perfectly independent in respect of 

 water, and also that rain-water is the purest of all water, we propose, in every case, to collect the 

 water which falls on his dwelling ; to filter and preserve one part of it, in a tank, for cookery pur- 

 poses ; and to preserve the other part unfiltered, in this cistern and in a large tank below it, for 

 the purposes of the water-closets / and g, for the use of the cow and pigs, washing and clean- 

 ing, and the garden. It is calculated by Waistell that the average quantity of water which falls 

 on a square yard of surface in Britain, in a year, is 126 gallons, which for this building, containing 

 upwards of 100 square yards of roof, will give 12,600 gallons ; an ample quantity for the purposes 

 mentioned. A cottage constructed on this principle, therefore, may be set down in any situation, 

 without reference to a natural supply of water. The cistern I may be of cast-iron ; or of five slabs 

 grooved into each other, and made water-tight with Roman cement ; or of five plates of Welsh 

 slate, or of 24 large flat paving tiles set in cement ; or it may be made of wood, plastered inside 

 with cement, or of bricks sent in cement, and plastered within with the same material ; or it may 

 be simply an old cask. However constructed, it must have a waste-pipe, which, when the cistern 

 is full, will flow over into the tank or well below, shown itifig 33. This well or tank is to be con- 

 sidered as the grand reservoir of the premises; and if there should be a natural spring in it, so 

 much the better. Should the culinary or filtering tank fail at any time, water may be drawn from 

 this tank, and introduced into the filtering tank. 



m, A pump, which ought to be one of Siebe's rotatory pumps (Gard. 

 Mag., vol. v. p. 545.), and arranged so that, in addition to the common uses of 

 a pump, the water can at pleasure be raised from the tank below into the cis- 

 tern above. Siebe's pump is particularly adapted for this purpose : it costs 

 no more than a common pump, and is much less likely to go out of order. 



n, The open yard, which should have a gentle inclination from all sides 

 towards the dungpit ( p). 



