] 66 Cottage Husbandry and Architecture. 



350/. ; figs. 37. to 40. upwards of 400/. The same extensively employed 

 gentleman informed us, that in Sussex these designs might be erected for 

 less than half the above sums. A proprietor, with the materials on his 

 own estate, whatever might be the part of the country in which that estate 

 was situated, might erect the first two designs at little more than 100/., and 

 the third at less than 150/. Provided an industrious labourer could get a 

 lease for a long period of years, or in perpetuity, at a moderate rent, he 

 might erect an excellent cottage, with all the above accomodations, by 

 cooperation or exchange, on one or other of the following plans : — 



1. By contracting to exchange a part of the labour of his hours of recre- 

 ation with the tradesmen requisite to assist him with labour. By entering 

 into a similar contract with those proprietors or dealers, or with the parish 

 to which he belongs, for timber and other materials, to be placed against a 

 certain portion of his hours of labour ; all the walls being formed of earth 

 in the pisee manner, or otherwise, by himself and another labourer, and by 

 degrees, even if the time occupied should be two years. Labourers who 

 so occupy themselves ought to have a magistrate's permission to do so on 

 Sundays for a certain period. 



2. Six persons, viz., a bricklayer or mason, a carpenter, a plasterer,- and 

 a slater or thatcher, and two labourers, might join together and construct 

 such a cottage at their leisure hours and on Sundays ; they might then 

 either let it for rent, or sell it and divide the profits : or they may build six 

 houses, and each occupy one ; priority of occupation being determined by lot. 



The great secrets, by which a labourer can obtain a cottage of this sort, are 

 cooperation, and exchanging labour for labour, and labour also for mate- 

 rials. It is true this is rather a retrograde step in the progress of civilis- 

 ation, but we apprehend it to be the most suitable one to the present 

 circumstances of the labouring classes in Britain. The great difficulty, we 

 are well aware, will be in getting land sufficiently cheap, and on a long 

 lease. For our own part, we think there ought to be no leases for build- 

 ing shorter than for perpetuity; and justice and equity seem to us to 

 require that the annual rent for land so let in perpetuity to be built on, 

 should be less, rather than more, than the common rent of such land when 

 used for ordinary purposes in its neighbourhood. We say less, because 

 rent, where there is the security of a house for its being regularly paid, must 

 eventually be a more certain annuity than a rent depending on the suc- 

 cess of crops. We are here speaking of the reason of the thing, and 

 with landlords in our eye, of moderation, joined to a little humanity, which, 

 we have no doubt, always produces a policy which will be found best in the 

 long run. We are well aware that in most cases the landlord accepts the 

 offer of as high a rent asjie is promised, and that the powerful natural de- 

 sire of possessing land, often induces the poor man to promise more than 

 he can pay. For our own part, we have no hesitation in saying, that, were 

 we an active young labourer, gardener, or mechanic, without property, we 

 should greatly prefer emigrating to America or Australia, where we could 

 get land in perpetuity, to building here on any shorter lease. 



Perhaps we may be asked why we have not given simpler and cheaper 

 plans, such as might be built any where for 50/. or 60/. ; our answer is, that 

 for such cottages no plans are wanted ; they may be seen every where. In 

 England they can be built by an}' hedge carpenter, with the assistance of a 

 labourer : in Scotland what is called a " decent cottage " consists of two 

 apartments, a butt and a ben, with earthen floors and without ceilings ; in 

 Ireland a hole is dug in a dry bank on the side of a hill, and a roof of rungs 

 and turves put over it. We have no wish to increase the number of such 

 wretched habitations ; we think labourers, as a part of the human family, 

 deserve something better, and we wish to raise their taste, and give them 

 some idea of the natural rights of man. There is abundance of land, of 

 materials, and of labour, in Great Britain, for transforming every two-roomed 

 hut into such cottages as we have described ; and there can be no reason 



