ON SIMPLE BUBAL COTTAGES. 240 



cMmneys may next be attended to. Let them be less clumsy and 

 heavy, if possible, than usual. 



This would be character enough for the simplest class of cot- 

 tages.' We would rather aim to render them striking and expres- 

 sive by a good outline, an4 a few simple details, than by the iinita- 

 tion of the, ornaments of a more complete and highly finished ^yle 

 of building. 



In, figs. 1 and 2, we have endeavored to give two views of a 

 workingman's cottage, of humble means.* 



Whatever may be thought of the eflfect of these designs, (and. 

 we assure our readers that they appear much better when biiilt 

 than, upon paper,) we think it will not b.e denied, that they have 

 not the defects to which we have just alluded. The style is as eco- 

 nomical as the cheapest mode of buildipg; it is expressive of the 

 simple wants of its occupant ; and it is, we conceive, not without 

 some tasteftil character. 



Last, though not least, this mode of building cottages is well 

 adapted to our country. The material— wood — is one which must, 

 yet for some years, be the only one used for small cottages. The 

 projecting eav^s partially, shelter, the building from - our hot sun and 

 violent storms ; and the few simple details, which may be said to 

 confer something of an ornamental character, as the rafter brackets 

 and window dressings, are such as obviously grow out of the pri- 

 mary conveniences of the house — the necessity of a roof for shelter, 

 and ^e necessity of windows for light. 



Common narrow siding, {i. e. the thin clap-boarding in general 

 use,) we would i^ot employ for. the exteriorof this class of cottag'es 

 — nor,' indeed, for any simple rural buildings. What we greatly 

 prefer, are good strong and sound boards, from ten to fourteen 

 inches wide, and one to one ,and a fourth inches thick, These 

 should be tongued and grooved so as to make a close joint, and 

 nailed to the frame of the house in a vertical manner. The joint 

 should be (jovered on the outside with a narrow strip of inch boai'd, 

 from two to three inches wide, The accompanying cut, fig. 3, a, 



* We do not give the interior plan of these, at present. Our only ob- 

 ject now is to call attention to the exteriors of dwellings of this class. 



