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principal rooms. Successful and well-balanced compromise is 

 the test of group-planning, allowing scope for unlimited 

 ingenuity in the search for ideal solutions to the ever-varying 

 problems presented by cottage-design. 



Kecent experiments have shown that old methods may be 

 revived with advantage. Among these are building in chalk, 

 cobb and pise, methods that may help to solve the increasingly 

 difficult problems of transport. These old processes were in 

 former years restricted to the less accessible parts of the 

 country, but now that transport and brick production have 

 become such serious problems in all housing schemes, a 

 general revival of interest in such regional materials and 

 methods would seem to be inevitable. Experimental cottages 

 in chalk and pise have been built on the Ministry's Farm 

 Settlement, at Amesbury, Wiltshire. An account of this work 

 was published in the issue of this Journal for September last. 



The general rules for cottage construction indicate that 

 plain, well-proportioned elevations, a simple roof and straight- 

 forward planning are more suitable for a small holder's house 

 than any attempts at ihe picturesque by means of calculated 

 irregularities. The Ministry will not approve any design 

 which indicates that there has been any attempt to secure 

 elegance at the expense of utility. Unless there is any good 

 reason to the contrary a plain rectangular plan should be the 

 aim, neither so square as to necessitate an elaborate, heavy 

 and Wasteful roof, nor so attenuated as to be cold, and 

 extravagant through excess of outside walling. Cottages in 

 pairs are not only warmer and less expensive than when erected 

 singly, but they are also more seemly in appearance. Every 

 excrescence or corner, either external or internal, costs money, 

 and should therefore be avoided unless some corresponding 

 advantage is gained by its introduction. The roof should be 

 unbroken, as every departure from a plain, lid-like form 

 involves extra expense in construction and upkeep. Gutters, 

 valleys, flats, and breaks generally should be reduced to a 

 minimum. 



The Manual gives schedules for three types of cottages. 

 The first, for a self-supporting small holding of from 10 to 

 50 acres, contains a parlour, living-room or kitchen, scullery, 

 larder or pantry and three bedrooms. A similar arrangement 

 with a somewhat smaller floor area is recommended for small 

 holdings of from 1 to 10 acres. For cottage holdings of from 

 1 to 5 acres the parlour may be omitted, the living-room or 



