24£ SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
SOUTHERN COUNTRY HOUSES. 
“ FRUITLAND THE RESIDENCE OF D. REDMOND, NEAR AUGUSTA, GA. 
The most obvious requirements of a Southern country 
house, are: ample space; convenient arrangement of 
rooms; shade^ and ventilation. To these should be added, 
if possible, a reasonable share of architeetural style — an 
outward appearance in keeping and harmony with the 
interior and surrounding scenery. Mainly agreeing with 
Bacon, however, that houses are built to live in, not to 
look atf we are inclined to prefer the comfortable and 
convenient, in all cases, to the merely showy or orna- 
mental. It was, therefore, after a very careful study of 
the requirements of our climate, and a familiarity with the 
various popular works on architecture, that the writer 
adopted the plan here given, which he trusts will be 
found to possess some commendable features, and to ad- 
mit of such modifications as will adapt it to the tastes 
and necessities of others. : 
The site of this house is a dry and gravelly knoll, in 
ihe orchard, at “ Fruitland.” It is on the dividing ridge 
between Rae’s Creek and the Savannah River, and from 
the peculiar formation of the locality, commands a very 
beautiful prospect of the city of Augusta, the opposite 
hills of South Carolina, and tho surrouuding country, for 
many miles. The walls are of concrete, or artificial 
rock — a material which possesses many and striking ad- 
vantages ever the perishoMe and combustible v/ood gener- 
ally used for outside walls, and, if properly put up, is 
superior to brick in many respects. The general method 
of constructing concrete walls, and much other informa- 
tion of value, nriay be found in an excellent little volume 
entitled “A Home for All,'' published by Messrs. Fowler 
& Wells, 308 Broadway, New York, And the particu- 
lar method which we adopted will be found detailed belov/. 
By reference to the elevation and accompanying plans, 
it will be seen that the house is a nearly square structure 
of two-stories, fifty by fifty-five feet, entirely surround- 
ed and shielded from sun and storm, by an atnple veran- 
dah, ten feet wide. The lower stoiy, or basement, con- 
tains the dining-room, pantry, store-rooic, ofiice, bathing- 
room, fruit-room, and ice-house — in short, all the u:oi±~ 
ing-rooms, or apartments for everts day practical use • 
while the second-story contains the libr isy, parlor, bed- 
rooms, closets, etc. Two large halls, uYy-tliree by ten 
feet, run directly through the building, securing perfect 
ventilation, especially to the second-story, wlitre transom- 
lights, over each door and opposite the outer windows, 
admit the freest possible circulation of pure air. The 
basement Soor is I’aised several inches above the surface, 
filled in v/ith pounded rock and gravel, and laid in cement, 
which adheres firmly to the walls, thus affording perfect 
security against fire, dampness, and the depredations of 
rats and other vermin. By •a very simple arrangement, 
the stairs leading from the basement to the second floor, 
and thence to the observatory or cupola, are removed 
from their usual position in the halls, '-aving the latter 
entirely free and unobstructed. All i-d’.L f d' tails are 
cufficienfly obvious in the plan. The lower division 
walls, separating the hail from the d.':ur,g room, office, 
etc., are boilt of concrete, one foot thic’t, but ; '1 the par- 
titions, above and below, are lathed and j lasteied. Two 
insulc chimneys give us six good fire-pf'. es and flues for 
stove-pipes, thus confining all the her-t ' ere it i.s want- 
ed, and avoiding the unsightliness ct ! , v.-'hon, \ s. 
