248 
HINTS ON TIIE CONSTRUCTION OF F.ARM-HOUSES. 
HINTS ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF FARM-HOUSES. 
Any one may see that a decided taste is beginning to maniiest itself at the present moment in rural 
architecture. Everywhere, in the Middle and Eastern States, one sees that the newly-built cottages and 
villas are no longer in those clumsy and unmeaning forms that ten years ago so generally prevailed. 
This is a most hopeful and 
encouraging symptom. It tells 
us very plainly that our country 
proprietors have begun to give 
some thought to the construc¬ 
tion of their own houses; that 
they are no longer content with 
what the nearest carpenter or 
mason may have to offer as the 
latest style; that they have at 
least a desire for something fit 
for their own wants, the beauty 
of which is of a kind, becoming 
and suitable to the purpose in 
view. 
In this aspect of things, no¬ 
thing is more to he desired, than 
the general prevalence of correct 
principles of taste among ©ur 
agriculturists of intelligence. 
The Farm-house in this coun¬ 
try is not the hovel of the serf 
—is not the hut of a peasant. 
It is the cottage of a freeman'— 
Fig. 58. the proprietor of the soil he 
cultivates, ft is the home of the best virtues and the soundest hearts. It must necessarily—if it be true 
to itself—give a character of moral and physical beauty to the whole rural scenery of the Union. Let 
us not deny, therefore, the importance of the farm-house. It seems to us to be worthy of the attention 
of every one who would render our country life expressive of its true usefulness and beauty, 
We should he glad, in this brief space, to say a few words about farm-houses ; ©ur limits will, how¬ 
ever, only permit us to point out a few errors into which our country builders have hitherto fallen. 
_ Something may per¬ 
haps be gained even 
by considering the 
mistakes into which 
those most common¬ 
ly fall,, who have 
built with little re¬ 
flection. 
In the first place,, 
we think a farm¬ 
house should he un- 
mistalceobly a farm¬ 
house. That is to 
say, it should not he 
a citizen’s dwelling- 
house, or a suburb¬ 
an villa, set down in 
the midst of a plain 
farm. 
Nothing has been 
more common for the 
past ten years, than 
to see a good sub¬ 
stantial farmer bui Id- 
ing a large plain 
dwelling— unobjec¬ 
tionable enough as 
Fig. 59. a plain dwelling— 
hut to which he has been persuaded to add a Grecian portico (fig. 58), copied from a great house of the 
neighboring town or village. 
The portico is very well where it belongs—as a part of a handsome villa, every part of which is care¬ 
fully finished with corresponding elegance.. It has nothing whatever to do with a true farm-house It 
