HINTS ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF FARM-HOUSES, 
249 
is too high to be comfortable by its shade or shelter. It is too costly and handsome to accord with the 
neat and rustic character of a farm-house. But it has been the fashion of the day, and if the farmer has 
not reflected for himself, it is ten to one that he has fallen a victim to it, instead of employing the more 
comfortable and more characteristic verandah. Fig. 59. 
Another of the greatest mistakes in building a farm-house, is to adopt anything like a flat roof. 
Fig 60. A broad and rather high roof is as essentially a handsome feature in a farm-house, as the ex¬ 
panded chest and broad shoulders are in the farmer himself. It is a kind of beauty that springs out of 
a most natural and enduring source—manifest utility. 
The roof of a farmer’s house ought then to be high, so as to give him an ample garret—that useful 
store-house of country varieties. It ought to be rather steep, to bear and carry off rapidly the burdens 
of heavy snows and the violence of wintry storms. It ought to be strong, and little liable to speedy 
decay—that the purse may not be 
called on for frequent repairs. 
The flat roof comes to us from 
southern countries and mild cli¬ 
mates. In town-houses, and orna¬ 
mental villas, in the classical styles, 
let the architect satisfy the demands 
of art with such a covering to his 
house. But in the exposed farm¬ 
house, in our blustering, sturdy 
weather of the north, the farmer 
should have none of it. He must 
nestle under the high and broad 
roof which properly belongs to a 
northern climate. Fig. 61. This 
has all the beauty of thoroughly 
answering its purpose, and convey¬ 
ing at a glance the most complete 
notions of comfort. 
When it is desired to render a 
farm-house ornamental, it is the 
most fatal, though the most common 
of all mistakes, to suppose it Fig. 60. 
should be done by the imitation—the meagre imitation of some gentleman s fine house. It is a mode 
that is never successful. It is the old story of the jay in his borrowed peacock’s plumes. Every one 
detects and exposes the want of fitness and propriety. Fluted columns, ornamental pediments, moulded 
friezes, and the like, have 
little or nothing to do with 
farm-houses. They will 
give an ambitious and 
flashy character to the 
front; it will be belied by 
the useful and every-day 
character of the rear. 
The truth is, a farmer’s 
house looks as ill when be¬ 
decked with the stolen or¬ 
naments of a highly archi¬ 
tectural villa, as the honest 
dignified, plain farmer him¬ 
self would, if tricked out 
in the fashionable finery of 
the reigning Paris exqui¬ 
site. The beauty of pro¬ 
priety is a species of moral 
beauty, even in houses 
and clothes. 
There should be a kind 
of homely, country-like air 
about every genuine farm¬ 
house. It ought at the 
first glance to be recognized 
as belonging to the open 
meadows, orchards, and Fig. 61 
pastures, that surround, and the fresh luxuriant trees that wave over it. It should be neat and strongs 
and capacious and comfortable. If something is wanted beyond this—and we are sure our farming 
