194 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
Fig. 1.—FRONT ELEVATION [WEST.] 
Country House, Costing S3,000 to $4,000, 
Actual Cost, as Here Described, §>3,351. 
CLASS III.—FIRST PRIZE—BY MRS. WM. H. BURR, REDDING 
RIDGE, CONN. 
[In selecting this plan from a great number in 
Class III., the judges “guessed” that a “house¬ 
keeper” had had more to do with the design and 
arrangement than an architect, though the hand 
writing gave them no such intimation, and they 
were pleasantly surprised when informed that, on 
opening the envelope, the designating motto was 
an actual “Farmer’s Wife,” and not an appropria¬ 
tion of that title by one of the sterner sex, as they 
had supposed. We learn that this house was built 
in 1879, but the planning, arrangement, materials 
to be used, and most economical construction, had 
been talked over, and much thought about, for 
many years previous, and no doubt with a great 
deal of observation and study of many other dwell¬ 
ings to get any new hints and suggestions. The 
judging committee’s notes on this plan read: “ A 
very roomy house, with plenty of closets, large 
attic, bath-room, hot and cold water in first and 
second stories ; every room, even to the attic, has an 
adjoining chimney which will admit a stove-pipe. 
No water-closet shown in bath-room, though one 
shown in the wood-shed is very conveni¬ 
ent. In construction, the design omits to 
show how the rear main-house walls are 
supported ; piers or posts are probably in¬ 
tended. The estimates appear correct, 
though to finish up with such a variety 
of liard-woods, would seem to exceed 
the estimates, in most localities.” [It 
will be noted below that, except the 
walnut, they were cut on the farm.—E d.] 
roofs are all shingled ; tin would often be preferred, 
and in many localities be cheaper-” In the fol¬ 
lowing descriptions, we do not, as usual, arrange 
them systematically, but follow the order of the 
notes accompanying the plan, with such emenda¬ 
tions and condensing as seemed desirable.— Ed.] : 
After all our long study on the subject, we de- 
decided upon this plan as being the most econ¬ 
omical in form of building, with the rooms just 
where we wanted them, and large enough to meet 
the requirements of our own or any ordinary fam¬ 
ily. The rooms in constant use are all on one floor 
—quite a necessity when a woman must have the 
care of and do much of the work in a farm house. 
A bedroom on this floor is essential when one has 
little children. The house fronts west, the sitting 
and bedroom being on the south side. We think 
the house has a pleasing and substantial looking 
exterior. The gables are sheathed and battened. 
Probably no two persons would fancy exactly the 
same style of finish, forms of brackets, etc. The 
drawings are not by a skilled artist, but are as good 
as I can make them, with the little time I have to 
spare. [ Mrs. Burr, at our request, sent for the use 
of the artist cut paper patterns of some of the 
mouldings and brackets, which she could not ex¬ 
actly represent in the pencil sketch.—E d.] The 
outside painting is in 
two colors, the blinds 
being still another 
color. White lead and 
linseed oil were used, 
with shading mixtures 
added for the tinting. 
The roofs are all 
shingled; some may 
prefer tin over the 
Verandas and Bay- 
windows ; the expense 
is about the same. The 
EARTH 
CLOSET 
A 
WOOD SHED 
17 X 24 
CHIMNEY 
WASljl TU$S, 
They are two-light, of double French glass. Those 
on the rear are four-light, and have thinner glass. 
The head-light over the front door has stained 
glass.——The house -is finished throughout with 
hard-wood, and is what they call “ polished.” All 
the pores of the wood were filled *t V p 1 ^p$atib'h 
'markets, then var- 
These 
bing with “Wheeler’s Patent ruling, a P re 
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2.—FIRST STORT. 
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frame was first sheathed with boards, then building 
paper tacked on before the clap-boards were added. 
The window frames and cap mouldings were made 
at a factory. All windows have cords and weights. 
of ground silica found iu our 
nished with “Crockets . "of the wood, 
make no change in the natu ,.” 11 * ., . . nPn . 
and it is as easy to clean as glass. , ia tive woods, 
pie are aware of the heauty of our i, „ finish 
and the farmer who has them growing c.. -<3 
more cheaply with them than with pine. With cai¬ 
rn sawing, using the outside of the log, and drying 
them carefully under cover that they may not be 
stained, a grain of great beauty is obtained. The 
outside doors are of white oak, 2i inches thick,, 
the front one being handsomely made. The 
others are 6 -panel, most of them being 2 inches 
thick, some only li inch. Where the woods are of 
different kinds in adjoining rooms, the doors are 
made to match the rooms by gluing together half 
thicknesses of the two kinds of wood. We used 
White Oak, Maple, Ash, Butternut, Chestnut, Black 
Birch, and Black Walnut; (the Walnut we bought). 
The Bay-windows and those in the parlor and 
sitting-room are panelled. The Bath Room is 
wainseotted with Ash and Butternut. The Kitchen 
is also waiDscotted [that is, the lower portion of 
the walls are wood-work, instead of mortar]. The 
kitchen floor is 3-inch wide White Oak, groo ved-and- 
tongued. We oil it twice a year. On the rest of 
the First Story the flooring is of 41-inch wide pine, 
grooved-and-tongued. The Second Story and Attic 
floors arc 9-incli wide pine, selected from the 
sheathing boards, which were of extra quality. 
The shingles are laid 011 chestnut lath. The plas¬ 
tering on the First and Second Stories is two coats 
of brown mortar, with a third hard-finish coat 
added. The walls and ceilings need to be finished 
before the casings are put on, as any lime getting 
on the wood before it is polished, will stain it. 
The Water from the roof enters a Tank built in 
the Attic, of pine plank, lined with lead, holding 
512 gallons. From a cistern just outside the cel¬ 
lar, built of stone and cemented, water is thrown 
to the tank with a force-pump placed in the cellar, 
as occasion requires. Onr supply has not failed in 
two dry summers. The Water Boiler is of galvan¬ 
ized iron, holding 53 gallons. The Range is a 9-inch 
Magee, with water-back, not an “ elevated ” one.. 
We have always burned wood in it, and with good 
success. The Laundry has three stationary 
wash-tubs, supplied with hot and cold wa¬ 
ter. In this room we have taken no pre¬ 
caution against frost, there being- only one 
brown coat of mortar. There are faucets 
In the cellar, by which we turn the water 
off as soon as we have finished washing, so 
there is no danger of freezing. This room 
also takes much rough work from the 
kitchen. Directly over the Range is a re¬ 
gister, attached to a tin pipe running up to 
the tank-room above. This was put in to 
keep the tank-room from freezing, hut it 
also acts as the most perfect ventila- 
tor I have ever seen. By pulling 
down one of the windows from the 
top in the tank-room, all smoke and 
steam from the range in cooking is 
almost instantly carried off through 
this pipe. We have had no trouble 
from freezing of the water, but you 
will see that the pipes are centrally 
situated away from outside frost, and 
all the rooms are comfortably warm at all 
times.' The Tank-room is 8 feet high. 
The Cellar wall (fig. 4) is of rough stone, 
laid iu mortar, 2 feet thick, 8 feet high. 
The division walls are of concrete, 12 inches 
thick. The cool cellar is shut off from 
the rest by a division wall, and has a 
window at the north. The Smoke-room is built 
between the chimney and the brick pier that sup¬ 
ports the fire-place above. The back is of concrete, 
with a door in front lined with sheet iron. A large 
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