74 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
crock inserted in the chimney, by an elbow from 
its top. At the left of the entrance door, is a 
oed room 8 feet square, which may be entirely 
separated by a close partition and door, or may be 
an alcove simply, separated by a curtain, so as to 
be, in reality, only a recess for a bed, table, and 
glass. Next this bedroom is a flight of stairs 
3 feet wide, leading to the chamber. Next to, 
and under the stairs, is a family “buttery,” or pro¬ 
vision, and dish closet, 8 by 3^ feet, with a win¬ 
dow , and shelves, as convenience may demand. 
A door'leads back into the lean-to, or shed, in which 
may be an outer cook-room for Summer, a bed¬ 
room, or whatever else is required, and a wood- 
house, with a door leading outside at .one end, as 
shown in the plate. We have not partitioned this 
in the plan, leaving it for the builder to appropriate 
as may seem best. 
The windows of the cottage are “hooded;” that 
is, sheltered by short strips of board 10 or 12 
inches wide, sloping outward, supported by brack¬ 
ets at the end to ward off the violence of storms, 
and keep the upper joints dry, besides giving a 
shefiered, cosy look to them. So also, is the outer 
lean-to door hooded in the same way, only that its 
hood is 3 or 4 feet wide, and the brackets in pro¬ 
portion. A small stoop or verandah is thrown 
over the front door, say 6 feet wide and 4 feet 
deep, with a seat on each side. All these outer 
ap[>endages give the cottage an air of complete¬ 
ness, and repose, which, aided by a few climbing 
vines, or shrubs, make it all that can be desired 
as a rural cottage. 
We will add, that if the cooking stove be re¬ 
moved into the lean-to for Summer use, the pipe 
can run out through the roof above by displac¬ 
ing a few shingles, and inserting under the ones 
that are above it, a zinc plate, through which the 
pipe passes—a lip being turned up all round, ex¬ 
cept on the lower edge, to carry off the water ; 
and when the stove and pipe are removed, the 
plate can be taken ont, and another whole plate 
put in, or the shingles replaced, so that no leakage 
can occur. 
COST. 
We built one like this on our own farm two 
years ago, at an expense, all told, of $160, with¬ 
out porch to the front door. It was rough clap- 
boarded outside, without lath, or plaster inside, 
and is very warm, and comfortable, accomodating 
a fimnily of husband, wife, and three children, 
where they live snug, and tidy as need be, and 
want no better. $200 to $250, will finish it com¬ 
plete as in the plan, with matched and plain boards, 
battened and painted without, and plastered with¬ 
in in a plain manner. There is no cellar under 
it, and only a plain stone, or block underpinning. 
Aside from a laborer’s cottage, simply, a house 
on this plan can well be constructed as the nucleus 
for quite an eligible farm-house in the future, by 
giving it larger dimensions at first. 
We have been frequently applied to by letter 
from sundry of our subscribers for a plan of such 
kind, which, answering well for a beginner, will 
as he progresses in means, and demand for more 
room, enable him to enlarge it without great ex¬ 
pense, and yet save it from the uncouth appear¬ 
ance which houses, not commodiously constructed 
at first, are so apt to show afterwards. We shall 
endeavor to present such an one in our next 
number. 
Of the position, or site of this cottage, we need 
say but little. To give it agreeable effect, it 
should stand at least twenty feet back from the 
road, or lane leading past or to it, and the yard set 
with trees, and more or less shrubbery, which the 
occupant should be compelled to take care of. 
The site should be dry, and if possible, somewhat 
sloping, to carry off the falling water, and melting 
snow. The laborer should be as comfortably 
housed as his employer, and all the little, cheap 
appliances be added which can render him and his 
family cheerful, and contented. We have found, 
on many year’s trial, our account in this, and as a- 
matter of principle, can well recommend it to 
every employer. An apple tree, or two, a few cur¬ 
rant bushes, shrubs, and roses, costing little, or 
nothing, or spared from his own garden, encour¬ 
ages the laborer to occupy his spare time in their 
cultivation, or draws the attention of his wife and 
children, attaches them to their home, and keeps 
them away from the temptations of idle, or vicious 
companionship, and draws their good feelings 
towards their employers in a way that tells, in 
more results than one, to his own interest, and 
satisfaction. We have spent many a leisure hour, 
after the toil of the long Summer day was over, 
in friendly and cheerful converse with one and 
another of our laborers, and their families, 
beside the outer door of their cottages in the mild 
evening twilight, with more grateful satisfaction 
than with many a traveled pedant, or a group of 
learned pretenders. 
• 4 iw iB { >{a» - » ^ - ■ ■ ■■ - 
Culture of the Soil more Healthy than 
Other Pursuits. 
Farmers are by no means exempt from the 
thousand ills of life. They sicken and die, as well 
as other people. Husbandry, as a calling, is a 
healthy one ; yet there are exceptions to the ge¬ 
neral rule. Farmers may overwork themselves, 
may wear unsuitable and insufficient clothing, 
may be uncleanly in their persons and habits, may 
indulge undue anxieties about their affairs, and 
may give themselves up to the control of 
passions which are fatal to the health of every 
man. And if they transgress any of these laws 
of health, the fact that they are tillers of the soil 
will not save them from the penally due to their 
missdeeds. 
We maintain, however, that this pursuit is emi¬ 
nently favorable to health and longevity. It fur¬ 
nishes exercise in the open air, which is one of 
the chief promoters of good health.. All profession¬ 
al authorities and the experience of mankind at 
large, agree as to the value of this medicine. 
Abundance of the choicest food, the finest cloth¬ 
ing, superb dwellings, education, polished society, 
and all other good things of life combined, are no 
substitute for this. With them all, and yet with¬ 
out this, the poor body will wither away, and fall 
into a premature grave. 
The business of the farmer calls him into the open 
air at all hours of the day. If there is any virtue 
in early rising and the morning air, he gets it. If 
there is any evil in the damps of the night air, he 
generally escapes it, for his labors commonly 
close with the setting day. It is a rule of health 
to expose oneself to the open air every day in the 
year, regardless of clouds and storms. A faithful 
farmer can hardly shut himself within doors an 
entire day, unless confined there by sickness. 
Even in the most leisure seasons of the year, and 
with abundance of hired workmen, he wishes to 
be abroad, looking after the welfare of his stock, 
his buildings and crops. 
The labors of the farm furnish exercise of the 
best kind. It is not labor in a confined shop, nor 
the use of one set of muscles exclusively. The 
arms, chest, feet, legs, all come into requisition. 
And the labor is so varied from day to day, as to 
afford a pleasing alternation of exercise and rest 
to the several members of the body. As a gene¬ 
ral rule, too, this labor is not exceedingly weari¬ 
some. Farmers, like other men, may lose their 
balance and toil imprudently, at times, as in ha/ 
ing and harvest; but they need not overwork 
themselves. The general fact still remains, that 
the labors of the farm are pleasant, not burden¬ 
some and injurious, and are well adapted to in¬ 
vigorate the whole frame. 
Temperance in living has much to do with the 
preservation of health. And by this we mean, 
not only temperance in drinking, but also in eat¬ 
ing ; abstinence from unwholesome food, as weii 
as from alcoholic liquors. It cannot be denied 
that the use of intoxicating drink is much less 
common among farmers than among other class¬ 
es. The circumstances of their life seem to for¬ 
bid such indulgence. They are away from scenes 
of temptation ; their passions are little excited ; 
their work cannot proceed if body and mind are 
not under control; they must either give up their 
calling, or renounce the cup. The diet of the 
husbandman is generally simple and wholesome. 
The rich and highly concentrated dishes of fash¬ 
ionable and epicurean tables, the mysteries of 
French cookery, seldom find their way to his 
board. In their place, lie has the fruits of the 
earth in their natural state, and in abundance. He 
is not without luxuries and delicacies, but they 
are, for the most patt, those which his own in¬ 
dustry and skill have produced from his farm and 
garden. He has them in great variety, and in 
their highest state of peifaction and freshness 
His food is eaten, too, at suitable and regular 
hours, and under the impulse of a healthy appe¬ 
tite, not one created by artificial stimulants. 
Mental excitement is a prolific source of ill 
health. It is a common saying that a fit of anger 
is about as bad in its influence on a man’s lon¬ 
gevity, as an attack of fever. Excited expecta¬ 
tions or great disoppointments are well known to 
wear upon the nervous system, and to derange 
the health. The constant anxieties and cares of 
trade, manifestly operate in the same way. From 
wearing excitements of this sort, the agriculturist 
is mostly free. He is not, indeed, without his 
cares. Late Springs, and early Autumnal frosts, 
untimely rains, drouths, and the uncertainties at¬ 
tending the ingathering of crops, give him no lit¬ 
tle anxiety. Yet these do not corrode the heart, 
like the cares of trade, the thousand annoyances 
of intercourse with selfish men ; they are not so 
constant; they are almost remitted during the 
Winter season ; and they are mitigated, if not 
wholly counterbalanced by the scenes of quiet 
and repose, amid which the farmer’s life is 
passed. 
We have often contrasted the history in this re¬ 
spect, of different members of the same family, 
seme of whom left their country home to engage 
in business in the city, while others chose farm- 
life. Sometimes the tradesman succeeds in 
business, and prosperily and health crown his 
days, even to a good old age. But. more often, 
the wear and tear of business, disappointments 
and losses set over against successes and ac 
cumulations, sap the foundations of health, and 
dyspepsia, or consumption, or nervous affections 
in their various forms, creep in unawares, and 
embitter life and cut it prematurely short. As a 
general fact, grey hairs and wrinkles show them¬ 
selves much sooner upon the tradesman than up¬ 
on the farmer. 
We do not mean to go into a labored argument 
on this subject; but in closing, we want to fire a 
little volley of statistics, before which nobody but 
a farmer can stand. From a late annual Report 
of the Secretary of the State of Massachusetts, 
containing returns of marriages, births and deaths 
in each town, the following facts have been ga¬ 
thered. The result has been made up fjom the 
