8 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
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ft T ew”¥orlt, 'jrBmrsdl&y, Marcia 14. 
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THE CONSTRUCTION OF COUNTRY HOUSES- 
We do not believe that the present frost¬ 
work and gingerbread fashion of building 
country houses is to continue long. We say 
this, because the fashion is a false one, based 
on false premises, and adopted by impulse, 
as many other bad things are, because new 
and fanciful. Downing was the first to give 
them wide notoriety, by his published plans 
and plausible descriptions. As temporary 
structures for a country box, to which the 
dweller in a great city can retire for a few 
months in the summer, they may do ; but 
for the permanent dweller in the country, be 
he farmer or otherwise, all this description 
of fancy finery is out of place, and out of 
purpose. We do not lay all this sin against 
sensible architecture in house-building to 
Downing, for he had valuable redeeming 
qualities in the good taste and discriminat¬ 
ing judgement with which he handled collate¬ 
ral subjects in connection with them. After 
writers, and “professed architects” in “Coun¬ 
try Homes”innumerable, have followed, with 
fanciful ideas only, who know little, if any¬ 
thing, of the requisites of country house¬ 
keeping ; and they have scattered these gim- 
cracks all over the land, as ridiculous things, 
in most instances, for the use they are put 
to, as any one need imagine—particularly 
when applied to a farmer’s occupancy. 
It is of no use to describe, or to attempt 
to describe these things—every body knows 
how they look—all over tinsel and toggery, 
as they are outside, and of absurdities with¬ 
in. They are not fit for sensible housekeep¬ 
ing, and we have scarcely known one which 
has been occupied in the shape in which the 
builder left it and pronounced it complete, 
for five years, without very considerable al¬ 
terations. Nor are we going to give specific 
plans or directions for house-building in par¬ 
ticular ; only a few hints, or outlines, as a 
basis, or principle of construction, which 
will be found lasting, and important for gen¬ 
eral purposes. 
We maintain that the man who is about to 
build should, in the first place, take a review 
of the great purpose for which he wants to 
build. If a farmer, he should look to the 
size of his farm, and the number of his fam¬ 
ily ; to their circumstances and relations in 
life—and lastly, to his own pecuniary ability. 
If not a farmer, the requirements of the 
farm in house-building are to be thrown 
aside, and the rest only considered. All 
these preliminaries have an important bear¬ 
ing upon the future satisfaction, or enjoy¬ 
ment which the house is to give to the occu¬ 
pant. 
In the first place, the house should be 
either square or oblong in shape. A square 
gives the greatest space within a given line of 
wall, but it is hardly so agreeable in shape 
as the other. The proper proportion for the 
best appearance should be a width of about 
one-fifth or one-sixth less than the length. 
A wing, to contain the kitchen and office ap¬ 
pendages should be in rear, and attached 
mainly at one end of the house proper, running 
back indefinitelv, into wood-houses, or 
other attachments for household purposes 
solely. This wing should be less, perhaps 
two-thirds the height of the main structure, 
and of a plain style of outside finish. The 
height of the main body of the house, if more 
than 40 by 30 feet, should always be of more 
than one story—say a story and a half, to 
two—never three stories. We much prefer 
two full stories. A cellar should be excava¬ 
ted under the whole. This is not absolutely 
necessary, if the room be not wanted, but it 
is better that the whole walls may rest on an 
even base, and not liable to settle irregular¬ 
ly, as well as to give full ventilation. The 
divisions, or cutting up within the walls, may 
be adapted to the wants and conveniences of 
the family who are to occupy it. We pre¬ 
mise that the position of the house is a nat¬ 
urally dry one ; if not, a thorough under¬ 
draining should make it permanently dry, 
for without this no building can be healthy to 
its inmates. 
MATERIALS FOR HOUSE BUILDING. 
Stone, for a country house, is, of all, the 
best and most appropriate. Best, because, if 
of proper kind, imperishable; appropriate 
because a natural production coexistent with 
the soil itself, and always in harmony with 
natural objects around it, no matter what 
the color of the stone may be. 
Brick is the next best material. If well 
made, they are lasting, and easier laid than 
stone, and can sometimes be adopted where 
stone is not to be found. Their color is not 
so agreeable to the eye, and if red, they re¬ 
quire paint to harmonize with surrounding 
objects. There are some clays which make 
bricks of a soft, pleasant, straw color, which 
needs no paint, and are quite appropriate to 
a country house. 
Wood, every body knows, is perishable ; 
yet, when stone and brick are not convenient, 
is the cheapest, first cost. It is, however, more 
expensive in the long run, requiring frequent 
applications of paint, and occasional repairs; 
not so warm, and less becoming as a perma¬ 
nent structure. It is more liable to fire; it 
is more accessible to vermin, rats, mice, and 
insects, which are next to impossible to be 
kept from its walls and partitions. In conse¬ 
quence of these objections, wood is the last 
material of which a really good house should 
be built, any where. 
HOW SHOULD A STONE OR BRICK HOUSE BE BUILT 1 
For a stone house, the cellar walls should 
be quite two feet thick ; the walls of the first 
story above ground, twenty inches, and the 
second story sixteen inches. The main par¬ 
tition walls, from the foundation up, should 
be of brick, and they eight inches thick, or 
the length of a brick. If the cellar partitions 
be of stone, they should be thicker, as it is 
difficult to find stones small enough to bind 
well in a thin wall. Where the floor joists 
are laid, let the wall on which they rest be 
of full thickness up to the upper surface of 
the joists, so, to exclude rats and mice, that 
no space be left under the outer edges of the 
floors. Instead of furring the inside of the 
outer walls, on which to lath, to prevent 
dampness, as is the custom in well built 
houses, we would prefer to carry up a double 
wall, thus : Let the stone wall be laid, say 
fifteen inches thick. Within this, and one 
inch from it, lay a course of bricks length¬ 
wise, and every three or four bricks in height, 
and four or five feet in length, lay a bond- 
brick, endwise from the inner front of the 
brick wall back into the stone, so as to bind 
the two walls well together. This mode of 
double wall cuts off all dampness from the 
outer wall, is no more expensive thanfurring 
and lathing, and excludes all vermin, which 
will somehow or other, almost always work 
in behind the lath. The inside plastering is 
put at once on to the face of the inner wall, 
and makes a perfect finish. 
This inner wall we would also adopt with 
outer brick walls—although biickwalls, well 
laid, are less pervious to moisture than stone 
—and throw aside lath on outer walls alto¬ 
gether. A more expensive house may be 
built with hollow walls of stone. These are 
dry and save lathing. Several have recent¬ 
ly been erected in this manner in this neigh¬ 
borhood, and are much liked by their occu¬ 
pants. 
CHIMNEYS-WARMING-AND VENTILATION. 
We would never build chimneys in outer 
walls, for the reason that they impart what 
heat they receive from the smoke of their 
fires into the walls, which escapes at once 
into the outside air, and, whatever the 
amount of that heat may be, is lost to the 
rooms. The only apology for outer-wall 
chimneys is, that they take up less room 
than interior chimneys. In the present im¬ 
proved way of warming houses by stoves, 
either open or close, large chimneys are 
not required, and the room they occupy 
is not objectionable. They warm the rooms 
through which they pass considerably. Let 
every separate flue be carried up by itself, 
throughout. Without this precaution they 
will smoke, if open stoves or fire-place be 
used. In addition to this, each place should 
have a separate mouth, or escape, for its 
own smoke, by a pot or funnel, that the air 
may play all around it. This is quite as ne¬ 
cessary as the separate flue. (See Allen’s 
Rural Architecture, pp. 67-8. 
The best mode of warming a house, aside 
from cooking purposes, is by a furnace in 
the cellar. We once thought otherwise; 
but since the later constructions of furnaces 
have been perfected, we are altogether con¬ 
verted to their superiority over the use of 
stoves or fire-places, either for wood or coal. 
The furnace is safer. It requires no more 
fuel. It saves much labor in preparing the 
wood—if wood be used—and in sweeping up 
dirt, and carrying the fuel into the severa 
