1863.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
361 
A Country Dwelling of Medium Size- I 
So much of the comfort of life depends upon 
the arrangement and conveniences of one’s 
dwelling, that we purpose devoting a little more 
attention to this department of the Agriculturist , 
now that we have more editorial aid. A differ¬ 
ent arrangement of rooms, closets, etc., may 
make a vast difference in the convenience and 
utility of two dwellings erected at the same cost. 
Perhaps the best way to 
draw out information is to 
solicit plans, hints, and sug¬ 
gestions, from our readers. 
We present herewith the 
essential portions of a very 
neat colored sketch of his 
owu dwelling, furnished us 
by “Jack Plane,” of Bur¬ 
lington, Iowa. This house 
he has occupied a year, and 
says he has no fault to find 
with it. (It is almost exact¬ 
ly like a village dwelling 
we boarded at, when at 
school many years ago, so 
we are pretty well acquaint- 
——- ed with it.) The engraved 
j plans show at a glance, the 
^ general internal arrange- 
i ment, and the figures give 
the dimensions of the rooms. 
The cellar is under the 
whole house, as it should 
Fig. 2.— SECTION or 
stories. always be, and is 6£ feet 
high in the clear (which is too low for convefti- 
ence). The first story is 9 feet in the clear, and 
the second story 8 feet. The rear part is 9 inch¬ 
es lower than the front or main building, to let 
the roof come clear of the chamber windows. 
A second cellar stairs leads from the dining 
room, under the hall stairs. Cost about $1500 
Remauks. —While the general plan seems to 
be a good one, there are some defects that might 
perhaps be remedied by a different arrangement. 
The dining room is of course used as the gen¬ 
eral living room, and the ‘living room’ kept more 
choice, especially if there are chil¬ 
dren to mar the furniture. There 
is not enough closet or pantry room 
on the first floor. This poin-t we 
consider an essential one in every 
dwelling. There are a hundred 
articles in every family that come 
into almost daily use, and labor, 
steps, and time should be saved by 
having closet and shelf room for 
all such articles on the living floor. 
Books and papers may be kept in 
furniture cases standing in the main 
rooms, and the better hats and 
overcoats may be placed on a rack 
behind the hall door, if there be 
room; but we would always rec¬ 
ommend a spacious closet in or 
adjoining every living room, where 
common overcoats, cloaks, hats, 
etc., may be kept conveniently at 
hand—otherwise the chairs, table, 
or mantel-shelf will be constantly 
called into requisition.—The main 
closet in this plan can only be 
reached by going through the bed¬ 
room, rvhere perchance a sick per¬ 
son may be disturbed.—The bath¬ 
room is so located as to be inac¬ 
cessible to persons in the chamber, 
without passing through the whole house, 
including the kitchen, and also through the 
open porch. Should not the sink be on the 
right hand of the pantry, next the bath-room, 
instead of on the left, or rather should it not 
be in the kitchen ? The dishes, if washed in the 
sink, must be carried from the dining room 
through two doors, and then back through three 
to get them into the china closet I These are 
Fig. 4.—PLAN OF SECOND STORY. 
minor items, but everything that saves steps 
saves time and labor. Dishes are to be used 
1095 times a year.——There is hardly closet 
room enough in the second story. One or two 
dresses of modern style will fill a small closet, 
and can hardly be put into a wardrobe standing 
in a room. Perhaps the 6x7 room over the hall 
may answer for general storage. If this room 
be used as a bedroom it would often be convenient 
to have it connected with the front chamber by 
a door. There is, however, one closet not 
shown, under the attic stairs. This may be ex¬ 
tended 9 or 10 feet, or more, and if needed take 
one foot from the other room to be added to 
this one. These remarks are merely offered as 
general hints to help others in planning. We 
shall give other plans and hints from time to time. 
Query About Prairie Dwellings. 
In traveling thousands of miles through the 
West, during the past season, we could but no¬ 
tice that nearly all the dwellings are construct¬ 
ed a scant story and a half high, the first story 
8 to 9 feet high, and the second only 3 to 5 feet 
at the eaves. Now it requires just as much cel¬ 
lar, flooring, roofing, framing, etc., for such a 
house, as for a full two-story one, having high 
convenient rooms above, with attic room also. 
The only difference in the cost is for a strip of 
3 feetall around, requiring merely a little longer 
posts, a few more boards for siding, .rod a slight 
outlay for lath and plaster. We should say that 
for the ordinary prairie houses, costing $700 to 
$1200, forty to sixty dollars more would be all 
the extra cost of a convenient two-story house, 
over one having the same ground space, but 
only 14 or lj stories high. A little figuring will 
show that a house 20 feet square, and 17 feel 
high has the same amount of walls, as me 22 
feet square, and only 14i feet high, while the 
former has 168 square feet less of flooring, and 
of course costs less. Q .ery .—Suppose the extra 
$40 to $60 (ost can not be added to the 22 feet 
square hous-, to run it up 2£ feet higher, would 
not a full two story house 20 feet square, be 
preferable to one 22 feet square, and only 11 sto¬ 
ries high?-We know there is one argument 
in favor of low houses on the wind-swept prair¬ 
ies, but a few extra braces would make up the 
extra strain of two or three feet more in bight. 
