20 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Jan. 
Plan of a Small Farm-House. 
Messrs. Editors —Having observed that various 
correspondents have lately furnished to the Country 
Gentleman, plans of farm-houses, many of them very 
good, but involving a greater expenditure of capital 
than some young farmers, just setting out in life, would 
like to incur, I send the following plan and drawings 
of a small and cheap tenement, designed to comprise 
most of the chief essentials required in a building of 
that class, to be built of wood, and to cost a sum less 
than one thousand dollars. 
The plan and drawings are made by a scale of 12 
parts in an inch,* and have been copied by your cor¬ 
respondent, on this reduced scale, from the drawings 
made and furnished by him for a house now under con¬ 
tract, to be built on a farm of three hundred acres, 
near the town of Easton, in Talbot Co., on the eastern 
shore of Maryland. The farm referred to has no dwell¬ 
ing upon it suitable for a comfortable residence, and 
the want of such a structure has always, hitherto, pre¬ 
vented the owner from securing a good and permanent 
tenant. As a friend and frequent visitor at the home- 
farm of the owner, your correspondent was requested 
to select a site, prepare plans and specifications, con¬ 
tract for building, and purchase materials for the house, 
the plan of which is herewith sent. All this has been 
done ; and, hence, sufficient assurance may be received 
that this is not a mere fancy sketch, but the plan of a 
building now in process of construction. 
The site for the house has been choser^with due re¬ 
gard to accessibility from the public road—to the cen¬ 
tral point of the estate—to the drainage—to the main 
farm road—to the barn—to water for family use—to the 
points of the compass and the prevailing winds—to the 
proper relative position of the necessary out-buildings 
and the garden, and lastly, though of comparatively 
minor importance, to secure a cheerful prospect from 
the windows of the Living Room. 
22-6 
Fig. 1. 
Fig. I represents the first floor. 
The living room and the chamber upon this floor are 
accessible from the front and rear of the dwelling ; 
and each room in the house can be used separately and 
independently, without the necessity of passing through 
*The engravings are reduced about one-third from the 
drawings of our correspondent. 
any other. The living room is furnished with windows 
on three sides, and on the fourth is a very useful con¬ 
venience, the china closet, which, as this is the dining 
and sitting room of the family, is almost indispensable. 
The store room adjoins the kitchen, and in the passage, 
whence the stairs give access to the second floor, is a 
window for light and for ventilation. The window, as 
well as the outer door near it, will be of great advan¬ 
tage when opened in summer, for the purpose of secur¬ 
ing a cool draught through the kitchen. The little 
porch at the rear is .so arranged as to act as a shield to 
the door at the end of the house, and prevent the rain 
from driving in, and to afford a shelter for various pur¬ 
poses. The porch at the front of the house is provided 
with a bench on each side, and the comfort of such an 
addition to every house in the country is too well known 
to need comment. 
The kitchen chimney, it will be observed, is so placed 
as not to detract in summer from the coolness of the 
main dwelling. In the part of the country where this 
house is to be built, wood is still plentiful, and the fire¬ 
places on the first floor have been constructed for the 
use of that fuel. The kitchen fire-place is therefore 
much larger than would be necessary if the ordinary 
cooking stove were used; in which case, a simple flue 
will be abundantly sufficient. In this house, however, 
it is left optional with the tenant in what mode he will 
consume his fuel; for those who have never used cook¬ 
ing stoves, are not always willing to incur the expense 
of buying one. The hearth is made large to avoid risk 
from fire. The recesses in each side of the kitchen 
chimney are to contain shelves, The store-room will 
have four rows of shelves, each shelf 18 inches wide. 
The closet in the living room is also to be provided with 
shelves. 
Fig. No. 2, representing the second floor, hardly re¬ 
quires any explanation. The two chambers on this 
floor are without fire-places, and are designed to be 
warmed by stoves, for which purpose the requisite 
openings will be left in the flues. 
Fig. No. 3 shows a section of the whole building, 
from front to rear, including the cellar, which last it 
was at first intended, should be constructed underneath 
the living room. This intention, however, has since 
been abandoned from motives of economy, as no stone 
is to be had in that part of Maryland, and bricks are 
to© expensive. This cellar should be added wherever 
stone can be procured at any reasonable rate. An arch 
is turned over the kitchen chimney to prevent smoking. 
Access to the cellar, it should be mentioned, was to be 
had by a cellar door, opening in two folds, underneath 
the window in the rear of the living-room. 
Fig. No. 4 represents the front elevation. The front 
door opens in two folds. This front will face the public 
road, from which the dwelling will stand at the distance 
of several hundred yards. 
The chimneys, hearths and underpinning, will be of 
brick. The exterior and interior finish will be quite 
