184 THE CULTIVATOR. 
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June 
HINTS ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF FARM-HOUSES. 
BY A. J. DOWNING. 
Fig. 52. 
Any one may see that a decided taste is beginning to manifest itself at the present moment in rural architect- 
uie. E'i eiy where, in the middle and eastern states, one sees that the newly built cottag-es and villas are no 
longer in those clumsy and unmeaning forms that ten years ago so generally prevailed. 
This is a most hopeful and encourag¬ 
ing symptom. It tells us very plainly 
that our country proprietors have be¬ 
gun to give some thought to the con¬ 
struction of their own houses; that 
they are no longer content with what 
the nearest carpenter or mason may 
have to offer as the latest style; that 
they have at least a desire for some¬ 
thing fit for their own wants, the beau¬ 
ty of which is of a kind becoming and 
suitable to the purpose in view. 
In this aspect of things, nothing is 
more to be desired, than the general 
prevalence of correct principles of 
taste among our agriculturists of intel¬ 
ligence. 
The Farm-House in this country is 
not the hovel of the serf—is not the 
hut of a peasant. It is the cottage 
of a freeman—the proprietor of the 
soil he cultivates. It is the home 
of the best virtues and the soundest 
hearts. It must necessarily—if it 
be true to itself—give a character of 
moral and physical beauty to the whole 
rural scenery of the Union. Let us 
not deny, therefore, the importance of 
the farm-house. It seems to us to be worthy of the attention of every one who would render our country life 
expressive of its true usefulness and beauty. 
We should Ve glad in this brief space, to say a few words about farm-houses; our limits will, however, only 
permit us to point out a few errors into which our country builders have hitherto fallen. Something may per¬ 
haps be gained even by considering the mistakes into which those most commonly fall, who have built with 
little reflection. 
In the first place, we think a farm-house should be umnistakeably a farm-house. That is to say, it should not 
be a citizen’s dwelling-house, or a suburban villa, set down in the midst of a plain farm. 
Nothing has been more 
common for the past ten 
years, than to see a good 
substantial farmer building 
a large plain dwelling— 
unobjectionable enough as 
a plain dwelling—but to 
which he has been persua¬ 
ded to add a Grecian por¬ 
tico, (fig. 52,) copied from 
a great house of the neigh • 
boring town or village. 
The portico is very well 
where it belongs—as a 
part of a handsome villa, 
every part of which is 
carefully finished with cor¬ 
responding elegance. It 
has nothing whatever to 
do with a true farm-house. 
It is too high to be com¬ 
fortable by its shade or 
shelter. It is too costly 
and handsome to accord 
with the neat and rustic 
character of a farm-house. 
But it has been the fashion 
of the day, and, if the far¬ 
mer has not reflected for 
himself, it is ten to one 
that he has fallen a vic¬ 
Fisr. 53 
tim to it, instead of employing the more comfortable and more characteristic verandah. Fig. 53. 
Another of the greatest mistakes in building a farm-house, is to adopt any thing like a flat roof. —(Fig. 54.) 
A broad and rather high roof is as essentially a handsome feature in a farm-house, as the expanded chest and 
broad shoulders are in the farmer himself. It is a kind of beauty that springs out of a most natural and enduring 
source—manifest utility. 
The roof of a farmer’s house ought then to be high, so as to give him an ample garret—that useful store-house 
of country varieties. It ought to be rather steep, to bear and carry off rapidly the burdens of heavy snows and 
