1850. _ THE CULTIVATOR. _ 305 
A BRACKETTED FARM-HOUSE, OF WOOD. 
Kural ^Urdjitecture. 
Downing’s Country Houses. 
The Architecture of Country Houses : including Designs for 
Cottages, Farm Houses, and Villas; with remarks on Interiors, 
Furniture, and the best modes of warming and ventilating; with 320 
illustrations. By A. J. Downing. 8vo. pp. 484. Appleton & Co. 
The distinction between a civilized and a brutal 
people, is not only indicated, but, in a great mea¬ 
sure, caused by the influence of their homes. The 
domestic habits of all nations may be cited as proof. 
The rude log hut or the brush-covered hovel on the 
one hand, and the embellished cottage and farm¬ 
house on the other, afford a living index, pointing 
to the character of the people within. We must 
not however suppose that the ultimatum has been 
reached by the present architecture of civilized na¬ 
tions. It most evidently has not. For example, 
the best portions of our own country afford, we are 
compelled to say, too many violations of the rules of 
taste, of adaptedness, and of economy, in the houses 
of the inhabitants. Take a single defect, out of 
fifty, in a farm-house. The housewife is compelled 
to walk three needless yards, fifty times a day, in 
passing from the kitchen to the living-room. To 
save these three yards, by improved arrangement, 
would save thirty miles of walking in th # e year. 
The book before us is exactly the one now wanted 
by the country at large. We think it decidedly the 
most widely useful work yet from the pen of its popu¬ 
lar author. Every man who lives in a house should 
examine its contents. No person, possessing the 
least shade of taste, or love for convenience and 
economy, can fail at any time to pass an agreeable 
half hour in turning over its pages. But interest¬ 
ing as it is to the superficial reader, it will also bear 
thorough study. It is full of the most valuable sug¬ 
gestions, no matter into what part the reader may 
open, which will many times repay all the time 
spent in its examination. 
This work consists of four main portions. The 
first (after the introductory remarks,) is occupied 
with twelve designs for cottages , with their various 
minutiae, with prices from $300 to $2,500. The 
second contains seven designs for farm houses, 
costing from $1000 to $5000. The third furnishes 
fourteen designs for villas or country residences , 
from $2500 to $15000. The fourth comprises a great 
deal of valuable matter relative to the treatment 
of interiors, and with the description of furniture, 
all largely illustrated with engravings. There are, 
besides, many practical directions relative to 
economy in erection, materials, construction of 
chimneys, ventilation, paints and cements, eave 
gutters, &c., besides a chapter on the tasteful and 
convenient arrangement of stables. 
Some may think a few of the designs approach 
the awkward or grotesque, simply because they 
have not been accustomed to see houses so construct¬ 
ed. One object of the author, it must not be for- 
gotton, was to give a great variety in style, adapt¬ 
ed to the varying localities of the country, and it is 
very easy to adopt the more simple and regular 
forms, by those who prefer them. 
Others may object to the distinct line drawn 
between cottages, farm-houses and villas. But this 
distinction need not exist in fact; a cottage design 
may be adopted for a small farm-house, and a villa 
for that of a decidedly wealthy farmer. The man 
of moderate means may have a strong predilection 
for literary or scientific studies, and hence a small 
room as a library and cabinet may be more appro¬ 
priate than for the larger house of his richer, but 
less cultivated neighbor. There is no difficulty 
in varying the designs given to suit circumstan¬ 
ces. 
We have noticed perhaps one or two defects. No 
provision is made in any of the villas, (with one ex¬ 
ception,) by a nursery or large bed-room on the 
common floor, for the children, a most important 
portion of every complete family. There are also 
too many basement kitchens; a thing which should 
not occur, it strikes us, where land is less than one 
thousand dollars per acre—-because it is easier to 
walk twenty yards on a level, than to ascend three 
yards in height. But these defects are not difficult 
of remedy, and are but as a speck on the column, 
when compared with the great value of the work. 
Indeed, when viewing the innumerable errors in 
building, all over the country, we cannot but wish 
that a hundred thousand copies might be speedily 
circulated. We give it as our opinion, that, in¬ 
dependently of the increase in good taste, every 
person of ordinary sense who may be about to build, 
may save, as a general average, from fifty to a 
