House and Garden Papers on Home Making 
able accompaniment of all public utility 
features. There is a choice of privilege 
however, the north side being preferable to 
the south and the west to the east. In 
this connection it may be well to point out 
fallacy that is sometimes encountered, of 
assuming that a room with a northern expos¬ 
ure is cooler in summer than one with a 
southern. Owing to the almost entire ab¬ 
sence of northerly breezes in summer in this 
part of the continent and the prevalence, 
on the contrary, of southerly airs, together 
with the high angle of the sun’s rays in that 
quarter of the heavens, the latter room is 
cool and pleasant in summer and, of course, 
far more agreeable in winter, owing to the 
absence of southerly winds, especially during 
extreme low temperatures, the low angle of 
the sun and the additional fact that the sun 
is more likely to shine in winter while in the 
south, than earlier or later in the day. 
Made ground is especially to be avoided, 
both on account of the deformations, which 
are certain to ensue in structures built upon it, 
as well as because of the usually unsanitary 
nature of the filling material. If inquiry 
does not suffice to elicit it, observation of sur¬ 
rounding grades and of adjacent buildings 
will usually suffice. Cracks in walls, especi¬ 
ally about door and window openings, if 
common in the neighborhood, are a certain 
indication. A comparison of street and rear 
yard grades is also useful. As for filling 
material, good earth is seldom available in 
sufficient quantities and any substitute is 
usually accepted. In a recent case, a com¬ 
bination of half-burned unbound book sheets 
from a neighboring printing house fire and 
broken masses of asphalt concrete from street 
repairs, smoothed over with a top dressing 
of clean earth, formed a mixture upon which 
a row of smart three-storey brick dwellings 
is now being erected by a speculative builder. 
Far oftener the filling material is of the 
most unsanitary description, as the most 
casual observation would suffice to show. 
Vital statistics show that the north side of an 
east-west street is distinctly more healthful 
than the south side, which latter is altogether 
the most unfavorable position for an urban 
house, hygienically. North-south streets are 
more healthful than those at right angles 
and, if the New York statistics are to be 
believed, houses in the middle of the block 
are less wholesome than those at or near the 
corners. This is what might have been ex¬ 
pected from a prion considerations. 
It is perhaps a counsel of perfection to 
advise the purchase, with the site for any city 
house, of the two adjoining lots at the same 
time. But if one is looking for investment, 
as well as a home, much is gained by such an 
arrangement. We can, in the first place, 
so plan all three houses simultaneously that 
the desagrements of urban life may be reduced 
to a minimum so far as they are derived from 
awkward proximities of overlooking windows 
and doorways, but also by exercising at least 
the right of veto in the selection of our neigh¬ 
bors; which latter can he done better, of 
course, incognito, through an agent. The 
general question of desirability for residential 
purposes of any locality, unless it be a new 
one, will generally have been determined; 
but it is well to look into the matter a little 
in any event. New influences may be at 
work leading to a deterioration in values. 
One should be suspicious of many signs 
displayed of a desire to rent or sell. Some¬ 
times a detrimental element only operates 
during certain conditions of wind or weather, 
which may determine the deflection at such 
times of smoke or objectionable odors in 
the direction of the property under considera¬ 
tion. 
As one passes the confines of the city to 
the larger country beyond, it becomes not 
so much a search for a preconceived site 
(though this is always possible and within 
somewhat wide limits), as a determination 
of the best way to utilize a given site. There 
are, certainly, obvious disadvantages in sites 
placed in damp hollows, or close to dusty 
highways, or on extremest hilltops, or cut 
out of a vast unshaded plateau, yet there is 
scarcely a conceivable site in the country 
short of one rendered inadmissible by 
unsanitary conditions, that skill and experi¬ 
ence cannot redeem, however unpromising 
or barren, or spoiled by unskilled treatment. 
In fact, in the country, strategy may be said 
to he the fundamental element of success in 
dealing with a chosen site. To one who 
thoroughly loves the country it seems im¬ 
possible to choose an absolutely unavailable 
spot. 
99 
