Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/182

 c; ...l; -A 158 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTLRE. may always be made use of in the winter season for drying clothes, and in summer for drying green herbs, or seeds in the pod. In the larger houses in many parts of France, and in both large houses and cottages in most parts of Germany, clothes are always dried in the garrets. A decided improvement to this cottage would be an alteration in the position of the kitchen fireplace ; by which means, by having a cast-iron back to it, it might be made to heat both the bed-room,^ and the parlour, e ; either, or both, at pleasure. We do not think this mode so effectual as that by a flue under the floor, which, if a cellar story were added to this cottage, might be most conveniently adopted ; but as it may be useful in the case of cottages with boarded floors, or with earthen or paved floors, so low, or otherwise so circumstanced, as that flues cannot be made in them, we shall show how the alteration may be made. 314. Heating from the Back of the Kitchen Fire. Suppose the fireplace of 6, in Design XLII., to have a cast-iron back, three feet square, and that six inches of each end are built into the brickwork, as at h h, in fig. 295, then it is evident that whenever there was a good fire at i, a great portion of heat would ^ _. be communicated to the space behind o ; and that this heat might either be allowed to escape freely into both rooms, k and I, or confined by two doors, ?« and n (which may be wood), so as to admit the whole of the heat to either room at pleasure. By having a central door or movable partition in the situation of the dotted line marked o, the heat may either be equally divided between the two rooms, or half the heat may be admitted to one room, and none to the other, &c. By enlarging the size of the enclosure behind the cast-iron back, and by having an opening at the bottom of the doors, and another at the top, connected with an air flue in the wall, clothes may be dried in this closet with the greatest rapidity, and with very little labour. To increase the quantity of heat produced from these plates, when clothes are to be dried, or on other occasions when an extra-quantity of heat may be desirable, it is only necessary to place a plate of sheet iron, or a large slate, or even a well-seasoned board, at the back of the cast-iron plate, and separated from it about one inch ; the plate being raised from the floor at the bottom, so as to leave 3 vacuity of half an inch, and another vacuity of the same dimensions should be left at tlie top, as represented in the section through both plates, fig. 296. The use of this additional plate is to confine the heating power or radiation of the cast-iron plate js, in fig. 296, and thus create a current in the vacuity q, on the same principle that water is boiled with greater rapidity in one of Perkins's double-bottomed boilers than in a common kettle. It must not be forgotten, however, that the additional quantity of heat procmed by this means for the hot-air closet will increase the consumption of fuel in the kitchen fire; and also tend, by abstracting heat, to render the consumption of the fuel used there imperfect ; but these are minor evils, compared with the saving of labour and the comfort which the judicious use of these cast-iron plates is calculated to afford. These plates, which are common in the north of France, have been introduced in the cottages on the estate of Closeburn, in Dumfriesshire, by its enlightened and benevolent proprietor, J. C. Stuart Menteath, Esq., who, having observed them in use on the Continent some years ago, immediately adopted them on his return home, with a degree of success altogether equal to his expectations and wishes. Lw^- 296 Design XLIII. — A Cottage of Three Roojns, tvith Back Altc/ien, Coii'-Houie, and other Conveniences. 315. Accommodation. The plan exhibits an entrance porch, which serves also as a lobby, « ; with one door opening to a kitchen, b ; a back kitchen, c ; and kitchen closet, f; another door opening to a bed-room, e, and bed-closet, g; and a third to a parlour, d. In a lean-to behind is an open shed, from which is an entrance to the dairy, k ; and in the same lean-to there are a privy, h ; pigsty or dust-hole, i ; and cow-house, or root- cellar, I. There is a terrace shown round the building ; but if the cow-house and pig- sty are used as such, then the terrace may be limited to three sides, and the fourth enclosed as a yard. This is a very commodious and convenient dwelling, and would not