Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/268

 244 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. times a year, by first pushing a slight line through them, by means of a series of hazel rods, or rods of any kind, tied one to another as inserted, and afterwards with this line introducing a rope, to which a buncli of straw is attached. Not one tile of any of the floors would require to be disturbed, but merely the ends of the flues opened, by taking out foot tiles, built in so as to be convenient for that purpose. The farther ends of all these flues will necessarily be on the outside of the gable end of the last dwelling, and the other ends will either form the throats of the ovens and furnaces, or they may termi- nate in the drying-room, close under the dampers, where their covering tiles may be taken up. It would save some trouble, if, when each flue was built, a copper wire were laid in it, extended from one end to the other. This miglit always be employed, when they were being swept, to di'aw through a rope. It may be thought that a line of build- ings of tin's description, fig. 439, with no chimneys but in one place, would be rather mean than ornamental ; but that diflRculty would be easily overcome, and would speedily be so, if such dwellings were found as comfortable and economical as we consider they would be. By employing tiles of any of the Italian forms for the roof, by heightening the architectural expression of the walls, and by surrounding the whole with a light zinc-roofed veranda supported by iron colinnns, the whole miglit be rendered elegant, as well as comfortable ; not to speak of the additional beauty which might be given by ornamental shrubs and flowers, and by the gardens. In countries where grapes ripen in the open air, the whole roof might be covered with vines ; and in colder climates, even apples, pears, cherries, or plum trees, might be trained over it in the same manner. Design LXXX. — Eighty Dwellings of the humblest Class, placed together, with a View of being heated by One common Fire, and enjoying other Benejits, on the Cooperative System. 493. General Purpose. Our able contributors, IMr. Laxton and Mr. Taylor, have shown, § 290 and § 481, how six labourers' families may live together under one roof, and use, in common, the same wash-house, oven, drying-closet, well, &c. ; and we have, in both cases, suggested how the six dwellings may be heated from one fire. In our last Design, we have extended the idea of a common kitchen, wash-house, and other offices, to twelve dwellings, and shown how they might all be heated from the fires which must necessarily be kept in these offices, for cooking and washing. M'e now intend to sliow an extension of the principle, so as to include any number of dwellings, with common offices for cooking, washing, baking, brewing, bathing, &c. ; and, instead of employing common smoke flues, as in our last Design, for heating the whole, to adopt, for that pur- pose, steam or hot water. Mankind are beginning to allow that society is in its infancy, and that " the grand secret of its improvement is in union and cooperation ;" although, as the writer in the New Monthly Magazine, from whom these words are quoted, ob- serves, IMr. Owen, the founder of the cooperative system, may be laughed at in the mean time by those who do not comjirchend his doctrine. Our object, in giving tliis Design, is to show the application of the cooperative princii)le in what may be called a college of mud houses, for the humblest class of country labourers ; by which it will appear, that, by such a ])lan, their comforts, compared to what they enjoy at present, even in the best districts of Britain, may be increased in an almost incredible degree. We shall not go very minutely into details ; because we are aware that the labouring classes