Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/280

 2.56 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. cottage, at the distance of about a foot from it, so as to produce the efTect of placing it on a platform, as shoATi in the skeleton, fig. 454, and in the miniature elevation of the finished cottage, in isometrical perspective, r, in the same figure. Exterior appendages may be easily constructed of materials found on the spot. The tarpawling ought to be oiled, and all tlie wood-work should have at least two coats of paint. If instead of being painted with common oil paint, these cottages were coated over with any of the anticombustible paints or washes, the risk of accidents from fire might be diminished. The most effective wash of this description is said to be a saturated solution of silex in alkali. This is obtained by dissolving to saturation, in a lie of caustic alkali, siliceous earth properly prepared. Whatever material is washed with this mixture is said to become covered with a vitreous coat, and this has been proved at Munich and other places effectually to resist ignition. (liep. of Arts, 2d series, vol. iii. p. 249.) 513. Remarks. We consider this cottage as one of the most perfect things of the kind that we have seen. Every part of it being made exactly of the same dimensions ; that is, all the panels, posts, and plates, being respectively of exactly the same length, breadth, and thickness, no mistake or loss of time can occur in putting them together. Another great beauty in the construction is, that there is not a single nail used either in the carpentry of the separate parts, or in putting those parts together so as to form the cottage. All the framework composing the sides of the cottage being grooved and tongued, the weather is most effectually kept out ; and at the same time this construction allows the work to shrink or swell, according to the changes of the atmosphere or the season, without deranging any of the parts. The inventor of this cottage, Mr. IManning, carpenter and biulder. High Holborn, London, has made a great number of them for the Australian colonies, and particularly for the Swan River. Mr. Manning, who has a son settled at the latter colony, says, " These cottages were found to be of the greatest service to settlers, both in protecting their families from the weather, and their property from theft. Many persons who took out only tents, suffered severely in both respects ; their tents being frequently blown down in the middle of a stormy night, and their goods being thus not only exposed to the weather, but to pilfering. Provided with a cottage of this description, an emigrant might land from a ship in a new country in the morning, and sleep in his own house on shore at night. Whoever can use a common bed-wrench can put this cottage up ; and as none of the pieces are heavier than a man or a boy could easily carry for several miles, it might be taken even to a distance, without the aid of any beast of burthen. When a permanent situation is fixed upon, the cottage may be covered with shingles, or thatched with spray of trees, long grass, or such other suitable material as may be most readily obtained ; and at any future period, when the emigrant is prepared to build a stone, brick, or earthen-walled house, all the posts, panels, &c., of the portable cottage maybe brought into use as doors or partitions ; or cut up for window-framing, shelves, chests, or a variety of other purposes ; and the tarpawling, when no longer wanted for the roof, will always be a useful article for the agriculturist." 514. A Portable Cottage mai/ be used as a Substitute for a Country Residence. Mr. Man- ning has furnished us with an elevation and ground-jilan, figs. 456 and 457, of one, which he constructed for Captain J. G. Hall, and which has been erected by that gentlemen as a residence, at Wargrave, near Henley upon Thames. It is placed on a rising ground, within sixty feet of the river, and forms a handsome and conspicuous object to persons sailing from Henley towards Reading. The accommodations of this cottage are, an entrance hall, a; servant's sleeping-room, h ; kitchen, c; store-room, d; sitting-room twelve feet square, e ; and bed-room, /. A lumber-room which is formed in the roof