Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/33

 MODEL COTTAGES. 9 • them for their chief excellencies in a useful point of view, that we have felt we should not be doing justice to our readers if we did not repeat these Designs, with their descriptions, in the present work. This we have now done in a much more clear and systematic form than was compatible with the plan of the pamphlet alluded to, and with very considerable additions both of descriptive matter and engravings. Design I.— A Cottage of One Story, combining all the Accommodation and Conveniencies of which human Dwellings of that description are susceptible. 16. In the Ground Plan of this Design, marked I. in page 10, a represents the kitchen, or living room. The floor of this apartment may be of tiles ; or paved ; or laid in a composition of lime, sharp sand, and Roman cement ; or of lime, sharp sand, and scoria from a smithy. Composition floors of this kind are nmch warmer than those of stones or tiles. In the ceiling, nearly over the hearth, is a trap-door to the loft ; vrhich door may, in summer, be partially opened to promote vent'lation, there being a false flue in the chimney for that purpose, which will hereafter be described. b, A small parlour, with a fire-place and boarded floor: as it will receive a good deal of heat from the kitchen fire, it will seldom require a fire made on purpose for it. It ought to have a small ventilator in the ceiling, near the stack of chumieys, communicating with the false or air flue, for summer use. c, Family bed-room ; the floor of tiles, or paved, or of the same material as that of the kitchen. d, Bed-room for girls ; the floor boarded. e, Bed-room for boys ; the floor boarded. There may be a door in the partition between these smaU rooms, which it may be convenient in some cases to use instead of the door be tween the girls' bed-room and the family bed-room. /, Water-closet for the mother, girls, and females, supplied by water as to be hereafter described. The basin may be of brown earthenware or of cast iron, so as to cost very little ; the door ought to open inwards, and the small window outwards, so that every movement of the door may act as a ventilator. There might also be a water-cock and wash-hand-basin. g. Tool-house, and man and boy's water-closet, with an opening to the loft for ventilation : supplied with water from the same source as the other water-closet. The basins of both closets communicate with an earthern pipe, which empties itself into the reservoir of the cess- pools for liquid manure. The liquid manure thus gained will be of so much value to the garden, as alone, independently of cleanliness and decency, to justify the expense of two closets, and both of these it'a^er-closets. h. Cow-house, with a tying-post and trough for food in one corner, and a loft for hay and straw over : this loft may be got at through a trap-door, by the use of a common ladder. i, House for fuel, lumber, or for various other purposes, such as roots or other food for the cow and pigs. In cases where the cottager grows corn, it may be made his barn ; and if it were desired to have this barn larger, it could easily be made so, by projecting the whole lean-to two or three feet farther from the main body of the house. k. Place for ducks or geese, with a small poultry-stair or ladder to hen-loft formed over / and g. This loft ought to be lined with straw on the top and sides, in order to keep the poultry warm in winter and cool in summer. /, Cistern for receiving half of the water which falls on the roof. m, A pump for pumping water from the tank below, either for use in the back yard or in the house, or for raising the water into the water-closet cistern above. Siebe's rotatory pump is the best adapted for these different purposes, being at once a lifting-pump and a forcing- pump. It costs no more than a common pump, may be worked in far less room, and with greater ease, by a female or a boy, and is much less likely to go out of order. n. The open yard, which should have a gentle inclination from all sides towards the dungpit {p). 0, Pigsty, with a rubbing-post in the open area or feeding-place. Two old barrels, for pigs' food, will require to be placed under cover, where they can be kept from freezing in winter, and from being extremely hot in summer. One of these ought to be filling while the other is emptying, and the contents should not be made use of before fermentation has commenced. The fuel-house, /, will be a very good situation for these tubs in summer, and a corner of the cow-house, /;, in winter. q, Shed for faggot-wood, o, p, and q, may be roofed with one lean-to, or pavilion roof of uniform height and width ; or, if corn be grown by the cottager, then, instead of a roof of slates, tiles, &c., may be substituted a floor of joists of the same width as required for the