Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/382

 358 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA AIICHITECTUIIE. with cocks, or holes with phigs, at the liottoin, for the purpose of drawing off the brine, and cleaning thein ; the brine, when boiled and skimmed, being fit for vise several times. Smaller troughs, or round earthenware pans, are generally emploj-ed for holding tongues, pieces of beef, and other smaller articles ; and the whole should be carefully provided with the means for being kept clean, by having pipes of water conducted into it, and the floor arranged so as to have a gradual inclination towards a corner, having a trap and drain. 721. The Coal-house and the Wood-house should always be adjoining the kitchen or back kitclien, and both should l)e perfectly dry ; since whatever moisture is added to fuel, beyond what it contains in combination, must be driven off before comlmstion can take place ; and this must always occasion a certain loss of heat. Both places ought to be of considerable size, because in well regulated farms there are only certain periods of the year when the farmer finds he has leisure to bring fuel from a distance, and to store it up : he will also by the same means be enabled to take advantage of a temporary depression in the fuel market. 722. A Tank, or a Wdl for Water, is essential to every farm house, independently of the provision of water for the farm-yard ; but we have already sufficiently enlarged on this subject in § ;50 and § 151 ; and the subject of supplying water to the farm-yard will occur hereafter. 723. A Place for hrushing Clothes, and cleani/iff Knives and Shoes, §•<•., should form part of the arrangement of every farm house ; and as this is necessarily a place where much tlust and dirt are generated, it should be kept apart from the house, and especially from the l)ack kitchen, which is too generally made use of for these purposes. As a mere open slied, which every coimtryman may erect for himself, will suffice for a cleaning ])l;ice, there can be no sufficient excuse for not liaving one adjoining every farm house ; and, indeed, every labourer's cottage or human dwelling whatever. Conveniences of this sort, which are within the reach of every one, and which may be obtained rather by thought and contrivance than by expending any considerable sum of money, are indeed some of the distinguishing marks of a high state of civilisation and refinement. A savage is satisfied with mere food and shelter ; and, if he pretends to more, takes delight in showy or gaudy ornaments ; but the man whose mind has been enlightened by education prefers simplicitj' in decoration, and only employs his leisure time and money in contrivances to lessen human labom-, and obtain the greatest possible proportion of comfort which his opportunities will permit. Ample apartments and sumptuous furniture can be obtained but by few, and, as they contri))ute little to happiness, are not wortliy of becoming objects of ambition to any rational being ; but a clean, comfortable, and well arranged home is an essential ingredient in liuman happiness, and, as such, ought to be sought after and obtained by every one. Cleanliness is also essential to health ; and this blessing, so desirable in every condition of life, is particularly so to a labouring man, as without it he cannot perform his daily toil. 724. The Wash-house, Bakehouse, and Brewhouse, in small farms, are commonly all united in the back kitchen ; bit in extensive establisliments they, together with the laimdry, dairy, cheese-room, cider-house, salting-room, and smoking or curing room, should be in a building or buildings apart from the house, but connected with it by a covered way. 725. The Wash-house should be well lighted ; and therefore, if imited with other offices, it should, if practicable, be made a corner building, and have windows on two sides. Instead of portable round tubs, which, as noticed in the i)roceding Book, are the most inconvenient of all the forms that could be devised for washing by hand, oblong troughs, about three feet in length, eighteen inches wide at toj), one foot wide at bottom, and eighteen inches deep, should be fixed round the two lighted sides of the room. Each trough should have a hole and stopper in the bottom ; and close muler these holes should be a gutter, common to all the troughs, which may convey av.-ay the waste water to the manure tank. In one corner or side of the riwm the boiler should be placed ; and over it a supply pipe from a cold-water cistern. Pipes may be conducted from botli the cold- water cistern and the boiler, so as to deliver, on tin-ning cocks, cold or hot water, at (ileasure, into each trough. The main part of the washing, however, we should propose in all cases to be done by a washing-machine, of which we shall hereafter give an improved Design ; and this, with a ])ressing or wringing macliine hereafter, may be worked by a horse or steam power, which may also be applied in chiu-ning and other oi)erations, to be carried on in this department of the farm offices. The floor of every washing-house ought to be very carefully paved, with an inclination of an inch in a yard towards one corner, in which there ought to be a trap drain leading to the maiuue tank. This inclination, which will hardly be ))erecptil)lc to the eye, or recognised in standing or walking, will yet be most useful, by directing all the water, which must be occiLsionally spilt on the floor, to the point where it will be carried off. Close under liie ceiling there ought to be several openings communicating with the open air, to carry oH' the steam, and