Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/39

 MODEL COTTAGES. 15 preparatory terrace may be considered as enhancing this appearance, and raising its character. Independently, therefore, of the platform being useful, its importance on the principle of en- hancing the character and dignity of the design to be raised upon it, ought, in our opinion, to ensure its almost universal adoption in buildings erected in the country. The platform, in Design I, is five feet broad, and includes a border of one foot for wall-trees and flowers next the house, and a margin of one foot, which should be of turf, on the outer edge, leaving a walk between of three feet, which ought to be gravelled. The exterior sides of the plat- form may have different degrees of slope, according to the nature of the soil, and the culture or application of the slope. For a loamy soil, the platform may be covered with turf, with a furze or a box hedge, about two feet high, along its upper angle, and the slope may be 45° ; where a loamy soil is to be cultivated as a flower border, the slope may be from 35° to 30°; a sandy soil should have a still greater slope. AVhere stones are abundant, the slope may be formed into rock-work, with a small hedge at top, or a dwarf wall, or a row of rough stones. In some situations, it might be worth while to form a rough trellis over the roof, about a foot above it, and on this trellis to train either apples, pears, plums, or vines, for their fruit ; or, in severe climates, ivy, for the sake of retaining heat, by its evergreen leaves, in winter. On the side walls of the cottage there might be trained fruit trees, or vines, together with ever- flowering roses, honeysuckles, and a variety of climbing shrubs and flowers; but, at the saine time, there is danger of indulging in these to such an extent as to keep the walls damp, and to encourage flies, and other insects, which are disagreeable in the house. The small border of one foot wide, under the wall, may always be planted with low flowers, and great might be their variety and beauty, if the taste of the occupant lay in this way ; but the number and kind of shrubs and trees to be planted among these, with a view of training up the walls, must depend on the climate, aspect, and other circumstances. We shall afterwards give a list of climbing shrubs, and fruit trees, suitable for the purposes in view, in different climates. 27. The outer margin of the platform may either be finished with or without a low hedge, or by a low parapet, or other fence of wood or iron. If with a hedge, the sameness of the line may be broken by small standard trees, four or five feet high, at the angles ; and we see no reason why these standards should not be cui (not clipped,) into shapes, as well as the hedge, if the cottager's taste inclines him to do so. The standards may either be of the same species of tree as the hedge, but in a state of variegation, — say a green box hedge, with variegated box standards, — or of a different species. Green, and variegated box, are among the best shrubs for this purpose, in point of utility ; because every time the box is pruned, the twigs may be used as a substitute for hops, in brewing. But, in most cases, an architectural parapet will have a better effect than a dwarf hedge, and this may always be made an object of great beauty at very little expense. We shall afterwards show in how many different ways common bricks and tiles, and stones, rough or hewn, may be formed into these para- pets. We shall sdso show various forms of iron and wooden parapets for the same purpose. 28. Entrance Porch. No edifice whatever, in our opinion, is complete, unless some dis- tinctive mark is placed on the opening by which it is entered. What a portico is to a palace or a public building, a porch is to a cottage. A porch is not only the distinctive mark of the entrance door, but, being a protection to it from the inclemency of the weather, it must tend to preserve the warmth of the apartment within. No cottage, therefore, ought to be without its porch. In many cases, the porch may be a wooden structure superadded to the cottage; in others, a vestibule within may serve the same purpose ; but, for stability, durability, and dignity of effect, the porch should always project from the main body of the edifice, and be built of the same materials, and in the same taste or style as the cottage itself. 29. Chimney Tops. In every human dwelUng, these ought to be conspicuous objects, because they are its essential characteristics. They distinguish apartments destined for human beings from those designed for lodging cattle. They also distinguish a dwelling- house from a manufactory or workshop, by their size, form, number, and disposition. Inde- pendently of these qualities, they ought, in dwellings, to be dignified by a greater attention to design, than the less important parts of the edifice. On this subject we shall have much to say in describing succeeding Designs, but we have deemed it necessary thus early to state our guiding principle with respect to this part of the cottage, in order that it may never be supposed, for a moment, that we approve of concealing chimney tops, or of leaving them in their present mean and trivial form. 30. Collecting and Filtering Water. Considering it to be desirable that every cottager should be perfectly independent in respect of water, and also that rain-water is the purest of all water, we propose to show the manner in 'which all the water which falls on any dwelling may be collected ; how to filter and preserve one part of it, in a tank, for cookery purposes ;