Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/528

 504 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. 1005 must always be drawn from the exterior, which it will be, if the bakehouse door does not fit very accurately, or if the window be left partially open. Instead of the ladder for ascending to the garret in the smaller house, we have here a staircase ; and the garret, which in the smaller house was intended chiefly as a granary, has now a ceiling and boarded sides, and forms a servants' room, a room for drying linen, and the reserve bed- room. 1009. Estimate. Tliis building, with its two porches and sheds, covers 1580 superficial feet; and it costs, at Paris, £''546: 15*. : lOd.; or, in the departments, ^"'328: 2s.: 6d. As the cubic contents of the buildings amount to 25,280 feet, it thus appears that 5d. per cubic foot is something near the rate from which to form an estimate for this description of farm houses in the neighbourhood of Paris, and 3d. in the provinces. 1010. Remarks on the Dwelling-house. A superficial observer, deeply imbued with the prejudices common in Britain, and especially in Scotland and other stone countries, against wooden buildings, and not taking into consideration the fitness of means to ends, will be apt to despise the simplicity and homeliness of this farm house ; but to us, who have entered into all the details of this Design, it appears perfect of its kind. The accommodation is ample for the country and state of society for which it is designed ; and it is contained in a form as near as practicable to that of a cube. The mode of heating is the most perfect that could be devised ; and the room for drying linen is a great source of comfort to the housewife, in rainy weather or in the winter season. It may be thought that there are too few bed-rooms, and too many beds in one room ; and the bed in the parlour will no doubt appear shocking in the eyes of an Englishwoman. It should be recollected, however, that the manners of the French are materially different from ours in this respect ; and that, with apparently less delicacy, they have not less moral rectitude. Whoever has travelled much by the public conveyances in either France, Germany, or Italy, must have frequently found himself going to bed in the same room with strangers of different sexes. 1011. The Barn, Stable, Cow-house, Calf-house, Dairy, Cheese-room, PouJtri/-house, Pigeon-house, Piggery, ^c, for this large French farm, are all contained in the same building. The problem to be solved is, to imite under the same roof, at the least cost, and in the manner in every respect the most suitable, a stable for twelve horses, a cow- house for as many cows or cattle, a calf-house, a dairy, a cheese-room, a poultry-house, piggeries, a harness-room, and pigeon-houses, with a barn sufficiently large for containing 6000 sheaves of grain at a time, and with two threshing-floors for threshing it. This 1006