Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/532

 508 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. threshing-machine, which might be placed at one end of the threshing-floor, and driven either by water, or by a gin-wheel under a porch sufficiently large to cover the horse- course. The building is composed of five bays 10 feet wide by 56 feet long, exclusive of the porches ; hence, the expense of the two gable ends being already incurred, any number of additional bays may be introduced, at the sixth part of the first cost of the whole building. By this means the barn, stable, cow-house, &c. may be extended to any degree of accommodation required. 1014. The Rick-stands for this farm, which are placed around the barn in the manner shown in fig. 996, have already been described under § 815 and § 816. 1015. JVte Cart-shed and Granary, also shown in fig. 996, have been described in § 7'^9- 1016. The Sheep-house has been described in § 767. 1017. General Estimate. The actual cost of the house, barn, stable, cow-houses, &c., and of the cart-shed and granary, in the neighbourhood of Paris, amounted to jf 1427, and the average for the provinces would be about ^£"'855. The expense of the rick- stands and of the drying-shed is not taken into this account. 1018. Remarks on the Farmery as a whole. To the eye accustomed to admire only the extensive quadrangles of stone covered with slate, common in the best agricultural districts of Britain, neither beauty nor convenience will be seen in the scattered dis- position of the objects in fig. 996 ; but let such consider the very different circumstances which exist between a country where timber is the sole or principal building material, and another where easily worked stone is abundant. The great object, in all agricul- tural constructions, is, to attain the end in view in the most effectual manner, by the simplest and most economical means ; and this result will be found to be as completely attained in the French farmery as in the British one. With respect to the scattered appearance of the building, that is fuljy justified by the security which it affords from the spread of fire ; and if we imagine the whole surrounded by fruit trees, as Morel Vinde proposes, and as is generally the case in France, we shall find as much or more beauty, though of a different kind, as in any of the farmeries of Britain. We have already observed, that we have introduced this Design and others by Morel- Vinde, chiefly with a view to new countries, for which they form admirable models. Design XXV. — For a Court of Feeding-houses, hmlifor the late Thomas Hibbert, Esq., at Chalfont Lodge, Buckinghamshire. 1019. The object of these feeding-houses was, to fatten cattle and swine at the least possible expense ; and with the greatest product of manure, consistent with a due economy of straw for litter. For this purpose, arrangements were made by open gutters in the feeding-houses and pigsties, and by underground drains communicating with them, to convey all the urine to one tank or pit. In furtherance of the same object, the dung, consisting of the litter and droppings of the animals, was conveyed from the feeding- houses, and sties directly to a dunghill under a roof, and there it was watered, by means of a pump and spouts, with the liquid from the manure tank. Fig. 1018 will give a general idea of the whole.