Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/589

 FARM HOUSES AND FARMERIES IN VARIOUS STYLES. 565 cattle-siieds and straw-room for loading a cart with straw, y ; and rainp or inclined plane for ascending to the unthreshed corn floor with loaded carts from the rick-yard, z. On examining tliis plan, it will be found as convenient as any of those which are com^ Vosed without any regard to architectural style. It is intended for an arable farm under rsix-course shift, in such a county as East Lothian. It will be observed that we have placed the chimney of the steam-engine centrally, for effect ; a result that can easily be attained by a little contrivance in the disposition of the machinery, the engine-house, and the fuel-room. On the supposition that a farmery of this kind were occupied by the proprietor, it would be found to combine a certain degree of elegance with a con- enience of inspection not commonly to be met with in farmeries. The master may enter at a', and proceed down the passage to y, having the cribs for the cattle of the yards on both sides ; he may then enter the straw-barn, and ascend to the floor for m- tlireshed corn, out of which doors open to the granaries over I, m, ti; and/); having visited these, he may either descend and return by /, inspecting all the houses on the west side ; or he may enter p, and proceed through the stables, and the other houses on the east side. The bailiff's house will be found very conveniently situated, as he may enter I, and proceed by u to « and o (where the most important part of his charge lies), imder cover, and with great facility. We have shown the barn with a portico and a semicircular ramp ; knowing, from experience, that it is a great saving of labour to be able to cart in a rick direct from the rick-yard to the threshing-floor. The floor for unthreshed corn has two bays, I', c', where two different kinds of unthreshed corn may be kept, while a third sort may be stored, or carted in, as passed through the machinery at d'. We suppose that all the straw intended to be eaten is carried by a travelling shaker to a straw-cutting machine, and cut into lengths of from three to six inches, in which state it is supposed to be partially steamed, or moistened with salt and water, or both, before being put in the cattle-cribs or horse-mangers. There is abundance of room under the floor for unthreshed corn, not only for the clearing-room, chaff-house, engine-house, boiler, and coal-house, but also for a room for crushing bones for manure, bruising grain, cutting turnips, &c. Of the three small doors shown in the elevation, fig. 1097, at e, the centre one is to the places connected with the steam-engine, and the ethers to places in which bones may be crushed, or turnips sliced, &c. It may be observed, in favour of displaying architectural style in fai-m buildings consistently with good arrangement, that there are certain houses or places in every complete farmery, the situation of which may be varied considerably, and which may therefore be always placed where they will contribute most to sjTnmetry or regularity : these are the houses for loose cattle or horses, the hospital, and the open shed or shelter for cattle. Should the yards in this farmery be thought too large, which they probably would in Northum- berland, though not in East Lothian, they may be divided by walls or hurdles at f. 1224. inth respect to the extra-expense of displaying Architectural Style in a Farmery, iiiuch wQl depend on the kind of building material. In the case of bricks, the plan, flg. 1095, would obviously cost less than if the walls were solid, and nine inches thick ; and, in the case of pillars of squared wood and panels of studwork, the expense would not be greatly increased ; but in the case of stone the hewing of so many pillars would no doubt be attended with considerable outlay. From this, however, would have to be de- ducted the expense that would otherwise have been bestowed in hewing door and window coins, lintels, and sills. The roof, as we have already observed, need not be more expensive than in any common farmery. Half the expense of the ramp to the portico of the barn may be saved by carrying out, instead of the curved roads, one road in a straight line from the centre opening of the portico, as indicated by the dotted lines g' in fig. 1098, and the same letter in fig. 1095 ; the barn being wide enough to allow a cart to turn within it. The chimney to the steam-engine is shown higher than may be necessary ; but as such chimneys are built of brick with a simple description of scaffolding carried up inside (the invention, we believe, of our friend Charles Capper, Esq., engineer, Birmingham), the expense is much less than might be supposed. The spire of the Tron Cliurch, Edinburgh, was rebuilt, in 1831, in a similar manner. The ventilators over the stables and cow-houses are formed to imitate chimney-tops, in order to harmonise with actual chimneys in the bailiff's house and the smitliy. 1225. A Farmery in the Roman or Italian Style would differ little from the preceding Design. Tlie piers might either support architraves or arches ; for both would be alike Roman or Italian. The roofs ought to project farther, for thn sake of shade to the ivindows and doors ; and the windows ought not to be carried down so far as in the Grecian Design, but rather to exceed in breadth than in height ; the architrave, or, in the case of arches, the soffit, forming the lintel of both doors and windows. To com- plete the idea, whether of the Roman or Italian style, the semicylindrical tile of Mr. Peake, fig. 24, § 50, may be used. An improvement on this tile, by IIr. Peake, and a