Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/612

 588 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. 1124 that of the upper story, to the under side of the frame of the head, is 4 feet 4 inches. The ribs of the roof are 4 inches by 3 inches, cut to a sweep. The roof is covered with l^-inch yellow deal feather-edge boarding, wrought on both sides, and the whole of the timber framing of the mill is likewise covered with l^-inch yellow 1125 deal feather-edge boarding, wrought on both sides, and having a quirked bead forming a drip (see fig. 1125) run on the lower edge of each board. 1261. Remarks. This Design has been sent us by Mr. Varden, who has also compiled the preceding historical notice of the different kinds of windmills. We insert this Design, considering it extremely useful for new countries, where the inhabitants must necessarily be content to commence with simjjle machines. There are, however, windmills to be met with of a highlj' improved construction ; and Mr. Tliorold, who, being a Norfolk engineer, is well acquainted with the subject, informs us that, " in some parts of England, windnaills are now brought to such perfection, as to be little inferior, in point of uniform motion, to either steam or water power. For grinding corn, threshing, draining land, or, in short, any operation, to perform which i^iw hands are required ; windmills are more economical than mills worked by either steam or water ; and they may be rendered applicable to towns, by building the tower high enough to permit the lowest part of the sails to swing over the houses." Mr. Varden accompanied this Design by a scientific dis- sertation on the principles of windmills, which we have been obliged to leave out, not that we thought it irrelevant to the subject ; but that Its introduction would have extended this work beyond our proposed limits. We can only ri'fcr the reader to Smeaton's Works, Brewster's Mechanics, Gregory's Mechanical Dictionary, and the Dictionnaire Technologique. It is singular that there is not a single work on wind- mills in the English language ; there are some remarks on gravitating sails by Hesel- dine, but no work embracing the whole subject.