Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/656

 632 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. sixteen feet : a is the porch inside the house, as in the Carse of Gowrie, and four feet square in the clear ; 6 is a space seven feet by four feet, marked in one cottage to show where a beil may be placed lengthwise, so as to face the fire ; or two may be placed endwise, and back to back, as in the other cottage at c ; d is a small closet or dairy, four feet square in the clear ; e e show one mode of placing the beds, by which, the one bed opening to the fireplace, and the other behind, some privacy is obtained for the occupiers of both ; f is the situation of the dresser ; (/, of the chest of drawers ; and h, of the press : articles not in use are placed at b, and the fuel, generally coal, is kept outside the door, in the open air. A diiferent disposition of two beds is shown in the other cottage at i i ; as well as that before mentioned at c c. The last seems the best of three methods, none of which are good. 1340. Remarks. What we have said respecting the improvement of the Scotch labourer's cottage will equally apply here. The progress of the age requires that there should be a chamber-floor over the living-room, the stair to which might be at h, entered by a door fi-om a. This would give a lumber closet under the stair, which, with the pantrv, or dairy, and the press (the latter ought always to be a fixture, to lessen the inconvenience of removal), would render the living-room commodious, and leave ample space for order and cleanliness ; and two bed-rooms up stairs would enable the occupier to keep every thing, in both floors, orderly and comfortable. It is almost needless to observe that the pigsty or poultry-house, k, would be a most desirable addition to every ploughman's cottage, as well as I ; and that m should be roofed over. It gives us pleasure to obsfA'e one of the first Northumbrian farmers acknowledging the necessity, § 972, of enlarging the accommodation of ploughmen's cottages, by the addition of a chamber-floor. What objection can there possibly be to rendering ploughmen's cottages much more comfortable than they are? The expense first, and the increase of wages which the ploughman woidd in a short time require, in order to gi-atify his improved t.aste, are the obvious answers. But where is the evil of this state of things ? It would only diminish the rent of the landlord, who, if he were not content to take less, could become the occupier himself. It may also be said, that it would increase the price of farm produce to the public ; but price of every kind depends upon supply and demand. The only question, thfn, is, what evil would result to society from raising the characters of the ploughman and the country labourer? Every one knows our answer. Design III. — Two PlouglanerCs Cottages, in a Village near Salishury, Wiltshire. 1341. The genuine English Cottage has a very different character from either the Northumbrian or the Scotch one. It is undoubtedly constructed less favourably for retaining heat, because in the south that is less wanted ; but, being airy and light, it is much more favourable for health and cleanliness. The Design we are about to descril>e has been sent us as a genuine specimen of a Wiltshire farm labourer's cottage, by a much esteemed correspondent resident in its neighbourhood. 1342. Accommodation. The smaller cottage contains one living-room, fig. 120.5, a, with a fireplace at b, a closet under the stairs, and a door out of this closet to the dairy or pantry, c ; there is an oven from the backof thefireplace,d; and the chamber-floor is divided into two rooms. This cottage is entered from the front by three steps at e ; and it has a garden and orchard of about the eighth of an acre at /. The larger cottage is entered behind by one step at g, into a porch, as the ground rises from the front to the back : it contains a kitchen, h, with a fireplace at i ; a closet at h ; another under the stairs ; an oven at Z; a wash-house at m 1205 and pantry at n. The space over is divided into one large and two smaller bed-rooms. There are a garden and orchard belonging to this cottage at o ; and the public road passes on the two sides, p and q. Fig. 1 206 shows the external elevation of the two dwellings. 1 343. Description. The following observations accompanied the above Design : — " This old double cottage was originally a small farm house. It is built of stone, except the gable, which is of flint and stone in narrow layers : the smaller tenement is more