Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/998

 97 1< COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. part of the front wall of the ixml try-houses is of brickwork, ami the upper part of open latticework, as shown in the elevation, /»p; the latticework is painted green. For the better 1724 ventilation of the place, and the health of the fowls, this latticework is left open during summer ; but each division is fijrnished with wooden shutters, attached to the plates inside by hinges, which, during the winter nights, and especially in frosty weather, are kept closed. The centre of the dairy-cottage is for the dairyman and his wife to r(side in ; and the large sitting-room is intended as a room in which the family at the villa might occasionally eat strawberries and cream, &c. The dairy, which forms the corre- sponding wing to that containing this room, is of a greater height inside, as the floor, which is paved with square 14-inch tiles, is sunk about 2 feet below the level of the ground. The upper shelf for the milk-pans is made of black slate, supported by brick arches, each arch forming a recess below for a pan of milk, fig. 1724. In the space between the doors is a small stone trough, supplied with water from a cistern at the well in the poultry-yard, by a pipe laid under ground. In the centre stands a large marble or stone table. The two small windows marked o o, in fig. 1721, are blanks, forming niches in the inside, in which are placed terra-cotta figures of a bull and a cow. In the centre of the angles formed by the arches support- ing the slate shelves are fastened small rams' heads. These internal decorations give the dairy an air of finish and taste. Instead of the marble table, there might be a marble or stone basin, with a jet or fountain in the centre, and the floor might be laid with Wright's tessellated paving-tiles, to be described more at length hereafter. Where slates are abundant, they might be used, both for the floor and the central table, and painted in imitation either of marble or oilcloth. Oil painting on slate is found very durable, and will bear daily washing, and even scouring, without injury ; paint also renders the slates warmer to the feet. The covered shed, fig. 1721, e, next to the dairy, is fitted up with racks, in which the milk-pans and other dairy utensils are set to drain ; and the corresponding shed on the other side has bins, &c., to keep the corn and pro- visions for the poultry, and the dairyman's beer, &c. As coolness in summer and warmth in winter are essential to a dairy, the wings of the building are neatly thatched with a thick coat of reeds ; the centre is slated. 1948. The Dainj at Alnwick Castle is surrounded by a deep veranda, the supports of which are festooned with climbers : this completely shades the wall, and its doors and windows, from the sun ; except at mid-winter, and before and after that period till the sun at midday is 25° above the horizon. The roofs are thickly thatched. These arrange- ments are found to keep the interior of the dairy perfectly cool in summer ; and, with the occasional introduction of vessels of liot water from the dairy scullery, and the heat of the new milk itself, sufficiently warm in winter. Th^walls are lined with glazed white tiles, the floor is paved with tessellated bricks, the shelves are of white marble, and the vessels in which the milk is kept are of white Wedgwood ware. The ceiling is plastered, and there is a handsome cornice. The middle of the floor is occupied by a very large and