Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/493

 A Cozy Southern Farmhouse

���With the House Facing South, the Living-room and Bedrooms Will Have the Advantage of

the Prevailing Summer Breezes

��y\FTER extensive sur\'cys in the South /-\ to determine the hoiiseliold needs of families with reterence to local agriculture, climate, and domestic help, the Ofifice of Public Roads and Rural Engineering of the Department of Agri- culture has developed a plan for a southern farmhouse which meets all the requirements of a small family. The materials selected are those commonly used in the South, and local dealers should have no difficulty in carrying out the plans.

The aim primarily is to pro\-idc a cool and convenient kitchen and dining-room for the housewife; bedrooms and living room with the best exposure; facilities for outdoor sleeping, and an easily- heated house, coo! in summer and yet with sunny rooms in winter.

With the house facing south, the living room and bedrooms will ha\e the advan- tage of the prevailing summer winds, which, generally throughout the South, are from the south or southwest. Where the prevailing winds \ary from the usual direction the plan can be reversed if desired, or the house so placed that it will have the proper relation to the summer breezes.

The arrangement of dining-room and kitchen constitutes the chief feature of the plan. The china closet, opening into

��both rooms, saves a great many steps between the kitchen and the dining- room. The clearing up after meals can be accomplished with a very few steps, dishes being passed through on the wide counter shelf, washed at the sink, drained, and returned to the china closet, where they are available from either side.

The kitchen is small, well-lighted, conveniently arranged, and cool, by reason of the facts that the range is in a separate room and the windows on opposite sides permit a cross draft. The distance "from the range to the other fixtures is no greater than in most farm kitchens; and, if it were, the extra step or two would not offset the marked advantage of coolness of the workroom where the greater part of the kitchen work is done. This is a matter of considerable moment, since so many farm wi\-cs in the South are now doing their own housework.

The cook-room ceiling has a large opening which permits the heat and cooking odors to escape through a \entilalor in the gable. Near the stove, to give light and air, is a double casement window. A grated opening near the floor, in the wall between the cook-room and the kitchen closet, draws air from below the floor and promotes circulation

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