Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-10-11
FARMERS HOMES AND THEIR SUR
ROUNDINGS,
BY EMORY A. ELLSWORTH,
" Somewhat back from the village street.
s-apJe tho old fosbio,o5 o.o,-...--- -.

Man Is bS nature social beng, and
wherever circumstances may place him.
he can never lose his characteristic love
of companionship. The highroad is al
ways, therefore, a very desirable neigh
Dor to the isolated jewellers of farmers
homestead, since only through its agency
can they feel the influence of the busy.
noisy world beyond and around them,
and learn the progress of Its affairs
Like the arteries and veins of the
human system, the public roads are the
channels through which the life blood of
agricultural productions are conveyed
to the great centers of exchange where
they are most demanded, and In return
the merchandise of commerce. and the
products of manufacturing enterprise
distributed through these ever-diverging
courses, to every farmhouse, in the
country. As a river refreshes most the
vegetation upon its immediate banks.
SO a public highway running through a
country that would otherwise be desti-
tute of a ready means of neighborly in
tercourse and communication with the
world at large, benefits most the people
who, by reason of their proximity, can
most easily avail themselves of its aid.
For the sake then of the companion
ship which the passer-by will give, for the
sake Of the convenience and economy
in time and labor which adjacent loca-
ton affords, and for the sake Of avoid
ing the cost of road-making and repair
ing, spot near the roadside should al
ways be chosen as a building site
While we are exercising care to guard
against remOteness from the public
road, let us also be careful not to select
our site too near it, lest, thereby, we
loose the desirable privacy of home life,
and give over the immediate surround
ings of the homestead to be proved upon
by all the lawless elements of the travel
ed road. Extreme nearness to the road
side is apt also to give an idea of scarcity
of land, which should be avoided Then
too, a farmhouse somewhat withdrawn
from the highway, and in half seclusion
by appropriate planting about the
grounds, always has an attraction, as of
half revealed charms, to the passerby,
and an air of dignity and modest reserve
always to be sought for, and ever re-
spected in man or his works.
Before we can finally determine the
exact distance which it will be best to
allow between the proposed site and the
road at its nearest point of approach,
we must consider question SO INSOFAR
ably connected with the one just dis
cussed, that it may well be considered
a part and parcel of it, and that is, their
| difference in elevation. In olden times
men sought commanding eminences
! that they might detect the approach OF
an enemy in time to prepare themselves
| Like preparation seems generally
necessary nowadays, at least among oul
farmers wives and daughters, before
they can properly receive, not only then
enemies, but their friends, and it is
desirable, therefore, that the farm
houses of to-day, like those of old, Should
not only stand within convenient reach
of the avenue Of approach, but should
overlook it for some distance in either
direction. We believe it to be rule
of good building that the house should
always stand higher than the road
which passes it. The ground inter
vening should be easily susceptible OF
being placed upon an even grade, pro-
vided the rise does not exceed one foot
to every eight or ten feet horizontally.
Where the ascent is considerably steep
er than this. terracing should be resort
ed to; although, for economy's sake,
we should never recommend the selec-
ton of location for a farmhouse
where the ascent was SO steep as to re-
quire terracing. While it is certainly
a very desirable thing to be able to look
| forth from ones window upon miles OF
varied landscape, and note, from month
TO month, how marvelously the springs
of nature move the never-ending, ever
changing panorama; yet if we must
build our house upon the summit OF
some bare. windy hill in order to obtain
it, the cost will outweigh the advantage
and magnificent as a hilltop view may
be to the appreciative mind, a hilltop
home is seriously unattractive when
weighed in the scales of practical judg,
ment.
In the matter of proper frontage in
country houses, the need Of reform
seems almost universal. Custom, that
senselesss old granny whose whims
people in general choose to follow
rather than to be guided by any sug.
gestions which their own common sense
might offer, has decreed that the fronts
of our houses shall invariably be placed
upon line parallel to the street, nc
matter what point of the compass the
latter may choose to follow. Town and
village residences, huddled together
upon narrow lots and bordering still
narrower streets, must necessarily be
made to front the common highway;
! but that isolated farm-houses, with un-
limited size of lot and choice of loca,
ton, should be made conformatory tC
this practice, is without Just reason
Is 1t not of greater Importance that
our homes shall be cheerful and health
full, than that they shall simply answer
the demands of this senseless custom
The living rooms, the largest and pleas
ATTEST ones in the house, should face
easterly OF southerly, that through then
open-shuttered windows, the vivifying
rays of the sun may enter freely Sun
shine is by far better physician fol
one-half the aches and ailments O
mankind, than the most skillful healer
among our fellow men.
Yet after all We may say or write
| after every conceivable principal has
| been stated, and every known rule re
peated which may shed light upon thi:
most important problem, there is the
largest opportunity for the exercise o
a desirable, location for a home. The
erection of a house that shall be oul
abiding place for what yet remains O
life, is one of the most important un
dertakings in which man ever engages
If the farmer shall fail in some agricul
tural enterprise or experiment by rea,
son of some error in judgment, the ex.
perimenter, having gained new knowl
edge therefrom, may again renew the