Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-06-12
BUILDING A FARMHOUSE
SOME SUGGESTIONS TO THOSE WHO
WOULD PLAN A HOME.

Your Own Plan and Then Submit 1t to
AN Architect or Experienced Builder.
A bulletin presenting suggestions to
builders of farmhouses and which
was prepared by Mr.. George w. Hill,
chief of the division of publications,
has Just been issued by the depart
ment of agriculture.
There is no more important under
taking on the farm" Mr.. Hill says,
than the building of the house which
is to be at once the owners residence,
his office and in every sense of the
word his home. But Notwithstanding
this fact there is no undertaking which
sometimes as a result of entirely un-
avoidable circumstances, more often
from other C2uses, receives so little
forethought, so little careful consid-
Grafton and so little skillful planning
and workmanship.
TOO often the farmer finds himself
compelled to provide a residence for
himself and his family on short notice
and on short bank account The re-
suit in an inconvenient, poorly con-
structed, and frequently, in the end, an
uneconomical house. Many facts and
ideas which the farmer has stored
away in his mind for such an emergen-
cy are crowded out or lost sight of in
the press of time. Frequently the
nearest village carpenter has to be
intrusted with many important de-
tails, and the result is far from salts
factory.
at is with the hope of being of SER
house that this bulletin is written, but
particularly is it aimed to help those
who have neither the time nor the
funds to build as they would like to,
and who must, therefore, begin in Il
very modest way. To that end some
very trite statements are made, some
very simple facts stated-facts that
everybody knows, but which many are
apt to forget at the very time when
remembrance would prove useful"
1t is said that by carefully designing
a house so as to facilitate its subse-
quent enlargement money may be
saved and its convenience increased
Additions costing s4OO might have been
so provided for in the original scheme
as to have permitted of their erection
for $780, and so on. Poorly lighted and
inconvenient rooms and passages, mac.
cessible chimneys, steep or dark stair
ways, etc., are likely to prove obsta-
cles in building additions to houses
where the original plans did not take
into consideration the probability of
such additions.
After reciting the necessity for per-
fecting title to the land, the bulletin
treats of the matter of the site for the
house. "The first, and by all odds the
most important, consideration is that
of healthfulness," says Mr. Hill.
Build on low, ill-drained ground and
ill-health will follow as inevitably as
night follows day. A dry, well-drained
soil is absolutely essential, but the
question of air drainage should not be
lost sight OF. A hollow, however po-
rous and well-drained the soil, will
prove cold, frosty spot in winter, a
hot and sultry one in summer. site
too closely shut in by timber will lose
what it may gain in shade by the alb
sence of free circulation of air, by the
cutting off of every breeze during the
sultry days of summer, and, in winter,
the absence of sunlight is again a
drawback. All things considered, a
gentle hillside slope offers the great
est advantages, and, if hillside where
the highest land is to the north and
west, little more could be desired. In
many portions of the country a strip OF
timber of greater or less extent to the
north and west is an essential, not only
to the comfort of the house, but to the
comfort of those who are obliged to do
chores about it in the severer weather,
ss well as the stock which must be
quartered near it. Again, a few fine
shade trees are a great addition to both
the comfort and beauty of the farm.
home, and while trees may be planted
and viii grow up, other things being
equal, the advantage of building near
few fine trees should not be lost
sight of. After the consideration of
healthfulness, there is, perhaps none
more important than that of water. A
good well cannot be secured every
where. and there is no greater incon-
venience than to have the we'll To-
Gated far from the house. In fact, the
nearer it is the better.
Having conceived the general idea
of the house to be built, the next step
is to lay it out on paper, and far
better idea of the size and proportion
of the rooms will be gained if the
drawing is made to scale. This is
not a difficult feat. Let one-quarter
inch on the two-foot rule equal one
foot. Allow for whatever thickness
of studding may be decided on and add
one inch for lath and plaster on each
side of the partitions, one inch each for
lath and plaster, for sheathing and for
siding on outside walls, and a plan
sufficiently accurate for practical pur-
poses will be obtained. Get the ad-
vice and counsel of the wife, explain
ing to her whatever on the plans she
may not understand. By consulting
hAr in