Southern cultivator. (Augusta, Ga.) 1843-188?, April 01, 1867, Page 106, Image 14

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106 that exist within. From this veranda we enter the hall F, 8 by 83 feet, which contains the principal staircase, ami affords cornmnnicalion with all the best rooms on this floor. Ais the parlor, 33 by 16 feet, entered by folding doors, and a good example of a regular, well-proportioned room ; when we say well-proportioned, we mean accord ing to our ideas of interiors, rather than in conformity with the rules based on classical authority for the regula tion of internal proportions. Os course much depends on the height of the story ; in this case it is twelve feet. B, 14 by 16 feet, is a library or sitting room, or both, as the requirements of the family may dictate. The chief attraction of this room is the octagonal bay, a very plea sant feature, whether contemplated from within or with out. The dining-room Dis 16 by 18 feet, and on occa sions of unusual festivity, can be extended by throwing open the sliding doors into the room B. A nice closet to the dining room is seen at I, and another for the occa sional stowing away of various articles of use or wear, such as will readily occur to the mind of any liver in the country. Gis a passage from diningroom to kitchen; nnd II a pantry, represented as shelved on both sides; from the passage G the private stairs extend to the second floor of the back building, which is on a level with the half-pace of main stairs ; a passage from the landing of the former communicates with the latter, rendering all the chambers on the second floor easily accessible to ser vants, without using the exhibited flight of the main stairs. The apartment E, is designed fora kitchen, and by its di mensions, 15 by 22 feet, it may be readily inferred that we have a partiality for those good, old-fashioned country kitchens that our ancestors delighted in. Beyond this is a one-story apartment N, 12 by 15 feet, intended fora multitude of uses, which will not fail to suggest them selves to those acquainted with the requirements of farm life.” Deprived of her accustomed number of trained servants, It has become a necessity that the mistress of the South ern household, should herself now exercise a continual oversight over her present demoralized “help.” This, to gether with the fact that the said “help” may leave her at any time, with all the work of the household on her hands, renders it very desirable that our kitchens should be attached to the dwelling. The disadvantages of this arrangement are, that the smell of the food, while prepar ing, may pervade the other apartments—the presence of flies in the house in summer, which are attracted by the cooking; and moreover, so far as allowed, the kitchen will become a rendezvous for all the acquaintances of the cook. Ihe latter nuisance should be strictly guarded against, and no negro be permitted to enter the kitchen except the servants engaged therein. The servant’s rooms should be oft by themselves, screened from the house by trees and shrubbery, but within convenient call. They arc too dissolute in morals—too filthy in their habits and persons—their rooms too much infested with bugs, which will invade the other apartments ; and they are too careless of fire, to make it all comfortable for the family to have the servants rooms under the same roof with themselves. Many dwellings are built with basement kitchens—the objection to which is, that it gives the mistress too many steps up and down stairs, and the smell of the food is more diffused over the entire house, than if on the same floor. A house with a basement is much more subject to be in fested with rats, which find refuge beneath the lower floors. If the dining room is also below, the mistress, for the sake of being near her work, often lives, with the younger children, a large part of the time in the base ment, of which the rooms are not as dry, wholesome and ■well-ventilated, as the upper portion of the house. In i SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. towns, where houses are built on ground descending from the street, basement rooms are, of course, not easily avoid ed, but such locations are not desirable. The time and strength saved to the mother of a family, by having all her work done on the same floor, is a matter of great im portance. The position of the kitchen in our design, could hardly be improved. It is removed back as far as possible from the main rooms of the dwelling, and yet is in close prox* unity to the dining room. For a Southern dwelling, we should throw the closets J and K into one larger room for a pantry, while the small pantry H*and the passage G, we should make into a good hall leading through the wing from verandah to verandah, which, if kept open in sum" mer, and the kitchen door is closed, would protect the din ing room perfectly, from all effluvia from the kitchen. We should increase the width of the proposed pantry, K and ,T, and the hall G. 11., by reducing the length of tliV kitchen E, to 17 or 18 feet, throwing it further back. The private stairs could be retained or not, as desired. Fur ther to protect the house in summer, from the heat of the' kitchen, we should lock up the kitchen door leading into the back hall, as before advised, and have all food brought from the kitchen by way of the verandah. The room X., should be fitted up with an arch for washing and with other conveniences for rough-work, including a good brick oven. It should be paved with brick, or floored with ce ment. The back part of the kitchen about the stove or fire-place, should also be paved, as a protection against fire. As to the second story, the plan is modified from that of the first, by dividing the space over the parlor into two bed-rooms, with clothes presses between the two rooms.- The upper hall reaches only as far front as F, the space 1 forward being divided between the front bed-rooms A arid' B, enlarging each some 4 feet. The kitchen wing is di vided into two bed-rooms, the back one in the original plau being designed as a servant’s room, entered by the stair-ease at the side of the kitchen chimney, and hav ing no communication or door entering into the adjacent bed-room, or connection with any other part of the house. About all these plans with wings attached, there is this advantage. A thrifty coupTe, with little means, might btild the wing only at first. Let this be done, and it would afford them considerable accommodation—a kitchen and dining room below, with hall and pantry, and above two small bed-rooms—scant room it is true, but better apartments than at first are the lot of thousands, who, through mutual affection, are happy in 4 humble dwellings, and often reach affluence in later life. A few years after as the family increases, and property flows in, to war rant a more liberal scale of living, the main structure may be erected in front, and in its elegant exterior, adapted to the larger needs und improved circumstances of the house hold. Sloan’s Homestead Architecture, from which our plan is taken, contains many other excellent designs, several of which we are kindly permitted to copy by its publish ers, J. B. Lippincott & Cos., Philadelphia, Pa. Bvo 350 pages. Price £4.00. ' . A exas paper, in illustrating the advantages of advertising, states that a gentleman advertised the Toss of a fifty dollar note and found it in his vest pocket before he reached home.