aracter with the walls, giving an air of firmness and stability to the
whole structure. No elaborate carving, or beadwork should be permitted
on the outside work of a country house at all; and only a sufficient
quantity of ornamental _tracery_ of any kind, to break the monotony of a
plainness that would otherwise give it a formal, or uncouth expression,
and relieve it of what some would consider a pasteboard look. A farm
house, in fact, of any degree, either cheap or expensive, should wear
the same appearance as a well-dressed person of either sex; so that a
stranger, not looking at them for the purpose of inspecting their garb,
should, after an interview, be unable to tell what particular sort of
dress they wore, so perfectly in keeping was it with propriety.

In the design now under discussion, a cellar is made under the whole
body of the house; and this cellar is a _shallow_ one, so far as being
sunk into the ground is concerned, say 5-1/2 feet, leaving 2-1/2 feet of
cellar wall above ground--8 feet in all. A part of the wall above ground
should be covered by the excavated earth, and sloped off to a level with
the surrounding surface. A commodious, well-lighted, and well-ventilated
cellar is one of the most important apartments of the farm house. It
should, if the soil be compact, be well drained from some point or
corner within the walls into a lower level outside, to which point
within, the whole floor surface should incline, and the bottom be
floored with water-lime cement. This will make it hard, durable, and
dry. It may then be washed and scrubbed off as easily as an upper floor.
If the building site be high, and in a gravelly, or sandy soil, neither
drain nor flooring will be required. The cellar may be used for the
storage of root crops, apples, meats, and household vegetables. A
partitioned room will accommodate either a summer or a winter dairy, if
not otherwise provided, and a multitude of conveniences may be made of
it in all well arranged farmeries. But in all cases the cellar should be
well lighted, ventilated, and dry. Even the ash-house and smoke-house
may be made in it with perfect convenience, by brick or stone
partitions, and the smoke-house flue be carried up into one of the
chimney flues above, and thus make a more snug and compact arrangement
than to have separate buildings for those objects. A wash-room, in
which, also, the soap may be made, the tallow and lard tried up, and
other extraordinary l