Rural Architecture | Page 3

has been incidentally rather

than directly thrown off by those professionally engaged in the finer
architectural studies appertaining to luxury and taste, instead of the
every-day wants of a strictly agricultural population, and, of
consequence, understanding but imperfectly the wants and
conveniences of the farm house in its connection with the every-day
labors and necessities of farm life.
It is not intended, in these remarks, to depreciate the efforts of those
who have attempted to instruct our farmers in this interesting branch of
agricultural economy. We owe them a debt of gratitude for what they
have accomplished in the introduction of their designs to our notice;
and when it is remarked that they are insufficient for the purposes
intended, it may be also taken as an admission of our own neglect, that
we have so far disregarded the subject ourselves, as to force upon
others the duty of essaying to instruct us in a work of which we
ourselves should long ago have been the masters.
Why should a farmer, because he is a farmer, only occupy an uncouth,
outlandish house, any more than a professional man, a merchant, or a
mechanic? Is it because he himself is so uncouth and outlandish in his
thoughts and manners, that he deserves no better? Is it because his
occupation is degrading, his intellect ignorant, his position in life low,
and his associations debasing? Surely not. Yet, in many of the plans
and designs got up for his accommodation, in the books and
publications of the day, all due convenience, to say nothing of the
respectability or the elegance of domestic life, is as entirely disregarded
as if such qualities had no connection with the farmer or his occupation.
We hold, that although many of the practical operations of the farm
may be rough, laborious, and untidy, yet they are not, and need not be
inconsistent with the knowledge and practice of neatness, order, and
even elegance and refinement within doors; and, that the due
accommodation of the various things appertaining to farm stock, farm
labor, and farm life, should have a tendency to elevate the social
position, the associations, thoughts, and entire condition of the farmer.
As the man himself--no matter what his occupation--be lodged and fed,
so influenced, in a degree, will be his practice in the daily duties of his
life. A squalid, miserable tenement, with which they who inhabit it are

content, can lead to no elevation of character, no improvement in
condition, either social or moral, of its occupants. But, the family
comfortably and tidily, although humbly provided in their habitation
and domestic arrangements, have usually a corresponding character in
their personal relations. A log cabin, even,--and I speak of this
primitive American structure with profound affection and regard, as the
shelter from which we have achieved the most of our prodigious and
rapid agricultural conquests,--may be so constructed as to speak an air
of neatness, intelligence, and even refinement in those who inhabit it.
Admitting, then, without further argument, that well conditioned
household accommodations are as important to the farmer, even to the
indulgence of luxury itself, when it can be afforded, as for those who
occupy other and more active pursuits, it is quite important that he be
equally well instructed in the art of planning and arranging these
accommodations, and in designing, also, the various other structures
which are necessary to his wants in their fullest extent. As a question of
economy, both in saving and accumulating, good and sufficient
buildings are of the first consequence, in a pecuniary light, and when to
this are added other considerations touching our social enjoyment, our
advancement in temporal condition, our associations, our position and
influence in life, and, not least, the decided item of national good taste
which the introduction of good buildings throughout our extended
agricultural country will give, we find abundant cause for effort in
improvement.
It is not intended in our remarks to convey the impression that we
Americans, as a people, are destitute of comfortable, and, in many
cases, quite convenient household and farm arrangements. Numerous
farmeries in every section of the United States, particularly in the older
ones, demonstrate most fully, that where our farmers have taken the
trouble to think on the subject, their ingenuity has been equal, in the
items of convenient and economical arrangement of their dwellings and
out-buildings, to their demands. But, we are forced to say, that such
buildings have been executed, in most cases, with great neglect of
architectural system, taste, or effect; and, in many instances, to the
utter violation of all propriety in appearance, or character, as

appertaining to the uses for which they are applied.
The character of the farm should be carried out so as to express itself in
everything which it contains. All should