Since more than three-fourths of the life of the farmer and his family are spent in sight of home, more than one-half of life in the house, and more than one-fourth in bed, the house, the place where they live, should receive most careful attention. Having secured sufficient land to maintain a home, and having made certain that these lands are productive and profitable, a problem is presented in locating and building the house which demands a high degree of intelligence, long, painstaking study, and a good understanding of what constitutes fitness, beauty and durability.

Life in the country gives one the idea of repose, of strength and breadth, of largeness, of solidity and durability, of healthy, symmetrical, solid development. Things which are evanescent, unreal, shoddy; things which are simply for show or vulgar display; things which have the appearance of aping that which may be appropriate under different conditions, but are totally out of place in rural life, must be avoided if utility, natural beauty and comfort, economy and repose are to be secured.

The pioneer in the wooded districts built the home in some sequestered nook or valley at the base of the hill or table land, where the spring or the stream issued from the wood-covered heights. The rural house of the pioneer allowed free circulation of the frosty air; the problem of ventilation they solved without knowing it. Unwittingly they adopted the correct principle; viz., ventilation by many small, gentle streams of air instead of by a few large openings, which create dangerous drafts. It must be admitted that our forefathers overdid the ventilation in most cases, and rheumatism and chilblains were the result; but the principle was correct.

Now the spring has dried up, the water from the deforested hills comes rushing to the lowlands until the streams overflow their banks, and these and other changed conditions indicate that the future farmsteads should be erected on higher land, on the slopes of the hills. From the one extreme we have gone, in some cases, to the other, and the home has been built on the very apex of some lofty hill. Such locations may be well adapted for summer residences, where little or no farming is carried on, but are not suitable for the farm home.

Now that the house is constructed by more skilled workmen than formerly, and out of better material, there is little need of locating the home in the sheltered nook, except possibly in the extreme north, or on plains subject to tornadoes. The object in locating the house on somewhat elevated lands is fourfold. First, air drainage. In deep, crooked, narrow valleys the air is pocketed, especially at night, and the damp, cold air settles in the lowest land as certainly as water finds the low-lying pool. In these pockets between the hills, frosts come early and remain late.

While traveling in western North Carolina in the late summer and fall, I could not but observe how every little break in the hillside and every narrow valley was filled at sunrise, to the crest of the adjoining hill, with a dense fog. Slowly the sun, as it approached the zenith, dissipated the fog, but the narrow valleys were often free from fog for only a few hours each day. Here the home might be situated well up the mountain side, as shown at the right in Fig. 5.

In a little pocket about twenty feet deep, formed by hills, with a road embankment at its mouth, fruits failed, although they flourished on the adjoining land, where there was good air drainage (Fig. 6). If fruits do not thrive on these undrained areas, the natural conclusion is that the children will not. It is found that the upper stories of city buildings are healthier than the lower ones, and that the ground floor is the most unhealthy of all. This is the only objection to a one-story house. On the level prairies little opportunity is offered for locating the house above the level of the surrounding country. Fortunately, many of the prairies are undulating, and furnish most beautiful locations for country homes. Much may be done, even in the level country, to overcome the disadvantages of the site by placing the cellar of the house only two or three feet in the ground and grading up to within a short distance of the top of the wall. A pool or two, or a miniature lake near the barns, and skilful planting of trees will lend a diversity and charm well worth the attention and time given to them.

A pool may be made by scooping a place in hard earth or by damming a stream (Fig. 7). If no water is allowed to flow over the dam and it is raised some two feet above the overflows, it will serve every purpose as well as an expensive grout or stone structure. It will be noticed in the picture that provision has been made by digging shallow ditches on the right and left for carrying off the surplus water when the miniature lake is full. In constructing the dam, a trench two feet wide, at right angles to the stream, should be dug to the depth of one foot, or until solid ground, unmixed with vegetable matter, is reached. Fill the trench with clayey earth which is free from humus, which will prevent the dam from leaking at the bottom where it meets the natural soil. The stream which feeds the lake or pond should be small, and need not be perennial if the dam is raised as high as it should be. If the water is dammed back to the depth of twelve to fourteen feet, and the banks of the pond are rather steep (A, Fig. 7), a cool, useful miniature lake will be formed, and not an unsightly marsh, during the dry months of summer.

Dryish, gravelly soil and subsoil is to be much preferred as a site for a house to clayey or dark, damp soil which contains much humus. If the ideal soil cannot be secured, then thorough drainage should be provided. In locating on a gentle declivity, there is a constant tendency for water to penetrate the wall next the hillside or to pass under the wall and appear in the bottom of the cellar. Unless this can certainly be prevented, another location had better be selected.

The house should be situated on somewhat elevated ground, to promote both surface and house drainage. If it is the purpose to introduce into the house more water than has been furnished heretofore, then full provision should be made for carrying all waste water and fecal matter to a safe distance from the house, and to do this beyond a peradventure, sufficient fall must be secured to give permanency to the work and an unobstructed outlet.

One of the objections urged against a country home is that it is “too quiet,” too much shut up from the outside world. This, in part, is true. It detracts much from the enjoyment and beauty of the country home if vision is shut in to a few acres just about the house. The American farmer is not content to live under the conditions which delight the Transvaal Dutch farmer, so isolated that he cannot see the smoke from his neighbor’s chimney nor hear the bark of his neighbor’s dog.

When visiting the home of the Hon. Edwin Morgan, I found that he was having three large trees cut down. It seemed to the uninstructed like vandalism. When asked the reason for sacrificing these noble trees, nourished and tended for half a century, he answered: “I have many more trees, but I have but one lake—Cayuga—and I must have vistas through which I can watch the white sail, the crested waves, the ever-changing colors of the water as the winds open vistas in the fleecy clouds. I love the trees not less, but the soft reflection of the moonbeams on the rippling wave more, and so the trees must give way.”

The outlook from the vine-covered veranda should be broad and extended. If possible, the hill and dale, the stream and wood, neighbors’ houses nestled in plantations of trees and shrubs, all should be in sight. As life advances, I see more and more clearly the effect of that noble lake, its now boisterous now placid surface of the rippling water which laved the stony beach. I see its effect on that “tow-headed” lad who at one time breasted the waves, at another sat dreamily casting pebbles into the clear expanse, wondering what life had in store, what the great unknown world offered for the nut-brown, high-tempered, crude country boy. Then plant the country home where nature in her happiest moods has showered her richest gifts!

But beauty loses much of its charm where healthy vigor gives not the power to appreciate and enjoy it. So the house should be located on a healthy eminence. But it is not easy to find a location which shall combine convenience, beauty, air and water drainage, and healthfulness all in the highest degree. In the case of the farmer, convenience as to carrying on the various operations of the farm and healthfulness are paramount. Drainage may be artificially improved, vistas opened, miniature lakes constructed, and surroundings made more beautiful. The farm and its equipment is the workshop, and must be convenient in all its appointments, or much energy is spent for naught; health must be maintained at the highest, or work may become but toil and drudgery.

In locating a house, its relation to the size of the farm, its productiveness and agricultural capabilities should be considered. In locating the site, two places should be carefully avoided: First, at the end of a long lane in the middle of the farm. It may be said that the buildings form the natural nucleus in and around which the work centers, and therefore they should be placed near the middle of the estate. But the work carried on in the fields forms but a small part of the farmer’s activities. He must ever, in these modern times, be in touch with the school, the church, the post office, the railway, the market, and his neighbors. When an infrequent call is made at the end of this long lane, the children appear like frightened deer as they seek shelter in the shrubbery or behind the corner of a building, and the more the inherited timidity and reserve, the wilder they appear.

The other location to be avoided is within a few feet of the highway. Such locations are only admissible in the city, where land sells by the square foot. What fortunes are sometimes spent in the city to secure some amplitude of space between the dusty, noisy street and the residence! What dignity and repose an ample, well kept house-yard gives to even a plain, modest house! The effect of the mistake of locating the house too close to the highway is often accentuated by locating the barns on the other side and immediately upon the highway, and in front of the house. The location of the house, as to the highway, should be governed, in part, by the size and productive power of the farm. If ample acres and means are available, then the grounds should be ample; if limited, the grounds should be made to correspond.

In moderate-sized holdings, a clear space of from 100 to 200 feet between the house and the highway, and width equal to or exceeding the length, will give room for a few shade trees and an ample grass plat. The site should be either suited to the house or the house to the site. Therefore, the character of the proposed house and the site should be considered at the same time. One location may be suited to a one-story, another to a two-story house. No location is suited to a story-and-a-half house.

It may be said that on most farms the house is already located, and has grouped around it plantations and barns. In many cases it would be inexpedient to change the site of the house, as this would necessitate many changes of outbuildings and other permanent improvements. But if a careful inspection is made of farmsteads, it will appear that many of the houses are in need of repairs and additions, and that the cost of making them would be but slightly increased if either the house or the outbuildings were removed to a more desirable site. In the great majority of cases, the old barns should be gathered together into one structure, or into two at most, and adapted to the needs of modern agriculture (as will be explained in a subsequent chapter). All changes presuppose well matured plans and long and careful study of problems which will have to be solved if the location of the house or barn is changed.

The scope, and particularly the cost, of the changes should be known approximately before the execution of the plan begins. “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish.” Far better live in the old house, with its inconveniences, and get the greatest possible happiness out of the ancient structure, than to build a new one and cover it with shining paints of many colors and a mortgage which sticks longer than the paints.

Some of these old farm houses embody many beautiful and reposeful characteristics, are well located, and need only slight modifications to make them fit the site as nicely as a bird fits its nest. If thought can be awakened as to the possibilities of these neglected homes and some information imparted as to their treatment, or, in other words, if the eyes and understanding can be trained to take in the fundamental principles of beauty, dignity, fitness, and repose, we shall soon see fewer architectural monstrosities. That there are not more is a wonder. What lad or lass has ever had the slightest instruction by teacher in rural or city school along the lines of fitness, beauty, and healthfulness of sites for country homes? The few youths who reach the institutions of higher learning are scarcely better off. Some of these are taught to see the beauties and wonders of nature through a microscope, and, in rare cases, one may be taught to observe the lines of symmetry and form as exhibited in a poor plaster cast of some mythological Roman warrior; but as for any instruction which leads directly to a broad understanding or keen appreciation of nature in her broader, happier, and grander aspects, it is painfully conspicuous by its absence. So, is it any wonder that the farmer is deficient in appreciation of the fitness and beauty of the tree-clad, gently rolling plateau for a home site, when the “liberally” educated fail to see the innumerable beauty-spots which cover the face of nature?