Rural Architecture Part 14

"Young rabbits are killed for the table at any age, from twelve weeks to twelve months old, and are a very acceptable addition to the country larder. The male is not allowed to remain with the doe, lest he should destroy the young ones.

"Hutches are made singly, or in stacks, to suit the apartment, which should be capable of thorough ventilation. The best size is about three feet long, two feet deep, and fourteen inches high, with a small apartment part.i.tioned off from one end, nearly a foot wide, as a breeding place for the doe. A wire door forms the front, and an opening is left behind for cleaning; the floor should have a descent to the back of the hutch of two inches. All edges should be tinned, to save them from being gnawed.

"Having now given the leading characteristics and qualities which const.i.tute a good 'fancy lop-eared rabbit,' and its general management, allow me to remark on the striking difference observable between Americans and the people of many other countries, as to a fondness for animals, or what are termed 'fancy pets,' of and for which we, as a people, know and care very little. Indeed, we scarcely admit more than a selfish fellowship with the dog, and but too seldom does our attachment even for this faithful companion, place him beyond the reach of the _omnipotent dollar_.

"The operatives, mechanics, and laborers, in other countries, seem to have a perfect pa.s.sion for such pursuits, and take the greatest interest and pride in breeding and perfecting the lesser animals, though often obliged to toil for the very food they feed to them.

Here, too, home influences are perceived to be good, and are encouraged by the employer, as supplying the place of other and much more questionable pursuits and tastes."

We here present the elevation, and floor plan of Mr. Rodman's rabbitry, together with the front and rear views of the hutches within them:

[Ill.u.s.tration: ELEVATION. MAIN FLOOR PLAN.]

No. 1 is the gable end elevation of the building, with a door and window.

No. 2 is the main-floor plan, or living room for the rabbits.

EXPLANATION.

A, the doe's hutches, with nest boxes attached. B, hutches three feet long, with movable part.i.tions for the young rabbits; the two lower hutches are used for the stock bucks. C, a tier of grain boxes on the floor for feeding the rabbits--the covers sloping out toward the room.

D, small trapdoor, leading into the manure cellar beneath. E, large trapdoor leading into root cellar. F, troughs for leading off urine from rear of hutches into the manure cellar at K, K. G, wooden trunk leading from chamber above No. 3, through this into manure cellar. H, trap opening into manure cellar. I, stairs leading into loft No. 3, with hinged trapdoor overhead; when open, it will turn up against the wall, and leave a pa.s.sage to clear out the hutches.

NOTE.--The grain boxes are one foot high in front, and fifteen inches at the back, with sloping bottoms, and sloping covers. The floors of the hutches have a slope of two inches back. The hutches are furnished, at the back of the floor, with pieces of zinc, to keep them free from the drippings from above. The hutches are 16 inches high, 3 feet long, and 2 feet deep.

The foregoing plans and explanations might perhaps be sufficient for the guidance of such as wish to construct a rabbitry for their own use; but as a complete arrangement of all the rooms which may be conveniently appropriated to this object, to make it a complete thing, may be acceptable to the reader, we conclude, even at the risk of prolixity, to insert the upper loft, and cellar apartments, with which we have been furnished; hoping that our youthful friends will set themselves about the construction of a branch of rural employment so home-attaching in its a.s.sociations.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LOFT OR GARRET.]

No. 3 is the loft or chamber story, next above the main floor.

EXPLANATION.

A, place for storing hay. B, stairs leading from below. C, room for young rabbits. D, trapdoor into trunk leading to manure cellar.

E, part.i.tion four feet high. This allows of ventilation between the two windows, in summer, which would be cut off, were the part.i.tion carried all the way up.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CELLAR.]

No. 4 is the cellar under the rabbitry.

EXPLANATION.

A, manure cellar. B, root cellar. C, stairs leading to first, or main floor. D, stairs leading outside. E, window--lighting both rooms of cellar.

No. 5 is a front section of rabbit hutches, eight in number, two in a line, four tiers high, one above another, with wire-screened doors, hinges, and b.u.t.tons for fastening. A, the grain trough, is at the bottom.

No. 6 is the floor section of the hutches, falling, as before mentioned, two inches from front to rear.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FRONT OF HUTCH. REAR OF HUTCH.]

A, is the door to lift up, for cleaning out the floors. B, is the zinc plate, to carry off the urine and _running_ wash of the floors. C, is the trough for carrying off this offal into the manure cellars, through the trunk, as seen in No. 2.

No. 7 is a rear section of hutches, same as in No. 5, with the waste trough at the bottom leading into the trench before described, with the cross section, No. 8, before described in No. 6.

A, a grated door at the back of the hutch, for ventilation in summer, and covered with a thin board in winter. B, a flap-door, four inches wide, which is raised for cleaning out the floor; under this door is a s.p.a.ce of one inch, for pa.s.sing out the urine of the rabbits. C, are b.u.t.tons for fastening the doors. D, the backs of the bedrooms, without any pa.s.sage out on back side.

This matter of the rabbitry, and its various explanations, may be considered by the plain, matter-of-fact man, as below the dignity of people pursuing the _useful_ and _money-making_ business of life. Very possible. But many boys--for whose benefit they are chiefly introduced--and _men_, even, may do worse than to spend their time in such apparent trifles. It is better than going to a horse-race. It is better even than going to a trotting match, where _fast men_, as well as _fast_ horses congregate. It is better, too, than a thousand other places where boys _want_ to go, when they have nothing to interest them at home.

One half of the farmer's boys, who, discontented at home, leave it for something more congenial to their feelings and tastes, do so simply because of the excessive dullness, and want of interest in objects to attract them there, and keep them contented. Boys, in America at least, are apt to be _smart_. So their parents think, at all events; and too smart they prove, to stay at home, and follow the beaten track of their fathers, as their continual migration from the paternal roof too plainly testifies. This, in many cases, is the fault of the parents themselves, because they neglect those little objects of interest to which the minds and tastes of their sons are inclined, and for want of which they _imagine_ more attractive objects abroad, although in the search they often fail in finding them. We are a progressive people. Our children are not always content to be what their fathers are; and parents must yield a little to "the spirit of the age" in which they live. And boys _pay_ too, as they go along, if properly treated. They should be made companions, not servants. Many a joyous, hearty spirit, who, when properly encouraged, comes out a whole man at one-and-twenty, if kept in curb, and harnessed down by a hard parent, leaves the homestead, with a curse and a kick, determined, whether in weal or in woe, never to return. Under a different course of treatment, he would have fixed his home either at his birthplace, or in its immediate vicinity, and in a life of frugality, usefulness, and comparative ease, blessed his parents, his neighborhood, and possibly the world, with a useful example--all, perhaps, grown out of his youthful indulgence in the possession of a rabbit-warren, or some like trifling matter.

This may appear to be small morals, as well as small business. We admit it. But those who have been well, and indulgently, as well as methodically trained, may look back and see the influence which all such little things had upon their early thoughts and inclinations; and thus realize the importance of providing for the amus.e.m.e.nts and pleasures of children in their early years. The dovecote, the rabbitry, the poultry-yard, the sheep-fold, the calf-pen, the piggery, the young colt of a favorite mare, the yoke of yearling steers, or a fruit tree which they have planted, and nursed, and called it, or the fruit it bears, _their own_,--anything, in fact, which they can call _theirs_--are so many objects to bind boys to their homes, and hallow it with a thousand nameless blessings and a.s.sociations, known only to those who have been its recipients. Heaven's blessings be on the family homestead!

"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home!"

sung the imaginary maid of Milan, the beautiful creation of John Howard Payne, when returning from the glare and pomp of the world, to her native cottage in the mountains of Switzerland. And, although all out of date, and conventionally vulgar this sentiment may be _now_ considered, such is, or should be the subdued, unsophisticated feeling of all natives of the farm house, and the country cottage. We may leave the quiet roof of our childhood; we may mix in the bustling contentions of the open world; we may gain its treasures; we may enjoy its greatness, its honors, and its applause; but there are times when they will all fade into nothing, in comparison with the peace, and quietude, and tranquil happiness of a few acres of land, a comfortable roof, and contentment therewith!

DAIRY BUILDINGS.

Wherever the dairy is made an important branch of farm production, buildings for its distinct accommodation are indispensable. The dairy is as much a _manufactory_ as a cotton mill, and requires as much conveniences in its own peculiar line. We therefore set apart a building, on purpose for its objects; and either for cheese, or b.u.t.ter, separate conveniences are alike required. We commence with the

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHEESE DAIRY HOUSE.]

CHEESE DAIRY HOUSE.

This building is one and a half stories high, with a broad, spreading roof of 45 pitch; the ground plan is 10 feet between joists, and the posts 16 feet high. An ice-house, made on the plan already described, is at one end, and a wood-shed at the opposite end, of the same size. This building is supposed to be erected near the milking sheds of the farm, and in contiguity to the feeding troughs of the cows, or the piggery, and adapted to the convenience of feeding the whey to whichever of these animals the dairyman may select, as both, or either are required to consume it; and to which it may be conveyed in spouts from the dairy-room.

INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.

The front door is protected by a light porch, (_a_,) entering by a door, (_b_,) the main dairy room. The cheese presses, (_c_, _c_,) occupy the left end of the room, between which a pa.s.sage leads through a door, (_l_,) into the wood-shed, (_h_,) open on all sides, with its roof resting on four posts set in the ground. The large cheese-table, (_d_,) stands on the opposite end, and is 3 feet wide. In the center of the room is a chimney, (_e_,) with a whey and water boiler, and vats on each side. A flight of stairs, (_f_,) leading into the storage room above, is in the rear. A door, (_b_,) on the extreme right, leads into the ice-house, (_g_.) There are four windows to the room--two on each side, front and rear. In the loft are placed the shelves for storing the cheese, as soon as sufficiently prepared on the temporary table below.

This loft is thoroughly ventilated by windows, and the heat of the sun upon it ripens the cheese rapidly for market. A trapdoor, through the floors, over which is hung a tackle, admits the cheese from below, or pa.s.ses it down, when prepared for market.

The cheese house should, if possible, be placed on a sloping bank, when it is designed to feed the whey to pigs; and even when it is fed to cows, it is more convenient to pa.s.s it to them on a lower level, than to carry it out in buckets. It may, however, if on level ground, be discharged into vats, in a cellar below, and pumped out as wanted.

A cellar is convenient--indeed, almost indispensable--under the cheese dairy; and water should be so near as to be easily pumped, or drawn, into the vats and kettles used in running up the curd, or for washing the utensils used in the work. When the milk is kept over night, for the next morning's curd, temporary tables may be placed near the ice-room, to hold the pans or tubs in which it may be set, and the ice used to temper the milk to the proper degree for raising the cream. If the dairy be of such extent as to require larger accommodation than the plan here suggested, a room or two may be part.i.tioned off from the main milk and pressing-room, for washing the vessels and other articles employed, and for setting the milk. Every facility should be made for neatness in all the operations connected with the work.

Different accommodations are required, for making the different kinds of cheese which our varied markets demand, and in the fitting up of the dairy-house, no _positive_ plan of arrangement can be laid down, suited alike to all the work which may be demanded. The dairyman, therefore, will best arrange all these for the particular convenience which he requires. The main plan, and style of building however, we think will be generally approved, as being in an agreeable architectural style, and of convenient construction and shape for the objects intended.

THE b.u.t.tER DAIRY.

This, if pursued on the same farm with the cheese dairy, and at different seasons of the year, may be carried on in the lower parts of the same building. But as it is usually a distinct branch of business, when prosecuted as the chief object on a farm, it should have accommodations of its own kind, which should be fitted up specially for that purpose.

We cannot, perhaps, suggest a better model of a building for the b.u.t.ter dairy, than the one just submitted for the cheese-house, only that there is no necessity for the upper story; and the posts of the main building should not stand more than nine feet above the sills. A good, walled cellar, well lighted, as a room for setting the milk, is indispensable, with a broad, open flight of steps, from the main floor above, into it.

Here, too, should stand the stone slabs, where the b.u.t.ter is worked, and the churns, to be driven by hand, or water, or animal power, as the two latter may be provided, and introduced into the building by belt, shaft, or crank. If running water can be brought on to the milk-shelves, from a higher level, which, for this purpose, should have curbs two or three inches high on their sides, it can flow in a constant gentle current over them, among the pans, from a receiving vat, in which ice is deposited, to keep the milk at the proper temperature--about 55 Fahrenheit--for raising the cream; and if the quant.i.ty of milk be large, the shelves can be so arranged, by placing each tier of shelf lower than the last, like steps, that the water may pa.s.s among them all before it escapes from the room. Such a mode of applying water and ice, renders the entire process of cream-rising almost certain in all weathers, and is highly approved wherever it has been practiced. The low temperature of the room, by the aid of water and ice, is also beneficial to the b.u.t.ter packed in kegs, keeping it cool and sweet--as much like a spring-house as possible, in its operation.

The washing and drying of pans, buckets, churns, and the heating of water, should all be done in the room above, where the necessary kettles are set, and kept from contact with the cool atmosphere of the lower room. The latter apartment should have a well-laid stone or brick floor, filled and covered with a strong cement of water lime, and sloping gradually to the outer side, where all the water may pa.s.s off by a drain, and everything kept sweet and clean. The b.u.t.termilk may, as in the case of the whey, in the cheese dairy, be pa.s.sed off in spouts to the pigsty, which should not be far distant.