432. The farm buildings for a villa or park farm, or for a ferme ornie, should, if possible, be situated at no great distance from the stable-court of the mansion; partly in order that the latter may be readily supplied with hay, corn, etc, from the former; and partly that they may be more readily inspected by the master. The buildings which are to compose the farmery will depend on the kind of farming to be carried on; but at, in almost every case, there must be a portion of the farm devoted to the growth of corn, for the sake of the straw for litter, so, in every home farmery, a barn will be required. Where the extent of the lands under the plough at any one time does not exceed twenty or thirty acres, a threshing-machine is scarcely necessary; but, above that quantity, it will be found a source of both convenience and profit The barn should generally form the main feature of the farm-yard; and, if threshing with the flail be adopted, it should be at least 20 ft. wide, and 40 ft. long, with the side walls 10 or 12 feet high, and open to the roof. Where a threshing-machine is introduced, the side walls require to be higher.

The stable and cow-houses may be arranged to the right and left of the barn; and there may be a cart-shed on one side, with a granary over, and piggeries on the other, which, with a root-house, and a boiling-house for preparing food, may complete three sides of a square, or parallelogram, which should be open to the south. It is not, however, intended in this work to enter into the details of farm buildings; and we must therefore refer the reader, who may wish to know more on the subject, to our Encyclo-petdTa of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture. The farm buildings which are of most interest in a villa residence, are, the cow-house, dairy, piggery, poultry-houses, and rabbit-house; and with these we may also very properly include the aviary, the apiary, fishponds, etc.; not of course attempting to give any lengthened details on the subject, but merely offering a few general remarks.

433. The cow-house, in Britain, is a rude neglected building, compared with what it is on the Continent, among proprietors who take a pleasure in having fine cows. In Holland, the cow-houses, even of the common farmers, are kept in a very superior degree of cleanliness, and are lighted and ventilated in a much better manner than the cow-houses of villa residences are in England, though the greatest attention be paid to the dairies. One reason of this may be, that, in many parts of England, the winter is so mild, that the cows are kept during that season in open yards, having sheds attached, in which they are left to take shelter at pleasure; thus no skill is required for constructing the cow-house, and no art for its proper management. In Germany, however, from the severity of the climate, the milch cows are obliged to be kept in closed houses half the year; and hence the greater attention that has been paid in that country to the construction of cow-houses. It may also be observed, that, as the pastures in most parts of Germany are of a very thin and inferior description, the cows kept by proprietors who pay much attention to this subject are generally stall-fed throughout the year.

We cannot, however, recommend this practice for England; since cows so treated can never be in so healthy a state as those which are allowed to take free exercise in the open air, at least a portion of every fine day. When only two or three cows are kept, instead of tying them up, we would allow them to run at large in a yard which had a proper cow-house attached to it, for them to shelter in; and we would only tie them up when they were being milked, or in extremely severe weather, when it might be necessary to shut them up in the cow-house. As a few points which deserve particular attention in the construction of cow-houses, we may mention the following. The floor on which the cow stands should be perfectly level; and behind the stall there nay be cither an open gutter, or, what is preferable, one covered with an oak board pierced with holes, or with an iron grating, the holes of which are not larger than an inch across. Through this grating, or pierced plank, all the urine and recent dung will easily drop into the gutter, more especially with the occasional assistance of a broom; and the gutter may be either cleaned out once or twice a day, by lifting up the grating or plank, and applying the broom, or by turning on water at one end; and both the dung and the water -should be conveyed by the gutter to the liquid manure tank.

If the cows stand along the house, it should not be less than 18ft. wide within, which will allow room for a passage at the cows' heads, as well as behind them. There 'ought to be windows with luffer-board shutters, that is, with shutters like Venetian blinds, on both sides of the house; and ventilating tubes from the sides of the walls, or the centre of the ceiling if there be one, to the ridge of the roof. The breadth allowed for each cow should not be lest than 5 ft., and the length of the stall 8 ft.; and there ought to be a boarded or slate partition 'between every two cows, or so as to include two cows in each stall. The •manger should be a trough formed of board, stone, or slate, raised so that the upper edge may be from a foot to 18 in. above the surface of the ground, or about the height of a cow's knees. As this manger is to contain green food, or grains when they can be obtained, as well as roots, hay, etc., it should not be less than 18 in. or 20 in. wide, and a foot deep. Where cows are intended to stand in the cow-house during great part of the year, the manger for each cow should be in three divisions; a large one in the centre for hay or herbage, a small one on one side for water, and one on the other side for roots, grains, or prepared mashes.

A hay-rack for a cow-house is not only unnecessary, but even dangerous, unless placed as low as the manger; because it is found that when cows are in calf, raising their heads much above the natural level is apt to make them slip their calves. So strongly are the farmers of Normandy impressed with this idea, that they not only take care to have the floors of their cow-houses perfectly level, and the manger or hay-rack not higher than the 'cows' knees, but, when they turn the cows out to grass, they always harness them with a bridle and brechin, to prevent them from tossing up their heads. We have, in various works, referred to the Harleian system of dairy management, and we strongly recommend whoever intends building a cow-house, to consult the notices of that system, and of various others, which will be found given at length in our Encyclopedia of Cottage, Farus, and Villa Architecture, § 757. to § 764.

434. The dairy, in warm climates, or in such as are extremely cold, requires much more care in its construction, than in the temperate climate of England. A building with thick stone, mud, or turf walls, or with hollow brick walls, with a thatched far-projecting roof, standing east and west, and with its doors and windows in the north side and in the ends, will suffice for a dairy, in the wannest part of our island. The windows should have glass sashes for use in winter, they should open inside, and they should be covered on the outside with wirecloth, to exclude flies and other insects during summer, when they are kept constantly open. There ought also to be outside shutters, to exclude the sun, in the mornings and afternoons, from the east and west windows, and to keep in the heat during the severe weather in winter. A thermometer should be kept in the dairy, and the temperature should never be allowed to rise above 55°, or fall below 48° or 50°. In winter, the temporature is kept up by the warm milk being brought in, when newly taken from the cow; but, when necessary, this heat may be increased by placing vessels of hot water on the floor.

Every dairy requires to have a scullery attached, with a fireplace and boiler, as the vessels which hold the milk require to be frequently washed in scalding hot water. Cleanliness is essential in every place where human food is to be kept, but it is particularly so in a dairy; as, if the milk be put into unwashed or carelessly washed vessels, it will soon turn sour; and, if the churn and other utensils used in preparing butter be not frequently scalded, they will give the butter an unpleasant taste, and prevent it from keeping. The dairy scullery may very conveniently be placed at one end, or on one side, of the dairy, taking care to have them separated by-double doors, with windows for ventilation in the passage between, or with a window in the ceiling. This prevents the transmission of heat from the scullery to the dairy in summer; while, by shutting the windows and opening the doors in winter, heat may be admitted from the scullery to the dairy, so as to keep it at the proper temperature. These hints will be sufficient to show the importance of the subject, and to lead those who can deduce rules from general principles into the right mode of thinking respect-ing dairies; while such as require more minute details may have recourse to our Encyclopaedia already quoted.