(240.) It is, I dare say, well enough known, that the milk-house and cheese-room windows in farm-houses are exempt from window-tax, if the names of the apartments are painted, in conspicuous letters of not less than one inch in height, over their respective windows. (241.) After going so fully into the specifications required for building a steading, it is quite unnecessary for me to do the same in regard to that part of the farm-house which contains the kitchen, milk-house, &c. Suffice it to enumerate a few articles which are particularly required for this part of the house. (242.) The prices of these requisites, including the cost of carriage, are: Masonry. Polished jambs and lintels for kitchen and rooms, per square foot Arbroath hearths and pavement, per ditto 0 1 per lineal foot 0 0 Wall-straps, 1 inch square by 12 inches from centres, per sq. foot 0 0 6 Standard walls, 34 inches by 2 inches, and 16 inches from centres, per ditto 0 Sills and runtrees for ditto, 3 inches by 2 inches, per lineal foot Boards and fillets for deafening, Borders for hearths, 3 inches by 14 inch, per square yard 0 0 0 Ceiling-joisting, 3 inches by 14, and 16 inches from centres, 0 2/1/20 0 2/1/20 62132 Windows with astragal bars, double hung, and glazed with best second crown-glass, per square yard 0 2-inch flush and bead-bound outer back-door, per ditto 0 1 ings on both sides, . 14-inch bound doors for closets and presses, with planted mouldings outside, and sunk mouldings on back, 13-inch bound moulded doors for kitchen, &c., per ditto Carpentry (continued). -inch deal linings for breasts, elbows, soffits, and jambs of doors, 14-inch base moulding, with plinth, 6 inches by 1 inch, per ditto Plain plinth, 6 inches by inch, . Black-birch handrail, 3 inches by 2 inches, moulded, per ditto per ditto each 0 10 6 1 10 0 set, 3 feet, complete, Ditto, if done with black birch, 14-inch deal cistern for scullery, properly supported, to contain 120 gallons, 14-inch deal cistern for water-closet, properly supported, to contain 80 gallons, . Kitchen-dresser, with 3 drawers, stout framing, sparred bottom, front doors, and 2-inch hardwood top, 14-inch hardwood shelving for milk-house, when 3 Stools, Stout deal table, 5 feet long by 4 feet broad, with drawer, with barrel-bolt, and 7-inch double joints, 7-inch iron rim-locks, Scotch make, and 6-inch double joints, each Fine press-locks, with brass mountings, and 5-inch joints, ditto Common ditto, 3 Fine water-closet latch, with snibbing-bolt and 5-inch joints, Back-bars for other windows, 12 inches by 18 inches long, ditto Iron and Brass Work (continued). 24-inch brass waste and washers for cisterns, 24-inch brass table-washer and chain for sink, 4-inch brass nose-cocks, Boilers, 3-inch cess-pools, Force-pump, 2 inch, . 4 15 0 Plumber-work. Large moulded cistern-heads, 0 18 0 Lining 120-gallon cistern with 7 lb. lead on the bottom, and 6 lb. Composition deafening for floors run over with thin lime, per ditto, and under, 0 5960 10 to per lineal foot, (243.) In regard to the relative positions which the farm-house and steading should occupy, it has been remarked by a recent writer, that It is generally advised that the farm-house should be placed directly in front: to which, however, it may be objected that it casts a shade over the southern entrance of the yard if very near, and if too far off, its distance will be found to be inconvenient. Perhaps the best situation is on one side of the farm-yard, with the common parlour and kitchen opening nearly into it: farmers may talk as they like about unhealthy odours arising from the stables and yards, but there never was any one injured by them, and they cannot keep too close an eye upon their servants and stock."* If farmers" cannot keep too close an eye upon their ser * British Husbandry, voi. i. p. 86. vants and stock," and if the position of their houses will enable them to do so, they should do something more than place them on one side of the farmyard:" they must remain constantly in them, and cause “ 'their servants and stock" to be continually in sight in the farm-yard, otherwise their watching will be of no avail; for when the servants come to know that the house has been placed there merely to watch their proceedings, they at least, if not the stock, can and will easily avoid the particular place constantly overlooked by the house. The truth is, and every farmer knows it, that it is not the spot occupied by his house, whether here or there, that maintains his authority over his servants: he knows that he himself must be " up and doing" in the fields, in the farmyard, everywhere" be stirring with the lark," "From morn to noon, from noon to dewy even," ere he can ascertain whether his servants are doing their work well, and his stock thriving well. Inconvenience to himself in going a great distance betwixt his house and the steading, will induce the farmer to place his house near rather than at a distance from the steading. He wishes to be within call,—to be able to be on the spot in a few seconds, when his presence is required in the farm-yard, the stable, the byre, or the barn; but more than this he does not want, and need not care for. Place your house, therefore, if you have the choice, on some pleasant spot, neither direct in front" nor much in the rear of the steading. If there be no such spot at hand, make one for your house, place it there, and dwell in it, with the comfortable assurance that your servants will not regard you the less, or your stock thrive the worse, because you happen to live beyond the influence of the "unhealthy odours arising from your stables and yards,”—odours, by the way, of the unpleasantness of which I never heard a farmer complain. No one of that class but a sloven would place his house beside a dunghill. "John. 18. OF THE PERSONS WHO LABOUR THE FARM. Labour in thy vocation:- Geo. Thou hast hit it: for there's no better sign of a brave mind than a hard hand." (244.) Those who labour a farm form the most important part of its materiel; they are the spirit that conducts its operations. You should, therefore, become early acquainted with those functionaries. They are the farmer himself, the steward or grieve, the ploughman, the hedger or labourer, the shepherd, the cattle-man, the field-worker, and the dairymaid. These have each duties to perform, which, in their respective spheres, should harmonize and never interfere with each other. Should any occurrence happen to disturb the harmony of labour, it must arise from some misapprehension or ignorance in the interfering party, whose aberrations must be rectified by the presiding power. I shall consider the duties in the order I have mentioned the respective agents. (245.) And first, those of the farmer. It is his province to originate the entire system of management,-to determine the period for commencing and pursuing every operation,-to issue general orders of management to the steward, when there is one, and if there be none, to give minute instructions to the ploughmen for the performance of every separate field operation,-to exercise a general superintendence over the field-workers, to observe the general behaviour of all,—to see if the cattle are cared for,-to ascertain the condition of all the crops,-to guide the shepherd,-to direct the hedger or labourer,-to effect the sales of the surplus produce,-to conduct the purchases conducive to the progressive improvement of the farm, to disburse the expenses of management,-to pay the rent to the landlord,-and to fulfil the obligations incumbent on him as a residenter of the parish. All these duties are common to the farmer and the steward engaged to manage a farm. An independent steward and a farmer are thus so far on the same footing; but the farmer occupies a loftier station. He is his own master, makes bargains to suit his own interests,-stands on an equal footing with the landlord in the lease,-has entire control over the servants, hiring and discharging them at any term he pleases, and possesses power to grant favours to servants and friends. The farmer has not all those duties to perform in any one day, but in the course of their proper fulfilment, daily calls are made on his attention, and so large a portion of his time is occupied by them, that he finds little leisure to go far from home, except in the season when few operations are performed on a farm, viz. the end of summer. These are the professional duties of the farmer; but he has those of domestic and social life to fulfil, like every other member of society. If a farmer fulfils all his duties as he ought to do, he cannot be said "to eat the bread of idleness." (246.) The duty of the steward, or grieve, as he is called in some parts of Scotland, and bailiff in England, consists in receiving general instructions from his master the farmer, which he sees executed by the people under his charge. He exercises a direct control over the ploughmen and field-workers; and unreasonable disobedience on their part of his commands is reprehended as strongly by the farmer, as if the affront had been offered to himself: I say unreasonable disobedience, because the farmer is the judge of whether the steward has been reasonable in his demands. It is the duty of the steward to enforce the commands of his master, and to check every deviation from rectitude he may observe in the servants against his interests. Although he should thus protect the interests of |