y are worthless for any _permanent_ structure, and if
used, will in the end prove a dead loss in their application. Cottages,
out-buildings, and other cheap erections on the farm, for the
accommodation of laborers, stock, or crops, may be made of wood, where
wood is the cheapest and most easily obtained; and, even taking its
perishable nature into account, it may be the most economical. In their
construction, it may be simply a matter of calculation with him who
needs them, to calculate the first cost of any material he has at hand,
or may obtain, and to that add the interest upon it, the annual wear and
tear, the insurance, and the period it may last, to determine this
matter to his entire satisfaction--always provided he have the means at
hand to do either. But other considerations generally control the
American farmer. His pocket is apt more often to be pinched, than his
choice is to be at fault; and this weighty argument compels him into the
"make shift" system, which perhaps in its results, provided the main
chance be attained, is quite as advantageous to his interests as the
other.

As a general remark, all buildings should show for themselves, what they
are built of. Let stone be stone; bricks show on their own account; and
of all things, put no counterfeit by way of plaster, stucco, or other
false pretence other than paint, or a durable wash upon wood: it is a
miserable affectation always, and of no possible use whatever. All
counterfeit of any kind as little becomes the buildings of the farmer,
as the gilded _pinchbeck_ watch would fit the finished attire of a
gentleman.

Before submitting the several designs proposed for this work, it may be
remarked, that in addressing them to a climate strictly American, we
have in every instance adopted the wide, steeply-pitched roof, with
broad eaves, gables and cornices, as giving protection, shade, and
shelter to the walls; thus keeping them dry and in good preservation,
and giving that well housed, and comfortable expression, so different
from the stiff, pinched, and tucked-up look in which so many of the
haberdasher-built houses of the present day exult.

We give some examples of the hipped roof, because they are convenient
and cheap in their construction; and we also throw into the designs a
lateral direction to the roofs of the wings, or connecting parts of the
building. This is sometimes done for effect in architectural appearance,
and sometimes for the economy a