Cottage Plans. By the Earl of Cawdor. (Ridgway.)—A very useful
book, which may, we trust, do something towards the object for which Lord Cawdor has put it together, the improvement of the dwellings of
the agricultural poor. It contains ground-plans and elevations of the cottages to be built, specifications, and bills of quantities. The calcula- tions are made on the basis of prices prevailing in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire ; but they represent, approximately at least, the average cost. Plan No. 2 represents a cottage containing a kitchen, three bed- rooms, varying in size from 12 x 12 to 10 x 8, and a pantry 8 x 4. This would cost £72 5s. 10d. To this haulage, &c., must be added, say, £25, and for the price of the land, of which there might be the eighth of an acre, £10. The return in the way of rent, which could not exceed, taking the average amount of agricultural wages, £3 per annum, would give but a small interest on this capital ; but the real benefit to the land- owner is determined by other considerations, chiefly by the difference that he must find between a demoralized and a self-respecting popula- tion. Plan No. 6 shows a double cottage, the cost of each half of which would be something about £140, the accommodation supplied being a kitchen and pantry and small bedroom on the ground-floor, and four bed- rooms on the floor above. We very mach wish that Lord Cawdor had given the particulars of No. 8, which he says has been found a convenient arrangement for a smaller farm-house, and which might, we fancy, be found useful by persons who are looking for the great desideratum of a cheap house near London.
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