Yesterday's common
sense ideas to help you maintain and enjoy your country home,
garden, landscape and property.
From The
National Farmer's & Housekeeper's Cyclopedia, 1888
The box-house does very well if made of any small wooden box about
fifteen inches square with a division put in it so that two
families can inhabit it. A square hole should be sawed out at the
bottom edge opposite each division, and the bottom nailed on.
Place the box on a pole from twelve to fifteen feet high, or on
the gable end of a roof, or even in a tree, and your house is
finished. It can be painted or not, or even made in fancy designs,
which are quite attractive to the eye. The illustration given on
this page will convey the idea. A hop, or other rapid-growing
climber, if planted at the bottom of the pole, will climb up it
and cause it to look quite ornamental and picturesque. We have
seen them built two stories high, made like a diminutive gothic
cottage, which is quite pretty. The house should be made before
the martins come, as they are generally in a hurry to locate and
go to "housekeeping." By all means give them some kind of a home.
