REPORT OF MR. FRANCIS H. APPLETON.
515
The employment of more laborers is utterly unnecessary, and shows either shiftlessness and laziness on their part, or neglect on that of their overseer.
Walls of rammed earth are very durable, and, besides their cheapness, oiler the advantage of remaining dry, when built on a good masonry foundation. They also, from their non-conducting power, keep out the heat in summer and the cold in winter. They are, however, by no means new, but only unusual in Bohemia. In other countries they have been used for a long time.
Their introduction is to be especially recommended in those districts in which stone and bricks are dear, or where their transport involves too great expense, or where it is wished to save as much as possible in building expenses. In these cases the cheap roofing with tarred paper is advisable, when straw cannot be used, which is by all means the best material for farm-buildings.
The last of my farm-buildings was the grain-magazine erected in American style near Franzenshof in 1868.
There is a mill also in this magazine for grinding small quantities of grain for my own use and that of the cattle. This was built to do away with the necessity of hauling to and from the existing mill, and of the inspection attending grinding. It is driven by a fixed engine.
The brewery at Kolin was provided in the year 1863 with the apparatus necessary for the production of 780,000 gallons. This consisted of boilers, coolers and an English malt- kiln. Cellars were also made for fermentation for beer, ice and storing. In the year 1872 it was adapted to working by machinery.
It was not until I had completed all the farm-buildings and the brewery that I resolved to make my dwelling in the former forester’s house at Bejchor more convenient and agreeable. By successive additions the Castle of Horsky- feld arose upon the spot, with stables, carriage-houses and buildings for employés ; and finally the governmental telegraphic station was erected at my own expense.
The beautiful location of this place, its healthfulness and its proximity to a forest of nearly one thousand acres, containing many varieties of trees, determined my choice iii its