86 I Senate 



Shutting and self-fastening gate. A proper inclination in hanging will 

 secure the former requisite, and a good latch, properly constructed, 

 the latter. Each field should be numbered, and the number painted 

 on the gate-post. Let the farmer who has hars instead of gates, 

 make a trial of their comparative convenience, by taking them out 

 and replacing them without stopping, as often as he does in one year 

 on his farm, say about six hundred times, and he cannot fail to be 

 satisfied which is cheapest for use. 



Buildings. — These should be as near the center of the farm as other 

 considerations will admit. All the hay, grain, and straw, being conveyed 

 from the fields to the barn, and most of it back again in manure, the 

 distance of drawing should be as short as possible. This will, also, 

 save much traveling of men and of cattle to and from the different 

 parts of the farm. The buildings should not, however, be too remote 

 from the public road ; and a good, dry, healthy spot should be cho- 

 sen. The dwelling should be comfortable but not large — or it should, 

 rather, be adapted to the extent of the lands. A large, costly house, 

 with small farm and other buildings, is a bad indication of manage- 

 ment. The censure of the old Roman should be avoided, who, hav- 

 ing a small piece of land, built his house so large that he had less oc- 

 casion to plow than to sweep. 



The barn and out-buildings should be of ample extent. The barn 

 should have space for hay, grain, and straw. It is a matter of great 

 convenience to have the straw for littering stables, housed, and close 

 at hand, and not out of doors, under a foot of snow. There should 

 be plenty of stables and sheds for all domestic animals. This provi- 

 sion will not only save one-third of the fodder, but stock will thrive 

 much better. Cows will give much more milk — sheep will yield 

 more and better wool — and all will pass through the winter more 

 safely. The wood-house near, or attached to, the dwelling, should 

 never be forgotten, so long as comfort in building fires, and economy 

 in the use of fuel, are of any importance. 



A small, cheap, moveable horse-power, should belong to every es- 

 tablishment, to be used in churning, sawing wood, driving washing 

 machine, turning grindstone, cutting straw and slicing roots. 



There should be a large root cellar under the barn, into which the 

 cart may be dumped from the outside. One great objection to the 



