FARMS. 171 



and 50 feet wide, the posts 32 feet high, with wing 43 by 20 

 feet, the whole resting on a basement with solid stone walls on 

 three sides 8 feet high. The entrance and driveway are in the 

 third story, with bays on either side 24 feet deep, so that it is 

 comparatively an easy matter to stow away the 150 or more 

 tons of hay which Mr. Howland annually cuts. The barn being 

 situated on the south side of a hill, the access to the main barn 

 floor is not so difficult as might be supposed, and the egress is 

 accomplished at the other end of the driveway, without backing 

 or turning around. The stabling is on the first floor above the 

 basement, where the herdsman finds the hay accessible, as also 

 the roots. Few farmers have the advantages of location which 

 Mr. Howland possesses, but all can obtain suggestions from the 

 examination of his barn, which might enure greatly to their 

 advantage. It is due to the memory of the late Mr. Isaac How- 

 land, the father of Charles A., to say that the plan of the barn 

 is mainly his, and is the result of his study during a life of three- 

 score and ten years. He lived to see his long-cherished plan 

 partially developed, but died before the building was com- 

 pleted. 



The barns that have been built within the past year by Messrs. 

 A. 0. Hodge and A. J. Bucklin of Adams, Henry Noble of 

 Pittsfield, and H. D. Palmer and W. H. T. Mali of Stockbridge, 

 deserve mention, not only as specimens of good barn architect- 

 ure, but as evidence of improvement in this essential of good 

 farming. 



In our former reports we have taken occasion to speak of 

 what constitutes good farm management, and of fruit culture, 

 and we desire now to say a few things about barn architecture, 

 as this subject is evidently and deservedly receiving increased 

 attention from the farming community. When our fathers first 

 came to New from Old England, they bestowed little thought, 

 or expense, on shelters for stock. This is not to be wondered 

 at when we consider that they came from a comparatively mild 

 climate, where most of the hay and grain is stored in stacks, 

 where the turnips and other roots are mainly fed on the ground 

 where they grow, and where sheep and neat stock are frequently 

 not housed at all during the winter. The pioneer settlers of 

 New England soon found from the great losses of stock from 

 exposure to the severity of the winters, that shelter was a neces- 



