172 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



sity to successful farming, but the structures they at first put 

 up were rude in the extreme. The Puritan barn was generally 

 an oblong building, varying in size with the extent of the farm, 

 resting upon no very stable foundations, the underpinning 

 allowing a free circulating of air under the feet of the horses 

 and cattle, and the siding, being made of green hemlock boards, 

 shrank so as to admit the wind and light, thus avoiding the 

 necessity of ventilating tubes and all patronage of the glazier. 

 This style of barn architecture has continued in fashion more or 

 less to the present day. We are rejoiced, however, to know 

 that the march of improvement has commenced. Cellars to 

 barns are now considered by intelligent farmers almost as essen- 

 tial as cellars to houses. The wide cracks that formerly let the 

 cold winds upon the stock and the air upon the hay, damaging 

 the latter almost as much as the former, have been battened, or 

 tight siding has taken the place of the old shaky and warped 

 hemlock covering. It is found that in a tight mow, hay is 

 preserved much better than when the air circulates on all sides. 

 It is also found that a warm stabling saves much food ; for a 

 good share of the fodder was spent in keeping up the animal 

 heat. 



The four principal purposes to be accomplished in barn archi- 

 tecture are : commodious storage for the crops, comfortable 

 quarters for the stock, convenient performance of labor, and the 

 economical saving of manure. Many of our farms have too many 

 outbuildings, a barn here, a barn there, a granary in one place, 

 a pigpen in another, and a hennery in still another. As a 

 general rule it is more economical and convenient to have all the 

 offices of the barn under one roof. Said an old and wise farmer 

 to us once, " Many men put on more shingles than they can 

 support. The same roof will cover a basement and two stories 

 as well as one story, and the less siding you expose to the 

 weather the better." We desire particularly to commend base- 

 ments to barns. They give a solid foundation on which the 

 superstructure can be reared without fear of its becoming lop- 

 sided or travelling off with the winter's wind or frost. They 

 furnish warm stabling for stock, safe housing for roots, and 

 shelter for manure. There is a possibility, however, of secur- 

 ing warmth in basement stables at the expense of light and air, 

 and consequently of the health of the stock. We have been in 



