208 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



eave-trough and into the hole bored for the "ground" at the corner of 

 the barn. Beginning here, the cable is fastened with staples up along 

 the corner board, on up the roof and along the ridge board down to 

 the opposite corner where the other end is grounded. The cable for the 

 center ''ground" is then put up, and the points are fastened into the 

 tees. The hay track is fastened to the cable (as shown in the figure) 

 by a heavy galvanized wire. The earth is packed in about the "grounds" 

 and the job is completed. 



Let us now get at the cost of rodding the barn. The materials used 

 and approximate cost of the same is as follows: 



338 feet of % inch cable at i 



5 pounds 3 inch staples (27 in 1 pound) at 



3 12-foot lengths I/2 inch round iron at 



6 1/2-inch galvanized iron tees at 



12 % by % inch setscrews at 



1 %-pint can aluminum paint at 



Labor, 2 men 24 hours at 



112.01 



The amount of labor required to put up the rods depends materially 

 on the care exercised in laying and fastening the cable. It takes con- 

 siderable time to lay the cable straight and bore the holes for the 

 staples ; but the better appearance of the job and the boards and shingles 

 saved from being cracked, makes it worth while. The use of the % inch 

 cable will lessen the labor item considerably. 



METHOD OF RODDING HORSE BARN. 



Owing to the construction of the ridge board and cupolas of the horse 

 barn (Fig. 5.) a somewhat different method was followed in rodding 

 it. The ridge of the barn is covered with sheet iron extending down 

 10 or 12 inches on each side. The cupolas are made entirely of heavy 

 galvanized iron and are in good contact with the metalic ridge board. 

 The cable was put on the barn in the usual way, up one side, along 

 on the iron ridge where staples held it in good contact, through the 

 cupolas and down the opposite side with one point at each end of the 

 barn. The iron cupolas, being in good contact with the cable need no 

 points. They are in themselves sufficiently good conductors. The figure 

 shows the cable at the right connecting the ground at the northwest 

 corner of the barn. 



GROUNDING OF FENCES. 



The subject of lightning rod protection would be incomplete without 

 mentioning the subject of the protection of the live stock in the fields 

 from lightning striking the wire fences. Since the introduction of wire 

 fences an increasing amount of stock have been killed in the fields. We 

 learn from the weather bureau that in 1898 they collected reports which 

 showed that in Iowa 73 per cent of the damaging strokes fell upon live 

 stock. Animals to the value of |6,897 were killed in 153 strokes of 

 lightning. The director of the Iowa weather and crop service, com- 



