EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 215 



Despite the fact that only very ordinary judgment would seem to 

 decree otherwise, the truth still remains that the greatest mistake in 

 building operations is that of not getting the foundations high enough. 

 It is appalling the number of farm buildings resting on, or even in the 

 ground, with sills and lower ends of the siding completely rotted away. 

 There are thousands of old barns in the state which, if raised and fur- 

 nished with foundations, could be refitted and made useful, at very little 

 expense, for years to come. Most of these old buildings possess good 

 frames and siding. Since cement has come into such general use the 

 farmer can easily construct grout foundations without any outlay what- 

 ever for professional labor, owing to the ease with which the work can 

 be accomplished. 



In grouping farm buildings on a particular site, or in placing them in 

 relation to one another from an economic standpoint, two common prac- 

 tices seem to prevail. Buildings are either grouped to form an unbroken 

 line or square, or they are placed promiscuously without any definite rela- 

 tion one to another. It is a common practice in some parts of the coun- 

 try, particularly New England, to have house, woodshed, carriage build- 

 ing, horse stable and other farm buildings joined in a continuous string, 

 so that the most remote one can be reached from the house without going 

 out of doors. Barns are frequently placed so as to form a court, three 

 sides of a court, or an L; this is usually done to secure a yard protected 

 from wind and have easy access to the stores of fodder in the barn and 

 to the stack of straw in the yard. Undoubtedly the most satisfactory 

 grouping of farm buildings, except for danger of loss by fire, is secured 

 by placing them in the lorm of a square surrounding a court. The 

 chances of complete loss by fire are such, however, that this plan should 

 receive very careful consideration before adoption. No matter how per- 

 fect the water system to guard against fire may seem to be, it is a general 

 rule that if a t)arn takes fire from lightning or other causes, it is almost 

 certain to be completely destroyed because of the very combustible mate- 

 rial of which it is constructed, and the haj'^, straw and dust found therein. 

 If barns are grouped to form a square, adequate gaps should be left at 

 the corners of the square for fire protection ; then the group is only meas- 

 urably safe even with a good water system. 



Figure 1 shows the arrangement of the M. A. C. farm buildings prior 

 to the removal and regrouping, and serves as an apt illustration of the 

 promiscuous placing of buildings. There are many disadvantages in this 

 system, some of which are: (1) The distance which herdsmen, shepherds 

 and various attendants are required to travel in performing the day's 

 work is too great. Under the present grouping shown in Fig. 2, in 

 making a round trip from the farm house through horse, cattle, sheep 

 and swine barns, an attendant must travel about 2,100 feet in order to 

 see the 23 horses, 225 cattle, 200 sheep and 150 hogs. Under the old 

 grouping he had to travel about 2,400 feet in making the round trip of 

 the buildings which housed but half this amount of live stock. Much 

 time and energy is wasted where herdsmen and attendants have to travel 

 frequently from building to building in performing their labor. (2) It 

 is also desirable in grouping buildings to centralize the position of the 

 manure yard or shed, thus reducing to a minimum the number of manure 

 piles. (3) The food supplies should not be too widely scattered. (4) Proper 

 grouping of buildings also greatly facilitates matters in providing 



