THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



341 



AGRICULTURAL BUILDINGS. 



Sir, — In preparing an article for the columns of 

 your widely-circulated Journal, one feels considerable 

 delicacy in generally advocating or condemning any 

 particular system, as the exceedingly variable cha- 

 racter of the soil and climate of Great Britain, as well 

 as the general contour of the country, render necessary 

 a great variety of customs and systems of husbandry. 

 But there are certain standard axioms in agricultural 

 economy, as well as in every other science, applicable 

 to all circumstances and to be observed under every 

 variation of soil or climate. Who, for instance, would 

 doubt the necessity and propriety of draining wet or 

 retentive soils, wherever they might be situated ? But 

 who is so absurd as to advocate a system of either deep 

 or shallow draining as being applicable to every descrip- 

 tion of soil .' or who will doubt the propriety of a rota- 

 tion of crops ? Who so unwise as to advocate the same 

 rotation as being suitable for every district .' The places 

 of the luxuriant wheat and mangold crops, upon the 

 calcareous flinty soils, and beneath the dry climate of 

 the East of England, are occupied by the verdant pas- 

 tures, the bulky oat, and rich alimenting turnip crops 

 of the loamy soils and humid climate of the West. It 

 is from being impressed with such feelings as these, 

 that I feel a nicety in taking up the question of Agricul- 

 tural Buildings in your widely-circulated Journal ; for, 

 whilst I feel convinced that all will agree with me in 

 Saying that substantial, ample, and commodious pre- 

 mises are of paramount importance to agriculture, I am 

 at the same time aware that, within the precincts of the 

 circulation of your Journal, a diversity of opinions will 

 be found as to the amount of accommodation requisite, 

 and the best method of arrangement. The long and 

 severe cold of a Scottish winter renders it imperatively 

 necessary that more ample and comfortable accommo- 

 dation be there provided for the stock, than may suffice 

 ( in the more mild and hospitable climate of the South. 

 If I were to assert that this important attribute to suc- 

 cessful farming is overlooked by all landlords, or 

 neglected in every part of the country, I should be 

 making an unwarrantable assertion ; but if I say that 

 few landlords attach to it that importance which it de- 

 mands, and that the great mass of agricultural buildings 

 throughout the country are in an unsatisfactory con- 

 dition, I feel that I am making no rash assertion or 

 uncharitable remark. 



It is not my intention, upon the present occa- 

 sion, to enter into the minutiae connected with 

 the erection or arranging of farm-bui!dings; but 

 merely to throw out a few promiscuous remarks 

 bearing upon the subject grnerally, and to press the im- 

 portance of a much greater attention being paid to 

 Agricultural Buildings, than in many parts of the 

 country they have hitherto received. Next to long 

 leases (and the one is almost a certain concomitant of 

 the other), there is nothing more calculated to aid in 

 promoting good husbandry than ample farm buildings. 

 It is very possible that bad farming may be found where 

 guch premises exist, but good and successful farming 

 can never be carried on with scanty and dilapidated 

 buildings. Where the necessary shelter and warmth 

 for stock are wanting, much of that nutriment which 

 should tend to improve the animal is spent in maintain- 

 ing that necessary de'gree of warmth which a comfortable 

 lodging should supply, and the inroads of disease and 

 death become more frequent ; and, with insufficient 

 accommodation, much loss and inconvenience is sus- 



tained. Implements must remain unprotected from the 

 weather, a due regard to manure is olten prevented, and 

 even a full development of the resources of the farm is 

 often rendered utterly impossible, or when the arrange- 

 ment is inconvenient, much loss of time and additional 

 expense in labour is involved. It has been computed 

 that to have the steading conveniently i)laced with re- 

 gard to the land, will upon a farm of considerable 

 extent increase its value from one to five shillings per 

 acre, and that an ample and convenient arrangement of 

 the buildings will diminish the amount of labour and 

 loss, &c., upon a similar farm to the amount of from 

 £50 to £100 per annum. Theory at once points to the 

 centre of the farm as the best site for the steading ; but 

 here, as in many other instances, principles must often 

 give way to circumstances, and proximity to a good 

 road, an ample supply of water for general use, or its 

 acquirement as a motive power, are considerations to 

 which proper weight ought to be attached in selecting a 

 site for a farm steading. When the buildings are placed 

 at an extremity of the farm, the e:ipense of labour 

 must then be raised to a maximum, and much loss and 

 inconvenience experienced ; the farthest fields are gene- 

 rally neglected for want of manure and their due amount 

 of cultivation, and to erect off-premises for the accommo- 

 dation of distant fields is a very slight mitigation of the 

 evil, if indeed any at all ; it is only incurring additional 

 expense in erecting and maintaining extra premises, and 

 after all attended with many inconveniences. Mis- 

 placed farm buildings are very frequently to be met 

 with in several of the eastern.counties of England ; and, 

 although I am not at a loss to assign reasons for the 

 neglect of this important point, still I see no real cause why 

 more active and energetic measures should not betaken to 

 remedy an evil so prejudicial to successful agriculture. 

 One would have naturally supposed that in a level 

 country, intersected by excellent roads, there could ex- 

 ist no pretext for misplacing farm-steadings, and that 

 they would be found planted down with almost mathe- 

 matical accuracy. Quite the reverse, however, is more 

 frequently found to be the case; and I believe the origin, 

 as well as the continued existence of the evil in the 

 counties just mentioned, is to be traced to some or all of 

 the following sources, viz. ; small parishes, glebe lands, 

 charitable bequests, copyhold tenure, commons, yearly 

 tenancy, and an indifference on the part of landlords. 

 It may be thought that some of these can in no way in- 

 terfere with farm-buildings. I consider however that 

 all, more or less, have had, and still do exert, a baneful 

 influence, botlx with regard to the choice of a situation 

 and the provision of commodious and ample arrange- 

 ments. By the intersection and cutting in of glebe 

 lands, some farms are so detached that it would be im- 

 possible to point out a central situation ; and so much 

 negotiation is required with the lord bishop, the rector, 

 and attorney, that few are bold enough to encounter the 

 troubles involved in an exchange of their hinds. Com- 

 mons, too, whether as common or divided, produce the 

 same injurious effects ; and where parishes use small, 

 glebe lands, commons, and small patches are ceneraUy 

 found more numerous. Lands belonging to charitable 

 bequests also, being generally inalienable, have a like 

 prejudicial tendency to mar the compactness of farms, 

 and to preserve the boundaries of fields upon which they, 

 in common with glebe lands, &c., abut in that crooked, 

 irregular, and unworkable state, so fashionable in the 

 days of our forefathers, and for whose wisdom in tbifl 



