44S 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



Having decided the question of site, the next point to 

 be attended to is the position or aspect of the building. 

 AU agree that the building should stand in a south-east 

 direction. This, as Mr. Newland remarks, is that which 

 in general in this country "secures the advantage of 

 sunny warmth, light, air, cheerfulness, and shelter from 

 high winds and driving rains. * * In regard to 

 aspect, it may be observed that in every district there 

 is a certain point, from which, owing to local peculi- 

 arities, storms are more frequent than from any other. 

 This once ascertained, the rule should evidently be, to 

 choose such an aspect as will afford the best shelter 

 under the circumstances.'' 



We now come to consider the most important point 

 connected with a farm steading, or farmery, namely, 

 the apartments reqiiired in it, and the method in which 

 they are placed in relation one to another. Deciding as 

 to the apartments required in the steading would seem 

 at first sight to be a very easy matter, and so it is in 

 reality ; yet with some it has not been so, if we 

 may judge from many of the " model steadings" which 

 have been issued from time to time, on which a variety 

 of apartments have been placed together, without any 

 consideration having been bestowed as to whether they 

 were required or not. Thus, it is quite obvious that 

 where dairy farming is carried on, the apartments 

 necessary will not be the same as those in a farm 

 where the raising of grain is the principal work of the 

 farm. " It may, as we have elsewhere remarked, '* per- 

 haps be to some of our readers a novel statement, that 

 there are several kinds or modes of farming practised 

 throughout the kingdom. The term farming in its 

 usually received acceptation is a very limited one, con- 

 veying as it does the idea that its principles and practice 

 are the same everywhere. Thus to the popular mind 

 farming in one district or locality is the same kind of 

 business, and distinguished by the same peculiarities of 

 practice, as farming in another. There are, doubtless, 

 in the several modes or systems of farming practised in 

 Great Britain, many peculiarities common to all ; but 

 some possess points not at all desirable in, or applica- 

 ble to others." Hence, a great number of modes 

 of farming have an existence amongst us, all severally 

 distinguished by peculiarities, and requiring aid only 

 applicable to each particular one. Strict attention, 

 therefore, is obviously necessary on the part of the de- 

 signer of the farm steading as to the peculiar kind of 

 farming carried on by his client, and the consequent 

 requirements of the steading, which he is in need of ; so 

 that no superfluous apartment be given to the exclusion? 

 perhaps, of one imperatively required. Having thus 

 decided on the number and kind of apartments required 

 in the steading, the next matter to be considered is their 

 arrangement, so that the process carried on in one 

 apartment shall aid that carried on in another and 

 contiguous one; that in short, economy of time and 

 labour may result from the way in which the various pro- 

 portions of the building are placed in reference one to 

 another. 



Where such a number of modes of farming exist, it 

 is reasonable to suppose that a like variety of arrange- 



ment of the steading will exist also. Although this is 

 to a certain extent true, still it will be found, that there 

 is a principle of arrangement, which is applicable alike 

 to all farmeries. This principle it was reserved for Mr. 

 Stephens to explain and elucidate in his Book of the 

 Farm, vol. ii., pp. 519-520. So philosophical, and at 

 the same time practical is it, that nearly all writers on 

 the subject have agreed to recommend its adoption, or at 

 least quote it with approbation ; while others, who do not 

 so obviously refer to it, give in explanation of their 

 principles of arrangement, demonstration, and argu- 

 ments, which if not founded upon Mr. Stephens's prin- 

 ciple, display at all events a somewhat striking resem- 

 blance to it. The truth, perhaps, is that the principle 

 is so distinguished by its common sense attributes, that 

 it has had for a long time a place in many minds, Mr. 

 Stephens being first fortunate enough to give its imme- 

 diate enunciation a place in recorded literature, and 

 that in terms so remarkable for its force, yet plainness 

 of statement. It is but right to state that the principle 

 is propounded in connection with the management 

 of a farmery for " mixed husbandry," or " mixed 

 tillage," as it is sometimes termed. This mode of 

 farming is what we may term an epitome of all others ; 

 it possesses the attributes of a dairy farm, for milk cows 

 are kept, and butter and cheese made ; it possesses also 

 those of a stock farm, for cattle and sheep are reared 

 and fattened for sale ; grain is also grown. Adapting 

 itself to nearly all localities, and requiring exercise of 

 thoughtful vigilance and cautious care ; and the com- 

 mand moreover of considerable capital, it must be 

 carried out in large farms, the minimum being 50O 

 acres. The mixed husbandry system is, perhaps, the 

 most favoured in the estimation of scientific agricultu- 

 rists. The following is Mr. Stephens's enunciation of 

 his principle of arrangement. 



" Straw being the bulkiest article on the farm, and in 

 daily use by every kind of live-stock, and although 

 heavy and unwieldy, having to be carried and distributed 

 in small quantities by bodily labour, it should be cen- 

 trically placed in regard to the stock, and at a short 

 distance from their respective apartments. The straw- 

 barn, its receptacle, should thus occupy the central 

 point of the steading. The several apartments con- 

 taining the live stock should be placed, in respect of 

 distance to it, according to the wants of the stock for 

 straw, in order to save labour in its carriage ; for so 

 bulky and heavy an article as straw should, in all cases, 

 be moved to short distances, and not at all from any 

 other apartment than the straw- barn, so that the thrash- 

 ing-machine which deprives the straw of its grain 

 should be so placed as at once to deposit the straw into 

 the straw-barn. The stack-yard containing the un- 

 thrashed straw, with its corn, should be contiguous to 

 the thrashing-machine. The passage of the straw from 

 the stack-yard to the straw-barn through the thrashing, 

 machine being directly progressive, it is a material con- 

 sideration in the saving of time to place the stack-yard, 

 thrashing-machine, and straw-barn in a right line. 



" Different classes of stock require different quanti- 

 ties of straw to maintain them in the same degree of 



