THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



U9 



cleanliness and condition, so that t/iose classen which 

 require the most should be placed nearest the straw- 

 barn. The younger stock, including those in the ham- 

 mels, requiring most straw, receiving it largely for fod- 

 der as well as litter ; the courts which they occapy 

 should be placed contiguous to the straw-barn, one 

 occupying each side of it. The older or fattening 

 cattle requiring the next largest quantity of straw, the 

 hammels which they occupy should be placed next to 

 the courts in nearness to the straw-barn. Horses and 

 cows requiring the smallest quantity of straw, the stables 

 and byres may be placed next furthest in distance to the 

 hammels from the straw-barn. 



" The position of the other two apartments are neces- 

 sarily determined by that of the thrashing-machine, the 

 one being the upper barn, which contains the unthrashed 

 corn from the stack-yard ready to be passed through the 

 mill, and the other the corn-barn, which receives the corn 

 immediately after its separation from the straw by the 

 mill. The granaries should be in direct communication 

 with the corn-barn, to save the labour of carrying the 

 clean corn to a distance. * * The granaries should 

 always be elevated above the ground, to keep the grain 

 in good condition, and it enables their floors to form 

 convenient roofs for cattle or cart-sheds. The eleva- 

 tion which the granaries give to the building should be 

 taken advantage of, to place them so as to shelter the 

 cattle courts from the north wind in winter, and in 

 order to afford the warmth of the sun to the cattle all 

 their courts should be open to its light and heat. The 

 courts being open to the south, and the granaries form- 

 ing a screen from the north, it follows that the gran- 

 aries should extend east and west on the north side of 

 the courts, and as it has been shown that the cattle 

 courts should be placed on each side of the straw-barn, 

 it also follows that the straw-barn, to be out of the way 

 of screening the sun from the courts, should stand north 

 and south, at right angles to the south of the granaries. 

 The fixing of the straw-barn to the south of the gran- 

 aries, and of course to that of the thrashing-machine, 

 the position of the stack-yard is necessarily fixed to the 

 north of both, where it is favourably situated for the 

 preservation of the corn in the stacks. 



" The leading principle involved in the above arrange- 

 ment is as comprehensive as simple, and is applicable to 

 every size and kind of steading. But obviously correct 

 as the principle is, it is seldom adopted in practice ; and 

 I may safely assert that the greater the deviation from 

 the principle, the less desirable steadings become as 

 habitations for live stock in winter." 



On this point of " arrangement" of the apartoaents 

 in a farmery, Mr Newlands, author of the able article 

 on "Farm Buildings," in John Chalmers Morton's 

 Cycloptedia of Agriculture, and a reliable authority on 

 such matters, has the following: "The leading object 

 to be arrived at, in the arrangement of the plan, is 

 economy of time and labour in the performance of the 

 work to be carried on. In following this object there 

 are two important principles which should guide the 

 designer : the first, that there should be an immediate 

 connexion between those buildings or apartments where 



usefulness depends upon each other ; the second, that 

 houses used for analogous purposes should, as much as 

 possible, be classified and arranged together. In car- 

 rying out the first of these, we shall find that the posi- 

 tion of the barn governs that of the other buildings or 

 apartments. For the straw-barn being the great store- 

 house of fodder and litter, from which the stables, feed- 

 ing sheds, and yards receive their supply, it is necessary 

 that these be situated as near to it as possible, and those 

 the nearest to which the greatest and most frequent 

 supplies have to be conveyed. Again, the straw-barn 

 is an appendage to the barn where the corn is thrashed : 

 there is a necessary connexion here also. To the corn- 

 barn must be attached the building which contains the 

 motive-power to drive its machinery ; and it is a con- 

 venient arrangement to have the granary in immediate 

 connexion with the corn and dressing-barn. Further, 

 the house where the food is consumed should be in con- 

 nexion with, or at least not far removed from, the house 

 in which it is prepared ; and this, again, should be con- 

 tiguous to the places where the food is stored. Lasll^', 

 that the cleaning-out of the houses may not consume 

 unnecessary time, the place where the manure is 

 deposited should be near to them and of ready 

 access." 



" It should always be borne in mind that it is more 

 important to save time in comparatively insignificant 

 operations of frequent occurrence, than in larger matters 

 which are not often repeated. Thus it is better to have 

 the house, where food is prepared, and whence small 

 quantities are taken several times each day, close to the 

 place where food is consumed, than to have it near the 

 store-house, from which the supply may be required to 

 be carried only once. 



" The second principle of arrangement, though subor- 

 dinate, is yet of great importance ; it is to classify and 

 arrange the buildings or apartments used for like pur- 

 poses. Attention to this greatly facilitates the labour 

 of the homestead. Thus the homes and yards for par- 

 ticular descriptions of stock should be placed together ; 

 the working cattle should be kept by themselves ; the 

 cows of the domestic dairy should be kept apart from 

 the feeding stock ; pigs and the poultry should have 

 each their proper locality. It is of great assistance to 

 this classified arrangement to have a working court or 

 yard, round v.'hich are assembled in their proper order 

 the apartments for storing and preparing food, the sheds 

 where the wheel- carriages of the farm are stored, the 

 houses where the tools and the smaller implements are 

 kept, those in which the blacksmith and carpenter 

 work, and the others used occasionally for various pur- 

 poses. And in addition to this, it is important to place 

 the highest buildings so as to afford shelter from the 

 prevailing winds, and yet not to intercept the rays of 

 the sun from the other buildings and the yards. In 

 many situations it is desirable that the whole of the 

 outhouses should be so arranged as to have one common 

 entrance, which can be closed for security every night." 

 — " Cyclopaedia of Agriculture," vol. i. p. 789. 



A vast amount of practical information as to the ar- 

 rangement and construction of " farm buildings " was 



