FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. 549 



In a modern barn there should be placed a manure carrier to help 

 The boy that cleans the now stable. With ample track and switches it 

 can alike be -.ised for cow and horse stalls. All winter manure should 

 be dumped in a frost-free place and hauled out in the winter when there 

 has been no hatching or evaporation and when time and labor is more 

 plentiful and roads and fields are hard. This is an important item to 

 be reckoned with in putting up new buildings. 



In case of large barns, which are usually empty of young cattle in 

 the summer, one end should be provided with an adjustable floor to be 

 raised for admitting grain in bundles froni top to bottom, and to be low- 

 ered again after threshing and filled again above with either straw or 

 bedding, or aftermath for young cattle. 



Every building should be constructed to answer as many purposes 

 as possible and to stand empty least of the time. Grain under cover is 

 better than grain in stack, as we all have learned to our great sorrow 

 in the last two wet seasons. 



We are living today in the transitory stage from lumber to concrete. 

 Lumber, high in price, poor in quality, short in lasting, should not be 

 used where concrete or cement can be substituted. Lumber for feed- 

 ways, troughs, floors and gutters, all close to the ground, is very unsat- 

 isfactory compared with concrete. It shrinks when dry, expands when 

 cattle slobber, breaks, splits, wears and protects rats and mice. Con- 

 crete, though more expensive at the start, is far cheaper in the end. It 

 is practically indestructible. It will be but a few years hence when wo 

 will be making fences with concrete fence posts, which never need re- 

 setting. 



All large buildings sl>.ould be provided with gutters that have a ver 

 tical drop on the south or east side, and water carried off either under- 

 ground by sewer or by surface drainage, away from the cattle yard. A 

 sheet of water dropping from the roof of a high building is a cause of 

 much rot to sills and an endless source of annoyance. Water should by 

 all means be made to avoid cattle yards, and buildings located accord- 

 ingly. 



These directions in the main, followed as far as practical, with good 

 substantial fences added, a perfect arrangement will be approximated, if 

 not entirely realized. However, every man must be the designer or ar- 

 chitect of his own place, and in proportion as he surmounts the obstacles 

 and triumphs over the many difficulties which present themselves, to 

 that extent will he appreciate his success as a farmer and enjoy his 

 calling. 



THE FARMER'S ORCHARD AND FRUIT GARDEN. 



• Wesley Greene, before the Madison County Farmers' Institute. 



I believe you will concede without argument that every farmer 

 should have an orchard and fruit garden wherein he could raise all the 

 fruit needed by his family. To talk of fruit growing as a business or 



