ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 119 



when an attempt is made to decorate a building, it is made less pleasing 

 than before. 



The matter of good taste is reflected more in farm buildings than in 

 city buildings, because the former stand alone. 



Taking up the location of farm buildings, I would invite your attention 

 to the following principles: Perhaps it is not possible to incorporate 

 all of these in one plan, yet a good plan must indicate most of them. 



1. Have the buildings near the centec of the farm, giving due con- 

 sideration to other advantages. 



2. Needless fences should be avoided on account of first cost and 

 maintenance. 



3. A pasture should be adjacent to buildings. 



4. Buildings should occupy poorest ground. 



5. Buildings should be located in reference to water supply. 



6. Buildings should be on a slight elevation whenever possible. 



7. A southwest slope is desired. 



8. The soil on which buildings are to be placed should be dry and 

 well drained. 



9. A timber windbreak should.be secured. 



10. A garden plot should be near the house. 



11. Buildings should not be located on high hills, because of difficulty 

 of reaching from fields or road. 



12. Buildings should not be placed in low valleys, on account of 

 lack of air, drainage, and danger of frost. 



13. Buildings should be located on the side of the farm nearest the 

 school, church or town. 



14. The house should be not less than 100 feet from the highway. 



15. The barn should be about 150 to 200 feet from the house, and 

 not in the direction of the prevailing winds. 



16. The barn should be in plain view from the house. 



17. Lots should be on the farther side of the barn from the house. 



18. Several views from the house are desirable. 



19. All buildings should serve as windbreaks. 



20. The shop and machine shed should be convenient to house, barn 

 and fields. 



Two general systems of arranging farm buildings have been developed 

 in this country. For want of better terms, they may be designated as 

 the "distributed" system in which a separate building is provided for each 

 kind of stock or for each purpose to which it may be devoted, and the 

 "concentrated" system, in which everything is placed under one roof as 

 far as possible, or the buildings at least connected. The advantages of 

 the first system may be listed as follows: 



1. Greater amount of lot room possible. 



2. Different kinds of animals are separated. 



3. Less danger from fire. 



4. More economical for the storage of certain crops and machinery. 



5. Possible to secure better lighting. Wide barns are necessarily dark. 

 In turn, the following arguments may be advanced for the concentrated 



system : 



