AGRICULTURAL MECHANICS AND RURAL ECONOMY. 31 



and forty feet wide. The centre of the barn is a square; on each side, two wings with arched 

 roofs, covered with tin, extend to the ravine on either side. The roof of the square centre 

 is flat, and forms the base of a cupola twenty feet square, and about eighteen feet high. 

 From this cupola rises a wooden spire of about thirty feet elevation. From the peculiar 

 situation of the barn, and by a great expenditure of labor and money in grading, easy drives 

 are obtained into each story and basement of the building. The upper story is on a level 

 with the surrounding table-land, and there is a magnificent driveway the entire length of the 

 building, two hundred feet. On each side this driveway, there are bays for the storage of 

 hay, a carriage-house, implement-room, and convenient apartments for the bailiff and farm 

 laborers, coachmen, &c. Above this, in the centre building, there are a granary, pigeon- 

 house, and rooms for the storage of cut-fodder and straw for litter. We should have said 

 that the water of the brook, by being dammed up, furnishes a constant power, and is used 

 for driving the machinery of the building. In the upper story, over the driveway, a shaft, 

 with pulleys, runs the entire length of the building ; and by it, and an ingenious contrivance, 

 the hay is taken from the wagons, a load at a time, and deposited in the bays alongside. In 

 this way a ton of hay can be unloaded each minute ! 



Descending to the next story, we find another splendid driveway, one hundred and sixty 

 feet in length, and on each side stables and stalls for horses, cattle, &c. By means of lead 

 pipes, and conveniently situated stop-cocks, there is an abundant supply of hot and cold 

 water for all purposes. The mangers for cows and horses are of iron, fixed on a swivel, so 

 that they can be easily turned into the driveway, or feeding-room, away from the animals. 

 This is very convenient, and might be generally adopted with advantage. The piggeries are 

 on this floor, and are well arranged. In the pens for breeding sows, a framework of slats, 

 about a foot high, is placed all around the inside of the pen, a foot or so from the outside 

 boards. This is to prevent the sows, in lying down, from crushing the little pigs against the 

 outside of the pen, the framework leaving a space into which they can escape, between the 

 glats, and be lfe. Mr. Wilkinson thinks this arrangement has saved him many hundreds 

 of dollars. The dairy is on a level with this floor. It is an arched room or cellar, eighty 

 feet in length, extending into the bank of the river, under the driveway by which teams 

 enter the third story above. The floor and roof, which is of stone, are cemented, and means 

 are taken to secure good ventilation. At the end of the milk-room there is a large and con- 

 venient ice-house. The whole length of this floor, including ice-house, dairy, and stables, is 

 two hundred and seventy-eight feet ! 



The basement, one hundred and sixty feet long and one hundred and forty feet wide, is 

 used as a manure-cellar, and has an easy driveway to all parts of it. The arrangement for 

 cleaning the stable is most complete. The trap-doors are placed on a slide, and by means 

 of a lever at one end of the stable they can be all opened and shut at once, in a moment. 

 All the straw for litter is cut, and this, too, greatly facilitates the cleaning of the stables. 



The grain is threshed as it is drawn in from the field. The machine threshes out the 

 grain, separates it from the straw and chaff, and carries it, already cleaned for market or 

 use, into the granary in the upper story ; it cuts the straw up fine for fodder or for litter, 

 and conveys it up to the storeroom above. The grain or cut straw, by means of well- 

 arranged tunnels, can be shot into any part of the feeding-rooms below. The root-cellar is 

 in the eastern division of the second story, and there is an apparatus for sorting and clean- 

 ing the roots, by means of large riddles or wire sieves, as they are stored away. There are 

 also machines for sawing lumber of all kinds, and one of Woodworth's largest and best 

 planing and matching machines ! The sawdust from these machines falls into a room below 

 designed for its reception : it is used for litter. The manure is regularly dusted over with 

 charcoal and sulphate of lime, in order to prevent the escape of ammonia. The advantage 

 of cutting the straw for litter is most manifest in filling, hauling, and spreading the manure. 

 It is all drawn out and spread upon the land in the winter. The conveniences of this method 

 are quite sufficient to counterbalance any ordinary loss from leaching, evaporation, &c. It 

 I that this barn has cost Mr. Leavitt some fifty thousand dollars! New York Country 

 Gentleman. 



