48 THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 



ground is firm and smooth, it can be hauled along with all 

 desirable rapidity. When a building is so long that it would sag 

 down in the middle when loaded, it can be -cut in two, and the 

 parts moved separately and placed "together on the foundation. 

 Many times when a building was not erected in one part, but in 

 two or three united together, by putting timbers under the sills, 

 and by balancing it correctly when loading it on the trucks, it 

 may be removed with ease and safety. 



45. Proprietors of moving machines usually ask from four to 

 six dollars per day for the machine, and one hand to work it. 

 But they often work by the job ; and if the owner of a moving- 

 machine is a faithful laborer, and a man of honest principles, it 

 will always be the cheapest *to employ him by the day. When 

 a man has buildings to move, and he is not at all posted with 

 regard to the time and expense of moving a certain building, un 

 principled fellows will often ask four times as much as would be 

 a fair and honest price for a given job. 



46. I once built a good machine for moving buildings, and 

 worked it a few years very successfully; and with four good 

 hands and one horse, could load a large barn and move it eight 

 or ten rods in one day. But small buildings can be moved with 

 much greater facility. When a man has buildings of any kind 

 to move, he should do it when the ground is dry and hard, as it 

 costs nearly twice as much to move them when the ground is 

 soft. If there is any manure around a building, it should all be 

 removed ; and the ground over which the building is to be moved, 

 should be levelled. One or two day's work in preparing the way 

 and clearing up the rubbish, will often save a man ten dollars in 

 moving one building. I have known some farmers to move their 

 barns when all the manure which they had made in two years 

 remained about them, which always proved a great obstruction in 

 moving the buildings, and cost three times more than it would 

 have cost had the manure been first removed. 



47. The art of moving buildings of all kinds has been so per 

 fected, that in most of our large cities tftre are those who possess 

 sufficient skill and machinery to move with safety, not only the 



