STOCK BARN. 279 



A portion of the grain that I feed is raised on the farm ; 

 the balance I buy of neighboring farmers. It has been my 

 practice during times of low prices to purchase, but it is now 

 my design, in anticipation of higher prices, to raise all the 

 grain that is needed. 



I cut from four hundred to six hundred tons of hay annu- 

 ally. My buildings consist of eight dwellings. Six are used 

 by the persons employed on the farm, and two are used by 

 myself. They are all moderate sized. The barns and stables 

 will cover and accommodate three hundred head of cattle, two 

 hundred sheep, and one hundred hogs. 



The main building, or barn, is one hundred by one hun- 

 dred and thirty-two feet, with an ell twenty-four by eighty- 

 six feet, twenty feet studding, and I have two others, each 

 twenty-four feet square, and a shed sixteen by one hundred 

 and sixty feet. 



The lower part of this building is used for stabling cattle, 

 and will accommodate over two hundred. The main floor will 

 hold five hundred tons of hay. The center of this floor is 

 used as a granary, and holds from six thousand to eight thou- 

 sand bushels. 



The upper floor of this central part, which is thirty -two 

 feet square, is kept as a mill room. I use two Challenge mills. 

 Running from the ground up through this central room, is the 

 tower, on which rests a double-headed windmill, thirty feet in 

 diameter, and of eighteen horse power. With a fair average 

 wind, this mill furnishes the power for pumping the water, 

 pulping roots, cutting hay, shelling corn, and grinding the 

 feed. 



The water is distributed through the stables and yards by 

 means of iron pipes, and the entire stock can be watered with- 

 out moving them. The cost of the barn, which I built in 

 1873, was $10,000. The other buildings were built at a cost 

 of about $8,000. 



I have on my farm over twenty miles of fence. Two or 

 three miles of this is barbed wire, the balance is of posts and 

 boards. 



