300 



THE FARMERY. 



[Chap. III. 



not be dispensed with. Grain and bay may be preserved in stacks or bar- 

 racks, but the one can not be tiireshcd and cleaned out-door •without wasto, 

 and the other can not be fed to the stock to good advantage anywhere but 

 in the barn. A good house and convenient out-buildings are comfortable; a 

 good barn is one of the grand necessities of good farming. 



Xo farmer can afford to do without one of sufHcient size to accommodate 

 all the purposes for which a barn is appropriate. "VVc have rarely, if ever, 

 seen upon a well-cultivated farm a barn that was too large. In nine out of 

 ten cases the barn is too small. After it is too late, the fanner regrets that 

 he had not built it larger. But lack of size is not so great a fault as wrong 

 location, for you can build to the original, by a lean-to upon one side, and 

 open shed or stable on the other, or an entire new building adjoining, so as 

 to make the whole quite as convenient as though all built together in one 

 building. But if the location is wrong, it never can be righted. So, in 

 building anew, make this a question for careful consideration : " Where shall 

 I place my barn ?" And do not place it until you know that you are right. 



We will point out a few essential things about location, which we think 

 maj-'be of service to those about to build barns. 



First, a barn never should be set up-hill from the house, where by any 

 possibility the drainage either on the surface, or under it, should come down 

 about the door, or into the cellar or M-ell. Wherever the situation will 

 admit of it, place the barn on a lower level than the house, and northerly 

 or westeily from it, and do not be afraid to give a good distance between. 

 You had better walk an extra hundred feet all your life than have a hundred 

 foul smells creeping into every room in your dwelling. 



Secondly, never build j-our barn upon the roadside. Upon the road, 

 only a mile long, which we daily travel between our own home and the 

 railroad station, there are fouf barns, located upon just such situations as are 

 very common in all hilly regions, the face of a hill, which gives most excel- 

 lent natural drainage — but unfortunately for good economy, the drainage is 

 directly into the public road. 



Another thing in the location of a barn should be had in view, and that 

 is convenience of access. For a large farm, a hillside barn, that can have a 

 drive-way into the second or third story, affords a great convenience about 

 unloading hay, and hauling away manure from- the lower side. 



A location should be chosen for a barn, so far as it can be, with reference 

 to other important considerations, where it will not occupy half an acre, or 

 more, perhaps, of the very best soil, about the center adopted for the farmeiy 

 establishment. If you are about to make a new location for the whole of 

 the buildings to constitute a farmery, it will be easy to have them arranged 

 relatively right, if you first make a complete map of the whole farm, and 

 then make your locations to suit peculiar circumstances. On a rough, rocky 

 farm you may often save an acre of good land by placing your buildings 

 upon ground or rock fit only to build upon, and much better for that than a 

 rich soil. 



