GRAIN CROPS. 



305 



butts outward. If it is attempted to store corn-stalks in barns 

 or in very large stacks, they will almost invariably decay, owing 

 to the large amount of water they contain, which it is impos- 

 sible to dry out by any amount of exposure. 



Storing the grain. — Corn cribs are such a simple affair that 

 it would not have occurred to me at all to describe their con- 

 struction did I not frequently receive applications for plans by 

 which to erect them. The fundamental principle for the 

 arrangement of the crib is to give the freest possible admission 

 to air, and to keep out rats and mice. Of course there are 

 many considerations of convenience, which it is best to study, 

 and the mode of construction must depend very much on the 

 amount of grain to be stored. 



For a Northern farm, where from 500 to 1,000 bushels of 

 shelled corn are to be kept, (double that bulk of ears,) the plan 

 shown in Fig. 105 will be found effective. It is 10 feet high 



Fig. 105. 



at the sills, 12 feet wide, the plate 7 feet high from the floor 

 to the eaves, and as long as the requirements of the farm make 

 necessary. It has a passage-way 4 feet wide from the door at 

 the end to within 4 feet of the rear end where there is a bin 



