DUTCH BARNS. 143 



our machines ( inch to 1 inch), it is more thoroughly digested. 

 I use Sinclair's, of Baltimore, which is intended for cornstalks, 

 driven by horse-power, and cuts hay and straw from one to three 

 inches, which I prefer to the finer.* The machine here cost 6 

 ($30), and was in no way superior, that I could see, to Ruggles's, 

 of Boston, which is sold at half that price. 



The farm buildings were not fine or in good order ; manure 

 wasting, old carts and broken implements thrown carelessly about, 

 and nothing neat. Nor were the cattle remarkable most of 

 them below the average that we have seen on the road-side. It 

 is evident that the Marquis is more of a horse-jockey than a 

 farmer. 



The groom's house, which we entered, was very neat and 

 handsomely built of stone. All the cottages hereabout are 

 floored with tiles, nine inches square. 



Nutting showed us a cow of his own, which I took to be a 

 direct cross of Devon and Ayrshire, and which had as fine points 

 for a milker as I ever saw. She was very large, red and white, 

 and a good feeler. He assured us that she was giving now on 

 pasture feed thirty-two quarts a day. 



The hay was partly stored under slate roofs, supported by four 

 strong stone columns, the sides open. This plan differs from the 

 hay " barracks," common where the Dutch settled in America, in 

 which the roof, thatched or boarded, is attached to posts in such 

 a way that it can be easily set up or down, and adjusted to the 

 quantity of hay under it. These erections are here called Dutch 

 barns. Nutting thought hay was preserved in them better than 

 in any way he knew, and this has been my opinion of that from 



* I do not wish to recommend this machine for hay and straw, which it does not cut 

 as rapidly as some others, but for stalks it cannot be surpassed cutting and splitting 

 them in small dice. 



