Location for the Barn. 255 



barn and have used it, decide that rectan- 

 gular barns are much to be preferred. Some 

 who have built octagon barns speak well of 

 them, but this might naturally be expected. A 

 woman generally speaks well of her husband 

 after she has secured him, however faulty he 

 may be. 



LOCATION 



The location of the proposed structure should 

 be considered with the most painstaking care 

 before entering upon the construction of a new 

 building or the remodeling of an old one. Too 

 often a single idea dominates the location. Some 

 thirty years since I decided to erect a large 

 basement barn. The house, a modest, com- 

 fortable structure, was located at a suitable dis- 

 tance from the highway, on a gentle slope. To 

 utilize the highway for driving the animals to 

 and from pasture, and to save the use of the 

 fourth of an acre of land and the building of 

 some twenty rods of fence, the barn was located 

 nearer the highway than the house. This neces- 

 sitated locating the barnyard between the high- 

 way and the barn. I never discovered this fool- 

 ish mistake till years afterwards, when age and 

 study had improved my judgment and oppor- 

 tunity had been given for wide observation and 

 comparison. Now when I revisit the farm it is 



