182 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



a temporary floor laid before filling again with wheat. In the 

 chapter on the "The Barn and Barn-yard" you will find an en- 

 graving of such a building, with a bill of lumber and approxi- 

 mate estimate of the cost. 



There is a kind of barracks recommended and illustrated in 

 some of our agricultural books, so arranged that the roof may 

 be raised or lowered, to suit a light or heavy crop of wheat; 

 but when fifty dollars will pay for lumber to inclose a building 

 the size I describe, I think most of our readers will agree that 

 it is better to inclose it than to be at the trouble and expense 

 of raising and lowering a roof. 



I predict that in the future there will be more small barn 

 threshers used than at present. There is always more or less 

 waste, and a great amount of discomfort both in doors and out, 

 when threshing is done with the large machines. Feeding the 

 large gang of men, and caring for so large an amount of grain 

 and straw at once, in many cases involves disadvantage and loss. 

 There are now excellent machines which the farmer can operate 

 with one or two horses and four hands, that will thresh and clean 

 from one hundred and fifty to three hundred bushels a day, and 

 with these machines the work can be done much cheaper and 

 with less waste and worry, and the straw can be better taken 

 care of, than when all must be done at once. I think there are 

 many of our farmers who have good barns and a convenient 

 place for a machine, who would find it an excellent investment. 

 I remember when I was a boy that for many years we used one 

 which threshed, but did not clean the wheat, and even this 

 greatly reduced the expense of getting it ready for market. 

 But the machines which can be bought now are much superior 

 to those of that day. At a small expense a suction fan and 

 dust shaft can be attached to one of these stationary ma- 

 chines, so that the dust will be carried outside of the building. 



The Value of Straw is a matter on which many of our 

 farmers need to be educated. In many localities it is sold for a 

 pittance to the paper mills; thousands of tons are stacked in 

 wood lots or the corners of fields, and, for all the benefit the 

 farmer receives from it, might almost as well be burned. I 



