CHAPTER XI. 



BARN CONSTRUCTION. 

 GENERAL PLAN. 



THE principal requisite in the construction of barns 

 for soiling summers and feeding ensilage winters is 

 to have a driveway through the barn, so that the 

 soiling crops and the ensilage may be fed to the 

 stock directly from the wagon into their mangers. 

 If the barn is wide enough so that the cattle can 

 stand with their heads toward the centre, and still 

 leave room for a passage behind them, so much the 

 better; but if the cows face the walls with only a 

 manger in front, the cattle may still be fed quite 

 handily from a passage behind them, while the pas- 

 sage may be used in carting out the manure, which 

 may be delivered direct from the stables to the field in 

 one handling. This plan is preferable, unless, when 

 the cows face the centre, there is still room behind 

 them for a wagon drive for the manure. The ob- 

 ject, of course, is the saving of labor. A barn 

 thirty-five feet wide will accommodate two rows of 

 cows facing the walls, and give a ten-foot drive be- 

 hind, and a four-foot passage in front of them, 

 whereas, if they face the centre, and there is a drive 



