262 Our Farming. 



In these figures, shown on preceding page, Fig. i is the 

 brace for fastening open, attached to the door and separate. 

 I have shown an eye bolt instead of staple. It is better ; does not 

 pull out. Fig. 2 shows a common hook and staples for holding 

 doors open, where they swing around against the building, as in 

 the covered yard. We cannot fix those on tool house this way, 

 as we may want several open at once, and the front is all doors. 

 In Fig. 3 you see the little brace, as laid up when not in use ; the 

 hook that holds it, shown on the side. The fastening at the top 

 in Fig. 3 explains itself. Take hold at the lower end and squeeze 

 together slightly and pull down, and the notch B no longer holds 

 the fastening up. When shut, it is held in place by the spring of 

 the wood. Ash lumber is, perhaps, best to make it of. The 

 sliding-bar is 4x i inches. We have fifteen doors fastened in this 

 way, ranging in size from seven feet high to tw 7 elve. Ordinarily, we 

 fasten them at the top, but when we do not have occasion to use 

 them much, or when stock can rub against them, we have a little 

 bar of wood for each pair, that lies on top of lower cross-piece, 

 behind D, Fig. 3. This bar is always on one door ready for use, 

 by simply sliding it along. Remember, these are doors on a 

 ground floor with no sill to fasten to, and where we do not want a 

 post in the way. When a door, one of a pair, shuts against a sill, 

 a fastening may be used, where one motion of the hand will fasten 

 it top and bottom. Such a fastening is shown in Fig. 4. We 

 have it on five doors. It is simple and cheap. The bar on the 

 door is pivoted on a bolt through the centre. A touch of 

 the hand moves it its width, and throws the two ends behind 

 blocks on sill and beam, and holds the door shut, and moving 

 back four inches opens it. Of course, these fastenings are for 

 doors in pairs. We have fourteen doors that are held open by 

 braces, as shown; nine are held by hooks. The door from the 

 tool house into stable is a sliding one, as it would not be handy to 

 hang one there on hinges. All the doors on barn are hung with 

 large T hinges, such as are sold by the pound, ready made. We 

 put three on a door and they hold them perfectly, even the four- 

 teen-foot barn-floor doors. 



It has occurred to me that some one may want to know how 

 steep to make the grade of driveway onto barn floor. It was 

 quite a question to me, and I went and measured a hill that I 

 could draw a heavy load up. A rise of one foot in ten is what I 

 have, and when dry (as it always is when hay and wheat are going 

 in), my horses can draw in 3,000 pounds of load readily and 

 we have drawn in 4,000 of wheat. Our barn is built on the road 

 and this puts it back just about right to give a nice lawn in front, 

 as we have to have about sixty feet to make the rise from the road 

 track. 



