472 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct, 



and occupying the most convenient part of the 

 space covered by the roof? It forms a retreat 

 for vermin, catches and holds the most valuable 

 part of the barn manure, and next to the roof, is 

 the most expensive, and rapidly decaying portion 

 of the barn ; subjects us to many accidents and 

 heavy losses, and really does no good whatever, 

 but is in the way, cold, costly and troublesome. 



I am in urgent need of a huge barn, and when 

 I build, I want to get a good one, and to get it 

 cheap. How is this to be done ? 1 have already 

 hinted at some of the ideas I have about it. It 

 shall have no floor, and consequently no floor 

 timbers ; this will reduce the cost materially, and 

 will be in imitation of the barns in the old coun- 

 tries, which are all built with no other floor than 

 the bare ground, except in some parts a stone or 

 brick pavement. 



Prince Albert has recently put up a set of farm 

 buildings at Osborne, without regard to expense, 

 and is said to have a model steading ; but in none 

 of the barns, stables or sheds, is there any floor ; 

 though the ground is paved with small, round 

 stones in some parts, both outside and inside of 

 the buildings. And what could be better or more 

 durable ? The best threshing floors are made of 

 clay and sand and gravel ; our open sheds always 

 have a hard, smooth surface of loam for a floor, 

 which is the best floor possible, either to work 

 on, or for storage. Of couri^e, the walls must be 

 so constructed as to exclude the water and the 

 frost. 



This all will admit, I think, will answer every 

 purpose, except perha])S for cattle and horse 

 stalls. But here it will be far belter than any- 

 where else. The real farmer wants a manufacto- 



required to build a steep roof will more than 

 do it. 



Now come the walls ; and these are to be set 

 in the ground below the reach of frost, on a firm 

 stone wall, and made of stones chiefly, but in 

 good part of lime, sand and gravel, (unless clay 

 may be used instead of lime, the walls being 

 plastered on the outt-ide.) We will carry them 

 up thirty or thirty- five feet, in order to secure 

 abundant storage room, and protect them by 

 wide projecting eaves. 



The barn shall be 80 or 100 feet square, with 

 doors and windows on all sides ; and nothing in- 

 side the walls, but the posts or pillars to support 

 the roof, except where scaflblds aie thrown over 

 the stalls for cattle and horses, and over rooms 

 for manure, muck, machinery, &c. 



I can now drive into my barn at any conve- 

 nient door, with a loaded team, and instead of 

 being confined to a narrow drive-way, and com- 

 pelled to pitch the hay over and over, across 

 wide mows, I can drive all over the barn, into 

 any corner, and with a horse pitch-fork unload 

 just where I wish to, and can drive in a dozen 

 loads at the same time. 



In this large, cheap barn, I can store and keep 

 all my spare hay, and not be compelled to sell it 

 at a ruinously low price, to make room for the 

 next crop ; but can hold on to it till the price is 

 remunerating. I can extend the accommodation 

 for cattle and all kinds of farm stock at pleasure, 

 by clapping up stalls an) where as required; and 

 can always regain the space for storage, without 

 expense, when that is desirable. All the work is 

 now to be done on the same floor. With a wheel- 

 barrow I can carry the hay or straw to the ent- 



ry of manure. He does not simply desire a handy j ter, and when it is cut and mixed, I can feed the 

 chance to get rid of the excrements of his ani-| animals conveniently in the proper boxes for 

 mals ; and he finds a barn cellar a poor place to jihem to eat from. lean take the dry muck or 

 mix and compost the materials required to make i refuse from its room, and mix it under the cattle 

 manure. But having provided the requisite ar- 1 in small quantities, tiU it is properly moistened 

 tides, he can place and mix them as he likes on ^ with urine and compounded with dung, and then 

 the ground under his animals, and conservej wheel it to its convenient place, to be preserved 

 their health and comfort at the same time that J in its strength, unfermented and inofi'ensive, till 

 the manufacturing process is going on ; and this it is wanted upon the land, 

 being attended to daily, a great deal of work is! The barn will be dry and warm, yet well ven- 



accomplished, in the best manner, and with great 

 er economy, than if left for long intervals and 

 heavy jobs. 



We will, therefore, have only a floor of hard- 

 pan in our new barn, composed of clay, sand and 

 gravel, well mixed and rolled down all over the 

 bottom, smooth and level, and just even with 

 the ground outside the building. No platforms 

 or steps required to haul up or climb up into it, 

 and no waste room, under the floors, to fill up 

 with hay seed, urine, skunks, weasels, rats and 

 stray hens' nests. 



The roof, as already intimated, shall be flat ; 

 thus saving one-third in extent ; and covered 

 with composition roofing, instead of shingles, 

 which will save another third in cost of materi- 

 als and repairs. The objection to this, is its lia- 

 bility to become heavily loaded with snow ; but 

 this is only a small matter. It does not snow so 

 as to load the building, oftener than it blocks up 

 the roads ; yet no one proposes to abandon the 

 roads because they are sometimes impassable by 

 reason of heavy snows. The roofs and the roads 

 can both be freed from this encumbrance by the 

 ^ame means, and the interest of the money 



tilated ; a store-house, a stable, a manufactory ; 

 convenient, large, durable and cheap, t -w- xj 



Stratchcrry Bank, Durham, N. II., Aug. 25, 1859. 



Black-Faced Mountain Sheep. — We re- 

 cently saw eight sheep of this breed, selected in 

 Scotland by Sanford Howard, Esq., and sent 

 in the ship Old England, which arrived at Port- 

 land a few days since, and from whence the 

 sheep were sent to this city. There are two 

 bucks and six ewes. They all have horns — those 

 of the bucks are large and graceful. Their faces 

 are black, and the legs are spotted with black. 

 Wool, coarse and long. They are long and deep 

 in body, with a good proportionate width. Mr. 

 Isaac Stickney, of Boston, a gentleman who 

 has long taken much interest in introducing new 

 and good stock into the country, has imported 

 them with a view of getting a breed of the best 

 mutton sheep. 



