THE FARM AND FARM BUILDINGS. 487 



hand, the height of the hay-bays of a barn had to be regulated 

 by the height to which it was practicable to pitch hay ; but the 

 rapidly extending use of the hay-fork or elevator has done away 

 with this restriction. Hay can now be easily and rapidly raised 

 to any height, and not only may we gain the extra space which 

 the greater height of the bay gives, but a considerably greater 

 capacity in proportion to the height, which comes from the 

 closer packing at the bottom of a high bay. That it is much 

 more convenient, easier, and cheaper to feed stock in the build- 

 ing in which all of the hay and other fodder is stored, every 

 farmer knows without being told. How much easier it is, is 

 only known to those who have spent their lives in foddering 

 cattle in sheds and yards, from distant hay-barns, from which 

 every forkful of hay must be carried in bundles or on a cart. 

 Furthermore, the more the hay has to be carried about the 

 more it is wasted, and the more liable it is to be injured by bad 

 weather, while the convenience of keeping manure is in exact 

 proportion to the concentration of the stock, under the most 

 favorable circumstances. 



Mr. Thomas, in the " Register of Rural Affairs," gives the 

 following very useful hints to those who are about building 

 barns : " Estimating the capacity of barns, very few farmers 

 are aware of the precise amount of shelter needed for their 

 crops, but lay their plans of out-buildings from vague conjecture 

 and guessing. As a consequence, much of their products has 

 to be stacked outside, after their buildings have been completed ; 

 and if additions are made, they must of necessity be put up at 

 the expense of convenient arrangement. A brief example will 

 show how the capacity of the barn may be accurately adapted to 

 the size of the farm. Suppose that the farm contains 100 acres, 

 of which 90 are good, arable land, and that one-third each is 

 devoted to meadow, pasture, and grain. Ten acres of the latter 

 may be corn, stored in a separate building. The meadow should 

 afford 2 tons per acre and yield 60 tons. The sown grain, 20 

 acres, may yield a corresponding bulk of straw, or 40 tons. 

 The barn should, therefore, besides other matters, have a capac- 

 ity for 100 tons, or over i ton per acre, as an average. Allow- 

 ing 500 cubic feet for each ton (perhaps 600 would be nearer), 

 it would require a bay, or mow, 40 feet deep and 19 feet wide, 



