488 AGRICULTURE. 



for a ton and a half to each foot of depth. If 20 feet high, it 

 would hold about 30 tons. If the barn were 40 feet wide, with 

 1 8 feet posts, and 8 feet of basement, about 45 tons could be 

 stowed away in a bay reaching from basement to peak. Two 

 such bays, or equivalent space, would be required for the prod- 

 ucts of 90 well cultivated acres. Such a building is much 

 larger than is usually allowed ; and yet, without it there must 

 be a large waste, as every farmer is aware, who stacks his hay 

 out, or a large expenditure of labor in pitching and repitching 

 sheaves of grain in threshing. 



" In addition to this, there should be ample room for the 

 shelter of domestic animals. In estimating the space required, 

 including feeding, alleys, etc., a horse should have 75 square 

 feet; a cow, 45 feet; and sheep, about 10 square feet each. 

 The basement of a barn, therefore, 40 by 75 feet in the clear, 

 will stable 30 cattle and 150 sheep, and a row of stalls across 

 one end will afford room for eight horses. The 30 acres each 

 of pasture and meadow, and the 10 acres of corn fodder already 

 spoken of, with a portion of grain and roots, would probably 

 keep about this number of animals, and consequently a barn 

 with a basement of less size than 40 by 75, would be insufficient 

 for the complete accommodation of such a farm in its highest 

 state of cultivation." 



Form of Barn Buildings. It was formerly a practice, 

 highly commended by writers, and adopted by farmers, to erect 

 a series of small buildings in form of a hollow square, affording 

 an open space within this range, sheltered from severe winds. 

 But later experience, corroborated by reason, indicates the 

 superiority of a single large building. There is more economy 

 in the materials for walls, more in the construction of roofs, 

 a most expensive portion of farm structures, and a saving in 

 the amount of labor in feeding, threshing, and transferring straw 

 and grain, when all are placed more compactly together. The 

 best barns are those with three stories, and nearly three times 

 as much accommodation is obtained thus under a single roof, as 

 with the old mode of erecting only low and small buildings. 



An important object is to avoid needless labor in the transfer 

 of the many tons of farm produce which occupy a barn. This 

 object is better secured by a three-story barn than by any other, 



