46 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jajt. 



For the New England Fanner. 



AN HOUR IN A GEEAT BARN. 



A little above the Concord station on the Fitch- 

 burg Riiilway, the traveller may see on the north 

 side, at a distance of one-third of a mile, a most 

 spacious barn, built by the present proprietor ofj 

 the " Treasurer IJarret farm," S. P. Wheeler, 

 Esq. 



The building is one hundred and twenty-6ve 

 feet in length by fifty-four in -width. The man- 

 sion house was occupied by Harvard College dur- 

 ing a portion of the revolution. What a space 

 this barn would have furnished the students for 

 recitation halls ! 



The barn has a projecting roof with water gut- 

 ters, which not only make the entrance more 

 comfortable, but protect the painted sides of the 

 building from being scoured by the heavy rains. 

 None can deny, too, but that the projecting roof 

 combines a great deal of beauty with its util- 

 ity. 



The barn stands nearly east and west. The 

 cow stable is on the south side, extending the 

 whole length of the barn ; there are several en- 

 trances — all the doors being upon wheels, and 

 opening with a touch. The stable is also perfectly 

 lighted by numerous windows, protected outside 

 and in, by substantial guards. There was a pump 

 by the door where I entered, which supplied wa- 

 ter to the stock indoors, when desirable. One of 

 Fay & Dakins' large bore wooden pumps was 

 about being set in operation in the yard adjoin- 

 ing. Takina; things as I saw them, the next thing 

 was the scuttles ; these were a foot wide, back of 

 the trench, and hinged on to the platform ; no 

 manure falls upon the scutdes. They can be 

 thrown over with ease with a hoe, and the stable 

 fre<iuently cleaned with very little labor. The 

 scuttles shut down upon the bottom of the trench, 

 leaving a large and suflicient passage for the es- 

 cape of the urine. 



The trench, the space between the scuttles and 

 the platform under the cows, is eighteen inches 

 wide and two and a half deep. Experiments 

 prove this depth to be hardly enough. 



The cows are all fastened in stanchions which 

 were numbered. The stanchions were each sup- 

 plied with a chained pin, are uniform, planed, 

 and painted a dark lead color. The long stall 

 for cows hr>ids forty head; nearly this number 

 looked sleek and happy in tlieir comfortable quar- 

 ters. The stable is fourteen feet in width, which 

 includes a space three feet in width in front of the 

 stanchions, forming also a desirable widening to the 

 barn-floor when not in use for feeding. There is 

 no " crib " or " rack " to be seen. The cattle eat 

 from off the floor. 'J'he timber holding the foot 

 of the stanchions prevents any hay from being 

 drawn under their feet and wasted. As I saw no 

 partitions between the cows, I asked the polite 

 superintendent if the cows didn't hook one another ; 

 he assured mi; that they did not. The cows had 

 been fed with husks, and a man took a rake, and 

 with the back of it, slid the butts left into a pile as 

 quick as he could walk the length of the floor. I 

 saw a cutting machine and a mixinij trough ; but I 

 made no infpiiries about the fecfing. 



The barn- floor extends from end to end, where 

 there are large doors upori tiie largest size rollers. 

 The floor is planked lengthwise, and is very smooth 

 and substantial. The posts, of which tb^^ft are 



twenty-five in the floor, are eighteen feet in 

 height. The scafTold, usually called the " rye- 

 beams," is of uniform height with no drops, which 

 some consider a gain in unloading hay. A room 

 in the north side of the barn, opening into the 

 floor, is devoted to meal, grain, and farm imple- 

 ments. 



The carriage-house and horse-stables are all 

 comprised in an L which opens upon the door- 

 yard. Here is room to drive in several carriages 

 and untackle, entirely protected from the weather. 

 The common labor of " getting fixed off," must 

 be almost wholly unknown with such conveni- 

 ences. 



I next went into the cellar; it is the whole size 

 of the barn, and has an entrance (sliding-door) on 

 the east side. The bottom is planked to prevent 

 the escape of the liquid manure, as the cellar was 

 dug in sand. The manure of course oecu))ies the 

 south side — an immense pile. It is occasionally 

 levelled, and earth and absorbents thrown on to 

 keep it in a good state. On the north side of the 

 cellar were immense piles of roots, of whfch about 

 a thousand bushels were raised the present season. 

 This fact may have some connection with the soft 

 skins of the animals above. The cellar is eleven 

 feet in height, is walled in a very substantial man- 

 ner, and perfectly lighted. 



The outside of the barn is covered in the style 

 known as the " Swiss fastening," that is, boards are 

 put on extending from the brackets down, and 

 then the joints covered with narrow, levelled 

 strips, about two and a half inches wide. There 

 is a large cupola on the ridge, and a number of 

 smaller ones along on the roof at intervals half 

 way down. The whole exterior is handsomely 

 painted. 



This, Mr. Editor, is a bketcb of my observations 

 during the hour I spent in this fine barn. I fear 

 I have conveyed to your readers, a very inadequate 

 idea of the whole. A good barn is a matter of so 

 much consequence to the farmer, that I am inter- 

 ested in every attempt to improve the standard. 

 There are several others in town ; I hope to be 

 able to report to you, perhaps more fully. 

 Respectfully yours, 



William D. Bkowx. 



Concord, Mass., 1854. 



Apples. — The crop of apples in New England 

 this year, as it has been every even year since the 

 Baldwin came into general cultivation, is too large 

 for the demand, and the price has been drooping, 

 until they are now dull in Boston at S1.25aS1.50 

 per barrel, and may be had delivered at the rail- 

 road depots, 30 or 40 miles from Boston, at 35 to 

 40 cents a bushel, or Si without the barrel, the 

 cost of the barrel and of transportation bringing 

 them to about $1.25 to Sl.50 on the railroad. 



Remark.s. — Wo copy the above from the Boston 

 Daih/ Mail. Good Baldwin apples are selling in 

 Quincy Market, to-day, Nov. 10, for Sl.50 to 2.00 

 a barrel, and the demand is equal to the supply. 

 The sale is quick for good, well selected apples. 

 We ho})e our friends will iiot find discouragement 

 in this report. They c.\n raise apples at a profit 

 at IS.OO, barrel not included ; and when they are 

 lower than this, they can feed them to cattle and 

 swine with as much profit as can be found in any 

 other cr'-''^. 



