wo. 9. 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



135 



are sufficiently wide to drive in a pair of oxen 

 yoked, and large spikes are driven in the 

 plates all round the stables to hang harness, 

 yokes and chains upon. 



The bottoms of the mang-crs are raised ten 

 inches from the floor, and laid double. Tiie 

 sides of the stable are also battened with 

 thin boards inside, which makes them per- 

 fectly tight and warm ; windows with sliding 

 shutters are made in the sides, to throw out 

 the manure. 



Girts run parallel with the main floor in 

 the posts, across which are laid poles, nine 

 fett above the floor, on which hay or grain 

 can be piled up to the peak. 



This barn will hold two hundred tons of hay 

 and forty-six yoke of oxen, or one hundred 

 cows or horses. If only ordinary stock is 

 kept, the long leantos need be only eighteen 

 feet wide, and the short ones fourteen feet. 

 Granaries can be partitioned off from the bays 

 or stables, as may be convenient. If a 

 threshing machine is used, a part of the stable 

 can accommodate it. Its whole expense, 

 finished complete, is about $1,500. 



On this model, barns of any size may be 

 built, and I am well satisfied that, according 

 to the room required, it is altogether the 

 cheapest in cost and simplest in construction 

 of any plan I have seen. If a less proportion 

 of stable room be needed, it may be omitted 

 where convenient. 



The passages around the ends of the bays 

 and in front of the mangers, are for feeding 

 the cattle, every thing being put in front 

 of them. The passages are wide enough to 

 carry hay, and when the bay is partially fed 

 out, the hay may be thrown directly into the 

 passages. 



I would on no account store hay or other 

 material over the cattle, under the stable 

 roofs, although there is considerable room, as 

 I am satisfied from experience, that there is 

 none too much space left for ventilation. 



The floors are lined with thin refuse boards, 

 excepting a part of the stables, it being my 

 wish that nothing be lost. 



This barn is placed on level ground, having 

 no side hill convenient on which to place it. 

 I would prefer, if possible, a sloping piece 

 of ground, and make an ample cellar beneath 

 it, to receive the manure, preserve roots, &c. 

 &c. It will add to the expenses of building, 

 but greatly to the convenience and economy 

 of the farm. 



This, it is true, is on a larger scale than is 

 needed for an ordinary farm ; yet many farms 

 require as much and a larger quantity of barn 

 room. If every thing be saved and housed 

 that can be profitably expended in the feeding 

 of stock, much more shelter is required than is 

 supposed. If the farm be small, the size of 

 the barn should be graduated to its wants 



This plan has been closely examined by 

 many farmers of great experience, and pro- 

 nounced to be the best they have seen. 'J'he 

 utmost possible economy of room is made for 

 packing the hay and grain, and the stables 

 are mere leantos, made of light frame, at- 

 tached to the sides and ends of the main 

 building. If wood covering for either of the 

 sides or roof of boards and shingles are not 

 to be obtained, they may be made of thatch. 

 The bodies of the building may even be laid 

 up of logs and covered with slabs, so that 

 they be well chinked and comfortable. It 

 is true that there is some waste room over 

 the cattle in the stables, but no more than is 

 wanted for ventilation and to pass off the 

 respired air, which is deleterious to their 

 health. The letting in of fresh air in cold 

 and stormy weather, through the sides of the 

 building, gives them colds and disease, to 

 which they are as liable as the human family. 

 But even if only sheds are wanted, I am 

 satisfied that they are belter to be attached 

 to the sides of the barn in the way these 

 stables are, than in any other, being more 

 convenient, and allowing the stock to be fed 

 in them with greater economy. The stables 

 attached to this barn being for the accommo- 

 dation of working cattle mostly, are wider 

 than need be for an ordinary stock, and may 

 be made narrower. But amongst all other 

 plans, I have found none which combine the 

 requisites of cheapness, economy of feedino- 

 and storage, like this. It has, withal, an 

 appearance of snugness and comfort about it 

 that greatly embellishes the farm. 



If sheds are wanted in addition, they can 

 be attached to the stables and run ofl^in either 

 direction, and accommodated with racks and 

 mangers, as may be required. But every 

 domestic animal on the farm should be fed 

 at the barn, with the exception of sheep, 

 which require, if kept in large numbers, a 

 different and separate course of management. 

 The custom of stacking hay or grain in the 

 fields is at best a bad one, and if resorted to, 

 it should be removed to the main barn as 

 soon as the cutting season is over, or there is 

 room in the barn to receive it. Small movea- 

 ble barns are frequently built to store it in, 

 and from them fed to cattle during the winter : 

 but this, in the best of weather, is accompa- 

 nied with waste, particularly in the manure, 

 which is valuable even on the best of soils. 

 It is, besides, much less labor to carry the 

 hay either on sleds or wheels to the barn, and 

 then feed it to the stock, than to go daily two 

 or three times to fodder it out. So much has 

 been said and written on the wasteful method 

 of feeding at stacks, that at this time it is 

 almost superfluous to mention it. 



As to the other ordinary outbuildings to 

 tiie farm, it is only material that they be 



