1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



231 



seen a barn which exactly suited him, but the one 

 described by ]Mr. Brown accorded well with his 

 views. He had l)uilt his barn with a cellar under 

 it where he kept his hogs ; but lie did not like it 

 because ho thought the odors from the manure 

 affected the hay injuriously. Cattle would not eat 

 it so well. He would prefer to have a barn with 

 a cellar separate for manure. In regard to unload- 

 ing hay, if practicable, he would have one end of 

 the barn so as to drive in over the beams. He 

 would also have his barn large, so that when, as 

 frequently happens, in case of showers, hay has to 

 be housed before it is fairly cured, there might be 

 room to complete the process before it is mowed 

 away. As to the position of buildings, he would 

 as a general thing have them in the centre of a 

 farm but would not get into a hollow, because it 

 is apt to keep the cellars too wet, and the manure 

 in the spring is too wet also. Farmers are apt to 

 get their cellars too low and their buildings too 

 high. 



Mr Clark of Waltham said the position and 

 structure of farm buildings depended very much on 

 circumstances as to expenses, points of the com- 

 pass, Sue. He thought that as lumber was becom- 

 ing scarcer and dearer every year, our farmers 

 would soon be obliged to resort to stone or some 

 other material than wood for their buildings. He 

 remarked that he had noticed this winter that his 

 cattle preferred spring water to well water, al- 

 though he considered the latter superior. Farmers 

 should have an abundance of water, because if they 

 drive their stock away from home they lose a good 

 deal of manure as well as time. 



Mr. Brooks, of Princeton, said he had been op- 

 posed to barn cellars to keep manure in, for he be- 

 lieved they injured the hay and affected the health 

 of the cattle. If we build barns tight enough to 

 keep cattle warm, we retain.the gases of manure 

 when it is in a cellar under the barn, and they in- 

 jure the cattle and the hay : therefore he would 

 build a barn entirely separate for hay, and then 

 build a leanto one story high for cattle ; and then 

 back of that dig a cellar — or, if the land was not 

 convenient, build a shed for the manure. 



Mr. Brown said he believed that manure under 

 the hay and under cattle was injurious. As an il- 

 lustration, he related the case of a friend of his, 

 who built a barn which he thought he got com- 

 pletely fixed in every respect, and digging a cellar 

 under it. He purchased a good deal of manure 

 and brought his lands into a high state of fertility, 

 producing large crops of hay, some of which grew 

 quite rank. This he allowed to accumulate in his 

 barn. He finally sold his stock to be pressed in- 

 to bundle hay. Some of it had lain in the bay for 

 three years, and when it was removed to be screwed 

 down, it was so offensive two or three feet from 

 the floor, that the men employed to press it were 

 unable to endure it, although the barn was entire- 



ly open, and a thorough ventilation was secured ; 

 and they were obliged to throw away portions of 

 it. 



Mr. Brown remarked further, that it was diffi- 

 cult to arrange barns so as to have the cattle en- 

 tirely separate from the hay. We must wait un- 

 til we can build anew. We cannot afford the ex- 

 pense of changing the barns we now have. He 

 would suggest as a remedy in part to strew the 

 floor of the leanto every morning, or whenever 

 the cattle are cleaned, with ground plaster. It 

 will very speedily absorb the gases, aud thus pre- 

 vent the odors arising from the manure. But the 

 thing of great importance, is to cover the manures, 

 once a day loith the great absorbent, peat-mud. 



The suggestion of Mr. Clark in regard to the 

 use of stone as a building material by farmers, 

 Mr. Bro^-n regarded as very important on ac- 

 count of the constantly increasing value of lumber. 

 In his opinion we must have some thing to take 

 the place of it. All over New England there are 

 found stones that will split easily, and there are 

 also slate stones that will make very fine building 

 material. He desired that farmers should give the 

 matter earnest consideration,and ascertain wheth- 

 er we cannot build as cheaply with stone as with 

 wood. Stone buildings may cost the most at the 

 outset, but once built, there is little to be done to 

 them for a long time afterward, while on wooden 

 buildings there is a constant expenditure for paint- 

 ing and repairing. 



Mr. Clark said he would make one suggestion 

 in relation to the construction of horse stalls. He 

 did not believe that horses ought to stand on plank 

 floors. His horses stand upon the ground summer 

 and winter — or rather upon a slight pavement, 

 the bottom of the stable being paved with small 

 stones, underneath which is a hard pan. He could 

 not discover that he lost any liquid manure by 

 this method. Standing on plank floors he thought 

 injured the horses' feet and produced disease. 



Mr. Brooks did not consider the remedy for ob- 

 viating the effects of the noxious gases of manure, 

 viz. plaster, suggested by Mr. Brown, as entirely 

 sufficient for that purpose, because these gases are 

 continually rising, and therefore plaster occasion- 

 ally thrown down cannot effectually suppress 

 them. He certainly would have no manure un- 

 derneath the hay. In reply to inquiry, he re- 

 marked that he did not suppose any injury would 

 accrue where one side of the cellar was left open ; 

 but in such case the barn could not be warm 

 enough for the cattle. Still he had known of old- 

 fashioned farms where this was the case, and the 

 cattle were healthy ; but it undoubtedly took more 

 to feed them. The idea is to keep cattle suffi- 

 ciently warm. They eat three per cent, of their 

 live weight per day. If they are kept cold, they 

 will eat more, and if very warm, less. Mr. 

 Brooks considered a warmth of 55 degrees as 



