FARM-BUILDINGS. 127 



breath of a lady who has slept in an open chamber. 

 In this way, the boarding of your barn will cost yon, 

 at least, one quarter less. We venture to assert, from 

 actual experiment, that hay put in such a barn — and 

 not beaten down, but having a peck of salt thrown on 

 to a ton — will not need so much sunning by two 

 whole hours as hay stowed into a tight barn and with- 

 out salt. This is often a great saving of labor ; for 

 you are enabled often to house it one day sooner than 

 you otherwise could. 



Racks should be placed under shelter, but not at 

 the side of the barn or yard. A rack twelve feet long 

 will seldom accommodate more than one animal, if 

 placed at the side ; but a rack six feet long, and away 

 from the side, so that the cattle may move around it, 

 will accommodate three or four : they approach it as 

 they would a stack of hay ; and, being outside of the 

 circle, they are not in fear of being cornered and 

 hooked. 



A manger should be fixed under each rack, to catch 

 the hay-seeds and the broken leaves, and to hold the 

 grain, or the turnips, or other vegetables, given to the 

 cattle. 



If there is not room for your racks under your barns 

 or your sheds, it is a very easy matter to place a couple 

 of boards over the rack, to keep the rains from the hay : 

 a little moisture or snow will not hurt the hay, and the 

 cattle relish it better. 



We have tried this mode of keeping cattle of all sorts 

 for years, and have sometimes kept forty head. We 

 are well satisfied the cattle are more comfortable, the 

 manure is much better, and the labor much less. 



If any prefer tying up by the head, let the leanto be 

 filled in the fall with loam or litter, for the cattle to 

 stand upon ; but by no means have a floor, unless it 

 be a partial one behind them, of one plank's width, to 

 facilitate the clearing off the manure. 



