BRITISH AGRICULTURE. 479 



ry, we need not much regret if the growing of turnips should 

 be found relatively less important for as than for them. 



The farmers in Great Britain, for the most part, build no 

 barns, according to our understanding of the terms. Their 

 barns are small — mere stables — wholly inadequate to contain 

 the produce of the farm. However, you every where find great 

 stacks of hay. and large ricks of wheat, barley, oats, and beans, 

 •surrounding their cattle yards. In their climate, and especial- 

 ly as lumber is scarce and high, this may be good policy for 

 them ; but it would be miserable economy for us. With them 

 the farm house is generally the largest building on the prem- 

 ises ; with us the barn, in nine cases out of ten, is larger. This 

 is as it should be. It is well for us to build our farm houses 

 snug and cosy — concentrating in them and gathering about them 

 every possible comfort. Let them be as neat and as tasteful 

 as possible. Their very aspect should proclaim that no one 

 has a better right to live in a style of rural elegance than the 

 farmer. But, our winters being long and cold, and lumber be- 

 ing here comparatively cheap, it is our true policy to build our 

 barns sufficiently large to contain all the produce of the farm, 

 with plenty of stable room, having a cellar under the whole — 

 the cellar »to be open on the sunny side, and to form a part of 

 a capacious and warmly-enclosed yard. We should make them 

 labor-saving and manure-preserving — studying that construction 

 which will render the stowing of produce, the feeding of cattle, 

 and the preservation of manures as easy and as light as possi- 

 ble. Whatever English books may teach or English practice 

 commend, the Xew England farmer who docs not provide him- 

 self with such a barn runs against his own interest and sets a 

 bad example to his neighbors. He makes farming a need- 

 lessly up-hill business. 



