74 THE COMPLETE FARMER 



BARNS. It is a common practice, and with many a 

 general rule, to build a farm-house adjoining, and perhaps 

 in contact with the sheds, barns, and other outhouses. 

 When the buildings are thus all situated in one clump, if 

 one takes fire, the whole will, probably, be consumed. Be- 

 sides, it is disagreeable and unwholesome to l^ive too near 

 manure heaps, and as it were in the midst of your herds of 

 cattle and swine. The barn should, therefore, be placed at 

 a convenient distance from the dwelling-house and other 

 buildings, but as near as may be without danger of fire, or 

 annoyance from the effluvia of manure heaps. Too low a 

 spot will be miry in spring and fall. Too high an eminence 

 will be inconvenient for drawing in loads, and on account of 

 saving and making manure. If other circumstances permit, 

 it may be best to place a barn in such a manner as to de- 

 fend the dwelling-house from the force of the coldest winds. 



The size of the barn should be proportionate to the pro- 

 duce of the farm ; for in this country, where building is not 

 expensive, all the hay and grain should be placed under 

 cover. It is a bad practice to leave hay in stacks, in the 

 meadows where it is cut, to be there foddered out to the cat- 

 tle in the course of the winter. By this mode of manage- 

 ment the manure is almost lost. The ground under and 

 near the stack receives some benefit from the droppings of 

 the cattle, the litter, hay-seeds, &c. of the stack. But this 

 benefit is trifling, as the sun, air, and rains soon exhale and 

 wash away the manure, which beinpr left on the surface of 

 the soil, is soon given to the winds and the waters. 



The farmers of the older parts of Pennsylvania, generally, 

 build very large barns, and to prevent the hay or grain from 

 heating in a large mow, four poles or pieces of timber are 

 set up in the middle, so as to form within them a square 

 space of about two feet. The poles are braced by cross- 

 pieces at certain distances. Through the aperture thus 

 made the extra moisture in the hay or grain has a chance to 

 escape, so as to prevent its being mow-burnt. Their barns 

 are usually built of stone, and in the walls a large number 

 of small holes are made for the admission of air. Their cat- 

 tle are chiefly all housed, and their dung is under cover, when 

 thrown oat of the stables, to prevent its being injured by 

 the rains. The roofs of the barns are usually painted, to 

 preserve them against the weather. 



' The floor of the barn should be kept tight, so that the 

 grain cannot fall through in threshing ; and for this purpose 



