52 



manure. The public highway often influences the location of farm 

 buildings, but more consideration might well be given to this point. 

 The writer knows of a 65-acre farm in one piece, all of which may 

 be cultivated, where the barns are located at the highest corner of 

 the area, and are considerably over one-half a mile from the further 

 side of the farm; many similar instances could be cited. The de- 

 sirability of plenty of sunlight in the stables and yards hardly needs 

 comment. It is an excellent disinfecting agent and a valuable aid 

 in maintaining the health of the herd and good sanitary conditions. 

 A well-graded barn yard on soil with good natural drainage is very 

 desirable, and will, in addition to furnishing good conditions for a 

 winter-exercising yard, save much labor in cleaning cows when com- 

 pared with the quagmires one sometimes sees masquerading under 

 the name of barn yards. 



Type of Barn. ■ — It is a fact that an equal amount of lumber will 

 enclose more space when built into a circular barn than any other 

 shape; the round barn when proporly built is also strong, convenient, 

 and does not offer as great resistance to the wind as a rectangular 

 structure. The round barn does not offer as good opportunities for 

 enlargement as some others, but aside from this, it is not easy to 

 give logical reasons why it has not come into more general use. The 

 writei', however, is not ready to recommend it without qualification 

 for a dairy barn, but would suggest to those interested a careful 

 study of Bulletin No. 143, of the Illinois Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, on the economy of the round dairy barn. The Illinois 

 Experiment Station is located at Urbana. 



Next to the circular structure, a square is the most economical 

 of material, when the walls and floor space enclosed are alone con- 

 sidered. The square, which encloses the same floor as a circle, 

 requires nearly 11% per cent more wall, while the oblong or rec- 

 tangnlar structure, four times as long as the width, giving the same 

 floor space, will require 40 per cent more wall than the circle and 

 25 per cent more than the square. The reader can easily verify 

 these flgures by a little calculation. They are mentioned here in 

 order to call attention to the fact that the long, narrow stnieture 

 does not allow the most economical use of material employed in con- 

 struction. The roof, however, can be lighter, but this will only 

 partly offset the additional expense. 



Another factor should be considered, and that is the relation of 

 height to capacity. It costs just about the same to build the founda- 

 tion and roof for a barn with 12-foot posts as it does for one with 

 20-foot posts, and the latter will thus furnish storage at a much lower 

 per ton rate than the former. Deep mows also hold more per 

 square foot than shallow ones, owing to the increased pressure due 

 to extra weight of material. With the modern horse or power hay 



