PLANNING FARM AND FARMSTEAD 851 



the rear, the farmer seldom leaves by the front door or through the front 

 yard. Even visitors often drive directly to the barn, where their team is 

 cared for, and enter the house at the rear. 



The interior arrangement of farm buildings and plans for their construc- 

 tion will be found in Chapter 57. 



Sightliness and Healthfulness. — The appearance of the farmstead and 

 the buildings which it contains may be greatly enhanced by natural 

 features. These should be taken advantage of in selecting the site. The 

 arrangement of the buildings and the ornamental planting, together with 

 the type of architecture and the use of paint of suitable shades should be 

 considered also. The ornamental plantings are discussed in Chapter 41. 



Healthfulness is often closely related to one's surroundings. Ill 

 health may result from living on wet land or in close proximity to stagnant 

 ponds of water. This should be avoided in locating the farmstead. Where 

 surface water is depended upon, contamination of the water supply often 

 results in sickness. A proper location of the well which is to provide 

 a healthful water supply is quite as important as the location of the 

 farmstead. 



Size, Shape and Number of Fields. — The size and shape of the fields 

 on a farm are determined to a considerable extent by the size and shape of 

 the farm. For most economical cultivation, fields should be fairly large 

 and rectangular in shape. Fields twice as long as they are broad are gen- 

 erally preferable to square fields. Long fields lessen the number of turns in 

 the operation of farm machinery, thus avoiding wasted time. Triangular 

 fields, or those of irregular shape, necessitate irregularity in the length of 

 the rows, and are more expensive to plow, seed, till and harvest than rec- 

 tangular fields. 



The more horses one drives the greater the necessity for large fields. 

 In most kinds of general farming, fields should be at least 40 rods long; 80 

 rods is much better and 160 rods is ample. Little is to be gained by having 

 fields more than half a mile in length. Ordinarily teams should rest for a 

 few minutes during each half mile of travel when doing field-work. 



Large fields waste less land than small ones. Some space is required 

 along the margins of the field for turning rows, especially when the fields 

 are fenced. The smaller the field, the larger the percentage of land wasted 

 in this way. Even though crops are planted close to the borders of the 

 field, considerable will be wasted along the turning rows in both cultivation 

 and harvesting. 



Large fields economize in the cost of fencing, and the shape of the field 

 is also a factor in the relative cost of fencing. A strip of land 1 rod wide 

 and 160 rods long contains 1 acre and would require 322 rods of fence to 

 enclose it. One acre in the form of a square requires about 50 rods of 

 fence; 10 acres in the form of a square requires 16 rods of fence per acre; 

 40 acres in the form of a square requires only 8 rods of fence per acre; 

 while a square mile requires only 2 rods of fence per acre. The most 



