24 



NEAV ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



chimney, a stove pipe of stout sheet iron or cast 

 iron should be carried up to a few inches above the 

 top of the brick chimney, it being securely fastened 

 to the brick work so as to be held firmh- in the 

 centre of the brick, flue. The iron Hue should have 

 a close fitting accessible door, near the bottom, 

 for the purpose of clearing out the soot, and a 

 stove pipe inserted near the top of the room, and 

 extending through the brick chimney, to receive the 

 smoke pipe from the fire. The brick chimney, in 

 addition to the hole for the smoke pipe, should 

 have a lai-ge register to let off the heat, when not 

 required in the stable, and the nearer the top of 

 the room it is, the more efficient it will be ; also, 

 an opening at the very bottom, to receive the 

 foul air from the stable. This last should be so 

 placed as to afford access to the door in the iron 

 pipe. The partition between the cooking-room 

 and stable should be made M^ith several good sized 

 openings, both at the top and bottom, and the 

 floor of the former should be raised so as to af- 

 ford a free passage to the foul air of the stable, 

 through the lov^"er openings in the partition, and, 

 thence, under the floor, to the opening near the 

 bottom of the brick chimney. The space under the 

 floor should be made light, so as to keep out all 

 vermin, as well as currents of air from all sources 

 except the stables. The openings at the bottom 

 of the partition should be protected by wire screens, 

 to exclude vermin, or any combustible material 

 M'hich might be drawn into them, and those at the 

 top should have board shutters to shut off' the heat 

 ■when not needed in the stable. 



To supply the stable with pure air, there should 

 be a ventiduct running the whole length or Avidth 

 of the building, as most convenient, with an opening 

 at each extremity. It would be well to make this 

 ventiduct at least four times as large as the exter- 

 nal openings, so as to lessen the current when a 

 strong wind was blowing directly into it. It should 

 be made rat-proof, and have the ends ])rotccted by 

 wire screens. On the side of the ventiduct, an air 

 chamber should be made extending under the fire. 

 The air chamber should have an opening into the 

 ventiduct large enough to ensure a full supply of 

 pure air inider all circiimstances. With an appa- 

 ratus on the principle of the common ventilating 

 stove or furnace, with suitable cooking utensils at- 

 tached, a large amount of air might be warmed 

 while preparing the food for the cattle. This, to- 

 gether Mith what could be obtained by carrying 

 the stove pipe around the top of the room before 

 entering the chimney, would heat the air to a high 

 degree, and it having no means of escape but by 

 the apertures at the top of the partition, it must 

 flow into the stable and diffuse itself over the top 

 of that apartment. "VVliile this is going on, the 

 hot air and gases escaping from the fire, tlu'ough 

 the iron flue in the brick chimney, would give a 

 strong upward movement to the surrounding air, 

 and a constant flow would take place from the 

 bottom of the stable, through the space under the 

 floor of the cooking-room. 



I leave the arrangement of the cooking appara- 

 tus to the wants and the ingenuity of the farmer, 

 or the skill of the stove-maker, only stipulating 

 that every thing around the fire, and air-chamber 

 below it, should be fire-proof, to guard against 

 danger from reflex currents of hot air when doors 

 or AvindovvS are opened on the windward side of 

 the stable. I would moreover suggest that it 



might be well to connect the iron flue with the 

 moist earth, by one or more iron rods to carry off 

 any electricity that might happen to travel by that 

 route. 



It is evident that the plan I have suggested has 

 no intricate system of valves and dampers to be 

 regulated by the attendants on the cattle. The 

 stove-maker would of course construct his part of 

 the apparatus with the means of regulating the 

 fire. 



The question now comes up, will it pay ? I have 

 no hesitation in saying, that it will much more 

 than pay, unless the advantages of warming the 

 stable and cooking the food for cattle have been 

 much overrated. In the first place, there will be a 

 saving of food and increase of milk, a greater ten- 

 dency to fatten, and a better condition of the whole 

 stock in the spring. Besides these, a great many 

 other things may be profitably done with a warm 

 room of this kind. In a a pen in the corner, the 

 February and ^larch pigs may be di-opped with 

 safety, and thus be ready for the best market. The 

 hens may have their allotment of space, and set at 

 defiance the coldest storms, while they fill the fam- 

 ily or market basket. The early potatoes may be 

 started in a part of the cooking-room, and so of 

 the cabbage plants, tomatoes, 8:c. 



The cost of fitting up a stable of this kind, 52 

 I by 40 feet, I think, could not be more than .$150 

 to $200 over that of a common barn cellar of the 

 same size. This extra outlay could easily be saved 

 on the rest of the building. A barn of the above 

 dimensions would accomm.odate about as mucn 

 stock, and afford as much storage room, as one of 

 the common learns 75 by 38, with a floor way 

 through the whole length. From its greater com- 

 pactness, there Avould be much less outside to fin- 

 ish, and from the upper part being only required 

 for storage, the finish might be much cheaper in 

 kind. H. Lincoln. 



Lancaster, llass., Noi\, 1859. 



For the. Ifew England Farmer. 



"HOW TO RBCKOjNT THE COST OF FABM 

 PRODUCTS." * 



In a late number you repeat the question pro- 

 pounded by the Massachusetts Agricultural So- 

 ciety in 1800, "How many days' labor are needed 

 to cultivate and harvest an acre of corn," and state 

 that the average of the answer v.'as 17§ days, ana 

 say that with our improved implements, the time 

 should be tv\-o or three days less now. In this 

 opinion I think you are correct. But friend Pink- 

 ham, in his remarks upon the subject at the head 

 of this article, makes out that 24 days' labor of a 

 man, and 1} days of a boy, besides 4$ days of a 

 yoke of oxen, and some hours of a horse, are re- 

 quired. I wonder if he has followed carefully 

 his own directions, and kept an accurate account 

 of the labor expended on an acre of corn ? LCe 

 writes like a man of intelligence. But his account 

 looks to me as though it was made up by estima- 

 tion, rather than by the record. In either case, I 

 would advise him to quit farming immediately. 

 For, in the first place, farming must be to him a 

 very discouraging business. He goes to his la- 

 bor, day by day, imder the conviction that he is 

 losing money, and he cannot labor cheerfully and 

 willingly ; and secondly, by imparting hh feelings 



