1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEI^IER. 



415 



the old buildings. Want of means, no doubt, 

 in many cases prevent a radical change. We 

 will assume the house to be a fixture, and con- 

 sequently that the out-buildings must be adapt- 

 ed to it, and to the demands of the farm. On 

 every hand we see barns and other out-build- 

 ings quite too near, and olten in front of the 

 dwelling. Prevailing winds are also disre- 

 garded, as well as the liability of having the 

 odors of the barnyard and pigpen wafted to 

 the dwelling. True, it is desirable for New 

 England farmers to have their barns not far 

 from their houses, and also to have them shel- 

 tered as much as possible from driving winds, 

 so as to make the yards comfortable for stock 

 during the winter. Such locations make a sav- 

 ing in the consumption of feed not to be over- 

 looked. If there are no trees to do this, plant 

 them. A few years — less than most think — if 

 they are properly cared for, will give a good 

 shelter, which, when once possessed, will be 

 highly prized. 



When a boy, on my father's farm, in the 

 most stormy and cold weather, I often had to 

 go a fourth of a mile, facing the north wind, 

 to a barn exposed on all sides to the winds, 

 without a tree to break their force. I pity the 

 boys who are now obliged to do the same 

 thing, and commisserate the poor brutes under 

 their care, which, as soon as they pass from the 

 shelter of the barn, are exposed to the full 

 sweep of these cutting winds. 



Diversity of opinion prevails with those who 

 give us their preferences as to the internal ar- 

 rangement of the barnyard. Some would 

 have it concave, others an inclined plane ; the 

 former to hold all that gets into it, the other 

 to drain off all the liquids. Both of these 



{)lans are based on the )ard being covered with 

 oam, muck, mulch and such material as is sup- 

 posed to be valuable for composting with the 

 droppings of the cattle. Th(! concave plan 

 secures a mud hole for both man and beast. 

 The inclined plane will not be free from the 

 same evil, and at the same time results in a 

 great waste of valuable manure. I have ever 

 thought the most desirable method was to 

 gather up tlie droppings and compost them in 

 the barn cellar or sheds, turning on water from 

 the eave-troiigh if requii-ed. I think more 

 value of manure can be thus secured than in 

 either of tlie foregoing methods. It is also 

 well to mulch the yards, and occasionally 

 gather it np to add to the compost heap. 



As to architectural design. If new buildings 

 are to be constructed every one will concede 

 that in a good degree they should conform to 

 that of the house, providing the house is mod- 

 ern, and is to remain permanently. I have 

 seen but one barn (I do not mean gentle- 

 men's stables.) on the Connecticut River, be- 

 tween Hartford and Northampton, in which 

 this idea appears to have been thought of. I 

 know nothing of the interior arrangement of 

 this barn ; but the least observationof its ex- 

 terior carries to the mind a conviction of iti 



fitness to the surroundings. It is really a 

 thing of beauty, and though plain and unos- 

 tentatious, is yet attractive by its harmony of 

 proportion and adaptedness to its location and 

 surroundings. I hazard nothing in asserting 

 that if the owner of that farm desires to sell it, 

 his barn would be to him a surety of a liberal 

 purchaser. He might expend far more on an 

 ark of _ a building without beauty, and fail of 

 obtaining as favorable pecuniary results. Such 

 unsightly buildings as most farms are provided 

 with are a great drawback to their money 

 value, as well as a sad marring of the beauti- 

 ful and appropriate. k. o. 

 East Windsor, Ct., 1867. 



EXTRACTS A.WD KEPLIES. 



OSAGE ORANGE. 



AVill you please inform me whether Osage Orange 

 will grow as farnorth as Vermont, and it' so where 

 I could procure roots or cuttings, and oblige 



Shelburne, Vt., July 3, 1867. Subscriber. 



Remarks.— Our impression is that this hedge 

 plant is not sutHciently hardy for your climate. 

 We remember of seeing a statement that in cen- 

 tral Illinois the osage orange was somewhat dam- 

 aged by frost last winter, although peach trees 

 in the same section were less injured than usual. 

 Still if your place is somewhat protected from frosts 

 by the Lake, we hope you will make an experiment 

 in a small way, for your own satistiiction, and by 

 publishing the result, for the benefit of your fence- 

 ridden brother farmers. The editor of the Albany 

 Cultivator says that "with proper care we have 

 never found the least difficulty in forming a perfect 

 hedge. The requisites of success arc — 1. A dry 

 subsoil, naturally so, or by an nndcrdrain near the 

 line of the hedge. 2. Preventing gaps l)y trans- 

 planting well only perfect plants. 3. Cutting back 

 twice a year at successive heights, so as to form a 

 thick bottom. 4. Keeping the ground well and 

 constantly cultivated with plow or cultivator, at 

 least four or five feet wide, on each side of the 

 hedge, for the first four years." Probably a large 

 share of the failures in hedge-growing result from 

 want of proper cultivation and mnnagcment. 

 Plants may be obtained of western uurfCrymen, 

 at six to ten dollars per 1000. 



management of muck — MAKING MANURE. 



There is a vast difference in the quality of 

 the various deposits of muck. In sonic plices 

 where it is saturated with water from cold springs, 

 it is of little value, but not wholly worthless. By 

 carting it out and letting it lay in" the sun ainl rain 

 and working it over it becomes worth soinetiiing; 

 liut it needs to go through a state of feruK ntation. 

 Other and larger muck or peat deposits are more 

 valuable. My muck iied is of the larger class. 

 When I bought the farm where I now live, in 1841, 

 the bed was called worthless. It was an un.-ightly 

 place, full of old logs and all manner of rouirh stuff, 

 like thousands of others. I cut three "ditches 

 through it; one in the middle, and one on either 

 side. I drained the land gradually, little faster 

 than I wanted the muck for use. The ditches car- 

 •3*ad off the cold springs sud the surface soon be- 



