16 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



STOCK COMIUQ TO THE BAKW. 



At a meeting, Dec. 15, of the Westminster, Vt., 

 Farmers' Club, the management of farm stock 

 when coming to the barn for the winter, was dis- 

 cussed, and reported in the Bellows Falls Times. 

 The general opinion was that stock was kept out 

 too long. Mr. 0. L. Fisher wished there was a 

 law to compel farmers to take up their stock by 

 the first of November. Mr. N. Pierce said we 

 have such a law, and the penalty for its violation 

 is poor stock and thin wallets, enforced without 

 constables or police officers. 



In reply to a question whether meal or grain 

 should be fed at this season, Dea. McNeil said, 

 he did not believe in graining high, but at this 

 season the flesh should be kept on ; cows especially 

 must not be allowed to lose flesh ; they should be 

 fed at any and all times when not able to readily 

 obtain their own proper sustenance. He had fed 

 this six weeks and he feeds good hay, all they 

 want. His stock is limited to cows; he feeds 

 daily from two to four quarts of meal, half cob 

 corn meal and half shorts, to a cow, varying ac- 

 cording to the demands of diflerent cows. Others 

 agreed on this principle. The president, N. G. 

 Pierce said, "when my cows begin to fall off' in 

 their milk, I begin to feed." He thought it might 

 be profitable to visit each others yards and take 

 a look at the stock and make inquiry how such 

 and such creatures are fed. Mr. J. B. Morse said 

 "If I feed meal in any quantity or to any creature 

 I scald it, and if convenient sometime before 

 feeding." 



N. G. Pierce said late feeding injured the land, 

 by not leaving an aftermath upon the ground to 

 enrich it. Some think sheep ought to run out 

 later, on account of its being more adapted to their 

 nature to give them a short winter, yet I think we 

 injure our pastures in this practice. 



A COUNTKY FARM HOUSE. 



Objections are sometimes made to the high cost 

 and ornate style of most of the plans of houses 

 famished by professional architects to agricultu- 

 ral papers. During a recent visit among the moun- 

 tain towns of Vermont, we had some conversation 

 with a carpenter in Plymouth, Vt., who was fin- 

 ishing a dwelling that he had erected the past sea- 

 son for a young farmer of that town. Our friend 

 said that there were few houses in town that cost as 

 hijih as two thousand dollars, but that one farmer 

 was building a house at The Notch which he un- 

 derstood would cost,$3000. Most of the farm houses 

 not ccsl ever five to ten hundred, though from 

 in town would the &ctt that farmers generally 

 furnish lumber, and do a portion of the work 

 themselves, it was diScalt to estimate the actual 

 expense of building. For the house on which he 

 was at work, the owner had cut the lumber, ia- 

 cluding native black cherry for window casing, 

 from his own land, in the winter season and col- 



lected together many of the other materials at odd 

 jobs, including the lime for plastering, &c., which 

 was made from a quarry on the farm. 



After a little reflection, however, the carpenter 

 said that at present prices of materal and labor in 

 that locality, he would contract to build another 

 house like the one in hand, and furnish every 

 thing himself, for from $1200 to $1300. He gave 

 us the following plan and dimensions of this 

 house, which is certainly of the better class of farm 

 houses in this mountainous section. 



South, 



The main part, 26 by 32 feet, is a story-and-a-half, 

 and affords comfortable chamber room. A little 

 more than one-half of this second floor is finished 

 off for three bed-rooms, while the smaller half is 

 left unfinished as a store-room. The ell, 20 by 26 

 feet, is only a single story. 



We have not followed the example of profes- 

 sional architects in designating the several rooms 

 as "parlor," "sitting room," "kitchen," "dining 

 room," &c., partly because, in this case, the owner 

 proposes to rent the ell to the builder for the 

 present, and confine himself and small family to 

 the main part. Nor were all the doors and win- 

 dows indicated on our rough plan, and as we do 

 not remember the exact location of some of them, 

 we have not attempted to mark their position. 

 The access to bed-rooms, paatries and closets was, 

 whoever, quite convenient and handy. 



