THE OCTAGONAL BARN. 89 



142 feet longer than the octagon. This 142 feet of wall, 

 running through both stories, would require 3,550 square 

 feet of siding above the basement, and about 1,300 cubic 

 feet of basement wall more than the octagon. The latter 

 form would also save a large amount of interior timbers. 



If it is desired to build a larger circular barn than 90 

 feet diameter, it would be advisable to build a duo-decagon 

 (12-sided) or a sex-decagon (16-sided) barn. These forms 

 are just as easily constructed, and, where the diameter is 

 large, dividing the circumference into 16 sides makes the 

 timber for each side short, and it only requires 16 outside 

 posts one at each corner. If the diameter is 110 feet, 

 each side will be about 22 feet on a sixteen-sided barn. It 

 is sufficient to extend girths from corner-post to corner- 

 post, and side it up and down. The basement of this latter 

 barn would accommodate 150 head of large cattle, and 

 contain 242,000 cubic feet of space in the second story. 

 This would hold 500 tons of hay, or 300 tons of hay and 

 8,000 bushels of grain in the straw. This form of barn 

 has a remarkable capacity for its circumference. It has 

 nearly 100 feet less outside wall than the barn 40 &y 180 

 feet long, yet has a capacity for storage nearly double ; but 

 this latter barn would take more lumber to build than the 

 large sixteen-sided barn. The circle incloses the largest 

 area, for its circumference or outside wall, of any form ; but 

 the true circle is too expensive to build, and the octagon 

 approaches the circle in economy of outside wall, and is as 

 easily built as the square. The octagonal or 16-sided 

 form is much less affected by the wind, and may be built 

 higher than the long barn in windy situations. 



This matter of barn building is of so much importance 

 to the improved system of stock feeding, that we shall 

 discuss it as suited to small and large operations, and 

 propose to show how 1,000 or more head may be fed 

 economically and safely under one roof. 



