BAR 



er only on brick quoins, vrith tvvo-incli and half oak planks, 

 arc ftill confidierably higher, being often from twenty-five 

 to thirty-five pounds or more, and not much more durable. 

 Beech floors, which were lately introduced iiiftead of oak, 

 have been found not to laft more than feven or eight years ; 

 conftquently to be by no means advantageous. 



In order therefore to obviate the continued heavy ex- 

 Jiences of thefe floors, as well as the great confumption of 

 timber in the conflruftiou of them, and alfo to guard agninft 

 the great wafte of grain in tlirelhing upon them after they 

 begin to decay, another kind of barn floor has been in- 

 vented by Mr. Upton of Petworth in SulTcx, which has 

 been found on trial to prevent thefe inconveniences in a 

 great meafure, and at the fame time to aftord other great 

 advantages, fuch as thofe of being more eafily drawn upon 

 by loaded waggons or carts ; providing, when down, com- 

 fortable flielter for hogs ; and, when turned up, b,;ing ca- 

 pable of being employed as a ftable, ox-fiall, hovel, or cart- 

 lioufe. This is ti'.e ma-vcahle ham Jloor, which, it is faid, 

 can be placed or difplaced in a few minutes by two perfons. 



This ncw-conftrucled hollow floor is compofed of oak 

 planks five feet eight inche* in length, and one inch and an 

 half in tliicknefs, and coils from twenty-three to twenty- 

 four pounds. By thefe dimcnfions being confiderably lefs 

 than thofe ufcd in common barn floors, much advantage is 

 gained in refpcft to timber; befides, planks of deal, beech, 

 or elm, may be made ufc of, as they will not be liable to 

 decay, from there being little or no dampnefs, and in this 

 way the expence be leflened : and when timber from the 

 eftatc is employed, it may be ftil! fartlier diminifhed, as thefe 

 floors may be compofed of fluff of fmall fcantlings, which 

 may be had from ihort timbers of but little value in com- 

 parifon to thofe made ufe of in otlicr kinds of barn floors. 

 It is fuppofed that floors conftrucled in this method will 

 laft an hundred years, or as long as the barns ; as they are 

 pcrfeftly free from dam.ps, from their being fo much raifcd 

 from the ground when down; alio from their being moveable, 

 when there arc more barns than one in the fame yard, they 

 may be conveyed from one to another, and by that means 

 iave the expence of having different floors. 



At Jig. 7. Platell. ol Agnculiure, may be feen the repre- 

 sentation of a barn floor of this kind ; one part of which 

 affords a view of the floor as laid down for threfliing upon, 

 and the other part is raifed up, with racks for feeding cattle, 

 &c. : a rack boards, b flip boards for admitting air, c wooden 

 floor fills for the flip boards^ to reft upon, (/moveable floors, 

 to one part of which are wooden legs ferving to fupport it 

 when it is neceflary to put the difplaced timbers into tlie 

 xecefs f ; f a recefs for receiving the threfl'.ed grain before 

 it is winnowed, or for containing the moveable timbers ; y an 

 iron hook to lift the floor up with when not ufcd for threlh- 

 jng upon ; there are two of thefe hooks employed in the 

 barn ; g the moveable timbers that fupport the floor, having- 

 grooves along^ their fnrfaces to prevent the lofs of grain ; 

 two of thefe timbers are re-.-efented larger at_f^ ; one being 

 the crofs piece with a leg and tenon for fixing in the (lone 

 mortifes, the other intended to lie lengthwife, and level 

 with the floor of the barn ; in the ground are fixed ftones 

 with mortifes in them to receive the tenons of the timbers 

 defcribed above : h the ground, which fliould be made of 

 materials fufficiently hard to prevent the horl'es, carts, or 

 waggons from making dcpreflions in it ; ii polls with iron 

 hafps, to fupport the floors when out of ufe ; /■ racks for 

 feeding cattle at, when the barn is applied to other purpofes 

 than threfhing upon. When the floor is not wanted for 

 threfliing upon, the floors may be firft turned up and fixed 

 with the iron pins, bolts, and hafps ; then the middle tim- 



BAR 



bers be taken out and placed on the ground, on the fide oppo- 

 fite to the recefs where they were to be depofited when out 

 of employ ; afterwards that part of the floor which has legs 

 to fupport it muft be let down, putting the timbers into the 

 recefs, and turning the floor up again. 



Though floors of this kind may be highly convenient and 

 ufeful in particular inftanccs of large barns, wiicre much 

 threfliing by the flail is required, yet from their complexity, 

 and their requiring much room when out of ufe as floors, 

 they do not feem well calculated for thofe of the fnialkr 

 kinds. 



Barn, or Whhe Oivl, in Ons'ilhohgy, is in England the 

 common name of that fpecies of Strix, which is found 

 about barns and out-houfes, and which is fpecifically called 

 Jlammea by Gmelin, and fo.me other naturalifts. 



BARNABAS, Saint, in Biography, a teacher of 

 Chriilianity coten-.porary with the apuftles, was a Levite 

 of the country of Cyprus. His original name feems to 

 have been "Jofeph;" and the appellation of "Barnabas," 

 fignifying " Son of Confolation or of Exhortation," was con- 

 ft'rred upon him by the apollles. He was one of thofe 

 ChrilHans who, foon after the refurreftion of Chrift, fold 

 their property and laid the money at the apoUles' feet. 

 Afts, iv. 36, 37. By him St. Paul was prefcnted to the 

 other apoiUesthree years afterhis converfion,or about the year 

 37 of the vulgar xra ; and he was appointed a mifiionarv 

 to Antioch, in order to confirm the difciples. From thence 

 he went to meet Paul at Tarfus, and they refided together 

 a year at Antioch ; and weie afterwards entrufted with the 

 conveyance of alms to the Chrifliian brethren at Jtrufalem. 

 A. D. 44. Here he was declared joint apoftle of the Gen- 

 tiles with PaiO, whom he accompanied to various places and 

 with whom he co-operated in preaching the g.ifpel. At 

 length a diffenfion occurring between them with lefpeft 

 to Mark, whom Paul refufed to accept as a companion, 

 they fcparated, probably in friendllup and mutual goodwill, 

 and Barnabas with Mark as his aflbciate went to Cyprus. 

 St. Luke bears this honourable teilimony to Barnabas, 

 that he " was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghoft, and 

 of faith." Such is the iubftance of the account given of 

 him in t!;e New Tellament. Some of the ancients, how- 

 ever, have fuppofed that he was one of Chrill's feventy difci- 

 ples, whom he employed during his minillry as a preacher 

 in the land of Judsa. It has been faid that he fuffered 

 martyrdom, being ftoned to death by the Jews of Cyprus at 

 Salamis ; that he was buried by Mark in a cave near that 

 city, and that his body was difcovered in this ifland in 

 the reign of the emperor Zeno about A. D. 4S8, with the 

 gofpel of St. Matthew written in Greek with his own 

 hand, upon his breaft. Lardner's works, vol. ii. p. 11, &c. 



Barkabas, Epifile of, \<L\ Ecckjinjlical H'ljlory, an epiftle 

 ftill extant, afcribed to St. Barnabas. It confifts of two 

 parts ; the firft being an exhortation to conftancy in the 

 belief and profefilon of the Chriftian doftrine, particularly 

 as to its fimplicity without the rites of the Jewifh law, 

 and the fecond part containing moral inftruftions. Learned 

 men have differed with regard to the genuinenefs of this 

 epiftle. It is cited by St. Clement of Alexandria and by 

 Origen. Eufebius reckons it among thofe books that are 

 fpurious, meaning probably by the term, contradidled. St. 

 Jerom fays, that it was read for edification among the apo- 

 cryphal fcriptures. Amongft the moderns, Pearfon, Cave, 

 Du Pin, Wake, Dr. Clarke, and many ether learned men, 

 fuppofe it to be a genuine epiftle of Barnabas the compa- 

 nion of Paul. Some are doubtful, as Cotelerius, who in- 

 clines to think that it was not written by Barnabas. The 

 objedions ajjainft the genuinenefs of it are llrongly urged by 



Bafnagcj 



