116 



Farm Buidings for Small-Holdings. 



[May, 



The whole is built of timber very strongly constructed. Heavy 

 oak posts are used to support the roof trusses, which are designed 

 on the Belfast truss principle, perhaps without sufficient 

 regard to the double line of intermediate supports forming the 

 inner walls of the cow house and stable ranges. 



The building is lighted by windows in the outside walls and 

 by an ample number of roof lights, and provision is made for 

 continuous roof ventilation on either side of the ridge. 



Obviously the questions of choice of materials and method of 

 construction are at present of secondary importance to the ques- 

 tion of principle involved by the single span roof over the whole 

 building, which makes the covered yard so essentially an integral 

 part of the scheme. 



These particular buildings are constructed of timber mainly 

 on account of the exceptional building difficulties of 1920 and 

 1921, but there is no practical reason why the outer walls should 

 not be built of stone, brick or concrete, if such materials were 

 available and showed a better economic result. On the other 

 hand, a complete timber construction gives opportunities of 

 standardisation, and the fact that seven such were ordered as 

 one contract must have assisted in reducing the cost of all. The 

 main point to determine is whether a building of this nature, 

 under one roof forming a covered yard in the centre, gives 

 satisfactory results with regard to the health of cows and stock 

 generally, whether it proves economical in time and labour and 

 results in carrying a larger head of stock per holding, together 

 with the production of an adequate quantity of manure. 



These are farming questions, and if they can be answered in 

 the affirmative there is no reason why further improvements 

 should not be effected. 



It is obvious that the . internal arrangements can be modified 

 and amended to suit the exact nature of the land and the 

 holder's requirements without departing from the general prin- 

 ciple and without loss of efficiency. 



To this end an illustration is given (Fig. 3) showing more 

 direct internal access to the various parts, together with a lighter 

 and more economic form of roof construction. The chief varia- 

 tions from the West Fading scheme are the increased width of 

 the covered yard, which is in Fig. 3 shown as 25 feet instead of 

 19 feet, the provision of a feeding passage between the mixing 

 floor and covered yard whereby more direct and distributed 

 access is given to the long trough in the yard, and direct internal 

 access from the mixing floor to every part of the building, includ- 



