185 



or under covered sheds where it is protected from sun and rain, and largely from 

 wind. In both cases it is supposed to be compacted fully as the heaps are forming. 



Storer expresses a doubt whether sheds built to shelter manure have 

 ever paid their cost. On the other hand, Prof. Roberts of the New York 

 Cornell Station, recommends the construction of sheds or covered yards 

 for the protection of the manure. The use of completely covered barn- 

 yards for protecting manure has in recent years met with much favour in 

 certain parts of the country. The manure from the horse and cattle 

 stables and the sheep and calf pens is spread out evenly over these yards, 

 covered with coarse litter, and the whole kept firmly packed by allow- 

 ing animals to run over it, thus preventing injurious fermentation. The 

 construction of a cheap and durable covered yard, illustrated in fig. 2 

 is thus described by Roberts : 





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Fig 1, 



Plans for a cheap covered barnyard. 



Long posts or poles, 8 inches in diameter at the butt, are set in the ground 2 feet 

 deep and 6 feet apart. Upon these are spiked 2 by 4 scantling, about 4 feet apart 

 for nailing girts, and a plate 2 by 6 is nailed on top of the posts which have been 

 previously sawed off to a line after the girts have been spiked to them. Round 

 poles flattened at the ends, or 2 by 6 joists doubled, spiked to the heads of the posts, 

 will tie the building together. Ten feet will be quite high enough for the story ; 

 and one story will suffice if no straw is to be stored above except that which is placed 

 there to exclude the cold. A few poles or old rails laid on these cross-ties which 

 bind the building together will suffice to sustain the weight of the straw, while the 

 straw will exclude the cold, and absorb the moisture far better than an expensive 

 matched ceiling. 



On the inside of the posts which have been set in the ground flattened poles, rails 

 or slabs, or cheap boards may be nailed horizontally, and the space between the 

 outside vertical boarding and the inside horizontal boarding may be filled with 

 straw. This kind of a wall is far drier and more comfortable for the animals than 

 one made of costly stone or brick. 



If it is desired to have a place to store straw, the building should be higher, the 

 joists stronger and more numerous than in the one-story building, and they will 

 all have to be supported by a timber, supported by posts placed under their centres. 

 The roofs should be steep, and can be made of any materials which will shed water. 

 When the posts which have been set in the ground have rotted off, or are much 

 decayed, they may be sawed off even with the ground and supported by placing 

 underneath each one of them a large flat stone. Whenever the building is treated 

 in that way it will be necessary to brace it thoroughly. It might be well in a 

 vi indy country to brace so wide a building at the start. 



Such a building will be inexpensive and reasonably durable. It will serve as a 

 place for depositing manure when needed ; it will shelter the animals while they 

 are being watered and the stables are being cleaned and aired, and give facilities 

 for preventing loss of valuable fertilising material either by leaching or firing. 



