194 
On  the  Construction  of  Farm-Buildings . 
manufactories,  on  board  ships,  &c.,  it  will  be  evident  that  farmers 
are  placed  in  a very  disadvantageous  position  in  comparison.  It 
has  been  stated  that  a Manchester  manufacturer  who  should  make 
his  hands  ascend  by  stairs  to  the  various  work-rooms,  instead  of 
taking  them  up  by  the  steam-lioist,  would  be  ruined  ! 
When  we  turn  from  these  general  considerations  to  endea- 
vour to  devise  a plan  which  shall  combine  all  the  requisites  in 
farm-buildings  in  the  most  advantageous  manner,  we  are  met  on 
the  threshold  by  this  difficulty,  viz.,  that  no  plan  can  be  given 
which  shall  be  the  best  possible  for  several  different  localities. 
Each  site  requires  modifications  peculiar  to  itself;  for  instance, 
whether  the  ground  be  sloping  or  horizontal,  whether  water- 
power can  be  made  available,  whereabouts  the  farm-house  or  the 
principal  road  may  be  situated.  Again,  the  systems  of  farming 
for  which  the  buildings  must  be  adapted  vary  considerably  in 
different  districts.  In  one  dairy-produce  and  pigs  form  a chief 
item;  in  another  sheep  or  lean  stock  are  reared;  in  another  the 
feeding  of  cattle  for  market  is  more  attended  to;  in  others  cider 
is  manufactured,  and  cellars,  apple-rooms,  mills,  &c.,  are  re- 
quired ; or  hops  are  grown,  and  require  kilns,  oast  houses,  pack- 
ing and  cooling  rooms ; or  flax  is  to  be  steeped,  stored,  broken,  and 
scutched;  or  sundry  sorts  of  seeds  are  grown,  &c.  These  various 
considerations  make  it  impossible  to  furnish  a plan  which  shall 
be  abstractedly  the  best  for  all  situations ; the  utmost  that  can  be 
done  is  to  develop  such  general  principles  as  should  always  be 
kept  in  view  in  the  arrangement  and  connexion  of  the  several 
parts  of  such  establishments,  one  portion  or  the  other  being  rela- 
tively enlarged,  or  contracted,  or  dispensed  with,  Ss  may  be 
found  requisite  for  any  particular  locality.  Another  difficulty  is 
that  farming  is  a progressive  art,  and  different  practices  prevail  in 
the  management  of  stock,  in  the  implements  employed  and  in 
the  power  applied  to  machinery  indifferent  parts  of  the  kingdom, 
so  that  what  might  be  thought  a very  complete  arrangement  in 
Hampshire  would  not  suit  the  practice  of  a farmer  in  Berwick- 
shire, and  vice  versa.  In  reference  to  this  latter  difficulty,  the 
writer  deems  it  useless  to  devise  buildings  adapted  to  implements 
and  practices  condemned  by  the  most  advanced  agriculturists, 
and  therefore  he  has  taken  for  granted  that  barns  for  housing 
grain  previous  to  thrashing  it  are  needless,  that  steam  or  water 
power  is  employed  to  drive  machinery,  that  box-feeding  of  cattle, 
sheep,  &c.  on  steamed  food,  with  litter  cut  into  chaff,  is  the  best 
system  for  the  production  of  meat  and  manure,  and  that  carts  for 
all  purposes  should  be  adopted  to  the  exclusion  of  waggons.  It 
is  with  reference  to  these  arrangements  that  the  accompanying 
plans  are  proposed,  which  admit  of  enlargement  or  contraction 
by  a simple  elongation  or  shortening  of  their  several  parts,  ac- 
