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XIX. — On  the  Construction  of  Farm- Buildings, 
By  C.  P.  Tebbutt. 
That  the  best  principle  upon  which  farm-buildings  can  be  con- 
structed should  be  generally  known  and  reduced  to  practice,  is  a 
matter  of  the  greatest  importance  in  agriculture.  The  great 
outlay  of  capital  necessarily  involved  in  their  construction,  their 
durability  when  finished,  and  consequently  the  difficulty  of  reme- 
dying mistakes  without  incurring  great  additional  expense,  are 
considerations  which  point  out  this  question  as  one  most  suitable 
to  be  discussed  in  the  pages  of  an  agricultural  journal;  and  the 
many  cases  in  which  large  sums  of  money  are  expended  in  build- 
ing farm-homesteads,  substantial  indeed  in  their  character,  but 
without  proper  arrangement,  and  often  in  inconvenient  situations, 
show  us  that  there  is  no  subject  upon  which  information  is  more 
generally  needed. 
To  try  to  lay  down  one  cut-and-dried  plan  of  farm-buildings, 
as  applicable  to  farms  of  all  descriptions  and  in  various  situa- 
tions, would  be  an  absurd  attempt.  There  are  many  local  circum- 
stances connected  with  every  farm,  which  require  attention  and 
which  can  never  be  provided  for  by  any  general  plan,  however 
good  in  itself.  Thus  on  a farm  where  a large  proportion  of  the 
arable  land  is  yearly  sown  with  spring-corn,  which  is  usually 
threshed  with  the  flail,  a large  amount  of  barn-room  will  be 
required.  On  the  other  hand,  on  a farm  wffiere  wheat  alone  is 
grown,  which  is  usually  threshed  with  a machine,  a proportionally 
smaller  amount  will  be  required.  And  again,  the  materials  of 
which  the  homestead  can  be  best  made,  differ  very  widely  in  dif- 
ferent places.  Brick  and  slate,  stone  and  tile,  and  even  wood 
and  thatch  may  all  have  their  appropriate  locality,  and  the 
person  who  should  recommend  the  use  of  any  of  these  in  all  cases, 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  others,  would  be  rather  showing  his  own 
ignorance  and  presumption  than  informing  the  agricultural  com- 
munity. 
The  best  course  to  be  taken,  I think,  will  be  to  endeavour  to 
lay  down  some  principles  which  may  be  generally  acted  upon, 
and  to  give  an  illustration  of  them  by  a plan  of  farm-buildings  in 
which  they  are  embodied,  leaving  it  to  each  reader  to  carry  out 
those  principles  as  may  best  suit  his  individual  case. 
The  purposes  for  which  the  farm-homestead  is  required,  admit 
of  two  great  general  divisions.  In  the  first  place  it  is  wanted  as 
a manufactory  for  the  manure  required  to  sustain  fertility,  and  in 
the  second  as  a building  containing  conveniences  for  carrying  on 
much  of  the  general  business  of  the  farm,  such  as  threshing  and 
dressing  the  corn,  storing  food  for  cattle,  providing  shelter  for  the 
