On  the  Construction  of  Farm-Builclings. 
301 
horses  when  their  work  is  done,  and  other  minor  purposes  which 
need  not  be  named. 
Thus  then  all  plans  for  farm-buildings  should  be  so  arranged 
that  the  manure  may  be  made  in  the  best  possible  way  and  at 
the  least  possible  cost,  and  that  the  general  arrangements  of 
the  buildings  required  for  the  other  purposes  that  have  been 
named,  may  be  such  that  they  should  answer  those  purposes 
with  the  smallest  expenditure  of  labour  and  with  the  greatest 
efficiency. 
While,  however,  it  is  very  important  that  both  these  two  great 
general  requirements  should  be  fulfilled,  and  1 hope  to  show  that 
they  may  both  be  fulfilled,  there  is  great  difference  in  their  rela- 
tive importance.  Although  it  is  bad  indeed  to  see  homesteads 
with  barn  and  granary,  stable  and  chaff-house  scattered  and  sepa- 
rated, the  inconvenience  and  loss  is  but  small  when  compared  to 
that  sustained  in  the  homestead,  where  the  yards  for  feeding 
cattle,  and  protecting  horses  and  growing  stock,  are  cold  and  ill- 
arranged,  exposed  to  the  cutting  blasts  of  the  north  and  east,  and 
perhaps  at  the  same  time  shut  out  by  high  buildings  from  the 
mid-day  sun,  which  renders  mild  for  a time  even  the  air  of 
December  and  January.  In  the  former  case  a certain  wasteful 
expenditure  of  labour  is  caused,  which  is  of  course  to  be  blamed ; 
but  in  the  latter  case  the  evil  is  very  great  and  difficult  to  esti- 
mate, causing  often  the  difference  between  a yard  of  stock  “ doing 
well”  and  “doing  badly.” 
The  first  great  consideration  then  in  erecting  farm-buildings 
is,  that  the  yards  where  the  cattle  are  sheltered  and  the  manure 
manufactured,  should  be  all  of  them  in  the  best  possible  position 
for  answering  the  purposes  for  which  they  are  required.  What  is 
the  most  favourable  position  for  a straw-yard  ? It  should  be  of 
convenient  size,  small  for  feeding  cattle,  somewhat  larger  for  grow- 
ing stock,  invariably  well  sheltered  with  a wide  shed  or  hovel  on 
the  north,  or  a point  or  two  to  the  north-east,  also  somewhat  shel- 
tered to  the  east  and  west,  and  sufficiently  open  to  the  south  to 
admit  the  benefit  of  the  warmth  of  the  sun’s  rays  during  the 
short  winter-days  when  the  cattle  are  usually  in  straw-yards.  The 
only  way  in  which  all  these  advantages  can  be  gained  for  all  the 
cattle-yards  is  to  place  them  side  by  side,  so  that  all  are  alike  in 
situation,  with  a long  shed  running  along  the  north  side,  a low 
wall  forming  the  southern  boundary,  the  same  for  the  division  of 
the  yards,  and  sheds,  or  at  least  buildings  equal  in  height  to  sheds, 
to  the  east  and  west.  But  by  placing  the  yards  in  this  position 
every  advantage  may  be  obtained,  and  I think  every  farmer  com- 
paring yards  thus  placed,  with  the  common  practice  of  making 
lour  yards  which  constitute  parts  of  a square,  surrounded  with 
buildings,  two  of  the  yards  necessarily  unsheltered  on  the  north 
