336 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[SEPTEMBER, 
it is about time to commence to fatten that 
Uirkev. He acknowledges that I shall have 
more fodder, but does not despair of beating me 
on ears. I have drilled in about half of my 
field, and planted the other in hills. As yet the 
drilled portion is decidedly ahead — probably be- 
cause it was drilled in earlier. 
•»-. ■ ! ■ >-«- 
Labor Saving in Churning. 
— • — 
Contrivances to lessen labor in churning have 
been, and are, many and various, from the Euro- 
pean peasant's plan of lashing a jug of cream on 
each side of a wheel of 
his cart, in which the 
cream was found to be 
butter on returning 
from market, to the most 
improved "Blanehard." 
Mr. A. Kemler, with a 
commendable desire to 
relieve his wife of some 
of the labor of churn- 
ing, made the con- 
trivance here exhibited, 
which works well. The 
affair is easily under- 
stood by the accompa- 
nying engraving. Two 
bent levers of iron, (a), 
~ to the long arms of 
attachment to churn, which are attached 
wooden "heads," (b), which receive the ends 
of the two dasher handles, and in which 
they are fastened secure!} 7 by thumb screws, 
are suspended from the ceiling by a piece of 
joist, (<•). From the short arms of the levers, 
wires are attached, connecting them to treadles. 
Thus the churn is worked by the feet. The 
weight of the heads is sufficient to cause the 
dashers to go down, but were this not the case, 
as it might not be, were the cream very thick, 
cords extending from each treadle to the long 
arm of the lever, raised by the other, would 
obviate 1he difficulty. It would be necessary 
for such cords to be attached at points as far 
from the fulcrum as the length of the short arm. 
A Farmer's Bam. 
Gentlemen of wealth and city mercnants who 
have $15,000 to $40,000 to invest in a barn, 
have plans enough offered to their inspection, 
and they are the very ones who need none, be- 
cause they employ a citj' architect for $1,000 or 
more to draw the plans, make the corrections, 
Fig. 1. — ELEVATION OP BARN. 
alterations, and estimates, and superintend the 
erection. If such barns are convenient it is 
very well, and quite wonderful withal ; and if 
they are as picturesque as a Swiss cottage, and as 
inconvenient too, it matters little. Plain farmer 
folks, however, wrmt plain barns, and they want 
to do about two-thirds or' the work themselves. 
They will dig and lay the foundation, cut the 
timber, and haul 't to and from the mill; with 
the aid of a carpenter, plan the frame, and see 
that they have the right stuff. They will spend 
winter evenings hewing treenails, and planning 
conveniences, and when spring comes are ready 
to go-a-head, have a raising and shortly a barn. 
There are many good things about the old- 
fashioned barn,with its stalls for cattle and horses 
on each side of the barn floor — with its barn 
yards and sheds, and big lofts, and deep bays. — 
Baru cellars are good too — and 
it is best to have them, if possible. 
The horse-fork makes the deep 
bays less attractive, and so 
modern innovations modify old 
ways, usually for the better. A 
western farmer situated where 
he can not dig a cellar for his 
barn, asks for a plan for one, all 
upon one level. We give one 
which is of the old-fashioned 
type, but more convenient, and 
planned so that it may be built 
very cheaply — and either small- 
er or larger than designed. Figure 1 shows 
the front elevatiou, the main barn having 
16-foot, and the wings 14-foot posts. The 
plan as engraved in figure 2, makes the main 
barn 36 feet wide and 40 feet long. This gives 
a barn floor of 12 feet in width, a horse stable 13 
feet wide, and a cow stable 11 feet. This is not 
as wide as we would be glad to have either cow 
or horse stables, and is as narrow as will do un- 
der any circumstances. "We allow 4 feet in 
width for cow stalls^ 1 1 2 feet for mangers^ 1 1 3 feet 
for the cows to stand upon, and 3 feet for a de- 
pressed cement walk behind the stalls to answer 
also as gutter and manure holder. The horses, 
according to this plan, will have 9 feet standing 
room, and a 4-foot walk at the rear, while the 
stalls are all 5 feet wide. A passage crosses the 
barn, near the rear, taking the space of one 
horse stall on one side, and one cow stall on the 
other ; at the rear of the passage is a box-stall 
for horses, in size 10 x 14 feet. The continuation 
of this passage through a door at the left, cross- 
es to the carriage, harness, and tool house, 
through a shed 16 x 25, open in front, having 
double doors at the rear, and being paved across 
the rear end. This shed will be found a com- 
fortable place to groom horses; for them to 
stand, out of a draft to cool off after hard labor; 
for them to be harnessed and unharnessed in ; 
and for sheltering farm wagons or other vehicles 
or implements at certain seasons. Here also 
should horse manure be deposited daily ; and a 
liquid manure pit should be made, so that the 
heap of dung and litter, or a more bulky com- 
post may be kept wet down 
and fermenting. On the right- 
hand side of the barn a wide 
shed, which may be still wider 
if desired, is in the same tray 
connected with the passage 
across the baru floor. At the 
rear of this shed is an 8 x 10 
box for a lying-in stall for 
cows, and two stalls for young 
stock,which are 6x10 feet each 
in size, and capable of accom- 
modating four head, or of be- 
ing converted into two, small loose boxes. 
The passage across the shed may be simply a 
paved or cemented walk. , It meets a platform 
walk one or two steps up at the right, which 
passes in front of the pig-pens. A projecting 
roof affords shelter outside the shed. 
The hog-pens are on the extreme right. They 
are planned to be in size each 8 feet by 10. Three 
have yards only 8 feet wide, but two, much 
larger. This side of the baru would of necessi- 
ty be the great manure factory. A liquid ma- 
nure pit is provided for in the barn-yard. There 
is room under the shed for the manure likely to 
accumulate in summer from the cows, but dur- 
ing the winter it should be regular!}' laid up 
around the pump, and kept fermenting. 
If the raising of roots is followed extensively 
on any farm where a cellar can not be dug — 
3Sf — — %n£_ 
GROUND PLAN OF BARN. 
they must of course be stored in heaps in the 
field — but enough to last through one or two 
months perhaps, might be stored, either in the 
loose box at the rear of the horse-stalls, or in 
the opposite corner; and if the walls are well 
lined with hay, the frost will not easily get in. 
The grain-room should be in one of the rear 
corners above the loose box or the cow stables. 
If water can be brought in pipes, or obtained by 
driven wells, the hydrants or pumps may be lo- 
cated wherever convenience dictates. One should 
certainly be at or near the rear doors, and it 
would be well to have one at the carriage house. 
Foundations for Corn Houses, etc 
"We are prone to devote too much labor and 
expense to the superstructure, and not enough 
to the foundation. We are satisfied, if our com 
houses are set upon eight-inch posts, which are 
two and a half feet in the ground. If the ground 
is sucli that posts are heaved by the frost, we 
make the holes rather -large and fill in stones 
around the post so that water shall not stand 
near the surface. The posts rot and are renewed 
with some trouble. Other foundations, upon 
which buildings rest which have no cellars, are 
usually surface structures of stones, or have 
only a single course of stones lower than the 
surface. Mr. M. C. Grout, of Poland, N. T., 
describes to us the man- 
ner in which he lays 
foundations for such 
buildings, particularly 
corn cribs. He says : 
" It is as cheap and 
easy to make a perma- 
nent foundation as any. 
My corn house founda- 
tion is of cobble stones, 
two and a half feet 
through, coming up to 
the surface of the 
ground. Upon this I 
have a flat stone about 
four or five inches 
thick, and a little small- 
er across than the posts. 
The ends of the posts 
rest upon these flat 
stones. The posts are of varying lengths, ac- 
cording to the uneven surface of the ground, and 
the sills are framed into them. Below the sills 
the posts are cased with inch stuff, painted like 
the building, and tin is put around just below 
the sills. My corn house is 16 x 20 feet, and 10 
feet between sills and plates, "Wooden posts 
.„ .;:..': . . ;: 
FOUNDATION FOK COR.M 
HOUSE. 
