258 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
when the same useful effect can be gained in an¬ 
other way : any weedy, rough piece of ground may 
be plowed early this month, and sown to buck¬ 
wheat, using a bushel of seed per acre. The weeds 
will thus be smothered ; the rough ground be 
mellowed ; and a fairly profitable crop be gathered. 
We have seeded land to timothy and clover with 
buckwheat sown as late as the 13th of July, and 
had a good catch. Otherwise the ground will be 
in good condition for preparing in • the spring for 
corn, or for seeding down with barley, or alone, 
without any foster crop. 
-— a. 
Straw or Fodder-Barracks. 
When barn-room is short, a convenient substi¬ 
tute may be furnished by open barracks built in the 
Fig. 1.— STRAW OR HAT-BARRACK. 
fields, which also save time in hauling the crops at 
the busy season. Although stacking is a very cheap 
method of securing crops, yet in a climate of fre¬ 
quent heavy rains, it is rarely that a stack can be 
made weatherproof, unless it is so carefully 
thatched with straw as to cost nearly as much as a 
fair kind of barrack. Having recently had occasion 
to build several barracks upon different parts of his 
farm, the writer gives the following description of 
two of them: one, partly enclosed, to serve as a 
tool-house, or shelter for cattle; and an open one. 
The former is shown at figure 1. There are sills upon 
three sides, the front being open. The posts are set 
16 feet apart, and are mortised iuto the sills. Girts 
are set 7 feet above the 
sills, with braces, to 
stiffen the structure. 
The roof, of which fig¬ 
ure 3 is a plan of the 
inside frame, slopes to 
each side, and is built 
of i-iuch boards upon 
3x4 timber, braced by 
two sets of cross-ties, 
as shown. The corners 
are left open, to allow 
the posts to pass 
through. Holes are make in the posts about a 
foot apart, into which iron pins are inserted to 
sustain the roof. The barrack is enclosed to the 
girth, giving 7 feet clear over the sills, and pro¬ 
viding room which may be used as a stable or 
shed, by placing poles or timbers upon the cross- 
girts, to support the hay, grain, or fodder. The list 
of materials for this structure is as follows : 
3 chestnut or oak sills, 8x8. 16 feet. 
4 posts. 6x6, 16 “ 
8 pieces. 4x4. 16 “ 
3 “ hemlock,. 2x4, 16 “ 
2S0 feet roof boards. 
350 feet of boards. 
The cost of these items, with 4 one-inch iron bolts 
18 inches long, and 5 lbs. of nails, can be readily 
figured up. The labor of putting up is worth about 
$5. The whole cost will range from $35 to $40, ac¬ 
cording to the price of lumber. 
Coops for Chickens. 
Dry and clean shelter is absolutely necessary for 
the health of young chicks, and the mother must 
be confined lest she wander too far or exercise her 
mischievous propensity for scratching, where 
scratching is not in place. A plentiful supply of 
good roomy coops should be on hand for use at 
this season; or they may be made at once, if not al¬ 
ready prepared. The most important requisites 
are perfect cleanliness and freedom from damp¬ 
ness : if these 
are secured, it 
matters very 
little about the 
size or shape 
of the coops; 
yet conveni¬ 
ence as to 
handlingofthe 
inmates, or for 
protecting 
them against 
sudden storms Fig- 1.—floor of coop. 
or vermin, is 
desirable. The floor is an important consideration ; 
it should be movable, and elevated above the 
ground. A useful arrangement is shown at figure 
1. There are two cross pieces of 3 x 3 timber, to 
which boards are nailed, leaving half the cross 
pieces uncovered, so that the coop resting with its 
edge on these may be placed entirely over the 
floor, in which case no water will enter from the 
heaviest shower. The floor is thus all inside the 
coop, and is raised one inch above its bottom. The 
coop should be 3 feet square, and may thus be 
made of boards 13 inches 'wide and 3 feet long, 
without waste. Some coops, which we have made of 
half-inch matched lining stuff, are found very light, 
warm and comfortable. The form is a matter of 
fancy, but time and labor is saved by having all of 
the same pattern, as then the materials for several 
can be cut up at once, and put together afterwards. 
In this way we have been able to build 10 coops in 
two days. The shelter-board, shown at figure 3, is 
hinged to the coop by a few hoops of wire, and in 
fine weather may be turned back or removed. At 
Fig. 2.— COOP COMPLETED, WITH SHELTER BOARD.' 
figure 3 is shown a different style, which, though a 
little more trouble to make, when neatly finished 
and painted, will be found better adapted for use 
on lawns or 
conspic nous 
places. The 
front may be 
made of wires, 
laths, or turn¬ 
ed rods of 
wood, and so 
arranged as to 
have a door 
sliding up and 
down. A shel- g— F0R TnE LA wn or yard. 
ter-board 
should be provided ; and for all sorts of coops, 
a feeding-board should be placed in front to 
keep the food clean. A double coop, with an 
enclosed run, is shown at figure 4. This is fur¬ 
nished with handles, by which it may be lifted 
and carried from place to place; it may also 
be provided with movable floors, as previously 
described. A neat coop with young chickens are 
rather pretty in a well kept yard or lawn, and 
places valuable birds within control. 
Is Cheese or Butter the Most Profitable? 
The dairy-business is not, just now, in the most 
flourishing condition. Butter is low in price, and 
the question is raised if it would not be more prof¬ 
itable for dairymen to turn more generally to 
cheese-making. Butter is a perishable product; as 
soon as made, it begins to deteriorate, unless of 
that small class which is not an ordinary market- 
! product. At the average of 30 lbs. of milk for one 
I pound of butter, the ordinary butter-maker realizes 
but 2 cents for 3 lbs. of milk. On the other hand, 
the cheese-maker is paid from one cent to one and 
a quarter cents a pound for his milk, at the present 
prices. Besides, cheese is not a perishable article, 
and need not be sacrificed on a poor market, nor 
sold when the market is glutted. It is undeniable 
that the cheese-maker is better off to-day than the 
butter-maker, and has a large difference in his 
favor, both in price and convenience of handling. 
The cheese-maker can also churn a part of his 
cream, and manufacture the partly skimmed milk 
into a “ half-skim ” cheese, which, when well made, 
is readily marketable at a price little less than whole- 
milk cheese. Under present conditions the butter- 
maker, unless he produces a “gilt-edge” article, is 
Fig. 4.— A DOUBLE COOP. 
under a cloud, especially if he hails from the East. 
The Western dairyman has an advantage over him, 
and can afford to give him large odds, and then win. 
Western dairy goods now carry no taint with their 
name; they are excellent in quality, have a high re¬ 
putation, and their merits sell them. They are pro¬ 
duced more cheaply than the Eastern article, so 
that Western creamery butter, fresh from the churn, 
drives out the Eastern farm dairy product, made at 
larger cost on higher priced land, and with more 
expensive labor. The remedy for the Eastern men 
may be a resort to cheese-making, until butter re¬ 
covers a proper relative value. Milk is selling very 
low in the large cities, and only near-by dairies can 
afford to keep in the business. Those distant from 
markets are being driven to the creameries for a 
profitable outlet for their product. This is unavoid¬ 
able ; and many milk-farmers and butter dairymen 
will follow the example. One caution is needed : 
This is a season of low prices and small pay for 
labor; it is indeed “a day of small things.” If, 
however, quality is sacrificed, the present low level 
will sink yet deeper. To raise the quality of our 
product now is to save and secure our market; and 
it will be entirely safe to avoid the skim-milk 
cheese-manufacture, in trying to get something 
from both butter and cheese. Fine cheese will keep 
until the season is closed, and will then sell at ad¬ 
vancing prices, because prices advance when stocks 
are diminishing and no cheese is making. In avoid¬ 
ing loss by making cheese, however, care must be 
taken not to invite loss by making unsalable goods. 
Marking Chickens. 
Poultry fanciers find it desirable to be able to 
identify the different broods of chicks. To do this, 
a method of marking is necessary. The best per¬ 
manent mark is one made upon the web of the foot ; 
and the most con¬ 
venient one is a small 
hole, made with a 
punch, in the manner 
shown in the accom¬ 
panying illustration. 
The punch is a sharp 
steel instrument, and the feet marked. 
is used by pressing it 
upon the web between the toes as the foot is held 
upon a piece of hard-wood, and giving it a twisting 
Fig. 3.—FRAME OF ROOF. 
