Farm Buildings, 
117 
and uses of their buildings, and to these I re¬ 
turn. 
Assuming that the farmer has his estate well 
cleared, and in condition to receive the necessary- 
buildings for its accommodation, they should 
consist of whatever is required to protect its 
crops, and shelter the stock from the inclemency 
of the seasons, as well as for feeding purposes. 
These usually are, a granary or corn house, or 
cribs, or both; wagon and tool house, work-shop, 
&c, a barn with sheds appended, to the requisite 
extent. To these may be added a mil k, or cheese 
room, piggery. &c, &c, as the business of the 
farm may require. The location of all these 
may be a matter of taste or fancy with the pro¬ 
prietor but they should be convenient to the 
house, and at such distances and points as to be 
easily reached, and rapidly inspected. They 
may, or may not be built adjoining each other, 
as convenience requires. Their immediate 
proximity will more endanger them from fire 
by communication than if built apart in groups; 
but in all cases the barn and cattle sheds, sheep 
fold and stock buildings should stand detached 
and at a reasonable distance from the dwelling 
and smaller buildings, that in any emergency 
they should be out of danger from each other 
by conflagration. The wood-house, and milk 
and dairy rooms should, and usually are appen¬ 
ded to the dwelling; and the piggery or hog 
pen, if not a large establishment, should not be 
at a great distance, as that usually receives the 
wash of the house. In this last should always 
be a cooking establishment, in the Northern 
states, for the greatest economy of fattening pork. 
In its rear ought to be a comfortable yard for 
the hogs to range at proper seasons. Of the 
fashion of this building one may indulge in 
many varieties, but I would suggest the general 
plan of a main entrance at the gable end by a 
hall running through its entire length, with the 
stalls or pens on each side, and the swill or feed¬ 
ing troughs next the passage. These prepara¬ 
tions save great time and labor in feeding, and 
promote quiet and repose in the animal, without 
which no creature will thrive rapidly. 
This building should be at least twenty feet 
in width, to admit stalls on each side of the pas¬ 
sage, or hall, and any length required for the 
number of swine to be fattened. The height 
too may be as great as fancy or convenience 
may demand. Over head, corn or other grain, 
or various farm products may be stored, and the 
room thus acquired will always be valuable. 
In addition to the other buildings, every far¬ 
mer should have a work-shop, with a carpen¬ 
ter’s bench and vice in it, and a tolerable set of 
tools with which to repair and construct various 
implements as his ingenuity or wants may sug¬ 
gest. It will save many dollars annually to his 
expense account, besides employing many other- 
wise idle or unprofitable hours in amusing and 
useful labor. A small forge and bellows may 
be added, with an anvil, and a few blacksmith 
tools. These frequently come handy in the ne¬ 
cessities of the farm, and I have often known 
excellent farmers who had also acquired a tole¬ 
rable blacksmith’s and carpenter’s trade by 
merely attempting to patch up their own imple¬ 
ments of the farm or plantation. This class of 
buildings may be always cheaply constructed 
at a mere nominal expense. 
The barn and sheds, however, are the main 
structures for the farm. These are indispensa¬ 
ble in all economical husbandry. Although 
the stacking of hay and grain is largely practi¬ 
ced in some parts of the United States where 
the winters are mild, yet in such localities as 
will afford buildings at moderate expense, the 
policy of a general out-door storage may well 
be questioned. Great and indispensable waste 
both of labor and crop, is the certain conse¬ 
quence. To this, must be added loss by disease 
in animals, to say nothing of the toil and vexa¬ 
tion incident to those having the ownership and 
charge of the farm products and stock. From 
my own observation of many years, I am thor¬ 
oughly satisfied that the annual loss of grain, 
cattle feed, and flesh by casualty, &c, cannot be 
less than twenty-five per cent, greater than what 
is sustained in the same material where ample 
buildings for these purposes are in use, to say 
nothing of the quietude and comfort experienced 
both by man and beast; and the outlay of five 
hundred to one thousand dollars on a farm of 
one to three hundred acres, on which the inter¬ 
est, with the depreciation may be fairly estima¬ 
ted at ten per cent, can hardly be better appro¬ 
priated. It is very true that many farmers 
strongly oppose winter shelter for either stock 
or fodder. Every thing is stored out of doors ; 
and unless the food can be strewed over an open 
field, or in a filthy yard, where the suffering and 
quarrelsome animals can drive each other over 
it, trampling it into the mire, eating a small por¬ 
tion, and destroying the residue, they consider it 
a departure from the old plan , and an innovation 
not to be tolerated. To a skilful husbandman, 
and one who admires neatness and system, this 
practice will be sufficiently condemned. There 
is, however, one exception to out-door feeding 
which-is not only excusable, but highly to be 
commended in certain cases. In meadows worn 
down by neglect, or on barren knolls, in locali¬ 
ties where snows and hard frosts prevail through 
the winter, hay or other fodder may be stacked, 
and while the frosts prevent the ground from 
poaching by the tread of the cattle, they may be 
driven to these stacks and fed with the hay, straw 
or stalks scattered about the field. In clear cold 
