204 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
is wonderful to see the waking up, on this sub¬ 
ject. I don’t know as I ought to speak in meet¬ 
ing, but I thought you would like to know that 
Jake Frink has engaged five thousand tiles, and is 
going to put them down this Fall. It wont be a 
year before Jotham Spanrowgrass will have 
them down in his drained swamp; but he will 
never own that he is draining land. It will only 
be another contrivance to keep out the musk¬ 
rats, and the tadpoles. A very curis man is uncle 
Jotham. Yours to command, 
Timothy Bunker, Esq. 
Hookertown, Ct., August 3d, 1858. 
Remarks. —We are really sorry for the disap¬ 
pointment felt by our Hookertown friends, at our 
failure to appear at the wedding—but could not 
help it possibly, under the circumstances. We 
will do anything by way of atonement—attend 
Sally’s second day wedding, or the next wedding 
that comes off in Hookertown, should any of the 
damsels see fit to get up one on our account. 
We shall not dare to send any more reporters. 
Ed] 
--* <-—©e—-> --- 
Wheat Sowing. 
We hear many complaints of the total, or par¬ 
tial failure of the wheat orop, in various sections 
of the country. In some places it has been win- 
er killed, in others smitten by rust, and in many 
others cut off by the insects. The truth probably 
is, that, excepting destruction by insects, there is 
about the same amount of injury received from 
these sources as occurs every year. The busi¬ 
ness of collecting information from the wheat¬ 
growing districts is now so systematized, that we 
hear much more of the failures, than we were 
accustomed to, ten years ago. Whole columns 
of reports are published in the daily newspapers, 
and the story of failure in fifty counties of the 
union makes a great impression. Wheat has 
never been so certain a crop as Indian corn. It 
is a more captious plant in its wants, and must 
have more careful attention. It demand a porous 
soil, rich in vegetable matter, such as is found in 
the newly cleared lands of the West. In old lands 
the mechanical preparation of the soil is a matter of 
prime importance. The more nearly you can 
make it like the virgin soil the better. If it be 
not already dry it should be made so. The soil 
should be deeply stirred with a subsoil plow to let 
the rains pass down quickly, and to give air to the 
roots of the plants. More wheat is winter kiLled 
by stagnant water freezing around the plants, than 
by any other cause. The deep stirring of the soil 
is also a help in Summer, guarding the crop 
against drouth. If the land is not underdrained 
it should be plowed in narrow lands, with deep 
dead furrows to give the water a chance to pass 
off into them. 
Sow Early .—The experience of wheat grow¬ 
ers is very uniformly in favor of early sowing. 
The sooner it is put in after the first of this month, 
the better. The roots have time to get a strong 
hold of the soil and are not easily thrown out by 
the frost. 
Select your Seed .—This may be done by thresh¬ 
ing the bundles only partially. A few strokes of 
the flail will knock out the plumpest kernels. 
Some of the fanning mills have riddles for this 
purpose, runing the smallest kernels through, and 
saving the large ones for seed. Attention to this 
matter is of great importance if you wish to keep 
up the reputation of any given variety. The early 
red varieties, such as the pure Red Mediterranean 
are most reliable against insect ravages. 
Use a Drill, if vou cuk'vate wheat in any con¬ 
siderable quantity. It will soon pay for itself in 
the saving it makes in the seed, and in the larger 
yield per acre. If without a drill, plow in the seed 
with a shallow furrow. 
Manures .—Do not be afraid of making the land 
too rich. Wheat will not grow where buckwheat, 
and some other grains might yield a tolerable 
crop. Barn yard manures are always good and 
safe. Ashes, lime, plaster, and clover turned in 
green will each and all pay, in certain conditions 
of the soil. As good wheat can be grown now as 
ever, in the oldest parts of the country, if cultiva¬ 
tors will heed these suggestions—except where 
the insects happen to abound for the time being. 
---—«©•—--- 
Sow Rye Early. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
Of all the crops raised in this northern climate, 
rye is, perhaps, the surest; but even rye, sure as 
it is, may fail, and that too, in a good season like 
the present. A neighbor of mine sowed part of 
a field with rye on the 25th of August, 1857, and 
the balance of the same field the last of October, 
land and seed both alike. The result was, a good 
crop on the portion first sown, estimated at 20 to 
25 bushels per acre, while that sown late was not 
harvested for the reason that there was nothing 
to harvest. I have known similar instances al¬ 
most every year, and yet there are those who 
continue to throw away theii seed, lose their 
labor and the use of their land, because they 
have known a good crop raised on new cleared 
land, sown so late that it did not come up till 
Spring. J. Tallmadge. 
Saratoga Co., N. Y. 
- -*-«— --- 
Two $100 Prize Articles Wanted. 
FENCING-DAIRY. 
After repeated attempts, we have partially fail¬ 
ed to obtain just such articles as we desire, upon 
two of the most important topics connected with 
farm life. We therefore offer a premium, or re¬ 
muneration, of one hundred dollars for the best 
short series of articles upon Fencing, and the 
same sum for another short series on Dairy 
operations. 
We desire plain, straight-forward, practical, 
common-sense articles, such as only experienced 
and observing men would write. We care noth¬ 
ing for the literary style — that we can attend to 
—only so that they give such detailed instruction 
as working men need. Discussions of uncertain 
or doubtful theories, or of the history of fencing 
or dairying, are not desirable. The shorter the 
series the better, if embracing the main features 
of the subject. If written so plainly as to be 
appreciated and understood by the mere tyro, 
they will be all the more valuable for those famil¬ 
iar with the subject. If so valuable as to be 
worth more than the sum above offered, on ac¬ 
count of the time and skill expended, more will 
be cheerfully paid. Any requisite amount of ex¬ 
pense for engravings to illustrate the subject, will 
be furnished. If desired, the writers may retain 
the copy-right of their productions. 
The articles are desired to begin in the earlier 
numbers of the next volume of the Agriculturist. 
-— - -»«———►«- - 
“Come! get up—you’ve been in bed long 
enough,” said the gardener when pulling carrots 
for market. 
Pride is as loud a beggar as want, and a great 
deal more saucy. 
Farm Buildings—VII 
BARNS. 
In submitting a plan for a barn, we are aware 
that in its convenience and arrangement it must 
be subordinate to the position, the uses, and cli¬ 
mate of the farm itself. A very good barn ac¬ 
commodation for one farm may be a very poor 
one for another, and the principle on which it is 
founded must be the main object in its structure, 
leaving its arrangement, and completion to the 
judgment and convenience of the proprietor, sub¬ 
ject only to the particular use he wants to make 
of it. 
For instance : a grain barn requires, princi¬ 
pally, bays, scaffolds, and granary, with a place 
for threshing, and cleaning apparatus, horse pow¬ 
er, bins, &c. A miscellaneous stock barn re¬ 
quires bays, and scaffolds for hay, a bin for stor¬ 
ing meal and grain for feeding, and commodious 
stabling, with contiguous yards and sheds well 
supplied with racks. A dairy barn requires the 
same, with particular accommodation for cows, 
their warmth, comfort, and shelter. The three 
different objects may, in fact, be combined in a 
general plan, and used for either, with but little 
alteration, or temporary fitting up, if properly 
planned in the beginning; and as our object is 
chiefly suggestive in what we have to say, and 
submit, we can only deal in generals. 
There are usually two different styles of barn 
adopted by our farmers, depending somewhat on 
the position of their site, and the use to be made 
of them, viz: the bank, or side-hill barn, with un¬ 
derground stables ; and the level or above-ground 
plan, with little or with no underground room at 
all. We propose to give a plan of each, with the 
best features attached for general purposes. In 
prefacing either plan, however, we shall bear in 
mind that, being but a barn no more expense need 
be lavished upon it than is absolutely necessary 
for economy in storing, and expending the crops, 
and sheltering the stock of the farm. It is a rough 
building, for rough purposes—not a dwelling for 
man, but for beasts. Therefore, anything ex¬ 
pended upon it beyond the security of these ob¬ 
jects is so much capital wasted, and not charge¬ 
able to farm economy, and management. A fine 
house elaborately finished, may give satisfaction 
and enjoyment to its inmates sufficient to com¬ 
pensate a large outlay ; but a barn aside from its 
outward appearance to the eye, involves no such 
necessity. The dumb brute within it, quietly eat¬ 
ing its accustomed forage, or resting in its com¬ 
fortable bed, is quite as content and thrives as 
well as if its apartment were planed and painted, 
and so that its physical welfare be promoted, is 
quite as well in the plainest, as in a fanciful tene¬ 
ment. We have known a barn costing five thou¬ 
sand dollars less valuable intrinsically, as a barn, 
than one of the same accommodation costing fif¬ 
teen hundred, while the latter was also in better 
keeping with the farm itself. Consequently, in 
all that appertains to barn arrangement we shall 
advocate all of cheapness that is compatible with 
durability, security in storage, and stock accom¬ 
modation. We first give the plan of a 
BANK, OR SIDE-HILL BARN. 
[See next page.] 
This, it will be seen, is set in the side of a slope 
or moderate hill, facing to the east, or south, with 
a stone wall underneath, 7J-, or 8 feet high from 
the ground. The rear wall runs into the bank, 
and is on a level with the ground above, while the 
front is on a level with the lower plain or area. 
The foundation walls are 60x50 feet, the front 
