96 
AMEKIOAI^ AGEICULTUEIST, 
[March, 
A Remodelled Barn. 
ALrUBD n. GLOVEU, SAGINAW CO., MICH. 
The old barn, figs. 1 and 2, was thirty-four feet 
by forty-eight feet, with sixteen-feet posts, and 
built the usual way with four bents. The thresh¬ 
ing floor was twelve feet wide, with the stables on 
one side and hay-mow on the other. Tliere was a 
shed in rear of barn, twelve by thirty feet. Tlie 
sills of the barn rested on oak blocks, about one 
foot above the ground. In remodelling, the 
main building was raised two feet from the 
ground, a stone foundation one foot thick being 
laid all around, and extending two feet into the 
ground to be below frost. The threshing floor was 
raised two feet above the sills, and the ground ex¬ 
cavated two feet under it. Cross-walls were then 
built, making a cellar twelve by thirty-four feet, 
and six feet high. There are two small windows 
in front, and a door in rear of cellar. A foundation, 
similar to that under main barn was then built for 
a wing thirty-four feet wide, and extending three 
feet back from main baim. The wing is samehight 
as the barn, with roof hipped into main roof, and a 
ventilator built in the center of roof, as seen in 
figs. 3 and 4. The old shed was moved to rear of 
the wing, a.nd continued around each way fifteen 
feet on each side of wing, as seen in figs. 4 and 5. 
A new shed was built on each end of the main 
Fig. 2.— GROUND PLAN. OLD BARN. 
barn, twelve by twenty-four feet, open in rear, the 
lower part for manure, and the upper part for 
bedding, as shown in the figures 3, 4 and 5. 
The stables are twelve by twenty feet, with stalls 
for four horses and five cows. An alley four feet 
wide runs along in front of mangers for feeding. 
At the front end a door opens into the granaries. 
A harness room four 5y fourteen feet is convenient 
to the horse stable. A box stall, nine by fourteen 
feet, next to cow stable, is used for cows with 
calf. An entrance way closed by a gate, allows 
Fig. 3.—REMODELLED MAIN PART WITH SHEDS. 
access from stables to threshing floor. Floors 
over stables, granary and threshing floors, admit 
storage of unthreshed grain or hay. At the front 
of the bam is a sliding door with a large window 
in it for admitting light and air. The walls of 
granaries are made of two by four scantling, 
laid flatways one on top of another. Stables and 
granaries are eight feet high. The whole re¬ 
modelled barn is painted red with white trimmings. 
materials au<l Cost. 
Sills 6 by 8 inch, two 30 feet long, and four 34 feet long= 
784 feet; sills for sheds, fi by 6 inch=606 feet; posts 8 by 8 
inch, six, 16 feet long, and three 12 feet long=7U4 feet; girths, 
6 by 6 inch, two each of 18,17, and 12 feet length=282 feet; 
plates, 6 by 6 inch, two 40 feet, and two 34 feet=444 feet; 
three beams, 6 by 8 inch, 34 feet long=408 feet; thirty-flve 
joists, 12 by 2 inches, 18 feet long=l,2W feet; scantling, 2 by 4 
inches, for sheds, etc., 5,000 feet; rafters, thirty-two, 2 by 4 
inches, 22 feet loug=402 feet; planks for floors and bridges, 
a vno ro.it. a'nioi innn 'coinn.'i 
‘ifiCKAj leui; i uiai Liiiiuer, i-i.uuu leec, aii.) per luuu leei. 
Shingles, 20,000, @ ^ per 1000 . 60,00 
Stock boards, 3,000 feet. @ $20 per 1000 feet. 60,00 
Roof boards, 7,000 feet, and battens, 704 feet, ® $10 77,04 
Windows, nails and trimmings. 50,00 
Carpenter work, $150; painting $75. 225,00 
Excavation 60 yards, ® 20c. per yard. 12,00 
Stone for foundation, 1,500 cubic feet @ 6c.. . 90,00 
Total cost of Remodelled Barn.$784,04 
Basket Willows, Osiers and their Culture. 
Every few years there is an excitement coneeni- 
ing willow culture, and our correspondence show's 
that one of these periods is at 
hand. We answer a number of 
inquiries by saying that w’illows, 
of the finest kinds, can be grown 
in this country. Evei'y cultivator 
of experience is aware that pro¬ 
ducing a crop is often easier than 
selling it. In considering a new 
culture the disposal of the product 
must be taken into account. If 
one has a crop of willows how 
can he sell it ? Willows are in demand by a 
very small class of operatives—basket-makers. 
Nearly all the basket-makers are from Europe, and 
have their prejudices in favor of their former 
homes. When the dealers in willow tell them that 
good basket material cannot be produced in this 
country they are ready to believe it, and the im¬ 
porters, by refusing the American product at any 
price, have almost a monopoly of the trade. This 
state of the willow trade cannot long continue. 
There are several parties having willow planta¬ 
tions who are bound to sell their productions. 
Finding that the importers will not take their 
material they put up the rods in the usual bundles 
and send these like any other product of the 
farm and garden, to some city commission house. 
The bundles being exposed for sale are seen by 
city basket-makers, the best judges of the mate¬ 
rial, who examine and buy. Thus the exclusive¬ 
ness of the importers is gradually broken dow'n • a 
few cents less in price is an argument that the 
basket-makers can appreciate. The two centres 
of the willow industry at present are Hartford, 
Conn., and Syracuse, N. T. A Manufacturing Co., 
at the former place, finding that their estate w’as 
being washed away by the river, planted willows 
very largely, in order to preserve the river bank. 
Finding themselves with a large willow plantation 
on hand, the company imported a number of 
basket-making families to use up material that 
would otherwise go to waste, and a prosperous 
village of basket-makers was established. The 
great variety of willow-ware sent from this estab¬ 
lishment is a sufficient answer to those who assert 
that the finest stock cannot be grown in this coun¬ 
try. At Syracuse some Germans several years 
ago, planted willow and worked it up into baskets ; 
the industry rapidly increased, more families came, 
more acres were planted and more baskets made. 
At present there is a prosperous community, with 
hundreds of acres in willow and their annual sales of 
baskets now amount to thousands of dollars. That 
willows of the best kinds can be produced in this 
counti-y there is not the least doubt, but with this 
as with all unusual crops, we advise no one to un¬ 
dertake it until he has made sure that he can dis¬ 
pose of the produce. Because some willows grow 
in swamps, many think that they can only be suc¬ 
cessfully cultivated on wet land. This is a mis¬ 
take ; any land in good condition for a corn or 
other farm crop is better for willows than wet soil. 
While the term osier is often applied to any wil¬ 
low grown for basket-making, the willow known 
as the Osier is one of the coarsest and poorest. 
The desirable kinds of willows and manner of 
planting them, etc., may be given another month. 
Greens from the Fields and the Garden. 
The desire for green vegetables in spring is not a 
mere whim of the appetite, but a demand of nature 
for something the system needs. Farmers, espe- 
eially those at a distance from markets, live large¬ 
ly upon salted meats. Experienee has shown that 
the continued use of such meats induces scurvy 
and other disorders unless their bad eifeets are off¬ 
set by an abundance of fresh vegetables. “ Corn¬ 
ed beef andeabbage” is not a combination made to 
please the palate, but one that meets a want of the 
system. Cabbages, beets, turnips and other vege¬ 
tables are used during the winter to ward off the 
ill-effects of daily salt meats, but with the advent 
of spring the desire for vegetable food beeomes 
stronger, and is best satisfied by “greens,” as va¬ 
rious plants are ealled, the leaves of which are 
eaten. The majority of these plants grow wild, 
and the boys are sent to gather dandelions in the 
Fig. 4.— ^ELEVATION OF REMODELLED BARN. 
field, marsh marigold (often, but ineorrectly called 
“ cowslip”) from wet meadows and the brookside, 
the shoots of poke-root and nettles from the road¬ 
side and fenee corner, and a number of other wild 
plants. It would be better to have a supply of 
greens in the garden, as aside from the great waste 
of time in hunting for them, the wild plants hav¬ 
ing to struggle with many others, are tougher and 
not so well suited for food as those from the richer 
soil of the garden. To have the earliest greens 
from the garden, preparation must be made the 
fall before, by sowing spinaeh and kale to be win¬ 
tered over. Dandelion seed is sown in spring, as it 
needs a whole season’s growth before it will afford 
a cutting. The earliest greens to be had from the 
garden, in the absenee of those kept over winter. 
are afforded by cabbage sprouts. The modern 
method of wintering cabbages, by inverting the 
heads and covering them with earth, is well for the 
heads but the stumps are killed. Where cabbages 
are wintered in a cellar or by setting them upright 
in trenches, the stumps are saved and are almost 
as valuable as the heads. The stumps should be 
set out as soon as the ground has thawed, planting 
them six or eight inches apart, They wilt soon 
push numerous tender leafy shoots which should 
be cut when two or three inches long; they will 
afford several suecessive cuttings. Turnips may be 
Fig. 1.— FRONT AND END VIEW OF OLD BARN. 
