156 
AMEKIOAl^ AGRIOULTUEIST, 
[Apml, 
Hillside Cattle Barn. 
SECOND PniZB. — BT J. P. WHEAT, CROTON, DEL. CO., N. Y. 
The barn, shown in figures 1 to 7, is planned 
especially for a dairy farm, but can be readily 
adapted to other live stock by an appropriate ar¬ 
rangement of the divisions on the cattle floor. It 
is provided for a side-hill situation, of which there 
up into the shutes. B, a good-width stair to the 
floor below.... Figure 5 is the middle or granary 
and feed floor ; its position is indicated in fig. 3. A 
platform extends from this floor, four feet out to the 
lower driveway for loading and unloading grain, 
bringing in implements, etc., etc. So much of 
this floor as is needed is devoted to grain and feed 
bins ; and the rest to storing farm machinery, im¬ 
plements, sleds and sleighs, and may be used for 
are multitudes of good ones in this and other parts 
of the country. The side view, fig. 1, in connec¬ 
tion with the other figures, will show its general 
construction. The main building is fifty feet 
square, with a covered extension of the main upper 
floor or bridge, twenty feet to the roadway, which 
has supporting side wails of stone, dressed or un¬ 
dressed as may be convenient. This arrangement 
allows hay and grain to be hauled from the higiier 
ground directly into the main floor at the very top 
of the building, so that all unloading and moving 
of the material is downward, until it reaches the 
manure pit, thus saving lifting. Under the bridge 
is another driveway, the side next the barn sus¬ 
tained by a stone wall, parallel to and four feet 
from it, leaving a passage-way for animals into the 
basement.Figure a is an outside or elevation 
Fig. 2.— LOWEB END OF BABN. 
view of the end on the lower side, opposite the 
main entrance_Figure 3 shows the framing or 
timbers of that end, and the position of the main 
drive floor, and other parts... .Figure 4 is the 
main drive floor: a, a, are shutes, the side of 
each next the hay being short boards set in loosely 
as the bays are filled, and removed piece by piece 
as they are emptied, so that there is no lifting of hay 
corn, fodder, etc. A, a are the continuation down¬ 
ward of the shutes ; 6, stairs and floor above (same 
as 6, fig. 4); c, stairs to floor below ; d, door to 
bins; e, e, e, bins, and /, passage-way between 
them. — It is convenient to have a spout to bring 
grain from the threshing floor down to these bins, 
and other spouts to convey ground feed, etc., from 
the bins to the feeding alley or the cattle floor 
below_Figure 6 is the cattle floor (marked base¬ 
ment in fig. 3) which is arranged for thirty cows, 
three feet being allowed to each cow, but by util¬ 
izing part of the space given to calf pens, etc., the 
floor may accommodate forty cows, for which 
there is ample room in the barn to store sufficient 
feed, all under one roof, to take them through the 
severest winter. Eight of ceilings eight feet. It 
will be noted that the alley, mangers, etc., of this 
floor run across the building, the windows, w, w, w, 
in the lower side of the engraving being those of 
the lower row on fig. 2, and tne doors on the right 
side the same as those shown in fig. 1. The calf 
stable is for calves the first winter, and will hold 
six head. The calf pens are for very young 
calves. The stall with manger is for a bull. The 
feeding alley is ten feet wide; it has shutes 
overhead, through which hay comes down from 
the mows. Other spouts, not shown, come from 
the bins above. The feeding mangers are two feet 
wide. The platforms are four and a half feet for 
medium-sized cows, and two inches wider for 
larger ones ; it is well to have this width vary and 
place the larger cows on the wider portions. The 
g;utters are eighteen inches wide, four inches deep 
at the ends and in the center, and six inches at the 
drainage holes, giving an incline to carry off the 
urine. The manure is passed to the cellar through 
m, ni, m, m, (to m, m, m, fig. 7). The walks behind 
the cows are four feet wide. The small x’s show 
the places of the posts, which it will be noticed are 
planned to be out of the w’ay, those in the stalls 
passing between the cows. Gates ff, g, g, three 
and a half feet high, serve for partitions as well. 
The doors and windows, d, d, and u\ ic, admit plen¬ 
ty of light and air for ventilation in summer, and 
the whole arrangement allows of “ soiling” cattle 
where this is practised.—For fastening cows I 
prefer a chain or rope around the neck fastened to 
a large ring sliding up and down on an upright 
round post-Figure 7 shows the sub-basement,. 
its entrance being at the lower end, as shown by 
the large doors in fig. 2. This is only twenty-four 
feet wide and thirty-two feet long. The entrance 
is at least ten feet wide, with two hinged doors, or 
one sliding one. The drive-way is inclined down¬ 
ward from the entrance, the manure carts being 
backed in for loading. M, m, m, m show the ma¬ 
nure as dropped through from m, m, in fig. 6 ; it is 
of course spread out along the sides and at the 
rear as it accumulates. The posts, p, p, are on 
firm, solid bases to support the weight above, as 
these or their continuation extend up to the 
roof. Windows, w, w, in the walls or underpining 
supply air currents through the cellar. This ma¬ 
nure cellar, to which some object, I consider one 
of the best features of such a barn, after a dozen 
years of experience. I would much sooner risk 
cattle over them than without them, for the reason 
that they can be kept cleaned out in summer and 
have currents of pure air constantly flowing 
through, while the ordinary stable floors are seldom 
water tight, but more or less of the liquid manure 
leaks through, and accumulates for years, gather¬ 
ing in sickening pools, and sending up anything 
but healthful efiduvia... .Except where the cost of 
excavating is very great, in rock and hard pan, this 
building can be erected for from two thousand to 
two thousand five hundred dollars, covered with 
matched pine boards, painted outside two coats, and 
finished inside in good shape. The cost will de¬ 
pend upon location, price of material, whether 
timber and lumber is supplied on the farm, etc. 
Large Poultry Yard. 
H. Miltman, of Lower Saucon, Northampton Co., 
Pa., writes us : I intend to begin poultry keeping as 
a business and would like to have a plan fora poul¬ 
try house, combining all the best features that 
experience has suggested. The place I have 
selected for my poultry yard is a dry strip of 
meadow, containing about two acres, of which I 
shall take as much as required. The ground slopes 
away from a mill-race bordering its upper side, and 
can be very rapidly drained if necessary. I con¬ 
sider the mill-race an admirable place for ducks and 
geese, and also as a source of water for the hens. Is 
my ground suitable ? What is the best breed of 
fowls for market, poultry, and for eggs ? 
You will find numerous excellent plans in back 
numbers of the American Agriculturist ,—The land 
must be well drained. Open ditches will answer 
perfectly, Probably the Plymouth Kock cross will 
prove as valuable a first cross as any for common 
hens. Next year, or the second year, take another 
cross, selecting it from either the laying breeds, 
like the Leghorns, or the flesh-producing breeds 
like the Dorkings or Asiatics. Ducks may be suc¬ 
cessfully raised with very little water for swinl- 
ming. The main points in poultry raising are : 
clean nests and .roosts, an abundance of whole¬ 
some food, and a plenty of pure drinking water. 
