1877.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
17 
are bored at one end ; the posts are then bored, 
and the other end of the rail is bored to fit the hole 
in the post. This fence is easily and rapidly built, 
and one man can build it without help, as one end 
Fig. 2.— BOLTED BENCE. 
of the rails can be fixed to the post while the 
other rests upon the ground, and when the fence 
is all up the nuts may be screwed up tightly. 
Washers should be used between each head and 
nut and the rails, and if some paint is used around 
them the fence will be all the more durable. 
Poultry-Houses and Roosts. 
To keep several kinds of poultry in one building, 
but in different yards, is sometimes troublesome 
Fig. 1.— LOW BOOSTS BOB HEAVY BOWLS, 
to the inexperienced fancier. It is necessary to be 
done, however^ if each variety is to be kept pure. 
A method of arranging a poultry house for four 
varieties, is shown in figure 8. There is a square 
yard, divided into four 
parts by cross fences, 
and a house in the cen¬ 
ter, also divided into 
four apartments. The di¬ 
vision and outer fences 
should be sufficiently 
high to prevent the birds 
from flying over them, 
pointed pickets nine 
feet high, would be re¬ 
quired for the lighter va¬ 
rieties; six feet would 
be amply high for the heavier kinds, as the Asiatic 
fowls or Plymouth Rocks. Doors and windows 
are made in each apartment, as may be desirable. 
A passage way is made from the front gate of the 
yard, .which leads to a central room, as 6hown in 
figure 2. Around this central room are the nests, 
which are reached by small doors opening into 
Fig. 2.—PLAN. 
_E 
ij 
□ 
Fig. 3.—PLAN OB HOUSE AND YARDS. 
them. Roosts are put up in each apartment as 
shown. For the large fowls, low roosts should be 
used, as they cannot reach high ones without a 
ladder, and in dropping from them are very apt to 
injure themselves. A roosting frame, which we 
have recently made for some Light Brahmas, is 
shown at figure 1. It is made of chestnut strips 
two inches square, with the edges of the upper 
part rounded off somewhat, to make then easy to 
the feet of the fowls. Three of these strips are 
fastened to frames made 
of the same material for 
supports. The whole is 
fastened to the wall by 
rings fixed in staples, so 
that it can be turned up 
and held against the 
wall by a hook. It is 12 
feet long, 3 feet wide, 
and 16 inches from the 
floor. We find this to be 
too high for some of the 
heaviest of the fowls, 
which have to be pro¬ 
vided with stools upon 
which to step up to the 
perches. A poultry- 
house suitable to keep 
several kinds separate, 
is illustrated at figure 4. 
Originally this was made 
for the accomodation of 
a number of dogs, and 
was described in the 
“Journal d’Agriculture 
Pratique,” of Paris, but it is perfectly well adapted 
for poultry. Its peculiarly French appearance gives 
it a picturesqueness which, with many persons, 
would rather add to its attractiveness than other 
wise, but the style of the building may be varied to 
suit any circumstances. It is divided into a num¬ 
ber of apartments, each leading into a yard, which 
is planted with fruit trees. The yards radiate fan- 
wise from the building and occupy a square piece 
of ground. The apartments communicate with the 
front of the building, and a room may be there 
made from which each can be reached. 
A Farm Wheelbarrow. 
The wheelbarrow is an indispensable vehicle on 
BARM WHEELBARBOW. 
the farm and in the garden. Applied to hard uses 
it needs to be strong and durable. A barrow of the 
ordinary kind, used on farms, soon becomes weak 
in the joints and falls to pieces. The movable 
sides are inconvenient, and the shape necessarily 
adopted when movable sides are used, greatly 
weakens the structure. We saw a farm wheelbar¬ 
row at the Exhibition of the American Institute 
that was shown by the New York Plow Company 
of New York, who are the manufacturers, that is 
far superior to any others we know of, and have 
made an engraving of it, that its excellent points 
may be seen. It will be noticed at first sight that 
it is most strongly supported and braced, that the 
box, instead of weakening it, greatly strengthens 
it, and that it is stout and substantial. It is put 
together at every part by strong bolts, and can be 
taken apart to pack for transportation, if desired, 
and a broken part readily replaced. This wheel¬ 
barrow was highly commended by the judges of 
agricultural implements at the exhibition, which 
fact not only shows that it possesses, in their esti¬ 
mation, some novel and excellent points, but that 
these gentlemen, who were selected for their prac¬ 
tical knowledge of such things, did not neglect a 
useful article because it happened to be an incon¬ 
spicuous and humble sort of an implement. 
Remodeling Old Buildings. 
Frequent inquiries are made as to the improve¬ 
ment of old farm buildings, either by adding to 
them, or by remodeling them in some manner so 
as to make them more convenient. Many old 
buildings are too good to tear down, but yet are so 
small, inconvenient, or ill adapted to increasing 
wants, as to need enlarging. We have before us 
an inquiry which is a type of many others. “A 
Farmer” sends a sketch (fig. 2) of his old barn¬ 
yard and buildings around it, which he finds totally 
inadequate to his uses. The buildings are good 
of their kind, but are small, scattered, and situated 
without any order, and very inconveniently. At a 
is the barn, with a drive-way through it; at 6 is a 
small cow-stable for four cows ; at c is a horse sta¬ 
ble for two horses, with place for poultry adjoin¬ 
ing, and an open shed, used hitherto as a pig-pen, 
is situated at d. A fence encloses a space used as 
a barn-yard. Room is needed for twenty cows with 
calves and yearlings; a bull; four horses; two 
loose boxes for cows and colts ; a shed for imple¬ 
ments, tools, wagons, and carts, and for the neces¬ 
sary number of pigs and poultry. To meet these re¬ 
quirements we suggest the following alterations, as 
shown in the plan seen at figure 3. None of the 
buildings are removed. If the foundations are 
not satisfactory, as is probably the case, the build¬ 
ings are raised and solidly underpinned with stone, 
brick, or concrete ; and the floors either laid with 
stone or concrete, or with plank, beneath which 
space is left open, so that vermin cannot hide and 
harbor. The barn is changed within, so that a 
cross passage is made on the main floor, at a, a , in 
the plan. Upon each side of the bam is a cow 
shed, b, 6, holding 10 cows. An ample feeding 
floor is made at c, c, to which the cross passage in 
the barn leads. One of the apartments of the bam 
floor—it is immaterial which of them—is occupied 
Fig. 4.—HOUSE AND YARDS BOB SEVERAL BREEDS. 
