I860.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
297 
Barn Flans. 
BY N. B. ABBOTT. WATERTOWN, CONN. 
We present another selection from the fifty 
three plans for barns, sent in competition for the 
prize offered in the February Agriculturist (p. 60) 
This fulfils all the conditions required, viz.: “to 
front the north side of an East and West street, 
and be accessible in front and rear; to have a 
floor for three 4-wheeled vehicles and a sleigh ; 
to contain stalls for four horses and two cows ; 
also a tool-room and work-shop combined, with 
ample space for farm and garden implements; 
rooms for garden truck, hay, straw, feed bins, 
etc., and to cost $900 to $1200.” The drawings 
of Mr. Abbott’s plan were very neatly executed, 
and a study of the engravings and description 
will afford several suggestions of value to every 
one designing to construct a barn of any form, or 
for whatever purpose— ....The engravings are 
all reduced to a scale of one inch to sixteen feet — 
The size of the building is 32x40 feet. Hight 
of posts 23 feet. Hight of basement, 7 feet in the 
clear ; hight of first story, 8 feet in the clear.— 
The Elevation Plan shows the general style 
of finish. (The rear may be finished in the same 
style, or more plainly according to its exposure 
to view, etc.) 
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Fig. 2- UNDERGROUND, OR CELLAR PLAN. 
Fig. 2. BIsement Plan. —A is the manure cel¬ 
lar, with piers to support the floor.— B is a root 
cellar, with bins, c, c, c, along the side. Each bin 
has a window or slide, d. in the wall, through 
which to unload the roots directly into the sev¬ 
eral bins. This is a convenient labor-saving ar¬ 
rangement for any barn where the space outside 
of the wall is clear for driving along side .—E is 
a passage way to the bottom of the stairs at /. 
At g, is an opening outward, with an inclined 
plane long enough and at such an angle as to 
admit of backing a team down to draw out the 
manure. The outside walls are of stone, 18 inches 
thick; the partition walls and piers of brick, 12 
inches in thickness. (The bottom of the cellar 
will need to be grouted, and the walls laid with 
hydraulic cement mortar, to keep the manure from 
settling under them and out into the vegetable 
cellar. The door represented below / is objection¬ 
able as it will allow the escape of the effluvia of 
the manure in to the vegetable cellar. The par¬ 
tition wall will need to be built up closely to the 
flooring for a similar reason ; and the opening at 
g should be ample to secure free ventilation, and 
prevent gases and odors from rising to the stalls.) 
Fig. 3. Main Floor. — H is the main carriage 
floor, 10x38 according to the scale. This will 
admit the three carriages and sleigh, but not 
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Fig. 3- MAIN FLOOR — OR GRODNO PLAN. 
conveniently, as there is scarcely room for them 
to pass each other readily; while to get out 
one standing in the middle, would require the 
running out of another in front or rear of it. The 
doors, i, i, slide on rollers at the bottom.— I is a 
room for garden truck ; J a tool-room ; K a work¬ 
shop ; l a chimney flue, if a fire is needed in the 
work-shop ; m a work bench ; n a ventilator ex¬ 
tending from the cellar to the roof, with flues ex¬ 
tending into it from the main and second stories. 
O, o, o, are six stalls for horses and cows. The 
mangers p, p, are placed in one corner of the head 
of the stalls. A trough, q, not represented here, 
extends along under all the feed boxes, into which 
water can be thrown from the pump shown at r, 
near'the feed box, s. Trap-doors, t, are placed 
below each stall for the manure to be thrown 
through, into the cellar. (We suppose the rear of 
each stall is to be left open to be entered by the 
animals from the carriage floor. This is objec¬ 
tionable. Cows might injure the carriages ; and 
besides, the vehicles should be shut off from the 
stench, and especially from the dust of the stalls 
and feeding rooms.) The floor of the carriage 
room may be raised two inches or so above the 
stalls, if desired, and the stall floors be inclined, 
and supplied with gutters to carry off urine. (This 
is important, both for preserving cleanliness in 
the stalls, and also for increasing the stock of 
manure.) At u, stairs lead down into the cel 
lar ; v is a bin for oats and grain, or ship-feed, etc. 
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Fig. 4— second floor, or chamber plan. 
Fig. 4. Second Floor, or Chamber. —The 
large room (1) is designed to hold ten tuns of 
hay, and two tuns of straw ; (2) is the ventilator 
from below ; and (3) the chimney. The feeding- 
racks are shown at (4); and hoppers for throw¬ 
ing down cut feed at (5). A cutting machine is 
shown at (6); and a box for mixing feed at (7). 
A feed or grain bin is placed at (8), behind and 
over the stairway (9). The passage way over 
the mangers is covered over, at seven feet high, 
to make room for storing the above. 
The roof is designed to be framed with truss 
rafters, so as to support the beams, leaving the 
upper story clear for storing hay. The roof is 
to be covered with the best pine shingles ; the 
outside covering of the building to be of second 
quality matched pine boards, or be clap-boarded. 
The estimated cost of the whole, is in the neigh¬ 
borhood of $1000. This is calculated from the 
cost of materials and labor in Waterbury, Ct., and 
would, of course, vary somewhat with the local¬ 
ity where the building is to be erected. [We 
think from the objections already stated, am' 
from others that will occur to every one, that 
while the above plan has several good features, 
it is not, on the whole, so good as the one to 
which the premium was awarded. (See August 
number, page 240.) To one feature in this plan 
we strongly object, viz., the placing of hay-racks 
above the horses’ heads. They allow seed to 
fall into the eyes and manes of the animals, and 
the hay is.continually exposed to the rising 
breath. Hay should always be in boxes or man¬ 
gers below the head, and be put in from the 
front, instead of being dropped down from above.] 
——-— - — ——- 
Making Land. —The City of Boston, Mass., is 
engaged in filing in some two hundred acres of 
swamp flats immediately west of the Common. 
The material for filling is brought seven miles on 
rail tracks, employing ten locomotives, one hun¬ 
dred cars, and an army of workmen. It is 
estimated that four years will be required to 
complete the work, and that the land thus mado 
will be worth ten million dollars. 
--■ ■ — - 
The Potato Rot appears to be extending 
the present year. Accounts from the West 
speak of great losses, and a general scarcity is 
apprehended. In Europe, also, it is said the dis¬ 
ease prevails more widely than for many years. 
In Ireland where this is a national crop, and a 
failure is a serions calamity, there is much anxi'. 
ety felt, as the rot exists to a considerable ext^ht. 
