134 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[Apiux. 
Hints on the Management of Connty 
Agricultural Societies, 
These are among the most important helps 
to agricultural reform. When a society is well 
managed, its influence is felt in every house, 
and in almost every school district of the county, 
stimulating the minds of farmers to better 
methods of husbandry. The annual fair is a 
great educator, bringing thousands of people 
together, with the results of their industry, and 
giving them the opportunity to study each oth¬ 
er’s improvements, and to compare notes. Most 
of these county societies have been organized 
within the last dozen years, a very few only go 
back forty years. They have done a great and 
good work for tiie country, and during the war 
we have reaped the fruits of their labors, in 
abundant harvests, though hundreds of thous¬ 
ands of laborers were withdrawn from the 
farm, because machinery and horse-flesh have 
so largely taken the place of human sinews, 
and because the soil is more skillfully cultivat¬ 
ed. Now that the war is over, so far from slack¬ 
ening our zeal 
in husbandry, 
we should re¬ 
new our eSbrts 
to keep up these 
societies, with 
their annual 
fairs, and to 
form new ones 
where none 
have been or¬ 
ganized. There 
are yet many 
counties wiiere 
they might be 
established and 
do a good w’ork 
in improving 
agriculture. 
The need of 
them is already 
felt, and there 
are multitudes 
with willing 
hearts and 
hands to assist, 
ifthey only had 
leaders. The 
first requisite 
in organizing a 
county society 
is, to have a 
few spirited individuals to go ahead and take 
the responsibility. There is no better season 
than the present to talk the matter over, to or¬ 
ganize, and make arrangements for the fair next 
fall. The greatest obstacle to starting a society 
is the apprehension that the thing cannot be 
made to pay. To meet this difficulty, the so¬ 
ciety may be furnished w’ith a permanent income 
from the sale of life memberships, annual mem¬ 
berships, and tickets at the fall fair. A com¬ 
mittee should be appointed in each town to con- 
vass for members. If the life memberships are 
put at five dollars, and the annual at one dollar, 
and the canvass is spirited, a thousand dollars 
or more may be raised from these sources alone. 
Common inducement held out to secure mem¬ 
berships are the .privilege of competing for pre¬ 
miums, and several tickets to the fair. It will be 
safe to offer half the sura raised in premiums. 
The place of holding the fair is matter of 
considerable importance. A citj’-, or large vil¬ 
lage is generally selected, and if it be at a rail¬ 
road center or steamboat landing, it is all the 
better. It not only favors the gathering of the 
people, but what is quite, as important, the 
transportation of stock, fruits, vegetables, and 
manufactured articles for the exhibition. Fre¬ 
quently such cities can be induced to subscribe 
liberally for the sake of having the fair in their 
vicinity. The bargain is usually a good one, 
for a fair with its ten thousand visitors brings a 
good deal of trade to the place. Another reason 
for such a location is the facility it ofiers for the 
exhibitiou of other articles than the products 
of the farm. The seat of our large manufac¬ 
tories is usually found in these places, and it is 
exceedingly desirable that the products of the 
loom and of the anvil, and indeed e^ery branch 
of human industry should be represented by 
appropriate specimens at the agricultural fair. 
The organizing and managing of a county 
society involves a good deal of labor, but there 
are a good many to share it, and it brings an 
ample reward to every lover of husbandry. We 
say then to our friends wiiere no Society has yet 
been started, take it up and make a beginning. 
GROUND PLAN OF FARM BUILDINGS. 
The Groesbeck Barn Plans. 
We present this month the plan takii|g the 
second prize ($100), with the specifications, or 
rather, notes accompanying it. It needs, how¬ 
ever, a few words to call the attention of the 
reader to some of its many points of excellence, 
as well as to some of its defects. 
In the first place, then, the barn is a very 
roomy and-convenient one, though entirely upon 
one level. The great mass of the fodder is in 
the center, and the stock are so situated as to 
make the distribution of the feed of all kinds 
quite convenient and direct, supposing’that cars 
(or boxes on wiieels), may travel from one end 
to the other through the wings, on a tramway. 
Such an arrangement also places the granary, 
root-cellar, and cook-room, in direct communi¬ 
cation with all the stock. There are lofts above 
the sheep and hog wings, ample for the storing 
of litter, etc., and the room here might easily be 
increased without altering the plan. The ar¬ 
rangements for manure are very complete, and 
only objectionable, because, if it is not thorough¬ 
ly w'ell taken care of all the time, bad oders 
will penetrate the stables, especially if a south 
wind blows. The manure shed also excludes 
the sunlight from the stables, which, though 
never so light, ought, at some time of the day, 
to get the full light of the sun into the windows. 
It greatly promotes the health of the cattle. 
The plan lacks any provision for the carts 
and wagons, plows, harrows..mowing machines, 
and other implements. It seems hardly possible 
that this could have been an oversight on the 
part of the designer, but W'e conclude that he 
intended to have located a shed in the yard for 
this purpose, still, this is a great blemish in the 
plan, for such things ought to be close at hand, 
and if possible, under the same roof with the 
animals. They are then, of course, left in their 
places when done with, because that is the easi¬ 
est for the men. It is a great thing to have a 
barn so arranged that the men can do right 
easier than they can do wrong. It saves a great 
deal of scolding and annoyance.—An excellent 
feature of this 
plan is that the 
proprietor can 
taking a hasty 
look, even, into 
his establish¬ 
ment, see every 
animal (except, 
perhaps, the 
pigs and poul¬ 
try),—how the 
stables have 
been cleaned 
out, if the fod¬ 
dering has been 
properly at¬ 
tended to, etc., 
and all at a 
glance. In such 
a barn, every 
thing out o{ 
place, shows, 
and of course, 
all will be kept 
in place much 
more surely 
than in one 
where angles 
and byways, 
afford good 
places to tuck 
away tools, 
pieces of harness, brooms, and rubbish of various 
kinds. The barn floor going through the build- 
ing, is excellent. So too, are the spacious warm 
yards for the cattle. It is also a feature which 
ought not to be overlooked, that by slight mod¬ 
ifications involving the shifting of the sheep or 
swine further off, there might be two or three 
times the number of cattle or horses accommo¬ 
dated that the proposition of Mr. Groesbeck 
called for, or that are here provided for. 
The poultry establishment is made very large 
in order to accommodate the 300 hens that the 
proposition called for. In our engraving of it, 
we have reduced the size of the yards to bring 
it within a convenient space. It wdll be noticed 
that the Poultry-house is designed to go on the 
end of the Hog-house, the letters A, on one, 
matching the same letters on the other. The 
Poultry-yards for such a number of fowls ought 
to cover an extent of not less than an acre of 
ground, and this, cut up into smaller yards. 
