1 8 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
January  0 
1 75  acres  with  three-fourths  of  a  mile  frontage  on  the 
Maine  military  road.  It  is  divided  into  12  fields,  and 
there  is  living  running  water  in  every  field,  and  every 
field  is  inclosed  with  the  best  of  cedar  fences. 
Stacking  Hay  by  Horse  Power. 
GKT  A  ROOF  OVER  YOUR  FARM. 
Many  farmers  are  compelled,  under  dire  necessity,  to 
stack  more  or  less  wheat  out-of-doors,  because  the  stor¬ 
age  capacity  of  their  barns  is  inadequate.  Even 
though  badly  in  debt,  however,  it  will  pay  the  ener¬ 
getic  farmer  to  provide  good  shelter  for  his  stock  and 
storage  for  his  hay  and  grain.  Methinks  I  hear 
some  farmer  say :  “I  can  stack  hay  so  that  it  will 
keep  perfectly  dry  all  the  year,  no 
rfiatter  how  hard  it  storms.  I  have 
done  so  all  my  life,  and  never  lost  a 
ton  of  hay  in  all  that  time.”  I’m  not 
“  in  it,”  anyway.  Nevertheless,  there 
are  hundreds  of  farmers  who  are  “in  it,” 
and  would  be  glad  to  get  out,  if  they 
thought  their  pocket-books  would  admit 
of  erecting  cheap  and  substantial  roofs 
over  their  stacks  of  hay  and  wheat. 
Two  years  ago  I  had  a  larger  crop  of 
hay  than  usual,  and,  after  filling  the 
barns  “  crammed  full,”  I  was  obliged  to 
stack  several  tons.  It  was  well  stacked 
and  covered  with  marsh  hay.  When  it 
was  hauled  to  market  in  the  spring,  we 
found  the  wet  had  penetrated  very 
little  on  top.  But  the  stacks  being 
sloped  from  the  center  of  the  top, 
down  each  side,  more  than  half  of  the 
way  to  the  ground,  about  a  ton  of  the 
outside  hay  was  completely  spoiled,  and 
had  to  be  thrown  away.  It  was  good 
for  nothing,  black,  rotten  stuff  that  no 
animal  would  eat,  unless  on  the  verge  of 
starvation.  Last  June,  finding  I  had  a 
heavier  crop  of  hay  than  the  year  before, 
I  decided  to  put  up  a  hay  barrack.  1 
had  seen  and  read  of  many  barracks,  but 
none  of  them  suited,  because  of  the  hard 
labor  required  to  fill  them.  We  had 
used  a  hay  car  and  horse  fork  in  the 
barn  for  several  years,  and  hated  to  go 
back  to  the  old  style  of  hand  pitching. 
I  drew  several  plans.  The  one  that  suited 
me  best  was  speedily  erected,  and  is 
shown  in  the  illustration,  Fig.  9.  Only 
the  end  of  the  barrack  was  photographed, 
including  the  projecting  track  over  the 
place  of  unloading.  A  diagram,  or 
plan,  of  this  end  is  also  given,  to  show 
the  frame  and  manner  of  erection.  See  Fig.  10. 
The  posts  are  all  white  oak  poles  about  10  inches  in 
diameter  at  the  base,  and  from  18  to  28  feet  long.  We 
used  these  because  our  “  woods  are  full  of  ’em,”  and 
nothing  could  be  better.  Those  outside  are  16  feet 
high  to  the  eaves,  and  the  ridge  is  24  feet  from  the 
ground.  The  barrack  is  10  feet  wide.  It  can  be  made 
of  any  length  desired,  and  one  or  more  “bents”  can 
be  added  to  it,  at  any  time,  as  occasion  demands.  It 
stands  on  nearly  level  ground,  and  is  located  in  a  con¬ 
venient  position,  back  of  the  granary  and  tool  house. 
1  laid  out  the  foundation  by  setting  stakes  at  each  of 
the  four  outside  corners,  and  then  ran  a  line  from  stake 
to  stake.  This  line  was  leveled  and  a  hole  two  feet 
deep  was  dug  at  the  lowest  outside  corner.  All  the 
other  holes  were  measured  from  this  level  line.  The 
posts  were  all  exactly  1 8  feet  long.  Two  posts  were  first 
placed  in  position  on  the  ground  with  their  lower  ends, 
(b,  Fig.  10)  over  the  two  end  holes.  A  2x8  liard-wood 
girt,  (cc)  16  feet  long,  was  spiked  on  two  feet  below 
the  upper  ends  of  the  posts.  Temporary  braces  were 
tacked  across,  and  each  bent  was  raised  by  ropes  and 
pulleys.  Additional  braces  were  nailed  across  after 
the  posts  had  been  brought  into  line  and  made  plumb, 
and  now  the  hardest  job  was  at  hand.  Upon  climbing 
to  the  top  of  the  frame,  we  found  that  not  one  of  the 
10  outside  posts  was  half  an  inch  higher  than  the 
others.  The  2x6  plates  (dd)  were  spiked  on  the  out¬ 
side  of  the  posts,  the  upper  edges  being  about  nine 
inches  below  the  tops.  The  rafters  (ee)  were  allowed 
to  rest  on  the  plates,  and  were  also  spiked  to  the  posts. 
Each  pair  of  rafters  was  set  up  with  the  ridge  spread 
two  inches  apart  to  receive  the  ‘  ‘  ridge-board.  ”  In  or¬ 
der  to  do  this,  cleats  were  tacked  on  each  pair  before 
they  were  raised  into  position.  After  the  rafters  had 
been  spiked  on  the  posts  they  were  braced  into  posi¬ 
tion  and  ribs  nailed  in  between  them  to  stiffen  them, 
and  also  to  support  the  roof  boards.  The  ridge-board 
was  next  placed  in  position  and  extended  to  the  pole 
at  the  right  of  the  picture.  The  cleats  (f)  were  then 
knocked  off  and  the  rafters  spiked  to  the  ridge-board. 
The  roof  boards  project  three  feet  beyond  the  plates, 
and  the  roof  is  half  pitch.  The  boards  are  creased  on 
each  edge,  and  shed  water  nearly  as  well  as  a  shingle 
roof.  The  track  is  suspended  from  the  ridge-board  by 
double-hanger  hooks,  so  as  to  allow  free  vibration. 
The  roof  is  well  braced,  and  will  stand  any  strain — less 
than  a  cyclone.  The  frame  is  all  nailed  together 
with  No.  20  wire  spikes.  At  the  back  end  of  the  bar¬ 
racks  a  post  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  last  bent,  and 
extends  to  the  ridge-board,  to  which  it  is  also  spiked. 
In  filling  with  hay,  each  section  between  two  bents 
is  filled  at  one  time,  beginning  at  the  back  end.  The 
picture  shows  the  first  bent  empty,  and,  in  taking  out 
hay,  the  wagon  is  backed  into  this  space  to  load.  This 
arrangement  saves  much  hard  work  ;  there  is  no  need 
of  cutting  down  with  a  hay  knife,  and  pitching  off  the 
mow  is  easy  work.  The  track  and  car  are  so  arranged 
that  the  horse  fork  can  be  used  to  take  out  the  hay,  if 
m  ,  ■>< 
&  - 
,1  LJ k 
A  Michigan  Hay  Barrack.  Fig.  9. 
desired.  Very  few  harpoon  forks  are  used  here,  as  they 
leave  so  much  litter  on  and  around  the  wagon.  It  was 
a  pleasant  task  filling  this  barrack,  and  it  was  filled  in 
a  hurry  too.  After  filling  it  up  well  under  the  roof,  we 
let  the  hay  settle,  and  then  put  in  a  few  more  loads  on 
top.  The  back  end  gable  faces  the  west,  and  is  boarded 
up.  We  may  inclose  it  next  season,  but  see  no  neces¬ 
sity  for  doing  so  at  this  date.  I  lost  enough  hay  in 
stacks  last  year  to  pay  all  it  cost  me  for  material  and 
erection.  We  (three  of  us)  got  the  material  together 
and  put  it  up  in  two  days.  It  cost  about  $18.50,  includ¬ 
ing  help.  As  our  barn  room  is  getting  more  limited 
each  year,  and  we  are  not  yet  able  to  erect  a  large 
basement  barn,  we  think  we  will  erect  another  barrack 
next  season  for  stacking  wheat.  j.  h.  b. 
*  *  * 
I  wish  to  say  a  word  in  commendation  of  the  aggres¬ 
sive  policy  which  has  marked  the  pages  of  The  R.  N.-Y. 
during'  the  past  year.  It  proposed  to  move  on  the 
enemy’s  works,  and  it  has  moved.  I  like  positive  journal¬ 
ism.  The  mild  references  to  existing  evils  that  per¬ 
meate  the  editorials  in  the  lay  journals  are  weak  and 
sometimes  abhorrent.  w.  h.  s. 
Growth  and  Uses  of  Rape.— I. 
The  Greatest  Forage  Plant  for  Sheep. 
The  great  sheep  food  ;  like  a  Swede  turnip  ;  its  wonderful 
properties  ;  how  to  sow  and  grow  it  ;  rules  for  pastur¬ 
ing  it;  had  for  milk  but  good  for  swine;  < ml-door  rape 
silos  ;  all  about  it. 
PROF.  THOMAS  SHAW. 
It  is  to  me  simply  marvelous  that  a  plant  possessing 
such  wonderful  feeding  properties  as  rape  should  be  so 
little  known  in  this  country.  It  would  probably  be  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  90  farmers  out  of  every  100  on 
this  continent  do  not  even  know  what  it  is.  The  con¬ 
ception  of  a  fodder  plant  which  draws  sustenance 
very  largely  from  the  air,  and  also  from 
the  subsoil,  and  which  is  capable  of  fat¬ 
tening  lambs  to  a  finished  condition  in 
two  months,  without  any  other  food, 
does  not  seem  to  have  arisen  in  the 
minds  of  the  farmers.  We  mourn  over 
the  poor  quality  of  our  butter,  and  with 
reason.  We  are  troubled  because  every 
season  thousands  and  thousands  of 
pounds  of  honey  remain  ungathered 
because  the  bees  are  not  sufficiently 
numerous  to  do  the  work,  while  at  the 
same  time  we  are  content  to  remain  in 
oblivious  ignorance  regarding  the  feed¬ 
ing  properties  of  a  plant  which  is  easily 
capable  of  fattening  millions  of  lambs 
annually,  if  the  farmers  of  the  United 
States  so  willed  it. 
Rape  is  a  fodder  plant  resembling  the 
Swede  turnip  in  appearance.  There  is 
the  difference,  however,  that  the  rape 
has  no  bulb.  The  only  portion  fit  for 
food  is  found  above  ground.  But  the 
roots  ramify  in  every  direction  and  in 
their  decay  furnish  a  large  amount  of 
plant  food.  It  seems  to  be  the  best  plan 
to  allow  it  to  get  about  fully  grown 
before  grazing  commences.  It  will  live 
in  the  ground  through  the  winter  and 
produce  seed  the  second  year,  but  in 
this  northerly  climate  (Canada)  I  have 
grave  doubts  as  to  whether  the  results 
in  seed  growing  would  be  satisfactory, 
P  owing  to  the  severity  of  the  frosts  in 
i  winter.  In  the  warmer  latitudes  of 
the  central  States  it  would  probably 
grow  seed  very  well.  Rape  has  of  course 
been  grown  in  England  for  many  years 
and  its  feeding  properties  have  been 
well-known  there  all  the  time.  It  has 
also  been  grown  by  a  very  limited  num¬ 
ber  of  farmers  in  Ontario,  Canada,  for  several  years, 
and  during  the  past  three  it  has  been  grown  and  ex¬ 
perimented  with  on  a  somewhat  extensive  scale  at 
the  Ontario  Agricultural  College  Experiment  Station. 
In  1890,  537  head  of  sheep  were  fattened  on  it  upon  that 
farm,  and  in  1891  no  less  han  650  head. 
In  Ontario  rape  is  usually  sown  about  the  first  of 
July,  but  it  may  be  sown  at  a  later  period.  When  sown 
earlier,  it  seems  to  get  to  its  growth  at  too  early  a 
period,  and  many  of  the  leaves  turn  yellow  and  die. 
At  our  station  we  have  usually  sown  it  after  a  crop  of 
rye,  which  has  been  grown  and  cut  to  be  used  as  hay, 
or  to  be  made  into  ensilage.  When  cured  for  the 
former  purpose,  the  rye  is  always  cut  and  mixed  with 
cut  hay  and  some  meal  before  it  is  fed.  When  the  rye 
is  removed  the  ground  is  plowed  deeply  so  as  to  bury 
the  stubbles  completely.  It  is  then  rolled  at  once  to 
prevent  the  escape  of  moisture,  harrowed  and  again 
rolled  and  drilled  with  the  double  moldboard  plow. 
We  make  the  drills  22  inches  apart,  but  the  distance 
may  vary  with  the  kind  of  land.  The  seed  is  then 
sown  at  the  rate  of  one  to  two  pounds  per  acre.  The 
variety  is  known  as  the  Dwarf  Essex,  and  the  cost  of 
the  seed  should  not  be  more  than  10  cents  per  pound. 
The  cultivator  should  begin  its  work  as  soon  as  the 
plants  are  well  above  ground,  and  the  returns  will 
usually  be  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  cultivation 
given.  When  the  mischievous  weeds  are  found  in  the 
line  of  the  drill  they  should  be  removed  by  hand  hoe¬ 
ing,  but  the  rape  does  not  require  thinning  as  is  the 
case  with  turnips.  If  the  land  is  fairly  clean  it  will  not 
require  any  hand  labor.  Of  course  the  rape  may  be 
sown  broadcast,  but  in  that  case  it  will  not  grow  so 
strong,  and  its  advantages  as  a  cleaning  crop  are  not 
the  same.  There  will  probably  be  as  much  difference 
between  a  crop  of  rape  grown  broadcast  and  in  drills  - 
as  between  two  crops  of  corn  similarly  grown. 
The  best  soils  for  growing  it  broadcast  are  black 
loamy  humus  soils,  abounding  in  vegetable  matter. 
When  grown  on  such  soils  it  often  reaches  the  height 
of  three  feet,  although  the  averag'e  heig'ht  on  ordinary 
soils  is  about  18  inches  when  cultivated,  and  the  aver¬ 
age  produce  per  acre  is  about  12  to  15  tons.  It  will 
grow  on  any  good  soil ;  loams  and  mucks  are,  however. 
