EXCELSIOR 
41 I*nrk Row, New York 
82 Buffalo St., Rochester. 
) $3.00 PER YEAR. 
j f Single No., Eight Gents. 
fKntere.l .ccrU.,. to Act of Cow,,,. In Ih. MB. W D . P. T. Cl.rf. omc. rt the Bl.Mct Cournot M.. P.1M State, for the 8o.tl. ~n Dl . t r M .( Toft. ) 
Ultra l ^rcliitcttnrf 
A MODEL FARM BARN. 
In former volumes of the Rural we have 
given plans and descriptions ot many excel¬ 
lent Barns — notable among them being the 
admirably arranged and constructed Farm 
Barn of H. Sweet & Sons ol Onondaga 
county, N. Y., which was awarded the first 
of a number of prizes we offered for the 
best plans of that class of tarm buildings. 
Our purpose is to devote special attention to 
this important branch of Rural Architect ure 
in future, by furnishing from time to time 
plans and descriptions of the best models in 
iUfi line of barn structures. In furtherance 
ol this idea we herewith illustrate and de¬ 
scribe the modern and model Farm Barn ot 
David Lyman of Middlcficld, Conn., 
transferring the engravings and condensing 
the text, from the last Report of the Com¬ 
missioner of Agriculture, just issued. 
David Lyman of Middleth-Id, Conn., is a 
man of enlarged views. Born and bred a 
farmer, he lives upon the same farm his an¬ 
cestors have occupied for t he last four gener¬ 
ations. He has given employment to the 
water-power ot an adjacent stream, and, as 
farmer, manufacturer and merchant, applies 
the principles of thrift most rigidly to every 
branch of his business. The result is, if he 
invests money in any business venture, it. is 
with the expectation of its returning good 
interest, simply in a pecuniary point of view. 
The bam of which wo write is an invest¬ 
ed, however much 
eventually as the most, economical, the 
waste steam to be used for steaming hay 
and roots, and to this end the location of 
» the engine-room, contiguous to and below 
* Lite threshing floor, is exactly right. 
Fig. fl is the storage floor. Here all the 
hay, grain, straw and stalks are stored. 
Two threshing floors, sixteen feet wide, 
5 cross the building, being entered from the. 
C west. On one of these is a hay scale, and 
there is abundant room upon the other for 
a horse-power and hay-cutter, by which 
most of the coarse fodder is chopped up 
before being delivered at the feed trough on 
the floor below. Each grain and meal bin 
communicates by a chute with the feeding 
floor, where its contents may be drawn off. 
The greater part of this floor is occupied by 
the immense hay mows through which pass 
the four great ventilators coming from the 
feeding floor. Doors open with the venti¬ 
lating trunks at different heights, so that, 
when desirable, hay, straw, oats in the. sheaf, 
Ac., may be thrown down to the stock. 
From this floor there are stairs which ascend 
to the cupola or observatory, from which an 
extensive view is had of the farm and of the 
surrounding country for many miles. 
The horse stables throughout the barn are 
very airy and roomy. There arc three loose 
boxes as shown in Fig. 5, one twelve feet 
square for horses, and two somewhat smaller, 
which arc used for horses, or as lying-in stalls 
for cows. The horse-stalls are models of 
convenience and excellence. Each has the 
following dimensions: — Ten feet from front, 
to rear, five feet, one inch wide, nine feet four 
inches high. The, stalls are separated by 
plank partitions four and a half feet high, 
surmounted tty strong woven-wire doth ex¬ 
tending two feet, higher. The same style of 
partition forms the, front of the stalls. The 
hay-rack is uf iron in one corner, and an iron 
feed box Is in the opposite, corner, accessible 
to the groom from the passage-way in front 
of the stalls by a small door in the wire cloth. 
There are two floors, the lower one being 
laid of two-inch chestnut plank, with cleats, 
half an inch thick, covering the cracks be¬ 
tween the planks. Upon this water-tight, 
floor is another made in three parts; for two 
feet at the upper end the floor is of white 
oak plank nailed fast; the rest of the floor is 
formed of narrow oak plank fastened to¬ 
gether by strong oak cleats let in flush so as 
to form two doors, as it were, hinged at either 
side, so as to be lifted and set up for the per- 
. n * i 
NORTHWEST VIEW. 
frost, and not. warmer than the adjacent, earth. 
This Cellar may be subdivided into three or 
more bins. The roots are put in bv chutes. 
Fig. 5 Is the plan of the stock or feeding 
floor, rune feet four inches high in 
passing in 
DAVID EVIVEVTSPS BARN 
ges points not so hnv. Under the outer edge of 
the entire foundation drains arc laid with a 
est, grouting of stones and cement over them, 
the These prevent any undesirable effects of frost,, 
oor The whole floor is grouted three inches deep 
ars with stones, topped with sharp gravel, and 
Her covered with cement. The swine are per- 
iter manently confined in the pens, in which indi- 
ment of this character 
convenience has been consulted, simple and 
rigid economy has never been sacrificed. 
One is struck at first sight with the sub¬ 
stantial character of the structure, and the 
more thorough the scrutiny the more will 
this be seen. From pinnacle to foundation, 
nothing has been slighted; all the work has 
been well done; the timber is sound, the 
framing correct,, braced, bolted and counter- 
braced ; and the same thoroughness is ex¬ 
hibited in every part. 
Description. 
To gain an idea of the building the reader 
will do well to glance first at the ground 
plans, Figs. 4, 5 and 6, and then at the per¬ 
spective elevations. It will be observed that 
the barn stands upon a side-hill, which slopes 
to the east; that there are three distinct 
floors, and that the structure consists of a 
main building and two wings, in dimensions 
as follows: — Main building fifty-five by 
eighty feet; the cast wing is fifty-six l'ect 
long and thirty-one and a half feet wide; the 
south wing is fifty-six feet long and tliirty- 
tho clear 
! - by the western door, where the 
horses and wagon arc seen entering in Fig. 1. 
We have on the right, a very large carriage 
room, shut off from the floor by an immense 
sliding door. On the left is a neatly finished 
room called the harness room, in which is a 
stove for warmth in cold weather; immedi¬ 
ately in front are the horse-stall, and on all 
sides the spacious floors where horses are 
cleaned, and where horses harnessed to ve¬ 
hicles may be tied. There is a clear passage 
through the barn from the north to the south 
end, the stairs to the hay floor being lifted 
and fastened up out of the way. The wings 
are occupied by cattle stalls; those in the 
south wing being wide and calculated for 
fattening oxen; those in t,ho east wing 
adapted to cows and young stock. 
In the rear of the cattle stalls a double line 
of the brick piers. Two men in a tew exceedingly simple arrangements ic 
minutes will remove them all and throw cel- Common wooden troughs are set u 
lar and yard together, thus giving the cattle movable platforms; these arc too 
shelter in either winter or summer. Any the hogs to move; they are easily k 
portion of the cellar may, in the same way, and if anything is spilt it is not v 
be fenced off or opened to the yard. falling upon the platform is eaten 
Fig. 4 is the ground plan. The heavy cellar is arranged so that it. may 1 
black lines indicate the stone wall, which, in by cross-partitions in any way tin- 
part, supports the bank of earth on the up- convenient. Part may be used 
bill side. At the ends, where the cellar floor part, for tools or carts. A root cel 
is about on a level with the surface, the wall ecu by fifty feet, on this floor, affor 
is laid two and a half feet lower; at other for about 6.400 bushels of roots, 
wmmt, 
feet, cleansing of the lower floor. A chan¬ 
nel at the rear carries off the urine, and the 
solid manure is thrown into the cellar through 
the trap-door indicated by «, c, c, in Fig. 5. 
G'attle Stalls. 
Between the cattle stalls in the south wing 
(Fig. 5) there is a passage way ten feet wide, 
through which carts with green food, roots, 
&c., may be driven, making a complete sys¬ 
tem of soiling in summer practicable and 
convenient. The passage way through the 
NORTHEAST VIEW 
S 
