834 
keep up the health, aud add greatly to the en¬ 
joyment of life. There was a good deal of 
time left, especially in the winter season, for 
studv and reading. Some of the children are 
looking forward to bee-keeping, some to 
chicken culture, and some to gardening. 
Every person ought to have a hobby. Lastly, 
I desire to refer to competition. No man, 
woman or child can ever hope to show origin¬ 
ality in business of any kind, and make a 
pecuniary success of it, without having imi- 
j j --— '— 
caw it abii. u Wuv StstVCte. 
B A a 
Fig. 402. 
tators. In almost all departments of life, a 
few do the bard thinking. After that the 
multitude follow. In the city of Denver, it 
is said that 300 wagons retail fruits and veg 
etables, and the business is overdone. In a 
little time this is likely to rectify itself. Some 
competition is good, John says, but not too 
much. Most men will work a little harder, 
will be on better time, serve customers better, 
and sell a better article cheaper for having a 
competitor. “Competition is the life of 
trade.” He is not much of a man who cannot 
stand it. There is one compensation for brisk 
competition—when any town or city is known 
to have a great number of market gardens in 
its vicinity it becomes a source of supply, to 
which, sooner or later, come orders of sur¬ 
prising magnitude. More than once the fine 
cabbages and far-famed potatoes of Northern 
Colorado have supplied Kansas City. Once 
again the desert has fed the town. 
%XC\pUtWCL 
AN OLD-FASHIONED BARN. 
William McFarlane, one of our young 
readers in MifRin Co. Pa., sent us, some time 
ago, Sketches of the barn shown at Fig. 401. 
This barn was built by Mr. McFarlane’s 
grandfather over forty years ago. So 
much is being said just now about modern 
barns that these plans may be interesting by 
way of comparison. Mr. McF. writes as 
follows: 
“You will see by the plan of the barn, Fig. 
401, that the walls are all low except the 
bridge wall. The wall along the back of the 
entry L. Fig. 402, is built low with 12x4-inch 
sills and posts four feet apart and braced at 
top. The sill can then be easily made the bot¬ 
tom of a trough and one can feed the whole 
length of the stable. The cow stable is made 
by spacing 3x4-inch scantlings (the 
width of the stalls) across the sills of the entry 
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c 
•5 
> 
X 
11 ri 
n 
j 
0 
JJ 
Q 
Piiuktt 
urmnn-i 
I] V 
0ia*k6 
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Fig. 403. 
reaching into the stable about a foot; then 
fasten an upright post to the sleeper above, as 
shown at Fig. 404, and leave the other one so 
as to reach the next sleeper, and board up 
about two and a half feet, leaving the ends 
of the boards reaching in on the entry floor 
to prevent the cows from eating their neigh¬ 
bors’ feed. The entry floor should be laid 
with matched boards, and all grams should be 
fed on the floor. By making the entry not 
more than five feet wide and feeding from 
both sides, one can throw the hay or fodder 
on the floor, and the cows can reach to the 
middle from each side, and if there is any. 
thing left, one hasn’t to go into the stable to 
clean out the trough, for be can take a rake 
and push it out of the front door. Put a 
rail on top of the partitions to prevent 
the cows from jumping up into the 
entry. This may be arranged so that it can 
be raised or lowered to suit large or small 
cattle. The cows are tied by .chains to a 
board six inches high, at the edge of the 
floor. 
EXPLANATION OF BARN. 
A shows a back sheep stable 13x80 feet; B a 
horse stable 16x20 feet: C are box-stall horse 
stables 14x17}^ each; E is either a horse or 
cow stable 12x28: F is a steer stable 12x35: G- 
is another 12x35; H is calf stable 6%xl2: all 
at Fig. 402 I i» a hav hole 8x10 feet; J is a 
horse entry 5^x35; K is an entry for stables 
E and H, and a passageway for sheep or 
calves to get into the stable. A, by opening 
the doors as shown right and left in the en¬ 
try L, which is 5x80 feet. M is a cow 
stable entry, 5x35 feet; IN is a box stall at the 
upper end of the horse-stable, 7x15 feet. 
Doors are shown into all stables from the 
back entry L; O is a hay-mow 20x46 feet; P 
are driving floors 20x46 feet each. Q is a 
wheat mow 20x46 feet; R is a room for cut 
fodder, 13x20 feet; S is a granary 13x20 feet. 
T is a spout to run oats into entry L. U is a 
chute for cut fodder. V are stairs. 
Varmts. 
the wpather is damp or cold close it ud tightly 
at night. I see only good results fro " this 
practice. I haven’t had a hen die, nor one 
sick. They lay regularly, look clean and 
happy, and what more need I wish? There is 
a great deal yet to be learned concerning the 
management of poultry. For instance, there 
are the men who make a great fuss and stew 
over lime, pebbles, meat, bones, etc., etc. 
Tbev emphatically assert that hens must have 
these things or they won’t—in fact, can’t lay. 
Now I know all that is fol-de-rol. There is 
neither lime, bone, meat nor a pile of pebbles 
on my place, and yet I get just as many good, 
thick-shelled eggs per hen as my neighbor who 
is so particular about these things. I feed 
corn mixed with a lPtle wet wheat bran, and 
parings and serans from the kitchen, and the 
hens scratch and pick over the ashes from the 
stove. What lime they get is in their food, 
aud it’s precious little meat they ever see. 
Practical common sense management will get 
into the poultry-yard after a while. 
FRED. GRUNDY. 
THE TALE OF A TAIL. 
Is the picture on our first page a story in 
itself or does if need anv further explanation? 
We might add the no^e from a Michigan sub¬ 
scriber, which gave us the idea of the picture. 
“I will do the best I can in describing a 
farmyard scene which occurred near wher 9 I 
lived a few years ago. and was witnessed by 
a reliable neighbor just across the road. I 
will call the parties A and B, A being the 
actor and B the spectator. They owned ad¬ 
joining farms divided only by a road. A, 
who kept a considerable number of dairy 
cows and other cattle, milked his cows in the 
barn yard, which, having a clay bottom, was 
not a very clean place after a heavy rain 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
LONG ISLAND NOTES. 
In looking over the Thanksgiving issue of 
the Rural, it has occurred to me to give a 
few thoughts on the past season’s experiences. 
Farmers are notoriously a grumbling and un¬ 
thankful lot any wav, according to the general 
estimate of them. This year they certainly 
should be thankful for very bountiful yields 
of their crops, but should you ask them if 
they were satisfied with the market returns, 
their smile would change to a look of sadness, 
as each recounts the heavy loads be has hauled 
over heavier roads and the light purse he has 
AN OLD-FASHIONED BARN. Fig. 401. 
when full of cattle that had been running on 
grass. A went to milk early one warm, 
murky evening, when B was just across the 
way, and flies and mosquitoes were -very 
thick. One cow had the habit of slashing her 
tail continually around her milker’s neck, and 
this time A thought he would stop her fun by 
tying her tail to the strap of his boot. But 
the cow soon got mad at that, and started 
when A got up pretty quickly, trying to untie 
the tail-hold and hopping on one leg, at the 
same time after her, saying, “So boss! So boss! 
So bossy!” The cow soon got scared at such 
a performance aud broke into a gallop when 
A fell down and the cow dragged him around 
the yard several times, bellowing at every 
jump, and the rest of the cattle got panic- 
stricken at the performance, while A kept 
scolding and shouting at the same time. At 
last the tail-hold broke and A picked himself up 
aud viewed himself with much sympathy; but 
he was a wiser man than 10 minutes before. 
All this time, B just across the road part¬ 
ly screened by trees, stood laughing at the 
‘catastrophe’—for they were enemies, as is too 
often the case with near neighbors.” 
If there is any moral to be drawn from this 
incident, it lies in the fact that whoever milks 
cows, or, in fact, does any other kind of work 
in a careless, slovenly manner, is sure to have 
his carelessness come back to him in a very 
disagreeable way. 
1 ) JJlU'i). 
TREATMENT OF POULTRY. 
I am awfully glad that so excellent an au¬ 
thority as Bro. Jacobs has come out against 
that death-trap to poultry, the ventilator. 
Last winter I made some experiments which 
satisfied me that ventilators are an abomina¬ 
tion, and I closed mine up for good. I clean 
out my poultry house once a week, and when 
brought home. Now let us see how much he 
has himself to blame. Last year through 
a combination of circumstances and 
weather in the West, short truck crops 
were the rule. We were well blessed here 
witn good crops, and as the West had 
none to spare, prices ruled high, it 
being not an uncommon thing for a 
farmer to return with $75 to $100 for his 
load, and many went four to six times a 
week so that each felt that his lines had fallen 
in pleasant places, and not for 15 years had 
the farmer been so well rewarded for his labor. 
As it was to be expected, this year he has over¬ 
done the thing, greatly enlarging his fields of 
production, and then an abundance of rain 
has made the yield enormous in some of the 
great staples of this vicinity, such as cabbages 
potatoes, turnips, carrots and beets. Some 
farmers who had 50.000 cabbages last year 
now have 150,000, and all planted much more 
than in any previous year. In several places I 
could show you 50 acres of cabbages in sin¬ 
gle plots. I hen the tine growing season has 
made the heads enormously large, so that a 
load of 600 would weigh from 5,000 to 7,000 
pounds for which the grower gets $18 to $24; 
while last year the same weight would bring 
from $75 to $100. Then he carried many more 
in number and they are nearly all sold by 
count. Had the farmers not been so greedy, 
fewer loads would have been carted while the 
returns would have been as great. Farmers 
are a poor material to make trusts of, I think, 
and each is inclined to “hoe his own row” in 
his own way. 
Another discouraging thing the farmer has 
had to contend with is poor roads. Excess of 
rain has brought an excess of mud, and ne¬ 
cessitated the use of four horses to get a load 
to a plank road. Often he had to go 12 miles 
before he struck one, and then he had to send 
the extra team home empty, all of which has 
added to his trouble aud outlay. The Rural 
says, “Improve the roads.” Easy to say; ex¬ 
pensive to do. No dirt-bed can Ion 0 ' stand the 
strain of 50 wagons a day weighing from 8,000 
to 10,000 pounds each, and what is to be the 
road of the future is what is now puzzling 
the farmers and road directors. As a result 
of so much depression in the truck business, I 
hear much talk of large farmers going back 
to the old style hay and grain rotation, as 
entailing less work and generally giving more 
even results and returns. I am not in the 
truck business so much as in flowers and 
seeds. What has afforded me most pleasure, 
has been my gladioli. A lover of flowers 
who has 100,000 of them to bloom this sea¬ 
son takes part pay as he goes along. Partic¬ 
ularly where they are seedlings, there 
is no end of pleasure in watching for 
new beauties, and in the lessons to 
be learned in seeing the great diversity 
of form and color to be had from 
the same strain of seed. Though one is little 
likely to become a millionaire, he can take as 
great p easure with . his treasures as a 
‘bloated- bond-holder” with his. Flower 
seeds with me are a total failure. Why? 
First, the heavy rains in early May when I 
sowed a large lot of small seeds, so crusted the 
ground that the seeds of many kinds failed to 
germinate; then the cool summer and early 
frosts caught some that did grow, so I shall 
not get enough seed in return to plant, but I 
had great pleasure in the flowers, in part pay¬ 
ment for my work. 
Will I try it again? Of course, “Hope 
springs eternal in the human breast, Man 
never is but always to be blpssed.” 
I hope for better luck next time, and I 
propose to make some changes in my mode of 
doing things, to remedy some of the failures 
if possible. 
Should our neighbors be asked whether they 
have bad cause for thankfulness, they would 
probably say “Yes, we have had good crops 
to be thankful for, and a rather pleasant 
summer to work in.” N H 
Creedmoor, N. Y. 
Pennsylvania. 
Auburn, Susquehanna Co., November, 27 
The season just closing has been full of dis¬ 
couragement for the farmer. Hay was a 
small crop and oats the lightest known in 
years. Most of the crop was cut aud reaped 
as hay, not being long enough to bind. Cattle 
were turned into some pieces and no attempt 
was made to harvest them But corn, al¬ 
though it made a slow start and matured late, 
will be more than an average yield. Buck¬ 
wheat gives a big yield, but it is of very poor 
quality, owing to wet weather. Our millers 
are making not above 15 pounds on an aver¬ 
age; whereas with dry grain and the improved 
machinery now in use, 28 pounds of good 
quality can be made. The yield of late pota¬ 
toes was abundant, but they rotted badly. 
Still, the crop will be above the average! 
They bring but 25 cents on the cars Muddy 
roads have rendered it almoit impossible to 
move the crop. The early part of the season 
was dry, but we have had the wettest fall 
known in years. The rains commenced on 
August 12, aud we have had but one week of 
dry weather since. The land has been water- 
soaked the whole time and work at a stand¬ 
still. Buckwheat could not be thrashed,potato 
fields were a bed of mortar and corn cured 
but little in the shock. We got but three 
pleasant days during October. The ground is 
now frozen bard and covered with three inches 
of crusted snow and rain is falling steadily. 
The trees are ready to break under their load 
of ice. No fall plowing has been done aud 
but few corn fields are yet cleared. Stock is 
low in price and slow in sale. Pork is in good 
demand and sells at seven cents. Nearly every 
farmer in this vicinity has a flock of turkeys 
to kill for Thanksgiving market. They are 
allowed the freedom of the fields during sum¬ 
mer and pick up most of their living, and are 
fed but two weeks prior to killing. With 
such management they pay a good profit. I 
planted this season 3 % acres of potatoes and 
calculated to raise 1,000 bushels. The land— 
a piece of corn stubble—was plowed in the fall 
and again in spring and put in fine condition. 
It was furrowed three feet apart and four 
inches deep. The seed, cut to three and four 
