October 8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
686 
A CORNER OF THE PLANK-FRAME BARN. Fig. 313. 
humus for next year, and see what effect it will have 
on the crop planted upon it. 
Ensilage Corn. —The ensilage crop is an immense 
one about here this Fall, and silo filling is now going 
on with great dispatch. Quite an amount is being cut 
in the field with binders, instead of by hand as in 
former years! The bundles are made small, are 
rapidly gathered up, and cannot tangle more on the 
wagons than would bundles of rye. At the silo, they 
are fed into the machines without cutting the bands, 
and the way they disappear into the new machines 
with their traveling tables and spiked feed rolls, is a 
caution. One of our large silo men said yesterday 
that the binder-bound bundles, and feeding as stated, 
made the job a fourth easier, and faster as well—which 
I pretty nearly indorse. This year he had to put an¬ 
other team to drawing, to keep up with the feeders at 
the silo. The demand for engines is great, still they 
are charging only from $2 to $2.50 a day for engine 
and engineer. New silos are going up everywhere, 
nearly or quite all going back to the square silo, hor¬ 
izontal ribs, and ceiled up inside with very narrow 
Georgia pine flooring. 
Clipping - the Clover. —There has been an unusual 
amount of clipping the new seed clover this Summer, 
and all express their delight with the plan. Some 
lots have been cut over twice, and the thickening of 
the growth is wonderful. It not only downs the 
weeds, but causes the clover to stool out, gives greater 
root growth, all the clippings help make mulch, and 
afford shelter for the growth of nitrate formers in 
the soil. The value of the plant is being realized 
more every year, and the need of decaying vegetable 
matter in the soil as an aid to growing plant life is 
being seen as never before, not only to retain moisture 
better, but give the ground greater warmth by the 
decay—or possibly it would be better to say fermenta¬ 
tion—which at the same time releases inert plant 
food already possessed by the soil, but in need of some 
chemical action to set some of it free. Crimson clover 
in northern Ohio does not seem to have attracted 
much attention, as it has been discovered that Medium 
clover, if given anything like a fair chance, is native 
and to the manor born, in this section, and seemingly 
needs no assistant in the clover line. J. G. 
THE PLANK-FRAME BARN. 
HOW IT COMPARES WITH THE OLD STYLE. 
Since printing the short article on page 541, regard¬ 
ing the plank-frame barn built by Mr. Shawver, of 
Ohio, we have had a number of letters from persons 
who wish to know more about this barn. Mr. John 
A. Woodward, of Pennsylvania, superintended the 
building of one of these barns at the Pennsylvania 
State College, and he sent us photographs all taken 
on the same day, showing the different parts of the 
barn, and how the planks were put together. We 
have had engravings made from these photographs, and 
show them at Figs. 313, 314, 315 and 316, for the benefit 
of our readers. Probably little explanation will be 
needed by those familiar with carpentering. Below, 
Mr. Woodward and Mr. Gilcrest, of Ohio, give their 
opinions regarding these barns. We have also re¬ 
ceived one or two letters from persons who state that 
they do not believe that these barns will be found 
permanently strong and secure. We will give their 
side of the case later. Of course, none of these plank- 
frame barns has stood long enough yet, really to de¬ 
termine how they compare in strength with the tim¬ 
ber frames. 
In regard to the manner of construction, Mr. Wood¬ 
ward says that, in building this kind of barn, there 
are no “ steps” in the work of erection ; it is rather a 
weaving together continuously, one plank at a time. 
There is no such thing as putting a bent together and 
then raising it as under the old square-timber system. 
In Fig. 313, the outside plank of the corner post may 
be set up in place, toenailed at the bottom to the sill, 
and stay-lathed. Then a single plank of each of the 
other parts in that end of the building may be set up 
in the same way, and one or two of the nailgirts (tire 
horizontal pieces) may be nailed on. After that, any 
half-finished mechanic can see how to proceed, one 
plank at a time, to the finish, stay-lathing each part 
until one or more tie-planks have been put in place to 
hold the thing together. It will be seen at the left of 
Fig. 313 that the several planks of the post, the brace, 
and both the upper and lower ties are all interspaced, 
and these are nailed at each and every joint or cross¬ 
ing, and thus all the numbers are woven together, 
and the frame grows increasingly rigid. With each 
added plank, the nails should correspondingly in¬ 
crease in length. Bolts are usually recommended and, 
he believes, used, but he prefers the wire nails and 
spikes. 
An Ohio Plank-Frame Barn. 
Last November, I built a barn with a frame after 
the plan of Mr. John L. Shawver. This frame is made 
entirely of planks—2 x 4, 2x6, 2x8, 2 x 10, and 2x12 
inches, but very few of the latter size, only the collar 
beams. The posts are 2 x 8, the joist beams 2x10, 
and the braces are of the lighter timbers. This 
barn is 40 x 80 feet, with 24-foot posts. There is a 
basement eight feet high throughout the entire build¬ 
ing, with a 12-foot driveway through the center the 
AN ADDITION TO THE PLANK-FRAME BARN. Fig. 314. 
short way. This basement is used exclusively for 
live stock, all the space above is for hay, and there 
is no timber, from the floor to the comb, in the way 
of handling it. 
I consider that I saved nearly 40 per cent in timber. I 
paid for sawing about 20,000 feet of timber for this 
frame, including roof sheathing and mow floors. It 
required the labor of four carpenters almost exactly 
tfiree days to complete the frame ready for raising. 
All was framed and raised from Tuesday evening till 
Saturday evening of the same week. After raising, it 
requires a little more time and labor to prepare it for 
LOOKING THROUGH THE PLANK-FRAME BARN. Fig. 315. 
siding, as the nail ties and side braces have to be put 
on after raising. 
Whether this frame is as strong, at all points, as 
some of the mammoth timber frames (much of which 
is used) we have seen in barns, would be difficult to 
decide ; but I am convinced that the Shawver frame 
is abundantly strong for all purposes for which a barn 
is used. My barn is now nearly full of hay ; I ob¬ 
served it pretty closely, and I cannot see any place 
where there is any lack of strength or symmetry. It 
stands as straight and trim as any building, in fact 
there is no chance for it to do otherwise, as it is so 
well braced and supported wherever needed. 
Would I advise a farmer who wants to build a barn 
to use this plan ? I think he cannot afford, if he is 
going to build a large barn, to put into it a lot of 
timber and labor that are unnecessary. If I were 
going to build a large barn again, I would certainly 
use the plank frame. I would put a good foundation 
under it, and would have nothing to fear but fire and 
lightning. I would make a driveway 14 feet wide 
instead of 12. s. G. gilcrest. 
Ohio. 
The Pennsylvania College Barn. 
This barn was built at the Pennsylvania State Col¬ 
lege in place of one destroyed by fire, and as a mem¬ 
ber of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trus¬ 
tees, I was made chairman of the building committee. 
We secured a model bent of the plank frame, with ex¬ 
plicit directions from»Mr. John L. Shawver, and then 
inspected, under guidance of the builder, a large 
tannery, just approaching completion, in Clearfield 
County, Penn., built upon precisely the same plan. 
This convinced us of its great value, and we adopted 
it, after considerable difficulty in overcoming the ob¬ 
jections of both architect and builder. Though it was 
the first experience of the contractor with this plan of 
frame, he has assured me that he saved at least 45 per 
cent on the cost of a timber frame of the same size, 
and that with this experience, he can, hereafter, save 
fully 50 per cent on the cost of any timber frame. 
Square timber is very hard to find and very costly. 
Plank may be picked up by the 10,000 feet in any well- 
conducted lumber yard, in stock, and at low figures. 
Skilled labor is not needed in framing; any apprentice 
or day laborer who can handle a saw and square and 
drive spikes, is a good hand. We used spikes instead 
of bolts. It is the strongest frame of its size I ever 
saw, very much stronger than any square-timber 
frame of the same size. I have examined the barn in 
company with the superintendent of our college farms, 
and though our crops have been immense, and the 
barn is filled to its utmost capacity (it is 93 x 108 feet 
in size) there is no sign of strain or yield about it. My 
opinion of the plank frame is so favorable that I shall 
use it exclusively in any building in which I may here¬ 
after be interested. j. A. woodward. 
Pennsylvania. _ 
NEW ENEMY TO CELERY IN MARYLAND. 
We have this season found an insect injuring celery, 
that is new in our experience. It might be popularly 
called the Celery web-worm, as it spins a delicate web 
in and about the plants and upon the ground. The 
web serves to protect the worm while it is feeding. 
A bed of celery attacked by this insect looks very much 
as though it had been blighted, many of the leaves 
turning brown and wilting, but upon close examina¬ 
tion, we have found that a large proportion of the 
injury is due to the ravages of this insect. We have 
collected a large amount of material, and are now 
making an investigation of its life history. We have 
also begun a series of experiments testing various 
sprays and mixtures for its suppression and control. 
Some of our large growers have been much alarmed 
on account of the insect’s presence. Its attack has 
been confined principally to the self-blanching varie¬ 
ties, although we have seen it on other plants. I can 
hardly believe, at this time, that this insect is going 
to be an annual visitor ; but if it should appear again 
next season, it will be well for celery growers to be 
on their guard. I think that the attack this season 
is merely a local one, and will not, probably, occur 
again in a number of years, [prof.] w. g. Johnson. 
Maryland State Entomologist. 
POSTSCRIPTS. 
The habit of the Columbian raspberry is to tip like 
the blackcap. The new plants are made from sprouts 
which grow from the tips. The plant should be staked 
or wired up from the ground, for best results. Neg¬ 
lected plants that have been permitted to sprawl on 
the ground this Summer, would better be left where 
they are until Spring, and then cut back and tied up 
to stakes or wires. 
Dr. S. B. Sprague, of Jersey City, claims to have 
found a tapeworm in an egg which was served for his 
breakfast. He says that the egg had been cracked in 
boiling, and when he took it from the dish, he saw 
what seemed to be a worm, protruding from the crack. 
This worm was found to be coiled up, and when 
stretched out, proved to be four feet long. The white 
and yolk of the egg were in perfect condition, the 
worm occupying the large end of the egg, in which 
the air is stored. We never did care much for soft- 
boiled eggs, and after this circumstance, we will take 
them boiled as hard as bullets. 
BROADSIDE OF THE PLANK-FRAME BARN. Fig. 316. 
