458 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 8 
alleys in front of each row of stalls and the mangers 
are open box style. There is an entrance door at the 
end of the rear alley and also one from the barn floor 
with alley across the stable. The 28 feet next to the 
stable is devoted to two barn floors, but undivided; 
here the hay will be unloaded to either end of the 
barn. The remaining 50 feet of the barn is devoted to 
grain and feed storage for the cow stable. There is 
also ample extra room in this part for the various needs 
of a farm barn. All this ground floor is of concrete, 
nothing down there to rot. 
On the upper floor there are two large storage mows, 
the one over the horses, 12x38 feet, 14 feet deep to the 
eaves, without a beam or post. The one at the 
other end is 50x38 feet, 14 feet deep, and clear 
except a hay chute in the middle. There is also 
the scaffold over the barn floors. Hay slings are used 
to unload with, and a gasoline engine does the hoist¬ 
ing. All the outside doors of this barn are hung on rol¬ 
lers and covered on the outside with galvanized sheet 
i'on. There are also plenty of windows both above and 
below, so that the barn is light. 
The cow barn is built so that it forms an ell of the 
plan and the storage barn entends six feet beyond the 
side of the cow barn, which brings the center of the ci.w 
barn 25 feet from the end of the storage barn and to 
the middle of the 50-foot hay mow. 
Fig. 217 shows the top of a wall during construction 
of the cow stable. 1, is one of the sets of uprights; 2, is 
a pair of the clamps at the ends of the sections of the 
forms; 3, the inside wall, four inches thick; 3, 3, the out¬ 
side wall, V/ inches thick; 4, is the four-inch dead-air 
space; 5, is Alfalfa. 
The end of the cow barn is placed 25feet from 
the side of the storage barn and in that space the two 
silos are placed, one on either side of a nine-foot hall¬ 
way, which is the continuation of the feeding alley of 
the stable. It also extends on into the storage barn and 
under the hay chute of the large mow, making a con¬ 
tinuous hallway from the west door of the storage 
barn to the east end of the cow stable, 213^2 feet. 
The feed is carried into the stable by two four- 
wheeled trucks, one for grain feed and one for hay and 
silage. The grain car will hold two feeds of grain and 
the silage car one feed of silage for the 80 cows 
that the stable will hold. An iron door shuts the cow 
barn off from the storage barn. The cow barn is 38x 
154 feet and has concrete floor, reinforced concrete roof 
and walls, and the hallway between the silos is also 
built entirely of concrete. The cow stable plan is the 
result of 20 years’ experience and study around the 
dairy barn and farm by the manager, Mr. C. J. Ange- 
vine, and myself, the builder. The consequence is that 
in this stable there is just comfortable room for the 80 
cows, fresh air and light, nothing more. All room is 
occupied and no room for litter. All walls are 
perfectly smooth and easily cleaned. Woodwork is all 
painted or oiled. Fresh air is supplied by the King sys¬ 
tem; the foul air flues are of concrete and are 50 feet 
high, placed in the middle of the barn and the intakes 
are distributed along all the side walls. 
For light there are 57 large windows and three sky¬ 
lights and no dark corners. The cows are stabled in a 
stall something after the Drown stall and are hitched 
with a chain across the back end of the stall leaving the 
cow free except to get out. Fig. 218 is a view on the 
inside of the stable. This row of cows is 154 feet 
long. 'I bis picture shows the light and the smooth clean 
ceiling to good advantage. 
In these stalls the milker is troubled with very little 
from kicking cows or tail switching. What feed is put 
into a cow’s manger she can eat in peace, as no other 
cow can help her. There is drinking water in every 
stall. The full-sized stalls are 3J-4 feet center to center 
of partitions, but we build some only three feet for 
small cows and heifers. The drop is eight inches, and 
the gutter 14 inches wide. The back or rear alley is 
raised only four inches above the floor of the gutter, 
which is best. All stable floors are finished with a 
wooden float so they are not slippery. The manure is 
carried out on a litter carrier and generally dumped into 
a manure spreader. r. c. angevine. 
Michigan. 
CHEAP FARMS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
If I was asked are there any cheap desirable farms 
in this locality I would decidedly say yes. When there 
are sandy and clay loam farms nearly free from stone, 
within 20 miles of a large city like Philadelphia, which 
can be bought for $60 an acre, they certainly are cheap. 
Many of these farms are within two miles of a rail¬ 
road station, and some along macadam roads. Many 
of the farm buildings are in good condition and worth 
the price of the farm. Why do the conditions exist? 
In a large measure due to the farmers themselves. 
This is caused from want of enterprise as well as lack 
of knowledge. When reading The R. N-Y. coming 
home from the post office, I saw whole fields of corn 
being covered with a hoe, potatoes planted by hand, and 
men walking behind an old-fashioned five-bar harrow. 
Can we continue to use these old methods and expect 
farmer’s sons to be contented and happy when their 
neighbors arc using corn and potato planters, manure 
spreaders and gang-plows? These farms in the East, 
referred to, although fertile, need artificial fertilization. 
Our farmers here lose more money through lack of 
knowledge on this question than in any other way. 
They pay about $25 per ton for a few tons of some 
BUILDING WALL OF COW BARN. Fig. 217. 
cheap, ready-mixed trash, containing about one per 
cent ammonia and only two per cent potash. After 
applying a couple of hundred pounds per acre to each 
crop they expect profitable results. This leads to loss 
and dissatisfaction. Those are the men who say “farm¬ 
ing don’t pay,” and arc talking of selling out. 
The farmers who first learned the value of specializa¬ 
tion, and practiced it, have been the most successful. 
Their sons are willing to continue the work of their 
fathers. There has been so much said on the other 
side of the question that I wish to speak for the younger 
generation who are staying on the farm. My father has 
taken me, after having completed a two years’ course at 
an agricultural college, into partnership. We are run¬ 
ning a dairy farm, selling cream and raising purebred 
stock. There are many young farmer’s sons jn this 
community who are staying on the farm, determined to 
make an honest, honorable, healthy and enjoyable liv¬ 
ing or know why it is impossible. c. A. R. 
Bucks Co., Pa. 
PLANTING PECANS IN FLORIDA. 
The article on pecan growing for northern men, on 
page 375,- has interested me very much. I think the 
writer has made a very fair statement of the case. It 
has recently been my privilege to investigate pecan grow¬ 
ing in southern Georgia - and northern Florida, and 
while agreeing in the main with the remarks of Mr. 
Peek I would suggest that cotton and corn are safer 
secondary crops in a pecan orchard than the peach. 
Again, if a northern man is to grow his orchard at 
arm’s length, it will be safer for him to secure a reli- 
OONCRETE COW STABLE. Fig. 218. 
able renter and put in the staple crops of the country, 
corn, cotton or melons, than to attempt peacn growing, 
which would require his presence during the picking 
and shipping season. I do not think it is necessary to 
purchase trees costing $1.50 each. Well established 
June buds on two or three-year-old pecan roots can be 
bought for 30 to 40 cents, and may be expected to give 
good satisfaction. A first-rate book on pecan culture 
has been recently written by H. Harold Hume, Glen 
Saint Mary, Fla., and may be obtained from the author 
or from the publisher, which is the American Nut 
Journal of Petersburg, Ga. [prof.]John craig. 
Yes, Prof. Craig is right in recommending cotton or 
corn as a secondary crop in a pecan orchard in northern 
Florida, in preference to peaches; but, if the soil is 
suitable, tobacco would be far more profitable. Right 
here I could a tale unfold about the big returns obtained 
by growing tobacco in Florida that would astonish some 
who are not natives, but forbear. That’s another story. 
Another thing about peaches in northern Florida, not 
as yet generally known, is that though the Elberta and 
others of that type are adapted to that section, the culti¬ 
vation of the peach has been well nigh abandoned com¬ 
mercially on account of the prevalence of the San Jose 
scale, which infests even forest trees in some localities. 
Of course, if a northern man must grow his pecan grove 
“at arm’s length,” it would be better to secure a reliable 
renter and grow between the trees, the staple crops ot 
the country —if he can get him. Put a lot of emphasis 
on if. First catch your hare. In nine hunts out of ten 
you don’t get him. No, it is not necessary to buy 
pecan trees costing $1.50 each. I did not say it was. 
I said 1 would do it, and I certainly would. I am a 
convert to Hale’s axiom, “Plant big trees.” I would 
personally select robust trees of good size that had 
been vigorous from the start, and kept jumping right 
along with the best of care and frequent transplant¬ 
ing. Say that it only takes 15 trees to the acre. I would 
go to the Dewitt Nurseries and pick out trees that 
they have grown for quick results. I do not know the 
price, but suppose I pay $5 each for them—trees to last 
and bear for 10O years—$75 an acre. I would pay it, 
and the packing and the freight, and then after planting 
them carefully I would protect each tree with three 
tall strong posts and feel quite sure that if I were 
spared some years I would gather ample reward in 
abundant crops of the finest pecans. * j. y. peek. 
LIGHTNING AND LIGHTNING RODS. 
I have built a large bam past season on my farm and 
desire to Lave it rodded with lightning rods. Should rods 
be insulated or fastened direct to building? Are iron rods 
better than copper? I have read some authorities who 
claim they are, notwithstanding the fact that copper is 
several times, a more efficient conductor of electricity than 
iron. If iron rods should they be galvanized? Which is 
preferable, three-eighths-inch gas pipe put together with 
pipe fittings or solid rod? Would common galvanized wire 
size No. 9 twisted into a cable of three strands make a good 
lightning rod. if properly put up with points attached that 
extend several feet above tlie building and placed every 15 
or 20 feet on highest part of building? Should points lw 
erected at any other point or points on roof of building 
except comb of roof? Building is 42x80 feet. Are copper 
points necessary? a. w. s. 
Indiana. 
The object of a lightning rod is not so much to carry 
off the discharge of electricity in the shape of lightning, 
as to furnish a means of taking the electricity from 
the cloud silently and preventing a sudden discharge in 
the form of a stroke. It is a principle of electricity that 
it is drawn, or passes on, to sharp points very rapidly 
and silently and any good lightning rod during every 
storm takes from the cloud enough of the electricity to 
destroy the building on which it is placed. Copper has 
about six or more times the conducting power of iron, 
but at present prices it is doubtful if it will pay to use it. 
Insulators on a lightning rod are pm on mostly to 
help sell them. While glass is a non-conductor, water 
is a good one and the moment rain has wet the glass 
insulators they are no longer of any use. Rust greatly 
reduces the conductivity of iron and for that reason 
the rod should be galvanized. It is said that a lightn¬ 
ing rod protects a circle whose diameter is four times 
the length of the point above, so that if a barn is 80 
feet long, and one point was placed on the middle, it 
should be at least 20 feet above the highest point of 
barn. But in practice it is better to place one point in 
the center and one near each end of the barn. A half¬ 
inch galvanized cable makes a very good lightning rod, 
and for a barn 80 feet long let the cable be extended 
the whole length of ridge and down each end to the 
ground. Put substantial supports into the frame of 
barn to which the uprights should be fastened. Let the 
one in center of barn be at least 15 feet above and those 
at each end 10 feet; better have a margin of safety. 
At the bottom of rod, dig to permanent moisture and 
unravel the cable so as to separate the wires and bury 
them in a bushel of charcoal. Fasten the cable securely 
to the barn and also to the upright supports. If there 
are metal cave troughs and conductors on the barn, un¬ 
less it have a metal roof, it will be advisable to run a 
couple of galvanized wires from cable down to the con¬ 
ductors, winding each end of these well about cable and 
conductor. Also run same kind of wire from lower 
end of conductors down into ground, same as the ends. 
For tops, use nothing but copper.. If you can buy 
those made of copper for 50 cents it will be cheaper 
than to make them. To make, use copper rods, round 
or square 7-16 of an inch in diameter and eight 
inches long and cut a thread on one end that will fit 
into a 7-16 pump road coupling that is galvanized. 
Draw out the other end by hammering and file to a 
sharp point, burnish it with a smooth iron and if pos¬ 
sible, have it silverplated. If you can’t get it.silvered, 
have it tinned. The object is to have it bright and 
sharp. Uncoil two feet of the upper end of cable 
and wind the wires about a couple of feet of 7-16 rod 
which should he screwed into the lower end of coupling. 
File the top end of each wire of cable sharp and bring 
them up to and above the coupling into which point is 
inserted and wire them fast there, using copper wire and 
leaving two inches of each wire sticking up and out 
around the copper point. If this rod is properly con¬ 
structed and kept in repair, that barn will be safe 
against all forms of electricity except ball lightning, 
against which nothing can protect it. j. s. woodward. 
