572 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[December, 
A Sheep Barn. 
SECOND PRIZE BT D. M. WELDAY. 
The sheep barn shown in figures 1 to 6 is adapted 
for using the horse-fork while storing the hayiD the 
loft. There is not a single cross-beam in the way. 
The barn is sixty feet long and thirty feet wide. The 
first story is ten feet high, and the ridge-pole is 
thirty-five feet. Forty toDS of hay can easily be 
stored in the loft from either end, without a man 
being needed to pack it away. This is more than 
enough for the two hundred sheep which this barn 
will accommodate. The bay is thrown into the 
pens below as needed. Figure 1 shows the ground 
plan, with its twenty-four stone posts, which are 
each four feet long, eighteen inches across at the 
base, and tapering to twelve inches at the top. [Use 
brick piers where suitable stones are absent.— Ed.] 
The floor is shown in figure 2, with the joist bear¬ 
ers and hay shutes. An end bent is shown in fig¬ 
ure 3 ; A is the door to the ground floor, and B the 
hay-loft door, which is ten by ten feet, and is let 
down on the outside by a small rope and pulley. 
These hay doors, one at each end, are held by 
guides nailed to the weather boards, and a “ stop” 
at the lower end. Figure 4 shows one of the four 
middle bents, with- its standing braces, purline 
posts, etc. These timbers are fitted with dove-tail 
tenons. Figure 5 6hows a side frame of the barn 
from the sill to the plate, with all the cross-pieces. 
The ends of the roof project, as seen in figure 6, 
to furnish an attachment for the horse-fork. The 
n ti n h 
Fig. 1. — GROUND PLAN OP SHEEP BARN. 
horse-fork track, or “ railway,” extends from this 
back into the loft for twenty-six feet. Upon this 
projection the hay is lifted perpendicularly, instead 
of being drawn against the end of the barn. The 
supports to this end are two stout rods,extending to 
a girder six inches to the right and left of the doors. 
Materials and Cost : 
The following estimates are for substantial oak 
frame, and No. 1 pine siding and shingles. Oak 
siding and oak lap shingles would lessen the cost: 
2 sills, 10 by 10 in. by 87 ft, 
2 sills, 10 by 10 in. by 25 ft. 
4 sills, 10 by 10in. by 9 ft. 
4 joist, beams, 8 by 12 in. by 
30 ft. 
4 joist beams, 8 by 12 in. by 
8 ft. 
2 joist beams, 8 by 12 in. by 
14% ft. 
8 caps, 8 by 8 in. by 5% ft. 
8 middle posts, 8 by 10 in. 
by 9 ft. 
4 dover posts, 4 by 8 in. by 
9 ft. 
12 sideposts,8by8in.by20ft. 
4 purline posts, 8 by 8 in. by 
26 ft. 
2 center puriine posts, 8 by 
8 in. by 14% ft. 
8 purline posts, 8 by 8 in. by 
18 ft. 
12 shed ties,8 by 8 in. by 8% ft. 
8 standing braces, 6 by 8 in. 
by 10 ft. 
14,522 ft. oak timber, @ $12.50 
1,800 ft, oak flooring, @ $12.0( 
8 standing braces, 6 by 8 in. 
by 10% ft. 
4 plates, 7 by 8 in. by 37 ft. 
4 plates, 7 by 8 in. by 25 ft. 
2 end girders, 8 by 8 in. by 
14% ft. 
70 joists, 2 by 9 in. by 12 ft. 
32 end nail ties, 4 by 4 in. by 
50 nail ties, 4 by 4 in. by 12 ft. 
4 nail ties, 4 by 4 in. by 7 ft. 
4 nail ties, 4 by 4 in. by 4 ft. 
4 gable door posts, 4 by 4 in. 
Qy 5^ 
62 rafters, 2 by 5 in. by 12 ft. 
62 rafters, 2 by 5 in. by 11 ft. 
29 brace pieces, 8% by 4 in. 
by 10 ft. 
1,800 ft. oak flooring for hay 
loft. 
4,200 ft. pine siding. 
6.820 ft. lath. 
22,816 shingles. 
1 1,000 ft.$181.52 
$ 1,000 ft. 21.60 
Fig. 2.— PLAN OP FLOOR. 
4,200 ft. pine siding, @ $24.00 tp 1,000 ft. 
22,816 pine shingles, @ $4.50 $ 1,000. 
Five kegs nails, @ $3.50. 
Eight pairs of hinges, @ 50c. 
Carpenter work. 
Excavating and stone work. 
Total cost... 
. 100.80 
. 102.67 
. 17.50 
. 4.00 
. 175.00 
. 25,00 
$616,67 
Unwise Objection to Bounty on Foxes. 
The opposition to the proposed State bounty on 
foxes will be likely to come from the cities and 
villages, which are not engaged in poultry raising. 
They have no flocks of turkeys, or geese, or ducks, 
and but few hens, for the foxes to disturb, and 
many consider that they have no interest to be pro¬ 
tected by the destruction of foxes. This is a 
superficial view. The city and village population 
are large consumers of poultry, and are even more 
interested in buying it cheaply than the farmers. 
This they can not have while foxes abound. It is 
said, and probably with truth, that a pound of 
poultry, with good facilities for range and feed, can 
be made at about the expense of a pound of pork ; 
the average selling price is more than double, which 
is a clear index of the increased cost of producing 
it. This is occasioned mainly by the depredations 
of foxes and other enemies of the poultry yard. 
The fox is unquestionably the most destructive in 
some of the Northern States. Many farmers ad¬ 
mirably situated for raising turkeys, in every other 
respect, have been obliged to abandon the business 
on account of this great risk. Those who follow it 
have to keep very close watch of their flocks, and, 
if they would be successful, have to pay the wages 
of a boy or girl during the summer to do this. 
With all their vigilance, foxes not infrequently 
break up the nests of turkeys, or destroy scores of 
the half-grown birds, in a single night. In almost 
any good turkey region, not half the birds are 
raised that easily might be if the farmers were 
freed from this enormous tax and risk. The only 
remedy for dear poultry for our urban friends is 
the destruction of foxes by persistent high boun¬ 
ties by the State legislature. A single township of 
farmers cannot help themselves. They may do 
their best, and tbe foxes of neighboring towns will 
assail their flocks. The needed legislation, if we 
have it at all, must come from the farmers. They 
are generally in the majority, and can have what 
they ask for. Let us have a State bounty on foxes 
before this present winter is ended. C. 
[Our Connecticut correspondent is very much in 
earnest, and no doubt both himself and neighbors 
have good reason to be. We suspect the evil is not 
so serious in many other States. It is said that the 
fox-hunting clubs about New York—on Long Is¬ 
land, in New Jersey, etc.—find difficulty in getting 
foxes euough to keep up theirsport. Friend “ C.” 
might invite them up to his locality for a week or 
two. They are generally wealthy, and would pay 
all expenses, doubtless—except for the crops 
trampled and fences broken. We should suppose 
they Would jump at the chance of ridding any sec¬ 
tion of all its real, genuine, bona fide wild foxes.— 
Still a State bounty, like the one suggested, will 
cost little where foxes do not abound, and be 
very useful where they do.— Eds.] 
How to Bring Up Worn-out Land. 
Sir John Bennett Lawes has written a chapter 
for the new edition of Harris’ “ Talks on Manure,” 
on “ Restoring Fertility to the Soil,” a subject that 
interests all our farmers who do not cultivate a 
virgin soil. It is a most valuable contribution, and 
shows how science may be applied with a view to 
dollars and cents. A relative of Mr. Lawes, hav- 
/ \ 
/ \ 
/\ 
/ \ 
\ 
Fig. 5.— FRAME WORK OF SIDE. 
ing several thousand acres of exceedingly poor and 
worn-out land, consulted him as to the best method 
of treating it. The growth of crops with the aid 
of artificial manures is discussed, and it is clearly 
shown why this would not be profitable on such 
poor land. The plan decided upon was to make 
the production of meat the basis of renovation ; to 
stop all tillage, and endeavor to get the soil into 
pasturage, by giving it the plant food to enable it 
to grow good grasses. A flock of sheep was to be 
allowed to run over the land during the day, and 
to be folded there every night, and fed one pound 
each of cotton-seed cake. The use of sheep in 
renovating land is not new to our farmers, and has 
often been advocated in these pages,but the practice 
has rarely been presented in so systematic a manner. 
Sheep in flocks of one hundred enclosed by mova¬ 
ble fences, or hurdles, upon a space twenty by 
twenty-five yards, and the folds moved daily, would 
in ten days cover an acre each, and the manure of 
one thousand pounds of the cake would be well dis¬ 
tributed upon this amount of land. This quantity 
of manure contains seventy-seven pounds of nitro¬ 
gen, sixty-eight pounds of phosphate of lime, and 
thirty-two pounds of potash. These fertilizers 
cannot be purchased in any artificial manure at so 
cheap a rate, since the increase in the weight of 
the sheep fed in this manner goes far to offset 
their original cost in the cotton seed cake. 
