268 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Sept. 
T —T 
5 
“T 
to 
Plan of a Barn. 
Mr. Tucker —With this you will find a rough draft 
of the ground plan of my barn, which you are at lib¬ 
erty to use if you think it will be of any use to the 
readers of your papers. The following notes will ex¬ 
plain the plan: 
1. Hog-yard, back of barn. 
2. Hog-pen, 16 by 12 ft., with door to hog-yard. 
3. Tool-shop, 12 by 12, with stairs to corn-house o- 
ver head. 
4. Waggon-house and horse-stable, 28 by 28 ft., 
with stalls for 4 horses. Large doors in front, into 
door yard, and small door into barn-yard—door into 
granary (5) and also into cow-stable (.6.) 
5. Granary, 8 by 12, with doors to horse-stable 
and also to barn floor, (7.) 
6. Cow-stable, 12 by 20, with manger next to barn 
floor, and door into barn-yard and gate to bam floor. 
7. Barn floor, 12 by 28, with scaffold over head, and 
large doors into barn-yard, and window. 
8. Bay for hay or grain, 10 by 28. 
9. Low shed, open in front, 20 by 24 ft 
10. Hen-house, 4 by 20 ft. 
11. Barn-yard. 
The entire loft, with the exception of that over shop 
and hog-pen, is occupied for storing grain and hay, 
and has a floor laid double, and of course perfectly 
tight. Over shop and hog-pen is a com room, 12 by 
28. Dwelling house 150 ft. southwest of barn. The 
whole covered with best pine shingle, and siding and 
painted, at an expense of about $750. Wm. J. Pet- 
tee. Lakeville , Ct. 
Improved Kind of Fence. 
Messrs. Editors —The subject of fencing is one 
that is of peculiar interest to the farmer, and the inqui¬ 
ry is, “what is the cheapest method of building a strong 
and durable fence, and one that will not occupy too 
much land We find that the old fashioned zigzag 
fence is neither strong nor durable; besides, it occupies 
about twelve feet of land, and that, on a large farm, 
will soon cover five or six acres. Another form of 
building a fence is of stone with a log on the top. This 
is very good while it lasts; but the stone, being heaved 
by the frost, soon fall down, and then the whole must 
be taken up and built anew. 
We said the old zigzag fence was neither strong nor 
durable. Cattle or horses, that are in any wise inclined 
to be breachy, find it an easy matter to push it doyn, 
and the people of this windy country know for them¬ 
selves that every heavy gale that blows, is apt to 
carry away more or less of it. We formerly used to 
spend three or four days every spring laying it up 
where it had been blown down during the winter. 
But a new plan of fencing is now being put into prac¬ 
tice that is likely to entirely supersede the old one, as 
it comprises all that a farmer can ask or expect of a 
Fig. 1, represents the blocks and stakes as they are 
put together and ready to lay the rails in. 
rail fence. It occupies a space only four feet wide, 
and is built in the following manner. In order to be 
lasting, it should be built of cedar, or some other du¬ 
rable timber. 
The cross pieces are called bunks and caps; the for¬ 
mer four feet long, and the latter, two. The bunks 
should be from seven to eleven inches in diameter, and 
the caps large enough to admit of a three inch hole. 
Two holes 'must be bored in each; eleven inches 
asunder in the bunks and nine in the caps. From 
some straight timber, stakes are split, four and a half 
or five feet long, according to the height the fence is 
required to be. These must be shaved six inches at 
the bottom, and at least fifteen at the top, so as to give 
the rails a chance to settle without making too large a 
space between the top rail (which is laid on the cap,) 
and the next one below it. Perhaps the accompanying 
figures will make the whole appear plainer to those 
who never saw any of the fence. 
Fig. 2, is a ground plan of the fence when done. 
The rails should be laid side by side, and a block sawed 
to fit between the stakes, from four to eight inches 
