280 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Sept. 
Plan of Farm Buildings for Animals. 
In no department of rural architecture are we more 
deficient than in plans of farm buildings. If a well 
arranged dwelling, to secure comfort, convenience, and 
a saving of unnecessary steps, is a matter of high im¬ 
portance to the female members of the farmer’s fami¬ 
ly,—equally important is a proper arrangement of the 
farmery to avoid a waste of labor, space, food and 
manure, in the necessary attendance upon domestic 
animals, and to secure their cleanliness and comfort 
in the best manner. We have seen nothing for a long 
time, in relation to this subject, that pleases us so well 
as the plan of the newly erected and extensive stables 
of Charles B. Calvert, president of the Maryland 
Agricultural Society, as published in a late number of 
the American Farmer. Although the extent of these 
is far beyond the usual wants of farmers, yet the plan 
possesses the advantage of admitting reduction in size, 
without altering its essential features, according to the 
requirements of more limited stock raisers and culti¬ 
vators. In small establishments, the outer range of 
stalls may be entirely omitted. 
The following description is in the proprietor’s own 
words, and shows much experience and sound judg¬ 
ment in relation to keeping stock and saving manure; 
the remarks, especially, on the subject of manure- 
cellars , and on the formation of compost heaps on the 
spot where they are needed for application , are well 
worthy of notice, and accord with our own observation 
and experience, and with the remarks we have already 
made in this journal. 
- fe&ENTEEMEN :—As you have been appointed by the 
Maryland State Agricultural Society to examine a/>d 
report upon the Essays and Plans which may be sub¬ 
mitted for the premium offered by said society, “for 
the best Essay on the most approved plan of Farm 
Buildings,” I venture to offer for your consideration 
the plan and description of some lately erected for my 
own use. 
The nature of such buildingsj,will depend greatly 
upon the system of cultivation on the farm, and I 
therefore beg leave to say, that these are intended for 
a dairy, stock, grass and grain farrm Having a very 
large dairy of cows, I have appropriated the main 
building for the accommodation of one hundred and 
four cows, and a large feed room on the lower floor, 
and the upper story for hay, grain, straw, &c. In or¬ 
der to explain more fully the whole arrangement of 
the buildings, and their connection with each other, I 
refer you to the draughts which accompany this com¬ 
munication. By examining these draughts you will 
observe a large fold yard, sixty feet wide, separating 
the main building from the others, and I think this 
will be found very convenient, as all of the buildings 
open into it and form themselves the whole enclosure. 
The buildings on the outside of this yard, are a corn 
house, carriage house, two horse stables, calf house, 
poultry ho.uses, sheep house, hog pens, stalls for cows 
having calves, bull stalls, &c. Through the centre of 
the yard you will find a gutter, which is intended to 
convey the water and liquid manure from the premises 
into two large tanks on the outside of the outer range 
of buildings. This drain receives all the water and 
liquid manure from the main building, by gutters 
x passing out at each of the eight corners of the same, 
q "’he main building is an octagon, one hundred feet in 
di ameter, and two stories high, with a glass dome 
Hw.euty feet m (Uameter, on the top for ventilation and 
light. The lower story having a large entrance door, 
and two windows on each of the eight sides, is devot¬ 
ed to two ranges of cow stalls, with passages behind 
each eight feet wide, and a large feed room 36 feet in 
diameter in the center. In order to form the stalls for 
the cattle, a sill i^placed two feet from the outer side 
•of the feed room, and the space between this sill and 
the feed room, makes a trough of that width, which 
opens into the feed room, so that the inner range of 
cows are fed without leaving the room. The cows are 
confined in stanchions fastened in this sill and a plate 
above, which I consider far better than any other mode 
on account of economy, security and cleanliness. It 
is more economical because it is easily made by plac¬ 
ing two uprights, one and a half inches thick and 4 or 
5 inches wide, into mortices made in the sill 6 inches 
apart; one of the uprights is made fast in the sill and 
also in the plate, and the other is confined in a mortice 
in the sill, but,is made to play back and forth in the 
plate in order to let the cow’s head in and out. On 
the top of the stationary upright, above the plate, is 
fastened a piece of board A working on a pivot, wdth a 
mortice cut into it to fit the top of the moveable stand¬ 
ard, or upright, and after the cow has put her head in 
between the two, the top of the moveable upright is 
pushed towards the stationary one until it comes under 
the mortice in the board abovS, which then falls over 
the upright and confines the animal securely. It is 
also more economical, because there is no necessity for 
stalls, and the same space will accommodate more ani¬ 
mals by this mode of fastening than any other. It is 
more secure, because it is almost impossible for an 
animal to get loose after she is once fastened, and there 
is no danger of injury from getting entangled in the 
stall. It is more cleanly, because the cows always 
stand a certain distance from the stanchions, and throw 
their voidings into the gutter below. 
Six feet from the sill into which the stanchions are 
fixed, and on the outside of the same, is placed another 
sill, fastened to short posts, put in the ground, and the 
space between these two sills is the platform, on which 
the cows stand. This platform is raised some 5 or 6 
inches above the passage, behind the same, so that the 
cows when they lie down, cannot lie in the manure 
which falls in the passage. The platform is formed 
entirely of clay, except about one foot in width, where 
the cows’ hind feet stand, which is paved with brick to 
pass off freely the urine, &c., and it should have a lit¬ 
tle inclination outwards. The passage behind the cows 
is eight feet wide, which enables a cart to pass around 
to take away the manure, litter the cattle, and also 
feed the second range of cows, as their troughs open in¬ 
to the passage of the first row. This passage is paved 
with brick, and has an inclination towards the plat¬ 
form, next to which a shallow gutter is formed, which 
conveys the liquid manure to the drains, which run 
out of the building at each of the eight corners. The 
outer range for cattle is made precisely after the plan 
of the inner one. From the inside of the feed room, 
you pass up a stairway into the second story, which is 
of the same dimensions, except the 20 feet in the cen¬ 
ter under the dome, which is left open for light and 
ventilation. On the second story immediately over 
this opening, I propose to erect a stationary horse pow¬ 
er of thirty feet diameter, which will not obstruct the 
light or, ventilation, except to a very small extent, and 
by means of a line of shafting running through the 
building, all the grain may be threshed, cleaned and 
ground, the hay cut or packed, the corn stalks cut and 
ground, the corn shelled, roots cut up, and anything 
else done that requires horse power. Such a power is 
far preferable to the ordinary moveable ones, which 
require much more power to put in motion, and then 
will not do near the work, besides the many difficulties 
in keeping them in repair, The advantages of this 
barn are that, from its shape and arrangements, more 
animals can be attended to by the same amount of 
labor than in one differently constructed. Its construc¬ 
tion admits of hotter ventilation, draining - , and light- 
