A CIRCULAR BARN. 
Plans of Arrangement and Construction. 
Fig 26 shows a sketch that will give an idea of 
construction and arrangement of circular barn. You 
will understand the section is only half. The floor 
tiling over root cellar are carried at silo end on 
wrought-iron joist hanger; other end on cellar wall. 
The concrete work, except tie-up floor, all rests on 
ledge, and the cellar and silo both had to be blown 
out of solid ledge. On the side opposite the drive in 
floor is an inclined drive from slightly higher ground 
onto the floor over the tie-up, and under this drive 
is a concrete pump-room and a milk storage room; 
pump-room 22x15 feet, milk storage 22x10 feet. There 
is a 12-inch space between barn wall and pump-room 
wall. The litter will go out in a carrier to a cov¬ 
ered pit outside barn with a shed for manure spreader, 
so we can dump carrier either into pit or spreader. 
I am unable to give you a good estimate of cost at 
this date. I am keeping 
track of it all, even to 
team work, hauling 
gravel and boarding car¬ 
penter. If I could have 
been on the job myself 
I know I could have re¬ 
duced cost of labor con¬ 
siderably and cost of 
material some. I have 
done the work all by the 
day with non-union men. 
Help cost from $1.75 to 
$3 for nine hours’ work. 
Gravel I had to haul so 
far I could only get 
three loads per day with 
man and team; also had 
to haul water. 
I built this kind of a 
barn because I figured 
it to cost less for the 
capacity than a rectan¬ 
gular barn, and I still 
believe the lumber is 
less, but am not quite so 
sure about the labor. 
There are also certain 
conveniences that seem 
more desirable than in 
a rectangular barn 
short feed floor, silo 
handy and warm, root 
cellar beyond danger of freezing. There is a system 
of drainage and ventilation for cellars and for tie-up. 
If I were to go over it again I should reduce the 
height by six feet, as I find more room in loft than I 
think will be required. The drive over pump-room 
will have a roof over part of it and so arranged that 
the gasoline engine can be set beside tfie drive in this 
entry way, and drive the silage cutter inside, or a 
separator can be set inside for thrashing grain as 
it comes from field. j. l. dean. 
Maine. 
A MARKET FOR PRIZE CHEESE. 
Skill in dairying and as a salesman, combined with 
the ability of his better-half to make a particularly 
fine grade of cheese, enabled F. L. Tibbetts of Penob¬ 
scot Co., Me., during the year ending July 31st last, 
to market the dairy products from 13 Holstein cows 
for $1,560 above the cost of their giain, roughage and 
pasture. The cows were, to be sure, heavy producers, 
but much of the profit was due to the fact that Mr. 
Tibbett gets considerably more than the usual share 
of the consumer’s dollar. At least half of the cheese 
made is sold to customers direct. Cheese has been 
made at Brooklet Valley Farm for a great many 
years, but until Mr. Tibbetts became the proprietor, 
10 cents per pound was considered a high price. In 
seven years he has more than doubled that figure, at 
the same time greatly increasing his output. Mean¬ 
while other makers in the same vicinity have more 
or less difficulty in moving their stock for but a small 
advance over the old-time price. 
Mrs. Tibbetts learned the art of cheesemaking from 
her mother-in-law, and for a time used to turn out the 
old 20-pound size. Then with the idea of seeking a 
better market than the local grocery stores, she 
shifted the equipment to turn out a five-pound cheese, 
and has # thus continued ever since. For a few months 
after making the change, the cheese was all sold as 
before, but late in the season they took a display to 
the meeting of the State Dairy Association. Here 
they were awarded first prize, which went quite a 
way towards opening their eyes to the quality of the 
goods they were putting out. It also attracted the 
attention of possible cusomers, and proved a fine ad¬ 
vertisement. Since then cheese from Brooklet Valley 
Farm has been shown at every meeting of the Dairy¬ 
men’s Association, and at most of the State fairs, and 
with one exception has invariably taken first prize. 
Immediately after the Pittsfield experience, Mr. 
Tibbetts began putting labels on each and every cheese. 
This started the orders coming in direct, which were 
promptly filled at the retail price. Each order seemed 
to be responsible for others, until the supply was 
quickly exhausted. From then on there was nothing 
to do but wait and make plans for the next year. 
These plans included making large displays at both 
the Waterville and Lewiston fairs. Here the prizes 
won paid practically all of the expenses, while the 
cheese was readily sold for delivery after the fair to 
customers that otherwise might never have been 
found. Each year since then they have gradually 
raised the price and made larger displays. This sea¬ 
son 75 cheeses were taken to Waterville fair and 85 
to Lewiston, where they all sold like hot cakes at 25 
cents per pound. Through the tourists and Summer 
visitors encountered, Mr. Tibbetts has sold cheese 
for shipment to Florida, South Carolina, New York, 
Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Washing¬ 
ton, Canada, District of Columbia, and all parts of 
Maine. 
The Tibbetts herd consists of 20 cows in milk, 
all but three of which are of his own breeding. Ow¬ 
ing to the hired help problem, it is planned to keep 
about the same number in milk right along, and dur¬ 
ing the cold weather the whole milk is sold for ship¬ 
ment to Boston. The market during the Winter is 
fairly remunerative for Holstein milk, so the cheese 
making is from about March 20 to October 20. The 
average output runs around 40 pounds of cheese per 
day. Mr. Tibbetts also grows several acres of 
sweet corn for the factory, has a productive orch¬ 
ard of 500 trees, and 
furnishes 10 or a dozen 
hogs for market each 
Fall in addition. 
There is very little 
unusual about Mrs. Tib¬ 
betts’ process for mak¬ 
ing cheese, except the 
scrupulous care taken to 
keep the milk clean from 
the moment it is drawn. 
The rennet is added to 
the night’s milk while 
warm, and after stand¬ 
ing half an hour the 
curd is cut into cubes. 
The morning’s milk is 
handled in the same 
way, and after standing 
about 40 minutes after 
cutting, is then mixed 
with the previous night’s. 
The entire batch of curd 
then stands for three 
hours to drain, being cut 
four or five times mean¬ 
while. The curd is then 
put from the drainers 
back into the tank, and 
there scalded with water 
heated to 135 degrees. 
This is allowed to stand 
until cool in order to re¬ 
tain all the butter fat. The curd is then drained again, 
run through the grinder, salted four tablespoonfuls to 
every seven pounds, and finally put into the hoops. 
These are put in the press to remain till next day. 
From there they go to the cheese room, to be greased 
daily until sold. Extreme cleanliness at all stages of 
the process gives a product for which discriminating 
customers willingly pay a good bonus over ordinary 
retail prices. 
Mr. Tibbetts says that his principal difficulty now is 
to keep the output somewhere near the demand. He 
has tried buying milk from the neighbors, but with 
such disastrous results that he will never try it again. 
As a member of the local cow-testing association he 
weighs the milk from each cow night and morning 
every day, and thus slowly but surely is building up a 
herd of high producers of his own raising. Flis best 
cow last year returned $162 worth of milk more than 
the cost of her feed, and one heifer freshening at 30 
months gave 9,455 pounds. Brooklet Valley is one of the 
remarkable dairy farms of central Maine. c. m. g. 
