40 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
COUNTING THE COST OF FARMING—II 
Describing the Construction and Costs of the Barn and the Farm Cottages—Good Machinery and 
Good Crops 
FLORA LEWIS MARBLE 
The bungalows for the farm hands were situated near the main road, the first serving as a lodge. Two 
were built and the foundations laid for a third. Complete cost, $4,775.41 
The Barn 
W E wanted a cross between a city 
stable and a country barn. It must 
be warm in winter, cool in summer, light, 
easy to keep clean, and well ventilated. We 
drew the plans ourselves, and submitted 
them to the architect to make into working 
drawings. 
It is situated near the farmhouse. Slop¬ 
ing ground made it possible, with heavy 
excavating at one end, to build the first 
floor for the horses and cows entirely above 
ground with one end set in the hillside. 
This allows the second, or carriage floor, 
to be reached by the drive that circles up 
the hill. In fact, both floors are ground 
floors. The third floor is the hay loft. 
The building is 28' by 50', inside meas¬ 
urement. The south sun strikes the long 
side of the barn. The carriage doors open 
east, and so are sheltered from our heavy 
west winds. 
In the arrangement of the first floor for 
the horses and cows no stall was set against 
the east wall for fear it might be cold or 
damp. The entrance door is by this wall 
on the south side. Cupboards for the work 
harness are built against it, and the water¬ 
ing trough is situated there. The three 
other walls of the first floor are built with 
large windows which make, in fact, 6 ' of 
window to every 4' of stone wall around 
the three sides. The three box stalls for 
the horses have each a 6 ' window opening 
toward the south. These stalls are 10' by 
12'. The standing stalls are 5' by 9'. The 
alley is 4 ' wide. 
The box stalls and the partitions between 
the standing stalls are made of 2 " maple 
planks, planed and matched. This wood 
makes a solid, clean wall up 4' from the 
ground. It is headed with a solid mould¬ 
ing. All the wood interior is finished with 
oil. The hay racks are provided with a 
spring which holds the hay tightly between 
the bars and closes the rack as the horse 
eats it out. This scheme is said to keep 
the horse from eating too fast, as he has 
to work for his meal. It surely provides 
him with occupation, and tends to keep the 
barn free from litter. The grain boxes in 
each stall tip on a pivot so they can be eas¬ 
ily cleaned out. They have bars across 
the top, which keep a horse from getting 
too much grain at once. 
The cow barn is separated from the 
horses by a partition with two doors. It 
consists of one box stall, or pen, and three 
stanchions; the stanchions being of white 
metal, lined with wood. They swing on 
pivots to allow the cows all the freedom 
possible. The feed troughs are metal, 
easily kept clean, with partitions which pre¬ 
vent the cows from stealing each other’s 
rations. The pen is built of metal rails, 
and provided with a swinging feed trough. 
There are four 6 ' windows in this room. 
The cows live a life of luxury and ease 
which they well repay after their manner. 
The grain room is placed on the second 
floor back of the carriage room over the 
cow barn. Grain of various kinds is kept 
there in bins. It comes through shoots into 
boxes placed on the wall between the horse 
and cow barn. The main alley in the horse 
barn extends through the cow barn. An¬ 
other alley turns at the partition and goes 
to the grain boxes. This turns into another 
alley running along the north wall of the 
horse and cow barn by the heads of the 
standing stalls. The hay shoot comes down 
here. This allows the horses and cows to 
be fed without entering the stalls. As the 
grain boxes are situated they are within 
easy reach for feeding all the animals. 
Running water comes from a well. It is 
pumped by a windmill into a tank, which 
is placed in the cellar of the farmhouse. 
This water runs by gravity into the tank 
against the east wall of the horse barn. 
To prevent dampness in the stable floor, 
the earth was dug out nearly 2 ' below the 
floor level, and the space filled with cracked 
stone. The alleyways are made of con¬ 
crete. The horse stalls are paved with a 
wooden block, which has been treated with 
creosote. The cow barn is paved with cork 
brick. 
A manure carrier runs behind each stall 
and carries the manure out to a wagon, 
which is kept under a shed roof, built 
against the west side of the barn. Here a 
barn yard has been leveled off and fenced 
in where the cows and horses may exercise 
in bad weather. 
We did not provide a runway to take the 
horses from the first floor to the carriage 
floor. In our snowy climate horses are often 
hurt by slipping on these inclines. 
The carriage room on the second floor is 
28' by 38'. This allows two rows of vehicles 
to be backed against the walls, and plenty 
of floor space to hitch or unhitch. 
A little room opening from the carriage 
room is cut off from the granery for the 
