wards, and hinged at the outer edges to a wooden frame placed round t mouth of the well. A small space should be left between the edges of t flaps, to admit of the rope passing freely. A small curb-wall should made round the mouth, in order to prevent surface-water running into t well; and a railing, some 3 or 4 feet high, to prevent children havi

access.

SECTION TWELFTH.

FARM AND AGRICULTURAL BUILDINGS.

IN the present division of the work we purpose giving plans and su gestions of the various structures so necessary to be appended to far house-as barns, stables, cow-houses, piggeries, &c., &c. While presenti plans, offering hints as to the methods of concentrating them, so as to thro them as much together as possible, saving labour and expense in construc ing-as roofing, &c.-and affording numerous conveniences in close conne tion one with another, we shall also give the various structures in separa plans, thus enabling the reader to comprehend their various details of co struction and arrangement.

The structure of which we shall first treat is the "barn." This word h a more extended import when applied to agriculture as practised in t United States, especially in the northern and middle states, than it bears this country. Here it is usually applied to distinguish the apartment i which the grain is placed, and the thrashing and preparatory processes a gone through. In America, generally, it implies a number of arrangemen under one roof-as stables, cattle-sheds, granary, &c. The best exampl of American barns are said to be in Pennsylvania. The following remar on this department of farm buildings are so apposite, that we deem the insertion will be useful to the reader-they are those of a practised Amer can agriculturist, Mr Allen: "In the structure of the barn and its interi accommodation, much will depend upon the branches of agriculture which the farm is devoted. A farm cultivated in grain chiefly, requires b little room for stabling purposes-storage for grain in the sheaf, and gra aries, will require its room; while a stock farm requires a barn with exter sive hay storage, and stables for its cattle, horses, and sheep-all climat not admitting such stock to live through the winter in the field, like th great grazing states west of the Alleghanies. Again, there are wide distric of country where a mixed husbandry of grain and stock is pursued, whic require barns and outbuildings accommodating both. In th arrangement of the building, another item to be considered is the compa ative value of the stock, the forage fed to them, and the labour expende in feeding and taking care of them. We will illustrate. Suppose a farı to lie in the vicinity of a large town or city. Its value is perhaps a hundre dollars an acre. The hay cut upon it is worth fifteen dollars a ton at the bar and straw and coarse grains in proportion, and hired labour ten or twelv dollars (a dollar is worth 4s. 2d.) a month. Consequently the manager

farm should use all the economy in his power, by the aid of cutting es and other machinery, to make the least amount of forage supply the its of his stock, and arrange the internal economy of his barn accordy, because labour is the cheapest item, and food the dearest; therefore y contrivance to work up his forage the closest, by way of machinery or ■ual labour, by which it will serve the purposes of keeping his stock, is › economy—and the making and saving of manures is an item of the importance. His buildings, and their arrangements throughout, should, hese accounts, be constructed in accordance with his practice. If, on other hand, lands are cheap and productive, and labour comparatively r (as in the western States), a different practice will prevail. He will I his hay from the mow without cutting. The straw will be either ked out and the cattle turned to it to pick what they like of it, and ke their beds on the remainder; or if it is housed, he will throw it into <s, and the stock may eat what they choose. It is but one-third or onef the labour to do this that the other mode requires, and the saving in ; makes up, and perhaps more than makes up, for the increased quantity orage consumed. Again, climate may equally affect the mode of winterling the stock. The winters may be mild. The hay may be stacked he fields when gathered, or put into small barns built for hay alone; the manure scattered over the fields by the cattle, as they are fed from her of them, may be knocked to pieces with the dung bettle in the ing, or harrowed and brushed over the ground; and with the very small ntity of labour required in all this, such practice will be more economithan any other which can be adopted. It is therefore a subject of iberate study with the farmer, in the construction of his outbuildings, at plan he shall adopt in regard to them, and their fitting-up and argement." The following is the plan of a barn recommended by Mr en, designed partially on the Pennsylvania plan, with underground bles, and a stone-walled basement on three sides. A line of posts stand c, fig. 247, and a wall e e placed backwards from these, thus affording space

oors are at the end, 14 feet square-a louvre boarded window being

H

above these. A door, 9 feet by 6, opens towards the yard from t apartment F. The main floor A h h, 12 feet wide, runs along the wh length of the barn; h h are trap-doors to let forage down to the stab beneath; B is the principal bay for hay, 16 feet wide, running up to t roof; G is the bay, 26 feet by 16, for the grain-more if required for th purpose; D the granary, 13 feet by 16 feet by 8; E a storage-room machinery, &c.; Fa passage from main floor Ahh to door leading to ya Grain in the sheaf, or hay, may be stored in the space above FD and The main floor will accommodate the thrashing-machine, &c., when work. "A line of movable sleepers or poles may be laid across the flo 10 feet above it, on a line of girts framed into the main posts for that p pose, over which, when the sides of the barn are full, either hay or gra may be deposited up to the ridge of the roof, and thus afford large storag and if the demands of the crop require it, after the sides and over the f is thus filled, the floor itself may, or part of it, be used for packing aw either hay or grain." The stables, &c. are placed beneath the body of t barn as seen in fig. 247; it is here cut up into stables. Passages a a a a a made for the stock to go into the stalls: a is the centre passage, 8 f wide; bb the passages, 3 feet wide, between the mangers placed und the traps h h in the main floor. The mangers are 2 feet wide; the stalls a 6 feet wide; at the end walls the cattle passages are 5 feet wide, the pa tition between the stalls being sloped from 5 feet high at the upper e down to the floor. The main floor is provided with inclined planes leadi from the surrounding level to the main doors: this will be found a gre convenience in housing hay, &c. The sheds o o may be used for carts, & or shelter sheds there may be storage room for hay, &c., made over the Mr Downing-in his excellent work, Country Houses, published in Ne York-gives a plan of a barn, the design of Mr Sayer of Newbury, Ne York, which is worthy of attention. We give in fig. 249 the plan of ma floor, and in fig. 250 the pl

F

с

Fig. 249.

Fig. 250.

m

01

0

B

m

0

A

of basement. The dimensio are 30 feet by 72. In f 249, d is the main floor, feet wide, with hay bays mows on each side, as c F; trap-door e is made in floor pass through hay to the co house beneath; the thrashin floor is at B, with a grain mo A on one side, and a hay c` the other. Through the spa n straw is thrown down the straw - room; throu the other space m, roots a thrown to the root-cellar the basement; through t spaces o in c` the hay passed down to the mange of the stable. In fig. 250, t basement plan, c is the cow-house, stable, or byre, 30 feet square; t feeding-passage, including the mangers, is 11 feet wide; there is accor

B

A

2

a

dation for 18 cows. The manner in which the cows are housed is quite vel, and possesses some points worthy of consideration. In fig. 251 the

Fig. 251.

a 3

h

B

a

divisions between each stall consist of a light gate swung on posts at the side of the manger, as on the line g h; on the first cow entering at b it walks up towards the head, and placing herself at a, the attendant shuts the gate; the next cow enters, and the gate c is shut; the same is done with d e and f, the space between two gates forming a stall, the heads of all the cows being towards the mangers. The gates are not hung with hinges, but as in B, where c represents the upper part of the gate-post turning in a hole in the cross beam b b. The gate, when resting on

e bottom rail, allows a space above it, as a ; when the gate is wished to be emoved-as when a stall is required of double the usual space-when a cow calving, the light gate is lifted upwards, and its post going into the space the foot is relieved from its turning-point, and the gate is thus easily rehoved. B, fig. 250, is the stable, 14 feet wide; A is the carriage-house; the pot or turnip cellar is at d; c a place for straw, &c. ; b a spare stall or infirary. In b the stairs are placed by which to gain access to the main floor. For many farms, the arrangements already given will be of sufficient comactness and extent-some of the buildings, as piggeries, being detached; but ve now propose to give a few illustrations of farm-buildings on a larger scale, nd in which all the necessary buildings are comprised. In fig. 252 we give a Fig. 225.

plan suggestive of the arrangements, which may be modified: the cow-house isat cc; b b the stalls; ss gutters leading to the "liquid-manure tank" in the yard; the "root-store" is at d; the roots are taken to the cow-house and stable by a track-way leading between the feeding-troughs, as shown by the dotted

E

lines a a; the machine-room e, with granary over; ƒ the poultry-house gggg pig-houses; h h cart-horse stable; i harness-room; k milk-room; scalding-room; m cheese-room; n carpenter and tool shop; o cart-house Y yard; t railing or posts forming front of shelter-sheds opening ou to yard, which may be constructed outside of line t. In fig. 253 we giv

another plan of farm-buildings: a a the cow-byre; b the cart-horse stable; c the boil-house for preparing washes, or it may be used as a harness

room; dmachine

room, granary

over; hay storage

e

B

over cow-house

stable, and boil

house; e e pigge ry; fhen-house groot-house, with track-way lead ing from this be tween the man gers of cow-hous f to the stable and boil-house c h carpenter's shop and tool-house CY the cattle yard; SY the sheep-yard, cattle and sheep shel ter-sheds being placed outside of

h