Talking with a dairy farmer living in central New York, who had just completed a dairy barn which cost him about three thousand dollars, he told that he had waited a dozen years to build that barn, and had studied and figured to get the two most important conveniences of a cement floor to preserve the liquid manure and a drive-way onto the main floor; to get those he had let go one or two others which he considered of far less importance, and had at last got a barn exactly to his liking. One of the conveniences which he had let go was a covered-way to the barn, and this one point is considered of so great importance by many that almost everything else is sacrificed to gain it. We were discussing this point with a farmer whose barn was about a hundred and fifty feet away from his house, and he was positive that the advantage of having the barn near to and connected with the dwelling house was over-estimated; that there were but a very few days in a year when the covered-way was of so great advantage, and there were decided advantages in having the barn a little distance from the house,—among them absence of barn-odors, flies, and noises. With the barn off a little distance he avoids those, and gains the (to him) great advantage of a drive-way onto the main floor, a fine basement for composting the manure and housing the farm carts, etc., and a drive-way out of the basement with only an insignificant rise to the level of the fields.
This same farm-barn had one defect, to remedy which we offered the suggested shed shown in Fig. 35. The barn extended very nearly east and west, consequently the linter door was exposed to the cold west and northwest winds of winter, and during the winter the farmer wanted his cows to have the exercise-room of the barn yard on the south side of the barn. To overcome the difficulty we suggested an open-front shed along the west side of the barn yard, and a covered-in walk down from the linter door to the shed; as subsequently built the shed was extended five feet beyond the corner of the barn, so as to cover the linter door, and a broad door in the shed-end gave out to the lane leading to the pasture. By closing that broad door in the end of the shed and opening a gate to the barn yard a covered-way was made for the cows to pass from the linter to the barn yard, without being exposed to the cold winds of winter, and gaining the complete shelter of the shed on the west; a simple expedient, and yet a very decided convenience.
Fig. 35—A convenient shed-shelter for west end of barn yards.
Driveways onto two or more different floors of a barn or stable are most substantial aids to the economical doing of the farm work. On a large Essex county (Mass.) farm which we recently visited a new hay-barn was being erected, the site for it being especially selected so that an easy grade could be built to the top floor, permitting the hay wagons being driven into the top of the barn, under the high roof, and all the hay was pitched off and down into the twenty-feet deep mows. A recent letter says: “The new barn is practically done, and already some twenty loads of hay are in one corner of it. We find it a great saving of labor; four men in the barn will take better care of the hay and keep ahead of the gang in the field easier than seven men and a horse could put it into the top of the barn with a fork.” A second drive-way leads out of the ground floor of this barn to the high road, practically on a level, and a third out of the west end of the basement, whence an easy grade rises to the farm roads. By these convenient driveways much hard work is eliminated—a most important point in these days of growing scarcity of farm help. Because of this great scarcity of help, especially of dependable help, it is a necessity that the farmer take advantage of every convenience, or labor-saving device, which will aid him in his work; it is both good economy and good business policy for him to do so.
We have thought it wise to give here a few simple, practical plans, which have approved themselves in everyday use. Barns and stables need not be expensive in construction nor elaborate in fittings; the important considerations are the comfort of the animals, the convenience of the owner and the adaptability of the building to its purpose.
In Figs. 36, 37, and 38 we give a plan for a village stable, for the man who keeps a horse and one or two cows, and the ground floor also provides room for the work-bench (which is most desirable where there are boys in the family), besides standing room for the carriage, wagon and sleigh.
Fig. 36—A village stable for a horse and cow.
