Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-10-05
Econ omy OF Ample Barn and Shed
Room.

A correspondent to the Country Gentle
man saws: We hear complaints from va
rious sections of our country annually of
the damage and loss by grain, hay and
stock, from exposure to the elements, &C.
casioned by the want of capacious and
suitable shelter, etc also damage to farm
implements for their need of shelter.
Why need this all annual waste be, when
sufficient saving could be made, often in
one or two years, to pay for putting up
barns, sheds, etc that would save all this
loss? If lumber Of suitable quality is
scarce, substitutes can generally be had
on most farms which can be made avalla-
BILE to answer good purpose, and sui
last for quite a number of years. In Eng
land and the Continent thatch rooted
buildings, even to cottages, are very COM
mon pise, or mud walls, are also in use
for dwellings for the poor. If timber for
frames is available with US, straw may be
made to form very warm and durable
covering for both walls and roof, and at
ford all the needed shelter from the ele-
ments desirable.
Let me here enumerate few of the
many reasons which might be urged in
favour of suitable barns and sheds sufi-
cient TO store all crops, implements, and
protect the stock from the effects of in
clemency to the weather.
Crops are preserved in better condition
when housed than they can be in any
other way and certainly farm implements
are far more durable when kept properly
shaltaraI tho,, nh laft av,ocaI IN hn
open shelter Of some fence corner. Hay
or grain when deposited in any other than
tight barn or shed, is always in an I'M
safe condition. Ifput up in stacks, the
stacks can seldom be completed the same
day they are commenced, and every mo-
ment of exposure beyond is fraught with
danger of damage from some cause or
other all this danger is obviated by hav-
ing barns, ETC., in which to store them,
where everything is safe. Hay and all
forage for stock, can be more conveniently
and economically fed from barns than
when saved in any other manner. IF
stacked and opened to feed, a certain por-
ton is always exposed and damaged, be-
yond being available as fodder, from
storms, etc., lost, trodden under foot or
blown away. The stock while feeding
are exposed to all the variations of the
weather, from which they fain would re-
treat were it not for the stern demands of
nature. Animals thus exposed cannot
thrive without consuming very much
greater quantities than if sheltered in com
Portable barns, and more likely are they
to fall away in flesh on such fodder and
be compelled to fight the elements while
consuming it. Animals fed IN stables or
warm sheds well Uttered can be kept
thriving on very much less fodder and
a larger quantity of manure of better
quality can be made then when unshel-
tered, thus saving 40 inconsiderable an
nual sum.
Grain put in barns when harvested
meets with no loss from storms, vermin,
scattering etc. and when threshed there
is no loss Of grain, as there is when being
threshed on the ground the straw is of
much greater value for either feeding or
market.
Farm implements properly sheltered
will last, on an average, one fourth Ion
ger than when unsheltered and otherwise
uncared for, besides costing much less for
labor in using, as well as the greater sat
isfaction and pride taking in having good,
clean, easy working implements, things
too little priced generally.
Put all these sources of loss together
and estimate therefrom what they will
amount to on any farm, and see if yon-
the proprietor-ca afford to do without
ample and suitable barns and sheds, to
afford store room, stables and shelter for
hay, fodder, grain, stock and farm nipple
ments. We can hardly credit that there
is farmer in all our broad land so rich,
or poor, that can afford to 60 without the
essentials above enumerated when he
comes TO make the proper estimates of &C
tual cost of suitable shelter and store
room, and the want thereof.