The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-10-10
Barns and Stock Sheds.

If there is one thing we are more de-
relict about than another it is the pro-
viding of proper covering to protect
our stock in winter. If Iwere to take
the trouble, 1 could find excellent and
reliable authority for asserting that
cattle left out in the cold require to be
fed a third more to keep up the same
amount of flesh or milk than if proper
ly housed that is to say, food is the
fuel of the animal engine, the real car
bon from which heat is derived. Now,
your brute is constantly subjected to
the influences of cold winds and rains,
the heat is carried off, whilst if it be
kept in a warm place the heat will be
retained. Again this heat, this carbon,
is also fat ; therefore, if your OK or COW
is exposed to the weather and not suffi-
GENTLY fed to supply carbon to keep up
the warmth, nature makes a demand
the stores laid up in better times, and
your animal gets poor or if the store
is not there to draw from, the poor
creature dies. Look at it in any light
you will, exposure, is loss, waste and
bad management.
Every man who preteuds 10 be far
mer, in the proper acceptation of the
term, should keep two-fifths of his land
in red clover which cannot be saved I'M
less put under clover. Here, then, are
two inducements to multiply roof sur
face. And yet another: No farmer
should neglect to save every particle of
manure that falls from his stock, and he
cannot do this properly in the absence
of sheds and stabling. We mean the
man who utilities all the hours between
the time crops are laid by and gathering
time, and who will then have foresight
enough to rive boards and built houses
to shelter his cattle. Figure up what
few hundred dollars properly expended
in this behalf will do for you. What
will it cost to cut, bark, haul up and
put in the ground twenty. four posts, to
average a foot each in diameter, and
stand fifteen feet out of the ground I?
Set them ten feet apart and you will
have a house forty by one hundred.
What will it cost to put up and secure
plates on the posts, and also ioists, with
row of posts in the center for sup
port then rafters, say thirtyfour pair,
or three by six stuff, each twenty-eight
feet long, say twenty-five hundred feet
of lumber? And now for the boards ::
It will take fourteen courses, of five
hundred to the course, on each side, or
fourteen thousand in all, which will
make very excellent job: ten thou
sand will give you roof, but not good
one. How much will the boards cost :?
A key of eight penny nails, and twenty
pounds each of tens and double tens,
will be needed. Set in and spike to
the posts, horizontally, at five feet
apart. three by four scantling to nail
the siding to; this will require fourteen
hundred feet of lumber. OF siding we
will want four thousand feet of inch
plank, to be set on end and nailed to
the last mentioned scantling. At ten
feet above the ground we want good
strong floor, with strong ioists, made
of poles barked, four thousand feet of
lumber for the floor. We want some
doors with hinges, and some ladders.
We also want a good we'll in one corner
of the building, or under shed adjoin-
ing. Carefully estimate the value of all
the material, and then value the putting
in place. Through the center of the
building, and along the entire length,
have your corn cribs on either side of
this aisle. Should we cut off twenty
feet for this purpose, we have still left
| ample room for eighteen animals in
stalls, and harness and tool room. In
the loft will be found capacity for one
hundred tons of hay. To make this barn
perfect, we must surround it with a fif-
teen feet shed. This will take twelve
thousand more boards, and twenty-four
hundred feet of rafters, and five hun
bred feet of plates, and five hundred
feet of ties, and another key of ten
penny nails, and another twenty pounds
of tens and double tens. Take your
slate and pencil and work it all out, and
see that this great building, covering
| nearly a quarter of an acre of ground,
Will cost but a few hundred dollars
"But," saysan enquiring friend, "what
do want with this big house? have
but few animals and no hay" Therea-
son You have no stock is because you
have neither food nor shelter f"rit. You
are content to raise few ten dollar COWS
when you might breed many worth ten
times that much.
Get the barn, and, my word for it, you
will be stimulated to get the hay. Be
sure and SOW red clover on grain this
month. Don't be stingy with the seed,
and don't be afraid to put them on the
surface; and when you have the hay,
your cattle, which means horses and
mules as well as horned stock, will null
tiply. your manure heaps will grow,
| your land will get richer, and, as a Sc
quence, the same thing will happen to
you.-SOuthe1T Farmer.