, 1879-09-11
Laying Out a Farm.

house goes INTO an arciN".'"
gives him the probable size OF building
he can afford to put up, and the SORT III
uses he requires of the finished house
The architect begins to su0dlVlde tne
ground plan, trying to produce the
greatest possible amount OF beauty ana
Comfort out of the limited space at his
command. Each room must fulfill ITS
own purpose; there must be a definite
and elegant proportion between the
narts. and the rooms must form one
harmonious and convenient whole. 1t
is not question Of making a checker
board plan, with rooms all Of the same
s;ye The house in which generation
after generation of toiling, anxious
men and women are to live, is worthy
the receiving of almost endless design
and ceaseless patience.
But man who expects to buy a new
farm has neither any plan of his own,
nor even believes that any plan IS
necessary. 1t never entered into his
thoughts that the surface Of farm is
much more important than the ground
floor Of his house; that badly divided
farm is worse than an inconveniently
partitioned house, and that, IN fine, the
proper laying off of farm, into the
very best sizes and shapes of fields,
although not yet known as profession,
deserves, most assuredly, to rank among
the first. The wise farmer, leaving his
architect to draw stairways and closets,
will therefore betake himself to some
hilltop, or tank-house summit, from
which to obtain bird's-eye view of the
farm below.
1t is, of course, probable that some
kind of division already obtains.
Most of the farms in this State are
fenced about, and have more or less in
terror fencing. But the point is: Is
this on a plan, or is it hap-hazard and
accidental? Are the fields all of the
best possible size? Is each one as con-
venient to access as possible ? Is there
no avoidable waste of labor, either of
men or of teams in getting to or from
the feldsf Are any fence angles so
acute that waste of land is incurred ?
Are there any unnecessary corrals and
fragmentary fences near the stables :
In brief, is there any formulated plan at
all, or any reason for the location of a
single fence, or any working towards
complete whole? These aie questions
which many successful farmer would
find it to his profit in considering.
The tendency of improved farming is
toward small fields and SO accurate
system of narrow lanes, then each field
can be easily reached. But it is not a
good plan to have all the fields Of the
same size. In farm of one hundred
and sixty acres there might be one field
of forty acres, two of twenty acres, and
the rest of ten acres apiece. If a part
were poorer soil than the rest the larger
fields should be there. The richest soil
should be the most subdivided The
exact size of each field should be known
and kept on record. House, outbuild-
ings, yards, garden and orchard should
occupy definite tract, say an even ten
acres, and not extend irregularly and un-
certainly into the rest of the farm, as will
be noticed on most old places.
The highest claims of this system of
farm arrangement lie in the advantages
it offers to careful rotation of crops,
and careful system of experiments.
Too many men judge of the relative size
of crop by their impressions merely.
They think their wheat was better this
year than last--they cannot tell you how
much. They prefer club to Australian,
but Justify themselves by no records in
their farm notebook of private expert
ments. The day for haphazard farming
has gone by in Oregon. 1t is plain
that, over wide areas, fertilizing must
begin, and there must be more Of that
careful cultivation which is most COM
patible with small field, and well-con-
sdered rotation Of roots, oerealand forage
crops.
The exact method Of dividing up a
farm would seem to be very much accord
ing to the surface Of the soil, and the
location Of the house, whether near the
middle or at one side Rectangular fields
are much better than any other form,
andthe parallelogram is desirable form
We were pleased with farm we once
saw, where lane extended from side
to side, with gates at regular intervals,
l. L