The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1891-07-08
More About Barns.

Agricultural Editor.-I have been
very much interested in the descrip-
ton Of different barns, and plans for
barns, given in The WATCHMAN, and
as you wish for more, will give you
mine. If you wish to have everything
in one barn, of course you must begin
at the basement. This should be
framed on the Chinese puzzle plan.
1t calls for no long timber, which is
quite an item in building large barn,
as it saves many heavy lifts, and the
frame can be got out, or bought, a
great deal cheaper than if you had to
use long timber. The basement posts
should be larger than the top and
cross-sills, so as to give shoulder
to keep them from splitting from the
lemons down. Then, when you get
above the basement, the main posts
should be sixteen feet long. If you
wish to board up and down there
should be three girths, but if you are
going to board cross-wise and clapboard,
one is enough, for it would have to be
studded. 1 would, by all means, have
a hip roof; then you will have two sets
of perline posts, which make it impos-
sible for it to spread in the least. Then
again, the rafters will be in three pieces,
thus making them short and easy to
get and handle, as two men can put
them in place. Again, with this roof,
barn one hundred feet long will hold
twenty-five or thirty tons more hay
than the oldstyle roof, and you will not
be obliged to have the bays 60 down
into the basement, saving the room
there for something else, as we shall
see further along.
Now for the stable. l would have it
eighteen feet wide, with the managers
set into the lower, or feedhoor, for of
course we will have two floors. The
hangers should be two and one-half
feet wide, as have found this to be
the best width. They should be meal
tight. l would by all means tie with
chains or straps. l would have a parti-
ton between every other COW, running
back thirty inches on the floor, then
running forward to the overlap over
head, on an angle of about forty-fve
degrees. This will prevent the cows
from hooking one another, and will not
be in the way about milking. Thus
you will tie two cows in one stall, as it
were. There should be a short parti-
ton in the manger between the two; in
this way each COW will be by herself.
For the floor there should be plank,
one foot wide, running lengthwise of
the stable, for the cows to stand their
forefeet upon, and this should be level,
to prevent slipping; then plank three
and one-half feet long ending up to
this and running back, lined with one
inch boards, making floor four and
one-half feet long for grown cattle.
There should be no other floor under
this, as it only tends to gather moisture
and filth, making it unhealthy for cat
tie and rotting the timbers. Of course
you can make shorter floor for smaller
cattle, or longer for larger cattle, like
oxen. l would have this floor raised
seven inches. In this way your cows
will always be clean, with decent care.
The short plank should slant one inch
the gutter should be eighteen inches
wide, with plank running lengthwise of
the stable. Now we still have twelve
feet more back of the gutter. l would
have this floor run lengthwise of the
barn, and raised seven inches, the
same as the short floor, with the gutter
only eighteen inches. l have no
trouble from cattle jumping across, as
they can easily step over. would
have the walk five feet wide; then back
of this | would have row of pens.
You can have them seven feet wide
and as long as you wish. Seven feet
by ten feet makes good pen. Thus,
in a one hundred-foot barn we have
ten pens-a good place to turn cows
loose, to keep calves or to raise early
pigs, as it is always warm. If you wish
to keep two or three sheep separate
from the rest this is the place to put
them. The pens will be found one of
the most convenient things about the
barn. Have the windows back of these
large, and plenty of them, made to slide
They will give plenty of air in the sum-
mer time, and light and sunshine in
winter A walk four feet wide into the
feed-hoor, with a spout running into
the basement by the side of it, makes
it handy to feed the hogs.
If you wish for horse-stable in the
same barn, it should be on the bay side,
at the upper end. If your bents are
sixteen feet-and they should be-take
two of them; take four feet from the
| INNER end for a walk from the feed