Norwich bulletin., 1915-06-05

(Wrftten Specially for The Bulletin-)
A new idea in barn building, l. e.
a new one to me. has set me to think
ing about barns, the last few days.
This new barn is described as a
wagon bow barn. 1t hasn't any
rafters, properly so-caIled. nor any
plates, nor any studs or croSs-beams.
Just sills and wagon bows" There
isn't q cross-b race nor an inch of
waste space in it. It is sixty by thir-
ty-five feet, twenty-uine feet high is
used as a milking barn" with stan
chions for forty cows. and also as a
hay barn with space for eightyfVe
tons of hay.
innate of any builder for an ordinary
barn of the same size was $1,8o0.
It's peculiar construction was the in
vention of the farmer himself. The
wagon bows" are sections Of circle,
IS feet apart at the ends and % feet
high in the center; slightly 1attened
observe. They are made OF six inch
wide inch pine boards, six thickness
es of them bolted together so as to
make the bow" They are SO arranged
that no two joints between board
ends come at the same place. and are
held together and in shape by half
inch bolts every three feet. The hoops
stand three feet and four inches apart,
center to center. and competent arch1-
tects say their only criticism is that
the structure is unnecessarily strong
for its present roof load OF boards COW
cred with galvanized iron. They say
half the number of hoops would have
been ample.
Now, we farmers all use barns. We
must have them in our business.
Whether this particular and highly Pc
culiar form of barn would suit any
farmer who reads this, l don't know.
Perhaps. Anyway, it may serve as
suggestion to think over. Maybe the
general idea has possibilities OF mod
ification to suit individual needs. Ger
tainly, the manifest economy OF the
construction will appeal to many of US.
If one barn costs 81, 200, while another
barn no bigger but of more conven-
tional form costs third more, that
saving of $500 is worth consideration
skimping in money outlay is apt to
prove mighty poor economy in the end,
If it results in daily Inconvenience.
I, for one, would rather have a barn
that would be handy for morning
and evening chores; handy for sum-
mer and winter work; handy" to fill
and handy to empty and handy
to work In than one which might cost
less at the start but would cause con-
slant loss of time and increase of
trouble all the rest OIL my 11e'
One thing is sure, such barn as
that described must have exceedingly
strong foundations. to stand the out
ward thrust of those huge bows. In
the case Of the one actually built the
foundations were of limestone rock laid
In cement, both deep and wide. It's
really a big, vaulted auditorium, used
to store hay and milk cows in, instead
Of for the movies"
Did you ever see farmer who was
perfectly satisfied with his barn? l
never did, but once. And that was a
youngish chap who had spent his spare
time for tnree years looking over all
the barns within fifty miles Of him,
and who had built a new one for him
self embodyiug all the good features
and eliminating all the bad things in
I'll those he had studied. At last,
that's what he said about 1t. And I
have no doubt that's what he thought
about 1t. at the time it was just fin
Lshed. Whether ne still feels as
serenely satisfied with 1t after ten
years use I don't know. Whether this
man who has built the wagon bow"
barn will want to build another just
like 1t, ten years hence, is also a ques-
ton. The test of time and use is the
only one which finally settles whether
= barn was built right or not.
1t must be used by the farmer him
self too, that test must. The very
construction which would suit my
neighbor to T might be quite apt
10 be a daily nuisance to me.
k,,HI