Farm buildings, with plans and descriptions

JHHL,

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

FARM BUILDINGS

WITH PLANS AND
DESCRIPTIONS

BY

HERBERT A. SHEARER

AGRICULTURIST

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO
FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO.

PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1917

By
FREDERICK J. DRAKE & CO.

Printed in the U. S. A.

Arcfcftecfure £
Urban Planning

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE
ECONOMY OF GOOD FABM BUILDINGS 7

CHAPTEB II

Two KINDS OF BABN CONSTBUCTION 10

CHAPTEB III

HOBSE AND COW BABN 16

CHAPTEB IV
ENLABGED DAIBY AND HORSE BABN 23

CHAPTEB V
DAIRY BARN FOB TWENTY-EIGHT Cows 33

CHAPTEB VI

DAIBY BARN FOB THIBTY Cows 43

CHAPTER VII

MONITOR ROOF DAIBY STABLE 49

CHAPTEB VIII
NEW MODELS FOB FABM BABNS 62

CHAPTER IX
MISCELLANEOUS FARM BUILDINGS 71

CUAPTEB X

"Hoc HOUSES FOB WINTER AND SUMMER 112

I

6 CONTENTS

CHAPTER XI

PAGE
POULTRY, POULTRY HOUSES AND POULTRY FURNITURE 124

CHAPTER XII
CONCRETE ON THE FARM 151

CHAPTER XIII
COMFORTABLE FARM HOMES 160

CHAPTER XIV

DICTIONARY OF BUILDINGS AND ARCHITECTURAL TERMS 23C

INDEX . . 253

FARM BUILDINGS

CHAPTER I
ECONOMY OF GOOD FARM BUILDINGS

The first farmers in the middle west threshed grain
and piled it upon the ground because they had no
barns, granaries or warehouses. It was hauled to rail-
way tracks and shoveled into box cars at the first
opportunity. Box cars were not always available, the
weather was uncertain, and the losses always fell on
the farmer. There were no cattle to use the straw, so
it was burned to get it out of the way. The farmer's
life represented years of incessant toil interspersed
with every kind of losses that pioneering imposes. The
only excuse the early pioneers had for not starving to
death was the wonderful productivity of the virgin
soil.

To grow a profitable crop, a farmer must devote
time, knowledge and experience to the work. It means
years of partial failures in the process of learning how.
The present crop is produced by days of labor in pre-
paring the land, planting seed, and nursing the crop
through to a successful harvest. When the crop is
finally secured, large barns are needed to take care of
the grain and the straw with the necessary stable room
for live stock to make proper use of the grain that is
7

8 FARM BUILDINGS

not sold. To care for domestic animals properly, not
only stabling is necessary, but storage for roughage in
silos and mows, also rat-proof granaries, ventilated
corn cribs, and labor-saving machinery to help with
the chores.

Saving the waste makes the profit. In all kinds of
manufacturing, the by-products are carefully saved
and worked into salable merchandise. Farming is, or
should be, a great manufacturing business so carefully
conducted that no by-product is permitted to go to
waste. The land provides the raw materials and the
buildings are the factories where the cheap grains and
fodders are changed into high-priced butter, pork,
eggs, beef, mutton, etc. Farmers who try to farm
without sufficient factory buildings must sell their raw
materials and let the next fellow make the profit.

No farmer ever made money by growing grain and
burning the straw, although he may have gathered a
few dollars by robbing the land. There are instances
where straw may be worth more than the grain. In
every case it is a valuable by-product, if the farmer
has the necessary machinery to work it up.

It does not pay to grow corn, sell the grain and let
the weather take the substance out of the stalks. A
crop worth growing is worth housing. The stalks are
about half the value of the corn crop. When this half
is wasted, it is more than half because the cost of grow-
ing the whole crop must be charged against the half
that is saved. No business except farming could stand
such a loss. No farmer can afford to. A manufac-
turer would have to settle with his creditors, and the
merchant caught wasting half his substance would be
sent to an asylum for brain treatment.

FARM BUILDINGS 9

THE COST OF BUILDING

I am often asked to give the cost of building a house
or barn of a given size and plan, but it is impossible
to do so, for the following reasons :

In some parts of the country carpenters may be
employed at two dollars per day, while in other sec-
tions they get seven.

One farmer may have a good gravel pit on his farm
so he can haul it to the building site at odd times at
little or no extra expense. Another farmer, wishing
to put up the same kind of building in another county,
would pay two dollars per yard for sand or aggregate
at the car and haul it several miles.

Prices of lumber and other building materials also
vary in different parts of the country. Therefore any
general estimate would prove misleading.

CHAPTER II
TWO KINDS OF BAEN CONSTRUCTION

Two ways of building the same kind of barn are
shown in Figures 1 and 2. The first is the old style
timber frame barn and the other shows the newer
plank frame construction.

Both barns are serviceable. Both have stood and
protected animals and fodder during the heavy storms

CC035 SECTION

Figure 1. — Cross Section of Old Style Timber Frame Barn,
42 Feet in Width

of winter and summer. It is largely a question of
preference when deciding which kind to build.

One farmer, who was preparing to build wrote in
this way : "I am interested in barn roofs and I don 't,
10

FARM BUILDINGS

11

remember having seen the .question of stresses in a
gambrel-shaped roof fully discussed as to whether it
has any advantages over the old style of gable-end
roof."

Probably thousands of farmers have asked the same
question since the curb roof became popular, and to

f:

Pig. 2. — Cross Section of Dairy Barn, 42 Feet Wide, Showing
Plank Frame Construction Truss. The Building is Wider on
Account of the Central Alleyway to Make Room for the Manure
Spreader Drawn by Four Horses

answer it fully I have made drawings showing the old
and the new and shall give reasons for the change in
style and manner of construction.

Probably few carpenters have ever correctly figured
the different strains that the roof trusses of a gambrel
roof barn are called upon to resist. The combination
of different angles connecting at many different points

12 FARM BUILDINGS

complicates the problem of calculation beyond the
capabilities of ordinary mathematicians. But common
practice has settled on certain sizes, angles, propor-
tions, lengths of rafters and braces, sizes of dimension
stuff and roof pitches that have stood the tests of wind
pressure, rain and heavy loads of snow for fifteen or
twenty years.

Figure 1 shows an old fashioned timber frame barn
with a straight gable-end roof, built in the usual way.
Figure 2 shows the modern plank frame construction
with a curb roof.

Both barns are forty-two feet wide to provide room
for a wide driveway through the center of the cow
stable for the manure spreader drawn by four horses.
Figure 3 shows the floor plan.

Because of the extra width the lower rafters of the
plank frame barn are longer than usual. When the
cows face in, and manure carriers are provided, the
width of the barn usually is thirty-six feet.

The storage capacity under a barn roof depends
upon the height above the plates. In this timber frame
barn we get a height of fourteen feet, while the plank
frame barn roof rises twenty-four feet above the
plates.

Other advantages of plank frame construction are
the ease of building up timbers of any size or strength
required by adding planks. Planks are carried in
stock by all lumber yards, but timbers often require
special orders which cause delays, special trips and
extra cost

The upper roof lies low to catch little wind pressure.
This portion of the roof receives less rain water and
is short ; therefore it may have a low pitch. It dumps

FARM BUILDINGS

13

14 FARM BUILDINGS

its supply of water onto the steeper slope of the lower
roof to be disposed of quickly.

The curb strengthens the roof to the extent of
eliminating the purline plates and their supporting
posts.

A plank frame barn is built of trusses reaching from
one sill to the other, each half truss is opposed to and
supports or braces its mate through their connection
at the apex, somewhat on the cantilever principle.

Planks are lighter than timbers and more easily
handled. They are held at the lumber yards until
partly seasoned, so they are easily worked. Less mate-
rial is required for plank frame construction because
the planks are doubled, trebled or used singly, and
they vary in width according to the strength required.

A plank barn frame is easily and quickly spiked
and bolted together and the work is so simple that any
farm hand can follow instruction from the boss car-
penter. One skilled mechanic and one or two handy
men will do all of the necessary squaring and beveling
of plank ends and the spiking and bolting in a short
time, and they will do the raising with the aid of an
improvised derrick. Plank frame construction has
completely discouraged the old fashioned "raisin*
bee."

Storage for large quantities of roughage is more of
an object than formerly, because live stock is kept in
greater numbers. Barn lofts free from center posts
and cross timbers may be filled easily by horsepower
or engine power, and the fodder may be dug out in
winter with the same machinery. Thresher blowers
are directed into a hay door to fill one end of the big
mow with straw for winter bedding. Hay tipples are

FARM BUILDINGS 15

used to dump fork loads or sling loads of hay over
against either side of the mow to save hand labor.
Hay tipples require a clear space from one end of the
barn to the other, and to make them profitable the
barn must have both height and width. Another rea-
son for the popularity of curb roof barns is that most
farmers like their appearance.

CHAPTER III
HOESE AND COW BAKN

The most popular kind of barn on American farms
is a combination horse and cow stable with large stor-
age for grain and roughage overhead.

Most farmers keep both horses and cows. "When the
new barn is planned it sometimes seems best to make
it enough longer to also stable the horses, as the ex-
pense is likely to be but little more and all the chores
may then be done under one roof.

This barn shown in Figure 4 is intended to, stable
nineteen cows and six horses, in the regular stanchions
and stalls, and there is a rather large box stall that
may be used for a bull pen or for calves. There may
come times when it will be needed as a hospital stall,
although as a general thing it is better to remove sick
animals to another building.

There are roller doors to shut off the horse stable
from the cow department and these doors are kept
shut except at stable cleaning time. Dairy rules and
some dairy laws require that dairy stables shall be
separate from all other departments of the farm. The
object is to prevent the milk from being contaminated
by harmful bacteria.

There should be no open doorways between the two
stables. House flies breed in horse manure and they
are the dirtiest and filthiest of all our common insects.
16

FARM BUILDINGS

17

flH-

WH-

IS

FARM BUILDINGS

FARM BUILDINGS

19

Milk inspectors don 't like to see house flies floating in

a pail of milk. It is an indication of poor management.

Ventilation is another sanitary requirement. Old

Figure 6. — End Elevation of a Typical Curb-Roof Dairy Stable
and Storage Barn. The Concrete Foundations Extends 3% Feet
Above Grade

timber frame barns boarded up and down are pro-
vided with ventilation by the shrinkage of the boards.
But a modern air-tight building like this that is built
to house pure bred cows comfortably in winter must

20

FARM BUILDINGS

have an automatic supply and discharge of air work-
ing continuously night and day so long as the stable
is occupied.

•*e,~-#'-6"£6r<4 M9n
\ctted to fAch Jf
of rafters

ftvrt 3/>actc( £4

Figure 7. — Cross Section of Curb-Roof Dairy Barn, Showing
Rafter Construction and Bracing

In this cow barn the supply of fresh air is taken in
through supply pipes placed in the outside walls. Reg-
isters placed between the stable windows admit air
from the outside and the intake pipes distribute the
air at the stable ceiling where it flows out over the
cows.

FARM BUILDINGS 21

Outlet ventilator pipes also are built into the walls
to draw the foul air out and discharge it through the
metal ventilator hoods perched on the peak of the roof.

Outlet ventilator pipes when properly proportioned
and well made act like chimney flues. The draft
depends upon the propensity of warm air to go up.
Tho stable is warmed by the body heat of the animals.
Fresh air thus admitted from outdoors loads up with
impurities and settles near the floor towards the outer
v/alls where the outlet openings are placed.

It is important that the outlet flues be made tight
to prevent leakage of cold air into the pipes, because
cold air has a tendency to go down into the stable.

Metal pipes radiate heat in cold weather which
interferes with the draft by reducing the temperature.
Wooden pipes are better than metal if they are made
with tight joints. Wall board is used with success.
Wall board is cut in long lengths the right width and
is nailed to wooden corner strips two by two inches in
diameter. All joints are cemented so there is no
opening except the inlet at the bottom and the outlet
at the top. Wall board should be made in cylindrical
form for such purposes.

Outlet ventilator pipes in a stable of this size should
be about twenty inches square, inside measurement, or
eighteen inches in diameter if made round.

Inlet ventilators are more numerous and they may
be smaller in size. Inlet supply flues do not depend
upon temperature to create a draft. The wind will
drive through the intakes. For this reason they should
be fitted with sliding gates to regulate the openings.
It is necessary to regulate the supply of air according
to the weather. This is just as important as to regu-

22 FARM BUILDINGS

late the supply of feed. If the outlet flues are well
made and properly proportioned they will work auto-
matically, but the intakes must be watched.

Some metal ventilator hoods help the draft by
directing the wind currents upward to create suction.
Aspiration, or the passing of a current of air across
the open top of a pipe, also helps to create an upward
draft.

Figure 8. — Concrete Dairy Stable^and Concrete Barnyard

The fences are not shown. The barnyard is paved
with concrete laid on two levels. A fence confines the
cows to the paved yard during muddy weather. There
are feed racks to use when needed, and there are open
sheds to the left. A good demonstration of the impor-
tance of concrete in modern dairy farming.

CHAPTER IV

A LARGE DAIRY AND HORSE BARN

This combination dairy and horse barn is scienti-
fically correct in principle and detail of construction
and equipment according to the dictates of modern
dairy knowledge and practice.

From the excavations to the peak of the roof, and
from the silos at one end of the barn to the manure
shed at the other end every detail of plan and eleva-
tion has been tried out repeatedly and finally adopted
into the barn that is represented by Figures 9, 10, 11,
12 and 13.

Concrete Foundations. — It is easy to make a con-
crete foundation for a farm building where the mate-
rials may be cheaply obtained.

The wall footings are laid deep enough to reach
below frost. For* this reason climatic conditions are
always considered when making a foundation. ' ' Foot-
ing" is the builder's term for the wide base of a wall
and it means permanency.

When the earth bank is dug square, straight and
plumb, the inside wooden form only is necessary up
to the surface of the ground. This form is made of
material that is afterwards used in the building. Con-
crete is heavy and it should be tamped, which brings
considerable pressure against the form.

A neat finish on the outside of the wall above
23

FARM BUILDINGS

FARM BUILDINGS

25

B

f

II

i!

II

FARM BUILDINGS

PANEL BETWEEN TEU55E5

Figure 11. — Detail Showing the Plank Frame Construction of
Dairy Barn Shown in Figure 9

ground, whether simply a foundation wall or a base-
ment, means a good deal in the appearance of the
building. It costs but little more to set a building
up high enough to make a basement. A foundation
wall is usually three and a half feet, while a base-

FARM BUILDINGS

27

ment wall is about eight feet or eight feet, six inches,
according to the use for which the basement is in-
tended. It costs little more to make the inside form
high enough for a basement wall. The same may be
said of the outside form, because even a foundation
wall is carried up above the surface of the ground and

Figure 12. — Cross Section

this requires some kind of outside form. Both forms
are made level and true on top so that the finished
wall is struck off even.

In mixing materials for a basement wall, a great
deal of stone should be used. Stone is handled more
quickly than concrete, and it makes a stronger wall

28

FARM BUILDINGS

when stones are used and well surrounded with thin
concrete that fills the crevices and sticks to the stones.
The one rule in mixing concrete that applies in all
cases is to use a little more than enough cement to fill
the spaces between the grains of sand, and a little more

Figure 13. — Detail Showing the Way One of the Main Trusses
is Constructed. A Truss Like This is Placed Every 12 Feet In
the Length of the Barn to Act as a Stiffener. Between These
Trusses the Rafters are Braced in the Ordinary Plank Frame
Manner.

than enough sand and cement to fill the spaces between
the particles of gravel or aggregate, and lastly, use a
wet mixture of cement, sand and aggregate to bind
together the larger stones used in the wall.

This is easily and quickly done by first placing a
layer of stone to start the bottom of the wall, placing
the stones so that they touch each other. Then, dump
in soft concrete sufficient to fill all the spaces between
and to cover the stones with a layer of concrete an

FARM BUILDINGS 29

inch deep or more. Then another layer of stones is
piled in, and the concrete added as before.

The larger stones, of course, should be selected for
the bottom of the wall, where it widens out to make
the footing. Each layer of stones and cement should
be tamped. If the stones are joggled with the tamper
the air is forced out, the cement settles around and
adheres to the stones and makes a better wall. Above
ground a crow bar is used to pry the stones so that
the concrete mortar will make a smooth surface.

Provision is made for placing the basement windows
after the inside form -is anchored. The easiest way is
to mark on the form where the window frame should
be placed. When the cement work is up to the bottom
of the window sills then the frames are set on the
fresh cement and are tacked to the inside form with
eight penny nails from the inside.

It is difficult to work the concrete around under the
window sill if the frames are put in position too soon.
The frames work better if they are made the full
thickness of the wall so that they fit between the inside
and outside forms. A neat window casing is then
easily fitted and nailed against the window frame
flush with the surface of the wall.

The outside form is held in place by wires. When
the wall is complete the wires are cut close to the
wall. To make a neat finish the wall is troweled over
with cement mortar. The sooner this is done after the
concrete wall has set the better it will stick. Usually
it is good practice to embed the sills in fresh cement
mortar on top of the wall as soon as the concrete is
hard enough. The sills should remain in place undis-
turbed for a few days before nailing the .ioists and.

30 FARM BUILDINGS

studding to them. Fresh concrete is easily injured by
pounding.

Plank Frame Construction. — The best and cheapest
way to build the superstructure of a barn is to make
the frame of two-inch planks.

Plank frame construction was adopted because
planks are carried in stock in all lumber yards, but
timber must be ordered from a saw mill. Special
orders cause delay and add to the expense.

The advantages of these skeleton frames developed
with use. Two-inch pieces from two by fours up to the
largest planks are easily handled. They are put
together in twos, threes, or thicker in the making of
strong girders where strength is needed, and they are
stretched out singly and opposed in pairs in truss
work. Great arches are formed by meeting two
trusses together at the apex. Two men are sufficient
at a plank frame "raising" unless greater speed is
wanted.

Ventilation. — I>omestic animals require fresh air
every minute, pure water several times a day and
food at frequent intervals.

They would die in five minutes without air. With
plenty of fresh air they could live a week without
water. If supplied with air and water they might
live several weeks without food. This means that pure
air is of more importance than both food and water.
Pure water is of more importance than food. But all
three are necessary to promote profitable growth and
development.

To provide proper ventilation this barn is fitted
with intake air ducts and large outlet ventilators.
The intakes are placed along the sides of the building

FARM BUILDINGS 31

and the ventilator flues start up from the four cor-
ners of the stable.

The system spreads fresh air all through the stable.
The body heat of the animals keeps it in motion. As
it loads up with carbonic acid gas it becomes heavier
and settles near the floor in the coldest corners of the
big stable. There is a draft up through the out take
flues which carries it out and discharges it through
the ventilator hoods on the peak of the roof.

Milking Machinery. — Milking machines are great
labor savers. One man can attend to three or four
machines and each machine is capable of milking six
or eight cows per hour. A battery of three machines
will require one horsepower but it is better to provide
two horsepower so that additional machines may be
added without changing the engine. Milking machines
are simple in operation and easily managed but some
knowledge of the principles upon which they operate
is necessary to keep them in good working order.

Manure Carriers. — Labor saving machinery to han-
dle manure commences by taking the liquids and the
solids from behind the cows. The manure is dumped
automatically into the spreader from which it is
unloaded and spread by horsepower in the field. Great
improvement has been made in overhead tracks and
cars during recent years. The best makes work easily
without binding or unnecessary friction. The same
may be said of horse forks, hay carriers and feed
carriers.

General Description. — The illustrations show a
dairy barn thirty-six feet in width, eighty-six feet in
length and fifty feet high from the stable floor to the
peak.

32 FARM BUILDINGS

The stable is arranged to face the cows in towards
a center feed alley. The cow stalls are separated by
steel partitions and are fitted with improved stan-
chions hung to steel manger frames.

The horse stalls are enclosed with steel fences and
steel gates. They are fitted with steel hay racks and
feed boxes.

There is a stairway leading from the horse depart-
ment to the floor above, landing in front of the upper
side door. This door is for light and ventilation and
to admit the blower pipe at threshing time to blow
straw into the storage loft.

The horse stable is shut off from the cow stable by
a partition and solid doors which are kept shut except
when the stables are being cleaned.

There is considerable machinery in the different
parts of the barn to save hand labor and to do the
chores quickly and better.

The stable ceiling is lined with wall board and is
painted to make it air tight and vermin proof.

Between the stable and the silos are two feed rooms
and a wash room for the men. In this wash room are
lockers for their white milking suits and there is a
shower bath and wash bowls with hot and cold run-
ning water on tap.

The dairy house is a small separate building at some
distance from the stable. It is built according to
requirements laid down by pure milk regulations.

CHAPTER V

DAIRY BARN FOR TWENTY-EIGHT COWS

This is a dairy barn thirty-six feet in width by
sixty-four feet long. Figure 14.

It is designed to meet the most rigid sanitary
requirements as well as to provide the greatest pos-
sible amount of cow comfort with the least possible
expenditure of labor in attending to their numerous
wants.

A labor-saving barn is required to house the cows
and the fodder to feed them. There is machinery to
pack the feed into the great storage mow in summer
and into the silo. There is also machinery to get the
feed out in winter and carry it to the mangers as
needed.

The foundation is built of concrete from the wall
footings up four feet above the concrete stable floor.
The footings are shown two feet wide to give them
plenty of surface to prevent settling. There is con-
siderable weight on a wall under a building of this
size and height and it is supposed to stay exactly as
placed.

Great care is taken in starting the floor, as per-
manency depends upon getting the right start. After
the ground is carefully leveled it is wet down to settle
it all over alike. In putting down the foundation for
the wall, it is necessary to do considerable digging
33

34

FARM BUILDINGS

FARM BUILDINGS 35

which loosens the ground in places. Such spots can
be packed down hard only with water.

After the earth is settled and leveled it may be laid
off into divisions bordered by the manger and gutter
forms.

The back of each manger is built against two by six
pieces fastened to stakes driven into the ground. The
top edges of each of these planks touch the line as
shown in the detail floor drawings, Figure 17, so the
cement manger is struck off level. The line is carefully
leveled and the level mark is snapped against the side-
walls with a chalk line so that the line may be quickly
stretched crosswise of the stable at any time to test
the work by measuring from the line down to different
parts of the floor.

The line on the drawing shows a drop of six inches
immediately behind the manger and seven inches at
the gutter and fifteen inches to the bottom of the
gutter, so it is always easy to prove the grading of the
floor at any stage during the progress of the work.
Likewise horizontal measurements are given which
show the cow standing portion of the stable floor to
be five feet in width from the center of the back divi-
sion of the manger to the edge of the gutter.

In doing work of this kind it is always necessary
to have a place of beginning to establish grades and
measurements. In this stable the proper starting
place is the manger.

All cow mangers are placed low down. Cows nat-
urally feed from the ground so it is in keeping with
their established habits to eat from the level of their
front feet.

Cow stable floors are made the same as sidewalks,

36

FARM BUILDINGS

Ii

OS

$2

S§ u-3

si "

2

FARM BUILDINGS 37

by using two by four strips to mark the floor into
blocks. The scantlings are spaced and leveled or
graded to fit the floor grade and the concrete mortar
is struck even with the top edges of the division pieces
to bring the floor true to levels and grades.

It is impossible to give a formula for mixing con-
crete for the stable floor without knowing the quality
of the sand and gravel. As a rule it is best not to
use sand that contains more than ten per cent of clay
or mud. Water in excess of ordinary requirements
will sometimes unite poor materials by washing the
sand so the impurities will settle. Wet concrete usu-
ally makes a better job under ordinary conditions.

After the foundation the most particular part of a
cow stable is the surface. It pays to get good sharp
sand for the surface coat and to lay it on with a
trowel with considerable pressure to make it water-
proof. Pressure with the trowel drives out the air
and unites the particles of cement and sand so closely
that water cannot enter.

After the floor is thoroughly trowled it may be
mussed over with a stubby broom to rough the sur-
face, so the cows won't slip, but this must be done
carefully. The mangers and feed alley floor should
be finished smooth and all parts of the floor should be
made hard.

The detail floor drawings show the manner of lay-
ing prepared blocks into the concrete to make an easy
floor that is warmer than concrete. A good deal
depends upon the way the cows are bedded.

The big mow overhead is intended for storage for
straw as well as hay. Dairymen find it necessary to
grow large quantities of grain to feed, to their cows.

38 FARM BUILDINGS

At threshing time they have»many tons of clean bright
straw that is valuable if it is properly housed. It is
blown from the stacker into one end of the big mow
and lifted out in winter time with the horse fork and
carried to the mangers in the feed carrier.

Cows will eat a good deal of straw along towards
noon. They like to pick it over and munch the chaff
and finer parts. Then in the afternoon when the
stables are cleaned the mussed over straw in the
mangers is forked back into the stalls for bedding.
It is also a good liquid manure absorbent as it grad-
ually works back into the gutters.

This already makes three uses for clean, bright
straw, but the most valuable use is when it is taken
in the manure spreaders while it is soaked full of
liquid phosphoric acid and ammonia and is spread
out on the land to grow big crops of corn and small
grain to be followed by clover and other legumes.

A splendidly well made stable floor is in this way
made first aid to the manufacture of a very valuable
by-product of the dairy. Stable manure from grain-
fed cows, made and handled in this way, is valued at
thirty dollars per year for each 1,000 pound cow.
This great value depends upon the proper use of the
manure after it is made as well as upon the way it is
made and handled. Under scientific management the
manure from thirty cows may be made to pay for the
barn.

Wall board is specified for lining this stable above
the concrete wall for the reason that wall board may
be made air tight. An air tight stable may be ven-
tilated easier and better than when there are many
cracks to admit air. Wall board may be butted to-

FARM BUILDINGS

gether to bring the joints on the joists. These joints
are then easily filled with putty and the whole surface
covered with two coats of good white lead and oil.

Figure 16. — Cross Section Showing Detail of Construction

When walls and ceilings are made in this way there
is no harbor for disease-breeding bacteria. The walls
may be brushed with long handled brushes to remove
the little floating dust that finds a lodgment which
goes a long way towards keeping the stable in a sani-
tary condition.

40 FARM BUILDINGS

For the same reason all stall partitions and stan-
chions are made of iron and coated with smooth enamel
that may be washed or wiped with damp cloths to
remove all bacteria-laden dust and dirt.

The supporting columns that carry the weight of
the girders are of wrought iron filled with concrete.

Figure 17. — Cross Section Showing the Manner of Constructing
the Concrete Floor and Wall and Stable Window

This makes a stiff solid support that may be smooth
finished to correspond with the manger and stall
partitions.

Each column stands in cement in the back line of
the manger which really is a continuous wall with
ample footings to support the overhead load. When
the big mow is filled and settled and filled to the peak
it will hold more than 100 tons of hay, so it behooves

FARM BUILDINGS 41

the owner to provide considerable under pinning to
prevent settling.

It will be noticed that the spacing works out right
for three lengths of twelve foot joists to splice on the
girders. The joists are two by twelves placed twenty-
four inches apart on centers and well bridged to make
a solid floor.

The stable is lighted by twenty windows glazed with
nine by twelve lights, nine lights to a window. This
gives 135 square feet of glass, or about four and a half
feet to each animal in the stable. It is impossible to
keep a dark stable clean.

The silo is sixteen feet in diameter and thirty-six
feet high. It will hold about 140 tons of silage, which
will equal 280 days feeding, allowing each cow thirty-
five pounds of silage per day.

Another silo is provided for in the plan to be built
sometime in the future as the herd grows in numbers.
Herds always do increase when a sanitary dairy is
once started because it pays.

Plank frame construction is used above the concrete
wall. Planks are used in different widths from two
by fours to two by tens for girders and two by
twelves for floor joists. The girders are built up by
bolting four planks together. They are selected
according to the way the grain runs and are placed
side by side, breaking the splicing in such a way as to
make continuous girders the whole length of the barn.

The roof construction is self supporting on the can-
tilever truss principle. Each pair of rafters forms an
independent truss reaching from one wall to the other.
Placing such trusses three feet apart makes a strong
roof and a great mow that is free from obstructions

42 FARM BUILDINGS

so the hay fork and hay tipple may work freely from
one end of the barn to the other.

Ventilation pipes are arranged to carry out Pro-
fessor King's system of ventilating dairy stables.
There are inlet pipes that admit fresh air from out-
side and deliver it over the cows.

The outlet pipes take the foul air from near the
floor behind the cows and carry it up to the peak of
the roof. The ventilating flues are connected at the
peak with metal ventilator hoods that regulate the
draft so the flow of air through the pipes is constant
regardless of the direction of the wind.

CHAPTER VI
DAIRY BARN FOE THIRTY COWS

This barn shown in Figure 18, is thirty-six feet in
width, which is a few feet wider than older dairy
stables, to make room for wide alleys behind the cows
and a feed alley of sufficient width to accommodate a
feed carrier suspended from an overhead track.

A similar track is fitted into the ceiling over the
rear alleys to support a manure carrier. This track
extends the full length of both manure gutters and
clear around both silos, where the ground is supposed
to be low enough to drive the manure spreader under
the carrier to dump the load. This is a very impor-
tant feature, and one that is well worth figuring on
before the building is started.

Between the two silos and the end of the stable is a
feed room with a low roof. It is easier to build it low,
as we avoid the barn cornice. This feed room is
divided into three parts to make storage for different
kinds of grains.

The litter carrier track runs underneath a shute
that is built in front of the silo doors, so that the
silage may be forked into the shute above and fall
directly into the carrier. When two men are doing
the feeding this arrangement saves one handling. The
man in the silo gets the feed ready while the man with
the carrier is dumping the load. When he returns

43

FARM BUILDINGS

FARM BUILDINGS

V. DUMP

46 FARM BUILDINGS

with the carrier it is filled almost instantly by the
man in the silo.

Likewise the bedding is forked down a similar shute
from the storage mow into the litter carrier and is
run through the stable to the different stalls. All over-
head tracks are alike, so the litter carrier may be run
through any of the alleys.

A good ventilating system is provided through steel
air shafts placed in the walls. There are four of these
ventilating flues, which follow the walls to the plates,
then follow the rafters to the peak, where they are
topped with ventilators to secure a steady upward
draft.

The silos are fourteen feet in diameter by thirty-
two feet in height. The capacity of two silos of this
size is rather more than necessary to feed thirty cows
during the regular silo feeding season, but silage is
being used for summer feed as well as winter feed,
also the number of animals on a dairy farm where
silage is fed, increase rapidly. It is seldom that any
silage is wasted.

It is such a valuable feed that some use is found for
it some time during the year. For this reason it is
advisable to provide plenty of silage capacity. Two
small silos are better than one large one, as the silage
may be kept fresher.

Above the stable is the large storage mow which,
owing to the construction of the roof, is free from
cross timbers, — so the hay fork may be run directly
through from one end of the barn to the other. The
height of the peak and the shape of the roof is espe-
cially designed to give large capacity for hay and
straw.

FARM BUILDINGS

47

It is customary to put more windows in cow stables
than formerly. This stable is designed for a little
more than four square feet of glass per cow. The
windows being placed behind the cows give plenty of
light at milking time.

Figure 20. — Cross Section Showing Detail of the Stable Floor.
Barn Floor and Plank Frame Roof Construction

Steel stall partitions separate the cows, and the
steel frame over the manger forms a hanger for the
light swinging stanchions. This steel frame also pro-
vides places for the record sheet for keeping daily
account of the milk that each cow produces.

Inside the stable the walls are made as smooth as
possible to prevent lodgment of dust. Dust harbors
bacteria, and bacteria make trouble for dairymen.
That is one great advantage of using iron stall par-
titions— there is little room for the lodgment of dust.
They are easily dusted or washed or wiped with a

48 ' FARM BUILDINGS

damp cloth. Dairymen are becoming very particular
in regard to the manner in which the stable is kept.
It is impossible to keep a stable clean unless it is
designed and built for cleanliness.

CHAPTER VII
MONITOR EOOF DAIRY STABLE

For ventilation in summer a monitor roof is better
than other forms of dairy stable construction. Where
the hot weather continues through the spring, summer
and fall, dairymen are looking for the coolest way
possible to build their dairy stables.

The stable shown in Figure 21 has all the sanitary
stable fixtures required by the most rigid inspection
rules. These rules by the way, are not unreasonable
when they are rightly understood. Sometimes inspect-
ors are too aggressive, some are too ignorant to know
right from wrong, but taking inspection as it embraces
the whole country it is working splendidly for the
benefit of honest dairymen.

Particular consumers are demanding cleaner milk.
They are beginning to understand that it costs money
to be clean and they are learning to pay the price.
Many city people realize that it is cheaper to pay an
extra cent or two per quart for milk than to pay
more money to the doctors and to lose time while
convalescing.

Like all good dairy stables this manner of building
requires a good solid foundation of concrete which
includes the dairy floor. The outside concrete walls
and the supporting piers under the mangers are built
first and carefully leveled on top. The ground between
the walls is then wet down and made solid.
49

50

FARM BUILDINGS

FARM BUILDINGS 51

Stable floors usually are level from end to end
except the bottom of the gutters behind the cows.
Gutters are given a fall of about one inch to twenty
feet on the bottom to drain out at the end of the
building when the gutters are washed with the hose.

r/K)NT ELEVATION
Figure 22. — Showing End View of Monitor Roof Stable

Grading the ground crossways of the building calls
for measurements to bring the mangers up to grade
and the gutters down to their proper places. One way
to test the work as it proceeds is to make two tem-
plates, one as a guide, between the outside wall and
the center piers and the other template to reach across
the mangers and feed alley from each center pier to
its opposite mate.

These templates are built up by using narrow strips
of wood having straight edges. The points of con-
tact for the templates are the top surface of the
finished foundation walls and the tops of the center
piers.

The lines followed are the face surface lines of the
finished floor. From the inside of the foundation
walls of the manure alley, the floor should slope to
the edges of the gutters. From the backs of the

FAKM BUILDINGS

FARM BUILDINGS

64 FARM BUILDINGS

mangers the standing, or stall floors, slope back to the
gutters. The center alley floor and the bottom of the
mangers are on a level with each other.

These templates are first used to grade the ground,
afterwards they are used to set the stakes and forms
for the concrete floor. The top edges of the two by
fours used for forms are placed to touch the bottom
edges of the templates, when the soft cement floor
surface is struck off with a straight edge even with
the tops of the two by four forms; then the finished
floor conforms to the floor line as shown in the cross
section drawing, Figure 24.

The floor plan, Figure 23, shows the stable to be
thirty-six feet in width and forty feet in length. The
width has been worked out carefully and may be con-
sidered standard.

The manure alleys are supposed to be kept clean
at milking time and there are manure carriers and
hose sprinklers and scrubbing brushes to assist in the
cleansing operations. The space between the cows and
the outside wall as shown is sufficient to operate these
different mechanical labor savers to advantage.

There are windows enough to light this part of the
stable effectively, partly to reveal any dirt and partly
because considerable light is wanted at milking time.
Cows do better in a bright stable.

Modern dairy stables are, built not only to furnish
a comfortable feeding and milking shelter, but to
supply conditons that are favorable to the use of
dairy machinery including milking machines.

Labor saving dairy machinery has done away with
so much drudgery that a large herd of milking cows

FARM BUILDINGS 55

may be better cared for with less expenditure of hand
labor than a small dairy demanded a few years ago.

The length of this -stable is- sufficient to hold twenty
cows. It may be> extended to twice o-r three times the
length if that much room is needed. The same width
is maintained, but lengthwise the plan is extremely
elastic.

If fifty or more cows are stabled, however, it will be
necessary to build another silo. Silage is the best and
cheapest cow feed and the handiest to store and
deliver.

It is a good plan to have silage enough to feed at
milking time the year around. A full day's silage
ration for a cow weighing 1,000 pounds is reckoned
at forty pounds, but when silage is fed only at milking
time to keep the cows quiet and contented, probably
an, average of twenty or twenty-five pounds will be
sufficient. A great deal depends upon the way the
cows are cared for between milking periods.

This plan provides for a covered passage way which
connects the stable with the silo. The silo delivery
shute comes down into this feed room and the feed
carrier track extends to within a few feet of the silos,
so it is easy to load the carrier directly from the bot-
tom of the shute and to run it clear through the feed
alley, dumping the necessary amount before each cow
as it goes along.

The new feed carriers are much larger than the old
ones and they have hinged sides that may be lowered
to slide the feed into the cow mangers. The width of
the car with the wings extended should fit the space
between the mangers so that feed will drop into them
and not fall short nor shoot over.

56

FARM BUILDINGS

If the stable is made extra long and feed carriers
of greater capacity are needed, then the feed carrier
cars may be made longer, but the proper width should
be maintained.

The silo shute may be fitted at the bottom with a
hopper to hold the silage up from the floor. The feed
carrier may then be run under the hopper and loaded
by pulling a slide to let the silage fall through.

BOARD

Figure 25. — Side View Showing Plan for Building a Hayfork
Hood to Project from Peak of a Storage Barn. The Jack -Rafters
form a Brace to Support the End of the Hay-Track Beam

HAYFORK HOOD.

It is easy to frame a hayfork hood extension to a
barn roof by extending the ridgeboard five feet beyond
the wall rafter. The ridgeboard is supported by two
pairs of jack-rafters as shown in Figures 25 and 26.
The outer jacks carry the barge board effect around

FARM BUILDINGS

the point of the hood. The hay-track is hung by long
bolts reaching down from the ridgeboard extension.

BUILDING SCAFFOLD BRACKET

Two pieces of two by four, four feet long each,
halved and bolted together at the corner, makes the

BDGE'BOARD''3HOULD- EXTIND
5AKN 8 FEET.

PLAM

Figure 26. — Top View of the Hay-Track Roof Extension Showing
the Ridgeboard and Supporting Jack-Rafters

cheapest, safest and most convenient scaffold bracket.
There are four braces of one by four nailed to the
two by four pieces, as shown in Figure 27. Either
a two by four or a four by four is used for the leg,
according to the height of the scaffold. The leg is not
fastened. It fits snugly between the four side braces
and takes any slant necessary to raise the scaffold to
the proper height.

FARM BUILDINGS
DAIRY STALL AND MANGER

Figure 28 shows a cross section through a dairy
stall and manger and gutter. The dimensions are
marked. Cork brick are sometimes used for the

Figure 27.— Building Bracket Made of 2x4 Pieces Put Together
at Right Angles with Diagonal Braces. The Supporting Leg
Fits Between the Four Diagonal Braces

Figure 28.— Detail of Dairy Stable Floor and Stall Construc-
tion. In this Cross Section Cork Brick are Shown as a Cushion
Intended for Animals Which Remain in the Stable Long Hours.

FARM BUILDINGS 59

standing floor for cows because cork is warmer and
it is more pliable or springy. Cork brick should be
carefully laid in asphaltum to prevent filth from
accumulating in the cracks between. This kind of
stall floor is somewhat expensive, but for a valuable
animal the extra cost may be justified.

A MODERN DAIRY BARN

Figure 29 shows a cross section through a modern
dairy barn thirty-six feet wide. The lettering and
figures on the drawing give sizes of planks used in the

2/6 TIE. U-0 WELL WILED TO
EVEPr .SET OF R4FTEP.5.

I4:0'|_ONG.
24- ON CENTERS.

WELL NAILfLD TO EVEPY
PAFTEP AND STUDDING.

'.STUDDING i3:0'LONG
24' ON CENTEP

GIPDER
3'IPON COLUMNS

Figure 29. — Cross Section Showing Complete Detail of Concrete
Stable Floor Construction with Footings and Center Piers. Also
Heavy Girders, Side Walls and Rafter Trusses.

60 FARM BUILDINGS

upper works. The stable is made air tight and bacteria
proof according to the best dairy practice. This type
of gambrel roof is much used.

JWWCK

i

-2PCS tx&
•.5ZPARATAR BLOCKS

%

" 'ipcme'

TPUJ3LS SPACED TCOM t2T01fcFT /PAPT

CONCPETZ F100B

I

Figure 30. — Section Through a Large Storage Barn Designed
for a Farm Where Considerable Alfalfa is Grown. These Trusses
are Placed from 12 to 16 Feet Apart, According to the Size of
the Barn

CROSS SECTION OP STORAGE BARN SHOWING THE BRACING

Such a barn may be constructed of light material,
but it is necessary to place a braced bent about every
sixteen feet, as shown in Figure 30. This plan shows

FARM BUILDINGS 61

up and down boarding, with or without battons. Bat-
tons add to the appearance but sometimes ventilation
is of more account. The good appearance of a farm
building should never be neglected to save a little
expense at time of building. The illustration shows a
barn truss thirty-six feet in width and forty feet high
to the peak.

CHAPTER VIII
NEW MODELS FOE FARM BABNS

ROUND CURB-ROOF BARN. — ELLIPTICAL OR EGG-SHAPED
BARN. — AUDITORIUM BARN. SHEEP BARN.

ROUND CURB-ROOF BARN

To build a round barn, take a silo and put a barn
around it. Formerly silos were square or rectangular ;
they are all made round today. Some barns are made
around some silos. Usually such, barns are built with
expensive curb-roofs.

ELLIPTICAL OF EGG-SHAPED BARN

A new round barn is to be rounded elliptically,
from sill to apex, as well as to be circular ; made egg-
shape with the small end at the top and the big end
smashed down hard on the ground to make it sit up
straight, as shown in Figure 31.

The silo is made of two by six studding boarded
around with thin boards sprung into place. Two thick-
nesses of boards are used, breaking joints with building
paper between. The hay tipple runs half way around
the silo in both directions and dumps the hay where
it is wanted. The hay-track takes the same upward
curve as the roof and the fork drops the hay on the
center of the tipple. This plan saves running a cir-
cular hay-track around under the roof. Filling the
silo requires a silage carrier instead of a blower pipe.

FARM BUILDINGS

63

Round barns may be built cheaper than barns with
corners having the same capacity because a circle
includes a greater area than any possible combina-
tion of straight lines. The saving in building a round,
or rounded, barn as compared with a rectangular barn

Figure 31. — Round Barn with Silo in Center. The Hay Tipple
Is Supported by a Track which Runs Nearly Around the Silo So
the Tipple May Travel in Either Direction. Hay is Taken in
Through the Lower Dormer. The Silo is Filled Through the
Upper Dormer Window

of the same cubic foot capacity should be from twenty
to thirty-five per cent. The saving in the material
alone has been figured at a higher percentage. Some'
thing depends upon the size and height in each case.

64 FARM BUILDINGS

Forty cows may be stabled in a round barn sixty
feet in diameter and leave room for a silo and a cir-
cular feed room in the center.

A round barn with a round silo in the center is
simply one cylinder inside of another, both support-
ing each other.

Round or rounded barns are so new that propor-
tions have not been thoroughly tested out, but on
general principles, it is thought best not to raise the
point of the roof more than two-thirds the diameter
of the barn. That is, a sixty-foot barn would be forty
feet in height, which is high enough for a good silo.
It is not thought desirable to make a round barn more
than ninety feet in diameter on the self-supporting
curb-roof plan. No builder has yet shown sufficient
nerve to build an egg-shaped barn of any capacity.

The term, "self supporting roof," is a misnomer in
a way, because the silo makes the best kind of support
in the center, although some builders claim that a roof
made in this way is plenty stiff enough to withstand
the strongest winds without any support other than
the round shell of the building itself.

The form of the rounded or elliptical roof takes
advantage of the tensile strain of timbers which is a
hundred times greater than the bending strain. Re-
sistance to a side strain on a stick of timber is not
very great, but it is difficult to imagine a straight
pull sufficient to tear apart sound pieces of building
timber.

The egg-shape so far as the roof is concerned, offers
resistance from every direction. The sill is built up
of small segments, or bent strips, to form an immense
hoop. All of the different strips of siding and each

FARM BUILDINGS 65

continuous roof board are parts of other hoops which
hold the barn together.

To appreciate a rounded bulgy construction of this
kind, it is only necessary to consider the strength of a
barrel that is well hooped.

In regard to the cubic space enclosed, the dairy
department of the University of Illinois worked out
the economy of building a round barn for a twenty-
acre dairy farm showing a saving over a rectangular
barn of the same capacity amounting to twenty-two
per cent in wall construction and thirty-four per cent
in cost of material for the barn.

The Illinois barn, however, is not egg-shaped. It
is built with a curb or gambrel in the roof and with
rafters terminating at the eaves as in a curb-roofed
rectangular barn.

Figures 32 and 33 give many details of construction
for an egg-shaped barn. The ideas shown have not
all been actually built into a barn or any other build-
ing, but they are theoretically correct. The advan-
tages of this style of construction are economy of
material and strength to resist strain from either the
inside or the outside better than any other that has
been invented.

AUDITORIUM BARN

Wagon bows have been used for a hundred years
to support the roofs of "prairie schooners." The
same mechanical principle applies to the building of
town halls and larger auditoriums. And now farmers
are using giant wagon bows in the building of large
storage barns.

The foundation is made of concrete in the usual

66

FARM BUILDINGS

Figure 32. — Floor Plan of Round Barn, Showing Silo in the
Center and the Feed-Alley Between the Silo and the Manger.
A Manure Carrier Track Encircles the Stalls as Shown.

way with one exception. The outside walls are made
thicker to receive the ends of the bows, or, sometimes
iron wall sockets are used. Sometimes wooden sills
are embedded in soft concrete on top of the walls and
the feet of the bows are bolted to the sill.

FARM BUILDINGS

67

Whatever method is used the bows should be well
anchored at the bottom.

The bows or arches are usually built up out of
boards bent to a scribed circle so they are all exactly
alike. Sometimes the lower ends or legs of the bows
are made straight for several feet to lift the roof
higher without making the barn too wide. \

L-LI I I L

Figure 33. — Diagram Showing How to Cut a Plank on a
Saw to Form a Curved Rafter. The Two Pieces of the Plank
are Spiked Together as Shown in the Lower Drawing. This
Makes a Curved Rafter Without Waste of Material.

The barn is stronger when built without an eave
projection, as the boarding may then be put on con-
tinuously without a break.

If the concrete wall is built up high enough to
allow for a basement, then the gutter is attached to
the lower boarding at the top of the wall.

If roll roofing is used the roof boards should be
matched with tongue and groove and put on smoothly
to give proper support to the roofing. Matched roof
boards are worth all they cost just for extra stiffness
regardless of the kind of roofing they are covered with.

CS FARM BUILDINGS

SHEEP BARNS

Sheep are the worst fresh-air cranks among domes-
tie animals. For this reason a good sheep barn differs
from all other farm buildings.

Sheep are covered with warm wool in the winter
time sufficient to protect them from severe cold
weather so long as the atmosphere remains dry. But
when the rains come this same fleece of wool acts like
a sponge to absorb and hold moisture.

When the wool is wet it must be dried by evapora-
tion induced by the body heat of the sheep. Evapo-
ration is a cooling process so the sheep is required to
eat more heat-forming food, otherwise it must draw
upon its stored up fat to dry its wool. In either case
there is an economic waste and the vitality of the
sheep is impaired.

A sheep barn should provide shelter from rains and
protection against cold north and west winds. It
should also contain sufficient roughage to feed the
flock all winter, which means that the main part of
the building should be high and broad, if many sheep
are kept, and it should have wings in the shape of
feeding sheds open to the south and east,
i There may be a silo for the sheep alone, or silage
may be brought by overhead carrier from the cattle
department. Silage is just as good for sheep as it is
for cows or beef cattle. It is the cheapest roughage,
and, with the exception of roots, it is the most suc-
culent of winter feeding materials for farm live stock.

Silage in connection with alfalfa or clover hay will
bring ewes through to yeaning time in good condition
with little or no grain.

FARM BUILDINGS

An eight-sided sheep barn with shelter sheds and
yeaning pens is shown in Figure 34. The posts are
set in concrete. The outside posts support the plates
and the inside posts support purlin plates. The roof

Figure 34. — Sheep Barn with Hay in the Center. There is an
Open Yard with Open Sheds Protected from the Cold Winds.

is hipped from each outside post to the apex. A hay
dormer is built intc the most convenient side of the
roof and the hay-track runs the hay-carrier to the
center. Hay is dumped on the ground and is stacked

70 FARM BUILDINGS

up to the roof. Feed racks are built around the hay.
Feed is pitched down from above and is guided into
the feed racks by shutes attached to posts, one shute
to two feed racks. Gates are hinged to the outside
posts for the purpose of dividing the barn into small
pens when the lambs are young. Double gates, or
doors, are shown under one shed. These doors are
hinged to fold back upon each other when not in use.
It is a convenient way to have individual pens for
one ewe and lamb.

CHAPTER IX

MISCELLANEOUS FAEM BUILDINGS
GARAGE AND POWER HOUSE

It is perfectly natural that both power and light
should radiate from the farm garage. Farming is
rapidly becoming a power proposition. Farmers own
more automobiles than city people; farm trucks are
becoming popular, and the demand for small farm
tractors is greater than the factories can supply.

The coming farm garage will combine storage for
these locomotors together with a power plant and
machine shop. There will be a dynamo driven at odd
times by the engine of the farm tractor. The elec-
tricity so developed will be stored in batteries and
paid out as needed, to drive all the stationary machines
on the farm and to light every building. There will be
a small electric motor stationed in each building driven
by electricity which will be carried by wire from the
central power house.

The garage and power house should be a well ven-
tilated fireproof building made of concrete up to the
plates. See Figure 35.

Fireproof roofs are rather more expensive than the
lower part of the building, so that some figuring on
the cost of fireproof roofing materials may be neces-
sary before deciding.

71

72

FARM BUILDINGS

The roof trusses must span the space from one side
wall to the other because no posts are wanted in a
garage. Either king trusses or queen trusses, or a
modification of these principles, will be required to
support the roof according to the width of the build-
ing and the materials used.

Figure 35. — Concrete Farm Garage, Showing: Both Front and
Side Doors

The floor is the most important part of a farm
power house. It should be solid, level, smooth, water-
proof and well drained.

Power on a large farm means tractor, truck, and
automobile, together with dynamo and several small
motors to drive stationary machines such as cream
separator, fanning mill, grindstone, churn, sewing
machine, washing machine and other light work.
Heavy driving such as pumping, feed grinding, corn
shelling, cutting silage, etc., will be done by direct
belt or tumbling rod.

FARM BUILDINGS

73

The power house on such a farm should be large
enough to hold the three mobile machines and a
dynamo properly placed to be driven by belt from the
tractor. And there should be a forge, drill press and
vise bench, and possibly a separate bench for cutting
and threading gas pipe.

A building twenty by thirty feet could be used to
advantage. There should be two large doors and a

Figure 36. — Design of Roof Truss Intended to Span a Farm
Garage

small door, and plenty of windows for light so that
repair work may be done in any part of the room.

There is light on all sides of a farm building. Win-
dows are not much more expensive than the same sur-
face of solid wall.

Two forms of roof trusses are shown, either of whicfi
will support the roof over a span of twenty feet. Fig-
ures 36 and 37. From three to five trusses are needed
to properly support the roof. The number of trusses
and the size of timbers both are specified after the
size of the garage and the width of span is decided

74

FARM BUILDINGS

upon. On general principles, six by six is heavy
enough for the main timber and the upper timbers
may be lighter.

It is intended that the tractor shall have a per-
manent place near the right-hand wall where it will

Figure 37. — Another Style of Roof Truss Built Strong Enough to
Support the Roof of a Farm Garage Without Center Posts

belt directly to the dynamo. There will be a concrete
wheel block to stop the tractor the proper belting dis-
tance from the dynamo. The truck belongs at the left
where it may remain until wanted.

This arrangement leaves the center of the garage
for the automobile which is likely to be brought in at
the front door and taken out through the side door
several times a day.

The back end of the room is the machine shop, but
it is not shut off by a partition. A farm garage dif-
fers from the machinery shed because the garage is
active while the shed is intended for storage. The
garage is all in use and it should be well lighted, ven-
tilated, heated in winter and made comfortable to
work in the year round.

FARM BUILDINGS

75

A tarpaulin may be dropped from one of the ceil-
ing truss beams at the shop end when the weather is
extremely cold, but a permanent partition is too much
in the way.

There should be a good wash floor with a slight
depression and a good drain trap. Car washing facil-
ities may be provided either inside or outside of the
garage.

SMALL FARM GAEAGE

A small garage fourteen feet wide and twenty feet
deep is shown as a separate building in Figures 38 and
39. Some farmers object to using gasoline, or storing
it, near the main buildings. In all cases it is better to

Figure 38. — Farm Garage Built of Wood with Concrete Wall
and Floor

keep the supply of gasoline underground for safety
first, also to prevent evaporation. This little building
has a solid concrete foundation and floor with a drain
in the center to carry off the wash water. There are

76

FARM BUILDINGS

two small work benches in the corners of the room for
light tinker work, but the main repairs are supposed
to be done in the farm blacksmith shop. A small
dormer in the roof helps with ventilation which is

Figure 39. — Floor Plan of Farm Garage 14 Feet in Width by 20
Feet in Length

quite important in winter when the doors and windows
are shut. Many deaths have been caused by running
an automobile engine in a tightly closed garage. Com-
bustion uses all of the oxygen out of the air and the
attendant dies from suffocation.

ADVANTAGES OF THE TWO-STORY CORN CRIB

In combination with the farm granary, the new
building makes a safe storage for both corn and small
grains. When properly constructed it is easily made
rat-proof. Because such a building usually is isolated
from other buildings, and, as there is no accumulation

FARM BUILDINGS 77

of straw or other inflammable material about, it is
considered comparatively safe from fire.

Two-story corn cribs and grain houses utilize space
to advantage because one foundation and one roof

Figure 40. — Perspective View of Two-Story Corn Crib. The
Side of the Building: is Cut Away to Show the Elevating
Machinery

does double- duty, The height and size of a grain
house is governed only by the requirements of the
farm, but the deeper the grain bins the more material
is required to make them sufficiently strong. Com-
mercial grain elevators sometimes are carried up a
hundred feet, but the construction is expensive. A
well built two-story farm corn crib and grain house is
an ornament and a valuable asset. See Figures 40
and 41.

78

FARM BUILDINGS

Cleaning a/nd Grading Grain. — A two-story corn
crib and granary has a central driveway which is
closed at both ends by doors and is used in fall and
winter to clean and grade grain before selling or
seeding. There are down spouts and elevating buckets
to do the shoveling and lifting and carrying.

r *- *-ue-c**~»,r<re~,t*«+*~~ J

41. — ^Floor Plans of Two-Story Corn Crib. The First
Floor Shows the Driveway with Corn Cribs at the Sides and the
Second Floor Plan Shows the Grain Bins Over the Center Drive-
way, with Location of the Downspouts, Stairway, etc.

FARM BUILDINGS 79

A good fanning mill separates salable or plantable
seeds from noxious weed seed and blows out all of
the light, shrunken kernels. The great advantage of
planting pure seeds is well understood by progressive
farmers. The splendid work of Burbank and other
scientists has shown that all grains may be improved
by planting only the full sized perfect specimens.

A two-story grain house stores all of the small
grains on the second floor, where they may be spouted
down by gravity to the fanning mill. The fanning
mill is run by power from a gasoline or kerosene
engine so that a steady motion is maintained at the
right speed. Men who turn the crank of a fanning
mill hour after hour to clean grain are anxious to
see the hopper emptied as quickly as possible. The
result is that the work often is hurried and inferior
seed is planted, but with a gasoline or kerosene engine
doing the work, there is no temptation to hurry the
grain through too fast because no one is being over-
worked.

The customary price for husking and shoveling ear
corn into the crib is four cents per bushel. Where
machinery is used to do the shoveling, three cents is
considered sufficient to make wages.

Shelling and Storing Corn. — Corn may be shelled
and stored in bins overhead the same as other grains.
There always is danger of heating, but with elevating
machinery it may be handled so easily and transferred
from one bin to another that the heating loses its
old-time significance.

The corn sheller is placed in the center driveway
and the shelled corn is elevated at once into one of
the upper bins. The cobs are carried by the sheller

80 FARM BUILDINGS

carriers into wagon boxes or hog racks to be hauled
over to the wood shed to use for summer fuel and
winter kindling when the cook wants a quick hot fire.

By way of precaution the shelled corn is spouted
down in a few days' time and is again carried up by
the elevator. If there is any danger of heating the
trouble is discovered before the corn is damaged.
Farmers who have tried to air hot corn by shoveling
know exactly how to appreciate the luxury of doing
it by engine power.

Grinding Feed. — With different kinds of grains
stored in the bins overhead it is easy to bring a mix-
ture to the feed grinder. It comes through the dif-
ferent spouts in small steady streams to feed the
grinder to its full capacity without choking. Corn
and cob may be brought from the cribs and dumped
with other grains to be mixed and ground and carried
up to the feed bin to be fed out as needed.

Such mixtures are sometimes necessary when care-
less help is employed. They can be trusted to use so
many measures of certain mixtures, but could not be
relied upon to make the mixtures themselves.

Foundation and Floor of a, Two-Story Granary. —
The foundation walls should be either stone or con-
crete. Because of the weight of the grain bins, it is
necessary to have four walls running lengthwise of
the building. The outside or corn crib walls are
lighter than the grain part of the building, but they
go deeper into the ground to ensure against heaving
by frost in winter. The inside walls are somewhat
protected.

The two center foundation walls should be twelve
inches in thickness and have substantial footings to sus-

FARM BUILDINGS 81

tain the weight of the grain bins. No definite rule can
be given for the depth of such walls. Frost penetrates
deeper in some soils and localities than others where
the winter temperature may be about the same. Local
custom usually establishes the depth of excavation for
foundation walls.

There should be light concrete floors in the corn
cribs and a heavy concrete floor in the driveway
through the center of the building to stand the wear
of horses and the weight of heavy loads of grain.
The floors should be made in blocks, like sidewalks, to
permit of expansion and contraction from heat and
cold.

There should be a pit near the center of the floor in
the driveway for the elevator boot. The dimensions of
this pit will conform to the size and shape of the
particular kind of elevator to be used. The manu-
facturer of the elevator will give the necessary figures.

The Superstructure. — The central part of a two-
story grain house is built solid and strong. Usually
two by twelve studding, twenty-four feet long, are
spaced twelve inches apart on centers, each side of the
driveway. This studding supports the grain bins and
the roof purlines.

The joists which carry the grain bins are two by
twelve inch selected planks placed twelve inches on
centers. They are spiked and bolted to the studding
and are supported by two by ten girders gained into
the uprights. The joists are further supported by
plank posts in the nature of pilaster reinforcements
to the studding. Both the joists and studding are
thoroughly well bridged.

Grain bins are made strong for the following rea-

82 FARM BUILDINGS

sons: on account of the weight of grains, as a cubic
foot of wheat or rye weighs forty-nine pounds; corn,
forty-four pounds; oats, twenty-eight, and peas, fifty
pounds.

The grain bins are ten feet wide and fourteen feet
deep. When filled with wheat the weight on the floor
of the bin would be 686 pounds per square foot of
floor surface.

As wheat in a bin is liquid in character the pressure
on the sides of the bin is practically the same as the
dead weight at the same depth.

The floor of the grain bins may be of heavy matched
narrow flooring carefully blind nailed to the joists,
or, a rough floor may be laid diagonally and strongly
nailed to the joists and a lighter floor of seven-eighths
inch narrow matched flooring laid over it. The tongue
and grooved flooring should be laid at right angles to
the joists and thoroughly blind-nailed at each cross-
section with extra long finishing nails.

After the floor is laid the sides of the grain bins
and the partitions between are built up. As the heavy
studding reaches to the roof the sides of the bins may
be of matched stuff nailed to the studding. But pro-
vision must be made for the cross partitions between
the bins.

Cleats will not hold cross partitions in grain bins
fourteen feet deep, the pressure is too great. But the
ends of some of the planks may pass through the sides.
These planks are bolted to the heavy studding which
acts as cross ties to hold the sides from spreading.

In some of these two-story grain houses the bins are
built up in grain warehouse fashion. They are sup-

FARM BUILDINGS 83

ported in the same way over the center driveway, but
are practically separate from the timbers of the
building.

The best way to make the sides of the grain bins,
and the partitions between, is to use two by fours laid
flatways with locked corners. Each two by four is well
spiked before the next one is laid. At each corner
every alternate two by four laps past and is spiked into
the abutting partition with slim wire nails four and
one-half inches long. This makes dovetailed corners,
which is the strongest practical way of joining two
wooden partitions at right angles.

It may not be necessary to carry this extra strong
construction clear up to the tops of the bins because
the outward pressure is much less towards the top.
Two by fours turned on edge make strong partitions
when the corners are locked. Boards seven-eighths
inch thick may be used near the top, if they are well
fastened in place, but a farmer feels much more com-
fortable when the bins are made solid beyond the pos-
sibility of collapse.

Ventilation. — Eight feet in diameter is about the
limit for ear corn in the crib. The atmosphere is
much dryer some seasons than others, but we should
provide against the soft corn years.

Allowing eight feet for each corn crib and ten feet
for the center driveway, we have a building twenty-
six feet in width. When the end doors are left open
there is circulation of air on both sides of each crib.

Ventilation is improved by using corn wire inside
of the studding to keep the ears from lying lengthwise
in the openings between the wooden slats. The wooden

84 FARM BUILDINGS

slats protect the corn from driving storms, and they
help out in looks, but the corn keeps better when the
cribs are lined with wire.

The cupola also is a ventilator which is continually
letting out damp air as it follows up the slant of the
roof from the corn cribs.

The Roof. — A steep pitch gable end roof is best for
a two-story grain house and corn crib. The rafters
and cross ties which reach across the building from
one plate to the other form triangles. Rafters put
up in this way brace each other and brace every part
of the building.

The steep pitch is necessary to get sufficient eleva-
tion for the grain hopper so the shutes will carry to
the farthest bins.

Each rafter makes one side of two triangles, which
reach from the peak to the plates and are tied back
to the long studding which supports the grain bins.
These uprights are tied together by the heavy floor
joists of the grain bins, and the cross ties in the bins,
so that the upper part of the building is a continuation
of trusses, reaching from one plate to the other by
way of the peak.

FARM IMPLEMENT SHED

Diversified farming of the modern type calls for a
great many special farm implements and machines to
save hand labor. The growing of five acres of pota-
toes, for instance, requires a potato cutter, planter,
sprayer, digger and sorter. Plows, harrows, culti-
vators, etc., also are necessary, but they are not classed
as special crop tools.

A complete list of implements, tools and machinery

FARM BUILDINGS 85

used on farms has never been compiled, but any well-
managed farm has enough to pay for a special building
to protect them from the weather when not in use.
Upkeep, depreciation and overhead charges are new

Figure 42. — Perspective View of Farm Implement Shed and
Workshop

terms in farm bookkeeping, but they are here to be
juggled with.

The implement shed shown in Figure 42 is forty-
eight feet wide by sixteen feet in depth. It is built
in twelve-foot sections or bents with a foundation wall
across each end and along the back. The front is
mostly double doors hinged to the posts in such a way
as to shut together in pairs so they open the full width.

The building is twelve feet high to the plates to give
plenty of head room for the highest farm implement.
Door openings are all about fifteen feet in width in the
clear, which is sufficient to enter a spring tooth horse
rake or a binder in field condition.

One section may be extended back if necessary to
hold one of the new jumbo truck wagons, but this
implement shed is intended for moderate ambitions
in regard to power farming.

86 FARM BUILDINGS

Such a building is not easily braced in front so it
is better to set the front posts in concrete. It is easily
done by digging holes about two feet square and
three feet deep.

Figure 43. — Floor Plan of Farm Implement Shed, Showing
the Workshop in One End of the Building-, Handy to the Imple-
ment Storage Room.

The foot of the post is set on a small stone in the
bottom of the hole, to keep it off the ground. It is
carefully lined and plumbed and stay lathed, then
filled around with a thin mixture of concrete up to
the surface of the ground. If the shed is to be floored
with concrete, these front posts are set in a wall trench
instead of post holes.

The floor plan, Figure 43, shows a work shop in
one end which should be supplied with a blacksmith
kit and a good many carpenter tools. A wide window
is shown in the end of the building which is intended
to light the iron work bench.

No one has yet found a place for the wood-working
bench. The shavings are sadly in the way in the
blacksmith shop and there is no other place where
the farm carpenter is welcome.

FARM BUILDINGS 87

SMALL SEPARATE DAIRY HOUSE

A dairy house separate from the stable is shown in
Figures 44, 45 and 46. It is only twelve by fourteen
feet in size, but it is big enough to handle the milk of
a large dairy when the cream is sold and the milk is
fed warm to calves and small pigs as it should be.

Figure 44. — Separate Farm Dairy House

One of the principal reasons for having a dairy
house is to provide facilities for disposing of the skim
milk at a profit.

"When fresh milk, warm from the cows, is passed
through the separator and the skim milk fed quickly
to pure bred young stock in clean metallic pails or
troughs that have been properly sterilized, it often
brings more money than the cream.

Separator milk fed cold in bacteria-lined troughs
to scrub animals is quite another proposition.

The construction of this little house commences with
a good concrete foundation wall and floor. The wall
reaches down below frost and the floor is carefully

FARM BUILDINGS

surfaced with rich cement mortar troweled on to make
it waterproof and smooth for easy cleaning.

A two by four sill is set in soft concrete mortar on
top of the foundation wall and two by four studding
are toe nailed into the sill in the usual way.

ie-0"

_ 45. — Floor Plan of Separate Farm Dairy House, Show-
low the Engine, Pump, Churn and Separator are Placed

Outside is a covering of building paper and drop
siding finished at the plate and eaves with a box
cornice having a level plancier.

A hip roof built of matched sheathing and roll
roofing with the proper eave gutters together with the
box cornice gives the little dairy house a neat, attract-
ive appearance when it is nicely painted. Always

FARM BUILDINGS 89

a couple of coats of good paint are necessary to dress
a frame or wooden building ready for inspection.

Inside, this little dairy house is a model of per-
fection.

The wall and ceiling are made smooth with matched,
tongued and grooved ceiling over building paper.

•PMMED ROOFING

M4D. FLOOJHHGj
2x4'STUDDlNG

Figure 46. — Detail Showing Cornice Construction of the Small
Dairy House

There is no beading and the joints are carefully filled
with putty and painted with three coats of white lead
and oil with a dash of Prussian blue to make it look
white. An inside finish made in this way may be
washed to keep it in sanitary condition.

The only insulation is the hollow wall with building
paper outside and inside and a filling of mineral wool
over the ceiling between the ceiling joists.

There is a cement-lined concrete water tank to cool

00 FARM BUILDINGS

the cream cans. This tank is fitted with a hollow
overflow plug that drains away the running water as
fast as it reaches the proper level.

All machinery and other stationary appurtenances
are indicated on the floor plan.

Figure 47. — Perspective View of Another Small Dairy and Pump
House, 10 Feet by 14 Feet in Size

All milk utensils are washed with cold water at the
sink, which has a properly trapped waste pipe that is
connected with the drain.

There is no provision inside the dairy house for
scalding the cans or other utensils because the one
room dairy cannot be kept warm and cold at the same
time.

A rack is provided outside against the south side of
the dairy house to drain the cans and expose them to
the sun. Under and in front of this rack is a concrete

FARM BUILDINGS

91

floor where the tins are scalded with boiling water
brought by the farm cart.

Milk tins should always be washed first with cold
water or water that has been slightly warmed, as hot
water will cook the drainage milk and stick it fast to

Figure 48. — Floor Plan of Pump House, Showing the Placing of
the Churn, Pump, Separator, Lineshaft, Drain, etc.

the tins, thus sealing over the bacteria, to be soaked
loose with the next warm filling of milk.

PUMP HOUSE

A small farm pump house and dairy house ten by
fourteen feet, is shown in Figures 47 and 48. It has a
concrete floor with an open drain running through the
center of the floor leading out at the back end of the
building. A power line shaft runs lengthwise of the
building supported by hangers from the ceiling. Belts
from the drive pulleys on the line shaft run the pump,

FARM BUILDINGS

separator and churn. The most important machinery
is arranged in front of the windows; also the sink is
placed in a very light corner. The building itself is
of wood on a concrete foundation. It is covered with
a hip roof over an insulated ceiling to keep the dairy

Figure 49. — Perspective View of Small Dairy House for Making
Butter

house cool. An important feature of the building is
a wide sliding entrance door with a sloping concrete
approach which is intended for the easy entrance of
a farm cart containing the milk cans. The farm cart
also takes the skim milk from the separator imme-
diately out for feeding warm to young pigs, calves, etc.

BUTTER DAIRY

A dairy house on a farm where butter is made is
shown in Figures 49 and 50. It is twelve by fourteen
feet in size. The utensils are : A, Ice Box. B, Butter

FARM BUILDINGS

93

Worker. C, Stove. D, Sink. E, Can Rack. F, Cream
Separator. G, Cooler. H, Cream Vat. 7, Churn.

CONCRETE DAIRY HOUSE WITH WATER-TANK OVERHEAD

This milk house is built of solid concrete with walls
twelve inches thick. The building is eight feet wide

Figure 50. — Floor Plan of Butter Dairy

by twelve feet in depth, outside dimensions, and it is
twelve feet high. There is a reinforced concrete tank
floor seven feet up, leaving about four feet above the
floor for the water tank. See Figures 51 and 52. The
floor of the water tank and the roof of the building,
which also is the roof of the tank, are built of rein-
forced concrete. All inside surfaces are finished
smooth and waterproofed. The water tank is made

94 FARM BUILDINGS

water tight by cement mortar made rich and put on
with a trowel. The milk room floor also is concrete
with water proof surface made in the same way, but
the sides and ceiling of the milk room are painted with
cement water proofing paint. The idea of building

Figure 51. — Perspective View of a Reinforced Concrete Dairy
House with Water Tank in the Top

the dairy house in this way is to keep it as cool as
possible without the use of ice, also to supply tap
water under pressure. A gasoline engine furnishes
power to fill the tank and to run the separator. It
makes a solid, satisfactory milk house for a small
dairy when cream is sold and milk is fed on the farm
to young stock.

STABLE MILK RECORD SHEET

The illustration, Figure 53, shows a frame with two
panes of glass fitted into grooves. The frame is made
slate-frame fashion except that there are two grooves

FARM BUILDINGS

95

8L0"

Figure 52. — Floor Plan of Concrete Dairy Tank House, 8 Feet

instead of one. The record card slides in between
the two lights of glass so that it may be read without
being removed. The frame may be hung with chains
or wires suspended from the ceiling.

Figure 53. — Frame for Holding Record Sheets in a Dairy Stable

96 FARM BUILDINGS

CALF FEEDER

The drawing, Figure 54, shows a simple contrivance
to hold calves steady while getting their milk rations.
Every dairyman recognizes the importance of prevent-
ing calves from reaching each others ' ears, after giving

Figure 54. — Stanchions for Holding Calves at Feeding Time

them their supply of milk. If they are confined in
stanchions far enough apart, until their mouths become
dry or they lose the taste of milk, they will eat clover
heads and meal instead of sucking each others' ears.
In front of the stanchions is a wooden rack divided
into squares like a ladder. These squares are just
the right size to hold the pail from upsetting and they
are spaced so the openings come opposite the calves.
Calves should be fed in sterilized pails. It is impos-

FARM BUILDINGS 97

sible to clean a trough properly, and it soon becomes
foul and dangerous. A growing calf is an energetic
little animal, and he will upset a pail unless it is
firmly held. The rack is independent of the floor
so it may be removed and the floor scrubbed. The
rack itself is a convenience for holding dry feed so
the calves can get it without pushing it too far away.
The stanchions are two feet apart and the openings
in the ladder rack, which come opposite the stanchions,
are from twelve to fifteen inches in diameter, accord-
ing to the size of pails used for feeding. The openings
between may be of any size to bring the feeding pails
in front of the stanchions, as these between openings
are intended for spaces to Keep the feeding pails far
enough apart.

FARM ICE HOUSE

The ice house shown in Figure 55 is fourteen feet
square on the ground and sixteen feet high to the
plates. The foundation is of concrete made into one
solid wall extending all the way around. Above the
wall the house is built of wood, using studding,
matched boards and drop siding. Next to the stud-
ding, both outside and inside, is one thickness of
building paper, then matched ceiling boards are blind
nailed on the inside and drop siding is used for the
'outside boarding, leaving a four-inch dead air space
between. It is a mistake to pack this space with
sawdust, because the sawdust holds dampness and rots
down at the bottom and settles in spots.

To preserve stored ice from melting, the first atten-
tion should be given to drainage. It is absolutely
necessary that the water should get away from the

FARM BUILDINGS

bottom. If ice rests in water it melts away rapidly.
It is a good plan to first tile drain the ground.

The space between the concrete foundation walls
under the ice is filled with cinders pounded down.

Figure 55. — Farm Ice House with Continuous Doors Reaching
from Bottom to Top

Above the cinders is a slanting floor of concrete, then
a layer of sawdust a foot deep. This makes the very
best foundation for ice in a farm ice house. There
are other methods of keeping ice in large commercial
storage plants, but what interests farmers is a cheap,
practical way of preserving ice for home use.

FARM BUILDINGS 99

There also is a drainage system inside of the ice
house consisting of grooves in the slanting concrete
floor under the ice. These grooves or gutters empty
into a cross gutter or drain which leads the drip water
into the tile drain.

The ice house doors reach from the sill almost to
the peak, making one continuous opening, so that the
ice can be put in or taken out at any level as the house
is being filled or emptied.

A handy way to lift the cakes of ice is with a hay
fork toggle and a pair of heavy ice tongs. A single
rope is attached to the tongs and passed over the
hoisting pulley in the track carriage at the top and
run through a single shieve at the bottom, so that a
horse can quickly lift a cake of ice to any height
necessary.

The cakes of ice are built into a solid mass in the
center of the house usually by breaking joints the
same as in brick work, leaving a space of twelve inches
all around the outside. It is much better to do the fill-
ing and packing in the coldest weather, and to sprinkle
the ice with a hose or throw pails of water over each
layer to freeze the cakes of ice together into a solid
body as near as possible. Sawdust enough is needed
to pack all around the ice and for a layer eighteen
inches or two feet deep over the top.

Where sawdust cannot be obtained, clean straw or
hay that has been run through the cutting box will
answer the purpose, and if carefully handled will keep
the ice in a very satisfactory manner. However, saw-
dust is much to be preferred, and when figuring the
cost it is well to remember that the same sawdust may
be used for several years by taking good care of it to

100 FARM BUILDINGS

keep it clean and to dry it out in summer. Sawdust
from pitch pine logs is the best.

The principle of keeping ice on a farm is a little
different from the commercial proposition where ice
is stored in winter to sell out in summer. The farmer
usually fills his own ice house. He does the work in
the winter time when help and horses would other-
wise be practically idle. A little extra ice under the
circumstances costs the farmer nothing, so that he
does not figure it as a real loss if the meltage is con-
siderable. On the other hand, if it keeps extra well
and he has a surplus, there is always sale for it in
August and September.

It is better to clear the sawdust out, before the cold
nights of November, to give the ice house a chance
to dry out before being refilled. When considerable
ice is left over, it is a temptation to put new ice on top
of the old, but this is a mistake. The ice house should
be cleaned out clear down to the bottom every year.
This gives an opportunity to examine the drainage and
to start right with the next filling. The management
of an ice house is simple, but there are a few little
things to remember. When you fill an ice house you
want to do it in such a way that most of the ice will
stay in the house until you are ready to take it out.

Figure 56 shows a concrete ice house which is built
to last. It is sixteen by twenty-four feet in size on
the ground and twenty feet high. A solid building
like this is a great asset to the farm.

MANURE SHED

The name "manure pit" suggests a foul-smelling
hole requiring a great deal of disagreeable hand labor

FARM BUILDINGS 101

in filling and emptying the pit. But some provision
must be made for storing stable manure when the
weather is too stormy to haul it to the field. Also
the liquids must be saved and applied to the land in
a decent, self-respecting manner.

Figure 56. — Concrete Farm Ice House with Flat Roof Made of
Asphalt

A manure shed properly constructed is a unit in
the general system of handling stable manure. It
also provides convenient storage and protection for
the manure spreader.

Machinery is necessary for the economic handling
of manure. Manure contains more value when it is
fresh. The dairy stable and horse stable manure
should be carefully spread each day at stable cleaning
time. To prevent leaching in winter there should
be a rooted crop such as rye, wheat or winter oats
on the ground to catch and hold the liquids and fine
particles from disappearing in the wash caused by
melting snow and winter rains.

The manure from a well fed dairy cow is worth

102 FARM BUILDINGS

about twenty-five dollars per year. To save and
utilize this valuable by-product it is necessary to have
a system and sufficient discipline to carry the system
into effect.

Manure is at its best when taken fresh from the
stable and spread immediately and evenly by machin-
ery upon the land. The beneficial bacteria in fresh
manure are lively and vigorous and ready to prepare
plant food for the growing crop.

The reason why hand spreading does not produce
the same results is because it is not even. Too many
bacteria are planted in one spot, while other patches
of ground are left without any. Hand spreading is
too expensive. Horsepower is cheaper as well as
better.

The best practice is to prepare land in the fall and
seed it to rye. Rye is equal to wheat as food for man
or beast. Rye is the coolest growing crop we have.
It will grow late in fall and start again early in spring.
In many localities there are days during the winter
when rye will make some growth.

Rye holds snow and rain water until it soaks into
the ground instead of running in streams down the
inclines to carry fertility into the low places. Water
stored in the soil in winter is worth a rain in summer.
It is better because such moisture contains plant food
in solution.

Fall plowing destroys different kinds of destructive
insects such as chinch bugs, grasshoppers, white grubs,
corn root worms, timothy bill bugs and many other
pests that hibernate in the ground or under trash
and emerge in the spring to work mischief.

Fall plowing helps to hold moisture, adds humus

FARM BUILDINGS

103

and bacteria and it works the soil into better physical
condition.

Eye, under this system, is not grown for crop but
to turn under in the spring together with the manure
collected during the winter. If rye is sown early it
will make some winter and a good deal of spring
pasture. It puts the ground in splendid condition
to work into a good early seed bed for spring crop.

This system provides conditions under which stable
manure may be profitably disposed of as fast as it
accumulates. There is no serious objection to sinking
the spreader wheels deep in the soft ground when the
rye is to be plowed in the spring. Four horses may
be necessary, but farm horses are not overworked in
winter.

Figure 57. — Manure Shed with Pit for Liquid Manure

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FARM BUILDINGS

One great advantage is the possibility of keeping
the stables and yards clean so there are no breeding
places for house flies and other harmful disease-
breeding insects. Stable cleanliness also deprives
harmful bacteria of their propagating places.

A manure shed and shelter for the spreader is shown
in Figure 57. The building is sixteen feet wide and
twenty-four feet long, made of concrete and covered
with a light framework of wood with a corrugated
iron roof. The driveway on the right hand side is
eight feet wide and has a solid concrete floor with a
drain gutter as shown. This gutter is an extension
of the stable gutter drain which conducts the liquid
manure into the manure sink. The platform to the
left is for dumping solid stable manure on stormy
days. There is a switch track which runs the carrier
over this manure platform after the spreader is

Figure 58.

-Farm Scale House with Concrete Foundation and
Scale Pit

FARM BUILDINGS

105

loaded. A pump and short hose is used to lift the liquid
manure and pour it over the loads of solid manure
so the spreader disposes of both. The stable and
manure shed are both washed down with the hose and
this wash water drains into the liquid manure sink.
The spreader is driven in at one end and out at the
other to save turning or backing.

SCALE HOUSE

The scale house protects the farm scale from the
weather. See Figure 58. It is fourteen feet wide and
sixteen feet long, with an overhanging roof to keep
out the rain and snow. The little house is open both
front and back to drive through. The four corner

Figure 59. — Section Through Winter Feeding Shed for Cattle.
There Is a Feeder Corn Crib with Trough at the Side, 2 Feet
Above the Ground Level

106

FARM BUILDINGS

posts are set in concrete because there is no other way
of bracing them.

CORN CRIB WITH OPEN FEEDER TROUGH

Figure 59 shows a corn crib with open feeder trough
at the side. The roof is extended to make a stock
shed. The bottom corn slat is left off so the corn may
be worked out with a handspike or crow bar.

THE COST OP FARM FENCING

One dollar per rod is the easiest unit to use in figur-
ing the cost of farm fencing. If the job is well done
the fence will be worth a dollar a rod.

8

40 Ac res

Figure 60. — Showing the Amount of Fencing Required to Enclose
Forty Acres

It takes 320 rods of fencing to enclose forty acres
in one square field. At one dollar per rod the fence
would cost eight dollars per acre.

To fence two forties together into two forty-acre
square fields would require 560 rods. This means
seven dollars, or one dollar less per acre, because the
one cross fence answers for both fields.

FARM BUILDINGS

107

When three forties are fenced together, 800 rods of
fencing is required, or a little more than six and one-
half rods per acre, or six and one-half dollars per acre.

-QQ Ftods

SOftods

Figure 61. — Diagram Showing Fencing Required to Fence
80 Acres

When four forties or 160 acres are fenced into forty-
acre square fields, 960 rods of fence will do the job,
which is only six rods per acre, or six dollars per acre,
according to the dollar a rod price. On 160 acres the
division fences effect a saving of two dollars per acre
as compared with fencing one forty-acre field alone.
These figures mean that a farmer owning 160 acres
must have $960 worth of fence for the large fields and

108

FARM BUILDINGS

that the smaller fields and yards are extra, which
may be estimated at $1,200, including paddocks, yard
entrance gates, etc. Figuring upkeep and depreciation
at twelve per cent per year, we have an annual fencing
cost of $144, or about one dollar per acre for the
tillable land.

•60 Ttafe

40 Acres

fOAcrcs

-80 Rcxfe-

Figure 62. — Fencing Necessary for 120 Acres
FIELD GATE FOR OCCASIONAL USE

It is not necessary to have hinge gates in all fields.
The kind shown in Figures 64 and 65 is useful and
convenient and not expensive. The saving is not so
much in the gate as in the supporting posts. Ordinary

FARM BUILDINGS
/GO 7?0</S

109

Acres

Figure 63. — Amount of Fencing Required to Fence 160 Acres in
4 Fields of 40 Acres Each

fence posts are heavy enough, but they should be well
set in the ground and the three posts at each end of
the gate should be connected by fence wire and by

Figure 64. — "Farm Gate Intended for Grain Fields and Pasture
Fields at a Distance from the Farm Buildings

wooden cross pieces bolted through. Nails will not
hold the weight of the gate and the racking caused

110

FARM BUILDINGS

by sliding the gate open and shut. Farm gates should
be a little higher than the fence because breachy ani-
mals try the gate first.

IT

Figure 65. — Plan Showing Fence, Fence Posts and Field Gate.
The Posts Should Be So Placed as to Permit the Gate to Open
At Right Angles to the Fence

STOCK HURDLE

The stock hurdle, shown in Figure 66, is used for
driving or separating hogs or sheep. It is made light
and strong by using thin boards of tough hard wood,

Figure 66. — Stock Hurdle Used for Separating Sheep or Hogs

bolted through at the crossings of the end pieces and
also at the crossings of the eater-cornered braces. One-
quarter inch carriage bolts are used.

FARM BUILDINGS
HARROW SLED

111

This sled is used for moving harrows from the
implement shed to the field or from one field to
another. A large harrow may be eighteen feet wide
and only six or eight feet long, which makes it awk-

Figure 67. — Harrow Sled Long Enough to Hold a Four-Section
Harrow

ward to drag through gates and farm lanes. Lanes
should be grassy and the grass should be protected.
A sled like this is useful at such times.

CHAPTER X

HOG HOUSES FOE WINTEE AND STJMMEE
WINTER HOG HOUSE

A hog house that is designed especially for breeding
stock in the winter, is shown in Figure 68. There
are two sets of windows so placed that the sun shines
on the hog nests in the middle of the day during the
farrowing season in late winter. This special plan
is for latitude 42 or thereabouts. Modifications have
been worked out for locations farther north. The
solid concrete floor has a waterproof upper surface
made of rich cement mortar laid on with a trowel and
pressed water tight. The house is divided into pens
six by nine feet in size. Each pen is provided, with a
movable wooden nest floor to keep the hogs up from
the cold concrete. The alleyway through the center
is arranged for convenient feeding and there are door-
ways and gates to facilitate the driving of hogs in any
direction. See Figure 69.

' ' This is our fourth year in the pure bred hog busi-
ness," said a farmer after he had built such a house.
"We have not yet established a reputation for Mgh-
priced breeding stock, but we are enjoying the confi-
dence of our neighbors and have made a few good
sales.

"The fact came home to us the first winter that
112

FARM BUILDINGS

113

I I

114

FARM BUILDINGS

FARM BUILDINGS 115

pure bred hogs require pure bred care in feeding and
housing. Scrubs may rustle around the barnyard
because they don 't know any better, but quick matur-
ing hogs that have been educated for generations to
make satisfactory gains in winter demand all of the
comforts of a good home.

"Two years ago we built this winter hog house
especially for the breeding stock. It is twenty-four
by forty-two feet in size and contains fourteen pens
arranged on both sides of a center alley. Each pen
is six by nine feet, a size we have found to be just
large enough to hold one sow and her litter of small
pigs and leave the little fellows some room to root
among the sods that we supply for their entertainment
and exercise.

1 ' The building has a concrete foundation and floor.
See Figure 70. The outside wall was footed deep
enough to reach below frost and it extends up in the
rear to the plate, which is about six feet above the
floor. In front or on the sunny side of the building,
the wall is low enough to place the windows down
near the nests. The plan was made to let the sun
shine through the windows into the hog nests for the
longest possible period each day during the months
of March and April, the time when most of the spring
pigs are farrowed.

"Ventilation is provided for by a system of levers
which operate the upper windows and hold them in
any desired position. It often happens that the days
are warm enough towards spring to have most of these
windows open. When the house is well occupied, con-
siderable ventilation is needed even in cold weather.

"Towards the north the house is made solid and

116

BUILDINGS

FARM BUILDINGS 117

wind proof. There are no doors or openings of any
kind to create a draft from this direction. There are
plenty of inside doors and outside doors opening to
the south, so that the pigs may be transferred from
one pen to another or separated or turned out of
doors as required.

"The floor is solid concrete surface finished with
well made cement mortar to make it waterproof. The
feeding troughs are made of high grade cement mor-
tar cast in molds so the troughs are separate from
the floor, but are so heavy that they are not easily
upset or moved. Each pen is provided with a wooden
nesting floor to keep the pigs up from the cold cement.
These nesting floors are made as light as possible to
be easily moved about when the pens are being cleaned.
During mild weather the pens are cleaned frequently
with the hose and we are very particular to see that
each pen is liberally supplied with fresh bedding
every day. We have valuable hogs and we find that
it pays well to take first class care of them."

PORTABLE HOG HOUSE

Hogs on pasture need a house for protection against
the hot sun in the middle of the day in summer. They
also need a shelter against cold rain storms and early
snow storms in the fall. Again in the spring, when
the wheat or rye fields need pasturing, a nearby shelter
comes in handy.

Figure 71 shows a portable hog house that is easily
and quickly made of light materials. It should be
well braced inside to prevent racking while being
moved.

Some farmers build these houses with floors and

)J8

FARM BUILDINGS

FARM BUILDINGS 119

others bed them with straw. In either case they
should be banked around with earth to prevent the
wind from blowing under. Ventilation is provided
oy leaving the door open, also by means of the small
ventilator door in the front side of the house near the
roof. Ground that is high and dry is always selected,
either in the pasture or nearby, preferably in the
farm lane near the pasture fields.

Figure 72. — A-Shaped Portable Hog House for Use in the Fields
or Distant Feed Lots

These portable hog houses should be about eight by
twelve feet in size with a low partition or two across
the middle to prevent the hogs from piling up to keep
warm when the nights are cold.

A two by eight reaching across from one sill to the
other makes a good protection for the smaller shoats.
The top edge of the plank should be about a foot
above the ground.

120

FARM BUILDINGS

A-SHAPED HOG COT

At the price, there is nothing better than the
A-shaped hog cots. They are handy for sows at far-
rowing time and they help out at other times. See
Figures 72, 73 and 74.

Figure 73. — Showing How the A-Shaped Portable Hog House Is
Framed

The commonest size of A-shaped hog cots is eight
by eight feet for both bottom and sides. That is,
the bottom is eight feet square and each side is eight
feet square. Sixteen-foot boards are used in making
them. The boards are cut across in the middle so
that there is no waste.

The mud sills usually are rounded up at one end
sleigh runner fashion for easy moving. This is desir-
able because the ground in front of a hog cot soon
geta muddy.

BUI of Lumber for the A-Shaped Hog Cot.—Tlair-

FARM BUILDINGS

121

teen pieces, one inch by eight inches, sixteen feet long.
Twelve wooden battons sixteen feet long; or twenty-
four metal battons eight feet long for roof.

Ten boards one by eight, fourteen feet long, for
ends. Also seven battons fourteen feet long. Seventy

Figure 74. — Cross Section Through A-Shaped Portable Hog House

feet of flooring in sixteen-foot lengths. Two pieces
for ridgeboards one by six by eight feet. Three pieces
two by eight by sixteen feet for sills. Four pieces
two by four by sixteen feet long. Two pieces two by
four by ten feet. Three pieces two by six inches, eight
feet long, for mud sills or runners. One sash complete
with four lights of ten by twelve glass. One piece one
by three by sixteen feet for window and door casings.

AUTOMATIC HOG COT DOOR FOR WINTER

It is easy to make an automatic hog door that will
fall back into place every time a hog passes through.

122

FARM BUILDINGS

The door is a gunny sack nailed over the opening.
It is weighted down by about two pounds of earth
in the bottom of the sack. The door works better if the
opening is about an inch wider than the sack, but
some fanners prefer to have the sack lap past the sides
of the doorway an inch on each side.

The hogs soon learn to open the door either way.
When the gunny sack is wider than the opening one
edge of the sack will flop inside sometimes, while the

-€'-0

Figure 75. — Breeding Crate for Hogs. The Illustration Shows
the Manner of Construction

outer edge remains outside, which looks untidy, but it
lets in fresh air which may be greatly needed. If the
doorway is wider than the canvas door, then the
curtain drops straight down and hangs in the door-
way, leaving two cracks for ventilation. The doorway
fronts the south. In cold weather it may be further
protected by placing the hog cot near a building, high
board fence, or some other wind shield.

FARM BUILDINGS

123

HOG BREEDING CRATE

Pure bred boars sometimes grow to weigh 700
pounds. A breeding crate is necessary when young
sows are mated to such heavy hogs.

Figure 75 shows a good way to make a breeding
crate to use for such purposes. It is made of two by
four scantling put together with bolts. The bolts are
pointed out and the ends are cut off even with the
outside of the nuts and are filed smooth. The crate is
thoroughly well cross braced to prevent racking when
it is loaded or unloaded from a wagon.

HOG LOADING SHUTE

A portable hog shute is a great convenience on a
livestock farm. The one shown in Figure 76 is six-

Figure 76. — Loading Shute for Hogs.

Made Portable and May Be Moved Like a Whee

This Loading Shute Is
Ibarrow

teen feet long and the same width as the wagon box.
If inch boards are used for the bottom of the shute
it will be necessary^ to use five or seven cross pieces
under the floor. Planks are heavy. The shute is used
occasionally, sometimes for light hogs, sometimes for
heavy ones. If made of light material and well braced,
a shute like this should last a dozen years or more.

CHAPTER XI

POULTEY, POULTBY HOUSES AND POULTEY
FUENITUEE

Breeds of Domestic Fowls. — There are about
twenty-four breeds of domestic fowls, known as fol-
lows: Ancona, Black Spanish, Black Sumatra, Blue
Andalusian, Brahma, Buckeye, Cochin, Cornish,
Dominique, Dorking, Game, Hamburg, Houdan, Java,
Langshan, Leghorn, Minorca, Orpington, Plymouth
Rock, Polish, Red Cap, Red Malay, Rhode Island Red,
Wyandotte.

Most of these breeds are subdivided into varieties ;
for instance, there are three varieties of dorkings,
the white, the silver grey and the colored. There are
eight varieties of leghorn, two varieties of Rhode Island
reds, etc. Bantams are dwarfs selected and bred
down from the regular breeds.

Poultry Breeding Terms. —

Fowl. — Hen or rooster more than a year old.

Cockerel. — Male bird less than a year old.

Cock. — Mature male fowl. A rooster fully developed.

Hen. — Mature female having attained full vigor is
considered in the breeding class after molting.

Pullet. — Female less than a year old.

Broiler. — A young bird weighing less than two
pounds dressed weight.

124

FARJI BUILDINGS 125

Roaster. — A young fowl weighing four pounds or
more when dressed. Old fowls are fit only for stewing.

Capon. — Male bird emasculated. It is done to
increase the size and quality of the flesh.

Trio. — Two hens and a cock bird mated for breeding.

Trapnested. — Means that the hen has a trap nest
egg record.

Setting of Eggs. — Thirteen.

Poult. — A pin feather turkey, male or female, less
than a year old.

POULTRY A-HOUSE

One of the homely adjuncts to the poultry business
is the A-shaped coop. See Figure 77. The most con-
venient size for hen and chickens is two feet square
on the ground and about eighteen inches high. The

Figure 77. — A-Shaped Protection for Hen and Chickens

boards should be cut two feet long. The back end is
boarded solid and the slatted end is faced towards
the sun and away, from the wind. When these
A-shaped coops are made for turkey hens they should
be about three feet square on the bottom and two
feet six inches high.

126 FARM BUILDINGS

SIZE OF THE POULTRY HOUSE

The size of a poultry house should be sufficient to
give about three square feet of floor space to a full
grown hen. If extra large fowls are kept this allow-
ance should be somewhat increased.

The height of the ceiling does not figure with fowls.
A ceiling three feet high for laying hens corresponds
to a house ceiling sixteen or seventeen feet high for
human beings. No poultry keeper would want a
poultry house as low as three feet, because it would
be very difficult to keep the house clean, so a com-
promise must be made and a medium decided upon.

A shed roof poultry house is the cheapest and the
easiest to arrange because the back may be low down
and the front high enough for the attendant to stand
upright. A shed roof is all straight work and may be
quickly made. If the roof boards are cut even with
the back wall, without eave projection, roll roofing
may be carried down the roof and down the back of the
house to the ground in one continuous strip.

POULTRY FOODS FOR WINTER

To obtain eggs in the winter time it is necessary
first to have a sanitary, well built poultry house, then
to supply considerable protein food. A very satisfac-
tory condensed form of protein and phosphorus may
be obtained from the home butcher in the form of
bones and small particles of meat that adhere to the
bones. To obtain eggs of good flavor the scrap must
be fresh and free from taint.

A good bone grinder is a great help in preparing

FARM BUILDINGS 127

such poultry food. It must be fed in small quantities
with the full understanding that it is a very rich
food, and that poultry are sometimes ravenous unless
fed regularly.

The feeding of meat scrap and ground bone sup-
plies the food elements necessary for laying hens
and prevents the feather eating and egg eating habits.
When laying hens are closely confined for weeks to-
gether they often suffer for the variety that they are
accustomed to finding outdoors in summer.

A hen feeding in the orchard or pasture field will
pick up a blade of grass, chase a grasshopper, gather
a few small insects, and hunt weed seeds, and occa-
sionally pick up a fat, juicy grub, so that she manages
to mix a balanced ration to supply her own body
necessities and to manufacture eggs from the surplus.
Poultry in confinement keeps the poultry man or
poultry woman busy inventing ways of supplying all
the different ingredients necessary for a well balanced
ration. Grains, greens, grit and gumption have been
mentioned as the four g's that are essential in keeping
poultry in a house in the winter time.

Good winter feeding requires that part of the ration
shall be composed of grains. A daily supply of vege-
table matter is needed for condimental and laxative
reasons. No fowl can be thrifty without grit. Grit is
necessary to grind the grains and other foods in their
crops. The term gumption is an inelegant expression
meaning common sense which is applied to every
branch of every successful poultry business. Lime
also is needed for bones and egg shells. Protein to
build up muscle and green bone to supply phosphorus.

125

FARM BUILDINGS

FARM BUILDINGS

129

If

16-0"

130 FARM BUILDIXGS

XEW YORK POULTRY HOUSE

Organized poultrymen in New York worked a long
time trying to build a poultry house that would pro-
vide winter comfort and healthful exercise for the
fowls, together with ventilation and other sanitary
requirements.

Specifications demanded that the cost should come
within the means of any farm boy or village girl
having sufficient energy and determination to follow
directions.

The result was a plain shed roof poultry house of
one room, preferably sixteen feet square, placed high
side to the south and made wind proof with building
paper.

Ventilation was secured by using thin cheese cloth
over the window openings.

The fowls are exercised by inducing them to scratch
for hidden grain in straw several inches or a foot
deep.

The original plan was built sixteen feet square, but
it may be built double, as shown in Figures 78 and 79,
with a partition in the center, making two compart-
ments sixteen feet square each. It is covered with a
straight shed roof which slopes down, from a front
that is eight feet high, to a low back wall.

The advantage of a shed roof on a poultry house
is to admit plenty of light and air by placing the high
side to the south and to shut out the cold that comes
from the north. The sun shining against the high
side of a building during the day makes the poultry
house bright and cheerful. The protection of the
low roof at the ba-ck keeps the poultry snug and com-
fortable at night while on the roosts.

FARM BUILDINGS

131

Figure 80 shows the advantage of a shed roof for
a poultry house in the winter time. This illustration
also is a cross section through the New York poultry
house. It shows the concrete floor made solid with

Figure 80. — Diagram Showing Different Designs for Poultry
House Roof

the walls, and it shows the way the droppings board
and roosting poles are placed up near the roof, thus
leaving the floor clear for scratching litter underneath.

COMBINED PORTABLE BROODER AND SMALL POULTRY
HOUSE

A small house twelve feet by eight feet in size is
convenient to use as a laying house in winter and a
brooder house in early spring. See Figures 81, 82
and 83. In figuring the size of a house it is customary
to provide from two square feet to five square feet of
floor space per fowl. The difference between two
feet and five feet is considerable. It is accounted for
by the different kinds of poultry, some of which are

132 FARM BUILDINGS

much larger than others ; also different poultrymen
have different ideas in regard to the amount of room
that poultry should have.

Figure 81. — Portable Poultry House

It depends somewhat on the length of time they
are to be confined. The more crowded the house the
more work is necessary to keep the place clean and

DROPPING BO/RD UNDER WOSTS
•SCOTCHING FLOOR

MUSLIN

FLOOR P1AN

Figure 82. — Floor Plan of Portable Poultry House

sanitary. Also the time of year has an influence on
the capacity of the house. In spring, when poultry-
may run outdoors during the greater part of the day

FARM BUILDINGS

133

the house may accommodate more poultry than when
they are cooped up all day and all night in the winter
time.

This poultry house contains ninety-six square feet
of floor space, which, allowing four square feet per
fowl, has a capacity of twenty-four laying hens.

020,55 .SECTION

Figure 83. — Cross Section of Portable Poultry House. Showing
Roosts and Nest Boxes

Two dozen Plymouth Rock hens would require about
twelve lineal feet of perch, or three roosting poles
four feet long. This is figuring the whole floor space,
so the chicken furniture would be all suspended from
the roof or hung against the side walls, thus leaving
the whole floor covered with straw for scratching.

Cubic air space does not count in poultry houses,
because there is always an excess of cubic capacity as
compared with the floor space. The reason is that
the roofs of poultry houses are always pushed up to
give headroom enough for the attendants. Chickens
do not require very much headroom. They would be
better off in much lower houses.

Ventilation is closely connected with the size of

134 FARM BUILDINGS

the house, the height of the roof and the number of
poultry housed. There is only one way to ventilate
a poultry house,xand that is by the use of thin cotton
cloth or muslin. Some poultry writers make the mis-
take of calling it canvas. Canvas means an air-tight,
almost water-tight, substance. The opening might as
well be covered with boards as to be blocked shut with
canvas. The object of ventilation is to ventilate. The
necessity of putting thin cloth covers over a ventilator
opening is to prevent the wind from blowing in.

It is almost impossible to ventilate poultry houses
by the methods used to ventilate cow stables, because
birds are so much smaller that their body heat is less
in comparison to the volume of air in the building,
so that the principle of the circulation of warm air
by changing the temperature of a large quantity of
stale air is not possible. But when twenty or thirty
hens are crowded together on a roost in a small poultry
house at night, it may be noticed that they develop
considerable body heat and that the air in a small
poultry house that is well built is continually moving.
The cold air comes in through the cotton covered
openings and circulates around the droppings board
and finds its way up to the roosts. Prom the roosts
the natural way out is up along the roof to the
nearest opening. For this reason it is a good plan to
have two cotton ventilators, one near the ground and
one near the roof.

Small portable poultry houses always face the south
or southeast in winter and spring. A good exposure
is south with the door in the east end, so that the north
side and west end is made tight to prevent draughts.
This is the best arrangement in sections where the

FARM BUILDINGS

135

prevailing cold winds come from the north, northwest
and west.

The plan of this little poultry house shows the
whole surface of the floor free from encumbrances,
so that it may be covered a foot deep with fresh
straw every day to allow the poultry full freedom for
exercising their muscles by kicking the straw about.

HILLSIDE CHICKEN HOUSE

Probably the most successful scratching shed ever
designed for the use of laying hens is shown in
Figure 84. Litter from the. barn is thrown into the

Figure 84. — Hillside Poultry House

scratching shed just inside of the door at the upper
end. The incline is such that the hens work the straw
down to the lower end of the house. When it gets
there, it is broken up so fine that it is ready to go
out into the manure heap.

136 FARM BUILDINGS

In this plan advantage is taken of the disposition
of hens to face uphill when using their feet and
claws for scratching purposes. Inside this scratching
shed twenty or fifty hens will be seen busy at work
kicking the litter downhill. It is built in connection
with the winter chicken house and is intended to be
just large enough to accommodate one pen of layers.
They are required to go into their regular roosting
places at night, but the small doors are left open
so that they can come through at the first peep of
daylight to commence work on the straw pile which
the attendant pitched in after dark, the night before.
A little grain is scattered through the straw to add
interest to the performance. Some poultry men keep
sheaves of wheat or other grain or loose straw that
has not been threshed. A sheaf of oats is unbound
and the straw mixed with the other litter. A forkful
of buckwheat straw unthreshed also helps the variety.

The upper end of the building is on level ground,
so the floor in this part is level. The roof takes the
slope of the hill and is shaped as shown in one straight
slab reaching from the front end of the poultry house
proper to the lower end of the scratching shed. The
window openings are covered with screen wire and
thin muslin. The building is twelve feet wide and
may be thirty feet long. The upper end is made warm
for winter comfort.

FOUR-STORY POULTRY HOUSE

Boys on the farm, and girls, too, like to make pets
of well bred poultry. Play houses for poultry may be
made practical. Such houses are divided into com-
partments in such a way as to induce the hens to dis-

FARM BUILDINGS

137

built smaller on the ground and higher to give the
necessary room. See Figure 85. And they may be
tribute themselves all through the house. It is done
in the following way :

Figure 85. — Perspective of Four-Story Poultry Hou

The basement is used for scratching purposes only.
If the poultry yard is well drained the basement may
be partially built under ground. An excavation two
or three feet deep is sufficient. It must not be deep
enough to be dark or damp. Sunlight and dry air
are both essential for success in keeping poultry. See
Figure 86.

If the basement is made with a damp proof cement

138 FARM BUILDINGS

wall with a window reaching clear across the south
side, the little basement may be made comfortable
in winter. It is necessary to have wide doors across

BA3EMEMT

•60-

Figure 86. — ^Basement of Small Poultry House

the front for light, for ventilation and for cleaning.
Every part of the poultry house must be kept clean,
otherwise there is sure to be trouble.

Above the basement wall the little house is built of
studding, building paper and thin boarding both
inside and outside of the studding. This makes a
hollow wall. The first floor, Figure 87, is intended for
a feeding floor. Feed hoppers for ground oyster shell,
grit and charcoal are hung to the sides of this room,
and a r^mo-abte porcelain or metal trough for feed-

FARM BUILDINGS 139

ing mashes is placed within easy reach of the door
opening. There is a drinking fountain on this floor
and another one is hung in the basement.

MATCH ED BOATJT55

I** FLOOR
Figure 87. — First Floor of Small Poultry House

The size of this little poultry house is only six by
four feet on the ground. It is so small that the
attendant never goes inside, but he can reach in
through the different window doors to attend to the
wants of the poultry, and he has scrapers and brushes
to use for cleaning purposes. A hinged window
reaches clear across the front of the little building at
each floor.

The second floor, Figure 88, is made dark and is
used for laying purposes. The nest boxes or bottom-
less racks are placed on the floor and are made easily
removable so they may be lifted out for cleaning.

140

FARM BUILDINGS

ME5TJ
BOXES

2 « FLOOR
Figure 88. — Second Floor of Small Poultry House

i

PERCHES

Figure 89. — ^Third Floor of Small Poultry House

FARM BUILDINGS 141

The top floor, Figure 89, is the attic and is used for
roosting. The only perches in the house are in the
attic. The attic is not lighted in the usual way, but
there is an opening for ventilation. This opening is
covered with thin cotton so that sufficient light is
admitted. The opening extends clear across the front
of the house and is closed by a door frame that hinges
at the top and is covered with wire netting on one
side and cotton on the other. The sill under this
door is on a level with the floor inside and extends
out several inches beyond the front boarding of the
house door.

There is a metal droppings pan which covers this
floor all but the stairway, or it may be made in two
pans if necessary. It consists of a sheet of galvanized
iron turned up about half an inch at the edges. This
pan is easily removable at cleaning time.

The roosts are supported on low trestles about eight
inches high. The trestles stand on the metal droppings
pan and are lifted off for cleaning.

At the east end of the house there are three stair-
ways, one over the other, each hinged at the top to
close like so many trap doors at house cleaning time.

In practice it is noticed that the hens occupy the
whole house, according to their moods and fancies. In
the morning when the sun shines they will be found
down in the basement scratching among the litter for
scattered grains. They are continually going up and
down to the second floor to pick lime, gravel, charcoal
or condiments from the supply hoppers, and they
always climb up to the attic when they want to go to
roost.

The third floor is a quiet place and the hens sneak off

142 FARM BUILDINGS

into this room for laying. Occasionally a brooding hen
takes a fancy to the third floor for solitude. Upon
the whole, it is a satisfactory small poultry house that
will accommodate from a dozen to twenty or thirty
hens, according to size, and it is so built that it is
easily kept sanitary and warm enough, and it is well
ventilated to keep the poultry comfortable and in good
health.

Cleanliness is the main requirement. Good feeding
comes next. But both depend upon the way in which
the poultry house is built.

POULTRY FEED HOPPEES

A feed hopper is used for dry feed such as small
grains, bran, etc. A hopper should deliver all of the
feed; otherwise what remains in the corners of the
hopper will become old and musty and unfit for use.

Figure 90 shows the proper design for a feed hop-
per. It may be any size, according to the size of the
chickens to be fed. TEe same principle holds for a
small chicken feeder or large feeder for laying hens.
For larger birds the hopper is hung well up above the
floor and it is better to slant the cover so the chickens
will slide off when they try to roost there." The
incline forming the front and the lower part of the
hopper-back should deliver the last particle of feed
where it may be reached.

In the summer when chickens are running out they
get bits of gravel and lime and weed seeds, which
together with insects make up a natural ration. In
the winter time when the ground is covered with snow
and the insects are all hibernating, poultry often suf-
fer because they do not have access to nature's condi-

FARM BUILDINGS

143

ments which are required to keep them in good phys-
ical condition.

Such substances as ground oyster shell, or some
other form of lime, and small gravel stones for grit,

Figure 90. — Section Through Poultry Feed Hopper Designed
to Hang Against a Wall. These Feed Hoppers May Be Made
Any Length and Divided by Partitions to Hold the Different
Kinds of Poultry Hopper Feeds. Grit, Charcoal, etc.

are best kept in hoppers. Another substance that may
be constantly kept before poultry in one compartment
of the hopper is charcoal.

Wheat bran is another hopper food. Different kinds
of grains may be kept in the hoppers, but a good
many poultrymen prefer to scatter grains in the straw

144

FARM BUILDINGS

to encourage the chickens to dig for it. The digging
and the hunting around amongst the straw, six inches
or a foot in depth all over the floor, will induce the
chickens to take the 'necessary exercise to keep their
blood in circulation.

Figure 91. — Double Poultry Feeding Trough with Partition In
the Center

The accompanying diagrams, Figures 90, 91, 92 and
93, show several styles of feed hoppers that are well
calculated to keep the different kinds of dry substances
clean and within reach at all times.

Figure 92. — Poultry Feeder with Metal or Crockery Receptacle

Keeping poultry supplies around poultry houses in
open boxes on the ground is wasteful of good food
and floor space. The advantage of hoppers is that
besides keeping the different substances clean and

FARM BUILDINGS

145

preventing waste, they are hung up out of the way.
The different hoppers should be placed just high
enough so the poultry may easily reach the feeder
troughs.

Figure 93. — Poultry Fountain Feeder for Grain

It will be noticed that each delivery trough has a
ledge or guard at the front that projects in. The
purpose of this is to prevent chickens from throwing
the materials out with their beaks. Chickens are
never satisfied to pick what lies on top. Their nature
is to eat from the bottom. If they cannot scratch
the stuff away, they try to throw it towards them
•with their beaks. Sometimes these guards are hinged
so that they may be turned back for cleaning.

146 FARM BUILDINGS

Generally speaking, however, these hoppers always
are kept dry. The materials are dry and the hoppers
are hung against the wall in a dry place, so that they
do not require cleaning very often, but on general
principles, everything that belongs to a poultry house
should be so arranged that every corner and crevice
may be examined for accumulations of dirt. Dirt har-
bors vermin and vermin is the great source of loss
amongst poultry.

A double hopper to feed from both sides with a
top that slants in two directions leaves a ridge that
the fowls are quick to appropriate as a perch. It is
perfectly natural for chickens to utilize any ledge
that offers support for their feet.

Like all other rules in regard to poultry, there is
a reason for this one. The shape of a chicken's foot
and the toe muscles are intended by nature to grasp
the limb of a tree. When a chicken sits down, the
muscles contract to draw the toes around the limb.
This is the reason why a chicken can sit all night on a
swinging limb in windy weather. The toes grasp the
limb automatically and hold the sleeping chicken in
an upright position.

Following out this principle, it is easily understood
why poultry object to standing on a hard level floor.
The toes are extended and the tendons are strained.
This peculiarity of the formation of a chicken's foot
also accounts for its scratching proclivities to a cer-
tain extent. A chicken scratches to unearth food until
it becomes a fixed habit. The act of scratching also
relieves the tension of the toe tendons which urges
the fowl to increased activity.

If all poultrymen understood the peculiarities of

FARM BUILDINGS 147

the feet of fowls, more straw would be provided for
their comfort in the poultry houses. Also plenty of
roosts properly built and easy of access would be
arranged for their comfort and convenience when not
feeding. Chickens enjoy standing in straw because
they can close their toes and relieve the muscle tension.

SANITARY POULTRY FEED TROUGH

When chickens are fed warm mashes in an ordinary
trough, they fight each other in their eagerness to
get what they consider their proper share.

The illustration, Figure 91, shows a feeding trough
with an upright partition in the center. This par-
tition is bored with one-quarter inch holes an inch
apart, and one-quarter inch rods, twelve inches long,
are driven into these holes, so that they stand upright.
It is the only device ever invented that will prevent
chickens from standing on the side of the trough or
perching on the top of the division board when the
trough is made double.

It is better to smooth the top ends of the quarter-
inch rods to prevent injury to the poultry in their
attempts to plant themselves on the top of these
spindles. Chickens soon learn that the trick cannot
be successfully performed. They seldom make more
than one or two attempts.

The center division board should be several inches
higher than the sides of the trough, but four inches
is wide enough for each trough. The length may be
from four to eight feet for easy handling and cleaning.

Troughs for feeding wet mashes must be kept clean.
Poultrymen who object to mashes, and say that mashes
are injurious, are the fellows who neglect to clean

148 FARM BUILDINGS

the troughs. There is nothing injurious about a
fresh mash mixed with wholesome foods and given
to the poultry in clean troughs before fermentation
has an opportunity to make mischief.

A self feeder for poultry that keeps the feed clean
is made one foot wide and long enough to accommo-
date the number of chickens to be fed. Figure 92.
The cover is made with a ridge in the center and
slopes down to each side. The cover is made steep
enough to slide the chickens off when they attempt to
perch on it.

For mashes there must be a tin pan made to fit
inside. This is taken out and cleaned and scalded each
day to prevent disease. A floor is not necessary. It
is more easily cleaned without a floor.

Figure 93 shows a bottle grain feeder for poultry.
A shallow box is fitted with a piece of wood extending
diagonally across from one corner to the other. A
common milk bottle is fitted into two wire staples
attached to an upright post as shown in the cut. The
bottle is filled with small grain and is inverted over
the wooden strip. The grain runs out as fast as it
is eaten by the chickens.

POULTBY CATCHING HOOK, OR HOW TO BREAK A
CHICKEN'S LEG

A catcher for poultry is easily made by bending
a number ten wire the shape shown in Figure 9-4.
The straight end of the wire is driven into the end
of a short stick. By reaching out quickly while the
flock is feeding the wire may be hooked over the
chicken's lower leg just above the foot. It must be
used with considerable care to prevent the chicken

FARM BUILDINGS

149

from turning over. It is easy to break a leg when a
chicken is napping or floundering with its foot caught
fast. The loop on the outer end of the hook is to
prevent catching and tearing the chicken's skin.

Figure 94. — Poultry Catching Hook
A CHICKEN OILER

Some poultrymen adopt the plan of hanging a tin
can with a lamp wick drawn through the bottom over

VftLL

HANGER

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DOOfcx

ROOR-)

JOIST

Figure 95. — Poultry Oiling Device for Coal Oil

150 FARM BUILDINGS

the little doorway that the chickens pass through. See
Figure 95.

Any tin can that will hold water will answer the
purpose. A cold chisel is driven through the bottom
and a lamp wick is drawn tight into the cut made by
the cold chisel. Coal oil is then put into the can
and it is hung over the little chicken doorway just
high enough so that the wick touches the feathers as
the hens pass through. The wick should be wet with
coal oil but not wet enough to drip. Two or three
trials may be necessary to make the cut just right, so
that the wick will pull through tight enough to prevent
leaking. Lice will not settle on a hen when the
feathers are wet with coal oil. This remedy, however,
must be applied with caution and common sense. Like
many other contrivances invented for the benefit of the
poultry, it may be a good thing if carefully managed
and not worked too hard.

CHAPTER XII
CONCRETE ON THE FARM

CONCRETE BARNYARDS, PIERS, FLOORS, WALKS, WATER
TANKS, POSTS AND GENERAL FARM REPAIR WORK

Portland cement has been used on American farms
for more than a hundred years, but concrete in its
various forms only recently came into general farm
use.

Portland cement mortar was used by our grand-
fathers to plaster cisterns and to lay up brick walls
in damp places. It was made the same as we make
it now when we have particular work to do — by mixing
together one of cement and two of sand. And our
ancestors were particular about the kind of sand even
as we are.

One of their old cisterns may be seen near the town
of Spencer, Indiana. It is shaped like a jug, about
sixteen feet deep and is still in a good state of preser-
vation with several feet of water in it. The old house
was burned many years ago and the land has grown
up with trees.

Concrete on the farm is a very different proposition
from concrete in a twenty-story city skyscraper. Farm-
ers have their own ideas in regard to the most satisfac-
tory way to use cement on the farm and they are based
on economic principles. This statement does not mean
151

152

FARM BUILDINGS

that cheap or careless methods prevail, but fanners
have repeatedly proved that it is not necessary to
spend a dollar a square foot in making a concrete
feeding floor for hogs or a clean foot path to the dairy
house. Farmers know that puddling the bottom of a
hog wallow will hold water, but a mixture of sand and
cement will add dignity and durability. Farmers also
know that a small amount of cement if well mixed
with clean sand and quickly applied will stick rough
stones together to make a rat proof foundation wall
good enough to support a chicken house or other light
building.

Graduate engineers may not always agree with farm
methods, but they are not familiar with farm limita-

Figrure 96. — Concrete Barnyard, Laid In Blocks Like a Sidewalk

tions. There were no concrete engineers when the
Indiana cistern was plastered against the elay sides of
a hole in the ground.

At the same time farmers are well aware of the
progress in concrete building construction and they

FARM BUILDINGS

153

are waiting patiently for architects to invent sensible
artistic designs for concrete parts of farm buildings.

The idea of constructing a whole building of con-
crete never interested farmers because of the cold life-
less tombstone effect. Such a building makes a poor
companion piece to a herd of warm blooded Holsteins
in a setting of green fields and leafy shade trees.

Paved Barnyard. — Figure 96 shows a paved barn-
yard. The blocks are about five by seven feet with

ENGINE

Figure 97. — Concrete Engine Pier

154

FARM BUILDINGS

hot asphalt pitch run into the joints. The floor slopes
away from the stable with a fall of about one inch to
the rod. It is bordered by a concrete curb along the
edges to make a neat finish and to protect the floor
from rooting hogs.

Figure 97 shows a concrete engine pier. The farm
engine works better when it has solid footing. Con-
crete work subject to vibration requires a mixture of
one part cement, two parts sand and four parts gravel.
Screen the materials carefully, measure accurately, use
clean water, mix first dry to a uniform color, then
mix wet to a quaky consistency and fill into the form
quickly. Use no large stones. Be particular. The
size of an engine pier should be about a foot larger
each way than the engine bed, which allows for a six
inch projection all around. It is a good plan to avoid
sharp corners and edges by fitting triangular pieces
into all corners of the mould. The illustration shows
how the bolts are embedded. To properly place the
bolts make a template with holes to correspond with
the bolt holes in the engine bed.

Concrete Scale Pit. — Figure 98 shows a concrete
scale pit. Farm scales never were properly set until
they were set in concrete. The drawing shows a 6,000
pound farm scale in a water proof concrete pit. There

Flgrure 98. — Concrete Farm Scale Base and Pit

FARM BUILDINGS 155

are eye-bolts along the sides. Stock panels are hooked
to these eye-bolts when farm animals are weighed.
Bumper strips of hard wood are shown at the ends
of the concrete to take the jar from wagon wheels.
The weighing platform is made of two-inch plank. .

Concrete Hog Wallow. — Figure 99 shows a hog wal-
low which should be about twelve or fourteen inches
deep. It may be any size across and almost any
shape, but it is better to have several small wallows

i cmckrj or ijraytl'

Figure 99. — Concrete Hog Wallow, Showing Drain Pipe

rather than only a single large one. It is not neces-
sary to put much expense on a hog wallow. The
drawing shows a permanent foundation for ground
that may become wet in cold weather. Heaving or
breaking by freezing is thus guarded against, but, it
is better to dig a hole and plaster the concrete directly
on the earth than to let the hogs go without a wallow
because of the extra expense of making it right. This
is one of the concrete structures that may be slighted
in the making without serious results. If it breaks
with the frost it may be patched. The two-inch drain
pipe should project out at the side of the bank or
raise of ground selected for the wallow. This pipe
may then be punched through with a stick or iron
rod when it chokes full of mud.

156 FARM BUILDINGS

Figure 100 shows two ways of reinforcing a con-
crete trough. One cut represents a hog trough rein-
forced with poultry netting, the other is reinforced
with quarter inch round steel or iron rods. There

Figure 100. — Showing Two Ways to Reinforce a Concrete
Feeding Trough

should be two rods in each side in addition to the
bottom rods shown in the cut. Concrete troughs are
cast upside down in the mould and the soft concrete
is struck off even to shape the trough bottom. A mix-

FARM BUILDINGS

157

ture of 1 :iy2 is used for troughs. The cement must
be fresh and lively and the sand fine and clean. Pure
water is essential.

Concrete Hog House Alley. — The center alley in a
winter hog house should be well rounded in the center
with two well denned gutters. See Figure 101.

Figure 101. — Concrete Center Alley for Hog House. The Upper
Illustration Represents the Wooden Template Used to Form the
Center of the Hog House Floor

do not slip and hurt themselves on wet concrete like
larger animals. They are not in the center alley often
so it is better to build the alley and the floors to be
easily cleaned with the hose. The floors of the pens
slope towards the alley with a fall of about one inch
in ten feet to keep back ends of the pens dry. The
wooden template shapes the center of the alley and
both gutters at the same time.

Permanent Mail Bar.— Figure 102 shows a copper
mail box and concrete post. The post may stand out
alone at the side of the road or it may be part of the
entrance gateway. It must be easy of access. Bolts

158

FARM BUILDINGS

are embedded into the concrete to hold the mail box
in place.

•v.

Figure 102. — Farm Gate Post with Copper Mail Box

Clothes Line Reel. — Figure 103 shows a clothes line
reel set on a concrete post. The reinforcing rods are
threaded and project above the post. The bottom of
the reel box is bored to fit the rods and the nuts are

FARM BUILDINGS

159

screwed down to hold the box firmly in place. The
top is covered with felt roofing.

Figure 103. — Concrete Post Supporting a Waterproof Clothes
Line Reel Box

CHAPTER XIII

COMFORTABLE FAEM HOMES

SHOWING FARM HOUSE PLANS WITH HOT AND COLD

RUNNING WATER, DRAINAGE, HEAT,

LIGHT AND POWER.

FOUNDATIONS FOR FARM BUILDINGS

Different Kinds of Basement Walls. — A well built
house or barn must have a solid foundation, which
commences with the footings of the walls and center
piers. The width of the footings will depend somewhat
on the character and weight of the building. In every
case the footings of walls and piers should' be wide
enough to positively prevent settling. A little extra
expense when building is saved in after repairs. If
walls or center piers settle, the floors are pitched out of
level, the doors stick either at top or bottom and cracks
break across the plastered walls, window and door
casings open at the joints and unnatural strains are
put upon the frame work.

Staking the Cellar. — First set one corner stake
where it properly belongs. Then stretch a line, 100
feet or more in length, parallel with the road, or, set
a stake some distance away to sight to. It may be
necessary to stake the road for half a mile or so to
get the true line. The diagram shows how the stakes
and lines look when the staking is finished. The first

160

FARM BUILDINGS 161

corner is made square by the "rule of six, eight and
ten. ' ' After setting the first two stakes, usually across
the front of the proposed building, then one side line
is stretched and squared first by using a carpenter's
steel square against the lines at the first corner. This
squaring will not be accurate but it will be near

Figure 104. — Diagram Showing How to Stake the Foundation
of a Farm Building so the Excavation Can Be Made Clear Out
to the Corners without Undermining the Stakes

enough to set the temporary stakes while making the
preliminary measurements. Before the stakes are
driven solid, measure accurately six feet from the
first corner and stick a pin through the line. Then
measure eight feet on the other line, from the same
corner and stick a pin. If the ten foot pole proves
that the pins are exactly ten feet apart at the places
where they intersect the two lines then the corner is
square. With this double arrangement the excava-

162 FARM BUILDINGS

tion may be dug square into each corner without dis-
turbing the stakes.

House foundations are built differently in each
building section. Concrete probably is the most uni-
versal material used for house walls, but the cost of
concrete varies according to the price of local mate-
rials. Sometimes gravel banks at home may be tapped
that furnish both sand and gravel, and it may be
used for foundation walls and piers without screening
or the addition of any material except cement and
water. Farmers who have access to such a bank are
fortunate. They may make the excavations and build
a wall right up to the first floor, giving the regulation
seven and one-half foot farm basement headroom at a
minimum of expense.

There are other places, however, where concrete
walls are desirable, but the materials are shipped in
from a distance. Usually sand and aggregate that
pay freight are selected with considerable care. The
sand is clean and the aggregate is rough and clean,
so that a thin wall may be constructed stronger than
a thicker wall of course bank gravel and sand of
nature's mixing.

In some localities where wall material is expensive,
it is customary to build a cellar wall up to and a
little above the surface of the ground. The space
between the top of this low wall and the sill that
supports the joists of the first floor is filled in with
short uprights of two by fours or two by sixes, or two
by eights, according to the weight and the general
character of the house. "When cellar wall material
is expensive this so-called "false work" effects a sav-
ing in expense, and for ordinary house construction

FARM BUILDINGS 163

it is considered almost as good. It offers the advan-
tage of building a plain straight foundation wall on
four sides of the house without a break, as the win-
dows are above and the wall is level and smooth on
top. If the work is well done it makes a foundation
that cannot settle or crack.

Sometimes such walls are waterproofed either out-
side or inside, or both. If outside waterproofing is
deemed necessary, because of a saturated soil at cer-
tain times during the year, the excavation must be
enough larger to permit the use of a trowel outside
of the wall. If cement waterproofing is put on by
a spray machine or with a brush, the space required
will be about the same.

There are building sites, otherwise desirable, that
give trouble in the spring when the snow is melting
and the frost is going out of the ground. Many cel-
lars are flooded at this time of year that are dry
enough at all other times. Building sites vary a great
deal in this respect. There may be a springy spot on
one lot while the ground is as dry as a bone on all the
adjacent lots. These peculiarities are not discovered
until the excavations are made, and not then if the
hole is dug at a dry time. Sometimes it has been
found necessary to dig a trench all around a cellar
and trowel the whole wall with a rich cement mortar.
To make a thorough job, it is better to put a line of
tile outside of the wall as near the footings as pos-
sible. A little below the footing is even better if the
proper outlet may be secured.

Because the whole wall is footed at the same time
the work apparently is of more importance and it
receives better consideration than the piers. It is a

164 FARM BUILDINGS

man's job to lay footings of walls, but according to
the ideas of some builders any boy can build a pier.
At the same time the eye of the owner may be bene-
fical in starting the wall.

When walls are built up of concrete it is customary
to make the earth answer in place of an outside form
in which case it is necessary to dig the cellar care-
fully to line and plumb. The inside form is built of
wood in the usual way and substantially braced across
the excavation to the opposite form. Concrete, stone
and aggregate is then dumped in to fill the space and
the wall is kept level all around as it rises between
the wood frame and the earth.

If broken stone or small boulders may be picked up
about the place then the cheapest way to lay up a wall
is to put in a layer of stone and pour in thin concrete
cement mortar to fill the spaces between the stones.
In order to secure a good bond, the stones must be
wet before they are thrown in, or sprinkled with water
in the trench. To bind a wall all solid together, so
there will be no cracks or breaks in it, requires that
the work shall be well done, but not necessarily rich in
cement. An ordinary cellar wall may be rather poor
in cement if plenty of water is used together with
the right proportions of cement, sand and aggregate.
It is important that the mortar be handled quickly.
A great deal depends on the quality of the sand and
aggregate. Ten per cent of clay or mud should be
the limit. Clay gets between the cement and the
aggregate and prevents proper adhesion.

Wall Materials. — Cellar walls may be made of stone
laid up as masonry, hard burned brick, concrete
blocks, solid concrete, or a combination of stone and

FARM BUILDINGS 165

poured concrete or a combination of hard burned brick
bats and poured concrete.

In fact, there are many ways of making cellar walls.
Local custom has a good deal to do with determining
the manner in which a wall should be built. Local
materials usually are selected because they are
cheaper. Sometimes a good quality of mixed sand
and gravel may be made in gravel banks near at
hand, while in, other places, sand, gravel or other
aggregate must be shipped long distances at con-
siderable expense. Sometimes there is no gravel or
stone, but a good home brick yard can supply a hard
grade of brick at low prices that will work into a
cellar wall to good advantage.

In many parts of the country cellar walls are made
of hard burned brick, made specially for underground
work. In other places, stone is abundant, so that
stone walls are cheaper than any other good cellar
wall material. When all cellar wall materials are
scarce or expensive, and wood is cheaper, then it is
customary to build the foundation wall up to the level
of the ground only and a superstructure of wood is
built up between the top of the cellar wall and the
joists of the main floor.

"Where stones are abundant and skilled masons are
scarce, it is easy to lay up a stone wall between forms
by throwing in a layer of stone, then pouring in
enough thin grout cement mortar to work around the,
layer of stones. Walls built in this way should have
the stones laid flat and the cement mortar should be
thin enough to work in well around the stones. The
mortar sticks to the stones much better if the stones
are wet before the cement reaches them. The stones

166 FARM BUILDINGS

may be sprinkled in the forms but are better soaked
in water before being dropped into the forms. It is
difficult or impossible to drown cement with water so
long as the "soup ' ' is confined so the cement is not car-
ried away with the wash.

When the wall is low and the house is small, a
light house frame of two by four studding is toe-
nailed into a double two by four sill, set in soft cement
mortar on top of the wall. Girts are gained into the
studding one-half inch at the right height to support
the floor joists. This girt is thoroughly well spiked
to each upright, and the ends of the joists are spiked
to the studding at ever opportunity. It may not be
necessary to space all of the joists to come against the
studding. The weight and importance of the building
will decide the distance apart for the timbers.

Hard Brick for Walls. — In some localities brick
walls are used extensively under houses. The reason
is that bricks are made locally and the materials for
concrete work are scarce.

Good hard burned bricks when properly laid into
a cellar wall give good satisfaction. The best brick
wall, however, is not nearly so valuable as a thor-
oughly well built concrete wall of the same thickness.
Bricks may be waterproofed by painting the outside
of the wall or by plastering it with cement mortar.

In sections of the country where it is necessary to
ship in bricks for walls, also sand and aggregate to
make concrete, the preference should be given to con-
crete construction. Freight is expensive in both cases,
but concrete is more valuable. There is such variation
in prices that it is impossible to make estimates in the

FARM BUILDINGS 167

cost of building that will apply satisfactorily in dif-
ferent localities.

Center Piers. — Most houses that have stood for a
year or two have settled in places sufficient to crack
the plaster or to prevent doors from shutting properly.
The trouble may be in one or more of the side walls,
or it may be confined to the center partitions.

There are piers under the center of most houses,
and very often these piers are so carelessly constructed
that they settle at one side or one corner. It is a
common practice in cheap houses to put in small con-
crete piers or to lay stones on the cellar bottom to
support the timber posts that reach up to the girders.
Some of the more expensive houses are treated in the
same way.

Builders are not particular enough to provide good
solid supports under the middle of a house. Too often
they do not realize the great weight that such sup-
ports have to carry year after year. The fact is a
great portion of the weight of the house rests on the
center beams and posts, which are supported by the
center piers. The wall has a bearing the whole length,
but a pier has a small surface in comparison. The
footings of house piers are all out of proportion to
the footings of the walls.

Sometimes good solid foundation piers are made,
but the upright wooden posts are too small and the
upper end of the posts will sink into the soft wood
girder half an inch. If house builders appreciated the
strain on house center piers and upright supports, we
would see them much larger and better built.

The proper way to build a center pier is to dig

168 FARM BUILDINGS

down at least eighteen inches below the cellar floor.
The size, of course, depends on the size and weight of
the house, as well as the number of piers built in to
support the weight. But it is better to make a pier
too large than too small. No pier should be smaller
than twenty-four inches in diameter at the base and
eighteen inches deep to the top of the cellar floor. It
is better to build a pier several inches above the floor,
but this upper part may be smaller. Sometimes if the
pier is carried up the full size a foot or eighteen inches
above the floor, the space around the posts comes in
handy as a ledge or shelf.

When the excavation for a pier is made the hole
should be a little larger at the bottom. Usually piers
are made of broken stone and cement mortar. The
cheapest and easiest way to start the pier is to put in
a layer of larger stones five or six inches deep and
then pour in very thin grout mortar. The stones
should be first wet with water so the grout mortar
will adhere readily.

It is a good plan to use a small stick like a lath to
churn the thin mortar around the stones to expel air,
and to effect a good bond. Above this foundation the
pier is built in the usual way. Such work is out of
sight after the hole is filled to the top, so that the
temptation to slight the piers is very great, especially
on contract work, for all contractors are drivers, other-
wise they fail to make fair profits.

In making specifications it is well to have all such
details carefully enumerated, so that both parties know
what to expect. Then the owner must either depend
on the architect to see that the specifications are car-

FARM BUILDINGS 169

ried out properly or he must superintend the work
himself.

The cheapest house construction above the wall is
made by extending the studding from the top of the
wall to the bottom of the plate, instead of framing
false work to fill in between the basement wall and
the joists of the main floor. It saves material and
labor.

The framework of a house may be stiffened mate-
rially by carefully bridging the joists at proper inter-
vals between the partitions, also by carefully planning
partitions as supports to the upper framework and
the roof.

In building a house with an attic that is not needed
at present, it is a good plan to put in a few roof sup-
ports in line with the partitions that may be put in
later. Usually in planning attic rooms to use the
floor space to the best advantage, the partitions natur-
ally come about right to support the roof at the weak-
est places, so that future partition studding may be
put in place at the time of building. These studs are
the permanent rafter supports.

Roofs that are supported by partitions may be con-
structed of two by four rafters, placed twenty-four
inches on centers, fitted and spiked into place. Collar
beams are placed in regular order high enough for an
eight-foot ceiling.

It is better to floor the attic at the time of building,
although it may be used only for storage. The floor
is worth all it costs to keep the lower rooms comfort-
able. An attic floor carefully laid protects the lower
rooms against heat or cold. Also a floor is an advan-

170 FARM BUILDINGS

tage in putting in future partition studding to sup-
port the roof, the value of which will be appreciated
in the stability of the house.

Roofs supported in this way cannot settle. When
roofs settle the rafters push the plates out and the
house is weakened. A swayback peak or broken
backed roof is the result and it is difficult to remedy.

PLANK FLOOR CONSTRUCTION

The difficulty of securing timber for buildings was
mother to the invention of what is generally termed
"plank frame construction." The knowledge that
two-inch planks could be built up by spiking them or
bolting them together to make any size and strength
of timber led to "experiments in truss work to support
the different parts of a building by carrying the
strains on struts and ties.

Builders of houses are not worried about floor loads,
because of the partitions which support the upper
joists. Cellar girders are built up of two by ten or
two by twelve plank, according to the size of the
house and the weight the girder is intended to sus-
tain. These girders are supported on posts or pil-
lars, and the posts are set on concrete foundations.
There is a great deal of weight on these posts and
foundations even in a small house.

GRADE CELLAR ENTRANCE

One of the neatest inventions in house building that
has ever been worked out is a grade entrance and the
combination stair leading to the cellar and to the
kitchen. These grade entrances are familiar to all
builders, but they are not always appreciated to their

FARM BUILDINGS 171

full value by house owners. Not every house plan
lends itself conveniently to the grade entrance propo-
sition, but certain kinds of plans are incomplete with-
out it.

When properly constructed a grade entrance to a
cellar consists of a doorway with the sill on a level
with the walk that leads to the back of the house.
There is an inside platform three or four feet in
width and there are six or seven steps to go down
into the cellar. The entrance to the kitchen is across
the same platform with five or six steps to go up
into the kitchen. It makes a very convenient way of
getting into the cellar with supplies or to remove
ashes from the furnace.

Usually the laundry is in the cellar, and this grade
entrance gives easy access to the laundry and out to
the clothes-line on wash days.

It often happens that a grade entrance to the
kitchen is roomy enough to hold the refrigerator, so
that ice may be put in without entering the kitchen.

SILLS

House sills are made of timber or by spiking to-
gether planks of the necessary width. It depends a
good deal on the stock in the local lumber yards.
Generally two-inch planks are available, but the order-
ing of timbers sometimes causes delay.

Planks may be dodged so as to make a continuous
sill dove-tailed at the corner, which saves making mor-
tices and tenons. Sills laid on top of a concrete wall
need not be very large, in fact, the superstructure
above good concrete walls is well supported when a
single wooden strip that is thick enough to toe nail

172 FARM BUILDINGS

the bottom of the studding is used. Sometimes wall
sockets are set into the fresh concrete, doing away
with all horizontal sill woodwork and the studding
is stepped into the wall sockets on top of the cement
wall.

BEADING BUILDING PLANS

There is an old saying : ' ' The house that is a build-
ing looks not as the house that is built. ' ' This means
that the imagination of the owner is not sufficiently
prophetic to build in his or her mind a correct picture
of the coming castle. It also means that after the
house is started that the surrounding chaos of rub-
bish and lumber, excavations and brick bats is a poor
indication of future beauty and comfort. It also sug-
gests that house plans in miniature drawn to scale
mean little more than a headache to the man
or woman unaccustomed to reading architectural
drawings.

A young married couple about to venture upon the
interesting and important task of building themselves
a home became confused studying plans of the dif-
ferent floors in miniature. One-quarter inch scale was
a foreign expression to them. Skeleton cross sections
were like toys and they failed to comprehend that a
partition could not be moved without interfering
with the room next behind. At my suggestion they
finally ordered two loads of bricks delivered on the
building site. They carried the bricks and made rows
of them on the ground, thereby making full size plans
of the house, including the cellar walls and the out-
side walls and inside partitions of the first floor and
the second floor. The different floors were laid out in

FARM BUILDINGS 173

separate plans according to the measurements of the
different rooms. Openings were left the actual width
of the doors and pieces of board, cut to represent the
exact width of the different windows, were laid on the
brick walls where the windows were to be placed in
the building. They could then walk around through
the rooms and doorways the same as after the house is
built. And they could stand before each window and
look out at the view. After making a few trips to
these full size plans they suggested a few minor
changes and the result was a house they have felt
satisfied with ever since.

A SIX-ROOM FARM HOUSE

Economy of cubic space and the careful arrange-
ment of rooms for convenience and comfort is the
object of presenting the plan shown in Figures 105,
106, 107 and 108. It is a small story-and-a-half house
twenty-five feet six inches by thirty feet in size,
exclusive of front porch.

The cellar is eight feet longer -than the house proper
to include the wall under the front veranda. There
is a cross cellar wall under the front house wall tp
support the weight and to make a cold cellar under
the veranda for the storage of apples and vegetables

The inside of the concrete cellar wall is treated with
a coating of cement mortar to make it waterproof.
The mortar for this purpose is made rich with cement
and thin by adding water until it is almost sloppy.

A mixture of one part cement to two parts sharp
sand works well. It is put on with a trowel imme-
diately after removing the inside forms, while the wall
is still damp, so that the mortar will stick well and

174

FARM BUILDINGS

FARM BUILDINGS

175

run in to fill all the openings whether they are little
or big.

Figure 106 — First Floor Plan

Pressing thin cement mortar with a trowel expels
the air and closes all the voids and makes it water-
proof and dampproof.

Mixing hydrated lime into cement mortar helps to

176

FARM BUILDINGS

make it waterproof but the quality of the mortar is
not quite so good. Hydrated lime is burned lime that
has been slaked and allowed to absorb a certain amount
Of moisture.
Floors and Siding. — There is only one way to build

Figure 107. — Second Floor Plan

a frame house in any climate and that is to build it
so as to shed the weather. A house built so that it will
keep out the cold in winter will keep the heat out in
summer.

FARM BUILDINGS

177

Use seven-eighths inch lumber, dressed one side for
boarding, all over the house, to cover the outside stud-
ding, floor joists and rafters. The roof boards are
better if matched. Wide widths nail on faster and
make a stiffer outer wall, floor, or roof. Put the floor
and studding sheathing on diagonally. A forty-five

Figure 108. — Detail Showing Side Wall, Eave Projection and
Roof

degree angle cuts so that the boards may be turned
over to fit to make the joints come right.

Cover this rough boarding with the best quality of
hard building paper, carefully worked around all of
the door and window frames, then put on the clap
boards. The best grade of building paper is a good
thing to put on the roof boards under the shingles,

178 FARM BUILDINGS

and it works well between the rough floor and the
thin matched flooring of hard wood.

The plan of this house has been worked out very
carefully to make good use of all the floor space. This
plan provides a grade entrance with a combination
stairway which reaches down five steps into the cellar
and up six steps into the kitchen. There is a square
platform inside the cellar door to start from. The
cellar stair is under the front stair that steps up from
the front hall. It makes a combination that takes up
very little room in proportion to its usefulness.

The chimney is in the center of the house. It has
a good foundation below the cellar bottom to prevent
it from settling. It has two flues, one for the warm
air furnace and one for the kitchen range, both flues
are reached by short smoke pipes.

There are three rooms besides front hall and pantry
on the first floor. The rooms are well arranged and
large enough for comfort and they are all well lighted.

There are large windows and plenty of them. Even
the cellar is well lighted with two light windows, in
single sash, hinged at the top and arranged to hook
up against the floor joists for ventilation.

Upstairs there are three bed rooms and a bath room
with plenty of closets for storage of household things
not in use at all times. The front and back bed rooms
are large and are well lighted by double windows built
into double frames in the large gables. The side bed
room and the bath room are lighted by single two-sash
windows in smaller gables. A short hallway connects
the stairway with all the upper rooms. There is just
enough hall wall space to hold the doors and to make
room for the stairway and the chimney.

FARM BUILDINGS

179

180 FARM BUILDINGS

A FIVE-ROOM HOUSE

Small houses containing five rooms meet the require-
ments of a great many families. The design illus-
trated in Figures 109, 110, 111 and 112 shows a style
of house ordinarily described as a story and a half.
It is thirty by thirty-two feet, in size, and contains a
splendid large living room and a good kitchen on the
first floor and three bed rooms and a bath room on
the second floor together with the necessary clothes
closets.

LA WOT | PAIQTRM

K'-O'x I6-O* • I C5't3x 1 6HD"

-PASLMOIT'RLAN-

Figure 110

The basement is enclosed with solid concrete walls
based on wide footings to prevent settling. The walls
extent up to the main house floor, giving a height of
basement ceiling a little higher than seven and one-
half feet.

FARM BUILDINGS

181

The basement is well lighted by four double win-
dows and three single windows. The windows of the
workroom side of the house are deeper than the win-
dows in the front. The reason for this is that con-
siderable work is done in a good farm house basement
like this so that plenty of light and air are necessary
to make the workroom comfortable.

Figure 111

The forms for the concrete walls are made out of
joists and cheap lumber that is afterwards used in the
upper structure of the house. The outside boarding
and the floor linings work in just right for forms for
the concrete wall. The only loss in using lumber
joists and studding for the basement forms is in the
splitting of the boards when trying to get the nails

Ig2 FARM BUILDINGS

out. This difficulty is overcome by using six penny
nails, which pull easily. The boarding for the* forms
is tacked to the uprights on the inside, so that the
pressure comes against the uprights and no nail
strength is required except to hold the forms together
until the concrete is filled in.

In making and placing forms have them level and
true on top so that when the forms are filled full and

f LGDQ -PLAIN ~

Fi&ure 112

struck off true with the top then the foundation for
the sills is level and true, straight and square, so that
the sills may go on the concrete and the superstructure
be carried up square and plumb without chinking up
under the sills, or any other adjustment that takes
time and looks bad after the house is finished.

FARM BUILDINGS 183

Have the sills and the window frames made the full
thickness of the wall so that they fit in between the
outside and inside wall forms, and the concrete may
be filled around to make a tight joint quickly.

If an eight-inch wall is wanted then the basement
window frames are made eight inches wide from one
face to the other. They are lightly tacked to the
boarding of the forms so that the boards will pull
away without loosening the frames. The frames
should be worked around with two stops so that the
wet concrete will run in between the stops to hold
the frame firmly in place and to prevent currents of
air from passing through between the frame and con-
crete wall openings. The basement requires ventila-
tion, but not through cracks that are accidentally made
at the time of construction.

An interesting feature of this house is the grade
entrance and the way in which the stairway is built.
The doorway at the side of the house is built in the
concrete wall at the level of the ground so that the
door sill and cement walk come on a level with each
other.

Inside the house at the grade entrance is a platform
about four feet square. The stair leads down into the
basement from this platform and also from this plat-
form other steps lead up into the kitchen. There are
six steps down and seven steps up so that the entrance
is easy both to the basement and to the kitchen.

The same stairway reaches from the basement floor
to the upper story, so that in the building of one
stairway over the other little room is taken up when
the amount of stairway is considered. The stairway

184 FARM BUILDINGS

is lighted by a window placed on a level with the
upper floor.

The main floor of the house is planned for simple
elegance. The large living room fourteen by thirty
feet is unusual in a house of this size. The fashion
for large rooms has probably come to stay. It is much
easier to furnish a large room than several small ones
and the large rooms are much more comfortable. They
are light and airy and there are corners to fit all kinds
of weather. A large fireplace, like the one shown,
helps greatly in furnishing a room of this kind. It
is also very pleasant during cool evenings, when a
little fire is comfortable, and it furnishes ventilation
at all times. The ventilation through a chimney is
much more rapid when the fire is burning, but a good
flue will carry off the foul air from a room in a steady
stream all day and all night. A fireplace is worth all
it costs for ventilation alone. It is also an economy
in the spring and fall when the days are warm and
the nights are cool and a little open fire makes the
house comfortable and saves firing up the large heat-
ing apparatus.

The further end of this room is intended for a din-
ing room and also for a parlor and sitting room.
When not in use the dining table is pushed into the
corner and the chairs used for other purposes. When
you come to think about it, there is little furniture in
the ordinary dining room. The dining table and half
a dozen chairs are all that are necessary for a small
family, and in many houses the dining room is shut
tip twenty-two hours out of the twenty-four, simply
to accommodate seven pieces of furniture, most of
which are quite small.

FARM BUILDINGS 185

There is just one suggestion for an improvement in
this plan, and that is to build a back porch big enough
and to hold the pantry.

A kitchen eight by sixteen feet makes a comfortable
cozy little room to work in, but it is rather small for
a farm house during the busy season. There is a con-
stant controversy in regard to kitchens ; whether they
should be large or small. A large kitchen requires a
great deal of traveling back and forth while the small
kitchen has everything within reach.

In this plan, as it stands, there are two cupboards
to hold all sorts of kitchen utensils. One of the cup-
boards is especially designed to hold the ironing
board, vacuum cleaner, brooms, mop sticks, with a
hook on the wall for the dust pan. In addition to
the convenience for the tools mentioned this little
cupboard has a trap door in the floor to let the soiled
linen down into the laundry where it accumulates in
a big clothes basket for wash day. Formerly such
laundry shutes were built of wood, but a better prac-
tice is to leave a hole through the floor and have iron
hooks to hold the big laundry basket underneath. A
laundry shute, after months of use, becomes odorous
so that when the trap door is opened the odor comes
up into the rooms above. But there is no objection
to a trap door in a cupboard like this with a basket
suspended underneath.

The upper story in this house is divided into three
bed rooms and a bath room. It will be noticed that
every square foot of space is occupied, except the
extreme corners where the roof comes down too low
to give sufficient head room. There are three clothes

186 FARM BUILDINGS

closets besides a small linen closet, opening off from
the bath room.

Little room is taken up in the hallway. There is
just about wall space enough to hold the different
doors and leave an opening for the stairway. It
would be difficult to design an upstairs in a house
of this size on any other plan that would give so
much room and comfort.

AN ATTRACTIVE COUNTRY HOME

Beautiful country homes naturally belong to some
farms because the owners want beautiful homes.
There really is not much difference in the cost. It is
principally in management. Beautiful homes are not
necessarily large nor expensive.

The house illustrated in Figures 113, 114, 115 and
116 is thirty-four by thirty feet in size. It presents
an attractive appearance because of its well balanced
proportions.

The basement is enclosed by a well made concrete
wall eight feet high including the footings.

The basement contains a laundry, a furnace room
with coal bin, a splendidly lighted dairy room seven-
teen by eighteen feet and a wash room for the men.

There is a grade entrance at the side of the house
and there is a combination stairway which leads down
to the cellar and up to the kitchen. The short stair
leading down to the cellar is built under the front
stair, which gives the necessary headroom and saves
space.

The living room is twenty-eight by thirteen feet.
It is well lighted with three side windows and two
windows at the end.

FARM BUILDINGS

187

188 FARM BUILDINGS

In furnishing such a grand big room a davenport
of the largest size is needed to place in the middle of
the room facing the open fire. An overtufted daven-
port, four feet wide and about nine feet long so placed,
taken in conjunction with the open fire, suggests solid
comfort.

Figure 114. — Basement Plan

Besides the big davenport such a room requires sev-
eral wide heavy armed chairs placed sociably in pairs
or trios in the corners before the windows and along
the wall spaces.

The dining room is twelve by sixteen feet with a
window extension to hold a heavy but plain, factory-
made, built in sideboard and double china cabinet.
The sideboard is built across the window at the height
of the window sill. The rounded glass fronts of the
china closets commence at the top of the sideboard and
extend up as high as a woman can reach to place the
ornaments to show to advantage on top.

FARM BUILDINGS 189

The window casing and wood work of the china
cabinets and sideboard is all built together and the
wood work corresponds with the finish of the- room.
In fact, the cornice of the china cabinets merges into
the plate rail that is carried all the way around the
room. The base board and crown moulding at the
ceiling are made to correspond. The wood work in
the living room and the dining room corresponds in
every way except the plate rail.

Figure 115. — First Floor Plan

All of the wood work is made plain and rather
heavy. Simple elegance rather than fancy machine
work is the keynote in modern house wood work.
Straight lines, smooth satiny finish and soft tones are
evidences of good taste in the finish in living rooms
and dining rooms.

190

FARM BUILDINGS

The kitchen in this house was designed especially
for farm conditions where it is necessary to provide
meals for extra farm helpers during haying and har-
vest and at other busy seasons.

In the first place there are two entrances to the
basement, and there is a wash room down there for
the men, and lockers where they may keep their work-
ing clothes. On fine days they will use the outside
entrances to the kitchen and dairy room. In stormy

Figure 116. — Chamber and Roof Plan

weather they will use the inside cellar steps when
going from the wash room to the kitchen for meals.

At such times the kitchen is intended for both
kitchen and dining room. For this reason the range
and sink are placed in one end of the room and a
small dining table occupies a place near the outside
door. This arrangement leaves the line of travel free

FARM BUILDINGS 191

between the pantry, the stove, the sink, the store room
and the cellar stairway.

The kitchen wood work is basswood finished in
white enamel with plain white walls and ceiling. The
floor is white maple, unvarnished. The white finish
together with the light from five windows makes a very
bright pleasant work room. The usual kitchen porch
or veranda is left out of the plan to have the windows
all free from obstruction for both light and air.

A back veranda is not really necessary in this plan
because of the two outside cellar and kitchen entrances.
Double storm doors in winter may be hung in place of
the summer screen doors. The outside dairy entrance
steps may be covered with a double door placed on an
incline as a protection against storms.

The upstairs of this house is divided into three bed
rooms and a bath room with plenty of closet room.
The stairway is wide and well lighted by a large win-
dow that sheds light clear across the hall on the upper
floor.

All plumbing pipes are confined to one corner of
the house which makes for economy because the pipes
are shorter. Commencing at the sewer in the laundry,
the water supply pipes and the waste pipes are all
bunched into one system and are exposed in such a
way as to be easy of access in case repairs are needed.

ONE-STORY FARM HOUSE

In the house plan shown in Figures 117, 118 and
119 the cellar walls divide the basement into rooms to
correspond with the rooms on the main floor so that
the main outside walls and the principal inside par-
titions extend from the basement to the roof.

192

FARM BUILDINGS

FARM BUILDINGS

193

The basement is divided into three large rooms, —
laundry, vegetable cellar, and furnace room. There
also is a good wash room for the men.

Storage is provided both in the vegetable cellar and
in the boiler room. Vegetables and fruit are kept cold

Figure 118. — Basement Plan

but the boiler room is warm enough in winter to be
used for a farm shop. It is also large enough to fur-
nish considerable room for the storage of such things
as the best harness, saddles and extra horse trappings,
binding twine, grain sacks, rope, hay slings, paints
and oils and varnishes and many other things needed
on a farm.

A farm cellar is made much more comfortable and
sightly by pointing the walls on the inside and keep-
ing them coated with whitewash. Also the ceiling
should be lathed and plastered and kept white and

194

FARM BUILDINGS

clean. Finishing the basement ceiling also makes the
upper rooms more comfortable.

In this house the basement and the kitchen are con-
nected by two stairways, one outside and one inside.
An outside entrance is convenient and necessary when

Figure 119. — Floor Plan

the basement is built for business as it should be. It
is easy to provide a straight, wide concrete stairway
into this basement and have it protected from the
weather by building a shed instead of the usual back
porch. The shed floor is on a level with the ground
outside so that about six or eight steps will reach
down into the basement and about four or six steps
will reach up to the level of the kitchen floor.

The kitchen is twelve by thirteen feet in size and

FARM BUILDINGS 195

there are two storage closets and a dumb waiter besides
a good pantry, which is built in between the kitchen
and dining room.

The dumb waiter saves many steps between the
kitchen and the cellar. It is built with shelves to
hold butter, lard, milk, bread, salt, pepper, left over
cooking from the previous meal and many other small
things needed instantly when a woman is busy work-
ing over the range getting meals.

The cage of the dumb waiter is built two feet square
and six feet high. It is hung by a rope that runs over
a pulley above and is counter poised by a weight so
that it moves easily up and down.

There is a square hole through the floor half an
inch larger each way than the cage. There is a pro-
jecting top to the cage which rests on the floor when
the cage is down to prevent cold air from the fruit
cellar escaping into the pantry or kitchen.

The plumbing in this house is confined to a small
space so that the supply pipes and waste pipes may
be all short. It is but a few feet from the bath room
and kitchen sink to the laundry tubs and the men's
•wash room in the basement. There is economy in
bunching the plumbing pipes all close together and
so placing the bunch that it may be easily protected
from frost.

A fine big living room extends through the house
from front to back. This room is lighted by windows
at both ends and it is brightened by a splendid fire-
place that is decorated 'with a tiled hearth and a heavy
wooden mantle.

The two bed rooms are ten by ten feet each with

196 FARM BUILDINGS

good clothes closets between. There is wall space in
each bed room to turn the beds two ways. Two bed
rooms would not be sufficient on a farm, but there is
a big attic in this house with two gables and these may
be made useful when extra help is needed.

The stairway leading up from the dining room is,
in this plan, closed by a door at the bottom. If, in
after years, it should become necessary to raise the
roof and make the attic into sleeping rooms, then the
front entrance should be changed and a small vesti-
bule taken from that side of the dining room. Part
of the present pantry would then be worked into the
dining room and the kitchen would be enlarged by
moving the bath room upstairs. Few houses lend
themselves so well to expansion ideas.

A study of the plan will show that the floor space
is all utilized to the best advantage. All the rooms are
well lighted by large windows rightly placed. Doors
are made to open back against solid walls whenever
possible. The chimney is large and is built in the
center of the house. Windows are made large and
in multiple where much light is needed.

This house should front towards the north, if pos-
sible, for several reasons. The large living room is
much more pleasant when light and sunshine come in
freely through the two duplicate windows. Both bed
rooms would then look to the east to catch the early
morning sun. The back entrance to the kitchen and
cellar is protected from strong west winds by the shed.
The west kitchen windows may be opened to the
cooling west breezes when weather conditions are
favorable.

FARM BUILDINGS 197

BUSINESS FARM HOUSE

The modern tendency is to make farm houses small,
compact and convenient rather than large and impos-
ing. There are no old fashioned parlors in modern
houses, furnished too nice for use. Instead, there is
one big living room designed and upholstered for
everyday comfort.

Small bed rooms with proper ventilation are more
healthful than big rooms that have to be closed tight
in winter to keep from freezing.

A good bath room with hot and cold water on tap
costs less than the fancy roof ornaments on some
houses.

Instead of low-headed, dark, dingy cellars, modern
farm houses have well lighted basements divided into
rooms designed for special purposes.

Stairways are built to save labor. They are the
product of evolution, the study of which takes the
reader through volumes of development that is fully
as interesting and important as the growth of any
other modern invention.

Hard wood floors have taken the place of carpets
because they are more sanitary, easy to clean and are
more attractive in appearance.

Builders of new farm houses have returned to pio-
neer simplicity in the enjoyment of an open fireplace
during the evenings of fall and the chilly periods in
spring. But they have extended the mild fireplace
weather inside of the house to include the long winter
evenings. They have done this by the aid of the
modern warm air furnace installed in one room in the
basement.

196

I ARM BUILDINGS

•-— il!^K~£..

FARM BUILDINGS

199

Farm kitchens in the 'newer houses are smaller and
more convenient. If the modern kitchen be made
large, a dining table can be placed in one corner or
along one side. Such kitchens have several windows

Figure 121. — Basement Plan

for light and ventilation. The room is carefully
planned to save labor by bunching the necessary
working utensils all within arm's reach as nearly as
possible. Modern kitchens are planned and built with
the same care as the front hall or living room. The
kitchen is recognized as being the most important

200

FARM BUILDINGS

room in the house and often is shown to visitors with
as much pride as any other feature of the new home.

The house, shown in Figures 120, 121, 122 and 123,
is small, only twenty-eight feet square on the ground,

Figure 122. — First Floor

and the roof is low towards the eaves, but it contains
three rooms on each floor and more in the basement.
They are good sized rooms. The secret is in making
good use of the attic and in the way the rooms are

FARM BUILDINGS

201

huddled close together. There is little space devoted
to hallways or stairways and the two dormer windows
help. One chimney is cheaper than two and better
when it is built where this one is, in the middle of the

Figure 123. — Second Floor

house. The upper hall is not dark. It is lighted by
a large window in the open stairway.

The working parts of this house deserve close atten-
tion. The kitchen is connected with the basement by
two stairways. Going upstairs or down into the laun-
dry from the kitchen is made as easy as possible. The
inside stairway to the basement is for the women, the
outside stairway is for the men. Both stairways are
made roomy with easy steps. The outside steps to the
cellar are made of solid concrete ten-inch tread with

202 FARM BUILDINGS

seven-inch risers and are four feet in width. The out-
side steps leading up to the kitchen are made in the
same way. The balance of the shed is covered with a
concrete floor on a level with the concrete walk out-
side and there is no door sill to make an obstruction.

SQUARE FARM HOUSE

Theoretically, a square house is the cheapest to build
and the cheapest to live in. Practically, it depends
upon how it is planned and constructed whether it is
either cheaper or better.

A full two-story house of small dimensions blocks
off into square sensible rooms to advantage, and the
upper rooms are warmed by some of the heat that
would otherwise go to waste.

To take advantage of the mechanical principles of
house construction and the thermic principles of house
heating in this type of house the building must be
small, not larger than thirty-six feet square. The plan
shown in Figures 124, 125, 126 and 127, is only thirty
by thirty-two feet on the ground, so it comes well
within the specified economic bounds. Eighteen-foot
studding are needed to allow for the joists and floors
and then an eight-foot ceiling upstairs.

A square built house calls for a hip roof. The roof
looks better and is cheaper if the pitch is low, say one-
quarter or one-third pitch. The same pitch and hip
design should cover the verandas and porches. A low
pitch requires a rather wide projection, say three feet
on a house of this size and height. No house looks well
with a stingy eave projection. A heavy looking box
cornice gives the house a solid appearance.

The basement of this house is planned and con-

FARM BUILDINGS

204

FARM BUILDINGS

structed in true farm house style to meet farm
requirements. It contains a cold storage room for
fruits and vegetables. The furnace room is parti-
tioned away from the other basement divisions to
confine the heat and dust to one section. This fur-
nace room is easily reached by stairway vfrom the
kitchen or from the back cellar entrance through the
laundry.

Figure 125. — Basement Plan

The laundry has all of the big and little inventions
that help to whitewash all of the "blue Mondays" and
to make wash day pleasant and agreeable. Opening
off from the laundry is a wash room for the men,
which includes a shower bath. There is a depression
in the concrete floor with a drain strainer which con-

FARM BUILDINGS

205

nects with the house sewer system. A small water
pipe with pin holes in it is bent in the form of a
circle. Hot and cold water pipes are connected with
the circle pipe by a double globe valve arrangement
which regulates the temperature of the water. Five
dollars will buy the materials to make a shower bath

Figure 126. — First Floor Plan

and a handy tinker can easily put them together.
Such a small room may be heated by a coal oil stove
to make it warm enough in winter.

Another comfortable arrangement for the men is
the porch dining room at the rear of the kitchen.
From the wash room the men go up the outside steps
to the porch dining room through the end of the

206

FARM BUILDINGS

kitchen not used by the cook. If this little dining
porch is used in winter the coal oil heater is brought
up from the basement bath room at meal time. In
summer the windows are left open.

The business end of the kitchen contains all of the
working essentials within a small space. The range

Figure 127. — Second Floor Plan

stands between the large kitchen cupboard and the
sink and stairway to the cellar.

Upstairs, in the men's quarters, there is wall space
for two single beds in the one bed room and there is
room for two cots in the sleeping porch. The family
is provided for by the three front bed rooms.

FARM BUILDINGS 207

STORY AND A-HALF FARM HOUSE

Instead of waiting to accumulate money enough to
build a big imposing house, farmers are now studying
how to build small comfortable homes. The new idea
is to gather together in a small space enough of the
so-called modern conveniences to supply each member
of the family with warmth, light, fresh air and the
facilities for keeping themselves clean.

Modern inventions were slow to penetrate into the
interior of farm homes, principally because such im-
provements depend upon plumbing and so long as
lead pipes and joint wiping were necessary the expense
seemed prohibitive. In recent years, however, stand-
ard sizes and duplicate parts of plumbing materials
and fittings have been adopted by the different manu-
facturers and are being made in great quantities by
machinery. The result is that plumbing is better done
at one-quarter of the former cost.

A very respectable looking and serviceable bath
room equipment may now be had for thirty dollars
or less, which price includes all of the attachments
necessary to connect with the supply pipes, waste
pipes and atmospheric ventilators. An ordinary mech-
anic can fit the different pieces in place and make
nearly all of the connections with a combination pipe
and monkey wrench. The job is neither difficult nor
of long duration. The same may be said of kitchen
and laundry plumbing and of the whole water supply
system.

Wooden houses are more common on the farm than
houses of any other material. This is because lumber
for wooden houses may be had in every farming com-

208

FARM BUILDINGS

FARM BUILDINGS

209

munity and because the construction of wooden houses
is better understood. There are men within easy reach
who understand and who have the tools for putting
wooden materials together to make a good house and
their work usually is satisfactory.

Figure 129. — Basement Plan

The accompanying illustrations, Figures 128, 129,
130 and 131, show a plain house that has square cor-
ners without any fancy crooks or ornaments.

In the first place there is a good basement. The
wall is of concrete up to the surface of the ground.
Ventilated or hollow concrete blocks are used to carry
the wall up about three feet higher. There are sev-
eral good reasons for so doing. It is easy to make an
inside form for the concrete wall and to use the
ground for the outside form. Also from the grade
line up it is easier to lay concrete blocks than to con-
struct a double form to make a solid wall.

210

FARM BUILDINGS

Concrete block machines have been very much im-
proved in the last five years so that good concrete
block work may be done right on the building site.

It is easier to set the window frames between the
blocks than it is to fit them into the forms when mak-
ing a solid wall. There is still another advantage.

1 — — — — ._

Figure 130. — First Floor Plan

When hollow blocks or ventilated blocks are used the
air spaces in the blocks are non-conductors of heat,
cold and moisture.

This design shows a story and a-half house. The
main part of the house consists of the basement and
the main floor. Two good bed rooms and a bath room
are built into the attic space under the roof. These
rooms are lighted by multiple windows in the large
gables.

The house is forty-two by thirty-two feet on the

FARM BUILDINGS 211

ground; the first floor is the same size, but upstairs
is smaller on account of the low roof at the sides.
Storage for fruit and vegetables is under the front
part of the house.

The dairy room and laundry are close together
under the kitchen and bath room so that the plumb-

Figure 131. — Second Floor Plan

ing is bunched into one corner of the building. From
the bath room down through the kitchen to the laun-
dry and dairy is but a short distance so that all of
these rooms may be supplied by the same water pipes
and waste pipes.

The back entrance to the cellar and to the kitchen
is a great comfort and convenience. The cement steps
lead straight down into the cellar without any turn,
which is important because the steps are used so many

212 FARM BUILDINGS

times every day. The other set of steps leading up
to the kitchen also are wide, roomy and easy.

There is an addition to the building which extends
around these two sets of steps, thus forming a shed
over the kitchen and cellar doors.

The kitchen in this farm house is arranged for con-
venience in doing the work. There is room for a
good sized dining room table without interfering with
the working end of the kitchen. The sink, cellar way,
pot cupboard and pantry are all within easy reach.

There is a small dining room in the front part of
the house which will be used a great deal when the
family is alone, but during busy times the dining table
in the kitchen will be found much more convenient.

The large living room twelve by twenty-four feet is
built for solid comfort. It is lighted from both ends
by large windows and there is a large handsome brick
fireplace which is intended for heating as well as for
ornament. The chimney flue is large enough and is
placed properly to give a good draught so that the
room may be warmed comfortably during mild
weather while it is made cheery with the open fire.
Such a fine large- living room adds a great deal to
the appearance of the interior of a farm house when
it is furnished with large easy chairs and a davenport.

The plan provides for four bed rooms, two down
stairs and two upstairs, which arrangement is about
right for the average farm. There are many small
conveniences about the house such as! closets both on
the ground floor and the upper floor. There is also
plenty of shelf room in the pantry and there is a coat
cupboard handy to the front door. The windows are
mostly of the multiple style to admit plenty of light.

FARM BUILDINGS

213

214

FARM BUILDINGS

ANOTHER SQUARE TWO-STORY HOUSE

The house shown in Figures 132, 133, 134 and 135
covers a space twenty-eight by thirty-two feet on
the ground. The house contains four rooms and a
wash room in the basement, three rooms on the first
floor and four bed rooms and a bath room on the

Figure 133. — Basement Plan

second floor. It also has an attic for storage purposes.

There is a concrete basement wall which extends up
about a foot above grade. The construction of the
house from the wall up is of two by fours for studding
and rafters, with two by eights for joists. On the out-
side the studding is covered with boards dressed to an
even thickness. They are better put on diagonally,
especially in a windy country, because every board is
then a brace to make the frame stronger.

Outside of the boarding is metal lath and cement

FARM BUILDINGS

215

stucco. The only objection to metal lath is a tendency
to rust. However, if the metal lath be thick and gal-
vanized and the stucco well made and troweled on, it
will last for a good many years. Stucco finish is some-
what cheaper than other kinds of veneer and looks
well.

Figure 134. — First Floor Plan

Inside, the house is finished with lath and plaster
in the usual way, but a thickness of high grade build-
ing paper is put in between the studding and the
plaster by using furring strips to separate the plaster
from the building paper. The best quality of build-
ing paper should be used. It is a good protection
against heat or cold in any climate and the expense
is not great. If poison-treated it is a protection
against mice.

In cold climates special attention is given to window
and door frames. They are made the right width to

216

FARM BUILDINGS

allow the stucco to come flush with the outside edge
of the frame so that the casing fits flat against the
stucco. Sometimes when a specially tight window is
wanted fresh stucco is plastered with a trowel around
the edge of the frame and the casing nailed against
the fresh mortar.

Figure 135. — Second Floor Plan

The front porch is built in keeping with the general
appearance of the house, and like the house top, the
porch is covered with a hip roof. It makes a very
attractive front, or side entrance, according to which
side of the house is built towards the road. The plan
offers a choice without making any changes.

The general plan of the house is arranged for com-
fort in every room. Commencing with the basement,
there is a roomy outside stair leading down from the

FARM BUILDINGS 217

ground level at the rear. This stair is made of con-
crete built all solid together with the cellar walls.
Cement steps also reach from grade up to the back
porch.

The cellar or basement is divided into furnace
room, laundry, cold storage for fruit and vegetables
and a wash room for the men. In the corner of this
wash room is a shower bath that is greatly appre-
ciated. A drain in the floor carries off the superfluous
water and discharges it into the septic tank along with
the otheu house sewage.

On the first floor is the living room, dining room
and kitchen. The living room is twenty-six by six-
teen feet, with three triple windows and one double
window, and there is a fireplace

The kitchen is nearly square. It is well lighted and
conveniently arranged. Entrance to the cellar, both
by the inside and outside steps, is convenient to the
kitchen. This plan works out splendidly when there
are extra men about as they make good use of the
wash room in the basement and come up the outside
cellar way to meals.

The rear porch in one house of this general design
was fitted with sash and used as a men 's dining room.
It is no farther from the kitchen to the back porch
than it is from the kitchen to the dining room.

Placing the front porch around the corner leaves
the front of the house free from obstructions so that
there is an uninterrupted view from the living room.

The plan of taking the vestibule from the end of
the porch leaves the inside of the house free from jogs
and corners and it provides room for a good sized coat
cupboard outside of the house proper. It also places

218 FARM BUILDINGS

the outside entrance directly in front of the stairway
so that one can enter the living room or kitchen or go
directly upstairs.

The second floor is divided into four bed rooms and
a bath room with an extra stairway leading up into
the attic. There is a clothes closet for each bed room
and a linen closet in the hall. The clothes closet in
the large bed room is not marked on the plan. It
belongs over the stairway.

By referring to the floor plans it will be noticed
that the doorways are all conveniently placed and that
the doors open back against solid partitions. This is
a comparatively small consideration, but it should not
be overlooked in building a house. *

Another desirable feature is the wall space provided
for the placing of furniture. The new pieces of fur-
niture are larger and more comfortable than ever
before and more room is required in a house to place
them for comfort in regard to light as well as for
looks.

TWO-FAMILY FARM HOUSE

The design and plan shown by Figures 136, 137,
138 and 139 is a combination house that may be used
for one or two families. Sometimes a valuable farm
hand would like to get married and live on the farm ;
possibly a son or daughter would prefer to spend the
first years of their married life in a separate apart-
ment under the parental roof. The expense is less
than to provide two separate houses.

If the upper rooms are not wanted for housekeep-
ing purposes the bed rooms will come in handy for
extra farm help or for the children as they grow older.

FARM BUILDINGS

219

220

FARM BUILDINGS

The plans show a concrete basement divided into
rooms that may be kept at different temperatures.
There is a question whether it is advisable to have the
dairy in the basement of the house. But there can
be no serious objection if the room is light and has
good drainage and is otherwise sanitary. It is cooler
than a separate dairy house and the cost is less when
the dairy is made as shown in this arrangement.

Figure 137. — Basement Plan

The house is planned for hot and cold running water
on all floors. There are two bath rooms and a wash'
room in the basement fitted with a shower bath. All
plumbing is connected with the septic tank by a line
of four-inch vitrified sewer pipe with leaded joints.

Pumping engines are becoming so universal on»
farms that home water works only call for the addi-
tional fixtures and piping to carry the water where
it is wanted.

If this house is well built by using building paper
and double boarding, it may be heated with one fire
in a good warm air furnace. An eight-room house

FARM BUILDINGS

221

usually is considered the limit for hot air, and this
house has ten rooms, but the heat pipes may be short,
which is one of the main considerations.

There is no objection to using hot water heat in a
house as large as this. Many prefer hot water as the
heat is more even. A hot water heating plant costs
more than a warm air heater, but it is cheaper to run,
that is, you get better value for the coal consumed

Figure 138. — First Floor Plan

which counter balances the extra interest on the first
cost.

Inside wood work should be plain, no beading what-
ever and very few curves. The most expensive rooms
are finished with plain, straight bands of wood instead
of mouldings. From the baseboard to the crown
moulding at the ceiling, including window casings,
door casings, platerail and the finish of built in side-
boards and book cases, all are straight and plain with
square or slightly rounded corners.

The idea is to make the insides of the different

S22

FARM BUILDINGS

rooms smooth for easy cleaning, both to save labor
and to prevent the accumulation of dust.

There are three outside entrances to this house.
There may be four if the back steps are carried up to
the second floor. A good pantry may be built on the
second floor if another window is built in the gable
end.

Figure 139. — Second Floor Plan

The old fashioned porches are different from the
ordinary. The porch roofs may be extended out far
enough to protect the steps by making strong brackets.
There should be no porch pillars.

SMALL FARM COTTAGE

This comfortable, artistic little home with all of its
modern conveniences may be built for less money than
some of the very plain looking houses we see in some
farming communities. It is just as easy to build a
house with some style as to copy a poor old habitation
that was built in the dark ages when window glass
was a real luxury. See Figures 140, 141, 142 and 143.

This house is only twenty-seven by twenty-four feet

FARM BUILDINGS

224

FARM BUILDINGS

in size on the ground and it is less than two stories
high, but it contains three living rooms, two bed rooms
and a bath room. And it has a cellar that is divided
into departments the same as a large farm house.

Figure 141. — Basement Plan

The construction above the cellar wall is a light
framework of two by fours covered with wide boards
and good building paper and metal lath and cement
stucco. The roof is made in the same way except that
roll roofing is used instead of stucco.

FARM BUILDINGS

Inside, the walls are made of plaster board put on
in wide panels carefully butted together to avoid open
joints. Good quality plaster board will finish with
paint or white enamel as well as wood. It is a good

Figure 142. — First Floor Plan

plan to use a high baseboard to protect the plaster
board near the floor, and there should be a smooth
backing of boards in rooms that are not wainscoted.
This backing should extend up about three feet.
The house is well planned for convenience, comfort

226

FARM BUILDINGS

and economy. A small furnace of the warm air
variety will easily keep the house warm, even in zero
weather, because it is small, compact and well built.

The stairway is a model combination of front stair,
cellar stair and double door entrance between the liv-
ing room and kitchen. The pantry really is part of
the back porch and there could be an ice door to let
the ice in from the outside.

Figure 143. — Second Floor Plan

Rough-faced dark red or brown brick are used for
the large fireplace. The wide mantle and chimney
from floor to ceiling also is faced with rough brick.

FARM BUILDINGS
A SPLENDID COUNTRY HOME

227

This model farm house, shown in Figures 144, 145,
146 and 147, is intended to combine the business of
farming with the comforts of a real country home.
The farm "office" in this house plan is in the dairy
room where the farmer has a large roll top desk in

Figure 144. — Splendid Country Home

front of the double window near the rear entrance to
the basement.

There is an electric motor in the partition between
the dairy and the laundry. It is belted to the cream
separator and to the electric light dynamo and to the
washing machine in the laundry.

The hot water heater and boiler have capacity suf-
ficient to supply 300 gallons of hot water which is
piped to the dairy, kitchen sink and the two bath
rooms and the laundry tubs.

The perspective view shows a small ravine at the
back of the house which slopes away gently to the
southeast. The house sewer follows along the east*
bank of this depression about 100 yards to the septic

228

FARM BUILDINGS

tank. From the tank discharge the waste water is
carried to connect with the title drainage system.

Some grading and planting are needed to complete
the front of the house — terrace work which will extend

o

J=LQ.

• — — f

Figure 145. — Basement Plan

from the front corner of the veranda to the living
room jog. From this point the ground slopes back to
the rear of the house and is planted with hardy per-
rennial flowers and bulbs.

FARM BUILDINGS

The general type of window follows closely the
multiple design used along the lower front, but single
windows, doubles and triplets in different parts of
the house are made to harmonize while varying in
size and shape to avoid monotony.

Figure 146.— First Floor Plan

830

FARM BUILDINGS

The different floor plans show an interesting
arrangement of rooms and household conveniences.

The kitchen dining table is in the sun porch, where
it is out of the way of the kitchen workers. The fam-

Flgrure 147. — Second Floor Plan

FARM BUILDINGS

231

fly dining room is likely to be neglected during the
busy season.

There is a dumb waiter which settles of its own
weight and hangs from the ceiling into the dairy room
in the cellar. It is lifted easily by turning a windlass.

FARM SEPTIC TANK

A septic tank provides a scientific means of render-
ing sewerage harmless. See Figure 148. It consists
of two or three underground water-tight boxes con-
nected together by U-pipes in the form of syphons.
When an underground sewer tank consists of only one
compartment it is called a catch basin and sfibnld be
connected with a regular sewer system.

Two kinds of bacteria work in a septic tank, aerobic
bacteria work in the first compartment and anaerobic
bacteria work in the second compartment.

Figure 148. — Farm Septic Tank

Aerobic bacteria are so named because they require
a certain amount of air in order to live and carry on
their work of destruction, while anaerobic bacteria live
and work without air. The two kinds are necessary
to liquidize the solids in sewerage.

The first box or compartment of the septic tank is

232 FARM BUILDINGS

open to the atmsophere by means of small ventilators,
usually holes through the cover of the manhole. Also
air is carried into this first compartment with the
sewerage from the house by the intermittent charges
which enter the compartment several inches below the
surface of the liquid in the tank, thus forcing air into
the liquid.

When the first compartment or tank fills then part
of the contents runs over into the second tank in such
a way that the liquid also enters the second tank sev-
eral inches below the surface, but little or no air is
carried over with it. The reason for, or necessity for
these submerged inlets is that the work of the bac-
teria, in destroying offensive matter, is carried on
principally under cover of the scum that forms at
the surface. The perfect working of the tank requires
that the scum shall not be broken. Bacterial action
also depends to a certain extent upon the intermittent
manner in which the different charges of sewerage are
interjected into the tank.

The size of the septic tank varies according to the
amount of sewerage to be disposed of. The capacity
of the first box or compartment should be sufficient to
hold two days' or three days' sewerage before it runs
over into the second compartment. The second com-
partment should be about the size of the first.

The amount of sewerage usually is estimated accord-
ing to the number of persons living in the house.
About seventy gallons of water in twenty-four hours
is figured for each person, so .that each compartment
of the septic tank should hold about 400 gallons for a
family of four or five persons. This estimate includes
a little extra as a margin of safety.

FARM BUILDINGS 233

All supply pipes and all waste pipes within the
walls of the house should be of iron.

The sewer pipes should be vitrified with all joints
carefully and thoroughly cemented or leaded. The
sewer between the house and tank should be four
inches in diameter laid with a fall of about one inch
in ten feet.

The syphon pipes and outlet pipes also should be
three or four inches in diameter according to the size
of the tank. They are set so as to prevent the liquid
in the tank from rising to its level in the house sewer
pipe regardless of the size or depth of the septic tank.

The best material used for the construction of a
septic tank is concrete. The walls of the tank may be
made of a very coarse mixture, but the lining should
be a rich cement mortar made with fine sand and
pressed smoothly with a trowel to make it water tight.

The tops, or covers of the tanks require reinforcing.
This may be done with iron or steel rods, but a cheaper
way is to use heavy woven wire fencing. What is
ordinarily sold as heavy "hog wire," is very good for
the purpose. Any old iron bars may be thrown in to
get rid of them, but the hog wire will reinforce the
cover sufficiently.

In making the cover, manholes must be provided.
When the cover of the tank is being made, a tapering
box placed on the false wood work answers as a mold
for the manhole opening. If the box be made deep
enough the same box may be used to cast the cover
by using the bottom of the box for the hole and the
top of the box for the cover. This gives the cover the
same mitre as the hole so that when it is put into posi-
tion it fits perfectly. Any mold for casting cement

234 FARM BUILDINGS

must be greased to prevent the cement from sticking
fast. The mold for the manhole cover must be made
true and the partition floor placed in the box at the
right height so the cover will settle down into the
opening in the tank top about even.

A heavy chain is cast into the cover reaching clear
through. An ordinary eye-bolt is not sufficient. If
the cover sticks and a pry is used the eye-bolt may be
loosened, but a few links of chain that reach clear
though the cover rarely give trouble.

The depth of the tank must be governed by the
depth of the cellar from which the sewer pipe is taken.
In all cases the sewer pipe should be below frost and
the septic tank should be some distance from the
house; fifty feet or more.

Generally speaking, the bottom of the septic tank
should be at least three feet lower than the bottom of
the cellar. Four feet is better.

The final discharge from the septic tank is supposed
to be inoffensive but it is generally recommended to
discharge into four-inch drain tile so that the water
can percolate away. The ground in this case will act
as a purifier.

The amount of drain tile should be sufficient to hold
as much liquid as one compartment of the septic tank ;
generally it will amount to a great deal more than
that because the overflow would naturally be carried
away for some distance. It may be connected with the
farm drainage system.

It is usually figured that one length of four-inch tile
would hold one gallon of liquid discharge, which cal-
culation would require about 400 tiles.

One precaution should be taken in regard to per-

FARM BUILDINGS 235

mitting kitchen grease to flow into the septic tank.
Grease gradually accumulates on the pipes and may
cause trouble in time. It is better not to let much
grease get into the kitchen sink.

A septic tank properly made and kept free from
grease may not require cleaning out for a number of
years; however, it is better to open a tank after it
has been used for six months or a year, to make sure
that everything is working all right.

CHAPTER XIV

DICTIONARY OF BUILDING AND ARCHITECTURAL

TERMS TOGETHER WITH NAMES OF MANY

DIFFERENT KINDS OF BUILDING MATERIAL

Abacus. — The upper corbels overtopping a column,
next under the architrave.

Abutting Joint. — Where the end of a piece is joined
to the side of another piece so that the grain of the
wood is placed one at an angle to the other.

Acanthus. — A leaf ornament at the top of a column.

Acropolis. — The upper part of a fortified citadel.

Acroterium. — Any angle of a pediment or gable,
usually the upper or pitch angle. An ornament or
statue place at the point of a pediment angle. The
ornamental prow or stern of a classical galley.

Aeolian Harp. — A box fitted with keys and strings
tuned to chords or harmonics. It is placed in a par-
tially open window so the wind plays with the strings.

Alinement, — (Sometimes spelled alignment). To
place in line as per plan.

Ambulatory. — A place to walk. A promenade.
Formerly in a cloister. See Portico.

Amphiprostyle. — Having columns at each end, but
not at the sides.

Andiron. — One of a pair of metal fuel supporters
used in fireplaces. Fire dog.

FARM BUILDINGS 237

Angle. — The approach of two straight lines to a
converging point.

Angle Bead. — Rounded beaded corner of an angle
piece used to protect the outer corner of a wall.

Angle Iron. — Rolled iron or steel, the cross section
of which forms an angle. Usually a right angle.

Annulet. — A ring moulding. Often worked on a
corner block used to join door casings and window
casings.

Anta. — A pilaster with capital and base, usually
formed by thickening the wall.

Arcade. — A series of arches together with the col-
umns or piers which support them, open, or with
openings on one or both sides and with an open clear
passage running lengthwise. There may be a railing
in front or at the back with no railing in front, or it
may be open between the columns in every direction.

Arch. — Segment of an ellipse or circle. An upward
curve.

Architrave. — That part of a structure next above
the abacus or upper corbel above a column. The lower
division of the entablature, consisting of the upper
fascia and lower fascia. Also a set of mouldings run-
ning across over a square doorway. A decorated beam
spanning the distance between two or more posts.

Archivolt. — The front or outside surface of an arch,
the mouldings forming the ornamental voussoir curve.

Area. — When a cellar is deep the windows reach
down below the surface of the ground. The earth is
removed and the space is boxed around with brick or
concrete. The opening is called an area,

Atlantes. — Half figures of men to support an entab-
lature (see Telamones and Caryatides).

238 FARM BUILDINGS

Axis. — A central guiding line used in the prepara-
tion of architectural drawings.

Balcony. — A projecting platform, cage, or short
gallery, resting on brackets or consoles enclosed by a
parapet.

Baldachin. — A canopy supported by pillars. It
may stand on the floor, hang from the roof or pro-
ject from the wall. It is generally placed over an
altar.

Baluster. — A spindle to support the rail of an open
staircase. A baluster is sometimes incorrectly called
banister.

Balustrade. — A rail with a row of balusters to sup-
port it to protect an open parapet, balcony or bridge.

Barge Board. See Verge Board.

Barge Course. — Projecting bricks forming a con-
tinuous projection capping a gable wall.

Bascule Bridge. — A lift bridge operated by a lever
which is pivoted in the center and weighted at one
end. The outer end of the bridge is lifted. As it
rises it closes the inner approach like a door. A draw
bridge to a castle. Also used to bridge canals at street
crossings.

Base Board. — A plinth, usually having a moulded
upper edge. Used around a room as a finish to the
lower part of the walls.

Batten. — Also spelled latton. A narrow strip of
wood or metal used to cover a crack.

Beam. — A stick of timber of considerable size.

Belfry. — A bell tower. A cupola with supports to
swing a bell.

Belly. — The belly of a timber is the outward or
downward curve. See Camber.

FARM BUILDINGS 239

Bin. — A small room or box partitioned off in a
granary or barn. It may or may not have sloping
sides or bottom, with or without carrying shutes.
Hopper bin. Grain bin.

Bird's Mouth. — A v-shaped opening in the end of
a piece of timber. Sometimes it is made ornamental.

Blinds. — There are both inside and outside window
blinds, both made of wood. Inside blinds fold back
into recesses in the box window frame. Outside blinds
usually are made in pairs and swing out and back
against the side of the building. Both kinds are
slatted.

Block House. — A log fort. The upper story projects
beyond the first story on all sides.

Board Measure. — Lumber measure. Formerly 144
cubic inches constituted a foot of lumber, but 144
square inches now passes for a foot when the boards
are one inch or less in thickness.

Bond. — In a stone wall the bonding stone reaches
across to bind together the stones facing either side
of the wall.

Booth. — A small house with one or more open sides.
A stall in a market house. A stand for selling at a
bazaar or fair.

Boudoir. — Small reception room. A private sitting
room.

Bourse. — Money exchange. A meeting place, room
or building, to make transfers in a mercantile way.

Box Office. — Booth for selling theatre tickets. An
office with a selling window that is accessible to the
public.

Brace. — A prop to prevent two timbers from coming

240 FARM BUILDINGS

together. In modern plank frame construction a brace
may also be a tie.

Bracket. — A triangular brace reaching out to sup-
port something.

Bridging. — Short pieces of scantling with beveled
ends nailed between joists to stiffen the floor. These
blocks reach from the bottom edge of one joist to the
top edge of the next.

Bridgeboard. — A stair stringer.

Building Paper. — Used to cover the sides of wooden
buildings. It is placed between two thicknesses of
boards.

Camber. — Concavity of the under side of a beam.
A vessel's deck is said to be built with a camber,
because it curves upward. The term is sometimes
applied to road-building. To curve or bend upward.

Canopy. — An ornamental projection over a door,
window or niche. A roof -like covering.

Cantalever. — Also spelled cantilever. From cant, an
external angle, and lever, a roof supporter. A bracket
projecting out to support a balcony or the upper part
of a cornice.

Caryatides. — Draped female figures supporting an
entablature. See corresponding male figures, Atlantes,
Telam&nes and Persians.

Cella of a Temple. — An enclosure between walls
behind a portico.

Cement. — A mixture of lime, clay and other sub-
stances.

Portland Cement gets its name from Portland, Eng-
land, where it was found as a natural deposit in the
earth. It is now manufactured in many large fac-
tories.

FARM BUILDINGS 241

Cement Mortar. A mixture usually consisting of
one part cement and two parts clean sand, first thor-
oughly mixed dry, then thoroughly mixed wet. The
fineness of the sand determines the fineness of the
mortar.

Citadel. — Fortress. Fort. Fortification. Final
strength in resistance. A citadel may be near a city
or inside a fortified city. The heavily protected maga-
zine section of a battleship.

Clap-Board. — Narrow weather boarding placed hori-
zontally, each board overlapping the one next below.
Clap-boards usually are about one-quarter of an inch
thick at the upper edge and half an inch thick at the
lower edge. This allows for saw cut and the ripping
of two clap-boards from a rough board an inch thick.

Colonnade. — A series or range of columns placed at
regular intervals with entablature, stylobate, roof, etc.
If placed by itself it is sometimes called a peristyle.
If attached to a building, a portico.

Column. — A cylindrical post more or less elaborate,
usually with base, shaft and capital. A pillar, used to
support some part of the superstructure.

Concrete. — Spontaneous union of cement and sand
and small particles of rock into a solid mass.

Conductor Pipe. — Down spout. Usually a three-
inch pipe made of tin or galvanized iron to conduct
rain water from the roof gutter to the sewer.

Console. — A bracket twice the height of its width,
used to support a cornice or other projection.

Coping. — The top course in stone or brick walls.
The covering course. Generally overlapping with pro-
vision for protecting the wall from rain water. Also
called copping.

242 FARM BUILDINGS

Corbel. — An upright series of bricks either in layers
or single, each one overlaying the one below it, built
up to support a projecting ledge, like a shelf mantle
over a fireplace. A fancy carved bracket. Overlaying
stone supports.

Cornice. — Projection, usually moulded. Finish un-
der the shingles of a projecting roof.

Corps. — A small part of a building projecting be-
yond the general outline.

Cottage Roof. — Sloping from the ridge to the eaves
at the ends as well as at the sides of the building.
See Hip Roof.

Counter Brace. — Supplementary brace in truss
work.

Cove. — An arch or concave.

Cove Moulding. — A moulding cut with a hollow
circle, used in corners and between a ceiling and the
waU.

Cupola. — An inverted cup or tub. A small dome-
shaped roof. An ornament on the top of a tower in
lantern style.

Curb. — The border at the side of a street. The
gambrel in a roof.

Curb Roof. — Also called a gambrel roof. It has two
pitches. The lower part, reaching downward from the
curb to the eaves, is much steeper than the upper
section, which reaches upward from the curb to the
peak.

D & M. — In building specifications means dressed
and matched. Planed and grooved or tongue and
groove.

Dimension Stuff. — Building materials of wood in
sizes as specified.

FARM BUILDINGS 243

Dropsiding. — A trade name for weather boards that
have been shaped in a sticker.

Dressed. — The rough saw surface planed off.

Extrados. — Same as intrados, taken collectively.

Expanded Metal Lath. — Sheet metal cut through
with numerous slits and the openings spread.

Equerry. — Sometimes spelled equery, a stable for
horses, presided over by a royal officer.

Ecurie. — See Equerry. A stable.

Fascia. — A broad fillet or flat band. In American
house building the part of the finish under the roof
projection that lies flat against the side of the building
is called the fascia.

Fennestration. — Proportioned for windows or with
windows in series.

Fire Dog. — An andiron.

Flashing. — Small sheets of tin inserted between
shingles, or bricks, to turn rain water.

Flawn. — A court or part of a street marked off for
some specific purpose.

Flyer, Fliers. — Steps in a straight stairway. Paral-
lel stair steps.

Footing. — The side base of a wall or pier.

Gabion. — A cylinder of coarse basket work, without
a bottom, to be filled with sand. A crib to be filled
with stones and sunk in the water.

Gable. — The part of a building under the projecting
end of a roof and above the level of the eaves. Gables
usually are vertical and triangular in shape. The
recessed triangular surface space is called the pedi-
ment.

Gallery. — A long, narrow floor with a low balustrade
along the front side. It often is built to increase the

244, FARM BUILDINGS

seating capacity of churches, halls, etc. Sometimes
the gallery is too narrow for seats, but is used to con-
nect two parts of a building. Galleries are supported
by columns or brackets.

G&mbrel Roof. — A roof that is pentagonal in cross
section, having two pitches breaking at the curb, the
lower pitch being steeper than the upper one. Same
as curb roof.

Gargoyle. — A fancy water spout. On expensive
buildings roof gutter outlets sometimes are fashioned
in grotesque figures representing men or animals.
Also spelled gargyle, gurgoyle and gargle.

Girder. — A heavy beam to support floor joists. A
compound girder to support rafters is built of several
pieces in the form of a truss.

Graywacke. — A term used to describe a mass of
rocky material that has been partially cemented to-
gether by nature. In building it has been used to
denote rubblestone masonry.

Grill Work. — Open work of light wood or metal to
form a screen or partition.

Guilloche. — Ornamental scroll work woven about
round centers, originally a carving.

Gutter. — Bain trough at or near the eave.

Hair. — Usually means cows' hair collected from
hides at the tannery. Hair is used to mix with plas-
tering mortar and with stucco to help bind it together
and hold it to the lath.

Hay Doorway. — A large opening for the hay fork.
It should be six or eight feet wide and eight or ten feet
in height.

Hay Fork Hood. — The roof projection built out over
the hay door to protect the hay track extension.

FARM BUILDINGS 245

Hermes. — A sculptured boundary stone showing a
human head. A corner or boundary stone or post.

Hip Rafter. — The corner rafter in a hip roof reach-
ing from the plate to the ridge at the corner of a
building.

Hip Roof. — Sloping from the plate to the peak from
the sides and ends of the building. See Cottage Roof.

Intrado. — The convex or interior surface of an arch
stone or voussoir.

Jack Rafter. — A short rafter reaching from the eave
to the hip rafter.

Joists. — Supports for both floor and ceiling. Joists
usually are two inches thick and from six inches to a
foot in width.

Key Stone. — A wedge shaped stone forming the
apex of an arch.

King Post. — A brace post in a compound girder
extending from the center of the tie timber to the
ridge.

Lintel. — The horizontal top of a door frame or
archway.

Loggia. — An enclosed veranda. More a part of a
house than a porch. Usually not the entrance way.
An outdoor room opening into a parlor or living room.

Log Scale. — Logs are measured, or scaled, across the
small end with a rule marked for quick reading.

Louver. — Slanting boards closing a tower from rain.
In a belfry tower to exclude the rain but permitting
the sound to escape.

Mausoleum. — Sepulchre above ground.

Metal Lath. — Sheet metal slotted and expanded.

Minaret. — An open tower top of lantern or light-
house or turret design. A slim tower attached to the

246 FARM BUILDINGS

corner of a mosque, having projecting balconies, used
to call the worshippers.

Molding. — Also spelled moulding. A strip of wood
shaped to some graceful or fancy form.

Moncharaby. — A projecting latticed balcony sup-
ported by brackets or corbels. An oriel.

Monitor Roof. — A raised projection in the form of
a turret, usually with slats for ventilation. Modern
farm monitor roofs usually have windows on both
sides of the monitor.

Mortise. — A hole, square or rectangular in shape,
made to receive a tenon.

Mud Sill. — A log or stick of timber resting on the
ground to support some part of a building.

MuUion. — See Stile. An upright division bar be-
tween lights of glass. Also written munni-o-n, muntin
and munting.

Multifoil. — An architectural ornament consisting of
more than five divisions. The scalloped inner edge of
a circle.

Narthex. — The outer court or atrium in church
architecture. The term is used in connection with
ambulatories. The narthex is used as a vestibule or
lobby leading to the nave.

Oriel. — A bay window corbeled out.

Parapet. — A low wall to protect the edge of a plat-
form, roof or porch.

Parvis. — The upper story of a porch.

Patio. — A Spanish word meaning a court in the rear
and in connection with a building. The buildings
form three sides of the inclosure, there may be a
building or a high fence across the near end.

Peak. — The summit or ridge of a roof.

FARM BUILDINGS 247

Pediment. — The triangular surface space in the
gable end of a building enclosed by the end projection
of a simple roof. See Tympanum, also Gable.

Pentastyle. — A portico having five columns in front.

Pergola. — Also spelled pergula. Similar to a peri-
style but usually is not connected with a building. An
arbor with columns built of open work, usually of
timbers. A vine covered arbor. It may be straight
or curved.

Peristyle. — A complete set of columns with entabla-
ture in circular or elliptical form, usually placed
around a court to connect two parts of a building or
two separate buildings.

Piazza. — A gallery, roofed in arcade style. Longer
than a portico.

Pier. — Usually of stone, concrete or brick, built
solid with footings firmly imbedded in the ground.

Pitch. — The angle or rise of a roof.

Pilaster. — A pier projecting from a wall about one-
third of its width, having capital, shaft and base to
correspond with columns.

Pillar. — May be either pier or column. A symbol
of strength.

Plancier. — The underside of the cornice projection.
The ceiling that is nailed to the under edges of the
rafters outside of the building.

Plate. — The upper horizontal timber in the frame of
the side of a building. The lower support of the
rafters.

Plate Rail. — A narrow shelf extending around the
dining room. It is placed about five feet six inches
above the floor.

Plank. — Thicker than a board. Planks are from

248 FARM BUILDINGS

one and one-fourth inches to three inches in thickness.

Plaza. — A public square ; a term borrowed from the
Spanish.

Portico. — A covered ambulatory of colonnade form
usually at the entrance of a building and usually in
classical style. See Ambulatory.

Portico-Chaise. — A porch over a driveway for car-
riages to pass through. An elevated floor on the house
side is placed at the proper level to step into or out
of the carriages easily.

Post. — An upright support.

Prostyle. — A building having columns in front.

Purlin or Purlin Plate. — Used in pair in roof con-
struction. Purlins extend horizontally of the building
and support the rafters between the plate and the

Quadra. — The lowest base of a pedestal. A water
table, podium, listel, fillet.

Queen Posts. — Are used in pair in roof construction.
Instead of one center king post two queen posts are
placed, extending from the tie beam up to the purlins.

Quirk Moulding. — A corner moulding with a square
inside corner and a bead worked on the outside corner.
Used to protect the outside exposed* corner of a wall.

Rafter. — Scantling or small timber reaching from
the eaves to, or towards, the peak or top of the roof.

Rail. — The upper part of a balustrade.

Railing. — See Rail.

Ramp. — A concave cap overtopping a concave de-
scending or ascending wall or path border. The ram-
part walls built at the sides of the steps leading up to
a porch or veranda.

FARM BUILDINGS 249

Renaissance. — Means rehabilitating an old style or
design.

Resaw. — Planks are sometimes split with a resaw to
make thin boards.

Ridge. — The top of the roof where the two sides
meet.

Ridge Board. — A board set on edge between the
ends of two opposite sets of rafters.

Ridgepole. — A round pole used to support the high
center of a tent.

Riser. — The vertical face board connecting two stair
steps is called a riser.

Roofs. — Hip roof, also called cottage roof. Curb
roof, ak3 called gambrel roof. Gable roof. Gothic
roof.

Rubblestone. — Stone used in masonry in its rough
natural state for filling between wall facings. Also
cobble-stone wall, pier and chimney work. Sometimes
called graywacke.

Sanitation. — Means cleanliness. Clean air, clean
water and clean food for both man and beast. New
farm buildings are designed along these lines.

Scantling. — Smaller than timber. Small dimension
stuff.

Shakes. — Thicker and longer than shingles. A bar-
rel stave. Shakes are rived out of timber bolts with
a froe.

Sheathing. — Roof boards. Also boards used to side
up a house before applying building paper and siding.

Shingles. — May be of wood, metal or asphalt. Slate
shingles are called tile.

Shiplap. — Used for outside boarding.

250 FARM BUILDINGS

Sill. — The lower timber in the frame of a building.

Sleeper. — A valley rafter. The valley flashings fol-
low the sleeper down to the eave gutter or eave trough.

Stanchion. — Used to mean rigid stocks to fasten a
cow in her stall. Modern stanchions are not rigid, but
they still retain the name.

Stay Lath. — A temporary brace.

Stile. — In framework the upright pieces are called
stiles and the cross pieces are rails. Smaller uprights
to divide the framework into sections are called
mullions. Stiles carry mortises, rails are tenoned into
them.

Stilted Arch. — An arch on high posts.

Stoop. — A wide step in front of an entrance door,
large enough to hold a seat, with steps leading to the
ground. It may have a roof cover.

Stringer. — A horizontal sleeper. A timber to con-
nect two or more upright posts. A longitudinal or
lengthwise bed piece. A bridge timber to support a
railway track. When a stick of timber lies crosswise
of the track it is called a cross sleeper.

Strut. — Stretching piece. To hold apart. A brace
placed at an angle between two parallel timbers. Used
in truss work from or to a king or queen post.

Stucco. — Formerly an inside plaster made of sand
and powdered marble and other ingredients. The
name is now used to denote an outside plaster finish
which usually contains cement and hair.

Studding. — Upright scantlings in house walls and
partitions.

Stylobate. — A continuous flat band coping, or pave-
ment for the base support of colonnade columns.

FARM BUILDINGS 251

Superstructure. — The lighter or upper part of a
building above the foundation walls.

T & G. — When used in house specifications means
tongue and groove.

Tenon. — The end of a rail with shoulder or shoul-
ders made to fit a corresponding mortise.

Threshold. — The stone or timber placed under an
entrance door. A thin beveled strip of wood fitted
across any doorway to meet up close against the bottom
of a door.

Tie.— To hold together. The opposite of strut. It
may be an iron rod or a stick of timber.

Tile. — Sewer tile is vitrified. Drain tile is burned
in a kiln like brick. Drain tile also is made of con-
crete. Roof tile when well burned makes the most
lasting roof.

Timber. — A straight stick of wood larger than four
inches square.

Timber Measure. — Same as lumber, that is, 144
cubic inches make one foot.

Tread. — The top or surface of a stair step is called
the tread.

Turret. — A revolving tower in which guns are
mounted.

Turret Roof. — A term sometimes applied to the
raised portion of a railway coach roof in which are the
ventilators.

Tympanum. — The space between a smaller arch and
a larger arch placed over it, or the space in the upper
part of an arch above a lintel. The face of a pediment
recessed, in an arch or gable.

Valley. — The junction of two roofs connected at
right angles to each other.

252 FARM BUILDINGS

Valley Flashing. — Sheet metal inserted between the
shingles to make the valley gutter water-tight.

Ventilators. — Stable ventilation depends upon in-
take flues, outlet pipes, metal ventilator hoods and
special windows.

Veranda. — A roofed gallery in front of a house with
columns or pillars in front.

Verge Board. — An edgewise perpendicular border
board suspended from the end of the roof on the gable
end of a building. Also called barge board.

Vaulted Roof. — Concave arch. An arch continuous
from side to side of a room.

Voussoir. — A wedge-shaped arch stone.

Wall Board. — A hard plaster composition rolled into
sheets. It is sold in different widths and is used
instead of lath and plaster.

Wall Sockets. — Iron sockets are made to hold the
bottom ends of studding. The sockets are built into
the top of the concrete wall so that no wooden sill
is required.

Window Stool. — The inside finishing piece at the
bottom of the sash.

INDEX

PAGE

Architectural terms 236

A-shaped hog cot 120

Auditorium barn 65

Barn construction 10

Basement walls, different kinds of 160

Breeds of fowls 124

Brick for walls 166

Building bracket 58

Building material, names of different kinds of 236

Building plans, reading 172

Building terms 236

Business farm house 197

Butter dairy 92

Calf feeder 96

Center piers 167

Chicken oiler 149

Clothesline reel 159

Concrete barnyard 22, 152

Concrete dairy house with water tank overhead 94

Concrete dairy stable 22

Concrete engine foundation 153

Concrete garage 72

Concrete scale base and pit 154

Concrete feeding trough 156

Concrete foundations 23

Concrete ice house 101

Concrete mixing 28, 37

Concrete on the farm 151

Corn crib, two-story 76

Corn crib with open feeder trough 106

Corn crib, shelling and storing 79

Cost of building 9

253

254 INDEX

PAGE

Country home, a splendid 227

Country home, attractive , 186

Curb-roof dairy stable 1!)

Curved rafters, how to form 67

Dairy and horse barn 23

Dairy and pump house 90

Dairy barn for thirty cows 43

Dairy barn for twenty -eight cows 33

Dairy house, small, separate 87

Dairy stable with wide center alley 13

Dairy stall and manger * 58

Dictionary of building and architectural terms 236

Economy of farm buildings 7

Egg-shaped barn 62

Elliptical barn 62

Engine foundation, concrete 153

Farm buildings, miscellaneous 71

Farm homes 160

Feed hoppers, poultry 142

Feeding trough, concrete 156

Feed trough, sanitary poultry 147

Fencing, cost of ". 106

Five-room house 180

Floors and siding 176

Floors for stables 35

Foundations for farm buildings 160

Four-story poultry house 136

Garage 71

Gate, field 108

Grade cellar entrance 170

Grain, cleaning and grading 78

Grinding feed 80

Harrow sled Ill

Hayfork hood 56

Hillside poultry house 135

Hog breeding crate 123

Hog house alley, concrete 157

Hog house, portable 117

Hog house, winter 112

INDEX 255

PAGE

Hog loading shute 123

Hog wallow, concrete 155

Hook for catching poultry 148

Horse and cow barn 16

Ice house 97

Ice house, concrete 101

Implement shed 84

Labor saving dairy machinery 54

Mail box, permanent 157

Manure carriers 31

Manure shed 100

Milking machinery 31

Milk record sheet 94

Monitor roof dairy stable 49

New York poultry house 130

One-story farm house 191

Paved barnyard 153

Plank floor construction 170

Plank frame construction 11, 26,, 30

Portable brooder and small poultry house combined .... 131

Portable hog house 117

Portable poultry house 132

Poultry 124

Poultry A-house 125

Poultry breeding terms 124

Poultry catching hook 148

Poultry feed hoppers 142

Poultry foods for winter 126

Poultry furniture 124

Poultry house 124

Poultry house, four-story 136

Poultry house, size of 126

Power house 71

Pump house 91

Reading building plans 172

Roof construction 41

Round barn . . 63

256 INDEX

PAGE

Round barn, floor plan of 66

Round curb-roof barn 62

Sanitary poultry feed trough 147

Scale house 104

Septic tank 231

Sheep barn, eight-sided 69

Sheep barns 68

Siding 176

Silage 68

Silage, use of 55

Sills 171

Silo 36, 46

Six-room farm house 173

Small farm cottage 222

Small farm garage 75

Square farm house 202

Square two-story house 214

Stable floors 51

Stable manure 38

Staking the cellar 160

Steel stall partitions 47

Stock hurdle 110

Storage barn showing bracing 60

Story-and-a-half farm house 207

Straw as feed 38

Two-family farm house 218

Two-story corn crib 76

Two-story granary, foundation and floor of 80

Ventilating system 46

Ventilation .". 30, 83

Ventilation for barns 20

Ventilation of poultry houses 134

Wall materials 164

Windows in stables 47

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