140

FARM-HOUSES AND OFFICES

tain two moderate stacks of from twenty-five to thirty bollseach. W here corn farms are of great extent, however, thebarn should be sixty feet long, and from twenty to twenty-four feet broad, not only to hold a considerable quantity ofunthreshed corn, but the fanners also, which universally standacross the threshing barn, at its junction with the straw barn;for it is found, that fanners, with a good chaff house, cannotbe contained in less than from twenty-two to twenty-four feet.The door in the upper floor is usually of such height andbreadth, as to admit sheaves easily when thrown in from thestack-yard.

Although the walls and roofs of barns too often remain inthe rough state in which they were left by the mason andslater, of course subject to become the residence of insectsand vermin of all descriptions, yet as the expence of cover-ing the walls of a barn 100 feet long, with a coat of plaster,would not, in most places, exceed ten pounds, and the lath-ing and plastering of the ceiling not above twenty or thirtypounds more ;—the superior advantages of barns so finishedis certainly well worth consideration.

As a preservation from vermin, the spaces between thescantlings, if the floor be laid with deal, and not built solidwith stone and lime, often are filled with washed gravel, wellbeat down. Where gravel cannot be had, or where it hasbeen omitted, openings are made to admit of cats under thefloor. In clay floors, to prevent vermin from burrowing un-der the walls, a considerable quantity of broken glass is some-times mixed with the materials of the floor, for the space ofthree feet all round within walls.

The walls of buildings properly constructed, after the roofis put dn, are built at the top, by some careful farmers, closeup to the covering, and well plastered between the scantlings.

diately beyond the machine, and of a size sufficient to hold the straw of twostacks at once; one for fodder, and another for litter. Sec Berwickshire Re,port, p. 691, and particularly the East Lothian Report, p. 36S.