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 RICHARD HENDERSON
 
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 THE ESTATE LIBRARY SERIES. 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD
 
 BV PERMISSION. THIS BOOK IS 
 DEDICATED TO 
 
 HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF PORTLAND, 
 
 WHOSE ESTATES. 
 
 BOTH IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND, 
 
 LIKE THOSE OF MANY OTHER LANDOWNERS, 
 
 ARE CHARACTERISED BV 
 
 WELL-APPOINTED AND EFFICIENT HOMESTEADS..
 
 THE 
 
 MODERN HOMESTEAD 
 
 ITS ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 RICHARD HENDERSON, 
 
 MEMBER (by EXAMINATION) OF THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND, 
 
 THE HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND, 
 
 AND THE SURVEYORS' INSTITUTION. 
 
 AUTHOR OF " THE YOUNG ESTATE MANAGERS GUIDE. " 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 JAMES MACDOXALD, F.R.S.E., 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 THE ESTATE LIBRARY SERIES. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 THE COUNTRY GENTLEMEN'S ASSOCL\TION, LTD., 
 
 i6, COCKSPUR STREET, PALL M.\LL, SAY.
 
 HRAHBUKV, AGNKW, & CO. LD., PKINTKHS, 
 LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.
 
 Hi 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 There is need — and in many cases there is room — for greater economy 
 in providing the buildings necessary for agricultural holdings. At the 
 present day neither the owner nor the occupier of land can afford to 
 spend money lavishly or thoughtlessly in any form of farm equipment. 
 The time for lordly estate or farm management has gone past, probably 
 never to return. Even when the strictest economy is observed it is no 
 easy matter for landowners or farmers to draw from land anything like 
 a reasonable return for their capital employed upon it. With these 
 significant circumstances in view, one all the more heartily welcomes 
 the appearance of such a work as Mr. Henderson offers to the public 
 in the volume entitled " The Modern Homestead." 
 
 For the preparation of this volume Mr. Henderson has exceptional 
 qualifications. His tastes, training and experience have all combined 
 to fit him for such an undertaking. He is familiar with the numerous 
 types of homesteads to be seen upon present-day farms, and has made 
 it his business to study their peculiar features, their weak points, and 
 their strong. He has had extensive and varied practical experience 
 both in the erection of new homesteads and in the repairing and 
 remodelling of old. Armed with this knowledge and guided by a clear 
 and commendable conception of the principles which should be upper- 
 most in the minds of modern farm architects, he set himself to the 
 preparation of a work which cannot fail to be of great service both to 
 owners and occupiers of land. 
 
 An outstanding feature in "The Modern Homestead" is its con- 
 sistent and thoroughly wholesome inculcation of the principle of the 
 strictest and soundest economy. Unnecessary or unremunerative out- 
 lay of money is carefully guarded against at every point. A minimum 
 expenditure, consistent with efficiency, is an object which Mr. Henderson 
 has kept constantly in view. Economy in labour is another point of 
 prime importance in the designing of farm homesteads, and to this 
 also Mr. Henderson has given careful attention. 
 
 The author is a skilful draughtsman and has done well to make free 
 use of this accomplishment. The many excellent sketches and plans 
 it contains enhances greatly the practical usefulness of the book. 
 
 JAMES MACDONALD.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It is undeniable that much inconvenience results to agriculture in 
 general on account of the want of system displayed throughout the 
 country in the arrangement of farm buildings. Besides this incon- 
 venience, which means increased labour to the occupiers, there is often 
 discomfort to the animals to be reckoned with ; and sometimes in 
 addition there is direct loss to the proprietors in the erection of buildings 
 for which there is no need. The reason of this is not far to seek. 
 Trained architects are seldom called upon in connection with farm 
 buildings, and when they are, their want of touch with rural matters 
 leads them astray. Indeed, they are usually the greatest sinners in the 
 way we refer to. Failing their assistance, the property manager takes 
 the matter in hand himself. In the majority of cases, however, he has 
 not had the training or undergone the experience requisite to enable 
 him to do the work satisfactorily. He may have a subordinate whose 
 duty it is to attend to the buildings on the estate, but as a rule that 
 official will have acquired his skill from an architect, and like the latter, 
 will not be fully in sympathy with agricultural subjects. There are 
 of course architects well qualified to deal with estate work, no matter 
 how elementary to the profession it may happen to be. There are also 
 estate agents possessed of the double qualification of intimacy with 
 the requirements of farms and a knowledge of building that is needed 
 in the planner of efficient farm homesteads. And where estates have 
 employment for clerks of works some of these are w^ell fitted to 
 identify themselves with the special requirements of country life, and 
 to leave their mark for the good of the district in which their duties 
 lie. But these only serve to prove the case we started with — that, 
 taking the country as a whole, there are few farm homesteads to be 
 met with that approach perfection in their own peculiar line. The 
 generality of them point to a want of aim in their arrangement, and a 
 disregard of simple sanitary laws. Agent, occupier, and country 
 tradesman seem all to have had a hand in the promiscuous adding of 
 house to house or building to building and the jamming of shedding 
 into every available corner, or the leaning it against any clear 
 wall space. 
 
 It is only right to consult the occupier with regard to any accommodation
 
 viii PREFACE. 
 
 that is about to be provided at the homestead. The buildings will be 
 there, however, long after he has gone over to the majority; therefore 
 it is advisable to keep this in view when arranging for their erection. 
 Many tenants may have to make use of the homestead, but it can 
 serve only one farm. What may come up to the notions of one tenant 
 may not to any of the others. It follows, then, that it is hardly possible 
 to make the original set of buildings suitable to the purposes, either 
 real or fancied, of a series of tenants, and that each change of occupancy 
 implies alterations and additions to the available housing. Still, where 
 the necessary skill is forthcoming a good deal can be done towards 
 minimising these periodical outlays in answer to the wishes of fresh 
 lessees. There is a type of homestead or farm-steading that is peculiar 
 to each of the different agricultural districts of Great Britain. If this 
 be carefully noted and followed out when a new place is about to be 
 established, there is less chance of many calls being made for future 
 alterations on a homestead so arranged than with one that has 
 evolved on no fixed principle. In Scotland, for instance, there are 
 but three leading types of homesteads — that of the arable land on 
 the east side of the country, that of the dairying tracts on the west, 
 and that peculiar to the sheep farm proper. We may find each of 
 them blended with one or other of the remaining pair according to 
 circumstances, but these three are easily capable of differentiation. 
 To begin with, therefore, if one keeps close to the single characteristic 
 type of his district, or to the admixture of the pair that may otherwise 
 apply, he is not far from the mark. A homestead erected on these 
 lines lends itself easy of adaptation to the limited demand for change 
 in arrangement that is likely ever to arise. It is possible even to lay 
 down a single type that is capable of including the strictly arable- 
 farm one of the east coast — the Caithness " square," the " toon " of the 
 north-east, the "mains" of the Lothians, and the " on stead " of the 
 Border Counties and Northumberland — and the one devoted specially 
 to dairying. 
 
 But these are matters that we shall seek to demonstrate as the body 
 of our work proceeds. Our present object is to lend a helping hand to 
 those who are in search of guidance on questions of the kind. A lead 
 in this respect is not as yet readily available. The branch of architec- 
 ture involved therein is, as we have said, usually so intermittent in its 
 calls on the professional exponent of the art as to be hardly worth 
 his while to devote full attention thereto. And the layman who has 
 had opportunity to master the subject seldom will take to print to 
 enlighten his less experienced fellows. There are not awanting in 
 this connection, as in other departments, instructors who have more of 
 the fluency of the ready writer than the wit of the man of experience 
 to recommend their productions. More stone than bread, hoAvever, 
 is generally found in their baskets. We claim to have had rather
 
 PREFA CE. ix 
 
 exceptional opportunities of becoming acquainted with the subject, and 
 in the following pages seek in a plain way to put, more especially, 
 though not solely, young enquirers on the right track for picking up 
 some knowledge of the underlying principles for themselves, so that 
 they may in future be able to act in accordance therewith. The 
 various diagrams relating to the actual work of building construction 
 at the homestead we have purposely made simple and easy, in order 
 that beginners may not be deterred from venturing forward on their 
 own account. 
 
 If we succeed in some measure in helping either to lessen or make 
 more efficient the outlay on the part of proprietors, to lessen the too 
 frequent inconvenience and simultaneously reduce the labour bill of 
 occupiers, and at the same time do something towards increased comfort 
 and health of the live stock, we shall have done our little in the 
 furtherance of the interests of the parent industry. 
 
 RICHARD HENDERSON. 
 
 ^jst July. 1902.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Interests affected in its erection — Landlord's interest — Tenant's interest — The interests 
 of the two almost identical — Economy in building never to be pressed at the 
 expense of efficiency — In what manner our homesteads might have developed 
 had the reaping machine evolved on certain lines — Next to economy and efficiency 
 in the erection of the homestead comes the easy staffing of the place — Plan I. (for 
 the corn-growing and cattle-feeding farm) — It affords a suitable type of home- 
 stead for British farming generallj^ — Conditions that govern choice of site of the 
 farm homestead — The leading features of the plan — How the plan might be 
 modified — Plan II. (for the partly-dairy farm) — Plan III. (for the dairy farm 
 proper — Plan IV. (for the sheep farm) ...... pp. i — 20 
 
 CH.\PTER II. 
 
 THE WALLS. 
 
 The materials for their construction — Stone — Brick, wood, and iron — The dressing 
 given to the stones — The founding of the walls — Concrete in some cases a valu- 
 able aid — The foundation trenches — The reason why walls must be built plumb 
 — Ordinary mortar — Its preparation — The "setting" or hardening of mortar — 
 Portland cement — Arden lime— Building stone walls — Rubble work — Best class 
 of stones for the purpose — Finishing of corners and of door and window openings — 
 Lintels — Sills — Damp course — Thickness of the walls — Headers or throughbands 
 — Bedding the stones — Bond in building as exemplified in brickwork — Standard 
 size of bricks — Pointing the outer face of walls .... //■ 21 — 44 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE ROOFS : THEIR FRAMEWORK. 
 
 Less choice of materials for roofing than for building — The hard-woods — The soft 
 woods — British forestry of small moment in the timber market — Some of the 
 positions where home-grown timber can be advantageously used at the home- 
 stead — Fir and pine wood in general — Red pine — The seasoning of wood for 
 building purposes — How wood forms — The ordinary Scottish or " couple " roof of 
 the homestead — The principles involved in its construction — The pitch of roofs 
 — Size of the spars of the common roof — Some of the disadvantages of this class 
 of roof — The "principal " roof better — The wall-plate — The roof-truss or principal 
 rafter — The piecing together of the principal roof — An iron king-post substituted 
 for one of wood — Another sort of roof — Sound, economy to fill up the angle 
 formed between wall-head and roofing-boards — Advisable to plane all interior 
 exposed wood surfaces ....... ■• //• 45 — 69
 
 j^ii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE roofs: their covering. 
 
 What the outer covering of a roof has to face-Wood alone not fit for the ordeal- 
 Which of the metals are— Slate the best natural material for the purpose— The 
 basis for the attachment of slates— Roofing-boards for slates-The admission of 
 light by way of the root— A suitable size of roof-light— The advantages of the 
 roof-light — Other operations preparatory to slating— The eaves-gutters— No 
 building should be without them-The manner of fitting up the eaves-gutters— 
 The centre gutter to be dispensed with wherever possible — The valley, the 
 flank and the piend-The securing of lead on the roof-Cast-iron centre gutters 
 -The construction of the valley -The raggle-The junctions with chimneys- 
 The fewer breaks in the roof-line the easier is the roof maintained watertight— 
 Not wise to range two buildings together— The choice of slates-The slate nails 
 —The manner of arranging the slates on the roof— The lap or " cover " of the 
 slates— The tilt or "bell-cast" of the slates— The finishing of the ridges and 
 piends— The finish at the gables //■ 70—95 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FLOORS AND DRAINS. 
 
 The ordinary available flooring materials— What is required of a first-class flooring 
 material— Portland cement concrete one of the best materials for farm floors- 
 Tar macadam very suitable in some cases— The method of laying tar macadam 
 —The method of laying concrete— Other materials and how to deal with them— 
 Solid walls and concrete floors keep rats at bay— Wood floors— The sleepers, or 
 floor joists -The flooring-boards— Ventilation beneath the wood floor to be 
 unstinted— Doorsteps— Overhead floors— A combined floor and ceiling— The 
 drains— Two sets of drains required at the homestead— The drain-pipes and 
 method of laying them — The rain-water drains— The sewage drains— The ter- 
 minus of the sewage drain to be either in the dungstead or in a liquid-manure 
 tank— The liquid-manure tank //. 96— 115 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 DOORS, WINDOWS AND VENTILATORS. 
 
 The door styles and lintel — The arch stronger than the lintel for the doorway — The 
 wood beam as lintel — The iron girder as lintel — Fitting up the doors : the hinged 
 large door — The door on wheels — Hanging the smaller doors — Mounting the 
 sliding-door — Various types of doors — The sliding-door rails — Other fittings of 
 the sliding-door — Modifications of the door— Handles, latches, locks and bolts — 
 W' indows^The ordinary sash window rather at a disadvantage at the homestead 
 — Casement windows — Iron-framed windows — Ventilators : the common kinds 
 at the homestead — The double-horned zinc ventilator — Craig's ventilator — 
 Taylor's ventilator — Fresh air inlets — The fresh air inlets ought to be controll- 
 able — A simple method of accomplishing this — How the ridge ventilator may 
 be controlled if considered necessary ...... //. 116 — 142 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SANITATION AT THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 What sanitation at the homestead implies — The two classes of live stock that suffer 
 most from defective sanitation — Why the cows are apt to be the greater sufferers —
 
 CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 How the seeds of bovine disease are spread in badly ventilated byres — Our atmo- 
 sphere — Its composition— Oxygen — Nitrogen— Other substances contained in the 
 atmosphere — Carbon di-oxide— Ammonia and the oxides of nitrogen — Moisture 
 — Microscopic organisms and dust — Fresh air in many ways essential within the 
 farm buildings — The difficulties in the way of providing this— Artificial heat 
 recommended by some sanitarians for application to byres — This only admissible, 
 however, in the case of the cows yielding milk — No need for it where other classes 
 of stock are concerned — The usual condition of the atmosphere within the stable 
 — County bye-laws with regard to farm sanitation —Why the central authorities 
 have sought to regulate the size of cowhouses — Some of the anomalies which 
 have arisen out of that interference ...... pp. 143 — 162 
 
 CHAPTER VHI. 
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY : IN THEORY. 
 
 Good water and plenty of it essential at the homestead — Absolutely pure water not 
 met with in nature — The composition of water — The three physical conditions 
 of water — Latent heat as exemplified in the case of water — Water as the universal 
 solvent — The suspensory matters in water — What happens to rain when it 
 touches earth — What the sea receives back in the rain-water it gives forth to the 
 atmosphere — What surface water generally contains — Filtration not very practic- 
 able at the farm — Dissolved matters more to be considered than substances in 
 suspension — Lime the most abundantly represented of dissolved matters — Hard 
 water and soft water — Temporary hardness and permanent hardness of water — 
 The solvent powers of water increased by the presence of carbon di-oxide therein 
 — The chemist should be consulted when doubt exists over a new water supply — 
 A rough-and-ready way of gauging the hardness of water — The presence of 
 organic matter in water to be viewed with suspicion— Examples of water 
 analyses pp. 163 — 181 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY : IN PRACTICE. 
 
 The rainfall on the roofs as a source of supply — The construction of the storage 
 tank — Not very practicable to annex a filter to the tank — The size of the tank — 
 A pump a necessary adjunct of the tank — The ordinary horse and duck pond — 
 How it may be turned to better account — The surface well — Water from a bore — 
 Boring for water on the small scale referred to usually rather uncertain in 
 results — Gravitation supplies — Collecting water from surface springs — The 
 nature of the collecting tank — Its construction — How to place it in order to 
 lessen digging — The water pipes leading to the tank — The supply pipes : lead 
 piping — Iron piping — The effects of soil and of water on iron pipes — The effects 
 of the same on lead piping — Points to be observed in laying supply pipes — 
 Sometimes practicable to apply the syphon to the purposes of the water supply — 
 The ordinary lift pump — Providing water in the fields . pp. 182 — 203 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 "power" at THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The forces available for power at the homestead — The first principles involved in the 
 subject — The force of gravity — The centre of gravity of a body — Density of a body 
 — Specific gravity of a body — The action of bodies under the force of gravity 
 — Newton's first law of motion — The forces that bear upon bodies in motion — 
 The momentum of a moving body — Newton's second law — Newton's third law 
 — No loss of force in Nature, but easily convertible from one form to another —
 
 xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 Man's first machines for turning forces to his service— The pulley— The lever — 
 The inclined plane— The screw— The wedge — What man was enabled to do 
 with these simple machines— Force derived from heat— The expansive property 
 of gases a source of much power— The use of coal in this connection— The 
 tendency of heat and force alike to come to a state of uniformity or dead level- 
 Summing up— The retardative effect of friction in machines— What a horse- 
 power represents ....•••■ //• 204 — 226 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 •'power" at the homestead — continued. 
 
 Power now in demand for many more purposes than formerly at the homestead — 
 Horse-power now all but obsolete — The advantages of water-power — The 
 three modifications of the ordinary water-wheel —The undershot wheel— The 
 overshot wheel — The breast wheel — The mechanical advantage of the ordinary 
 water-wheel — A drawback of the water-wheel — The turbine water-wheel — A 
 representative form of the turbine — The wind-wheel — The water-ram— The 
 expansive force of gases as power — Steam — The steam-engine — Engine boilers — 
 The Cornish boiler — Combined engine and boiler — Locomotive engines — Steam 
 for heating, scalding, and cooking purposes -The petroleum-vapour or oil- 
 engine — The gas-engine — The differences in principle between these engines — 
 The piston and crank of the engine — The fly-wheel ••■//■ 227 — 255 
 
 CHAPTER XH. 
 
 THE BARN RANGE. 
 
 The barn range the centre of the group — The position of the barn door — The usual 
 arrangements for thrashing — The itinerant thrasher — The position of the fixed 
 thrashing mill — The barn windows — The ground floor— The upper or granary 
 floor — The straw-house attached to the barn — The style of roof best adapted to 
 the range — The granary — Side ventilators for the granary —The finishing of the 
 roof — Light to the granary — Ridge ventilators to the granary — The granary 
 stair — Conveniences for filling and emptying the granary — Trimming the joists 
 for hatchways in the granary floor— Provision for loading and disloading carts 
 in connection with the granary — Outer stairs and doors of granaries generally 
 troublesome — Arrangements for the delivery of food-stuffs by gravitation from the 
 granarv — The buildings subsidiary to the barn — Different plans of arranging 
 these buildings — Their construction : the walls — The roof — The floors — Light 
 and ventilation .......... pp. 256 — 278 
 
 CHAPTER Xin. 
 
 BUILDINGS WEST OF THE BARN. 
 
 The nature of these buildings — How the cow fares for room in her winter quarters — 
 The byre floor — The grip — The lairs to be as level as practicable — Underdrains 
 in the byre to be avoided as much as possible — The byre passages — The byre 
 with a central feeding passage — The single byre with one passage — The double 
 byre with single passage — Communication between byre and barn — The byre 
 fittings ; the troughs — The travises — The wood travis — The various methods of 
 arranging and fixing the posts — The usual size of the travis — Travises with iron 
 posts — A fodder-rack seldom fitted up in the cow byre — The air space of byres — 
 The floor space — Byres for larger cows than Ayrshires — Byres for fattening 
 cattle— Variance in the methods of housing fattening cattle very much a matter
 
 CONTENTS XV 
 
 of custom — The loose-box advantageous — The arrangement of loose-boxes — Their 
 manner of construction— Supplying water in the byres and boxes — How the 
 single row of boxes may be doubled ...... pp. 279 — 302 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 BUILDINGS EAST OF THE BARN. 
 
 The power or motor-house — The placing of the doorways thereof — The floor of the 
 motor-house — The implement shed — Other purposes to which the implement 
 shed and the hospital may be occasionally put : the dipping of sheep for 
 instance — Arrangement of the inner doorways of this range — Too many inner 
 doorways often a source of danger during an outbreak of fire — The outer door- 
 ways of the implement shed— The outer doorway of the motor-house— The roof 
 of these buildings — The roof of the shed supplementary to the motor-house — The 
 sheep-dipping tank — The dimensions of the tank — A drain from the bottom of 
 the tank almost necessary — The formation of the drain— How it may be trapped 
 — How to deal with the effluent from the tank — The hospital — The loose-box — 
 The hay-house — A hay-shed in connection therewith — The stable : the floor 
 thereof — The drains — The dip of the floor — The usual form of travis — An 
 improved form of travis — The stall fittings — .\ hay-loft over the stable not at all 
 desirable — The ridge ventilators — The harness-room — -The cart-shed — The odd 
 place //. 303—326 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE DAIRY BUILDINGS, PIG-HOUSE, AND DUNGSTEAD. 
 
 The position of the dairy buildings with regard to the other houses — The scullery — 
 The vat-room, or churning-room — A drain for leading the whey to the pig-houses 
 — The milk-room — The floor of the milk-room — The walls — The windows — The 
 ventilation of the room — The shelves — The ceiling — The cheese-room — The 
 side walls and the ceiling thereof — The windows — The ventilation of the room — 
 All well-appointed cheese-rooms nowadays fitted up with reversible shelves — A 
 description of these shelves — Heating the cheese-room — The pig-house — May 
 be either double or single ; and how arranged — A good kind of trough — The pig- 
 house floor — The partitions between the pens — The pen doors— The dungstead — 
 The formation of the bottom or floor — A liquid manure tank a desirable accessory 
 to the dungstead — .\ cheap and simple method of roofing the dungstead. 
 
 PP- 327—350 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE CATTLE COURTS, THE HAY AND SHEAF SHEDS, AND THE SHEEP "FANKS." 
 
 The cattle courts require a favourable exposure — The number and size of the courts 
 at the homestead ruled by the amount of straw available — The construction of 
 the courts of an inexpensive nature — No artificial flooring needed — A section of 
 a court and shed — The arrangement for supplying the wants of the animals in 
 the courts — Food stores in connection with the courts — Supplying water in the 
 courts — The fittings of the court shed — The troughs — The fodder-racks — The 
 court gate — The kind of timber that may be used in the construction of the shed 
 — The hay and sheaf sheds : home-grown wood eftective as pillar or post — The 
 fixing of the posts — Height of the sheds — Their width — Their roofs — An impor- 
 tant point is to keep the roof as clear of ties as possible — The iron pillar — Com- 
 mon tj-pes of sheds — The slated shed usuall)- hampered with roofing timbers — 
 A little ventilation in the roof beneficial — Eaves-gutters and conductors essential 
 — The lining of parts of the sheds — The position of the sheds relative to the 
 homestead — Other kinds of shedding at the homestead — Conveniences for the 
 handling of sheep — The fanks or mustering-place of the sheep — The fence of 
 the outer enclosure — The pen divisions — The floor of pen and alley //. 351 — 375,
 
 
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 Plan IV.
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Essentials of a Good Homestead. 
 
 J The interests involved in the planning and erection of 
 
 affected in a farm homestead or steading are threefold, affecting as 
 
 Its erection. ^j-^gy Jq landlord and tenant and the domesticated animals. 
 
 On the proprietor's behalf, one has to take care that the set of buildings 
 
 is in keeping with the requirements of the holding. The same, of 
 
 course, holds good with the tenant. If the liousing does not enable 
 
 him unrestrictedly to make the most out of the farm something is 
 
 wrong. And concurrently with these runs the welfare of the animals 
 
 whose accommodation is provided for. It goes without saying that if 
 
 they are not comfortable a full return cannot be expected from them. 
 
 As regards the landlord's interests, the first principle 
 
 Landlord's involved is to guard against the erection of what is 
 interest. " ^ 
 
 not absolutely necessary to the profitable working of 
 
 the farm. Building is an expensive item in the estate accounts, and 
 requires a tight hand over it. It ought always to be well done ; but it 
 can be simple as well as thorough. The second leading principle is the 
 arrangement or grouping of the respective houses in such a way that 
 the purpose of each can be slightly modified at any time to meet the 
 demands of prospective tenants. When this is done much unneces- 
 sary intermittent outlay in alterations and additions is obviated. Some 
 system is then being followed, and an occasional improvement may 
 easily be effected either without sacrificing work already completed 
 or marring the symmetry of the whole. In this direction, more 
 than any other, perhaps, does the special skill of the estate manager 
 reveal itself. 
 
 Up to this point the interests of landlord antl tenant are 
 
 Tenant's nearly identical. So long as it answers the end, the tenant 
 
 interest. 
 
 is pleased with something that is strong and substantial 
 
 and that calls seldom for repair. He can hardly, however, be expected 
 
 to have an eye towards the adaptive character of the homestead, such as 
 
 M.H. B
 
 2 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 it is natural to look for in the proprietor. Provided the place meets the 
 wants of the tenant in possession, he is content witli things as they are. 
 How it may affect his successors in the premises is not his business. 
 ^Vhat he is most concerned about is the suitability of the housing to 
 his method of working the farm. This implies that the steading can 
 be used by the tenant at the least expenditure of labour practicable 
 under the circumstances that apply to places of the kind. Further, 
 th.it it be htted to accommodate his stock, whether live or dead— both 
 animals and implements— without detriment to either. 
 
 The interests of landlord and tenant thus being almost alike 
 IhVJ'^^J^^^^ in the matter of homestead accommodation, and those of 
 almost the tenant and his stock being wholly so, it therefore 
 
 identical. comes about that the interests of the three are not very 
 
 antagonistic. What room for difference there is lies between the first- 
 mentioned two. It goes no farther either than the occupier, in some 
 cases, seeking for more accommodation than the landlord thinks fit to 
 burden the farm with. It may sound strange in some ears to use the 
 word " burden " in this connection. But what direct return is ever 
 available for outlay on the buildings proper of the farm ? Does the 
 efficient nature of the steading ever induce the off'erer for the lease of 
 a farm to allow an extra shilling per acre therefor ? We have heard 
 theorists say that such is the case, but we never came across it on the 
 part of the rent-paying farmer. It cuts the other way occasionally, as 
 some of us can tell from experience ; at least, it affords a certain class 
 of offerer an opening to belittle the advantages of a farm possessed of a 
 well-appointed set of buildings (these implying, as he will maintain, much 
 cost in upkeep) if negotiations necessitate interviews between parties. 
 We do not wish to infer that the farm is as valuable when the steading 
 is unserviceable and out of repair as when it is in good order and well 
 adapted to the development of the place. All the same, it must be 
 apparent to any one that in a business of this nature there is ample 
 room for the exercise of the maxim that induces efficiency with 
 economy. 
 
 We would not unduly press economy — never, at any 
 
 Economy rate, at the expense of efficiency. Nor would we be too 
 
 in Building . i • r i • ^^ 
 
 never to be conservatne on the pomt oi accommodation. On 
 
 pressed at the contrary, we are inclined to think that custom 
 
 of Efficiency, deals rather hardly with the tenant in this respect. The 
 
 conditions under which agriculture is prosecuted have 
 
 changed very much in recent years, and are likely to keep changing. 
 
 Labour is so much dearer now that it has to be economised in every 
 
 shape and form. Farm implements are now more costly tlian they 
 
 used to be, and proper storage room must be afforded them at the 
 
 steading. And every opportunity should be given to the tenant to 
 
 enable him to secure his crops as quickly and as cheaply as possible.
 
 THE ESSENTIALS OE A GOOD HOMESTEAD. 3 
 
 Shedding should be at the service of his crops as well as his animals. 
 When labourers were plentiful and easy to pay, the storing of hay and 
 corn in ricks was looked upon as the one method available ; but now, 
 when harvesters are in some places hardly to be met with, the farmer 
 who has neither hay nor sheaf shed at his disposal is at times sadly 
 handicapped in the ingathering of his crops. He is able with the help 
 of mowers, tedders, and self-binders, to face the difficulty of se\ering 
 them from the ground ; but when it comes to the time of carrying them 
 home and ricking them in the stackyard, he is often at his wits' end how 
 to overcome the work. He is obliged sometimes to build a range of 
 stacks in the newly-reaped cornfields, which seems always to us a 
 slovenly proceeding. In fact, the ricking of hay and corn at the 
 steading, other than in sheds of some sort, will, in our opinion, soon 
 be seen at none but those farms that are held from and by the least 
 enterprising landlords and tenants. Affairs may be hardly ripe yet 
 for that state of matters, but we are inclined to think that it will soon 
 take place. Already tenants are frequently provided with shedding of 
 the nature referred to on payment of interest on the outlay involved ; 
 seldom, however, to the full extent that the circumstances of the farm 
 warrant. The demand for accommodation of this kind is growing, 
 however, and before very long we may expect to see provision being 
 as freely made for the housing of hay and corn crops as for the cattle, 
 and equally a matter of course. 
 
 We often picture to ourselves the changes there would 
 manner our have been at our homesteads had the reaping machine 
 Homesteads evolved on the line of securing the ears of grain irrespec- 
 
 might have . ^ . . . 11 i- 
 
 developed tive 01 the straw. Had it, tor mstance, developed mtc 
 
 had the something after the description of the Australian stripper. 
 
 Machine what a saving would have resulted to agriculture 
 
 evolved on generally. Were it practicable to make sure of the 
 ears first and afterwards to deal with the straw as 
 occasion offered, British agriculture would be completely revolu- 
 tionised. To begin with, the range of barn buildings, usually the 
 biggest about the steading, could then be cut down considerably. 
 Thrashing would, under these conditions, be a comparatively simple 
 operation. At present every sheaf, every straw indeed, has to be 
 beaten unmercifully in order that grain and stalk may be effectually 
 separated. Much power, a good deal of machinery, and roomy 
 buildings are required for the operation. How different it would be 
 had the farmer the ears of corn alone to deal with in this way. A 
 tithe of the motive power would be sufficient. Thrashing would then 
 be done by a rubbing instead of a beating motion, and, considering 
 the difference in bulk of the matter to be handled, the sheaf-loft, a 
 good deal of the machinery space, and much of the granary room 
 could be dispensed with. The operation of separating the grain from 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 the ear and husk would be about as simple as that of chaffing or 
 chopping hay and straw, or of bruising oats. It would, in fact, 
 require less expenditure of force than either, and might be done in a 
 space as circumscribed as generally is allotted to one or the other. 
 The donkev-engine could be substituted for the one of many horse- 
 power. In these, as in some other directions which will occur to the 
 mind of him who is at home in such matters, would building be saved. 
 There would, of course, have to be storage room of some kmd for the 
 ears of corn, but rough shedding would suffice — some sort of building 
 that would allow the wind to whistle through while it stopped the 
 advent of rain, would do. On the other hand, much less granary 
 accommodation w^ould be called for. The grain would keep better 
 in the ear than when detached therefrom, and the separation of the 
 two being so easy, and so capable of quick performance, that operation 
 would be delayed until the grain was actually wanted. 
 
 The advantages of such a system as we refer to, could it be instituted, 
 would, however favourable they might be to the proprietor, be even 
 more marked in the case of the farmer himself. His labour bill would, 
 it is needless to say, be very much lessened. He is at all times at the 
 mercy of the elements. But under the conditions we are presuming he 
 would, at any rate during harvest season, be comparatively easy in 
 mind on that point. Not having to wait on the straw until he could 
 make sure of the ear, he could then laugh at the weather, as it were. At 
 present, should it be unfavourable, he is obliged to wait on patiently 
 until the straw has become sufficiently seasoned to admit of its keeping 
 in bulk, while all the time, it may be, the grain is daily decreasing in 
 value. Were the straw by itself it would matter little or nothing what 
 sort of weather it had to face. It would be seasoned in time. It could 
 be seasoned, too, and much quicker, without having recourse to the 
 slow and troublesome process of binding it into sheaves, and placing 
 these on end in small groups, as is customary. It could be left lying 
 as it fell behind the mower. If not likely to season as it lay, a round 
 of the tedder would put it out of danger. Afterwards, were a baler 
 at disposal, how handy it w^ould be could the straw, thus tidily put 
 together, be stored in a shed until required. What was to be used as 
 litter for live stock would, of course, be dealt with more summarily. 
 It could simply be carted to the steading and be piled up in shed, or be 
 packed together in long ricks. In the meantime the ears of corn, safely 
 housed, would be seasoning under the most favourable circumstances. 
 
 How different, we repeat, is all this from the prevailing method of 
 harvesting our grain crops ! \\'e have to undertake the laborious 
 operation of severing the crops from the ground and tying them into 
 small bundles as we proceed, taking care to keep the ears at one end 
 of the sheaf. Of recent years this work has, indeed, been considerably 
 lightened. Since the days of the sickle much improvement has certainly
 
 THE ESSENTIALS OE A GOOD HOMESTEAD. 5 
 
 been made in harvesting appliances. First came the manual-deHvery 
 reaper, next the self-delivery, followed later by the self-binder. Each 
 of thebc was a most decided advancement on its predecessors. But 
 still the ad\ancement was in the contrary direction to what we would 
 ha\e had it go. And while we are enabled to reap more readily 
 than before, the ad\antage is gained somewhat at the expense of the 
 "winning " of the corn. Machine-cut corn packs closer together than 
 either sickle or scythe-cut corn, and machine-bound corn closer still. 
 We get it cut and tied much quicker, but then, packed more regularly 
 and tighter than before, the straw takes longer to dry. What a blessing 
 it would be therefore to agriculture could we fall upon a feasible method 
 whereby we could separate the ear from the straw, carrying the former 
 away to the steading at once out of all risk of damage from exposure, 
 and lea\ing the latter by itself to mature at leisure ! It can stand what 
 the other cannot. As things go neither gets a proper chance. The 
 grain has to wait on the straw ; and lest the grain suffer too much the 
 straw has often to be taken before it is ready, with the consequence of 
 heated ricks and damage to straAv and corn alike. 
 
 It may not be practicable for us to adopt the '• stripper" method of 
 harvesting grain. Our corn crops are usuallv too much knocked about 
 for them to be on their feet at harvest time ; and to comb out a tangled 
 mass of laid corn would be a hopeless job. The separation of the two 
 parts of the plant might be attained by a modification of the self-binder, 
 under which, instead of binding the bunches of corn, it decapitated 
 them, afterwards shaking out and releasing the straw, but retaining 
 the ears. These, the machine that can tie up corn could no doubt 
 be modified to secure in bags and deliver at stated intervals. Our 
 corn crops are heavier than those grown on the continents either of 
 Europe or America, or in Australasia, where the self-binder and the 
 stripper consequently work easier in the thinner and more upstanding 
 stuff. If not possible for us, however, to retrograde in the way of 
 thinner and much shorter crops, it is open to us, as instance the results 
 obtained by the Messrs. Garton, to help matters by paymg attention to 
 the selection of \arieties of corn of medium length, but stout enough 
 in straw to carry its head erect until delivered over to the reaper. 
 
 Such a departure from the existing methods of procedure would, of 
 course, necessitate the erection of more shedding accommodation at the 
 steading. As we have indicated, storage room would be required for 
 the loose ears. These would keep securely in considerable bulk, and 
 the grain improve all the time. The several grams would be kept apart, 
 and air, if allowed access all round, could freely circulate throughout 
 the mass. A shed after the nature of an ordinary hay-barn, but with 
 a wood floor raised a little from the ground, and the sides and ends 
 enclosed with some perforated material, such as fine-meshed wire net, 
 and protected from rain by means of louvre boards, would answer
 
 6 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 admirably. Provision would also have to be made for keeping the 
 straw secure. Seasoned loose, it would more than ever be needful of 
 house-room of some kind at the steading. It is bad enough when the 
 sheaves have to be secured by themselves in the absence of sheds, but 
 much more labour would be required when loose, or e\"en trussed, 
 straw had to be handled. But even had much extra shedding, of the 
 kind spoken of, to be put up, buildings of that nature are not neces- 
 sarily very costly. They would prove to the proprietor a favourable 
 set-off" against the more expensive group that at present embraces the 
 thrashing-barn and granaries. These we do not mean to infer would, 
 under the change of circumstances we have been assuming, be alto- 
 gether dispensed with. They would, however, be considerably curtailed, 
 so much so indeed as to clearly outweigh any outlay on extra shedding. 
 Besides, we are inclined to maintain that there is already too little 
 shedding of the kind at the farm steading. We advocate roofage for 
 both corn and hay. Had the farmer abundance of this, harvest labour 
 and anxiety Avould both be lessened. And had he further ease from 
 these in the way we have been seeking to point out, his lot would 
 be vastly impro\ed. We have been digressing a little, perhaps, and 
 that, too, on the very eve of our work. But our end in view being the 
 furthering of rural economv, and the better organisation of labour being 
 apparently one of the most vital present-day aids to agriculture, we 
 need offer no excuse. This, in fact, with a care over the proprietor's 
 interests, will be our keynote all through. 
 
 It may have been gathered, then, that next to economy 
 economy and ^^^ efficiency in the erection thereof, the great matter to 
 efficiency in be kept in view, when grouping together the buildings 
 the Homestead *^*^ ^'^^ homestead, is the easy staffing of the place — the 
 comes the rendering it capable of being worked at the least expense 
 
 oAlie place" ^^^ labour. It is not difficult to lay down rules in this 
 
 connection. The observance of these is, however, quite 
 a different affair. When it comes to putting them in practice, hardly 
 two cases are to be met with that are on identical lines. We may in 
 many instances manage to follow out one or two of the leading ideas 
 bearing upon the arrangement of the buildings. As a rule, howe\er, 
 the more subsidiary of these have to accommodate themselves to the 
 circumstances of the site. More especially is this true when we have 
 an old set of buildings to deal with. This, we need hardly say, is of 
 commoner occurrence than the erection of the homestead anew. Besides 
 being obliged to conform to the exigencies of the site, we are in these 
 cases held in check by the position of the main buildings relative to the 
 steading as a whole. The skill of the planner of farm steadings comes 
 out more prominently in the re-arranging and improving of old sets 
 of buildings than in the erection of completely new places. Tlie 
 fundamental laws that govern a good steading can be easily observed in
 
 THE ESSENTIALS OE A GOOD HOMESTEAD. 7 
 
 the erection of a new one : but in the altering of an old one tliese have 
 to be modified in various ways as circumstances will admit. 
 
 What these laws are may be put as the placing of the straw-house 
 in as central a place as possible for the serving of the live stock. Next 
 to this comes the placing of the dungstead, or manure-pit, in an equally 
 central position as regards the buildings that have to be regularly cleared 
 of soiled litter. The principal labour at the steading consists in these 
 two operations — supplying the animals with straw and the removal 
 of their droppings, together with the straw they have messed. \\'hen 
 matters, therefore, have been adjusted so as to make the accomplish- 
 ment of these aims as convenient as possible, a considerable reduction 
 of labour has been attained. \\'hen, in addition to these facilities 
 towards the economy of labour, it is possible to place the hay-barn, 
 the turnip-house, the cake and meal store, and the food-preparing shed 
 equally handy for the purposes they are there to serve, little more can 
 be done in the way of conserving the tenant's interests. The little 
 there is lies in constructing the buildings in such a manner that they 
 are easily kept in repair, and at the same time making them conducive 
 to the health of the live stock housed therein. Constructing the build- 
 ings plainly, but substantially, ensures the former condition, and 
 attention to the elementary laws of sanitation provides for the latter. 
 
 There is no necessity for spending more money in the erection of 
 the homestead than is absolutely needful. We do not, however, advocate 
 the pushmg of economy to the verge of ugliness in all that pertains to 
 the steading. The buildings may be plain and serviceable, and yet not 
 altogether objectionable from an artistic point of view. Neither, on 
 the other hand, \\ould we sacrifice utility and economy for the sake of 
 appearance. A little money judiciously spent will take away the bare- 
 ness, if nothing else, from the harshest place of the kind. But first of 
 all let us arrange the houses in such a manner that each one separately, 
 and as a part of the whole group, will serve its end at the least outlay 
 of labour. Following on this we have to make sure that the animals 
 proposed to be confined within the buildings will have the opportunity 
 of being comfortable as well as healthy. Then we must see to their 
 erection for the least amount of money without sacrificing either 
 efficiency or permanency. After that, or at any rate after the probable 
 cost of that has been arrived at, comes in what those who control the 
 purse are willing to spend gratuitously in improving the appearance 
 of the countryside, or at least toning down somewhat the too frequent 
 ugliness of these excrescences on the landscape. 
 
 On Plan I. we give the ground plan of a steading which will serve to 
 illustrate the principles of the saving of labour which we have been refer- 
 ring to. It is one after the type characteristic chiefly of North Country 
 arable farming. As we shall see further on, it is capable of adaptation to 
 suit the varying practices of other parts, whether of rearing or fattening
 
 8 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 live stock or a combination of both. The plan shows the range of barn 
 
 buildings — the thrashing-floor and straw-barn with granary 
 
 Plan I. (for aboAe — situated with one end convenient to the stackyard, 
 the Corn- . . •' ' 
 
 growing and and the Other projecting far enough mto the courtyard to be 
 
 Cattle-feeding }-,3^j-^jy fQj- j-}^g delivery of straw to both cattle and horses. 
 Farm). ■' . ... 
 
 The manure-pit occupies, it will be seen, an equally con- 
 venient position at the opposite end of the steading. The sheaves are 
 thus handed in at the north side to be stripped of their grain, after 
 which the straw is passed on to both byre and stable, eventually to find 
 its way, in one shape or another, from these places to the manure heap. 
 Each place is in turn brought within easy i^each of the other, and time and 
 labour, both of which are suggestive of money, are in this way economised. 
 
 The rickyard Ave have represented by a range of shedding supposed 
 to be capable of holding the average annual corn crop of the farm. 
 These sheds are separated from the sheaf-barn by the breadth of a road 
 only. The sheaves can be carted directly into the barn and be tipped up 
 on the floor, or it can be so contrived by laying a series of tram-rails that 
 they can be delivered at the feeding board of the thrashing mill in hand 
 trolleys. No horse is needed under a system of this kind. A woman 
 or a boy can fill, wheel, and discharge a trolley by her or himself; and 
 two, or three at the outside, of these wheeled conveyances are ample 
 under ordinary circumstances to keep the mill going. The sheaves 
 are not always so handy to reach, however, but that it is advisable to 
 have the services of a youth in helping to load the trolleys. Or by means 
 of a travelling endless band the sheaves may be carried direct from shed 
 to mill-board. 
 
 Built against the part of the barn that projects into the courtyard on 
 one side is the engine-house, whether steam or vaporised oil be the 
 power employed to drive the mill, and at the other the food-preparing 
 sheds, where pulping, corn bruising, cake crushing, and allied operations 
 go on. And at right angles to this range are produced on the south- 
 east side the implement shed and places connected therewith, and on 
 the north-west side the cow-byre and any other house there is room for 
 in the same row. Down the west side of the square is led the housing 
 of the cattle, whether in the shape of loose boxes or byres, or a combina- 
 tion thereof. On the opposite side we have placed the stables, cart- 
 shed, and other accommodation of the kind. Placed in the centre of the 
 open side of the courtyard is the dungstead, leaving ample space in 
 which to pass by it at each side. Room for the pigs is found against the 
 back wall of the building. The dungstead is alongside the main road 
 to the homestead, and in consequence its contents are all the more 
 easily discharged. At the other side of the road we have the open 
 courts for cattle — the curtains, hammels, and so on, as they are vari- 
 ously termed. A hayshed might be placed parallel to the outer wall of 
 the east side of the square, handy to the stable, and then we have done.
 
 THE ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD HOMESTEAD. g 
 
 This affords a good typical farm homestead where British 
 It affords a -i^ • . . 
 
 suitable type ^iS^ricultiire IS concerned. We do not claim perfection 
 
 for British for it. We maintain, however, that it is on the right 
 ge^nerany. hnes for conforming with the principles we started upon, 
 
 and few, we think, will dispute the correctness of them. 
 If nothing more, it gives a lead that way which many, after hearing us 
 out to the end, may be glad to follow. There is no crowding anywhere ; 
 and fresh air and sunlight are allowed free play. As we proceed we shall 
 point out the simplicity of its structure, and how few repairs it requires 
 to keep it abreast of the ordinary tear and wear of the affair as a whole. 
 It will be admitted, we have no doubt, that it is a place that can be 
 easily manned. Some are loud in the praises of homesteads either 
 partially or entirely covered in. Our preference always lay for such 
 a one as we are setting forth. Each building gets a fair chance of sun 
 and air, both of which are conducive to the welfare of building material 
 and animal life alike, and there is a large yard in which animals have 
 freedom to frisk and romp in or to show themselves to the advantage 
 of their owners. There they can be let loose to drink their fill or be 
 made to show their paces without let or hindrance. Farm fires are 
 a source of loss even to the fully insured business-like tenant, and 
 every one is anxious to nip them in the bud. An outbreak of fire once 
 fairly started makes sad work with a covered-in steading. There is no 
 keeping it within bounds once the flames obtain the mastery. But at 
 the open place we represent fire may under many circumstances rage 
 uninterruptedly at one part of the steading until it burns itself out 
 without causing hurt to other parts. And as regards initial cost, 
 the subsequent cost of upkeep, and the general duration of the estab- 
 lishment itself, which of the two has the advantage is capable of 
 proof without much demonstration. A Hash of one's own brain is 
 sufficient to clear up doubt on these points. The slater and the 
 plumber are bound to be frequent visitors to the homestead that is 
 roofed over. 
 
 It is not of course in every position that a place so planned can be 
 carried out to the full. All depends on the site that may be at disposal. 
 Many things have to be taken into account in deciding upon the site of 
 the homestead. Generally speaking, more foresight is shown in the 
 selection of the site than in the arrangement of the buildings it has been 
 set apart for. This is, more than likely, due to the fact that the matter 
 of placing the steading with a view to its being convenient to the 
 requirements of the farm comes more directly home to the agricultural 
 mind than does the more technical work of grouping the houses to the 
 best advantage. The one appeals to the general intelligence of those 
 who have to do with country affairs ; the other is more in the province 
 of the man who can narrow his ideas and exercise the patience and 
 painstaking necessary to deal with details.
 
 lo THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Conxenience with regard to the farm in all its parts is the 
 that eovern ^^^^ consideration bearing on a choice of a proper site for 
 Choice of Site the homestead. There are. however, many counter\"ail- 
 HomesteaT ^"» circumstances bearing thereon that are apt to be 
 
 overlooked. A plentiful as well as efficient water supply 
 has to be kept in view when the site of a homestead is in question. 
 And the counterpart to this in the form of a ready way of getting rid of 
 sewage has also to be borne in mind. The frequent behests of the 
 sanitary officer of these times on matters of water supply and defective 
 drainage emphasise that these points have too often been overlooked in 
 the past. Easy access to some good through road and proximity to 
 a railway station are also important points in this connection. So, too, 
 is the availability of a good head of water as a source of motive power 
 at the steading. A plentiful supply of water power at the farm is an 
 immense advantage to the tenant. Where it is available no expensive 
 engine has to be there to lock up capital in. Neither is there the 
 constant expense for fuel and attendance connected there '.vith to be 
 faced. 
 
 A head of water means more or less irregularity in the outline or 
 configuration of the ground, a condition which is against the finding of 
 many situations otherwise suitable that would give the amount of fairly 
 level ground on which to build our suggested homestead. As repre- 
 sented it is supposed to be on ground almost level from west to east,, 
 but with a slight " hang " or slope from north to south. This admits 
 of the floors in each range being nearly all kept on the one respective 
 rake or incline. \\ hen we come to deal with ground of irregular outline 
 a certain amount of latitude can be given by extra building and making 
 up of the surface where this is necessary. Taking the north-east side first, 
 so long as we get the byre and barn floors to a mutual level it is easy to 
 deal with the remainder of the row should the ground be either above 
 or below that on the other side of the barn. It can either be made up 
 or be excavated as circumstances require. If the former, extra build- 
 ing to a corresponding height is a necessity. It may happen, of coarse, 
 that the ground on the opposite side is that requiring to be altered. 
 Down both the long sides of the rectangle it is evident that it is 
 practicable to build on ground with a gentle slope. Where the cattle 
 are located the continuous floor is laid with a run corresponding to the 
 ground outside. At the other side the stable floor is of necessity kept 
 level longwise and with it, in order to prevent the inconvenience of 
 steps, the hay-house at one end and the harness-room at the other. 
 But these three places together do not occupy so much of the row as to 
 give trouble in this respect. The loose box at one side of them and 
 the cart-shed at the other readily adapt themselves to the adjustment 
 of the floor levels of that row to the rake of the courtyard surface. All 
 artificial levelling means, however, extra cost — that of altering the surface
 
 THE ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD HOMESTEAD. ii 
 
 and the extra building whicli this impHes at some part or other of the 
 different blocks. 
 
 The principal point to be kept in mind is to have a site that will 
 admit of an easy slope from barn to byre and stable, continued from 
 these to the dungstead. The produce consumed at the homestead and 
 the waste and spent materials resulting therefrom are all coming this 
 way, and it is easier to bring them down hill than to carry them up. 
 It is the natural way, too, for the drainage matters, whether from the 
 interior of houses, from the housetops or from the courtyard — all should 
 pass to the end where the spent material finds exit. The clean pro- 
 vender comes in at the head, and as it serves its end is passed on to the 
 foot ; and with it should go waste water and sswage ; not necessarily 
 together these two, however, but the one to be let loose and the other 
 retained. 
 
 ^. , ,. From the elevations delineated on Plan Ia. (which is 
 
 Tiie leading ) 
 
 features of sufficiently representative of the two succeeding plans 
 we give to allow us to dispense with repetitions amended 
 to the slight modifications they imply) it may be readily grasped how 
 simple are the roof lines we suggest. The simpler these, the cheaper in 
 construction, the more effective in purpose, and the easier kept in order 
 will they be. The fewer breaks and joints therein the less risk will 
 there be of rain finding an entrance. 
 
 The walls are not high, nine feet to wallhead being in one-storeyed 
 places about the limit we care to reach. This in byre and stable, if both 
 are open to the roof, as we think they ought always to be, gives head- 
 room and to spare within. If this be granted it is waste to carry the 
 walls higher. We would have no animals housed in a building with 
 floor overhead. \\'here two storeys are in one house the height of the 
 lower one from floor to floor should never be less than nine feet, as before. 
 But we show none of the buildings having two storeys excepting the 
 thrashing-floor with the granary above. Here nine feet of headroom is 
 too little for the kind of work that goes on. It is advisable to have 
 room enough to enable a cart to be tipped up, and also to allow a goodly 
 pile of sheaves being packed within, should this be at any time thought 
 an advisable proceeding. 
 
 Some would prefer the granary to be over the straw-barn instead of 
 the sheaf-loft, while others again would have it extend over both from 
 end to end of the barn range. It is best, therefore, to make the range 
 so that the lofting or granary space could be laid over all or part as 
 circumstances at the time of erection or at later dates might make 
 justifiable demand. 
 
 The foregoing is a homestead typical, we have said, of the requirements 
 of the well-managed arable farm. Setting aside the cattle accommoda- 
 tion in the meantiriie, the other buildings are, as shown, suited to any 
 part of the country. It might be necessary, in order to meet fully the
 
 12 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 wants of a horse-breeding district, to proxide one or two extra loose 
 boxes about the place. There might in that case be one taken off the 
 implement-shed, and what is marked as the artificial manure store might 
 also be sacrificed to the same interest. Rather than this, however, it 
 would be better to erect a range of these, of more perishable material 
 than stone and lime, at some convenient place handy to the other build- 
 ings. Even in a district where horse-breeding predominates it is not 
 every farmer thereabouts that goes into the business very extensively. 
 When, therefore, a real demand for several of these arises, it is better 
 to provide a few supplementary to the steading than to turn other 
 buildings away from the well-defined objects of their own. Now that 
 increasing capital is being invested in labour-saving implements, it is 
 but right that serviceable keeping-places be set apart for them. 
 Further, it is due to the farmer who spends much money on artificial 
 manures that he is provided with a proper place in which these can be 
 housed and mixed, or otherwise dealt with. True, it is only for a 
 month or two in the year that artificial manures are in evidence at the 
 steading, but during the other months there are plenty of useful pur- 
 poses other than sheltering animals to which it can be turned to account 
 by the " managing" farmer. 
 
 More granary room might be required in one district than another, 
 but the 60 feet by 18 feet or 60 feet by 20 feet floorage available in the 
 barn range, if taken advantage of to the full, implies a considerable 
 storage area. The straw-barn as marked off might, indeed, be small 
 enough for the requirements of some districts, especially such as those 
 where it is common to see an endless web transporting the straw, and 
 alongside a foot-bridge or rail for allowing the attendant to pass to and 
 fro and deliver the straw from side to side and fill up the house in a 
 regular manner. \\ ere this to be practised, there would not be head- 
 room left if we ran a loft over the straw-house. At a pinch, howe\"er, 
 there is the implement-sl:cd to have recourse to. There are no live 
 stock in it, and granary accommodation could be proxided by adding 
 half a storey thereto. It would hardly do not to carry the granary the 
 full length of this range, but running a loft over the hospital would not 
 be a great infringement of our rule never to house animals in buildings 
 not open to the roof. Standing at a corner, the hospital could easily 
 be well ventilated, although it did happen to be under the granary. 
 But there is nothing to hinder the enlargement of the barn range both 
 in length and breadth to suit the requirements of any farm, and thus 
 keep the granary within the bounds of its own department. 
 
 The stable, with hay-house communicating at one end and the 
 harness-room at the other, would come up to the requirements of any 
 district ; and so without doubt would the adjoining cart-shed. The 
 dunghill, too, would be equally accommodating, as also would the 
 pigsty abutting thereupon.
 
 THE ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD HOMESTEAD. 13 
 
 Coming now to the housing space for the cattle, while the parts of 
 the homestead we have just been dealing with are capable, as we have 
 planned them, of almost universal adoption so far as Britain is con- 
 cerned, it is very different with this division of the buildings. In the 
 extreme North of Scotland, for instance, the arable farmers work almost 
 wholly with store cattle, rearing these to a certain age, on attaining which 
 they are disposed of to be fattened by farmers more favourably situated 
 as regards weather. In the north-east counties the rearing and fattening 
 of cattle are more or less combined. Further south, again — in Fife, the 
 Lothians, and the Border counties — the rearing of cattle is almost dis- 
 pensed with, the " stores," or young, raw animals, being imported for the 
 purpose of getting finished off or being manufactured into beef. This is 
 not all, however, for while the north country beef producers tie up their 
 fattening animals, those further south mostly lodge the animals in 
 open sheds, with courts attached. Usually a few loose boxes are set 
 apart as well. At some places there are many courts and few loose 
 boxes ; at others the latter predominate. From this it may be implied 
 that, taking the country at large, there is more diversity in the arrange- 
 ment of the part of the steading set aside for cattle than occurs in all 
 the rest put together. Even in the one department of beef preparing 
 there is much disparity in the matter of housing the cattle during 
 their enforced spell of gluttony. 
 
 The "custom of the country"' has as much to do with this variance 
 in the quartering of stock being made ready for the butcher as anything 
 else we are aware of. In fact, we can think of nothing else bearing on 
 this, unless it be the amouni of straw available. That, however, could 
 only affect the choice of open courts if balanced against the other two. 
 The tied-up animal will spoil or tread down as much straw as the one 
 confined in a loose box ; therefore there is little between the two in that 
 respect. It is easy to understand that the treatment in this respect of 
 growing stock will naturally be different from that of animals kept for 
 the laying on of beef ; and that the treatment of cows will differ from 
 either. But why in one district fattening animals should be tied up by 
 the neck like milch cows, and in another they should have comparative 
 liberty in loose boxes, while not far from either we come to where it is 
 customary to give them the freedom of open courts, it is difficult to tell, 
 unless it be due to what we have suggested. And the custom of an\- 
 particular district has, we suspect, originated in the class of buildings 
 at the disposal of the farmers thereof at the time they took up this 
 branch of their industry. It is not so very long since the art of fatten- 
 ing cattle at the homestead sprung into universal practice in the best 
 agricultural districts of our country. Until root crops became a fixed 
 part of our rotations, and artificial feeding stuffs followed later on, it 
 was impossible to adopt the system. There was little except hay and 
 straw then available as winter food for cattle. There were the various
 
 14 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 grains at disposal, of course, but oats and beans, dry of themselves, need 
 to be qualified with much pulpy food ere they can be turned to useful 
 account by the domesticated ruminant. It was hard to keep on until 
 the following spring a modicum of the flesh gained by the animal during 
 the grazing season. 
 
 A few cattle could, no doubt, by the aid of cooked messes of one kind 
 or another, be advantageously tided oxer the lean season of winter and 
 early spring at nearly every farm. The cows are an instance in point. 
 There cannot have been many, however, at the ordinary kind of home- 
 steads. But the manner in which these few were then housed would 
 un(]uestionably govern the after method of so disposing of the increased 
 number of winter-fed cattle. Custom dies hard, and the mixture of 
 method we speak of still prevails. There must be one system better 
 than another, one would think. If so, it is reasonable to maintain that 
 the one under which the animals are most comfortable is the best. It 
 can hardly be that according to which the "beasts" are tied by the 
 neck and obliged to stick to almost one position, whether standing or 
 lying. Never at liberty to use its tongue, either as a counter-irritant or 
 as an aid to toilet making, and at no time free to assume any sort of 
 position in accordance with ease or inclination, an ox or a heifer so 
 situated cannot be said to be under conditions of the most comfortable 
 nature. Confined in a loose box, it can lie where and how it likes, and 
 it can use either tongue or foot when any part itches. And if unable to 
 reach the spot with these organs, there are the walls and rails that 
 border the box to rub against. Somewhat similar are the conditions of 
 its confinement in the open court. It is apter there to have masterful 
 companions and to feel changes of weather, but it gets more air and has 
 the chance now and again of basking in the sun's rays. The best of 
 the three for placing the animal under circumstances most likely to 
 make it grow fat is unquestionably the loose box, where distractions 
 are limited, the air is warm, hunger is unknown and repletion 
 encouraged, and a soft bed is ever at hand. 
 
 There is but the one plan adopted in housing the cow. She has to 
 be tied by the neck in a line with others, her head against the wall, or 
 against a breastwork of boards if there be a feeding passage in front of 
 the row, and her hind feet at the edge of the " grip " or channel which 
 collects the droppings. This allows her, in accordance with the breed 
 she is of, from 7 feet to 7 feet 6 inches from head to tail, and all the 
 breadth slie has in the rank is from 3 feet to 3 feet 6 inches. This is 
 the limit of her bed. In it she has both to lie and stand. On foot she 
 cannot edge to the right or to the left without encroaching on her 
 neighbour's room, and laid down she has to content herself with almost 
 one position. There is no tossing to and fro and stretching limbs in 
 bed with her. Jammed up thus in line, she can neither stretch nor 
 lick herself, nor can she satisfy much of her mild curiosity as to what is
 
 THE ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD HOMESTEAD. 15 
 
 going on around her. But had she more elbow-room, she would mess 
 her bed and annoy her neighbours in her endeavours to see better 
 round about. Were her head-gear looser, she would soon have her tail 
 where her head ought to be. As it is, the present close packing has to 
 be supplemented by short barricades (the travises), so as to stiffen up 
 the row. She knows no better, however, and gets along somehow. 
 
 Taking the cows into account, our provisional plan allows for all 
 three methods of lodging the animals. We pillory only the cows, 
 however, and that because there is no other method practicable, bad in 
 theory though it be. We have given space for twenty. That may be 
 too many for some farms. Where it happened so, the spare stalls could 
 be occupied with fattening heifers. We next provide a range of loose 
 boxes for cattle, each capable of holding two at least. And separated 
 from these by the breadth of the road that passes the low end of the 
 homestead we have planned a series of open courts. This affords a 
 fair variety of cattle accommodation suited to the wants of the different 
 classes and ages of stock. The young, as well as their good-natured 
 seniors, could have the run of the courts, while the more quarrelsome 
 or excitable were placed under the more pacific influences of the 
 loose box. 
 
 We have shown no part as being specially set aside for calves. But 
 the loose box or two nearest to the cow-house or byre would always be 
 at their service. If these could not be spared, then it would not be 
 difficult to locate a shed somewhere within handy reach of the byre. 
 
 , ^, Here, then, we repeat, is a homestead which we consider is 
 How the Plan > . t- > . . 
 
 might be typical of the requirements of the British farmer ot arable 
 
 modified. land, easily capable, as we have laid it down on the plan, 
 
 of adaptation either to the varieties we find in that class of farming or 
 to the different-sized farms which it may include. With little or no modi- 
 fication, except enlargement as needful, it will meet the wants of such 
 advanced farmers as those of Berwick and Roxburgh, of the Lothians 
 and Fife, Forfar, Aberdeen, Banff, Moray, Inverness, and Easter Ross 
 and Cromarty. And as regards Caithness, where the stores are hoTised 
 similarly to their dams, all that is requisite to make it equally suitable 
 in that stormy part is to fit up the easterly range as a byre instead of a 
 set of loose boxes, and dispense with the open courts, should they in the 
 circumstances be deemed superfluous. It is a type, moreover, for which 
 we lay claim to capability of being worked at a minimum outlay of 
 labour, and of being erected at a comparatively small outlay in money. 
 
 And, still sticking to the North, very little alteration, as 
 (for the partly- shown on Plan II., is needed to make it equally suitable to 
 Dairy Farm), ^i^^ ^jg ^^[^y farms of Galloway and Dumfries, where dairy- 
 ing and arable farming are combined. The homestead could remain as it 
 is, with the exception that room be made for more cows, and that dairy 
 offices be provided. From forty to a hundred cows are kept on the
 
 i6 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 average farm of this class, usually sublet to a niiddleman called 
 '* the bower." The extra accommodation for cows could be met by 
 making the byre a double one, whicli would then admit of forty being 
 housed therein to start with. As much of the loose-box range as 
 necessity called for could be similarly dealt with, and the remainder 
 be set aside for the younger stock. 
 
 Shelter for an increased number of pigs would now become a 
 necessity. A good place for this might be where the open courts 
 are ; or, better perhaps, the pig-houses might be, as we show them, 
 in one at right angles to the dunghill up the centre of the yard. This 
 would block up the court a little, and go to divide it into two. But a 
 division of this kind at a place where, so to speak, there are two interests 
 concerned — the bower at one side taken up with the welfare of the cows, 
 and the tillers of the soil at the other — is rather an advantage than 
 otherwise. \\'here we have draw^n them on the plan they are within 
 easy reach at one end of straw-barn and cooking-shed, and of the dung- 
 stead at the other. An underground earthenware pipe would serve to 
 convey the whev from the dairv to some convenient part of the 
 pig-house. 
 
 The site we choose for the dairy buildings keeps them well a^\•a^• from 
 the tainted air that proceeds from the cooking-shed, the pig-houses, and 
 the dunghill ; and while we thus keep them thoroughly isolated in this 
 respect, they are at the same time quite convenient to the byres. It is 
 but a step from byre to dairy offices, yet the one is quite cut off from the 
 other so far as the odours prevalent in the byre are capable of affecting 
 the delicate work that goes on in the dairy. ^Moreover, these offices are 
 in their right place at the cold corner of the homestead. 
 
 At the farm where the cows are hired to a bower, the tenant requires 
 an odd place in which to keep a cow or two for his own household wants, 
 and perhaps accommodation for a pig or two as well. This he likes to 
 be entirely away from the bower's department. It can be got without 
 much trouble somewhere at his own side of the steading ; or near to the 
 farmhouse, especially if the establishment is of any importance, might 
 be the proper place for it. There would need to be a two-stalled stable 
 and gighouse beside the farmhouse at any rate, and the lot would go 
 together. 
 
 Coming to the dairy farm proper, such as prevails in 
 (for the Dairy Ayrshire, Renfrew, Bute, and parts of Lanark, and is 
 Farm proper;, occasionally found in some districts near to these, w^e are 
 face to face with an entirely different class of homestead. The dwelling- 
 house forms part of the block. The farms are small, and the tenants 
 and their families do the big share of the work, and naturally prefer to 
 live close to the seat of operations. The housewife likes, indeed, to be 
 within earshot of her charges even by night, so that either she or her 
 husband can attend at once when sounds of distress are heard. It is
 
 THE ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD HOMESTEAD. 17 
 
 satisfactory to her also to know that her husband, when rising frequently 
 in the night time to attend to some ailing animal, or to note the condition 
 of some one of them under suspicion, is not unduly exposed to the night 
 air when scant of garment. And in those instances where the " grey 
 mare is the better horse " and trusts but little to deputy in times of 
 emergency, it is well, too, that such exemplary individuals are not 
 put to too much risk in the same way. The health officer and his 
 subordinates, the sanitary inspectors, are generally bitter against house 
 and byre being in such direct communication, and not altogether without 
 cause either. It is better policy, however, to ameliorate as far as possible 
 rather than to break down completely an arrangement that has served 
 its end so well in the past, and helped to make the people we are 
 referring to the best managers of dairy cattle in our own country, if 
 not. indeed, the world o\"er. It is not difficult to arrange matters in 
 such a way that the owners of the animals are in close touch with 
 them, and yet sufficiently isolated therefrom as to transgress the laws 
 of sanitation but slightly. 
 
 On Plan III. we show, as we have said, a place suitable for a dairy 
 farm characteristic of the districts we have referred to. W'e still stick 
 to the fundamental law we started with — that of keeping the straw- barn 
 and dunghill within easy reach of the live stock, seeking in this way to 
 minimise as far as possible the labour of attending to the animals. As 
 we remarked at the beginning of this chapter, most of the work con- 
 nected therewith is the carrying of fodder to them and the subsequent 
 removal of their soiled litter and excrement, consequently the easier 
 we can make the carrying out of these operations the better for all 
 concerned. The art of reducing labour at the homestead is, in fact, the 
 placing of the live stock quarters in close touch on the one hand 
 with the commissariat department, and on the other with the refuse 
 depot. 
 
 We keep the part of the steading east of the barn range much as 
 before, because the needs of the arable farmer are much the same in all 
 our respective districts. It is at the other side where we come to mark 
 off the peculiarities of the Scottish dairy farmer. 
 
 We place the house at the north-east corner so that it may be handy 
 both to the byre and the dairy offices. We keep it clear of the barn by 
 introducing the small one-storeyed storehouse between the two. It 
 might be practicable to have had house and barn joined to each other, 
 but we prefer the arrangement given on the plan. 
 
 The cattle accommodation takes up the west wing of the steading, 
 following out much the same arrangement as we give on Plan II. It is 
 cut off from the house by means of the open passage shown on the plan. 
 The currents of air are likely to be always tending from one end to the 
 other of this passage, carrying with them both the odours that are apt 
 to issue from the byre door at one side and the smells following on 
 
 M.H. c
 
 1 8 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 cooking that emanate from the kitchen at the other. Both are in 
 addition effectually cut off from the dairy offices in so far as tainted 
 air is concerned by placing these buildings in the manner indicated. 
 
 Dungstead and pig-houses we also incline to place in accordance with 
 the arrangement on Plan II. 
 
 Both in this and the preceding instance some calf pens would be 
 essential. In this, part of the space allotted to food preparation might 
 be spared for the purpose. In the other, the root house might be taken 
 if an opan root store, as on Plan III., were substituted. 
 
 It is necessary that ample accommodation for poultry be provided in 
 this instance. Something of the kind is of course needed at the other 
 types of homestead, but not very often in the proportion found necessary 
 on the smaller dairy farm. Poultry-keeping is a fruitful source of 
 income to the dairy farmer's wife, because she is favourably situated for 
 looking after the birds, and it is but right that she gets the chance of 
 developing this branch industry to the limit of her powers. It is a 
 shame that the poultry are to be found so often stowed away in a loft in 
 the byre. The cows are thereby robbed of their already scrimp enough 
 air-space, and the poultry placed under very adverse circumstances as 
 regards pure air and cleanly surroundings. There is often no proper 
 way of access for women folk reaching the loft, and after more or less 
 scrambling the floor has been gained, it is only towards the centre of 
 the place that one can stand upright. Under these circumstances it is 
 hardly likely that much attention can be paid to the periodical cleaning 
 out of the place. It is enough to overtake the egg-collecting wathout in 
 addition having to stir up latent dust and smells in a general turn-over 
 of the place. The hens are kept warm in winter, which is to their 
 benefit if accompanied with even fairly fresh air ; but this condition is 
 entirely wanting when they are perched among the spent and vapour- 
 laden air of the cow-house. And in summer, on account of their house 
 being so close to the slates and little if any means of ventilation being 
 left in the roof, the condition of the air within is sometimes really 
 shocking. 
 
 Something better than this ought, we maintain, to be at the disposal 
 of the thrifty housewife. Such a condition exists because nothing better 
 is placed to her hand. Give her suitable houses to start with, and the 
 backward state of poultry management that characterises our agriculture 
 generally will begin to improve. The sanitary inspector, where he can, 
 is gradually interfering for good in this respect, but the matter might 
 be rectified without waiting for his suggestions. What is given must 
 further be convenient to the dwelling-house — somewhere adjoining 
 the rickyard, perhaps. On the arable farm, what of this kind of 
 accommodation we provide will for convenience be near to the farm 
 kitchen, somewhere beside the small byre and stable. There is less 
 need, however, of pro\iding in this way for the requirements of the
 
 THE ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD HOMESTEAD. 
 
 19 
 
 bigger farmer. If he condescends to poultry-keeping, and has a taste 
 that way, he will no doubt have movable houses for the majority of 
 his feathered friends, so that he can both keep the separate breeds apart 
 and give any of them a change of ground as he thinks fit. 
 p. jy There remains now the sheep farm pure and simple to 
 
 (for the Sheep attend to. What is needed here is hardly worth a plan 
 Farm). ^^ itself, and might be delineated as we go into detail 
 
 over other matters in the following chapters. All the same we will do 
 by it as with the others. What is really wanted on the moorland or 
 hill farm, however, is, in fact, more or less of a miniature steading, and 
 may as well be depicted in company with the others. Setting aside the 
 farmhouse and the shepherd's cottage, what may be looked for at the 
 place are the barns, a stable, and a cart-shed, room for a few cows and 
 some young cattle, a pig-house, and plenty of shedding. The latter is 
 wanted both for the temporary storage of wool, and for the handling of 
 sheep on the great occasions of smearing or dipping, clipping, and the 
 separation of the lambs from the ewes, and ought accordingly to be 
 made inter-communicable. And in connection with the sheds there 
 must be suitable pens or " fanks " in which to classify the sheep and 
 retain them, as may be desired. When the steading is of any size, 
 both a corn and a hay-shed are useful adjuncts thereto. They enable 
 the respective crops to be easily and expeditiously made safe for the 
 winter ; and to be able to abstract a few sheaves from the one or a 
 bundle or two from the other without having to break into a rick of 
 either, and thus make it vulnerable to the next high wind, is a great 
 boon at a place of the kind. 
 
 The farm may be so large that one gathering-place is not sufficient 
 to serve the different " hirsels " or separate " gangs " of sheep. In that 
 instance supplementary fanks and sheds must be put up at the most 
 convenient places, besides the cottages of the more outlying shepherds, 
 perhaps. Sheds and barns to any very appreciable extent can hardly, 
 however, be called for at many of these isolated places. 
 
 On Plan IV. we have, therefore, laid down the arrangement of a 
 miniature homestead, typical of the wants of the class of farm it refers 
 to — the simplest, yet to us the most interesting homestead of all — the one 
 that calls to memory the pleasant pastoral sounds connected with the 
 sheep-walk, as well as those associated with the lonely moor. It brings 
 us in mind of the annual gathering of the flocks, whether to dress or 
 wean the lambs, or to shear or dip their dams. And we hear in the 
 ore connection in endless medley the shouts of the men and the laughter 
 of the girls, the yapping of the dogs, the thick " baa " of the ewes, and 
 the tremulous bleating of their offspring ; and in the other the wail of the 
 whaup, the bumming of the snipe, and the " kuck-kuck " of the grouse. 
 
 We have now exhausted the list we led off" with, and it remains to 
 go closer into detail. To do this the more thoroughly our idea is to 
 
 c 2
 
 ■20 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 discuss separately the several buildings that make up the homestead, 
 paying close attention to the fittings and other peculiarities of each as 
 we go along. In that way we would seek to make matters clear, and 
 help to spread a sound knowledge of this branch of rural economy. 
 
 First, however, there are fundamental points common to each of tlie 
 buildings — the walls and roofs for instance — which, for the sake of 
 learners principally, we propose to take up at this stage and have 
 done with, in order to steer clear, as far as we can, of unnecessary 
 repetition. These subjects will occupy us long, but some acquaintance 
 with them is essential on the part of him who has to do with the 
 arrangement and construction of farm buildings.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE WALLS. 
 
 The Materials ^^ ^he construction of these we are led of necessity in 
 for their con- a climate such as ours to make use of materials that are 
 struction. capable of witlistanding exposure to sun, rain, and frost. 
 
 Nature provides us at first hand with stone, a material which in every 
 way answers the purpose. It is impracticable, however, to handle it 
 in bulk and form a building out of it devoid of joint or seam. But our ' 
 progenitors early discovered that fragments of stone could be built up 
 to form walls of considerable stability. These were at first thick and 
 uuAvieldy. The workers' tools, if any were then forthcoming, must 
 have been few and of small account, and as likely to harm the handlers 
 as have much effect on the stones. In time, with the growth of intelli- 
 gence and experience on man's part, he took to the piecing together of 
 handy-sized stones by means of mortar or plastic stuff that would 
 eventually harden more or less and knit all in a piece. Neater walls 
 were thus obtained, their lasting powers being determined by the nature 
 of the mortar used. Mud of a clayey texture — still necessary to the 
 house-building swallow and to the man in embryo (the savage as well as 
 the child) — was the first sort of mortar man turned to account. Nowadays 
 we have mortars that will become as hard as the stones they are set to 
 bind together. Walls constructed of building stone and a mortar of 
 this class, if properly put together, are more efficient than if they were 
 cut out of solid stone, could such a thing be done. 
 
 Stone of one kind or another is readily met with in most 
 districts of the British Isles. In some it is too far under- 
 ground to be readily available. Where this happens recourse is had to 
 brick, which is simply artificial stone. The situations devoid of build- 
 ing stone are happily those that are generally well supplied with brick- 
 forming clay. This, mixed with a due proportion of sand in order to 
 form a slight fiux, is formed into bricks which are roasted in kilns and 
 thus rendered as hard and impervious to moisture as stone. In no part 
 of our country, therefore, have we far to go for material, whether it be 
 stone or brick, with which to erect the walls of our various buildings. 
 And in this way it occurs that the nature of the walls of a homestead 
 take after the geological formation indicated by the outcropping rocks 
 of the neighbourhood, or it may be by the absence of any such. Here
 
 22 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 we come across one built of whinstone that has either been quarried or 
 found in boulders ; there one of granite similarly obtained ; another we 
 pass constructed of freestone. Further afield we may come upon one 
 the walls of which are of limestone, and by-and-by, as we proceed, find 
 another where brick alone has been used. These different types tell 
 plainly the nature of the crust of the earth around their respective sites. 
 
 So far as efficiency goes it matters little what kind of stone is used in 
 the construction of the buildings. One is as good as another, provided 
 of course that it be a good specimen of its class. Generally speaking, 
 the stone from stratified rocks such as our various sandstones succumbs 
 sooner to weather than granite, whin, and stones of a similar nature do ; 
 but it is a very poor stone indeed that cannot be turned to useful pur- 
 pose in farm buildings. No such sharp, well-defined corners are looked 
 for in these that one expects in a dwelling-house or town building. All 
 the same we do not advocate the use of poor stone in this connection. 
 It is, however, bad management fetching either brick or stone from a 
 distance, if the available stone of the immediate neighbourhood, though 
 perhaps not so good as either, is capable of being formed into a good wall. 
 The dry-stone dykes or walls of any district give one a good idea of the 
 weather-resisting qualities of the easiest obtained stones of the country- 
 side. Stone gets well tested in these erections ; consequently when we 
 meet with an oldish dyke the stones composing which are still compara- 
 tively sharp on the edge and not much crumbled on face, it may safely 
 be taken for granted that stone of the same kind is quite good enough 
 with which to serve the builder at the homestead. 
 
 Although the various kinds of stone found in agricultural districts are 
 much on a level as regards efficiency, they vary considerably in matters 
 such as texture, density, their form of cleavage or fracture (how they 
 split up into pieces that can be manipulated first by the quarrymen and 
 next by the mason), and so on. Stratified rock, be it sandstone, lime- 
 stone, or shaly stuff, or any of the innumerable gradations and admix- 
 tures of these, can as a rule be readily quarried along the natural bedding 
 planes of the rock. At one time horizontal, these, as the result of the 
 subsequent crumpling and twisting, are now found running in all 
 directions corresponding with the degree of disturbance the respective 
 strata have undergone. The primary rocks, those composing the ribs of 
 our sphere, such as granite and the early ones laid thereon that have now 
 lost trace of their origin, as well as the intrusive rocks, whin, trap, and 
 allied kinds, those that have been thrust up through the sedimentary 
 rocks of later time, are more homogeneous in bulk. The first-mentioned 
 contain many flaws or lines of easy fracture, while the others have few 
 weaknesses of that nature. The one quarries out in longish blocks or 
 in cubes, but the other gives way to the labourer only in jagged junks 
 of irregular fracture. Every time the steady deposit of rock-forming 
 material in the sedimentary rocks has been temporarily checked or been
 
 THE WALLS. 23 
 
 entirely replaced by some other one, a fresh bed or easily-defined joint 
 represents the change. These joints between and among the several 
 beds afford a ready line of separation between the respecti\'e beds, or, 
 when such occur, between the different layers of single beds, of which 
 quarrymen are able to avail themselves. But nothing of the kind is 
 there to help them in their attacks upon the real framework of mother 
 earth. Some of the sedimentary rocks are further rendered easy of 
 upbreak by means of frequent fractures along the short plane of the 
 stratification, that is, at right angles to their bedding, caused by crump- 
 ling and contortions of the earth's crust as it adapted itself to varying 
 strains during the cooling and lessening bulk of the globe. This and 
 other causes have in many places similarly reduced the primary rocks 
 to a more or less shattered condition, and, if nothing else, given quarry- 
 men a clean-cut side or sole to work from and so render his labour 
 easier, or, at any rate, more symmetrical in its development. 
 
 Failing available stone, brickwork takes its place. This, 
 "■^j' °° ' w^hen of good quality, is about as permanent as good 
 
 stonework. Wood is but a makeshift as a wall-forming 
 material at the homestead. Galvanised iron is hardly so serviceable. 
 Wood, if kept clear of the ground and put together in such a way that 
 moisture can freely drip from it and air have liberty to play on it, will 
 indeed last a considerable time. But the place for galvanised iron, if 
 used at all, is the roof, under which head we shall duly treat of it. 
 The Dressine ^^^^ stones used in farm buildings are never dressed into 
 given to the symmetrical blocks more or less polished, such as we are 
 °^^^- accustomed to see in the better class buildings of towns 
 
 or in country mansions. All they usually receive at the hands of the 
 mason is a chipping off or rough "clour" of sharp edges and corners 
 by means of his single-handed hammer. The great matter to keep in 
 view is to avoid stones of a wedge shape. Every one who thinks must 
 know, this is the w^orst form anything that has to be laid on or against 
 others can have when stability of the structure is essential. The Avedge 
 leads to sliding and outward thrust ; but every particle in a theoretically 
 perfect wall presses downwards to the earth's centre within the narrow 
 space defined by the outer and inner faces of the wall. The art of the 
 mason lies, therefore, in his skill in first knocking the stones into suitable 
 shape, and thereafter placing them in position in such a way that they will 
 lie steadily each one as part and parcel of the whole. Each must be 
 able to bear its share of the weight above without flinching. Once the 
 mortar has become hard and stone-like in itself it serves to bind all the 
 different pieces of stone together as one. This we have all seen in the 
 ruins of castles and abbeys. It is a slow natural process, however, and 
 in the meantime the wall, as a patchwork of separate pieces of \arying 
 size, has to stand. 
 
 It is evident that the nature of the stones available has much to d->
 
 24 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 with arri\ing at a state of stability of the wall. Flat stones "bed" 
 well because they have little tendency to shift. They bear equally on 
 those beneath and they afiford good footing to those above. Others 
 that are all angles act as so many compound or many-sided wedges, 
 neither steady themselves, because lacking in breadth of base, nor of 
 advantage to others adjoining them above and around. Bricks are 
 entirely different in this respect. If laid both level and plumb each one 
 is bound to distribute its own weight as well as the burden it sustains 
 equally at all points of its base. But from their comparatively small and 
 uniform size a brick wall has of necessity a large number of joints, 
 which are all so many weak points in the structure. We shall see as 
 we proceed how the bricklayer counteracts this defect. Meanwhile it 
 will be w-ell to observe the proper sequence and first discuss the 
 foundations of the wall, and next the matter of the mortar that holds 
 the stones or bricks together. 
 
 In order to make sure of a firm foundation the wall 
 of the°Walls^ must be based either on rock or on unyielding subsoil. 
 The aim in view is to secure uniform pressure at every 
 part of the foundation. This it is impossible to arrive at absolutely. 
 One cannot make certain that even the bottom of a trench cut down 
 to the rock will be eqvially firm from end to end. Were we to 
 cut far enough into the rock, provided the same kind held good over 
 the area embraced by the foundations of a building, a close approach 
 to the ideal of equal resistance throughout might be obtained. The 
 architect of farm buildings has to rest content with less, however. He 
 has to be satisfied with a trench cut down to the undisturbed subsoil. 
 And this, if level in bottom, does well enough, and without being very 
 deep. Level it must be, however, else the weight of the wall will be 
 unequally distributed over the foundation, and undue strains will 
 eventually throw it out of shape. There must be no compressible soil 
 that has either been disturbed by recent excavation, or " spoil " that has 
 been deposited on the place between the foundation stones and mother 
 earth — the stuff that has not seen daylight since it was carried hence 
 by natural forces and deposited over the site of our proposed building. 
 Any sort of medium, other than the natural subsoil, be it cultivable 
 soil, " forced " stuff of any kind — soil laid there artificially — moss or 
 similar organic accumulation, must be cleared out " down to the hard " 
 before a satisfactory base for the foundation can be ensured. 
 
 Sound boulder clay and firm sand make the best of foundations. 
 But there must be a sufficient thickness of either. If there is merely a 
 seam of one or the other lying upon a bed of yielding matter, of a 
 mossy nature, for instance, only an unstable base can be expected. 
 Given on the other hand a fair depth of boulder clay or well compacted 
 sand, we have at once a bottom of uniform resistance on which to start 
 the rearing of our walls. It is not necessary to go far down in either
 
 THE WALLS. 
 
 25 
 
 Concrete in 
 some cases ; 
 valuable aid 
 
 Fig. 
 
 substance to make sure of a base that practically speaking is fit for any 
 ordinary purpose. Here, in fact, we are nearer the ideal of a trench of 
 unvarying consistency than in almost any other medium. 
 
 Cement concrete is a valuable aid towards strengthening 
 weak foundations or rather in safeguarding against bad 
 results likely to happen from these if treated in the usual 
 manner. The weak points of a foundation betray themseves as the 
 weight gradually begins to increase with the height of the walls. They 
 may not give way until 
 after the completion of 
 the building, but sooner 
 or later they are bound 
 to be found out. 
 innumerable strains 
 come into play in a 
 building before it 
 fairly settled down 
 stability give many a 
 thrust and counter-thrust 
 ere each can be merged into the central one of all — ^gravity. It is 
 generally not till after this has been accomplished that the weaknesses 
 referred to begin to show ; and then too late to be remedied at the 
 seat of the evil. There is no getting down then beneath the 
 
 foundation to make 
 good defective parts. 
 Concrete possesses the 
 good quality of being 
 itf-^fff^; able to be turned to 
 ■-:>/-". account in bridging 
 :'•. V '. over the inequalities 
 '^y.-T' of an inferior kind of 
 foundation. Itformsin 
 the foundation trench 
 when properly laid a continuous solid mass from end to end capable of 
 spanning these weak places without yield or break. Thus an irregular 
 base is converted into one steady and solid, on which to erect the fabric 
 of a building. Where mother earth is sound at surface and good big 
 stones are abundant, nothing further is needed. Where, however, these 
 conditions either together or singly are absent, concrete is of great 
 advantage in this connection. In a brick district, too, it may be the 
 cheapest thing to use even under good circumstances as regards subsoil. 
 We have already emphasised the necessity of forming 
 the bottom of the foundation trench as level as possible. 
 A wall built on a foundation with a rake as in Fig. i cannot 
 be considered very stable. It may not be practicable to cut the whole 
 
 
 ^-^— '' — 1 '' 
 
 
 r^~T ^""^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ^- 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 =E^ 
 
 1(1 
 
 
 
 V- 
 
 ' • 
 
 . h - • ■ • ■ 
 
 '.» 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 The Founda- 
 tion Trenches
 
 26 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 length of the trench on one level. Irregularity of the surface may 
 prevent the thing being done. When the trench follows the inclination 
 of the slope it can be done at no point, that is to say, keeping economy 
 in view. It can be done, as Fig. 2 shows, by cutting deeper at the high 
 end of the trench, but if the inclination is (juick it can easily be seen 
 what a serious amount of extra building is implied under this manner 
 
 of working. The 
 same end can be 
 obtained by the 
 easier and sim- 
 pler method set 
 forth in Fig. 3, 
 which is equally 
 serviceable with 
 that of Fig. 2 ; 
 and out of 
 question consi- 
 derably cheaper. 
 
 Every change in level of the bottom of the foundation trench must be 
 followed up in the same way by one or more steps. If this is not observed 
 there must be unequal distribution of strain in the wall. In a well-built 
 wall the strains are allied into the perpendicular by gravity, and pass down 
 parallel in accordance with the arrows on Figs. 11, 13, 14 and 16, and 
 Avithin the outer and inner faces of the building. But the wall must be 
 plumb and the foundation equal in resistance throughout to allow of this. 
 \Mienever the bottom of the trench varies in level, at these points there 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 Fig. 
 
 4- 
 
 is, as Fig. 4 shows, a break in the uniform resistance of the bottom of 
 the trench and a consequent change in the distribution of the weight. 
 At points a, b, and c, the respective portions of wall raised on these are 
 bound to bear to the side which dips lowest and therefore to press 
 against the part of the wall there. Each portion of the wall, however, 
 is supposed to have its own duty meted out to it without having to 
 buttress adjoining parts in addition. Instead of the pieces we are 
 instancing being given a chance to stand strongly up to their work.
 
 THE WALLS. 
 
 27 
 
 their foothold is weakened by being placed on an incline down which 
 they would slide were they not arrested by the nearest part on the level. 
 In Fig. 5, we draw attention to the danger of carrying a foundation 
 that follows the face of rising ground too near the edge thereof. It is 
 a kind of foundation, however, that one is not often brought face to 
 
 ^^^<<U^' 
 
 Fig. 
 
 Fig. 6. 
 
 face with at the homestead. Still it has sometimes to be encountered, 
 and to be forewarned is generally to be forearmed. In a case of this 
 sort the wall must be kept in from the face beyond the point where the 
 outer side support of the section of soil on which the wall rests comes 
 to be non-effective. There is bound, of course, to be some outward 
 pressure from this section, becoming less as we descend. This is 
 
 fe, 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 T^ 
 
 ET 
 
 3 
 
 Fig. 7. 
 
 Fig. S. 
 
 Fig. 9. 
 
 represented in Fig. 6. It will not do, therefore, to go so near to the 
 face of the incline as to pass the point where there is too little bulk of 
 soil on that side to counterpoise the outward pressure referred to. If 
 we do the foundation will soon slip to that side and collapse. A 
 retaining wall such as in Fig. 7 will strengthen matters a little, but 
 not much more than results from the good effect of preventing the 
 soil from crumbling away through natural cause or otherwise being
 
 28 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 disturbed. It will prevent the exposed bank from being eaten back to 
 the dangerous point. Were it made sufficiently thick it would come 
 to take the place of the section of soil that was then wanting to bring 
 the surface to a common level, as ticked in on Fig. 8. Its weight would 
 then prevent its being readily thrust. But to make it so thick would 
 be expensive and add much to the cost of the building. On a bank of 
 firm rock we could come to the edge of the bank, the closeness thereto 
 being governed by the power of the rock to withstand the wear and 
 tear due to weather. Were it strong in this respect we could without 
 danger build on the brink, the one precaution being observed to cut 
 a level foothold for the wall as showm in Fig. 9. 
 
 That a wall to be as perfect as possible must be built 
 plumb is on account of the law of physics that a body, 
 through whose centre of gravity a perpendicular line passes 
 outside the figure formed by the several points on which 
 the body rests when in equilibrium, must have the aid of other 
 support else it will fall. Take 
 for instance a square board, say 
 twelve inches square and an inch 
 thick. Lying on its flat side, as 
 in Fig. ID, the board is in stable 
 equilibrium. So far as itself is 
 concerned it has no tendency to 
 change its position. Its centre 
 
 The reason 
 why Walls 
 must be built 
 Plumb. 
 
 W^^ 
 
 ':y////^/y/-/'^ 
 
 ■it 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
 Fig. II. 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 of gravity may be taken as lying at the point of intersection of its two 
 diagonals and therefore well within the figure described by the lines joining 
 its outer points of support. In this case the figure is a twelve-inch square 
 with the line through the centre of gravity right in the centre thereof — 
 a condition of perfect stability. But set the board up on edge. It will 
 stand thus, but in a position of unstable equilibrium as compared with 
 its former one. We are nearer the figure of our wall now, and the one 
 may be compared wdth the other. 
 
 Standing on edge on a level surface, as in Fig. 11, the board is 
 consequently plumb, and the vertical line which passes through its 
 centre of gravity falls within the figure defined by the points of its 
 support, this time a figure twelve inches long by an inch broad. Now, 
 however, a very slight cant of the board to one side, in accordance 
 with Fig. 12, throws the vertical line outside of the figure formed by 
 the base, with the effect of its toppling over and lying flat. Flatwise 
 it is in stable equilibrium ; on edge it is in a condition of unstable
 
 THE WALLS. 
 
 29 
 
 equilibrium. A body at rest with its centre of gravity situated as low- 
 as it possibly can be placed is in a state of stable equilibrium. The 
 same still at rest, but with its centre of gravity at the highest point 
 attainable, is in unstable equilibrium, and very 
 little will serve to set it seeking the more stable 
 position. The board when on its side is, as we 
 have said, in stable equilibrium, and not to be 
 shifted easily out of that condition ; but on edge it |^ 
 
 is never, so to speak, easy, and is ever ready to 
 assume the more fixed one. Were the board 
 thinner it would have the greater difficulty to 
 maintain the upright position. And so would it 
 were we to enlarge the board without altering its 
 
 thickness. In each case we are conducing to the 
 
 same adverse effect on the stability of the object. yig,. 13. 
 
 In narrowing the base, as in Fig. 13, we are 
 
 making it the harder for the vertical line through the centre of gravity to 
 keep within the side lines formed by the base. Enlarging the board with- 
 out adding to the thickness, as in Fig. 14, we are doing the same thing. 
 
 Zr 
 
 Fig. 14. 
 
 Fig. 15. 
 
 We are here again increasing the ratio of the height of centre of 
 gravity to breadth of base. A very slight sway to the side, as in 
 Fig. 15, would now throw the vertical line outside the lines which
 
 30 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 defined the base, and bring about the fall of the board. As small a 
 force would upset it as would do so in the case of Fig. 13. 
 
 The wall conies under the self-same laws. It must first, however, 
 be knit together in all its parts as one continuous fabric. Until this 
 occurs each stone in the building has to be taken on its own merits. 
 It can hardly be said that each piece is a separate mass of matter on 
 which the laws of gravitation are free to work their will. In the 
 course of erection this is so to a considerable extent. But even when 
 the building is at its greenest the individuality of the several stones 
 that compose the same is much curtailed through the adhesive action 
 of the mortar, and the weight of the part of the wall that happens to 
 be above them. These other forces bring an entirely different state of 
 matters into play from what takes place when the stones are left to be 
 
 dealt with singly and without the 
 interference of other forces than 
 gravitation. Placed together in 
 the wall, one either bears upon or 
 leans against another, and is thus 
 prevented from changing its 
 place, the mortar further tending 
 to prevent separation of the 
 component fragments. It needs 
 little reflection to understand 
 why it is that, notwithstanding 
 such aids to stability as the 
 adhesiveness of the mortar, those 
 stones that are shaped nearest in 
 
 outline to our assumed board and 
 
 laid on their face are the least 
 liable to shift, and go to form 
 the strongest wall. They, like 
 the board, are in stable equilibrium, and have no inclination to shift in 
 any direction except steadily downwards. Not only do they lie securely 
 themselves, they help others lying above them to do so ; they press 
 equally on the area beneath them, absorbing in themselves any dis- 
 ruptive tendencies that ill-shaped or badly bedded stones immediately 
 overhead are causing. As we shall find, it is customary to stipulate 
 that numbers of stones approaching the shape variously termed 
 "headers," "throughbands," and so on, be distributed throughout the 
 wall as it proceeds. 
 
 Once the mortar has " set," and the wall has become a whole, 
 arrowing stronger (internally at least) with years, it may be held as 
 analogous to the board aforesaid. Turning then to Fig. 16, and 
 leaving out of account the part of the wall underground, the erection 
 will take no harm ; it will not fall, at any rate, until the line, as before, 
 
 ± 
 
 33;
 
 THE WALLS. 
 
 31 
 
 passing down through the centre of gravity of the wall, goes outside 
 the edge of the base of the figure. But in practice the foundation 
 counts — it does at any rate when put together with mortar and made 
 continuous with the wall, and this being usually wider than the wall 
 itself helps the stability of the structure. The centre of gravity is now 
 brought nearer the ground, and the base is widened. A concrete 
 foundation does not tell in this way, because the cement is " set " before 
 building takes place upon it, and therefore, foundation and wall cannot 
 be continuous. And, to a certain extent, a damp course will serve 
 to break the bond of union between wall and foundation. There is 
 not, indeed, much danger of a well-built wall, given fair play, e\er 
 swaying over to the falling point. A poorly-built one, it is needless to 
 say, will lighten itself long before the critical point of a good one is 
 reached. How long a good one may keep its feet, even when con- 
 siderably off the perpendicular, we have the famous example of the 
 leaning tower of Pisa. But we look for nothing but plumb-walls at 
 homesteads. They are rarely so high that any excuse can be advanced 
 for their going to one side. 
 
 The mortar of every-day use is an intimate mixture of 
 r inary IJnie and sand made into a thin paste with water. The 
 
 lime is burnt limestone, the principal natural form of 
 carbonate of lime, or, to speak more technically, calcium carbonate. 
 Roasted in kilns, the carbonic acid or carbon di-oxide is driven ofif as 
 gas from the limestone by the heat generated, and lime or the oxide 
 of calcium left. In practice the quarried pieces of lime are thrown 
 together with a certain portion of coal into the open limekiln. Provision 
 is made for fire being applied at the bottom of the basin-like building, 
 and for a sufficiency of air to promote combustion being admitted at 
 will. On cooling down, the contents of the kiln are thrown out as lime 
 •shells, in a state of purity corresponding to the quality both of the 
 limestone and the coal dealt with, and to the thoroughness of the 
 process. If the limestone prove inferior the proportion of effective 
 shell to the initial stone will be the less ; if the coal be indifferent a 
 good deal of unnecessary cinder will be in the shell ; and if the process 
 is not thorough the best will not have been made either of limestone 
 or coal, W'hether one or both be bad. 
 
 Lime shells are known as quicklime. They have 
 xiorF^^"^^^^' great avidity for moisture. Whenever they come in 
 contact with water they absorb it greedily and enter into 
 chemical combination therewith, evincing much heat at the time and 
 crumbling to powder. The mason, on delivery of the shells, at once 
 sends a labourer to attend to them. The labourer arranges them in a 
 heap, surrounding the base with a proper quantity of sand, then pours 
 water over them until they are thoroughly drenched or " slaked," as 
 the term goes. This finished he envelops theheap in sand and allows
 
 32 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 it to remain undisturbed for some time. It is all the better to be 
 
 untouched for two or three weeks. In that time all the particles in the 
 
 heap may get a chance to be moistened, and the whole contents to 
 
 become well " soured," as the tradesman says. 
 
 About two parts of sand to one of lime is considered the standard 
 
 proportion in making mortar. It is impracticable to heap all this 
 
 quantity of sand on the shells at the time of slaking. No more 
 
 than will cover the shells and to some extent retain the moisture is 
 
 required to begin with. The full allowance of sand is added when the 
 
 mortar is being prepared for the builder. Preparatory to this, the by 
 
 this time quite dry contents of the heap are passed through a sieve 
 
 or riddle which ensures that no hard pieces of matter get into the 
 
 mortar, then water and additional sand are added and the stuff 
 
 made ready for use. 
 
 _, . ,, The mortar gradually dries and hardens in the wall, 
 
 The "setting _ o -' . _ ' 
 
 or hardening binding all, stones and lime, into one solid piece. This 
 of Mortar. takes time, however, according to the circumstances 
 
 that affect each case. Some take a short time, others a long time. In 
 any case it does not do to scamp the proper bedding and locking 
 together of the stones above referred to, trusting to the mortar to 
 correct the evil. When the latter has reached the stony stage it is 
 then able to hold the weak parts in place, but there flaws would need 
 long as well as careful bolstering ere the mortar were fit for that 
 purpose. 
 
 z\.ccording to theory, the hardening of mortar in the wall is due to 
 the reconversion of the oxide of lime to the carbonate. It absorbs 
 carbonic acid from the atmosphere and reverts to carbonate of lime. 
 This takes a considerable time. The lime dries as it hardens. If 
 subjected to the influence of more moisture than was added when it 
 was being prepared, the natural process of the hardening of the mortar 
 is hindered, and if this be continued too long it will lose the power of 
 "setting." Unlike Portland cement, it will not cohere at all under 
 water. Some of it will dissolve and a larger portion be taken up in 
 solution by the water, the remainder will become disintegrated and be 
 turned into sediment. 
 
 The quality of the mortar depends much on the nature of the sand it 
 is made up with, assuming, of course, that the lime is good to start 
 with. It is argued that since there is much silica in sand, this unites 
 with the lime to form silicate of lime. But the chief part taken by sand 
 in the partnership seems to be that the separate grains or particles 
 afford suitable media round which the slowly forming carbonate of lime 
 can crystallise. Each constitutes a nucleus or rallying point for the 
 carbonate as it generates. The cleaner the sand —the freer it is of 
 mud or earthy matter — the more effective the part it plays in mortar. 
 The grittier, too, the better. It is no uncommon thing to find it in the
 
 THE WALLS. 33 
 
 ruins of some ancient castle more after the nature of gravel than sand. 
 
 There is a happy medium, however. When it is too coarse in grain 
 
 the resulting mortar is not conducive to close bedding of the stones. 
 
 But this is of less moment in the country than in the town. In the 
 
 town square polished stones are much dealt with, and these have to be 
 
 accommodated with close-textured mortar ; and brickwork requires 
 
 a mortar less gritty than answers for roughish stonework. In towns, 
 
 or where\er big jobs justify the use of the pug mill for mixing mortar, 
 
 we find the labourer throwing all manner of stuff into the tub or trough 
 
 — brickbats, chips of stone of all kinds, sand (earthy and otherwise), 
 
 and not a little soil at times, and yet turn out the best of mortar. This 
 
 seems to belie what we have been saying, yet there is bovmd to be truth 
 
 in both rather contradictory facts. In the pug mill the miscellaneous 
 
 contents are subjected to treatment that converts the whole into a 
 
 mixture more after the nature of a cement than ordinary mortar 
 
 composed of lime and sand pure and simple. 
 
 Here may be a suitable place to warn beginners against the use of 
 
 sand that has been recently under the influence of sea water in buildings. 
 
 Such sand is ever absorbent of moisture from the atmosphere, and 
 
 buildings that contain it are never really dry. It is possible to wash 
 
 out the salt of sand thus contaminated from a builder's point of view ; 
 
 and sea sand from far above high-water mark is not liable to have much 
 
 of it in its hold ; but it is advisable to keep clear of both when possible. 
 
 Portland cement is another substance occasionally put 
 
 Portland ^^ ^^^ ^^ mortar — only under special conditions, how- 
 
 Cement. . 
 
 ever. It is not well adapted to the every-day purposes 
 
 of the builder. It sets too quickly to be effective as mortar for wall- 
 bailding. In the case of ordinary mortar, for long after the building 
 has been completed the lime will be found comparatively soft and 
 yielding, therefore capable of adaptation to a considerable amount of 
 compression. Matters would be different were Portland cement the 
 mortar that held the stones together. Before many courses were laid 
 the mortar in the first one would be set hard as stone, with the conse- 
 quence that instead of its being able to pack closely into the internal 
 crevices, holding the stones tighter together as the rising wall increased 
 in weight, it would have to find relief in cracking and splitting. But 
 were it the equal of lime for building with, its price would forbid its 
 general application to the purposes of the mason. 
 
 Portland cement is largely taken advantage of at the homestead in 
 the manufacture of concrete for floors. It is of much avail too in 
 the construction of watertight tanks of stone or brick ; and in some 
 positions it serves well to point with, and to plaster parts of walls 
 much subjected either to wet or to hard knocks. 
 
 It differs from lime in being more complex in composition. In the 
 process of its setting mor^ forces would seem to come into play than 
 
 M.H. D
 
 34 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 are supposed to be concerned in the hardening of lime mortar. We 
 
 have already mentioned that Portland cement will set as well under 
 
 water as in any ordinary place elsewhere. In fact, it begins to set of 
 
 its own accord, and that without the help of sand or other partner of 
 
 the kind whenever affected by moisture. On this account Portland 
 
 cement cannot be safely stored in a damp place. Of course, if exposed 
 
 to rain it will harden right off and become usless as mortar. It can be 
 
 used either with or without sand as circumstances decide. It is nearly 
 
 always advisable, however, to mix it with more or less sand. There 
 
 is not much risk of giving it too much, because, speaking generally, it 
 
 can carry more than lime is capable of doing. 
 
 Lime is the most fully represented body in Portland cement. A 
 
 certain percentage of clay is also present in the substance. It is not 
 
 altogether a natural product, although it can be manufactured almost 
 
 entirely from special kinds of deposit of a more or less rocky description. 
 
 Unlike the simpler lime, it is ready for the builder as it leaves the hands 
 
 of the producer. 
 
 Another kind of mortar lying, as regards composition, 
 
 somewhere half-way between lime and Portland cement 
 
 is known under the name of Arden lime. It, too, is ready for use when 
 
 it reaches the builder. Very seldom does Arden lime take the place of 
 
 ordinary lime in wall-building ; it does not at the homestead, at any 
 
 rate. Pointing is the principal end it serves. 
 
 We have now got our stones and mortar, and may pro- 
 
 uiiding ceed to the erection of the walls. The foundations are 
 
 Stone vValls. 
 
 usually laid six inches or so wider on each side than the 
 walls. This extra width where it finishes at the surface and forms a 
 ledge or shelf at either side is termed the scarcement. Large flat 
 stones make the best material for a foundation. Sometimes these are 
 laid one upon another without the addition of mortar. This we con- 
 sider is not economical. A more satisfactory basement for the wall 
 will be afforded where all the joints and crevices in the foundation have 
 been toned down by the means of mortar. Where mortar is not too 
 scrimped in application it will take upon itself many of the strains 
 that affect the wall, and in its yielding before these, by pressing into 
 places where tension is slightest, in this way serve as a sort of elastic 
 packing to equalise the pressure throughout the whole. But whatever 
 the kind of stones turned to account in the foundation, and whether 
 we leave scarcements or not, or leave out the lime, we must, without 
 fail, observe what we previously enforced regarding the bottom of the 
 trench. At no part must it be so left that any piece of the wall, 
 not even a running foot of it, can have other than a straight down 
 pressure — parallel with the plumb-line. The matters of the class of 
 stones, and that of mortar, are not of such vital importance as this one — 
 that the wall must, over the whole area of its foundation, press down
 
 THE WALLS. 35 
 
 at right angles to the l)ottom of the trench, and this it cannot do unless, 
 
 to begin with, the latter he everywhere strictly horizontal. 
 
 „ , , , , The walls of farm buildings where of stone are built 
 
 Rubble work. 
 
 after the style known as random rubble work. The 
 
 stones are taken as they come and fitted together in the manner they 
 are likely to lie most conformably one with the other. There is no 
 exact squaring of corners observed previous to the stones being laid 
 near at hand to the builder. The builder and hewer are one and the 
 same person at this style of work. Before starting to build at any 
 time he first o\-erhauls the stones, selecting the best for the outer face 
 of the wall, and laying them to one side. Each of these must have one 
 smoothish face to present to the world. If no suitable face is already 
 on the stone one must be given it. This is accomplished by means of 
 hammer and chisel or hammer alone in accordance with the texture 
 of the stone. At the same time, the sharpest of the corners are knocked 
 ofT, and what of the edge surrounding the face that requires it is 
 dressed back at right angles to the same, the part behind being brought 
 into conformity therewith. When this is done the stone is of itself 
 assured of a good bed, while it offers the same to those that are to be 
 both against and above it, and all present close-fitting joints to the 
 exterior. Less regard is paid to the stones that are to form the inner 
 face of the wall, although some measure of the same kind has to be 
 meted out to them. Those that are to be consigned to the interior of 
 the wall are taken as they come and filled in as they are required, small 
 regard being paid as to how the hammer affects them so long as they 
 yield before it. 
 
 Best Class of Stones of the nature of sandstone — the various freestones 
 Stones for the — are of all kinds handled by the mason the most readily 
 put in shape for building purposes. Limestones and 
 some of the shaly rocks are not far behind them. Granite is not so 
 bad either. But hard trap rocks such as whin which fracture at sharp 
 angles are difficult to coax into shape suitable for a good w^all. With 
 hammer alone an expert mason can work wonders on them, yet it is 
 easy to understand how^ hard it is to dress a stone of this class into form 
 that will afford all round the outer face that uniform and effective joining 
 with contiguous stones referred to above. For this reason these stones 
 are not very well adapted for rubble work, at least of the kind seen at 
 the ordinary steading. It is not easy to build a wall with these that 
 will keep out rain. With hammer and chisel they can be dressed into 
 blocks having good beds and side joints, and in this shape be built to 
 form an excellent wall, pleasing to the eye as well as impenetrable to 
 rain. But this implies increased expense compared with ordinary 
 building. With care, however, it is possible to have a dry wall even 
 with these hammer-dressed alone. It may be thought that the home- 
 stead walls have no need to be so carefully erected as the walls of 
 
 D 2
 
 36 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 dwellings. They must, howe\er, be dry as well as strong, and neither 
 consummation can be attained witliout the exercise of care and pains- 
 taking. Boulders are sometimes the most readily available source of 
 either granite or whinstone and their allies. A mason experienced in 
 the handling of these can quickly knock them into shape, and a 
 wonderfully good wall they make under a man of this kind. 
 Finishing of The corners of walls and the outer sides of the various 
 
 Corners and openings therein — doorw^ays and windows — require to be 
 of Door and ,.,,.,, . ^ . ., . _ . 
 
 Window finished with dressed stones of a uniform size. This 
 
 Openings. affords solidity and strength to these parts, which they 
 
 would not have were they merely a continuation of the rubble wall. The 
 corner stones are hewn level above and below, and squared at the sides. 
 This gives them a uniform bed all over the breadth and length of the 
 stone, and allows them to sit solid irrespective almost of mortar as an 
 aid. The remainder of the wall has to await the time of the mortar 
 before it becomes really solid. Secure corners thus keep the w^all 
 together while it is green, and are ever after solid buttresses guarding 
 the flanks and angles of the building. They serve as a sort of firm 
 framework in which to set the remainder while in its incoherent state. 
 
 It is possible, of course, by exercising special care, to finish off the 
 corners and the sides of the various openings without any special treat- 
 ment of the kind, and thus make them uniform with the rest of the 
 building. But done in this way they can never be strong, and certainly 
 they are neither so sightly nor so symmetrical-looking as when com- 
 pleted after the ordinary fashion. The sides of doorways are often 
 built in this rather primitive way, but seldom the sides of the windows, 
 or the corners of the buildings, unless indeed the work is of the crudest 
 description. Doorways finished so are spoken of by the Scottish trades- 
 men as being " scuntioned," the term evidently applying to openings 
 in the wall not edged with stones hewn to a uniform shape and size. 
 The inner part of the sides of windows, the part splayed inwards to 
 allow the admission of as much light as possible, as well as the inner 
 corners of door openings, are on the same account termed " scuntions." 
 These, in dwelling-houses, are hidden behind the plaster, and so long 
 as they are made strong, have no need to be finished in hewn stone. 
 But at the steading " scuntions " such as we are discussing are left as 
 they develop under the mason's hand, he just taking a little more trouble 
 in the selection of stones for these positions and in the fitting of them 
 together, and in their pointing afterwards. Inside, a corner constructed 
 in that way may last for long enough, while outside it might early show 
 signs of decay. Notwithstanding this, it might prove serviceable enough 
 long after appearances were against it. Experience, however, has 
 taught the builder that it is economical to use dressed stones of the 
 kind referred to in the construction of the rubble wall at the homestead. 
 In brick buildings nothing of the kind is necessary, because each brick,
 
 THE WALLS. 
 
 37 
 
 each unit that is in the composition of the wall, is of uniforni size and 
 shape, and at any part thereof a break can be made the sides whereof 
 are as strong as the rest of the wall. The rectangular ends of the 
 bricks make ever sure of a hard, clean-cut solid corner either at gable 
 or opening through the wall. 
 
 In Fig. 17 the hewn or dressed corners show themselves in contra- 
 distinction to the plain rubl)le building. The stones of a similar 
 kind used for the sides of 
 doors and windows as repre- 
 sented in Figs. 18 and ig 
 are technically known as 
 " rybats." These, it will be 
 observed, are built alter- 
 nately with side and end 
 outwards, in order further 
 to bind and keep together 
 the irregular stones lying 
 near to them. "Inband"and 
 " outband " are the terms in 
 use for this arrangement of 
 the stones, the iirst implying 
 that the stones are laid 
 lengthwise across the wall, the other that their length runs with the 
 face of the wall. The corner stones are similarly laid in this alternate 
 fashion so as to tie the corners firmly to the whole fabric. 
 
 , . , , The door and window openingrs require, further, to be 
 
 Lintels. . . f & n > ' 
 
 bridged over. Asmgle stone known as the " lintel," marked 
 rton Figs, lb and 19, accomplishes this. In some cases it is practicable to 
 arch over a wide opening, which is a stronger method than lintelling 
 
 Fig. 17. 
 
 Sx 
 
 llG iS. 
 
 Fig. 19. 
 
 with stone. W'he 1 the opening exceeds a certain width either wood or 
 iron must be used : stone is not fibrous enough -to withstand fracture 
 when placed under a strain of this nature. It will bear compression or
 
 38 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 a squeeze to almost any degree, but compared with either wood or iron 
 it is weak under contortion or twisting. The ordinary-sized openings 
 of either doors or windows are, however, well within the minimum that 
 stone can be relied upon to bridge over with safety, and it gives us a 
 material that will prove co-existent with the building. The same 
 cannot be said of wood nor yet of iron. The latter with care might be 
 made almost as lasting. But continuous care of this kind is not usually 
 exhibited at the homestead. 
 
 ^... The window openings have to be provided with still 
 
 another dressed bordering, the sill, b on Fig. i8 ; and 
 in the generality of cases so have the doorways, with steps. The 
 window-sill is necessary by way of a level support for the window-case 
 as well as to ensure a watertight base for the exposed part of the open- 
 ing. Something strong is needed in each instance, and in a single stone 
 we find a proper medium. 
 
 ^ ^ A damp course is a necessity in the walls of a dwelling- 
 
 Damp Course. . 
 
 house of any kind. It is not, however, usual to put them 
 
 in farm buildings, though the cost thereof is so small compared with the 
 benefit likely to be derived therefrom that we consider their use 
 justifiable economy in a great many cases. The object a damp course 
 serves is to cut off from the wall all direct communication with the 
 ground damp that is open to affect the foundation. A little above the 
 level of the ground surface a so-called watertight course is laid all round 
 the w^alls. Sometimes one material is used, sometimes another. A 
 row of slates embedded in Portland cement is a common form of damp 
 course, or it may be the same cement used alone. Asphalt makes one 
 of the best. The stuff is melted and perhaps sand added : it is then 
 ladled out of the cauldron and laid along the level surface in one con- 
 tinuous sheet an inch or so thick and the full breadth of the wall. 
 When this coating has become firm the wall is begun upon it and 
 carried up as usual. If effectively done it completely prevents ground 
 damp rising in the wall, whether under capillary attraction or the 
 influence of other forces. Asphalt is a material less likely to fracture 
 under pressure or irregular strain than Portland cement. The latter, 
 as we indicated pre\'iously, hardens before the wall has had time to 
 adjust itself to the various strains that play upon it and settle down to 
 stable equilibrium. On that account the cement gets fractured. It 
 cannot adapt itself to changing strains like a softer material can, and in 
 consequente has to break instead of bend. Every break means a crack, 
 and up a crack ground damp, if present to any extent, will readily find 
 a way. Asphalt, on the other hand, is elastic, or yielding, and capable 
 of giving \yay to pressure without fracturing, and it is quite as imper- 
 vious to moisture as Portland cement. We sometimes have prepared 
 paper and various felty materials brought under our notice as likely 
 substitutes for damp courses? But something of a more tangible nature
 
 THE WALLS. 
 
 39 
 
 than either of these is required in the make-up of what has to hold its 
 own in the life history of the outer shell of a building of stone and lime. 
 We hinted above that a damp course might be apt to break the bond of 
 continuity between wall and foundation. There is not much in this, 
 however. To push it home would be like making a mountain out of a 
 molehill. A course of the description last referred to might break the 
 bond, but hardly either of the other two. Even if they did, we could 
 look for the wall still to perform its duty. 
 
 \\'e are now free to discuss the wall proper. The usual 
 the^Walfs ° thickness of the rubble wall as we find it at the steading 
 
 is 21 inches — i foot 9 inches. When bricks are used the 
 hickness of the outer walls is g inches, or at the outside 14^. The 
 reason of a thinner wall being allowable when bricks are taken in place 
 of stone ought now to be somewhat apparent to those of our readers 
 hitherto unacquainted with such matters. Unlike the irregular-shaped 
 stones that go to form rubble, the bricks are identical in size and 
 shape, and can be fitted close together with little effort and without 
 ha\ing recourse either to hammer or chisel. Each brick comes to the 
 builder's hand ready shaped, to bed easily and firmly with what have 
 already been deposited, and in turn to form an equally firm bed to what 
 have still to be added to the structure. In like manner do they lend 
 themselves to easy combination with those either to right or left of them. 
 With stone matters are entirely different, unless of course the pieces 
 happen to be blocked out and hewn into rectangular form like bricks as 
 we see in some of the better kinds of mason Avork. Even then, how- 
 ever, it is usually but as an outward veneer to the wall, the rest of it 
 being built of irregularly-shaped stones. But with the rubble wall pure 
 and simple we are at the antipodes of building from one of brick. The 
 corners and sides of openings are, as we have seen, something on the 
 line of brick building, but the remainder of the wall, with the exception 
 of its outer skin, is more of the nature of coarse concrete than anything 
 else. 
 
 In order to distribute as equally as possible throughout 
 
 'Tu ^^ l^u' T^ the wall the pressure of its own weijjht, and what in turn 
 I nrougnbanas. ^ '^ ' 
 
 it supports, which is no slight matter in an incoherent 
 erection such as a raw or newly-built rubble wall, experience teaches 
 that the frequent introduction of large stones that reach right across 
 the breadth of the wall help to stiffen the mass into one coherent whole. 
 In Eig. 20 it can be seen how these throughbands, or " headers " as stones 
 thus put to account are termed incline to do this. They begin afresh, 
 as it were, with a sound base on which to lay the smaller stones. Every 
 other throughband is, as it were, a renewal of the foundation. If one 
 compares Fig. 21 with Fig. 20, it is easy to see the impqrtance of this 
 point in building. In Fig. 21 the stones are so arranged that there is 
 little to keep the wall from splitting should it exer come to be subjected
 
 40 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 t£ 
 
 "T-r 
 
 ~rF 
 
 'S 
 
 m 
 
 Fig 20. 
 
 Fig. 21. 
 
 to strains tending that way. A badly-put-together roof, as we shall 
 see under that head, may bring about strains of this kind. The ties, or 
 
 throughbands, in Fig. 20 
 entirely prevent this. If 
 judiciously distributed 
 throughout the wall, they 
 bind the several pieces of 
 the fabric as one, even when 
 the other stones are small 
 and not well shapen for 
 building. They equalise the 
 strain due to gravity as well 
 as those that incline to 
 thrust it beyond the plumb. 
 It is usual to stipulate that 
 so many of these are to be 
 built in a certain area of the 
 wall, and that they be placed alternately as regards their vertical position. 
 Those of one row^ 
 must not be laid 
 directly over those 
 in the next row 
 beneath. They must 
 be distributed as 
 equally as prac- 
 ticable over the 
 superficial area of 
 the wall. Fig. 22, 
 which shows the 
 ends of the throughbands in thicker lines than those of the surrounding 
 
 stones, represents the point in hand. 
 
 Flat stones, we need hardly state, make a 
 better wall than either angular or roundish 
 ones. A wall constructed of flat stones, as in 
 Fig. 23, has not the same need of through- 
 bands as one after the nature of that shown 
 in Fig. 21, which perhaps is rather an 
 extreme example made to point a moral. 
 The wall of flat stones is nearly all through- 
 bands together. It can be so built at any rate 
 as to make it quite possible to dispense with 
 these being introduced specially. 
 Builders of rubble work can 
 hardly refrain from setting up 
 
 They 
 
 Fig. 
 
 Bedding the 
 Stones. 
 
 Fig. 2j. 
 the stones on ed<re rather than beddinj/ them flatwise in the wall.
 
 THE WALLS. 
 
 41 
 
 are so intent on getting ahead with the outer face of the building, the 
 most finicking part, that they will readily sacrifice efiiciency of the 
 interior of the wall to this motive. A flattish stone set up on edge makes 
 sure certainly of a goodly addition to the outer skin. Its shallowness, 
 however, or rather its thinness, makes weakly the joints of such armour, 
 and rain when beaten against it will very soon find its wav behind. The 
 same stone laid flat adds little in comparison to the outer face, but adds 
 far more to the efficiency of the wall than the other instance. It makes 
 it stronger, and it defies rain to find a way easily into the interior of 
 the wall so far as the joints of its armour are concerned. 
 
 A leaky wall brings mischief in its train. The rain, once an entrance 
 is gained, seeks down for an outlet, and no one can tell where that is 
 likely to be. It may be inside, it may be outside ; as likely as not it 
 will appear in a steady drip from the lintel of door or window. But 
 wherever it goes 
 harm is resulting 
 to the wall and bad 
 effects are apt to 
 follow on either 
 man or animal 
 housed thereby. 
 The lime can never 
 set properly vinder 
 these circum- 
 stances ; in fact, if 
 nmch rain finds 
 passage into the 
 wall, it in time 
 carries a good deal away in solution, as one can see from the 
 rudimentary stalactites or limy deposits that gather al)out the points 
 of exit. 
 
 A badly jointed wall — that is, one the face joints whereof go no depth 
 inwards — can hardly be kept dry if it stands exposed to gales of wind. 
 The driving rain is certain to find a way through the outer surface, 
 more especially if the heart of the wall is not well packed, and more- 
 over is devoid of its due measure of mortar. Wind will then get into 
 the wall and with it rain when the two assault in company. Looking 
 at the stones a, b, c in Fig. 24, one can grasp the defective jointing of 
 each at a glance. Wind and rain have only to beat long enough at the 
 weak part of each to gain entrance beyond. Compare these now with 
 the section of a brick wall as represented in Fig. 25. Here we ha\e 
 the perfection of bedding and jointing, an even and level bed extending 
 over the whole area of each brick above and below and similarly with 
 its jointing faces at sides and back, these touching uniformly at all 
 parts the same shaped bricks at either side and behnid. Built with 
 
 ^■ 
 
 Fig. 
 
 Fig. 25.
 
 42 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Bond in build 
 ing as exem- 
 plified in 
 Brickwork. 
 
 good mortar, it is easy to see that wind and rain Avill hardly be able to 
 drive rain through the joints of such a structure. 
 
 A demonstration in the interlocking of bricks in a building, 
 or "bonding'" as the technical term goes, brings home at 
 once to the tyro the importance of the matter of placing 
 the stones of a wall on the lines we have been seeking to 
 make plain the reason thereof. There are various systems of doing 
 this, but they are mostly modifications of the best known two, viz., the 
 
 old English bond and the 
 Flemish bond. Fig. 26 
 shows the arrangement 
 of bricks in the former 
 and Fig. 27 that obser\ed 
 in the latter. In the old 
 English bond a row or 
 course of headers — bricks 
 laid crosswise, through- 
 bands, in fact — alter- 
 nates with a course of 
 stretchers — bricks laid longwise or stretching along the face of the wall. 
 Thus the side or end joints of one course never coincide with those of the 
 course immediately beneath or of the course immediately above it. Tlie 
 bond is "broken," as the term runs. The joints of one course strike the 
 solid bricks of the course next below, and in this way the points of least 
 resistance to shearing: force are 
 
 
 A III III' 
 
 
 / 1. 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 ' 1 1' 1 - 
 
 
 U ■ '1 ' ' ^' 'i ' ' 1' 1 1 1 ', ' 
 
 
 1 r 1 I'l 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 
 T 1 1 ! 1 , 1 ( ' 
 
 
 1' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 1' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 h 
 
 
 
 
 1 1 1 1 1 1, 1 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 II 1 1 1 1,1 1 
 
 
 ri 1 II 1 1 II II II 1 
 
 
 
 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 
 
 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 
 
 [1 
 
 
 1 .1, |l, I'l I'l |l| ,1, 
 
 T 
 
 
 -H-'-i' '1' '1' ',' '1' '1' ' 
 
 j 
 
 
 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 , 1 
 
 J 
 
 i 
 
 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 1 
 
 Fig. 26. 
 
 I ' 1 . . I I 
 
 I I I I 
 
 nc 
 
 ^^=5^ 
 
 I I II 
 
 TT 
 
 ^T— r 
 
 ET 
 
 =^=tr^ 
 
 III 
 
 1 I 
 
 xn. 
 
 ,1 I,' ,1 
 
 ^S 
 
 JZL 
 
 JZl 
 
 T-t 
 
 I I I I 
 
 I I I I 
 
 rr 
 
 3I-C 
 
 I , : i I 
 
 Ml I 
 
 in 
 
 d; 
 
 Fig. 
 
 equally distributed throughout 
 
 the area of the wall. This is 
 
 tlie aim underlying the different 
 
 varieties of bond, and whichever 
 
 comes nearest the mark is the 
 
 most eflfective. There is not 
 
 much room for choice of either 
 
 before the other of the examples 
 
 represented. To make tor 
 
 strength in the wall there ought 
 
 to be more headers than stretchers ; but the bricklayer nearly always 
 
 steers clear of headers until appearances fairly force him to introduce 
 
 them. Like the mason "setting the flat stones on edge, he gets along 
 
 speedier with the stretchers than with the headers. 
 
 The standard size of bricks is g inches long, ^^ inches 
 broad or wide, and 3 inches deep or thick. They are 
 indeed barely 4^ inches broad. Were they made the 
 
 full width mentioned, there would be no room left for the mortar joint 
 
 when the headers came to be placed over a stretcher, as in Fig. 28 ; or, 
 
 what is the same thing, they would fail to maintain with the almost 
 
 Standard Size 
 of Bricks.
 
 THE WALLS. 
 
 43 
 
 Fig. 28. 
 
 mathematical precision we usually see in a brick wall the relative 
 position of the joints in alternate courses. The headers would gain on 
 the stretchers and the joints of the former would strike the latter at all 
 parts as well as the centre of the bricks. The joints too of the two 
 courses would come to coincide in their regular turn. 
 
 Either when starting from or finishing up at a corner it is necessary 
 to introduce " closers," or bricks reduced to a size that 
 w'ill gradually lead the bricklayer into the regular rhythm 
 of his work as regards the due measure of the bond he 
 essays to keep. Fig. 29 will serve to make plain what 
 we mean. \\'ere he to lead off with whole bricks as in 
 the lowest part of the fig., he would never be able to 
 break bond. Starting with a course of stretchers and 
 following with one of headers, the joint of the second 
 two of these would coincide with the edge of the stretcher beneath. 
 Halving the second header, as in the middle portion of the fig., would 
 let the bricklayer out of the difficulty, and with a little chipping off the 
 succeeding two or three would bring him to the desired symmetry. 
 When the wall is a single one, of stretchers alone, the difficulty is simply 
 got over, as in the uppermost portion of the fig., by halving a brick in 
 
 every alternate course. A 
 reversal of these processes 
 
 has to be observed in wind- 
 ing up or breaking the line 
 at a corner as represented in 
 Fig. 30. 
 
 Bricks come in handy for 
 erecting some of the parti-- 
 tions of a rubble-built home- 
 stead, seeing that a brick 
 partition takes up less room 
 than a stone one, and con- 
 sequently saves outlay in 
 roofing, and in front and 
 back walls as Avell. In some 
 cases a 4^-inch dividing wall 
 suffices ; in nearly all others 
 a g-inch one wdl do. Sometimes it is practicable to reduce one of the 
 last mentioned breadth to one of 4^ inches after the level of the wall 
 head has been reached. 
 
 Pointing- the ^^ hen the wall is erected the joints of its outer faces are 
 Outer Face afterwards carefully pointed either with common lime 
 of Walls. niortar or with Arden lime mortar, or it may be Portland 
 
 cement. The original mortar is first raked out of the joints, whether 
 the wall is of bri'ek or of stone. The workman opens the joint from
 
 44 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 I'l' iT~TT~'li 
 
 Ml 1 1 ' 
 
 III II !l 
 
 __,! 1 II II • 
 
 _l 1 1 II 1 
 
 II II II 
 
 half-an-incli to one inch deep and fills it up with the pointing material, 
 leaving it neat and ship-shape on the outside as he proceeds. He has 
 various ways of finishing it off", which differ mostly in accordance with 
 the character of the building material, but the one that sheds ofT water 
 most readily is bound to be the best. Rain is the assailant that has to 
 
 be withstood. If the 
 heart of the wall be fairly 
 solid, there is less fear of 
 rain gaining an entrance ; 
 and, on the other hand, 
 good pointing will go con- 
 siderably to make up for 
 defects under this head. 
 But each has sufficient to 
 do in performing its own 
 part, and, if possible, it 
 should be seen that this 
 is carried out in practice. 
 It is unwise to allow pointing to be done near to the season in which frost 
 is liable to come on, either too late in autumn or too early in spring. If 
 a sharp frost gets the pointing in its grip before it has had time to set 
 firmly, most of it will need renewal. The inner joints are smoothed off 
 as the building proceeds and no more attention is paid to them. It is 
 practicable sometimes to finish off the outer face of brickwork as the 
 building proceeds — onlv, howe\er, in second-rate work and in seasonable 
 weather.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Roofs — Their Framework. 
 
 Ix the construction of the framework of these we have 
 
 ctx ':"°.'" less choice of materials than we find available for buildinsr 
 of Materials . *=> 
 
 for Roofing the walls. True enough we have only brick and stone as 
 
 ^^^J°^ the cfroundwork of the latter, but then while the stones 
 
 Building. 's ' . _ 
 
 are of many sorts, the wood made use of is of pine and fir 
 alone, and only one or two species of each. These are the soft woods 
 in contradistinction to the hard woods, such as oak, ash, beech,, 
 elm, &c. 
 
 The hard woods are deciduous in habit : they shed the 
 Woods^^ whole of their leaves on the approach of winter and 
 
 develop a new set in spring, fresh and green, in the 
 delicate network whereof the slowly coursing sap gets full and free 
 exposure to the light of heaven and the surrounding air. The soft 
 woods — the pines and firs, and their allies — with the exception of the 
 larch, retain their spine-shaped leaves through winter. In spring they 
 part with some as others make their appearance ; but they do not 
 change the lot at the short stated periods coincident with the altering 
 seasons as do the bigger leaved forest trees and shrubs. It is with 
 their leaves something as with the covering of our heads when in the 
 vigour of manhood — hairs are constantly dropping out, but others soon 
 take the vacated places. The larch resembles the first-mentioned leaf- 
 shedders in so far that it parts with the whole of its leaves at the advent 
 of winter and starts afresh in spring with an entirely new investiture. 
 And there are evergreen members of the deciduous family called so 
 because they retain their leaves from springtime till springtime — 
 sticking to them all winter and parting with them just as the fresh lot 
 are about to burst the buds. 
 
 The soft woods are of quicker growth than the others. 
 The Soft They, at any rate, come earlier to maturity. They are 
 
 lighter, more easily manipulated, and cheaper, and, at the 
 same time, well adapted to the purposes of the carpenter and joiner in 
 building, hence their general use in that connection. i\.nd not only are 
 we limited to the use of the pines and firs as a whole, but we are further 
 limited to those of foreign growth. There is abundance of home-grown 
 timber in Britain fit to do '''ood service in building were it cut into
 
 46 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 proper sizes and seasoned. Timber for building purposes can still, 
 
 however, be sent to us from abroad cheaper than we get home-prepared 
 
 stuff, and so long as that is the case with our forest products will we 
 
 have to rest content with matters as they are. 
 
 The foresters of Britain, like the farmers thereof, are still 
 
 ritish \-ictims to foreign competition, but unlike the latter, they so 
 
 Forestry of . . 
 
 small moment far have failed to make themselves felt in the available 
 
 M k 7^'"^ markets of their respective neighbourhoods. Forestry 
 with us is, generally speaking, on too small a scale to be 
 practised systematically and on strict commercial lines. On a few large 
 estates which embrace the class of land which it is considered profitable 
 to plant there is scope for the full practice of forestry as an art, and on 
 some we find this going on. But these are few and far between, and 
 the timber raised therein is unknown in the home markets for building 
 material. The most of it, indeed, is used up in other directions before it 
 attains the dignity of timber. The mature residue, however, is never 
 available to the builder. Much of it there is no doubt is bound to be 
 equally good with the foreign supply ; but, unfortunately, it is produced 
 in so small a quantity, and so intermittently, as to have no distinct place 
 of its own in the catalogue of the builder — it has no place there at all, 
 in fact. Rural economists are awaking to this state of matters, and 
 British foresters will now get a chance to keep their profession abreast of 
 others. They ha^■e slow and stern work before them, however. 
 
 A somewhat similar relation to that which forestry in general bears to 
 the building trade exists on the smaller estates with regard to their being 
 self-supporting in the matter of wood for the erection of farm buildings. 
 Even with good growing timber available on the ground the builder has 
 to look elsewhere than on the estate for what he wants even in the 
 elementary department of roof-making. He can get it cheaper and in 
 better condition as imported from the Continent or from America than 
 he can from the woods on the estate. This arises, it is but fair to state, 
 from the fact that on the small estate there are neither the appliances 
 for manufacturing timber into the stock sizes customary to the building 
 trade, nor the accommodation suitable to the tedious process of seasoning 
 the wood, without which preparation it is more profitable to use it as fire- 
 wood than in the roofs of buildings with the slightest claim to permanency. 
 There are parts of the homestead where it can be used 
 poshlo'ns' ^ ^° advantage without any very elaborate preparation 
 where home- being bestowed on it. Failing larch or oak, Scots pine 
 can^" ad^an- J^^^kes quite a serviceable wood for shed-posts. In this 
 tageously used case all that is wanted to begin with is to make sure 
 
 at t e ome- ^j ^ ^j wood is sound and fairly dry. If care is then 
 stead. -^ •' _ 
 
 taken that the end of the post inserted in the ground be 
 
 embedded in Portland cement concrete, it wmII, so long as the stick is 
 
 given fair play, last a considerable time. And timber derived from
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR FRAMEWORK. 47 
 
 most of our forest trees, provided the wood is matured and seasoned, 
 is as good as imported timber for " safe " or inner lintels. Providing 
 these for the builder implies no saw-mill or other timber-converting 
 machinery. The fencers alone with axe and cross-cut saw could see 
 to their being forthcoming. \\ here the forester is in evidence, and 
 good trees are about — and a few are to be found on nearly e\^ery 
 estate — it says little for the management of the estate when crude 
 timber, such as we have been referring to, is not available when 
 additions and repairs are going on at the different homesteads thereon. 
 It seems far from creditable indeed that each landed estate cannot 
 be self-supporting in such rude materials as the roofing timber of the 
 homestead — the rough rafters and covering boards — and the divisions in 
 stables and byres. A very elementary sawing apparatus would do the 
 work of conversion, and if other motive power were not available, an 
 oil engine is not an expensive item to charge against the upkeep of the 
 estate. Imported timber ready for use is, as we have said, easily 
 obtained anywhere, and at prices that cannot under usual management, 
 even with the trees at hand, be quoted on the great majority of estates. 
 There is room for enterprise here apparently, and for the encouragement 
 of rural labour in our home districts. We may enlarge on the subject 
 further on ; meantime we may say that spruce and silver fir make 
 excellent boarding suitable for homestead purposes, and they also, 
 together with Scots pine, are equally good for roofing baulks, door- 
 stiles, lintels, &c. And there is nothing better than larch for posts of 
 all kinds, Scots pine not being far behind where it is not likely to be 
 exposed to weather. Larch does either outside or in, and will for long 
 withstand the rigours and quick changes of our climate irrespective of 
 paint or other artificial protection. 
 
 Strictly speaking, most of the white pine of daily use is 
 
 Fir and Pine j-jot pine-wood at all. It is got from the spruce fir. Red 
 
 Wood m . . ^ ^ 
 
 general. pme IS the wood of the Scots pine tree. But our carpenters 
 
 include the timber of different species of trees under these 
 two heads. What we say is correct so far as it applies to our timber 
 supplies from the shipping ports on the other side of the German ocean. 
 From America we receive large quantities of wood of various kinds 
 Avhich is classified under the two heads of red and Avhite pine as above. 
 Pitch pine is another wood now much in vogue among country carpenters, 
 but there are few jobs at the homesteads in which its place cannot be 
 as well taken by red pine or larch. This is a product of warmer climes 
 than suit either the spruce fir or the Scots pine. Yellow pine is another 
 of the soft woods much taken advantage of by joiners. It is clean and 
 close in grain and easy to work, and makes excellent finishings in house- 
 work. This being its special province, we consequently see little or 
 none of it at the homestead, except, of course, at the farm-house, and 
 may be in a partial manner in the cottages.
 
 48 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Ked pine is fuller of resinous matter than the whiter wood 
 Red pine. . , ,- t r i r i 
 
 of the spruce lir. In tact, the presence of that accounts 
 
 for the reddish colour of the wood. The woody fibre is closer and 
 
 apparently better packed in the red than in the white. That, together 
 
 with the turpentine and resin contained in the substance of the wood 
 
 of the red pine, enables it to resist the effects of weather longer than 
 
 white pine can do. But where the two are placed under conditions 
 
 that ensure dryness, and are otherwise favourable to the welfare of 
 
 timber, the one that in our comparison has come out unfavourably will 
 
 have as long a life as the other. For doors and windows and other 
 
 fittings that are either wholly or in part exposed to weather, or for 
 
 posts partly inserted in the ground or with an end resting thereupon, 
 
 red pine is the proper wood to use ; but where the fitting will be 
 
 altogether inside, white pine or fir is quite good enough. For roofing 
 
 purposes, therefore, the latter is not far from being equal to red pine, 
 
 and it is cheaper. 
 
 But whatever the kind of wood we elect to use it must 
 The seasoning . , . 
 
 of Wood for '"^ seasoned to start with, whether it be tor the roofs or 
 
 building pur- ^^ly other part of the buildings. The sap must be dried 
 out of it, and no part must be of the nature of newly- 
 grown wood ; it must be mature. \\'ood to begin with is formed of 
 soft cells full of moisture. In time these elongate and cohere in the 
 stem and branches of the tree to form the fibre of wood. As this is 
 taking place, the cell contents are gradually being absorbed, or at any 
 rate becoming changed in character. In the young wood there is 
 exchange of matter from one cell to the other, and in this way a general 
 circulation throughout the mass goes on. But with age the cellular 
 matter becomes firmer and takes part in building up the tough fibrous 
 matter and this sort of circulation stops. The cells have then lost their 
 individuality and become incorporated as part of the wood. The older, 
 or rather, the riper the wood, the less of the original cell matter does it 
 contain, and the less apt is it to decompose. The cell contents are 
 soluble matters that readily break up into simple compounds, which 
 implies decay or death of the cell, and with it of the mass of which it is 
 a component part. The growing parts are all cellular, while the inner 
 or mature parts have lost the cellular construction and are fibrous and 
 tough. 
 
 To make use of wood therefore that is either in the cellular condition 
 or has sap in its interior (for even with mature wood more or less sap 
 penetrates by means of channels or open vessels that can easily be 
 detected by the luagnifying glass) is to court decay in the same. The 
 newly grown sappy cellular stuff will soon break up ; and so ere long 
 may good, well-ripened wood that contained sap at the time of its use. 
 Cut at any time of the year, be it summer or winter, sap will be present 
 in the interior of the tree — much more of course in summer than in
 
 THE ROOF S-T HEIR FRAMEWORK. 49 
 
 winter. No one fells trees in summer on this account, but even timber 
 secured in winter holds sufficient sap in its interior to cause premature 
 decay if steps are not taken to counteract this. The sap must be 
 thoroughly dried out of it, or, to put it in a more scientific way, the 
 soluble matters must be fixed or rendered insoluble before the wood is 
 fit to be put into work that is meant to endure for a reasonable time. 
 
 The trees of our woods and plantations, in common with 
 forms °° those of the forests of countries with climates like our 
 
 own, deposit the new wood of each year's growth at the 
 outer circumference of stem and branch. The outer part of the wood 
 is, therefore, as we have been hinting, more cellular than the inner, 
 and, in consequence, is to be avoided as much as possible. But as the 
 trees approach maturity their annual increase of wood becomes less, 
 and the proportion of young or sap wood to the more fibrous material 
 within lessens considerably, until a very small ratio is attained. The 
 wood from matured trees not only shows a smaller proportion of sap 
 wood to the proper fibrous material, but in addition the w^ood is of a 
 more stable nature than we find it in the immature tree. Much more 
 of the organic matter from the original cell contents remains unaffected 
 in the younger timber. In old trees it has almost completely given 
 way to inorganic — that is, earthy or mineral — matter, and then we have 
 almost insoluble matters to deal with ; they are such at least that have 
 little tendency to break up into other combinations, inducing the woody 
 fibre that harbours them to follow suit. The centre of a well-grown 
 oak tree — a piece of heart of oak — is a good example of what we mean. 
 The original cells are there represented by hard fibrous matter impreg- 
 nated with earthy stuff that enables the wood to withstand for long, 
 and without protection, the utmost rigours of our climate. The red- 
 coloured inner wood of a good larch tree is of a similar nature. 
 
 In the expression "well-grown wood" is implied wood from a tree 
 that has added to its circumference steadily and not too quickly. A 
 cross section of one of our trees reveals a series of concentric circles, or 
 zones, widening outwards from the centre, each of w-hich represents a 
 year's growth of the tree, or the annual addition of wood thereto. 
 Usually some are wider than others, telling thereby of varying seasons — 
 of one that happened to be favourable to vegetation, on account of 
 much sunlight, or it may have been much moisture, and during which 
 more wood than usual was made, and of others, cold and bleak, that 
 interfered with growth. Others show the zones fuller at one side of the 
 tree than the other, indicating that the side of the tree where they were 
 situated was more fully exposed to sun and air than the other. These 
 circlets of wood grow less as maturity of the tree is reached, after 
 W'hich they cease to form and the general decay of the organism begins. 
 In well-grown timber these rings of annual growth are thin and well 
 compacted. They are regular, too, not thick at one side and thin at 
 
 M.H. E
 
 50 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 the other. Our native or home-grown timber is very defective in this 
 respect ; this is due, it is now generally believed, to our system, or rather, 
 want of system, in growing trees. We give them too much elbow-room, 
 which allows them to slouch and take on bad shapes, as well as exposes 
 them irregularly to air and light. Continental foresters, following 
 Nature's teaching, keep them close together, obliging them to stand 
 straight and stretch up their heads to where alone air and light is to be 
 found. They find neither at any side of them, but have to look up for both. 
 Trees situated so are long, tapering, and branchless ; and their separate 
 rings of wood are thin, well packed, fibrous, and of a regular thickness. 
 Mature wood of the latter kind is not difficult to season. The whole 
 tree left as felled would require some time before it was dry right into 
 the centre, but whole trees are rarely wanted for service. The trees 
 
 are sawn up to the 
 sizes that are most 
 likely to be in demand 
 and the pieces laid 
 aside to be seasoned. 
 Exposure to air is all 
 that is needed to effect 
 this. Rain will not do 
 much harm provided 
 it runs off as it falls, 
 but the boards must 
 not sit in wet ; they 
 must sit free of the 
 ground, and each piece 
 must be separate from the other, except of course at the points of support. 
 Stacked up in this way, wuth wind free to bear upon them, the pieces of 
 timber, if from well-grown and mature trees to start with, will soon 
 become seasoned and be fit for the manufacture of doors and windows 
 that will hold together without shrinking or warping. Wood used too 
 soon simply undergoes seasoning in the door and window instead of in 
 the original deal or batten. It is advisable, however, to have the ulti- 
 mate contractions and expansions incidental to the seasoning of wood 
 taken up and done with before the boards are put in the hands of 
 the joiner. 
 
 The commonest framework of roof at the homestead, 
 at least, throughout the North Country, is the exceed- 
 ingly elementary one depicted in Fig. 31 : a and h 
 two rafters set to form a more or less acute angle 
 and nailed together, and further held in position by means of a 
 cross piece c up a little from the free ends of the sticks. The cross 
 piece, as we shall by-and-by see, is very often placed too high up for 
 strength ; it is there to prevent the feet of the " couple," as a and h 
 
 The ordinary 
 ^' couple " 
 Roof of the 
 Homestead.
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR FRAMEWORK. 
 
 51 
 
 together are technically named, from spreading or straddling too far. 
 The tendency of the couple feet, it is easy to see, is to widen the space 
 between them, and the tie c, the "couple baulk" of homely phrase, is 
 there to counteract this ; the lower the tie is placed the better will it be 
 able to hold the pieces together. In Fig. 32 we show a roof frame 
 with the tie nailed on level with the free ends of the couple. Bound 
 thus, the feet can straddle no further than the stretching limit of the 
 tie beam, or baulk. 
 But then, if the sides 
 of the couple are long 
 in comparison to their 
 "scantling," or size in 
 section, they will in- 
 cline to yield to the 
 weight of the slates 
 they are there to sup- 
 port, and bend inwards, 
 showing an unsightly 
 hollow where all should 
 be on a regular incline 
 from ridge to eaves. 
 One or more supple- 
 mentary ties as dotted in would of course prevent this; they could hardly, 
 however, in this instance be correctly termed ties : they would be 
 stiffeners or supports more than anything else. The tie proper hinders 
 stretching of the couple legs, but their purpose would be to keep them 
 asunder ; thus there would be the absurdity of ha^•ing both a tie and a 
 stretcher in this simple petty triangular affair. 
 
 In a simple combination of this kind the forces must be 
 The Principles go balanced that the part of the couple leg from the tie 
 
 involved in its , , . ... 
 
 Construction, upwards to the top must not be given more to do than it 
 is easily capable of accomplishing for the sake of making 
 matters at the wallhead doubly sure. A safe position of the tie is that 
 its lower edge be about eighteen inches above the level of the wallhead 
 on which the couple feet rest, or, what is the same thing, eighteen 
 inches above the level of the soles or ends of the latter. Couples of a 
 span of say fifteen feet wide are quite efficient if tied with one baulk. 
 For greater widths we must begin with another tie (or rather, half tie 
 and half strut) placed perhaps half way between the apex of the 
 triangle and the lower tie ; but beyond a certain width of span this 
 manner of roof is incorrect in principle. 
 
 In Fig. 33 we give the side elevation of one of the couples of a 
 building fifteen feet wide inside. The sides of the couple, taking their 
 extreme length — that of the outside line, which gives the length of 
 the spar before it was fitted into shape — are 1 1 feet 6 inches each. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The extreme height of the apex of the couple — the juncture of the 
 two sides — above the level of the wallhead is 7 feet 6 inches, it being 
 usual to keep the perpendicular height somewhat less than half the 
 full width of the building about to be roofed over. Judging by eye 
 alone, this gives a sufficiently well-proportioned " roof truss," as the 
 technical name of the couple or similar combination runs. The tie is 
 apparently in a good position for preventing the feet of the couples 
 from becoming further apart ; and the part of each of the couple sides, 
 from tie upwards to apex, seems not to be set a difficult task in having 
 to bear up its share of the burden of boards and slates without sagging. 
 Framed accordingly the truss would in turn exert a fair downward 
 pressure on the wall, the one the latter is built to bear. Taking the 
 tie and the two sides above it, we have a triangle the base of which, 
 taking the extreme or outer length, measures 14 feet 3 inches, and 
 the sides each g feet 3 inches, the Avhole firm and unyielding, 
 
 supported steadily on the 
 walls by two short, stiff 
 legs which cannot be forced 
 apart without fracture, there 
 being little or no elasticity 
 or spring in so short pieces. 
 If for the sake of economy 
 we provide a shorter piece 
 of wood for the tie, it must 
 be placed higher and the 
 well-balanced parts we refer 
 to lose their symmetry. In 
 a work of this kind one 
 cannot demonstrate to a point where the line of safety lies, beyond 
 which it is dangerous to stretch the relationship of the different parts 
 of the roof we are dealing with ; nor would we care to waste our time 
 in that way had we the chance. Brains and common-sense tempered 
 by observation are satisfactory enough guides here, and will, we daresay, 
 serve to convince intelligent minds anxious to learn that we are not 
 leading them astray over the import of the simple facts we are seeking 
 to set forth. 
 
 It is customary to keep roofs of this sort at a pretty 
 jjQQfg high pitch. North country carpenters speak of from 
 
 eighteen inches to two feet below the " square " as being 
 a fair height of ridge above wallhead. Turning to Fig. 34, we can see 
 what this means. It is the section of a building eighteen feet across 
 inside, having its roof two feet below the " square." The walls being each 
 twenty-one inches thick, they consequently add 3 feet 6 inches to the in- 
 side width for the extreme outside measurement of the section. The 
 latter is therefore 21 feet 6 inches and the half thereof 10 feet 9 inches.
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR FRAMEWORK. 
 
 53 
 
 Were we to make the apex of the couples lo feet 9 inches above the 
 level of the wallhead, then the roof, as ticked in on the figure, would 
 be formed to the square represented by the two sides produced in ticks. 
 
 The pitch of a roof is, to speak correctly, the degree of inclination 
 of its sides to a line level with the wallhead. The perpendicular 
 forms of course with this line a right angle at either side. A right 
 angle is, as we all know, one of ninety degrees, which leaves other 
 ninety degrees to be accounted for in either triangle which forms half 
 of that represented by the roof frame, there being one hundred and 
 eighty degrees in every such figure. Further, two sides of the triangle 
 being the same length, necessitates the angles which these respectively 
 form with the base — in this case the side of the roof — being the same. 
 There being ninety degrees to dispose of, each must, therefore, be one 
 of forty -five 
 
 degrees. The f^q" 
 
 ticked line on 
 the section in- 
 dicates in con- 
 sequence an 
 angle of forty- 
 five degrees at 
 the point in 
 question, which 
 in this connec- 
 tion speaks to 
 steep slope. 
 The angle of 
 the ridge is a 
 right angle — 
 
 one of ninety degrees, seeing it is made up of two forty-fives ; or other- 
 wise, since the angles at the eaves are forty-fi\"e degrees each, thus 
 taking ninety of the total one hundred and eighty, the remaining one 
 must be ninety degrees. 
 
 Reducing the degree of the pitch of the roof is equivalent to increasing 
 the angle at the ridge, which, as it grows greater, means the lowering 
 of the height thereof above the level of the top of the walls. The 
 lower the ridge the shorter are the spars that make up the couples, 
 and this tends towards economy. Six inches or so less in the length 
 of these spars implies over a considerable amount of roofing (even 
 though the rate per running foot of these should be little more than 
 twopence), a saving in material that is not to be despised. Not only 
 does it mean a reduction in the quantity of wood needed, but it means 
 fewer slates and less labour in the putting of them on. But the nature 
 of the roof framework which we are discussing is against its being set 
 to a low pitch. The more upstanding it can be kept the less seA'ere 
 
 Fig. 34.
 
 54 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 will be the strains that go to thrust the legs apart. The forces are 
 then more directly downwards than slanting to the sides. A reference 
 to Figs. 35 and 36, showing in outline a low-pitched and a high-pitched 
 
 Fig. 35. 
 
 Fig. 36. 
 
 i 
 
 roof ranged alongside each other, will make this clear without further 
 demonstration. The weight bearing upon each is represented by balls 
 hanging from the couple legs at the same dis- 
 tances apart. It is not difficult to tell which of 
 the two stands the better to its work. As we 
 raise the pitch the point of attachment of the 
 several balls draw apart from each other but at 
 the same time run more with the length of the 
 stick than across it. A stick placed in a half 
 upright position, its foot on the ground and its 
 
 head resting 
 against the wall as 
 in Fig. 37, will 
 
 carry a greater 
 
 weight hung free 
 from its centre 
 point than it can do if laid flat and supported at each end only as in 
 Fig. 38. Were we to support it in a perpen- 
 dicular position, as in Fig. 39, its carrying 
 power would be vastly in advance of what it 
 would be capable of exerting when acting as 
 a bridge from one supported end to the other. 
 Somewhere halfway between these e.xtremes 
 comes Fig. 36. So with the framework of our 
 roof, the steeper we make its sides the firmer 
 and stronger it will be. But there is a limit 
 to this as to most things. Pitched to be two 
 feet or so " below the square '" is, however, Fig. 39. 
 
 Fig. 37. 
 
 Fig. 38.
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR FRAMEWORK. 55 
 
 a safe standard to observe in roofs of this kind at the homestead. Two 
 
 feet " below the square " is equivalent to a pitch of thirty-nine degrees. 
 
 _. r , Spars six inches by two inches form a common scantlinir 
 
 Size of the . . 
 
 Spars of the observed in constructing the framework of roofs of this 
 
 Common class. The ties are usually of the same size. Sometimes 
 
 Roof. . ... 
 
 they are a little less, but this is doubtful economy at the 
 
 farm. If adjusted to the critical place, they might do a little lighter, 
 
 but those who know the ways of farmers would be more inclined to 
 
 have them stronger instead of lighter. Handy places for storage are 
 
 these couple baulks, and much miscellaneous stock, both bulky and 
 
 heavy, finds a resting place thereupon. Where an extra tie is used it 
 
 can with more safety than applies to the lower one be a little lighter. 
 
 ^ ^ We can, of course, gain strength to the couples, and 
 Some of the ' ' ° ? . ^ ' 
 
 Disadvantages make them better fitted to resist the strains that they 
 
 °f T?^^f^^^^^ are subjected to, by increasing the scantling, and similarly 
 with the ties ; but this is merely adding to what we take 
 to be one of the disadvantages that accompany these roofs. That in 
 our opinion is the great amount of wood they project into the building 
 they are set to cover. With only sixteen inches between the trusses, 
 what an obstruction so many of these are to the free circulation of air 
 and to the rays of sunlight ! How can one or other have free course to 
 shed forth its vital influences among such a dust-laden and spider-web- 
 festooned forest of baulks as so many roofs of this nature develop into ? 
 That by itself condemns the application of this roof to buildings wherein 
 live stock are to be housed. Neither is it in our opinion good for many 
 of the other houses. In some its use can hardly be avoided, but we 
 would have it erected as seldom as possible. 
 
 While not favourable, therefore, from a sanitary point of view, this 
 roof is certainly inferior from a constructive one. Unless carefully 
 adjusted, it is, as we have seen, both sore on itself and severe on the 
 walls. We have come across a badly built wall split fairly up the 
 middle for a great part of its length on account of the spreading effect 
 of couples tied too high up. And it is quite common to see the walls 
 of buildings pressed over the plumb from the same cause. The walls, 
 as we sought to impress when treating thereof, are not built to stand 
 lateral pressure. If they were, they would have to be constructed on a 
 different principle. They would require to be thicker all the way up 
 or be built with a gradual slope or batter. They are intended to 
 support a down-bearing pressure and no other, and the roof they 
 support .should be framed accordingly. 
 
 And too often, as we have hinted, do roofs of this kind act as a 
 temptation to the farmer as a store for all manner of stuff, from 
 implements of various kinds down to sheepskins and sacks. The 
 thriftier he is the more does he deposit in these quarters. On the 
 baulks he stows away sowing-machines, sheep-troughs, and appliances
 
 56 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 of a like nature ; and when he has the advantage of an opening in 
 some gable, a capital place he finds the top of the baulks on which 
 to lay out his long ladders. If he cannot avail himself of an opening 
 already made suitable for sliding them in, he soon makes one. The 
 worst of it is, whether from want of knowledge of the principles of 
 mechanics or because there is most room there — we suspect it is the 
 latter— he places his property at the centre instead of towards the ends 
 of the baulks. This is their weakest part ; but then, there is head room 
 about the middle, but none at the sides. What he is unable to get up 
 through and lay on the top of them he will, not infrequently, lash to 
 the bottom of the baulks. The carcase of a slaughtered animal even at 
 times gets hung up therefrom to cool down. ^^'orse than all, the 
 dairy farmer, as previously pointed out, up till now has looked upon 
 the couple baulks over his cowhouse as the proper position for the 
 henhouse. Among other effects thus put out of reach at the small 
 farms, it is not uncommon to see the spinning-wheel silently rotting 
 away. 
 
 The "princi- "^ niuch better style of roofing than the one we have 
 pal" Roof described is that found prevailing at English homesteads. 
 There is not near the amount of spars stuck across the 
 roof space under this system that we are accustomed to at the Scottish 
 and North of Ireland steadings. Moreover, it is most decidedly fairer to 
 the walls. A strong, well-bound truss is put up at every nine feet or so. 
 These rest on a strong wall-plate which serves to distribute the weight 
 more equally over the length of the wallhead than where it is want- 
 ing. For the same reason a wall- plate is also used in connection with 
 the roof just spoken of. Across these trusses, as we shall describe the 
 whole roof more fully afterwards, are placed in position, running 
 parallel with the length of the house, a series of spars called " purlins " ; 
 and bearing on these in their turn are laid the rafters, which are 
 equivalent to the couple sides of the foregoing pages, and come in at 
 the same distances apart. These rafters are joined together at the head, 
 but, unlike the couple sides, have no further direct communication. 
 There is no special tie for each pair. They are fastened to a board at 
 the top — the ridge board, which runs the whole length of the building. 
 This board is supported on the trusses, and as each rafter is fixed in 
 position one opposite another, it becomes jammed between the heads of 
 these and is there held firmly in its place. The rafters, we repeat, have 
 no other connection one with the other. They simply bear on the 
 purlins, while their heels rest upon the wall-plate. These, we need 
 hardly say, can exert very little outward thrust on the walls. The 
 purlins take this upon themselves and pass it on to the trusses. 
 
 Here, then, we have something on a better principle than the primi- 
 tive affair we started with. True, the weight of the roof is not so 
 uniformly distributed over the length of the wall in the one as in the
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR FRAMEWORK. 57 
 
 other. With the first-mentioned the weight is appHed equally at the 
 short intervals of sixteen inches ; with the other, the points of contact 
 of the forces of weight in the roof and of resistance in the wall are 
 about nine feet apart. There must, of course, be a certain amount of 
 weight at the foot of each of the rafters in the latter, but the large 
 proportion of the weight of the roof undoubtedly falls to be borne by 
 the trusses. The wall-plate of both roofs enlarges the respective points 
 of contact, but it needs little reasoning to lead one to understand that, 
 as a short space is easier to bridge over than a wide one, so is it easier 
 to distribute weight over an extended area when it touches it at many 
 points instead of few. Increasing the scantling of the wall-plate 
 brings matters to a sounder footing, but beyond a certain limit it is 
 hardly practicable to go far in this way. But when all is said and 
 done it is found in practice that these somewhat fine-drawn though 
 perfectly sound theories may, without any resulting harm, be almost 
 entirely left out of sight. Danger or risk there can be none in the 
 usual practice, but, the balance being the other way, there remains to 
 be answered the implication of false .economy in making the side wall 
 of a house all the same thickness, while all that is really required are 
 so many pillars on which to rest the ends of the trusses, and a strong 
 lintel from one of these to the other to bear up the ends of the rafters. 
 A set of pillars and a screen wall in the spaces between would answer 
 the requirements of the case. In practice, however, it is easier, as well 
 as more expeditious, to build the wall of one thickness from end to end. 
 Besides a wall all angles and corners at the inside would never do for 
 a farm building of any kind. What is more, such an arrangement, 
 whether outside or inside of a wall in rubble work, would cost more 
 than one of an equal thickness throughout. It comes to this, therefore, 
 that it would be no saving to make a rubble wall thick and thin in 
 places in accordance with the more or less widelv distributed points 
 upon which the weight of the roof was intended to bear. \\'ith a 
 brick wall it is different ; and where experienced men have a hand in 
 the management of the estate it is quite common to see the walls of a 
 brick- built homestead dealt with after the manner indicated in order to 
 save materials. A nine-inch wall which swells to one of fourteen and 
 a half at the parts intended to support the trusses means a considerable 
 saving in this way over one fourteen and a half inches thick all its length. 
 
 It is not, as we have said, very practicable to increase 
 . ^ ^ " the size of the wall-plate beyond the usually accepted 
 
 standard. Nine inches by one is a common size for the 
 ordinary couple roof, and it answers well enough, seeing how compara- 
 tively close together are the points of application of the weight of the 
 roof. Such a one is not always laid on the wall-head, indeed. And 
 rarely is a larger one used in connection with the truss roof. As in the 
 other case, it is often thinner than as thick as that quoted. To ha\'e a
 
 58 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 inucli thicker wall-plate implies the propping up or elevating the frame- 
 work of the roof too much above the wallhead, leaving odd places to 
 be filled up somehow or other with stone, mortar, or wood. There is 
 not much room for a " body " of either of the first two substances, and 
 the less wood we leave exposed to the atmosphere the better. It might 
 do to build the wood flush with the top of the wall, sinking it in the 
 latter till the tops of each were level. That, however, w^ould be 
 burying the wood almost entirely in the heart of the wall, which is not 
 a good thing to do. It gives the wood a bad chance for preservation, 
 and goes to the splitting of the wall at the top. At any rate, the wall- 
 head is virtually coincident with the bottom side of the wall-plate. The 
 thickness of building above this to the upper side of it is simply laid 
 on ; and it has little real connection with the wall. In fact, the wall- 
 plate, although originally intended for the better distribution of the 
 
 weight that 
 , C-' bears upon the 
 
 wall,doesbetter 
 service in keep- 
 ing both the 
 trusses with 
 their accom- 
 / panying rafters 
 and the couples 
 free from con- 
 tact with the 
 stones. And 
 while it acts as 
 buffer to these 
 
 Fig. 40. 
 
 and keeps them so that air gets about them, sitting free itself, it, too, has 
 some chance in the same direction. If, therefore, the wall-plate does 
 not completely fulfil its original otfice, it does good in other ways. Still, 
 it must to some extent help to distribute the weight of the roof equally 
 along the length of the wall. And another end it serves well is 
 admitting of a level and steady bearing both to truss and rafters and to 
 the couples, one far more uniform than is likely to be obtained on the 
 wallhead itself without the intervention of the board. On the bare 
 wallhead one couple might happen to rest on a stone, and the next one 
 upon a daub of mortar certain to yield to pressure more readily than 
 the stone. This bridging over weak places, however, brings us back 
 pretty close to the chief end of the wall-plate. 
 
 In Fig. 40 we show the construction of a truss or principal 
 The Roof- roof, suitable for a small span, up to sixteen or eighteen feet 
 
 Truss or" prin- '^ . ' . " 
 
 cipal Rafter." ^^Y- J^ he purlms a shown m cross section stretch irom 
 
 truss to truss and bear up the rafters h — the equi\alents 
 
 of the couples previously described. They are slightly checked, and
 
 THE ROOFS -THEIR FRAMEWORK. 
 
 59 
 
 sometimes, in addition, mortised into the trusses. In this fig. they are 
 shown flush with the upper edge of the sides of the truss, but, as we 
 shall afterwards point out, there are many other methods of connecting 
 the two. The ridge board c is for the purpose of butting the intermediate 
 rafters against, and d is the wall-plate. 
 
 Coming to wider spans, up nearly to thirty feet inside, which is the 
 W'idest we show in any of the plans of our supposititious homesteads, 
 
 Fig. 41. 
 
 Fig. 41 is a suitable one. It differs little from the other one except that, 
 being a larger affair with longer sides, these need some stiffening and 
 bracing to give them rigidity. The upright piece a which bisects the 
 figure is, in technical terms, the " king " post ; the two that spring from 
 
 either side of the base of the post and are attached to the " principal 
 rafters " h, as the sides of the truss are termed to distinguish them from 
 the small or common rafters {h on Fig. 40), are the struts c. The other 
 parts are as befiore, viz. : wall-plate, purlins, and ridge board. In this
 
 6o 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 and the follo\ving case we dispense with the common, or intermediate 
 rafters, and secure the roofing boards directly to the purUns. The king 
 post, held up by the tie d, steadied at the same time by means of the 
 struts c, gives support to the ridge and the sides of the truss or principal 
 
 rafters h. But the latter in turn props up the head of the king post and 
 thus helps to keep the tie from sagging. 
 
 It is the general plan to let the struts spring from the king post, as in 
 Fig. 41 we show them doing ; but in our opinion more good is got from 
 
 
 Fig 44. 
 
 the strut when it springs fron:i the root of the king post, as in Fig. 42. 
 There it is applied to the principal rafter at a better angle than in 
 Fig. 41. It gives a better support because it is more upright in posi- 
 tion, and springing thus from the king post, there need be none of the 
 waste of wood in this part that is implied in that fig. The latter is
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR FRAMEWORK. 
 
 6i 
 
 certainly the more picturesque of the two, but economy with efficiency 
 is our first maxim in the erection of farm buildings. Reducing the post 
 in the manner represented brings its strength down to that of the 
 thinnest part, so it may as well be no more than this all through to 
 start with. The strut we recommend is longer than the other, but the 
 
 extra length is counterbalanced by the continuous smaller scantling of 
 the king post it is related to compared with that in Fig. 42. 
 
 Figs. 43 and 44 show the truss on a larger scale than before. Typical 
 sizes of the parts are : the principal rafters (the sides of the truss ) and 
 the ties, 9 inches by 4 inches ; the king post, 6 inches by 4 inches ; the 
 
 / I I r 
 
 / I I 
 
 t I I 
 
 , I . ' I 
 
 I I 1.1' 
 
 T-)" 
 
 J L 
 
 I / I i 
 
 ( ( ( ( ( I t i i ] , ■ I 
 
 Fig. 46. 
 
 Struts, 4 inches by 4 inches ; the purlins, 3 inches by 4 inches ; the 
 common rafters, 4 inches by 2 inches; the ridge board, 10 inches by 
 ih inches ; and the wall-plate, 12 inches by i inch. In Figs. 43 and 44 
 the purlins are shown placed flush with the bottom of the principal rafters, 
 being let in between these and checked thereto ; while in Figs. 45 and 46
 
 62 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 they are shown passing directly over the purhns and bearing thereupon. 
 In this case it is necessary that the purhns be either checked a Httle 
 into the principal rafter, or be held in place by brackets as shown in 
 Figs. 47 and 48, else they Avill tend to overturn. The purlins, it will be 
 seen, are more numerous in Fig. 45 than in Fig. 43 ; in fact, in the 
 former instance they are serving the purpose of common rafters as well 
 as of purlins, the roofing boards, as we show, being nailed directly 
 thereto. In a roof constructed according to Figs. 43, 44, and 49, the 
 upper edges of the common or intermediate rafters sit flush with the 
 upper edges of the principal rafter, and the roofing boards are fastened 
 
 Fig. 47 
 
 Fig. 49. 
 
 to principal and common rafters alike, thus bringing the upper edges of 
 all continuous with the under side of the boarding. But with a roof put 
 together after the plan indicated on Figs. 50 and 51, the principal rafters 
 have a common one between them and the boards ; at least, a space 
 equivalent to the depth of a common rafter intervenes between the two, 
 for it is not necessary that the small rafters span so that one exactly 
 coincides with, or rests upon, each principal rafter. 
 
 We prefer, when the common rafter is left out, to have 
 together of the the tops of the purlins flush with those of the principal 
 -" principal " rafters, as in Fig. 52, not passing over them at all, but let 
 
 down between each pair, there being a slight check made 
 in the sides of the rafters so as to hold the purlins firmly between. When
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR FRAMEWORK. 
 
 63 
 
 thus fitted to the rafters a very shallow check is as good for securing the 
 purlins as a deep one under the last-discussed arrangement where they 
 rest on the upper edge of the rafters, because in the one case there is not 
 the same tendency to cant that holds good as we saw with the other. 
 
 We like, where possible, to steer clear altogether of this checking or 
 mortising of purlins into the rafters. All work of this sort is in the 
 
 Fig. 50. 
 
 Fig. 51. 
 
 Fig. 52. 
 
 direction of weakening the pieces so manipulated. It is better to make 
 use of lighter timbers and join them without taking from their strength. 
 Theoretically a well-made joint may not cause any weakness of the parts 
 cut into. The vacancies in one piece ought to be almost more than 
 counterbalanced by the outstanding pieces of the other that are inserted 
 therein. It may be so when the joints are afterwards kept from influences 
 apt to cause disruption. But exposed in such a way as the roof timbers 
 of farm buildings usually are, slackness in the joints is not easily
 
 64 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 prevented. On this account the carpenter whose branch of the trade is 
 the one ahnost dependent on spikes and nails for holding his handiwork 
 together is more in evidence at the steading than the joiner who trusts 
 to his skill in making cunningly-devised joints for the framing and fitting 
 together of what falls to be turned out of his department. 
 
 To avoid the necessity of cutting into the rafters to form these joints 
 between purlin and rafter we have frequently made use of cast-iron shoes 
 in which to insert the ends of the purlins. This means a little extra cost, 
 but it is worth it, we consider. An arrangement of the kind is shown in 
 Fig. 5 1 . The shoes are fixed to the rafters by means of screw bolts passed 
 through, which, when tightened up, hold them firmly in position without 
 in any way weakening the pieces of timber to which they are attached. 
 When finished in this way the purlins and rafters can then be left flush 
 on top and the whole has a strong and ship-shape appearance. There is 
 one drawback to the shoes, however. Subjected as they are sure to be in 
 their position at most parts of the steading to moist air, rust will soon 
 disfigure them and the adjoining wood as well unless they are frequently 
 attended to in the way of a little scraping and painting. This attention, 
 unfortunately, they will but seldom get. But galvanizing them adds very 
 little to their original cost, and after undergoing that process they are 
 independent altogether of the farmer and his paint-pot. 
 
 When the purlins, as in Figs. 45, 46, 47 and 48, pass right over the 
 principal rafters, the small or common rafters can then, as we have 
 already said, be dispensed with and the roofing boards be fastened to 
 them directly. In this instance the purlins are already too high above 
 the principal rafters to allow of the intervention of more space between 
 them and the boards. There would not at any rate be room between 
 the two to admit of the insertion of the common rafters. If, how^ever, 
 we dispense with the common rafters, we must, as we have seen, allow 
 for more purlins, else we deprive the covering boards — the " sarking," 
 as it is termed in the North — of their due support. The accepted spacing 
 of both common rafters and couples along a roof is to place them at 
 eighteen-inch " centres " as the expression goes. The centre of each, 
 no matter the thickness of the pieces, although there is little range in 
 this respect, is in accordance with this ruling set up eighteen inches apart 
 from the centres of those next to it ; or, beginning at the gable, the first 
 rafter or couple if say two inches thick, is set up with its side sixteen 
 inches from the face of the wall ; the next is placed sixteen inches from 
 it, and so on until all are in position. The length of the building may 
 be such that it is impracticable to divide it exactly into this spacing ; 
 but with a little contrivance to begin with either the excess or the 
 shortage can be equally applied to the set of spaces without revealing 
 any sensible departure from the standard quoted. 
 
 The purlins, in the absence of common rafters, do to be set a little wider 
 apart than at eighteen-inch centres. From their position, which causes
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR FRAMEWORK. 65 
 
 the covering boards to be laid down the slope of the roof instead of across 
 it, they can afford this wider spacing. A board laid lengthwise on the 
 slope having the same support as one laid crosswise is the stronger of the 
 two. It will sagg less. To space the purlins at eighteen-inch centres 
 measured on the level — horizontally that is, instead of up the slope — 
 would bring the two into closer relation. And this rule may be 
 observed by way of guide in this connection. 
 
 Our preference is, however, for fewer purlins and the introduction of 
 common rafters into the framework of the roof. The roof then looks 
 lighter and more finished. There is not a great deal of difference 
 either in the cost of the one compared with the other. The extra 
 purlins in the one, together with the whole of them ha^•ing to pass over 
 the principal rafters in place of being let in between each pair, helps 
 considerably to meet the cost of the common rafters. W'e get more 
 good out of the wall-plate, too, when we have the common rafters heeled 
 against it. Similarly with the ridge board. It is kept firmer and 
 steadier when jammed between the opposing heads of these pieces than 
 holds good when only sarking boards butt against it. All this tends of 
 course to equalisation of strain and general stability of roof, which when 
 it is coupled with a more pleasing appearance, ought to tell much in 
 favour of the arrangement of roof we are referring to. It causes an 
 increased number of projecting pieces into the air space within, but 
 these stand out in such a manner as to be less a drawback in this 
 respect than the purlins. One of the latter will interfere with the 
 air currents up the inner sides of the roof to a greater degree than 
 many common rafters will. These run up the slope and guide the 
 currents, we may say ; the others stretch across and, if we are right 
 in judging from analogy, hinder the currents. And there are more of 
 them when we leave out the small rafters as part of the roof A 
 reference to Figs. 44 and 46 will make our reasoning clearer. 
 
 The spacing of the trusses may, as hinted above, be such that it is 
 not practicable to give the common rafters their ordinary room, and yet 
 keep them running in union with the principals. It is so much more trades- 
 man-looking to have these so arranged that one always falls coincident 
 with each principal rafter than to have them coming in at no regular 
 rotation to the same that it is pardonable to practise a little come and 
 go to gain this. A nine-foot spacing of the principals makes a very 
 suitable one as regards strength of roof; and it lends itself also to the 
 standard spacing of the common rafters while making these obser\-e 
 due coincidence with their stronger fellows. 
 
 ^ ^ _. Sometimes, as in Fig. 53, iron is substituted for wood 
 
 An Iron King . , . . , , . 
 
 Post substi- 11^ the construction of the kmg post. It makes a much 
 
 tuted for one lighter-looking as well as an airier roof no doubt, and 
 of Wood. . .,, , .^ . , - 
 
 It will be as strong, it not, indeed, stronger. With a 
 
 screw and nut at the bottom and the prongs or clamps at the top as 
 
 M.H. F
 
 66 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 depicted on the fig., the whole frame can be tightly screwed up and 
 lield firmly together. But we dislike to have much exposed ironwork 
 about the roofs of farm buildings, more especially in those houses that 
 are occupied by live stock. The cold iron condenses the moisture from 
 the warm vapourdaden air within the house, keeping the metal nearly' 
 always wet and allowing it to drop therefrom either on to the adjoining 
 timber or the floor beneath. At times, of course, the iron is at a 
 similar temperature to the air in the building, and no condensation 
 takes place. Oftener, however, it is at a lower temperature, with the 
 result we ha.ve mentioned. Keeping the iron well painted will prevent 
 harm befalling it from this cause. But it does not hinder the conden- 
 sation we speak of, which is capal)le of causing harm to the woodwork 
 in touch with the iron. Besides, the matter of painting is generally a 
 frail reed to depend upon. If under circumstances where no one 
 
 grudges the work it is so often overlooked, what can we expect in 
 those where it is shirked on every occasion ? There is galvanizing 
 to fall back upon, but that is not always practicable, and the 
 moisture still has to be faced. 
 
 In Fig. 54 we have a description of roof occasionally met 
 Another sort ^^,j^j^ ^j^^^ -^ ^^^^ ^f j^^j£ between the two classes of 
 
 of Roof. -' 
 
 roof that we have hitherto been dealing with. It has the 
 merits of both, and the faults too of each. It is airier than either, 
 because what ties there are find a place close up to the ridge. There 
 are as many as we find in the ordinary couple roof, but so high as not 
 to interfere much in the circulation of the air. They are so far above 
 the level of the wallhead as to be useless for holding together the feet 
 of the couple each one is connected with. To counteract this a thick 
 wall-plate is left for them to butt against. The heels of the couples are 
 checked into this so that they cannot widen the distance between
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR FRAMEWORK. 
 
 67 
 
 each pair without shifting one or both of the wall-plates out of position. 
 The wall-plates, it can easily be gathered, from what has gone before, 
 have a great strain thrust upon them judging from the distance 
 between the feet of the couples. If simply laid on the wallhead, 
 whenever the framework of the roof began to adjust itself to the 
 \arious strains, it would be pushed off as the couple ends increased 
 the distance from each other. We miglat fasten the wall- plate by 
 means of bolts built down into the wall, and their heads so made that 
 it could be screwed down firmly. But this would be throwing upon 
 the wall a burden that it was not intended to bear up against, its 
 construction being such as to warrant its subjection to downward 
 pressure alone. The consequence would be that shortly after its 
 erection the top of the wall at one side or the other, perhaps at both, 
 would be thrust aside. To guard against this the iron tie rod a is 
 
 Fig. 54. 
 
 introduced at spaces of ten or twelve feet. On these, therefore, falls the 
 brunt of keeping the whole together. They are not so thick but what 
 they come and go with change of temperature which cannot be other- 
 wise than prejudicial to the roof as a whole. And then we see how 
 comparatively frail the whole area of the roof between wall-plate and 
 tie is. If the preceding part of this chapter has gone for anything with 
 our readers, we need hardly here point out to them in wearying 
 reiteration what w'eakness there lies in the long leg unsupported from 
 wall-plate to tie. 
 
 In short, it is not a roof that one can recommend. The extra thick 
 wall-plate is not in its favour; neither is the unstable manner of holding 
 that in its place, and the length of unsupported couple induces liability 
 to bending, if not fracture, in these. Its good point is its airiness. It 
 possesses another in minor degree. In company with the principal roof 
 it forbids application to storage purposes, more strictly so indeed than
 
 68 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 the other. At either side of the king post it is practicable to stow long- 
 shaped articles that will do with bearings nine feet apart, of which, how- 
 ever, there are not very many about the homestead. But nothing hardly 
 can find a resting-place along the iron ties, and the wood ones of this kind 
 of roof are too far out of the way and afford too little room to act as 
 the basis of a store. The iron ties, in fact, need support themselves, 
 as we see from the rod b shown in the fig., passing from the tie 
 up to the apex of the roof were it is attached in order to keep the 
 cross rod up to its work. 
 
 It is sound economy, we think, to have the angle formed 
 Economy to ^^Y ^he wallheads and the roof filled up. This space if 
 fill up the left open affords a lodgement to dust and to matter out 
 
 between Wall- '^^ place in general, even if beyond reach of the farm 
 head and Root- hands. When it happens to be within reach all manner 
 
 of odds and ends get laid there, with the intention no 
 doubt of getting them when wanted; but an article that is worth 
 keeping should find a more business-like place of storage, and doubtful 
 ones had better be thrown away than placed there, helping to gather 
 more dust and dirt. When masons build up this angle they speak of 
 " beam-filling " the wallheads. It certainly adds to the appearance of 
 the interior of a building to finish it in this way. And it must help 
 to make it a little more sanitary as well. Every settling-place for dust 
 means a harbourage for germs, whether of a harmless or harmful 
 nature, and the more we keep clear of the latter the better. They are 
 thick enough in the air withou-t our providing lurking-places for them. 
 
 It is questionable if the filling up of the space with stone be a good 
 one. It confines the wood too much — shuts it out too much from' 
 access to air. This undoubtedly tells on the durability of the wood. 
 The more air it gets about it the better able is it to withstand the 
 ravages of time. Enclosed in dry stone and lime it is more favourably 
 situated for lasting than if it were embedded in any other ordinary sub- 
 stance — dry sand or soil, for instance. Longest of all it endures when 
 open all round to the air and not allowed to remain damp should it ever 
 happen to get wetted. We can close in the angle with wood instead of 
 stone and so get beyond the difficulty. It is easy to fit a board or 
 boards into the place. A fillet on the sides of the couples enables us 
 to butt it against these and fasten it thereto. It will be resting on the 
 wall-head too flush with the face of the wall which will give it firm 
 support ; and if the wall-plate be the same distance back from the face 
 of the wall as the thickness of the board to be made use of for filling up 
 the angle the board can in addition be nailed thereto. Where the 
 principal roof is in question, attachment to the wall-plate and to a fillet 
 fastened to the underside of the roofing boards would have to be the plan 
 adopted for fixing the board. It could stretch in one piece from truss 
 to truss, being checked out where necessary to fit over the common
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR FRAMEWORK. 69 
 
 rafters or kept entire where these were absent. The board would never 
 fit so tight that air could not gain access into the angular space behind, 
 and the roofing boards never fit so close to the wall as to stop air from 
 getting in at the ea\es. There is thus assurance of a draught of air 
 playing on the couple ends and wall-plate and maintaining them in good 
 condition. 
 
 The same cannot be said of beam-filling by the mason. He buries up 
 the wall-plate and completely surrounds parts of the couple ends. 
 These and the wall-plate are consequently deprived of air and left liable 
 to succumb to the results that may follow thereon. Still, we would 
 rather have it so than have the angles left open. 
 
 We strongly advocate the planing of all the exposed 
 plane all surfaces of wood within the farm buildings, in the barn, 
 
 interior ex- as well as in the byre. This extra work, which does not 
 Surfaces amount to a great deal, seeing that it can either be done 
 
 bv the apprentices or quickly accomplished by the wood 
 merchant's machinery, is, we consider, well worth the money it involves. 
 If nothing else, it adds much to the appearance of the different places. 
 It is from a sanitary standpoint, however, that we look for most benefit 
 from it. The rough, unplaned surfaces are all so many lurking-places 
 for dust and sort of shelter-beds to the countless representatives of the 
 microbic world that none should be suffered within the farm buildings. 
 The other conditions that render these buildings fa^"Ourite haunts to 
 bacteria — their moist, warm atmosphere, the habits of the animals they 
 contain, and so on — are all sufficiently conducive to the welfare of 
 minute organisms without our affording them places well adapted to 
 their perpetuation. The doors and the travises are planed smooth ; 
 why, therefore, should the same not be done with the roof wood — that 
 which sins most in this connection ? And we strongly recommend 
 galvanizing the nails to be used in putting together the roof wood of 
 the \arious buildings, more especially those set apart for the housing of 
 the animals. 
 
 Hitherto we ha\"e dealt with the more permanent buildings of the 
 homestead. There remain the \arious sorts of shedding that come in 
 auxiliary to the main block — the lean-tos, the corn and hay sheds, and 
 other constructions of a like nature. These we shall discuss in a 
 chapter by themselves.
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 The Roofs — their Covering. 
 
 Slates, and in a few cases pantiles, are the accepted 
 Outer Covering material for the outer covering of Scottish and North of 
 of a Roof has Ireland farm buildings that are built with a view to some 
 
 t O iSi c c 
 
 degree of permanency. England, on the other hand, 
 seems to have as many tile-roofed as slate-covered homesteads. There 
 is no other natural material that can show the slightest approach to the 
 properties slates possess of answering the purpose to which the}^ are 
 put in keeping our roofs Avater-tight. The requirements expected of 
 them are arduous in the extreme when we consider what they ha\ e to 
 contend against during their exposure to all the \icissitudes of our 
 changeable climate. One day they are so hot under the sun's rays that 
 we can hardly bear to place our hand upon them. On another, a month 
 or two afterwards, their temperature may be at zero. And between 
 times rain-water has poured over them in tons ; they have lain for days, 
 or weeks, smothered in snow, and occasionally they ha\e been peppered 
 with hailstones. Yet through it all for a hundred years or more are they 
 capable of holding their own, and still presenting a good front to the 
 wear-and-tear effects of the elements. 
 
 Wood alone ^^ what other material can the same be said ? None of 
 not fit for the our woods naked and unprotected are able to go through 
 
 such an ordeal. Nor would they for any length of time 
 even if fortified with paint or any of the preser\ati\"es that are some- 
 times applied to them. Under strong heat, as well as on account of 
 dry wind, they would curl and shrink if they did not also split. Rain 
 and damp winds would cause them to swell and force each other out of 
 place in the row. \\'hat, therefore, with being contracted and shrivelled 
 up at one time and puffed out with too much moisture at another, they 
 would soon lose their recuperative powers and come to fall away. The 
 shingle, or wooden slate of the United States and Canada, proves that some 
 kinds of wood can be turned to account in this way; but we ne\er heard 
 otherwise but that they are a sort of makeshift, and never had recourse 
 
 to where slates can be obtained at a price that does not 
 Which of the ,- i ■ i i • -n • i i • i r i i 
 
 Metals are ? lorbid tiieir use. W e have no metal either oi a reasonable 
 
 price that can take the place of slate on our roofs. For a 
 
 metal to be able to withstand what slates are subjected to on a roof
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR COVERING. 71 
 
 it would need to be proof against the oxidising effects of the atmospherev 
 be all but insoluble, and be not liable to expand very much under the 
 influence of heat. Were it one that encouraged the attentions of 
 oxygen, it would soon succumb to that busybody among the chemical 
 elements. Were it ever so slightly soluble in water, rain in time would 
 eat it away. If not liable to be dissolved in water of itself, but sure to 
 be in water containing acids, then there would be every chance of its 
 falling in the way of such a combination, because rain, even in the 
 country, is not wholly free of such a taint, while near populous places, or 
 in the neighbourhood of factories of various descriptions, it cannot escape 
 this contamination. And were it to expand to any considerable extent 
 under heat, as all metals do more or less, the result would be rather 
 detrimental to the efficiency of the roof. With clear spaces between 
 the metal slates or scales at one time, and at another, each jamming so 
 hard against the adjoining ones as to be difficult to keep in position, the 
 conditions would be such as to try the fastenings very severely. In 
 contrast to this the slate defies both air and rain ; it neither contracts 
 nor stretches, neither does it exert any strain on the nail beyond its 
 tendency to slip over the eave, except under the times of storm and 
 stress when it lies direct in the teeth of a gale, or, what is sometimes 
 even worse, when it gets caught in the suck of the whirling eddy that 
 so often strips off the slates when once a weak spot has revealed itself 
 and laid them open to unfair attack. 
 
 \\ G can mention four metals that come up to the requirements we have 
 just stated. These are gold, copper, lead, and zinc. The first of these 
 is all-round the best. It resists oxygen, is practically insoluble, and does 
 not come and go to any appreciable extent with change of temperature. 
 Old-fashioned chemists on account of these properties of gold classed it 
 as one of the " noble elements." But its price puts it out of count, and 
 we may leave it to serve more noble if not always as useful purposes. 
 
 Copper slates are used in exceptional cases, from which it is apparent 
 that copper is capable of ensuring the requirements referred to. It 
 does not so fully, however, as the metal just mentioned. The atmosphere 
 has a slowly corrosive effect on it. Both the oxygen itself and the 
 various acids found in air make a prey of it and in time eat it away. 
 Pure rain-water does not dissolve the metal, but rain, as hinted, quickly 
 picks up any acids that happen to be in the atmosphere. Copper 
 comes and goes too with its temperature. 
 
 Lead is less soluble than copper — at least, the combinations it forms 
 through exposure to air, to oxygen and atmospheric acids, are. Some 
 of them, in fact, are amongst the least soluble of the metallic compounds. 
 Lead was in time past extensively used as an outer covering for roofs. 
 Until slates were introduced we expect there was little else available 
 for roofing than thatch and lead— lead for church, abbey, castle, and the 
 rich man's house, and thatch for that of the man who could afford no
 
 72 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 better. Many a noble edifice was laid open to ruin through the stripping 
 of lead from the roofs for bullet-making in the times of the civil wars. 
 Lead is much used yet in roofing, but only in a subsidiary way. It 
 lends itself easy of application to the nooks, corners, and angles into 
 which slates cannot be moulded or trimmed, and as a means of con- 
 necting the slates to various parts of the building and making these 
 places watertight. Lead is never used in the form of slates, but is 
 always applied in the sheet form, cut to the size wanted. It is too 
 expensive to be used as slates are, although quite capable of being 
 applied in that way and taking their place. On many occasions it is 
 still the medium taken to cover over flat roofs, and now as formerly it 
 is laid in the sheet. Lead is little affected by changes of temperature 
 as compared with other metals. The little there is, however, waxes big 
 when a large sheet of it is in question, and possessing as it does little 
 elasticity, it needs care in laying, else tears or rupture will be induced, 
 and its effectiveness be spoiled. It must be laid in such a manner that 
 the sides and ends of the sheet are free to follow contractions therein 
 and give way before expansion in the mass when affected by heat. It 
 will not bear the restriction of being nailed down like a carpet. 
 
 Zinc could be manufactured into the shape of slates and take the 
 place of the real article were it not for the expense involved. The 
 appearance of such substitutes would be against them, however. They 
 would resist weather sufficiently well, and otherwise be answerable. 
 Zinc, like lead, but in less degree, is already put to service as a 
 subsidiary to slates. It makes a good material for finishing off the 
 ridge angle with ; and sometimes is turned to account in the manu- 
 facture of eaves-gutters, or "rhones," as these are often called. It is a 
 common medium, too, as we shall find, for the construction of ridge 
 ventilators. It is too brittle, however, to take the place of lead in 
 covering the open joints in slating or finishing off where slates abutt 
 against walls, and in situations of a like nature. Lead, being soft and 
 ductile, can be easily dressed or moulded so as to lie fiat upon or close 
 against either wood, slate, or stone, which with its other good qualities 
 as a resister of weather effects, render it very valuable in this respect. 
 Zinc is not so accommodating, and will crack at once if meddled with in 
 the manner that lead is pulled about and beaten in this connection. 
 
 That zinc is endowed with a fair amount of weather-resisting qualities 
 is proved from the fact that it is now so much used in the protection of 
 iron that is exposed to the atmosphere. The galvanizing of iron is 
 simply the coating of it all over with a thin skin or film of zinc. The 
 process is somewhat similar to that of electro-plating — the covering of 
 articles made of nickel or some similar composition of the baser metals 
 with a coat of silver, and giving them the appearance of being made 
 entirely of that beautiful metal. In this case, however, the iron articles 
 are simply dipped in molten zinc, and in that way coated over with
 
 THE ROOFS^THEIR COVERING. 73 
 
 protective material. Were the zinc wanting, the iron would at once 
 
 be attacked by oxygen. It might escape if there was little moisture 
 
 about, but once let dew or rain or other form of dampness get in contact 
 
 with it, then oxidation takes place at once and rust is the result. So 
 
 long as it is protected by a film of zinc it is secure from attack by 
 
 oxygen. Paint, could we apply it as closely as the zinc, might be 
 
 equally effective in keeping oxygen at bay, but we cannot bring about 
 
 such a close relationship between the paint and the iron as exists 
 
 between zinc and it under the process of galvanizing. Paint cannot be 
 
 applied so intimately to the iron as zinc can, nor does it last so long when 
 
 applied. The zinc appears to enter into a sort of chemical combination 
 
 with the iron and be merged into its substance at the point of application 
 
 •of the two. It is different with paint, which at the best is but smeared 
 
 over, leaving dust and other matter between it and the metal, there being 
 
 more or less of this in accordance with the condition of the latter. Could 
 
 the paint be applied to the metal when its surface was thoroughly 
 
 clean, a close connection would be gained, but this is seldom practicable. 
 
 Zinc is not altogether proof against the effects of exposure to the 
 
 atmosphere. It is less so than either copper or lead, but is cheaper 
 
 than these. It scores considerably, however, on account of its gahanizing 
 
 capabilities. 
 
 We might have included tin among the other four as a metal fit to be 
 
 manufactured into roofing scales or squares after the fashion of slates. 
 
 But were the price not prohibitory the appearance these would bear 
 
 would in itself put them out of court. Tin resists weather stoutly. 
 
 Tinned goods, as most of us are aware, are made of sheet iron coated 
 
 with tin. So long as the tin stands good, so will the iron, but whenever 
 
 the tin film is rubbed off or worn through rust attacks the iron and the 
 
 usefulness of the article is destroyed. It is mar\'ellous how thin a sheet 
 
 of iron and how delicate a skin or envelope of tin can together be turned 
 
 out by the manufacturer. And aluminium has, we suspect, a future 
 
 before it, in connection with parts of our roofs. 
 
 _. , There is nothing therefore in nature to equal slates for 
 
 Slate the , . '^ . ^ , ,. ^ , ., ,. _ 
 
 best Natural ^"^ exterior covermg or the roots or our buildmgs. Com- 
 
 Material for posed of inert earthy matter that affords no attraction to 
 the Purpose. , , ,1 , 11 •, 
 
 the meddlesome oxygen that surrounds us, they can easily 
 
 resist the other trials that follov/ exposure. Sun and rain have no 
 
 appreciable effect on them, neither has frost. At any rate, they take 
 
 a long time to show much result from their continual siege. It seldom 
 
 slackens, one being ever ready to begin as another leaves off. Some 
 
 kinds there are of course that show no such powers of endurance ; but 
 
 plenty are to be had, and at a reasonable price, quite capable of lasting 
 
 after the manner described. 
 
 The English roofing tile of the best quality is not, indeed, far behind 
 
 slate as an external roof cover. Not so fibrous and tough, perhaps, it
 
 74 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 is still very inert under weather influences. A roof covered with these 
 tiles is, in fact, one coated with brick. 
 
 But preparations have first to be made for securin,t( a firm 
 
 The Basis ]^^,^gjg f^j. ^.j^^ attachment of the slates or tile:^ We left oft 
 
 for the 
 
 Attachment last chapter at the completion of the skeleton or framework 
 
 °^ fl^^-f ^ intended for support to what has to e^ive a foothold or bed 
 
 and Tiles. . . . ^ 
 
 for the outer covering. English builders follow the practice 
 
 of fastening both slates and tiles to spars or laths nailed to the rafters 
 
 at distances spaced to suit the size of the slates being made use of. In 
 
 Scotland such a practice is rarely observed. There the prevailing 
 
 system is to co^•er the rafters with rough boarding and attach the slates 
 
 thereto. The more boisterous nature of Scotland's climate is sometimes 
 
 advanced as a reason for this difference of practice. There can hardly, 
 
 however, be so much difference between countries so close together. 
 
 There are bound to be parts of England more tempestuous than the best 
 
 sheltered parts of Scotland, and what stands good in the one will surely 
 
 in the other. The class of slates available in the respective countries 
 
 seems to us to be at the root of the matter. Slating on spars makes it 
 
 obligatory that the slates are nearly all of one size and large. It does 
 
 not, of course, make the rule absolute. On boards, however, it is much 
 
 more practicable to use slates of assorted size than it is on sparring, the 
 
 spars affording too little range in spacing to be readily adaptable to the 
 
 change in cover or lap that is implied in tlie use of slates of different 
 
 length. The slates native to Scotland are generally sent from the quarries 
 
 in various sizes, due, no doubt, to the fact of their being sold by weight. 
 
 It is out of this, we suspect, that there has arisen in Scotland the practice 
 
 of providing a continuous covering of boards for the slater's field of 
 
 operations. And accustomed to this kind of slate to start with, Scottish 
 
 builders have seldom sought for a better. W'e rarely, at any rate, see in 
 
 Scotland the best kinds of Welsh and English slates. Scotsmen seem 
 
 to import only the inferior sorts. The English builders keep the best to 
 
 themselves ; they keep the big smooth ones, and send north the smaller and 
 
 coarser sorts. These suit, however, otherwise they would not be taken. 
 
 o^^fi.,^ The boarding for slates is, as we have mentioned, techni- 
 
 Koonng fc> ' ' ^ 
 
 Boards for cally known as "sarking." These sarking boards are nine 
 ^^^^' inches wide by five-eighths of an inch thick, and vary in 
 
 length in accordance with the tree they are sawn from. They are used 
 rough from the saw, but squared at sides and ends of course. They are 
 firmly nailed to the rafters, as close together as they can be placed by 
 hand assisted by an occasional tap from the hammer. There should never 
 be less than two nails in each of the boards at every rafter. We have, as 
 already expressed, a preference for galvanized nails for this purpose, espe- 
 cially in the roofs of byres and stables. They cost \ery little extra, and 
 serve to make things more secure. We have seen so much harm occur irom 
 nails becoming rusted through exposure to the atmosphere of such places.
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR COVERING. 75 
 
 and giving way, and thus allowing the boards to sHp, that we find it well 
 worth while to guard against that by taking this slight precaution. It 
 may be said, and with some show of truth, that it would be more satis- 
 factory to guard against the cause of this decay by taking steps to prevent 
 the implied foulness of air in these situations. In the due course of our 
 work we shall recommend that too, but carrying it out is by no means 
 such an easy matter as it can be made to look on paper. The matter 
 of substituting galvanized nails for those ordinarily in use is a simple 
 one, however, and once completed it looks after itself. 
 
 The rafters, as we pointed out in last chapter, are set to leave a space 
 of about sixteen inches between them. It seems about enough one 
 would think to expect to be bridged o\er by boards only five-eighths of 
 an inch thick with their load of slates. But there would appear to 
 be no reason for seeking improvement in this direction. The arrange- 
 ment so far as it goes answers well enough apparently. Por our part 
 we would rather ha\e thicker boards and have the rafters a little wider 
 apart. When the boards are so thin the ends of the slate nails project 
 through and are unsightly and give an unfinished look to the job. If, 
 however, we go to the expense of planing all the wood that shows 
 inside the roof of the buildings, as we have already recommended 
 should be done in the instance of byres and stable, we mav as well at once 
 have the rafters covered with 
 
 ii-inch flooring boards. These » 4 ■■.':'". ^^.^ ' 77^^ U{/////;///////tt///^ 
 give us a smooth surface on F,g 33. 
 
 the inside of the house and 
 
 at the same time provide us with a thicker board. The increased thick- 
 ness will, if we think fit, enable us to set the rafters farther apart and 
 so help a little to counterbalance the extra cost. It will also almost 
 entirely hinder the points of the slate nails showing themselves. The 
 sarking boards are to be had "half-checked" as in Fig. 55, which shows 
 a section through two of them placed near each other. There is not 
 much use for this as regards farm buildings, although, seeing that we do 
 board in the roofs, it may as well be- done effectually. It is argued that 
 the more chinks there are in the boarding of the roof the better chance 
 is there of some ventilation being assured. But we prefer to place the 
 ventilation of a building on a surer basis than leakage through the sides 
 of the roof. Checking the boards helps somewhat to keep the joints closer, 
 but not to the extent one might readily suppose. The sarking boards are 
 seldom seasoned to the extent we ha\e a right to look for. They are 
 too o^'ten cut out of bulk and dispatched right off to the carpenter. 
 Hence it comes that these boards frequently shrink to a considerable 
 degree. In this way the check very often becomes of little avail. 
 Flooring boards are supposed to be better seasoned, and generally 
 speaking, they are, and with them we are sure of a closer joint than with 
 the others. They are tongued and groved as Fig. 87 shoAvs. This
 
 76 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 ensures a tight joint so far as the passage of wind is concerned, but 
 
 we are thinking more of their presenting a close surface joint to the 
 
 interior of the building. But even if the boards do shrink a little, which 
 
 in every probability they will, and form wider joints than we care to see, 
 
 it is good to have the exposed face of the boarding — that next the house 
 
 — smoothed down by the plane. The why and wherefore of this we 
 
 have already hinted at and shall revert to and take up in fuller manner 
 
 when we come to touch on sanitation at the steading. 
 
 Whatever the class of boards chosen as a foundation for 
 The admission . , . , , n • ^ i 
 
 of Light by the slates is, whether sarkmg boards or tioormg boards, 
 
 way of the there is a good deal to do besides nailing them on before 
 
 Roof. , . 1 , T , 1 
 
 slatmg can be commenced, it may have struck some oi our 
 
 readers that when referring to the walls we made no special reference 
 
 to window openings therein. We did not for the reason that we prefer 
 
 to light all farm buildings by way of the roof instead of through 
 
 openings in the wall. Side windows in farm buildings are often in the 
 
 way. They are seldom kept clean, and the window sills, like the 
 
 wallheads when within reach and not closed in, become so many places 
 
 of deposit for rubbish. When the lights are up in the roof they are out 
 
 of the way and the glass has less chance of being broken. The glass is 
 
 sure to be washed on one side whenever rain falls, which cannot be said 
 
 of it when in the side window, and no other agent ever cleanses it — at 
 
 least, we never saw the window of a farm building being cleaned. 
 
 Moreover, more of the sun's rays wull penetrate the building through 
 
 roof lights than side lights. Up in the roof the windows see more of 
 
 the sun and its reflected light than it is possible they can do when 
 
 built into both sides of the building ; they can never be so much out Of 
 
 sight of the vault of heaven as those in the side w^all. The latter have 
 
 only while the sun is about level with the eave they pertain to in which 
 
 to get a direct glance, but the skylight, as its name conveys, is ever 
 
 looking heavenwards, and has the fullest chance of obtaining light for 
 
 the interior. First those on the one side and next those on the other 
 
 follow the sun in its daily course almost from horizon to horizon. 
 
 Another point in favour of the roof light is its cheapness in comparison 
 
 to the side window. It saves sill, rybats, and lintel, which together 
 
 account for more than the extra rubble work taken to fill up what 
 
 Avould have been the window opening. Safe lintels are also dispensed 
 
 with, and the framework of the roof light can be had for less than the 
 
 framework of the side window, and it will last longer, there being no 
 
 wood to decay, and from its position placing it out of harm's way. 
 
 A common size of roof light is thirty inches long by 
 
 A suitable sixteen inches wide — of glass, that is to say. This size 
 
 size of Roof ,..,,., ^ . . , , , ^ 
 
 I^ight. admits or the light fitting in exactly between the ratters, 
 
 the usual distance between them being as we saw sixteen 
 
 inches. The frames of these lights are of cast iron, and they are made
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR COVERING. 
 
 n 
 
 Fi( 
 
 The Advan- 
 tages of the 
 Roof Light. 
 
 either as dead lights, in accordance with Fig. 56, or with hinges, as in 
 
 Fig- 57' that allow of their being opened at pleasure. We always 
 
 advise the use of opening skylights ; they are essential, we think, to 
 
 the houses meant for live stock, and in the other places we consider 
 
 them preferable to the unopening ones. The frame of the roof light is 
 
 screwed to the roofing boards over the hole sawn out of these for the 
 
 purpose. The slates lap 
 
 over the frame at top 
 
 and at the sides, and the 
 
 tail or bottom of the frame 
 
 laps over them, thus 
 
 keeping all shipshape and 
 
 dry. The roof lights have 
 
 therefore to be fixed up 
 
 coincident with the slates; they cannot, it is evident, be put in position 
 
 until the row of slates that comes within touch of the bottom of the 
 
 opening left for the roof light has been secured. 
 
 Our advocacy of roof lights may at first thought seem a 
 little self-contradictory. We have hitherto been against 
 the introduction of iron into the interior part of the 
 roofing of farm buildings on account of its liability to 
 condense moisture out of the warm air of these places, bringing harm to 
 itself and to the adjoining wood as well. But, notwithstanding the 
 framework of the roof light being of iron, there is so little of it exposed 
 to the interior of the building, almost the whole of it resting on the 
 outer surface of the roofing boards, that but small harm can ever result 
 from this cause. Moreover, the glass is so fixed that what moisture 
 happens to condense on the inner surface of the glass escapes at the 
 
 tail of the frame on to 
 
 the apron or bottom end 
 
 of the frame of the roof 
 
 light. We have already 
 
 pointed out that rain kept 
 
 the outside of the glass 
 
 clean ; here on the inside 
 
 we find the same service 
 
 being done, though not 
 
 so thoroughly perhaps^ 
 
 by the condensing 
 
 moisture of the interior. 
 
 But the rain that 
 
 w^ashes the glass rusts 
 
 the iron frame which holds it — at least, the part that is exposed — and this 
 
 means the application of paint pretty frequently if the roof light is to be 
 
 maintained in jjood order. Left to itself after the initial rub over which 
 
 l-K
 
 78 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 it is supposed to get, it will grow rusty and become difficult to open. 
 The putty will crack and eventually lose hold and drop off. But if kept 
 regularly pamted the iron-framed roof light will last an indefinite time. 
 
 We would fain of course be rid whenever possible of the necessity of 
 having to paint. This proceeding is, we repeat, so apt to be overlooked at 
 the homestead that any parts of the different buildings that depend on 
 paint for protection from the weather are nearly always in a precarious 
 condition. There is excuse for a roof light being overlooked in the 
 matter of paint ; there is none, however, when the side window, 
 generally within easy reach, is found bare and weatherbeaten. A door 
 or a beam, if the wood is sound to begin with, once it is seasoned, will 
 last for long without the aid of paint. With, a window it is different. 
 There are so many joints in the latter into which rain can enter and 
 cause decay if they are not safeguarded with paint that two or three 
 years of neglect in the way we refer to puts it past repair. If the putty 
 gets slack, rain gets in behind it to the serious harm of the wood. Paint 
 alone will keep the putty from shrinking and cracking. 
 
 But if we find the side window so much neglected in this respect, 
 what need we expect regarding the roof light ? The framework of it 
 too might be galvanized and thus be made sure of. There would still, 
 however, remain the putty to be dealt with. But if that were well 
 attended to at first it might not need looking to for a long time after- 
 wards. There are indeed methods in vogue of glazing roof lights 
 without the aid of putty which, if adopted in connection with the 
 suggested galvanizing of the roof-light frame would make matters about 
 perfect in this connection. But, should these precautions be thought a 
 little far-fetched, then let the ironwork receive three coats of good paint 
 before being placed in position, and after glazing let the putty be well 
 coated also, when the whole will be in good condition to start with, 
 after which they must trust to events for after-attention. We cannot 
 provide for self-upkeep and protection altogether, although at the 
 homestead, if anywhere, automatic, or rather, self-renewing apparatus, 
 would have an undisturbed field to practise themselves in. 
 
 We have been a little premature with the roof lights. 
 
 Other Opera- They are put in position concurrently with the slates ; 
 
 tions prepara- . . 
 
 tory to Slating, but previous to the commencement or slatmg there are 
 
 some important, if slight, operations in the way of plumber- 
 work to be seen to. Hooks for the rhones, eaves-gutters, or spouts, as these 
 are variously termed in different districts, have to be fixed to the roofing 
 boards ; and Avhenever lead has to be introduced and be partly covered 
 by the slates, it must be put in its place before the slates can be laid. 
 
 The rhone hooks (see Fig. 58) are put on at three feet 
 The Eaves- apart, and fastened to the sarking boards with slate nails. 
 
 The rhones themselves are in six-foot lengths ; thus each 
 one gets two hooks for its support. We are assuming that cast-iron
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR COVERING. 79 
 
 rhones ^viIl be used. Both lead and zinc are, in some districts, put to 
 the purpose of forming these eaves-gutters. Lead is too expensive for 
 this, however, and neither of them is so serviceable as cast iron. The 
 bangs that these gutters sometimes receive when clumsy fellows are 
 setting ladders against them with a view to repairing roofs or mounting 
 thereon, necessitate their being made of a sturdier stuff than either lead 
 or zinc. There is no soldering needed in the case of cast-iron rhones. 
 They fit on to each other, end for end, on the principle of spigot and 
 faucet pipes. The faucet is lined with putty, upon which is laid a 
 corresponding spigot ; a screw bolt is passed through the hole common 
 to each piece, the nut is screwed home, and the two lengths are as one. 
 A new length can at any time be submitted for a fractured one. With 
 lead or zinc it is different. Eaves-gutters of either material take longer 
 to fix up, and they take far more trouble in time of repair. Neither 
 needs paint, but the iron rhone brings us face to face with this diflficulty 
 once more. Here, however, we can with even greater confidence than 
 in the previous instances recommend the troublesome metal to be dis- 
 guised in zinc. The 
 hooks are n o ^\• 
 almost always gal- 
 vanized. They are 
 troublesome to re- 
 place, and experience ^==;5---__-;:;i^ Fig. 58. 
 has taught that this is 
 the best method of safeguarding them against weather. To do the same 
 by the rhones or drop-pipes or conductors, although it adds to the first 
 cost thereof, is eventually well-spent money. After that they are for all 
 time coming independent of paint. It would be well indeed could we 
 say the same of all exposed perishable materials that take part in the 
 fabric of the homestead. 
 
 We have been taking it for granted that everyone 
 
 No Building interested in the construction of homesteads allows the 
 should be .... ,.,.,,. 
 
 without them, necessity there is tor eaves-gutters to the various buildings 
 
 that form the group. When these are wanting the side 
 walls are certain to suffer. Every shower means a wetting to the 
 foundation. Over and above what falls to the share of the surface at 
 the base of the side wall of an}- of the buildings, it gets what rain 
 •descends on half of the area of the building, the other half leading down 
 the slope on the other side of the ridge. And this extra share is not let 
 down in the manner characteristic of rain. It comes like a cascade, 
 splashing upon the base of the wall and wearing away the soil there- 
 from. Outer walls of buildings provided with eaves-gutters are kept 
 damp by the atmosphere, so that where these are not erected it can 
 easily be imagined that the condition of such walls is made worse in 
 that respect. A damp course, it can be understood, will have its
 
 8o 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Fig. 59. 
 
 beneficial effects hindered very much when eaves-gutters are denied to 
 the buildings. But if solely on the ground of discomfort to man and 
 beast we would ad\ocate their adoption. How unpleasant it is in times 
 of rain coming out and in of the doorways of buildings that have none 
 of these appendages to the eaves, especially if the 
 doors happen to be stiff, or their fastenings are out 
 of order and want coaxing to be led in the way they 
 ought to go ! On a dark, wet, windy night, the 
 lamp difficult to keep in, uncertainty which key 
 is the right one, and the mimic waterfall free to find our neck, there 
 arises for us no slight trial of temper. The very horses wince, and seek to 
 force the passage as they come under the rude shower-bath. Melting snow 
 helps when there is no rain to prolong the discomfort from this cause. 
 
 The Aarious objects on Fig. 60 make plain how con- 
 veniently the cast-iron rhones or eaves gutters are manu- 
 factured for being put up in any sort of position. Each 
 ordinary part of the gutter is, as mentioned above, six feet 
 long, and one fits to the other — the plain end of one into the faucet end of 
 another, or of an odd piece. A little putty is bedded round the faucet. 
 
 The Manner 
 of fitting up 
 the Eaves- 
 Gutters. 
 
 Fig. Go. 
 
 and the junction is made thoroughly secure by means of the little screw 
 bolt and nut. Any piece can be easily procured, so that repairs are easily 
 effected. On each edge of the gutter, as on Fig. 59, is a bead or thickening 
 of the metal, which gives additional strength to that part. The rhones are 
 given an inclination to the various points abo\e where the water is to be 
 led to the ground. There offset pieces are introduced which are connected 
 to conductors or drop-pipes. Rhones four-and-a-half inches across are 
 a good size to use. A three-inch conductor is ample to serve these, 
 provided, of course, each conductor is not given too much to do. As
 
 THE ROOFS—THEIR COVERING. 
 
 may be gathered from Fig. 6i, these pipes are also of the spigot and 
 faucet pattern, and are, consequently, easy of connection. A faucet 
 end is slipped over the nozzle of the rhone. That length of the con- 
 ductor is fastened to the wall by means of a hold-fast a on the fig. 
 driven into the wall close up to the faucet. Another piece has its faucet 
 slipped over the free end of the piece just fixed in position and made 
 fast in the same way, and so on until the ground is reached. Xo packing 
 of the joints is necessary. If meant 
 to deliver the water on the ground 
 clear of the wall, a shoe piece h is 
 generally finished off with, but if it 
 has to be led directly to the drain 
 the free end is carried below the 
 level of the grating of, a Hart or 
 other trap afterwards to be described. 
 Swan-neck pieces c are made use of 
 when it is not practicable to place the 
 nozzle directly over the mouth of the 
 conductor, or vice versa. 
 
 Wherever practicable 
 centre gutters are to be 
 avoided. They are out 
 of sight, therefore all the 
 more likely to be neg- 
 lected. What is daily in view is apt to 
 be overlooked ; what cannot readily be 
 seen has less chance of bemg attended 
 to. Leaves, if trees are about, lodge in 
 centre gutters ; and straw too that gets 
 whirled up on the wind lands there. 
 These accumulations if undisturbed 
 come to obstruct and by-and-by to 
 choke up the waterway, with consequent 
 flooding of the hollows and evil results 
 to the wood affected. And snow under 
 
 certain conditions of the weather if left to itself in the centre gutter often 
 causes flooding there. 
 
 P'ig. 62 tells what a centre gutter is. It serves also for 
 us to point out some of the other parts of the roof that 
 the plumber must attend to before the slater can com- 
 mence operations. The centre gutter a is the angle 
 formed where the two roofs meet on the mutual wall. Two roofs 
 converging as at h form a valley. A roof running into a wall as at c 
 forms there a flank, with its accompanying raggle or raglet. These 
 parts require the intervention of sheet lead to make them watertight. 
 
 M.H. G 
 
 The Centre 
 Gutter to 
 be dis- 
 pensed with 
 wherever 
 practicable. 
 
 Fig. 61. 
 
 The Valley, 
 the Flank, 
 and the 
 "Piend,"
 
 82 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The part marked d, wliich is the reverse, as it were, of the valley, is 
 termed the hip or "piend." It, like the ridge, is the water-shed, and the 
 two are finished off similarly — the one, in fact, being but a continuation 
 of the other. Zinc is the usual material for finishing off with here. 
 
 Both in the centre gutter and the valley the lead must 
 be laid sufficiently far under the slates to make sure 
 that water running down the roof cannot gain entrance 
 between the two. In Fig. 63 we show a section of a 
 centre gutter in order to make the matter plainer. It is advisable to 
 make the gutter a fair breadth ; one has room then to move about 
 
 The Securing 
 of Lead on 
 the Roof. 
 
 Fig 62. 
 
 thereupon without breaking the ends of the slates. A platform, or sole, 
 n, is first laid on which to bed the lead. Bearers for this are attached 
 to the rafters. The joints between the boards of this sole must be close, 
 
 else they will subject the lead to a likelihood of being rent or torn. It 
 is well therefore to use flooring boards for the purpose. The broader 
 we make this platform tlie higher we raise it above the level of the
 
 THE ROOFS-^THEIR COVERING. 83 
 
 wallhead. But this does not necessarily affect the appearance inside 
 either of the buildings, the roofing boards generally being carried down 
 to the wallhead as usual. They could of course be dispensed with 
 beneath the level of the gutter sole ; but then an unsightly as well as 
 insanitary space would be left. If the wallhead angles are to be filled 
 in on the principle we suggest at p. 68, the roofing boards need, 
 however, be carried no further down than will clear the room required 
 for this. 
 
 With the sole in position the laying of the lead is then gone about. 
 It is carried far enough up the slope of the roof on each side as well as 
 
 1=^ 
 
 =? 
 
 lt i:j « Q ~ 
 
 Fig. 64. 
 
 at the head to allow the gutter to contain two or three inches of water 
 without any getting over the edge. At the edge it is dressed o\er a 
 small angular piece of wood h, known as a tiltmg fillet. This fillet, 
 while it checks the progress of water that might, were it absent, be 
 drifted oxer the edge of the lead, gives the necessary tilt, afterwards 
 to be referred to, to the tail of the first row of slates. 
 
 Lead, as we have already said, will not suffer the restraint of nails. 
 It must have free course to come and go as temperature dictates. But 
 in positions of the kind we are dealing with it needs no such curbing. 
 It will lie still enough except for its own molecular motion. This, 
 however, though barely perceptible to observation, if interfered with is 
 
 Fig. 65. 
 
 enough to destroy the efficiency of the watertight sheet. It hinders 
 us from using large continuous sheets of the metal. In consequence 
 the gutter has lengthwise to be broken up into several sections accord- 
 ing to how far the combined roofs stretch. The breaks are introduced 
 in a series of steps as in Fig. 64, due care being taken to overlap the 
 connecting lead in such a way that water will not penetrate at the 
 junction. As we gain the top section of the gutter it broadens out 
 on account of the slope we are obliged to give each of them as well as of 
 the steps that mark one from the other. The joining of sheets on the 
 flat, which here may only be done parallel with the slope, is accomplished 
 by means of a roll as in Fig. 65. But at the farm the sheets of lead 
 applied to roofing are rarely so broad as to call for this. The centre- 
 gutter may dip both ways and thus afford escape to the water if both 
 
 G 2
 
 «+ 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 ends are free — it no buildings abutt against either end of the conjoined 
 buildings. If only one end is free it will dip thitherwards. Tlie water 
 ought never, if possible, to be drained down through the buddings. If 
 it is, mischief is certain to result at some time or other. 
 
 Cast-iron centre gutters such as in Fig. 66, ot which 
 there are many modifications, are occasionally made use 
 of in connection with farm buildings. The respective 
 lengths are put together m the same way as the rhones 
 referred to. They are strong, and so long as in good order quite 
 effective. They ha\e one serious fault, however ; wherever moist air 
 
 Cast-iron 
 
 Centre 
 
 Gutters. 
 
 Fig. r.r>. 
 
 gets access to them they, when cold, act as condensers. If they happen 
 to be in buildings that contain live stock, water is constantly dripping 
 from them. From this cause they are liable to become a source of 
 
 Fig. 67. 
 
 damage. Shrouding the outside of them in felt or encasing them in 
 wood prevents the dripping. But it is not always practicable to do 
 this. Felt would fall away in time, helped, perhaps, by rats in want 
 of a lining for nests, and unless the wood be close home against the 
 iron, condensation would still take place. They are cheaper than lead 
 gutters, but we would ne\er recommend them for situations where they
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR COVERING. 
 
 8s 
 
 The Con- 
 struction of 
 the Valley. 
 
 would be subjected to the lung exhalations of animals. Lead would 
 
 act in much the same way were it not hindered by the closely-fitting 
 
 boards on wliicli it rests in the gutter. An iron gutter may be ser\ice 
 
 able enough in connection with open shedding, but it should never be 
 
 used as part of either byre, stable, loose-box, or any other place that is 
 
 set aside for the housing of live stock. 
 
 Fig. 67 gives a section of how the valley is constructed. 
 It, too, is provided with a closely-fitting wood sole and 
 a tilting fillet at each side. This sole is, of course, a 
 narrowish one, simply being there to keep the lead from 
 
 liability to split through being forced into the otherwise acute angle at 
 
 the junction of the 
 
 roofing boards. The 
 
 lead is broad enough 
 
 to fit to the sole and 
 
 be dressed over both 
 
 fillets. The latter do 
 
 to be smaller here 
 
 than at the sides of 
 
 the centre gutter, their 
 
 purpose being mostly 
 
 that alone of confining the water to the channel. In the centre gutter 
 
 they have in addition to give tilt to the slates, although e^■en here they 
 
 ha\e also something to do in that way. 
 
 The flank and raggle differ somewhat from both the 
 The Raggle 
 
 gutter and the valley. Figs. 68 and 69 show one method 
 
 ot finishing the flank. This, indeed, resembles the valley. It resembles 
 
 one halved. The sole is just the roofing boards. A tilting fillet is there, 
 
 too, on the side next the roof. At 
 
 the other side the lead is dressed 
 
 up the wall three or four inches 
 
 and then inserted at right angles 
 
 into a narrow groove worked in 
 
 the stone. This groove is the 
 
 raggle or raglet proper, and is an 
 
 inch or an inch and a half deep. 
 
 The lead is finished off therein 
 
 with a slight curl of the lead back 
 
 on itself. \\'hen the lead has got 
 
 its proper set the remaining space 
 
 in the groove is filled up with 
 
 cement and neatly smoothed oft". This is generally left over until the 
 
 slating has been completed. When the raggle is completed no water can 
 
 get between the lead and the wall. This form is sometimes termed an 
 
 "open gutter. ■■
 
 86 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Fig. 70 shows another method of finishing the raggle. In this 
 instance the part of the lead that projects on the roof, instead of 
 being put under the slates, lies over them, they being laid close 
 
 against the wall. The 
 
 rr 
 
 Fig. 70. 
 
 remainder of the lead 
 
 is fixed as before. 
 
 The slates require a 
 
 tilting fillet to them- 
 
 sehes in order to lay 
 
 them so that the Avater 
 
 they pass on may be 
 
 diverted from the wall. 
 
 The former, if the more 
 
 troublesome to complete, 
 
 is much the neater as well as the more thorough of the two. 
 
 Sometimes it is practicable, as in Fig. 71, to finish off a raggle without 
 
 the intervention of lead at all. But the grove in the wall needs then 
 
 to be a wide one, with the slates projected a little into it, and bedded in 
 
 cement. When the slater has finished, the gap remaining in the 
 
 raggle is filled up with cement and a good coat of it, projecting well 
 
 over the slates, is firmly laid on. This answers for a time : if away 
 
 from the stormy side it may be for a long time, but we prefer to have 
 
 lead in all cases. The tiled roof and the roof covered with flag-like 
 
 slate, lend themselves to be finished off with either cement or lime in this 
 
 manner much more effectually than the ordinary description of slated roof. 
 
 Where chimney heads pass up through roofs, or are in 
 
 '^^^ J^"^*^°"^ the gables thereof, the junctions between them and the 
 with Chimneys. ^ ^ . . 
 
 slates are finished in a manner similar to these flanks and 
 
 raggles we have been discussing. Fig. 72 shows a chimney-head 
 finished thus, one side with an open gutter as in the flank represented 
 in Fig. 68, and the other as in Fig. 70, with an apron of lead over the 
 slates. The ends of 
 
 the chimney are finished *^ ' . 
 
 like the latter men- 
 tioned of the two sides, 
 with aprons projecting 
 over the slates. Chim- 
 ney-heads usually being 
 of brick and a raggle 
 being difficult to cut 
 
 in such hard material, Fig. 
 
 the skirting, or the 
 
 •' flashing," as it is sometimes termed, of lead is stepped as shown 
 in Fig. 73. In rough work they may be safeguarded with cement 
 alone, as with the flanks mentioned as beingf so done in some cases.
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR COVERING. 
 
 87 
 
 ^, , It may be gathered from what we ha\e been describin'r 
 
 The fewer 1 1 r 1 1 1 • • 
 
 Breaks in the t'^^' ^^^ lewer breaks and junctions there are in the roofs 
 
 Roof-Line the of a group of farm buildings, the better will it be for all 
 
 more easily is 
 
 the Roof main- ^""cerned. By breaks we mean any change m the 
 
 tained water- continuity of the elevation or sky-line of any of the sides 
 tight. 
 
 of the homestead — differences in their level, in short, and 
 
 by junctions the duplication of buildings, or the placing of two together 
 
 in such a way that the dividing wall is mutual to both. Breaks 
 
 Fig. 72. 
 
 necessitate lead joints between the roof of the lower building and either 
 the gable or the side wall of the higher. Each joint of the kind is 
 e.xpensive to begin with and by no means cheap to repair when flaws 
 
 Fig. 73.
 
 88 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 begin to appear. I'luniheis' wages are high, and much of their time at 
 country repairs is taken up in journeying to and fro. 
 
 The ranging together cheek by jowl of buildings of equal 
 
 Not wise to iiei<'-ht means expensive centre gutters between the 
 range two o r . 
 
 Buildings parallel roofs. Oftener than otherwise this arrangement 
 
 together. ^^ ^j^^ result of seeking to make one wall answer for two. 
 
 We (juestion, however, if this is sound policy. It can hardly be 
 avoided in many cases ; but where it arises from no other cause than 
 the a\oidance of an e.xtra side wall it is a mark of false economy. 
 When finished in a thorough way there is not so much saving after all, 
 and the place is left with a weak part that is almost certain to be 
 neglected until the decay it may happen to be responsible for obliges 
 someone at last to take it in hand. Another bad effect, but one more 
 of a sanitary nature afterwards to be discussed, of this duplication of 
 buildings is the interruption which it causes to the easy and effective 
 ventilation of the space covered, unless of course the two buildings be 
 treated as one. But when the two are separate, instead of each being 
 in contact on both sides with the outer air, there is but one side thus 
 advantageously situated. 
 
 The slater has now a free course. The slates chosen for 
 The Choice of j^-j^ ^^,jjj^ ^g ^^,g \-^^yQ already remarked, depend very 
 
 much upon the kind most easily procurable in the district 
 surrounding the homestead being built. These may indeed be of a 
 description that one does not care to use, which leaves it open to 
 him to make a wider selection. Scottish slates are roughish, but 
 hardy and long-lasting. Both bulky and hea\-y, they become com- 
 paratively costly if transported long distances. Welsh slates are the 
 most generally prevalent of all our British sorts. They are thin, and 
 many go to the ton, and in consequence the carriage of them does not 
 amount up to the figure payable for the bulkier kinds. There are good 
 slates too to be had from quarries in the North of England — in West- 
 moreland and Lancashire. The Westmoreland slates are, however, 
 more of a fancy nature. This and the limited supply thereof put them 
 out of count so far as the steading is concerned. The best of them are 
 of a nice green colour. The Lancashire slates make a first-class cover 
 for roofs. Both they and those peculiar to Westmoreland are thicker 
 and coarser in grain than the Welsh kinds, but a little less so than the 
 Scottish. It is only therefore wdthin a reasonable distance from the 
 source of supply that we find Lancashire slates on the roofs of home- 
 steads. But all over the country we find the W^elsh product in 
 evidence. Their supply seems endless, and the situation of the rock 
 that yields them being close to the sea, all ports ha^■e an easy as well 
 as cheap communication with the quarries. 
 
 Puit whatever the slate selected let it be good of its kind. We have 
 a liking for a stronger sort of slate than the Welsh— at least, the sort of
 
 THE ROOFS— THEIR COVERING. 89 
 
 Welsh that is sent North — for use at the steading. And of the remaining 
 two that are axailable we prefer the Lancashire to the Argyleshire, as 
 being of a little smoother exterior. When farm servants mount the 
 roofs of the buildings for some purpose or other, the slates require to be 
 strong to withstand their tread — and even tradesmen, whether 
 painters or plumbers, in their angel-like visits, can hardly a\oid 
 cracking a few slates as they pass up and down the roofs. But on a 
 cover of good stout Lancashire slates one can mo^•e about with freedom 
 so far as a dread of fracturing them goes. 
 
 The other extreme from the thin \\'elsh slate we meet with in districts 
 Avhere rocks of a flaggy nature crop out. From the west of Yorkshire 
 up to Carlisle and west over the Border a little to near Dumfries we 
 find semi-flags doing the duty of slates. In Forfar and then away in 
 the extreme north of Scotland — in Caithness —we come across them 
 again. It is in the latter district that we find these sort of pavement 
 roofs in perfection. One can perambulate them without fear of 
 consequences — to the outer covering, that is to say. 
 
 In dealing with these large-sized slates it would of course be waste of 
 material to cover the roof with sarking boards. Two-thirds of these 
 would never have a slate nail driven into them. Good stout spars are 
 used to bear up the slates, or flags, rather, and form a catch for the 
 attaching nails. 
 
 We have already adverted to the fact that Scottish builders never 
 
 take kindly to the English practice of slating on laths instead of on 
 
 boards. The slates native to the country as well as those imported 
 
 being both small and irregular in shape has much to do with this, we 
 
 consider — much more we suspect than that other cause, the stormier 
 
 climate of the North, which is sometimes advanced as accountable for 
 
 this difference in detail. Where followed out in its entirety of having 
 
 the inner side of the slate cover between the laths rendered — that is, 
 
 coated more or less smoothly w'ith haired plaster lime — an efficient cover 
 
 is obtained. It is one, howe\er, not easy of repair once wear and tear 
 
 begins to have effect, or should accident overtake it. A stone or a 
 
 chimney can falling from any distance upon a roof cover of this nature 
 
 would go through it almost unchecked. A^ roof slated over on sarking 
 
 boards is capable of giving a better account of itself. Moreover, how 
 
 easy of repair such an one is ! The English finished roof, with its larger 
 
 and more symmetrical slates, is pleasing to the critical eye. But for 
 
 standing the e\eryday usage and the storm and stress common to the 
 
 lot of the homestead north of the Border, commend us to the more 
 
 rugged Scottish one, with its stronger inner shell. 
 
 _, ^, ^, ., The nails used for attaching the slates ought in e\ery 
 
 The Slate Nails. . /^ . •,,,,,• 
 
 case to be galvanized, and of a size suitable to the class of 
 
 slate selected. Thin composition wire nails do for the smaller \\elsh 
 
 slates, but stout wrought-iron ones are required for the larger and
 
 go 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 thicker kinds of slates. A single nail is sufficient for the smaller sorts, 
 hut two at least are needed for the larger. Sometimes it is stipulated 
 that every third row shall be double nailed. This arrangement allows 
 the slates in the other rows to be shed apart in such a manner that the 
 nail-holes of all can be exposed with a view to repairs. Were all double 
 nailed it is obvious there could be no shedding of them. 
 
 Turning to Fig. 7.}, we see how the slates are arranged in 
 arrangin^^the Position on the roof. The first row is double, the upper- 
 Slates on the most slates being laid over the joints of those abutting 
 
 underneath. Were this precaution not taken rain would 
 get in at the unprotected joint between the tail of the second row and 
 the eave. The space on each side of a joint covered by a slate laid over 
 the same is termed the " bond." The cover is the lap that each row has 
 over the nail-holes of the alternate one beneath it. Were these nail- 
 holes not covered o\-er by the row of slates second above it, there is 
 nothing, it is easy to see, to hinder water on its way down the slates 
 
 ( 
 
 A' 
 
 Fig. 
 
 entering the roof thereby. It is this that calls for so many slates being 
 
 used in making a roof thoroughly watertight. Wonderfully little cover 
 
 does when the roof has a (juick slope and there is no wind to check the 
 
 water as it flows thereon. But let a gale play upon that roof, blowing 
 
 upwards at times and retarding the flow, or let fine snow come drifting in 
 
 the wind that swirls about the roofs, then will soon appear cause for regret 
 
 that greater care was not observed on this head. With roofs such as we 
 
 have demonstrated on our plans of representative steadings, the usual cover 
 
 arranged for is to start with three inches or two and a half at the eaves and 
 
 diminish gradually to one of two or one and a half inches at the ridge. 
 
 Fig. 75, which gives a section of part of a roof, enables one 
 
 The Lap or better to understand this matter of cover, and it may further 
 
 " Cover, of , 1 , • 
 
 the Slates. perhaps make plam what purpose the tilt at the eave 
 
 serves. The latter serves to gi\-e the first two or three 
 
 rows of slates a grip at the tails as well as at the heads of the slates. 
 
 \\ ere they nailed on without any such tilt as in Fig. 76, then the tails 
 
 of the slates would sit free and out of touch with the slates immediately 
 
 beneath them, witli the consequence that, cocked up in the air in this
 
 THE ROOFS—THEIR COVERING. 
 
 91 
 
 way, tliey would offer such a 
 
 Fig. 75. 
 
 gain tilt much in the same 
 svall-plate, as in Fig. 78. 
 In higher class brick- 
 work than pre^•ails at 
 the Scottish homestead 
 this is obtained by 
 working in a plinth in 
 various arrangement of 
 the bricks. In Scotland 
 tradesmen speak of this 
 tilting up of the slates 
 as " bell-cast," from its 
 resemblance to the splay 
 of the mouth of a bell, 
 we presume. 
 
 Fi 
 
 le\erage to the wind as to be easily 
 stripped off thereby, and 
 rain and snow would at 
 times be driven up past the 
 point of safety. Fig. 75 
 shows, as we ha\-e said, an 
 efficient tilt being afforded 
 by the outer edge of the 
 wallhead, the roofing boards 
 being far enough in from 
 the edge to admit of this. 
 Sometimes a dressed free- 
 stone plinth is added to the 
 wallhead, as in Fig. 77, to 
 constitute a more thorough 
 tilt; but when the outer 
 edge of the wall is finished 
 off with good material, there 
 is no need for this extra 
 expense. Where the wall 
 is narrow, as when built of 
 brick, it is practicable to 
 way by adding to the breadth of the 
 
 The Tilt or 
 "Bell-Cast" 
 of the Slates. 
 
 / 
 shows the 
 slates 
 started 
 with a sufficiencv of 
 " bell-cast," and in con- 
 sequence gripping 
 together at the proper places, 
 
 Fig. 76. 
 and in addition having ample cover,
 
 92 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 V/'/AW/A 
 
 the nail-holes of each row being rendered secure by the overlap of 
 the second row next above. Were it enough to overlap the nail- 
 holes of one row with the slates of the next, there would be an immense 
 sa\ing of slating matter. More is required, however. Turning again 
 
 to Fig. 74, we can see at a glance that it 
 is by reason of the side joints of the 
 zj , I slates that two superincumbent rows of 
 
 J ' I ■ I slates are needed to make one row water- 
 
 M I tight. Moreover, were the slates not 
 
 ^.^"^ k I brought down as far over each other as 
 
 ~^ Figs. 75 and 76 show them to be, then the 
 
 ^'"^'•77- Fig. 78. ^yj^ter that got in between the joints of 
 
 the second row of any three would find its way through the nail-holes of 
 the third. If the rows could be continuous, like strips of felting laid 
 parallel to eaves and ridge, there would then be no call for this triple 
 arrangement ; each row 
 would require to pro- 
 ject no further over 
 that beneath it than 
 would securely cover 
 the nail-holes in the 
 same. 
 
 Several kinds of 
 slates are not dressed 
 square up to the head. 
 With these care must 
 be taken that if the nail-holes are above the scjuared part of the slate, 
 the cover must tlien apply to its relationship with the top of the squared 
 part instead of with the nail-hole. Hardly any slates but those from 
 Wales are delivered ready dressed. The others have to be dressed 
 more or less, and in all cases be assorted into the various sizes, so that 
 the biggest may be started with and the smallest ones find a place at 
 the ridge. Both Welsh and others have to get nail-holes formed in 
 them after delivery. 
 
 In some instances tlie \'acancies left by tliese rounded shoulders are 
 filled up with plaster lime, thus bringing the head of the row to a uniform 
 level. "Shouldering," this is called. It is not a good practice to observe 
 in buildings occupied by live stock, because the moist air of such places 
 keeps the lime damp, and this tends to corrode the nails that are in 
 contact with the lime. 
 
 The slates being attaclied, the ridgin^: and the " piends" fall 
 
 ofthe R^dees *■" ^'^ 'inislied off. Zinc is now more commonly used than 
 
 and " Piends." any (jther material. Fig. 79 gives a cross section of the 
 
 form this ridging takes when finished. The zinc measures 
 
 twelve mches across and is manufactured in six-foot len^rths. It is shown
 
 THE ROOFS -THEIR COVERING. 
 
 93 
 
 Fig. So. 
 
 in position fitted to a ridge pole about two inches in diameter, spiked to 
 
 the apex of the roof. Galvanized iron hold-fasts or clips of a similar 
 
 section to the zinc, and which accordingly fit it close, are nailed at two 
 
 feet apart to the 
 
 ridge pole and 
 
 thus hold the zinc 
 
 firmly in position. 
 
 'J' h e slovenly 
 
 method of attach- 
 ing a squared 
 
 piece of wood 
 
 instead of the roll 
 
 has crept into 
 
 practice. It is 
 
 evident, however, 
 
 that the latter 
 
 gives the zinc a far better hold. It should, therefore, always be insisted 
 
 that it is supplied. 
 
 At the time the ridging is being put on, the ventilators we shall 
 
 afterwards describe are also fixed up, the zinc being fitted close up to 
 
 these and holding them in their places. 
 
 An important matter which we have not touched on yet 
 
 the Gables. ^^ ^^^^ finish of the slating at the gables of the building. 
 Where the gable is carried no higher than the general 
 
 level of the wallhead, and the roof, as in Fig. 80, takes upon itself the 
 
 duty of closing in the opening at that end there is of course no difficulty 
 
 in the matter, there being no junction of slates with wall of gable. The 
 
 slating is merely 
 continued at right 
 angles round the 
 corner. "Fiends" 
 are the result of 
 this class of roof 
 — the pavilion, or 
 " hipped " roof as 
 it is called — but 
 these are easdy 
 dealt with, being 
 but a continua- 
 tion of the ridge. 
 There is more 
 
 trouble where the gable is carried up in the ordinary way as in 
 
 Figs. 81 and 82. There the slating is shown as finished with a 
 
 " skew." This, in our opinion, is not a very satisfactory method. It 
 
 is difficult to keep the joint between the slates and the skew stones 
 
 Fig. 8r.
 
 94 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Fig. 82. 
 
 watertight. Generally tlie slates are simply butted against the " skew," 
 
 and the angle is filled with either lime or cement. The latter cracks or 
 
 falls away and rain gets in. It will do so by a very slight crack— one 
 
 that cannot be observed from the ground even when within the range 
 
 of vision. Sometimes more or less of a raggle is formed in the "skew " 
 
 and the mortar inserted therein ; 
 and lead is occasionally had 
 recourse to by way of a flashing. 
 Either is an improvement, but 
 with so little room to work upon, 
 each is very liable to displacement 
 with consequent leakage. \\'hen 
 finishing against a " skew," in 
 either of these ways, it is usual to 
 have a tilting fillet under the 
 slates for the purpose of diverting 
 water from the raggle or joint. 
 
 But even with this joint tho- 
 roughly secure, the skew stones 
 
 by themselves are very apt to draw water. It works its way down 
 
 between the joints. If the latter happen to remain tight, it will in the 
 
 case of many kinds of stone find its way down through them even. 
 We can seldom be confident, in fact, that the gable is dry unless the 
 
 slates are carried right over beyond its outer face as in Figs. 83 and 84. 
 
 No water can then gain admittance at the head of the gable. But 
 
 having gained this advantage, we are met with the difficulty of how to 
 
 finish the exposed 
 
 sides of the slates 
 
 that project over 
 
 the face of the 
 
 wall. If we carry 
 
 these too far over, 
 
 we lay them at 
 
 the mercy of the 
 
 wind. The first 
 
 gale that strikes 
 
 the gable will, 
 
 very likely, tear 
 
 oflf the projecting 
 
 Fir,. 83. 
 
 slates and leave matters in a mess at that critical part. If we keep 
 them too close in to the gable, we leave a weakly place between the two 
 where rain may be driven in. The joint is pointed on completion of the 
 work, but the mortar soon falls therefrom. 
 
 There is, however, a way of finishing off here that enables us to make 
 matters secure without either contingency occurring. If instead of
 
 THE ROOFS-THEIR COVERIXG. 
 
 95 
 
 finishing ofT the gable-head level, as usually is the case, we raise two 
 
 or three inches on the outer edge up to the level of the roofing boards, 
 
 r.s in Figs. 84 and 85, w^e can 
 
 then dispense altogether with 
 
 pointing at the outer angle 
 
 between slates and gable. 
 
 This can be done with cement 
 
 as the slating proceeds, which 
 
 will allow the slates to bed 
 
 themselves down in the ma- 
 terial while it is soft. The 
 
 boards must, of course, come 
 
 as near to the edge as will 
 
 allow of the proper nailing of 
 
 the slates, which here ought 
 
 in all cases to be double 
 
 nailed. A finish of this simple 
 
 description will make sure of a dry gable and at the same time a secure 
 
 edge to the slating, two matters which are of considerable importance. 
 
 This is a part of the roof that is rarely out of trouble, is seldom paid atten- 
 tion to, and when it is, mere patching 
 is all that it gets. Radical treatment 
 gives the impression that a great deal 
 is being done for a small end, there- 
 fore it is seldom adopted. A little 
 pointing staves off the business until 
 some other occasion, but pointing has 
 no secure foothold and it soon drops 
 off. With wood behind slates at one 
 
 side, and stone at the other, all differing in temperature and in degree 
 
 of expansive property, the lime or cement gives way on account of these 
 
 disruptive tendencies of its supporters. 
 
 Fig. 5^. 
 
 Fig. 8^.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Floors and Drains. 
 
 Thic doors of the poorer class of homesteads still depend 
 available to a large extent on the nature of the material that is 
 
 Flooring available in the district of which they are representative. 
 
 The floor paved with small boulders prevails in those 
 parts where flags are not to be had, where fire-clay is not a natural 
 commodity, and where whin or granite is not at the surface. Flags, as 
 a rule, make excellent flooring material for most of the farm buildings. 
 As to be had in Caithness and Forfarshire and in parts of Wales, 
 material of a better sort is hardly to be wished for. With their edges 
 sawn they can be laid closely together to form a suitable floor for nearly 
 all the houses composing the homestead. Almost the same may be 
 said of the fireclay bricks that are manufactured in nearly all the coal- 
 producing districts. They can be turned to account in every place 
 where flags answer the purpose. They can further be used in the 
 stalls of stables, a situation for which flags are not suitable. Granite 
 and whin setts (square dressed blocks) are both material of the very 
 best nature for the latter purpose. At places where they are plentiful 
 they are frequently turned to account as a substitute for more suitable 
 stuff in other parts of the buildings, though there are few where this 
 cannot be done. The rounded boulders, or " kidney " stones, whether 
 gathered from the fields, the river bank, or the sea shore, we find 
 forming the complete pavement of byres, stables, cattle-courts, and 
 loose-boxes. It is one, however, which comes far short of what is now 
 required of a proper floor. 
 
 \\'hat is required of such it may be as well to tell here as 
 required of a anywhere else. To begin with, we want one that will 
 
 first-class stand some tear and wear. We want it to be smooth. 
 
 Flooring ^ , ,. ,,, , , 
 
 Material. Y^* by no means slippery. We want it smooth enough 
 
 to afford a comfortable bed for animals that have both to 
 
 stand and sleep thereupon ; smooth enough to allow water to flow along 
 
 its surface unimpeded ; smooth enough to be easily swept, and to allow 
 
 shovel and scraper to glide over its surface while the working edge of 
 
 either all the time fits closely to the floor. We want it to come up to 
 
 this standard, and yet be able to allow either horse or ox to move about 
 
 upon it with freedom and sure foothold. What is more, we want it to
 
 FLOORS AND DRAINS. 97 
 
 be jointless so that moisture from the surface cannot percolate to the 
 soil beneath, neither can ground damp ascend from below. Nor are we 
 content with that even : we must have the floor material impervious in 
 itself, and one continuous watertight sheet. And over and above being 
 able to hold water in check it must be capable of resisting the burrowing 
 powers of rats. 
 
 Which of the different materials we have just mentioned comes up to 
 this standard ? Not the last one, certainly. It is all joints together. 
 The animal that sleeps on a floor of this kind is almost in direct com- 
 munication with the soil. Its droppings drain therein until it can 
 absorb no more. The irregularities of the surface of the floor in time 
 become packed with excrement — they get rounded off" with dirt which it 
 is impossible wholly to remove by means of broom, shovel, or scraper. 
 The foothold is good, but alas for the comfort of a bed having this for a 
 basis unless the stones be small and exceptionally uniform ! " The 
 clartier the cosier" holds good in this instance, for the dirtier it becomes 
 the more effectively will the spaces between the stones be levelled up. 
 Its lasting powers cannot, however, be gainsaid. 
 
 Setts, whether of granite or of whin and its allies, are as lasting. 
 They are smooth and afford a more comfortable bed. But they have 
 almost as many joints. Bricks are even better than the latter in the 
 way of comfort, but they have even more joints, and are not nearly so 
 lasting. The floor can be more easily cleaned, however. Flags are 
 better than either. If the right sort, they last long. They are com- 
 paratively smooth on surface and have far fewer joints. Not one of the 
 three, however, can keep rats in check. These sappers and miners of 
 the four-footed world look on floors constructed of these materials as 
 safe retreats and bases of operations rather than as serious obstacles to 
 their free run of the homestead. 
 „ Where, then, if these widely prevailing materials fail us, 
 
 Portland r \ ,,,-,, i , j j 
 
 Cement are we to find one at all likely to reach the standard we 
 
 Concrete have quoted? W'e have it in Portland cement concrete, 
 
 one of the .... , . ., • 1 j 
 
 best Materials a material that is not very costly, is easily manipulated, 
 
 for Farm ^^^^ answers in a satisfactory manner the requirements 
 
 Floors. . . 
 
 we set forth. No rat can force its way through concrete. 
 It is impervious to water, whether seeking away down or a passage up. 
 It can be laid in one continuous sheet, covering over, without crack or 
 seam, the whole surface area within the walls ; consequently there is no 
 chance of the subsoil ever becoming contaminated by excrement, either 
 solid or liquid, and henceforth diffusing ill-favoured emanations through- 
 out the place. A floor laid with this material can at any time be 
 swilled out with water, and yet be fit for occupation in a minute or two 
 thereafter. It affords a smooth and level if a hard bed for cattle. For 
 horses of the heavier kind it is by itself hardly so suitable. It is, indeed, 
 quite in place and thoroughly effective in all parts of the stable excepting 
 
 M.H. H
 
 c,8 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 the two or three feet at the ends of the stalls with which the hind feet of 
 
 the horses come in contact. The calkins on the shoes are too much for 
 
 the enduring powers of the concrete. What with the wetness there and 
 
 the frequent poundings, and constant grinding or boring force of the 
 
 horses' heels tliat the concrete is subjected to, it soon gives way. The 
 
 forefeet of the horses are not nearly so severe on it, and under them it 
 
 Avill stand for long. But in this critical place the concrete can be 
 
 supplemented with whin or granite setts. Elsewhere in the stable it is 
 
 as desirable to have it as in the other buildings of the farm. 
 
 In the barn, where no wet or moisture is supposed to be, concrete 
 
 makes as acceptable a floor as in the places above mentioned. Grain 
 
 is easily swept up or lifted by shovel therefrom, and no vermin can 
 
 undermine it. In the cooking shed, the meal store, and the root house 
 
 it is equally desirable and effective ; likewise for pig and poultry 
 
 houses, and the dairy premises generally. In fact, there is hardly a 
 
 place about the homestead that is worthy of a floor in which concrete 
 
 does not serve as a material of the first class. 
 
 Unless it be the so-called tar macadam stuffs, we know 
 
 Tar Macadam of no other material that has the slightest approach to 
 very suitable .... n ^ ■ -11 
 
 in some Cases, equality with concrete as a lioor-laymg material at the 
 
 farm homestead. In some respects tar macadam is even 
 superior to concrete. It is softer, or more elastic, and makes a more 
 comfortable bed for animals, and is warmer to the touch. It is not 
 inclined to be slippery like concrete. Wherever concrete can be turned 
 to account in floor-laying so can this material. It too is hard, continuous 
 in surface, and is equally impervious to damp. It also is proof, in no 
 small degree, against rats. It comes behind concrete in so far that it 
 is not strong enough to make a corner of itself. With concrete we can 
 mould the surface as we like, forming raised walks, gutters, beds, and 
 steps, all without the aid of other materials to stiffen the corners or 
 sharp edges. But with tar macadam we need kerb-stones alongside 
 the grips, " settle stones " along the foot of the beds, and stone steps at 
 the doorways as a strong bordering to the stuff. It is a cheaper 
 material than concrete, and as easily laid and repaired. It is not one, 
 however, that the country mason can manipulate. It requires to be 
 taken in hand by men accustomed to work with stuff of the kind. 
 
 Tar macadam is tarry matter and broken stones similiar 
 
 The Method of ^q road metal well mixed together and firmly pressed 
 laymg Tar ^ J ir 
 
 Macadam. down over the surface it is meant to cover. The soft 
 substance is the thick residue left in the process of tar 
 distillation. It resembles asphalt, and, like the latter, requires to be 
 melted before it will mix with the stones. It can be laid in two layers 
 or in three — the first one containing larger stones, the second smaller, 
 and the upper mere chips or rough sand. Each layer is well compressed 
 with a hea\'y roller. The floor soon sets and is then ready for use. It
 
 FLOORS AND DRAINS. 
 
 99 
 
 is a floor that is not much known as yet, but judging from its capabilities 
 it is one that promises to be widely turned to account. Our experience 
 of it has hitherto been more in connection with streets and footpaths 
 than farm houses. A material that can stand the wear and tear incidental 
 to these situations, while very suitable in other ways, is well adapted, 
 one would think, to bear any stress it may be put to at the homestead. 
 It is available at only few places, however, without running to expense 
 in the matter of transportation, tools, of materials, and experienced 
 manipulators thereof. 
 
 Both concrete and tar macadam are laid abont the same thickness — 
 five inches or so. A basis either of land-strewn or quarried stones, 
 broken tiles, or brickbats packed well together and broken to form a 
 smoothish surface is prepared on which to lay either. This is 
 better than laying it directly on the sub-soil. It affords it a more 
 uniform bearing, and at the same time cuts it off from direct com- 
 munication with mother earth, thus acting both by way of cushion 
 and non-conductor. 
 
 Most country masons are now able to lay concrete floors 
 
 The Method {^ a satisfactory manner without the aid of the plasterer, 
 of laying . 
 
 Concrete. Formerly that tradesman's assistance was thought 
 
 essential in this job, especially the laying of the last 
 coat. But the floors are not wanted to be finished so smooth as the 
 plasterer is accustomed to complete his work. Concrete floors are 
 laid in two coats, the first three-and-a-half or four inches being of rough 
 material, and the remainder of cement and sand alone. The first layer 
 is beaten down with a broad-faced rammer ; the second is spread over 
 it by means of trowel and float. 
 
 One part of good Portland cement, four of broken stones, similar in 
 size to road metal, and one of sharp sand, make a good mixture for 
 concrete. The best job is made when the different materials are mixed 
 on a wood platform. There is no danger then of mud or dust getting 
 amongst them, and every chance is afforded of a thorough mixture of 
 the different bodies being attained. It is advisable to turn the heap 
 twice before wetting it. Water is added at the next turning, and this 
 is repeated until the concrete is plastic enough to be spread out as 
 required. It is then in condition to pack closely together. 
 
 Broken whinstone constitutes a capital medium for the cement to 
 merge upon and harden against. But granite and hard freestone will 
 also serve the purpose sufficiently well. Anything of a crumbly nature 
 had better be rejected. Gravel, where plentiful, is made to do service 
 instead of chipped stone, and apparently with good effect. We prefer 
 the angular to the round stones, but would never think of going to the 
 expense of obtaining these when gravel was plentiful. 
 
 Portland cement, unlike lime, will set without the aid of sand, but it 
 is none the worse for a fair proportion of that in the mixture. There 
 
 H 2
 
 loo THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 might, if it is good, safely be at least two parts of sand to one of 
 cement. The fragments of stone or other material simply serve, as we 
 have said, for the semi-fluid mixture of cement and sand to cohere to, 
 embracing these in its grasp, which gradually tightens as the cement 
 hardens. They are thus bound into a solid mass by reason of the 
 cement eventually growing as hard, if not harder, than themselves. 
 They have no such intimate relation to the cement that the sand bears 
 to it, therefore they may be left out of reckoning on that liead. It is the 
 sand alone that effects the strength of the cement. If clean and sharp, 
 two, as we have said, or even in some cases three, parts of sand may be 
 allowed to one of cement, and the concrete will be all the better. It 
 must be good, however, else the result is sure to be disappointing. 
 
 The mixing thereof is a most important point in the preparation of 
 concrete. If there is more cement at one part than another, the 
 concrete cannot be of equal strength. At the parts where there is 
 least of it the chips or fragments of stone will be more loosely held 
 together than where it is plentiful. Some of the pieces will be lying 
 against each other with little or no cement between them, consequently 
 devoid of coherence. It is true that when in the form of a homestead 
 floor there is not much pressure put upon concrete, and what there is 
 usually happens to be uniform. But it serves no end other than the 
 encouragement of carelessness, with its train of evil results, to allow 
 work to be done in a slipshod manner. In a job of this kind it is well 
 to begin with the clear understanding that there is to be no undue 
 hurry over the mixing of the various ingredients. Unless sufficient 
 work be given to it at the start, we can never be certain that we deserve 
 to earn the full benefit from our materials let them be ever so good. 
 With regard to tar macadam, there is not the same likelihood of harm 
 resulting from improper mixing of the components. The tar is melted 
 in a large cauldron affair. As it becomes thin the chips of stone are 
 added to it and all stirred about like thick porridge. There is little 
 chance, therefore, of the prepared stuff varying much in consistency. 
 All the stone gets the opportunity of being thoroughly enveloped in the 
 sticky matter. When it has reached the right degree of consistency it 
 is ladled into iron wheelbarrows and conveyed to the seat of operations. 
 _ , Failing one's being able to avail himself of either of these 
 
 Materials and desirable materials for the formation of floors, there is 
 how to deal nothing for it but to fall back upon the best of the others 
 
 with them. , ^ 
 
 that happen to be obtainable. Whichever it is, let it be 
 laid in the best manner we can accomplish. If carefully assorted accord- 
 mg to size, one class to be used at one place and a different one at 
 another, to begin with, and pains to be taken to bed them uniformly, 
 even boulder stones of a suitable kind can be set to form a surprising 
 sort of floor. It is out of count of course in the majority of the houses. 
 In the barn the bare eartli trodden flat is preferable, and so would it be
 
 FLOORS AND DRAINS. loi 
 
 in other places the floors of which need to be easily swept and must offer 
 no resistance to the free movement of the shovel. In the pigs' house a 
 floor of this nature would not resist the snouts of the animals for a day. 
 And pity the attendant who has to keep clean the floor of a byre paved 
 thus, but pity more the cow that has to stand and lie upon it ! The 
 stable and loose-boxes are about the only houses regarding which it 
 can be said to be suitable. It gives a firm foothold to the horses, 
 and with sufficiency of beddmg affords them a comfortable bed enough. 
 There is never so much semi-liquid filth about these places either but 
 what the floors, no matter the kind, can be easily cleaned up. When 
 well laid with stones of a uniform size it makes a capital pavement for 
 a courtyard. And the passages in front of the cattle-boxes might 
 on a pinch be so paved. 
 
 But whether cobble-stones, bricks or flags are being dealt with it is 
 essential that a firm, level base be prepared for them ; whatever it 
 consists of, it must be well consolidated. Over this is spread an inch 
 or two of sand or fine ashes on which the paving material is at first 
 laid gently down until some yards have been covered, when it is gradually 
 beaten down to its proper level. The loose sand or other stuff used 
 spreads out from beneath the bricks and flags to the free side, and thus 
 enables them to be brought to a firm yet elastic sort of bearing. 
 Without this soft cushion between them and the unyielding sub-soil it 
 would be impossible to lay either bricks or flags evenly. Were the 
 foundation of equal consistency throughout and absolutely level, or at 
 least regular in gradient, conditions, which, under the circumstances 
 are impracticable of attainment, there would be no necessity for the 
 free layer above it. In the absence of the latter, however, neither the 
 bricks nor flags could have a uniforna bearing. One part might be 
 hard home on the unyielding sub-soil while another was sitting free. 
 The result of this, taking the floor as a whole, would be an unequal 
 surface. The flags especially, because the larger, would be constantly 
 at the risk of fracture. Let any force come down suddenly on the 
 unsupported part of the stone, then in all probability it would snap 
 there. More than likely, however, such vacancies beneath the flags 
 and bricks would be filled with liquid matter that had leaked through 
 the joints and thus be offending against the sanitation of the house. 
 
 The intermediary layer both gives a level bearing and hinders the 
 accumulation of noxious matter in places by themselves. The sand or 
 the ashes may in time become more or less sodden with offensive 
 organic matter, but the latter will be uniformly disseminated consequently, 
 well watered down, and not present in pools here and there, which it 
 might if the sand is wanting. But the interposing sand offers an easy 
 mine to rats. It is next the walls, however, where these engineers elect 
 to break ground, and if these parts be fortified for a foot or two out 
 therefrom with concrete check is given to these bold depredators. The
 
 I02 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 most vulnerable part of all in this respect is along the foot of the stable 
 wall at the horses' heads. It is under the mangers, pretty well out of 
 sight, and corn is nearly always to be picked up there, therefore a 
 common haunt of the rat. When this part is protected in the way 
 mentioned the stable floor is pretty secure against these vermin. The 
 floor of the straw barn being nearly always covered over, needs protection 
 in this way all round the walls. 
 
 Occasionally the joints between the bricks are grouted, or filled up 
 with lime or cement. When this is done the bricks are laid a little 
 apart from each other in order to allow room for the grouting material 
 to get a good catch. The object in view is to give the bricks a firm 
 hold and at the same time render the surface watertight. It is wonderful, 
 liowever, how little moisture penetrates by the joints when the bricks 
 are merely laid in sand or ashes. Once the sand has consolidated the 
 exposed portions seem to skin over and become watertight. This can 
 be seen when a well-laid floor of this kind is being lifted. If the bricks 
 grow slack, there is of course no hindrance to the percolation of liquid 
 matter downwards through the floor. It is disgusting to have to do 
 with a byre wherein the bricks are loose and the filthy water beneath 
 goes squelching out at the joints as one puts down his foot. 
 
 It is impracticable to grout a boulder-laid pavement, and it is hardly 
 worth while going to that trouble with one of flags. These are so 
 much larger superficially than bricks, that there are not many joints to 
 deal with ; and the flags being so much thinner, they allow but little 
 depth for grout. Rats have less freedom at the start with a flag than a 
 brick floor ; they find it easier to circumvent a brick than a flag ; but 
 once a passage underneath has been forced they have more of their own 
 way under the broader cover of the latter. A flag bridges over an 
 excavation such as they form, while a brick subsides thereinto. Under 
 a flag floor nests can be formed and galleries be led to turn the fortifica- 
 tions of adjoining houses, but not so with a brick floor. In them at a 
 rat-infested homestead the runs of these destructive creatures can be 
 traced in the disturbance of the surface-level of the pavement. 
 
 It is we say at the wall sides of the flag floor as with the others that 
 
 rats gain access beneath. If the floor is rendered secure there, they may 
 
 be kept at bay. A row of slates laid against the base of the wall at the 
 
 four sides effectually cuts off their burrows from communication beyond 
 
 the boundaries of the house. With this precaution, and the flags fitting 
 
 tightly against the walls, there is then little chance of the floor being 
 
 undermined from any base by the pests referred to. 
 
 o i-o t.r ,1 Solidly built walls and floors of the nature of concrete, 
 
 Sohd Walls 
 
 and Concrete '^^^d we may add of tar macadam, though perhaps less 
 
 Floors keep restrictive, are, it will have been inferred, the most thorough 
 Rats at bay. 111, 
 
 and reliable preventives against the attacks of rats. The 
 
 heart of the wall and under tlie floor are their favourite positions.
 
 FLOORS AND DRAINS. 
 
 103 
 
 These afford them, retreats in touch with where their food is to be found 
 and from where they are free either to range the other buildings or to 
 gain the outside. There, too, they increase and multiply as they can so 
 quickly. But deprived of these strongholds they are powerless for evil 
 and are obliged to migrate to a homestead where matters are more in 
 accordance with their habits. It is not enough that they can gain 
 admittance by door or window, and be able to leave by the same. 
 They are too proficient at skirmishing to break cover in that manner. 
 If they have not the places mentioned to fall back upon, buildings so 
 constructed are not for them. 
 
 Floors of wood are hardly ever represented on the ground 
 floor of the steading. If there happens to be a bothy, or 
 room for the lads on the ground level, it perhaps may be laid with 
 wood, and may be the harness-room may profitably be floored with the 
 same material. With these exceptions a wood floor is seldom made 
 use of in the situation indicated. Overhead nothing else is of course 
 very readily available. 
 
 In laying a ground floor of wood it is essential that there be free 
 circulation of air beneath. The flooring boards are laid on sleeper 
 
 "M" 
 
 Fig. 86. 
 
 joists which in turn bear on sleeper or dwarf walls. The sleeper walls 
 stand a little above the ground, and thus keep the sleeper joists from 
 contact therewith ; air-holes protected by galvanized iron gratings which 
 guard the mouths of these openings allow free passage to air, but none 
 to the enterprising rat. Fig. 86 gives a section showing the arrangement 
 we are describing. The side walls show on their inner sides a shelf or 
 scarcement on the same level as the tops of the sleeper walls. These 
 scarcements support the ends of the joists, and the sleeper walls take 
 up the weight where they are placed. Scarcement and sleeper wall are 
 alike provided with a wall-plate in order to gi\"e uniform bearing to the 
 joists. The wall-plate is sufficient if an inch in thickness, and from four 
 to nine inches in breadth, according, of course, to the thickness of the 
 sleeper wall. It is bedded on lime to make the bearing as equal as possible. 
 The space between the sleeper walls is ruled by how the breadth of the 
 building will best divide. Four or five feet apart is a safe minimum to 
 observe. A sleeper wall of single brick — four-and a-half inches wide, 
 that is to say — is ample in many cases, but a nine-inch one is more 
 satisfactory if there is likelihood of much weight at any time being 
 placed upon the floor.
 
 104 ^^^ MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The sleeper joists are arranged at eighteen-inch centres as 
 The Sleeper or ^ standard. These need not be much heavier in scantling 
 Floor Joists. ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^.^ inches by two inches. Their bearing points are 
 abundant, and the strain upon them diminished in corresponding ratio. 
 It is advisable to use red pine for sleeper joists. On the ground floor 
 there is more call upon the constitution of the wood than is the case of 
 that in the overhead floor. The overhead joist has freer access to air 
 and more of sunlight than falls to the share of the sleeper joist. 
 For similar reasons we would have the boards of the ground floor 
 to be of red pine. 
 
 Flooring boards, it is almost unnecessary to say, are made 
 The Flooring ^^ ^]-,g u tongue and groove " principle, the tongue on one 
 
 side and the groove on the other. By this means the 
 boards, as in Fig. 87, are so locked together that they can neither twist 
 nor buckle. Usually they shrink considerably and gape at the joints. 
 It is almost impossible to avoid this. Boards seasoned long enough to 
 have done with shrinking are not to be had ; therefore the best we can get 
 will contract a little. The narrower the board the less in proportion will 
 the joint spaces be, so if we would avoid very open joints, we must use 
 narrow boards. But narrow boards are the dearer, and circumstances may 
 
 Fig. 87. 
 
 not be such as to justify their use. They are not in respect of the ground 
 
 floor at the homestead ; neither are they as regards those of the first storey. 
 
 Six inches is the maximum width of flooring boards as manufactured 
 
 nowadays, and three the minimum. The latter is the size used in houses 
 
 of a good class. The former serves well enough for farm buildings. 
 
 Such comparatively close joints as one is justified in looking for in a 
 
 house is not a necessity at the homestead. 
 
 The ventilation underneath the ground floor must be as 
 Ventilation ^ . j . ., , ^^ , . , 
 
 beneath the ^^^^ ^'^d unstmted as IS possible. The more the wind 
 
 Wood Floor to blows through between ground and floor, the longer will 
 be unstinted. . , 1 , rr 1 • 1 , • ,• • 
 
 the wood last. It the air beneath is stagnant, conditions 
 
 arise that are fa\-ourable to fungoid grow^ths establishing themselves on 
 the planks and boards, and these will flourish at the expense of the 
 wood. Damp it will be as well as stagnant, and dampness alone wuU 
 set up decomposition of the woody fibre. If dry rot gets a foothold, it 
 will soon bring matters to a crisis. It is so named, not because it 
 thrives in a dry atmosphere, but on account of the dry, snuff-like condi- 
 tion of the wood when the fungus has had its will of it. It thrives in 
 out-of-the-way corners, where the air is both stagnant and damp, and 
 its work of destruction is often accomplished ere the inexperienced are 
 aware of its presence.
 
 FLOORS AND DRAINS. 105 
 
 Steps are a necessity at the outer doorway of each of the 
 
 farm buildings. In some of those finished with concrete 
 
 the steps may, if thought advisable, be of the same material ; but in the 
 
 others stone has to be had recourse to. The harder and closer-grained 
 
 the stone is the more enduring is it likely to be. 
 
 Ascending to the next floor, there is nothing for it but to 
 
 Overhead construct it of wood. There is no other choice justified. 
 
 Floors. _ . ■' 
 
 We could, of course, have it of iron and concrete, but 
 
 then, the cost to be faced ! The joists of the upper floors require to be 
 
 heavier than the sleeper joists. In addition to their extra size, it is 
 
 necessary, wherever possible, to contrive a centre support for them. 
 
 Spanning over sixteen to eighteen feet, and carrying, at times, a heavy load 
 
 to boot, is giving them too much to do. Many an accident occurs from 
 
 this cause. It is no uncommon sight to see a big heap of corn piled up 
 
 along the middle of the granary floor. This means many tons bearing 
 
 upon the joists at their weakest part — their centre point. The wider 
 
 the building, all the more danger is there of collapse. The cautious 
 
 farmer grows frightened occasionally when he sees the joists showing 
 
 an ominous bend, and slips a support in here and there. Others, less 
 
 careful, go on until disaster arises. We have known the floor of a new 
 
 granary collapse in the first season simply through overloading. The 
 
 builder, to whom was left the planning as well as the erection of the 
 
 house, took no thought of what was required of the floor ; the farmer 
 
 never for a minute questioned that the granary was not capable of 
 
 holding a full supply of grain, the consequence being that one morning 
 
 the joists gave way, and floor, corn, and all were precipitated into the 
 
 barn beneath. Luckily, no one was under. But cases have occurred 
 
 where lives were lost through carelessness, or want of experience on 
 
 this head. 
 
 Undoubtedly a centre support should be under the joists of all 
 granaries. The granary is there for storage purposes, and the floor is 
 expected to be capable of holding a goodly store at a time ; if it cannot, 
 the place is inefficient. A little management can provide for pillars 
 being erected to sustain a beam or girder for support to the joists, and 
 partition walls often come in handy for the purpose. 
 
 The joists of the granary cannot safely be of a less scantling than 
 nine inches by three inches. The ends should be let well into the wall, and 
 there rest on a wall-plate. In a badly built wall — one that does not 
 turn rain very well, and consequently is damp in the interior — the ends 
 of the joists are apt to become decayed before very long. If the building 
 itself is damp inside, and air has little circulation within, which condition 
 is usually mother to the other, the same may happen, although the walls 
 are sound on the outside. Precautions must be taken to guard against 
 either contingency. When the ends of the joists become affected in 
 this way they grow slack in their holes, and the floor gets misplaced and
 
 io6 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 put off the le\el. We have already spoken against inserting wood into 
 building, or, what is much the same thing, the building up of the cre\'ices 
 on the wallheads between the feet of the rafters. The two cases are, 
 however, hardly on the same footing. The couple feet are in the 
 majority of instances in an atmosphere Avhich consists of spent air that 
 has recently done service in the lungs of animals, and is, in consequence. 
 both warm and moist. Under such conditions wood and mason work 
 are better apart. This is a state of matters scarcely to be avoided. But 
 there is no necessity for circumstances that are adverse to the two 
 existing harmlessly together arising where the joists are inserted in the 
 wall. The conditions we have mentioned are either of them apt to be 
 the cause or the result of carelessness combined with roguery in the one 
 instance, and carelessness alone in the other. Neither needs to be 
 taken as a non-preventible condition. Granted a firm, dry wall and a 
 
 well-aired room inside, there 
 should be nothing whatever 
 to prevent the ends of the 
 joists remaining sound for 
 an indefinite time. 
 
 Boards i^ inch thick 
 and six inches broad will 
 answer for the floor. Both 
 boards and joists may, for 
 reasons already stated, be 
 of white pine. 
 
 pmn^li}»kmi>jiim,ijjj,>,f>,, i,mj/ > ,v, 
 
 -m ■ =^ 
 
 "TTrTTTTTrrrr^ 
 
 A wood floor 
 is hardly 
 complete 
 Fig. 88. without a 
 
 skirting 
 board along the base of the wall as in Fig. 88. It securely covers the joint 
 between wall and floor, and it gives the job a more finished appearance. 
 \'ery often, instead of a skirting of wood, one of cement, as being proof 
 against mice as well as rats, is fixed up. On the ground floor it is an 
 equally necessary finish. Some of the concrete floors, too, such as the 
 dairy scullery one, are all the better to have it. 
 
 Should there be a storey over the dairy offices, providing 
 FlooI^anT'^ for cheese-room and other accommodation, a good sort 
 Ceiling. of floor for it is one of two layers of boarding with felt 
 
 between. A floor of this description serves as a ceiling 
 to the rooms beneath. Fig. 89 shows how it is arranged. There is a 
 good deal of moisture in the dairy places arising from the hot water 
 used in the scullery and vat room, or churning room. This, together 
 with the storage of cheeses overhead, and the consequent changes in 
 strain which that implies, is rather trying on a lath-and-plaster ceiling.
 
 FLOORS AND DRAINS. 
 
 107 
 
 It is annoying when the plaster in these situations begins to drop off 
 here and there. After that, one is never sure but damage may be done 
 at some time or other through plaster falling into milk or cream. An 
 overhead floor, such as we are drawing attention to, puts an end to all 
 that sort of thing. Of planed wood beneath, varnished if considered 
 necessary, there is nothing to fall from it that can do any harm. It can 
 lodge no dust, so even that cannot float down from it. The two 
 thicknesses of wood with an intervening layer of felt make it a good 
 non-conductor. It is also much stronger than an ordinary floor, which 
 is a good point considering what it has to carry at times. It does not take 
 many sixty or seventy-pound cheeses to make a ton, and they pack closely 
 together on the tiers of shelves. The fig. shows the top layer running 
 at right angles to the under one. The under one may be laid diagonally 
 on the joists if a little better appearance is wished for, but this means 
 some waste of wood, small, no doubt, but all the same hardly justifiable 
 in the majority of cases. Care must be taken that the felt made use of 
 
 m 
 m 
 
 w 
 
 ^<^ 
 
 Fig. 89. 
 
 is inodorous — has no tar or stuff of that nature likely to raise an 
 offensive smell at any time. 
 
 Another good point that this combined floor and ceiling possesses is 
 that no harbourage such as there is in the space between floor and 
 ceiling of the usual type is afforded to mice. These do serious damage 
 when they command an entrance to the cheese-room, not on account of 
 what they consume, but what they disfigure and lessen in value. Cut 
 off from this retreat, these little creatures have the side walls alone 
 to shelter in, places that are much easier made impregnable to 
 them than it is. 
 
 From floors to drains is quite a natural transition. The 
 e Drains. ^^^^ ^^^ closely related so far as regards the majority of 
 the houses, most notably in the byre. Drains have, according to all 
 accounts, a good deal to answer for. There is no cause, however, if 
 well constructed at the start, why they should give trouble. But better 
 by far that there be no drain than a scamped one be palmed off upon 
 us. There is nothing very deleterious about the drainings of a byre 
 that are turned out on the surface to seek a lower level on their own 
 account so long as they have air about them. What effluvium does 
 escape therefrom dissipates harmlessly into the surrounding atmosphere.
 
 io8 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 It is different, however, when the drainings are concentrated in a fauhy 
 underground channel — one that is neither able to pass the stuff along 
 readily, nor to hinder them from escaping at the joints before doing 
 duty as carrier of the thick or solid part. Here the stagnant or slowly- 
 moving excreta blocked up in the passage gradually decomposes, and in 
 the absence of a full supply of air the more lowly organised ferments get 
 the upper hand. These produce more foetid odours than result from the 
 process of decomposition as it takes place in full face of the atmosphere 
 with its liberal supply of oxygen. There being few outlets whence 
 these odours can escape, where they do, they make their presence felt. 
 Besides these comparatively harmless gases, that issue from an 
 attenuated cesspool such as we are speaking of, there is a far greater 
 danger attending an offensi\e drain of this kind, in the probability of its 
 acting as a breeding-ground for disease-causing microbes. In this 
 direction lies the risk of defective drains at the homestead. 
 
 There is no need, however, because the drain is to be out of sight, 
 that it should be laid anyhow. iVnd this is, fortunately, being better 
 acted up to nowadays. Were it to serve any purpose, we could here 
 launch out in cxtenso on such a fertile subject as defective drain-laying 
 and what annoyance and much more serious results we have known to 
 arise from the same. It is one over which a person can easily wax 
 virtuous and self-righteous. But wherein lies the good ? To bring both 
 proprietor and builder to realise that drains are an essential department 
 of a building, which requires as much attention as either walls, roof, or 
 floors, and one that must be paid for accordingly, will be more beneficial 
 than harping over the question how this branch of building has been 
 neglected in recent years. 
 
 Both architects and tradesmen, fearing that they might frighten the 
 prospective builder, were inclined to keep back from him the necessity 
 of providing a sufficient margin to defray the cost of the drains in a 
 manner they were well enough aware these underground passages 
 ought to be constructed. The consequence was that, failing the neces- 
 sary money being forthcoming, the drains were obliged to be scamped. 
 The impression that the completion of a building embraced the three 
 branches above referred to prevailed so widely that, until lately, drains 
 were thus kept quite in the background. The few professional men 
 bold enough to face this state of matters were apt to be steered clear 
 off. But the money that ought to have been spent at the beginning had 
 eventually to be produced, nearly always with a considerable addition 
 thereto. 
 
 The workmen who laid the drains that would not nowadays be 
 passed did not do so witli intent to bring harm upon their fellows- 
 mortals. They were not accustomed to do otherwise. The men who 
 lent themseh'es to laying a drain devoid of any outlet, or of another 
 Avhose le\'el rose and fell in accordance with tlie ease the track could be
 
 FLOORS AND DRAINS. 109 
 
 excavated, were, of course, on a level with criminals. But those who 
 
 joined the pipes in a well enough cut track, may be without a thought 
 
 of their being watertight, simply did as they were wanted. If they 
 
 were the means of causing future trouble on that account, it was through 
 
 no wilful neglect on their part. 
 
 But matters are fortunately on a different footing now, and drains are 
 
 being constructed on fixed principles. A drain worthy of the name is a 
 
 watertight underground channel of regular gradient or gradients. The 
 
 making of such means the possession of suitable materials, and the 
 
 expenditure of both time and trouble. These conditions imply money, 
 
 so that nowadays drains rank as an important item in building. We 
 
 are not content now with a neatly pointed joint round the top and sides 
 
 of the junctions of the pipes, while the undersides, which are out of sight 
 
 and not easily got at, are left unfinished. To make sure that all is right 
 
 we allow no pipes to be covered over until the whole length of the 
 
 drain, or sections thereof, have been thoroughly tested and otherwise 
 
 inspected. We are not speaking, be it remembered, of field drains. 
 
 _ Two complete and distinct sets of drains are required at 
 
 Two Sets of , , ^ , ^, , ^ , 
 
 Drains required the Ironiestead. i here must be one to carry away the 
 
 at the Home- rain-water from the roofs and courtyards, and another to 
 stead. . . . . 
 
 lead away the liquid matter and swillings from the 
 
 various buildings occupied by live stock. 
 
 It is common to provide an ordinary field-drain tile or 
 Pipes and pip^ ^^"^ the rain-water, but in our opinion both drains 
 
 Method of should be laid with socket or spigot and faucet glazed 
 
 fireclay pipes. Fig. 90 shows what we mean. The 
 wide-mouthed part a is the socket, or faucet, and the opposite end of 
 the pipe h is the spigot. The 
 spigot of one pipe is inserted into 
 the faucet of another. There 
 is sufficient room between the 
 two to admit of a packing of 
 cement being inserted. But pre- 
 vious to the insertion of the cement packing, a round or two of ropeyarn 
 is forced home with a caulking iron. The ropeyarn is intended to prevent 
 the soft cement mortar gaining admittance to the pipe. And further, it 
 serves to keep the centre of one pipe in line with the centre of the other, 
 and so leave an equal space all round between spigot and faucet. The 
 cement mortar, composed of, say, one-half of cement and one of sand, is 
 then pressed in all round below as well as above, and the joint neatly 
 pointed and left to harden against the time of testing, and so on with 
 each pipe until all are laid. The faucet ends of the pipes are kept up the 
 hill, which necessitates their being laid from the low end upwards. This 
 arrangement is obviously of less importance in the case of a thoroughly 
 jointed pipe than with one laid in the happy-go-lucky manner referred 
 
 Fig. 90.
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Fig. 91. 
 
 to above. In tlie first, li(]uicl matter has no choice of outlet ; it must 
 emerge at the one provided for it. In the other, when pressed, it finds 
 reUef at the several joints. But pressed or not, it is easy to see that 
 
 when flowing towards the faucet end 
 of the pipe instead of away from it, 
 the tendency is for the liquid to 
 spread out there and to escape more 
 readily than it could when being 
 delivered into the mouth of the 
 faucet from the spigot of another pipe. 
 The impetus given to the liquid in its 
 narrower channel helps to tide it over 
 the critical junction. But when the 
 liquid is coming the other way its flow 
 is hindered by the ends of the spigot 
 and other obstructions due to defective jointing, and it is led aside, to 
 escape by the widening- out part of the pipe represented by the faucet. 
 
 The rain-water drain should be led away clear of the 
 Water^Drains homestead entirely. There is not half the puddle and 
 mess about a steading that is completed in this way in 
 comparison with another whereat the rainfall is left to its own resources 
 to find a way downwards. The best arrangement is to lead the rain- 
 water conductors directly into Hart traps, or some other contrivance of 
 the same description, taking care to have these in positions likely to be 
 out of the way of carts. The drain need not of necessity be close against 
 the wall. Connections have to be made, at any rate, between traps of 
 the kind referred to and the drain, and 
 these require room for themselves. Figs. 91 
 and 92 represent one of these Hart traps. 
 The end of the conductor, it will be noticed, 
 is continued beneath the level of the grating. 
 This prevents any water being spilt on the 
 surface, whether by wind or on account of 
 obstruction at the grating. The trap cuts 
 off connection with the drain proper, and 
 what is of more importance in this assistance, 
 it arrests sand and other matters that might 
 interfere with the efficiency of the main 
 channel. It can be cleaned out at any 
 time. When the grating is removed the trap is easily accessible to the 
 hand. An arrangement of this sort is ship-shape, is easily kept in order, 
 and is not costly. This trap is also made in one piece, but when in two 
 it is more adaptable to wayward conductors. Figs. 93 and 94 represent 
 traps of a similar description. 
 
 A sufficiency of inlets is required to absorb the water from the court- 
 
 *RAIN PIPE 
 •^ GALVANIZED 
 IRONJSRATING 
 
 Fig. 92.
 
 FLOORS AND DRAINS. 
 
 GALVANIZED 
 J^IRON GRATING 
 
 Fig. 93. 
 
 Fig. 94. 
 
 yards. These need to be big in order to swallow with ease the results 
 of heavy downpours, and to be strong 
 enough to bear up carts and heavy imple- 
 ments. The gully traps and gratings 
 that are used in streets are the best for 
 the purpose. Fig. 95 shows what we 
 mean. The trap is of fireclay, is thirty 
 inches deep, eighteen inches in diameter, 
 with the sides a proportionate thickness. 
 It gives room for a large quantity of 
 sand, stones, &c., before its outlet can 
 be interfered with. The heavy iron 
 grating (Fig. 96) which covers it is 
 capable of resisting very rough usage. With enough of these distributed 
 about the steading there is little fear of flooding 
 taking place even at the times of violent 
 thunderstorms. It is too true that as a rule it 
 requires occasions of the latter kind to tell us 
 when the traps want cleaning out. But it is 
 impossible, as already we have so often hinted, 
 to make things about the homestead quite auto- 
 matic. The occupier must be left to do a little 
 hiniself in this way. Many would prefer to have no gullies, but to let the 
 drain swallow all and take its chance. It seems 
 as though they would rather have one final 
 cleaning up when the drain had become packed 
 full than be bothered with the periodical attention 
 to traps. It is wonderful, however, how long- 
 suffering in this way drains are. And when the 
 worst has come to the worst, the landlord or his 
 agent may in the end have to father the business. 
 A six-inch drain may be large enough to cope 
 with the requirements of the homestead in this 
 respect. But all depends on circumstances. 
 A nine-inch pipe, and e\en a twelve-inch one 
 may on occasion have to be laid. Nothing 
 under six inches should ever be had recourse to. 
 Four-inch connections between the various traps and gullies and the 
 
 parent drain are ample when there 
 is no very severe call upon the 
 drain. Where, however, the de- 
 mand on the gully is apt to be 
 greater, a six-inch connection is 
 requisite. A four-inch connection 
 Fig. 95. serves at any time for the Hart trap. 
 
 Fig. 95.
 
 112 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Fig. 97. 
 
 It may liappen that circumstances necessitate tlie storage at the 
 homestead of all the available rain-water. Only that obtainable directly 
 from the roofs is permissible of use. No one would think of storing 
 what had first fallen upon the ground. Of this method of obtaining 
 water we"shall have more to say under the head of water supply. But 
 where it becomes a necessity in laying our drains, 
 we have to separate the roof water from the 
 surface-water, that which has collected on the 
 surface of the ground. The various Hart traps at 
 that rate, instead of being connected to the main 
 drains, lead into branches that converge towards 
 and feed into a large underground watertight tank. 
 They have no connection with the drainage 
 system proper other than the overflow of the tank 
 they supply is led into some part of it. 
 The different branches of the drain ought so far as possible to be cut 
 in straight lines. Whenever the line diverges an 
 inspection eye should be fixed at the angle. This 
 simple contrivance, arranged as in Figs. 97 and gS 
 by carrying a branch of the drain upwards at right 
 angles to its course, enables us to tell with little 
 trouble what is going on in the main. It need not 
 be carried up the whole length to the surface. It 
 may be stopped three or four inches beneath. The 
 mouth can then be securely covered with a flag, 
 with gravel or earth above to bring it to uniformity 
 with the surrounding surface. Or the place can 
 be marked by a " toby," as a cast-iron cover such 
 as we see set over an underground tap or valve is 
 called. With inspection places such as these at 
 our command, it is an easy matter to locate an 
 obstruction should such at any time occur at any 
 part of the drain. It is well worth while, indeed, to have two or three 
 
 such as Fig. 99 displays inserted 
 here and there on the straight 
 sections of the drain. 
 
 These precautions to provide 
 for inspection are even more 
 necessary in respect of the drain 
 Pj(j „ that has to carry off" from the 
 
 buildings the liquid excreta of 
 the different animals. It is advisable, indeed, when dealing with 
 them to have manholes instead of simple expection eyes built in at 
 the angles of divergence in the course of the drain. These can easily 
 be so constructed that while offering no resistance to the discharsje of 
 
 Fig.
 
 FLOORS AND DRAINS. 
 
 113 
 
 matter through the drain, they afford us a ready means not only of 
 inspecting the drain, but also of clearing out obstructions in any section 
 between two manholes. The several sections being straight, it is an 
 easy matter at any time by placing a light at one end and holding a 
 mirror at the other to obtain a view of the interior from end to end of 
 that part of the drain. 
 
 These manholes require to be constructed either of brick and cement 
 mortar or of concrete. Three feet long by two feet or even eighteen 
 inches in width affords a very convenient size for a man to get down 
 into and to move about in. The foundation or base of the manhole 
 is of concrete, and a channel w^orked in this continues the drain and 
 leads it off in the direction it requires to go in the next section. There 
 need not necessarily be many of these about the homestead. But all 
 depends of course upon the natural features of the site of the steading, 
 and the arrangement of the buildings composing the same. Seeing that 
 access to the manhole is not often wanted, it, like the inspection eyes 
 referred to above, may be finished off before reaching the surface. A 
 good thick flag is needed for service as manhole cover, which mav be 
 blinded as before with gravel or soil. Some mark, however, ought to 
 indicate its position. These matters are quickly forgotten at the farm 
 as elsewhere. Not exactly forgotten, perhaps, but changes are con- 
 stantly taking place, and the few who knew the whereabouts of these 
 arrangements pass away without handing on the information. A 
 distinctive mark on the nearest wall is the best method of recording 
 information of the kind. We see this done in towns with regard to 
 indicating the location of hydrants and valves of various sorts. 
 
 Where a branch joins the main at some other part than the manhole, 
 it is a good plan to have an inspection eye on the former quite near to 
 the junction, as in Fig. 98. This reveals to us the condition of the drain 
 close up to its junction with the main, and the main we already have 
 the means of inspecting thoroughl_y. 
 
 There must be no drains led into any of the buildings. 
 Drains^.^^^^ Surface gutters must do the work of affording an easy 
 way out for the different kinds of liquid matter. These 
 we shall refer to more fully when we enter into detail with the different 
 buildings they bear relation to. Outside the building gullies must be 
 pro\ ided to receive w^hat issues therefrom. For the byre we know of 
 nothing better than those we have already described. Some persons 
 may consider them too large for the purpose. It is not uncommon to see 
 a much larger pit of unknown shape — covered with an old door, perhaps — 
 doing duty. Oftener we see a small, roughly put together brick gully, 
 capable of holding but a small quantity of what it is there to retain, were it 
 able to do so, either minus a grating or with one utterly unsuitable. In 
 one of the kind we have been recommending we have a strong receptacle 
 that can hold a considerable quantity of matter, guarded by a strong 
 
 M.H. I
 
 114 '^^^^ MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 grating easily removable when the gully has to be cleaned out. At those 
 places where the gully has little chance of being cleared until it has 
 become so charged with solids that it refuses to take in more semi-liquid 
 it is advisable, if the drain will admit of it, to dispense altogether with the 
 gully and leave the whole stuff to find its way as best it can to the outlet. 
 In short direct lengths it may safely be left out. But where the drain has 
 far to go, or has to pass through a manhole, the gully is indispensable. 
 
 So little fluid emerges from the stable that there is scarcely enough 
 at times to keep the gully trap efficient. On that account care should be 
 taken that some surface-water finds its way into the gully connected 
 with the stable. Not very much, however, else w^e shall bring about 
 over dilution of the liquid manure. Hardly any escapes from the horse 
 loose-box. It seems all to become absorbed by the litter. There is not 
 much use therefore in carrying a branch to these places. 
 
 The pig-house — that is to say, the dairy-farm pig-house — is a fertile 
 source of supply to the liquid-manure tank. The gully trap might 
 almost with safety be dispensed with here, although to make matters 
 sure it is better to be present. Whey and butter-milk are so liberally 
 dealt out to the pigs that a constant dribbling goes on. The non- 
 absorbent floor forces the speedy exit of the liquid drainwards. 
 
 The size of pipes to be selected for this department of the homestead 
 drains, as with the other one, depends of course on the configuration of the 
 ground on which the buildings are erected and the distance to be covered. 
 A six-inch pipe all through will be ample in the majority of cases. In 
 others it may be needful to enlarge the main, as it draws to a finish, to 
 say a nine-inch pipe. The proper terminus of the drain is a good-sized 
 watertight liquid-manure tank — the " aidle " tank of the Scottish 
 West Country farmer. 
 
 It is practicable occasionally to lead the liquid-manure 
 of a Sewage drain directly into the manure pit. But even where this 
 
 Drain to be can successfully be accomplished it is, we consider, doubt- 
 either in the r 1 l- i • ■ 1 rr i r l 1 1 
 
 Dungstead or ^^^ policy to act on that prmciple. It the tarm be devoted 
 
 in a Liquid- to dairying, the contents of the dungstead will be sappy 
 Manure Tank. / /, ,,,.., '^^ ,• • , 
 
 enough without the addition thereto or more liquid matter. 
 
 It may answer on a farm where cattle-keeping is the leading industry, 
 
 and straw is plentiful. Much of the latter, almost unpolluted, finds its 
 
 way to the midden at a farm of that sort. In these instances the addition 
 
 of liquid manure to the contents of the dungstead, w^hen it can be 
 
 accomplished in a satisfactory manner, may be an advantage. It is 
 
 difficult, however, to accomplish this satisfactorily. The drain, to begin 
 
 with, must have its outlet above the high-water mark, so to speak, of 
 
 the midden, in order that it may be always free. It is not sufficient 
 
 afterwards to leave matters altogether to the course of events. If 
 
 arrangements be not made for distributing the liquid in a sort of uniform 
 
 manner over the dungheap, it will simply form a pool near to the exit
 
 FLOORS AND DRAINS. 
 
 "5 
 
 j"r^ /7. V/://.V//7/'/'/-^/7y // . 
 
 of the drain. If the whole heap is therefore to receive somewhat equal 
 benefit from the effluent, something must be contrived whereby it can be 
 run to different parts as wished. There is not much trouble implied in the 
 performance of this, one w'ould think. A movable wood or iron runnel 
 serves w^ell enough to distribute the stuff over the length and breadth of 
 the midden ; but then, wdiere labour has to be economised, it is these odd 
 jobs that are constantly being left over till a more convenient season. 
 
 The better plan is the one we started with — to construct 
 Manure^Taiik ^ tank. The best position for this is somewhere in the 
 neighbourhood of the dungstead. Situated there, it is 
 convenient for the stuff being occasionally pumped up and distributed 
 over the dry midden. The latter has a better chance of profiting from 
 the liquid when applied to it in this way than in the manner just referred 
 to. Adjoining the midden it answers, too, as a catch-basin for the over- 
 flow therefrom, should there be any such. Such there is likely to 
 be at times from the dairy-farm dungstead, especially if it has no 
 roof, which it rarely has. 
 
 The proper place for the 
 tank is, we consider, along- 
 side the outer wall of the 
 dungstead, as ticked in on 
 the respective Plans. We 
 have it long and narrow, 
 as in Fig. loo, which gives 
 a section thereof. The 
 narrower it is the more 
 easily and securely can it be covered over. Its depth and length must be 
 governed by the circumstances that apply to it — the depth more in accord- 
 ance with the nature of the material to be excavated than with the amount 
 of stuff available ; the length, on the other hand, entirely by the latter con- 
 dition. To get full benefit from the tank it would require, as hinted above, 
 to be so constructed as to act the part of overflow^ receiver to the dungpit ; 
 therefore its surface would have to be fixed in accordance with the overflow 
 point of the pit. Built at the same time as the dungstead walls, it would be 
 part and parcel with the same, and one wall would be mutual to the two. 
 
 The bottom would be of concrete, and the outer and end walls of 
 brick and cement, floated afterwards on the inside with cement. The 
 mutual wall would be of the same material as the remainder of the 
 dungstead boundaries. The cover would be of strong flags as depicted 
 on the section. The flags, in turn, would have a covering of soil or 
 gravel. There would be little use for an overflow exit, but some means 
 of telling how much stuff was in the tank at any time would be required. 
 In connection with the tank there would be fixed up a chain pump by 
 means of which the contents thereof could be pumped on to the midden 
 or into a barrel or tank on wheels for removal direct to the fields. 
 
 I 2
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DooKS, Windows, and Ventilators. 
 
 ^, -- Thi; doorway is nearly always bordered with wood. 
 
 The Door ^ ^ -^ . -' -' 
 
 Styles and That up the sides forms the styles, and the top piece 
 ^'"^^*' the lintel. In brick partitions the styles and lintels of 
 
 doorways are fastened together and placed in posit. on previous to the 
 erection of the brickwork. The bricks are then fitted closely to the 
 framework as the building proceeds. The door lintel is not strong 
 enough in itself to support the superincumbent bricks. To make 
 matters secure here the bricks must either be arched over the door- 
 way or a sufficiently strong lintel must be built in to bridge over the 
 opening. In this way the w^eight of the building above the doorway is 
 prevented from bearing upon the door lintel, and the latter is left free 
 to perform its own duties. These are simply to help in keeping the 
 styles in their places, and together with them to afford a close-fitting 
 frame above and at the sides for the door. At the bottom the door is 
 bordered by the steps and the floor. 
 
 In outer doorways, as, indeed, with those generally tliat lead through 
 stone Avails, the styles and lintels are inserted after completion of the 
 buildings. In forming these openings wood lintels serve for those in 
 the inner walls. They serve also for the inner portions of the tops of 
 doorways in the outer walls. But we have already dealt with these 
 points under the head of " Walls." 
 
 The outer face of the top of the ordinary doorway in side wall or 
 gable is almost always of stone, so that the attacks of weather may be 
 withstood. Stone is too brittle to act as lintel over a wide doorway. 
 Five feet is about as wide an opening as it is safe to bridge over in this 
 way with stone. As we remarked when treating of walls, once the 
 building has set together — once the lime has hardened and bound the 
 several stones as one in its embrace — the burden of supporting the 
 building above it has been withdrawn from the lintel, and it can be 
 dispensed with. Were it not then wanted as a neat and strong border 
 or finish to the ragged edge of the rubble work, it could safely, so far as 
 danger of the wall collapsing is concerned, be taken out. But, then, 
 this binding of the walls is only slowly brought about, and meantime 
 the stones have to be held together.
 
 DOORS, WINDOWS, AXD VENTILATORS. 117 
 
 _ It is of narrow opening:s we are speakinff. When it comes 
 
 The Arch . . . , . ^ . , 
 
 stronger than ^^ those trom nine to twelve teet or so wide, matters are 
 
 the Lintel for diflerent, and we are straying beyond the bounds of safetv. 
 
 the Doorway. . .... 
 
 1 o spring an arch over an opening ot this natm-e is, as 
 regards strength, the correct method to adopt, but this is not in every 
 case practicable. Generally there is not height to spare, for the arch 
 takes up a good deal of headroom. It can best be got in either at the 
 end or the side of a building that is open to the roof. But it is not 
 suitable to ever}- one of these, even. In fact, the cart-shed is about the 
 only building to which the arched doon\ay or opening can be applied. 
 It would be as applicable to the root-store or manure-shed. These. 
 howe\ er, unlike the cart-shed, require to be supplemented with doors, 
 and doors are both awkward to fit to arched openings and not easily 
 kept in repair when there. At first thought one would be inclined to 
 recommend arched doorways as the proper thing for the bams, but 
 that is the worst kind of opening that can be selected for a passage to 
 admit carts laden with either sheaves or straw. If the cart is not kept 
 directly in the centre of the ojjening, the stuff is unceremoniously brushed 
 off. E.vtra height prevents this, but it leads to other annoyances related 
 to the matter of unmanageable doors and suchlike. 
 
 The upper floors, where existent, entirely rule the height we can go 
 in the forming of arched doorways into the ground flat of two-storeyed 
 buildings. And so, of course, does the height of side wall in the single- 
 storeyed ones. In the gables of the latter we can get what room we 
 want. Assuming that the side wail is nine feet in height, there is very 
 little naargin here for the construction therein of a suitable arched 
 opening. We could not have much more than six feet of headroom 
 where the arch sprang from at each side. That would never answer, 
 except, as we have said, in the case of a shed that is meant for the 
 protection of the farm carts from weather. 
 
 Our use of the arch in the erection of the homestead being limited to 
 
 the cart-shed, and even then not being entirely suitable, we are obliged 
 
 to fall back on the lintel. This method of bridging the openings, if 
 
 neither so strong nor so elegant, gives us at any rate the full advantage 
 
 of the doonvay. The same height from side to side, it allows the 
 
 square-topped load of sheaves, straw, or hay to pass out and in 
 
 unscathed. Stone, we have satisfied ourselves, while being strong 
 
 enough to bridge the usual single-door openings, so to speak, is too 
 
 brittle to do the same by the wider ones. 
 
 'ru Tw J Wood is the usual material had recourse to for the kind 
 The Wood . ... 
 
 Beam as of lintel we are discussing. But it is a trying position tor 
 
 Lmtel. wood to act as an outer lintel exposed to sun and rain 
 
 and other severe conditions due to weather. If the best of stufl be 
 
 obtained to begin with, it may last an indefinite time, as we see 
 
 exemplified in the old lath-and-timber houses of the Early English
 
 ii8 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 1 — r 
 
 1 J 
 
 1 r 
 
 style of architecture still to be met with here and there in different 
 
 parts of England. But such material is hardly to be got nowadays ; 
 
 at least, it is never looked for. A red or a pitch-pine beam is as far as 
 
 the builder is asked to go in searcla of. Either of these, if well seasoned 
 
 to start with and duly kept painted thereafter, will be there during many 
 
 changes of occupancy ; but these are conditions uncertain of fulfilment. 
 
 ^ , In these days, when either iron or steel beams are easily 
 
 The Iron , • , , , j i • , • , • • 
 
 Girder as obtamable, we would advise their use m the position 
 
 Lintel. referred to in preference to beams of Avood. There is 
 
 no fear of dry rot, neither of fungus, nor of weevil, where they come, 
 
 and sun and rain have but small effect upon them, if kept painted. 
 
 They need not, however, be exposed to the latter 
 
 influences. It is not at all impracticable to keep 
 
 them in from the face of the wall in such a way that 
 
 they can be faced with stone, and so be kept com- 
 
 pletelv immune from weather influences. We 
 
 show in Fig. loi how this can be done without 
 
 much trouble. The outer girder is so shaped that it 
 
 holds the stone facing in position by affording it a 
 
 ledge to rest upon, and sufficient depth at back to 
 
 enable it to be packed in mortar. The inner 
 
 girders may be of any shape considered best. 
 
 Wood may, of course, be used for inner lintels, 
 
 but our preference is for iron wherever practicable in this connection. 
 
 As a rule, the large doors are too hea\y to be hung by 
 
 means of hinges in the ordinary way. The common plan 
 
 is to fix them up in two halves with iron straps stretching 
 
 well o^■er the door and having at the heels or bases eyes 
 
 that fit over supports which are either firmly batted with lead into the 
 
 rybats of the doorway or are fastened to the styles as in Fig. 102. 
 
 This method obliges us to keep the door almost flush with the face of 
 
 the wall if we want it hung so that it will open out and fold back against 
 
 the side of the building. No other method of opening the high doors is, 
 
 in fact, satisfactory at the steading. It would never do to have the doors 
 
 of any of the places made to open inwards. Neither would it answer 
 
 to have them standing out at right angles to the walls when opened 
 
 up to the full. If not constructed so as to be capable of folding back 
 
 flush with the outer walls when required they are constantly in the 
 
 way, and sure to come to grief when carting is taking place in 
 
 connection with the house. 
 
 The best plan of vA\ with regard to hanging the doors at 
 
 the homestead is that in accordance with which they slide 
 
 backwards and forwards suspended from wheels that run 
 
 on a rod or flange attached to the wall. Doors fitted up in this way are 
 
 easier both on themsehes and on the walls than others are wlien hung 
 
 Fig. ioi. 
 
 Fitting up 
 the Doors : 
 The Hinged 
 large Door. 
 
 The Door 
 on Wheels.
 
 DOORS, WINDOWS, AND VENTILATORS. 
 
 119 
 
 from the sides. Unlike the latter, they are never the sport of wind that 
 one minute blows them open and the next slams them back. What with 
 banging against the walls on one side and on the checks against which 
 they shut on the other, they ha\e more at times to withstand than they 
 are fitted to resist. The door that is hung froni the top escapes all these 
 
 Hr^-^^Bi::^:!^ 
 
 
 ii i/ 1 
 
 
 Mi'' 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 1 ^'^\ 1 ,1' '• 
 
 - . 
 
 ^ . " ."J, 
 
 , 
 
 S.,,,r-i > 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 ' 1 ■ ■ ■''' '*■' 1 
 
 
 — ^ :;''":!!:! ': 
 
 
 ', 'M^'i'T 
 
 1 
 
 1111:':^' 
 
 1 
 
 
 . 
 
 - -— 'M"\'^^ 
 
 I 
 
 i * * • 
 
 . - . 
 
 
 — m\% 
 
 
 1 
 
 Fig. 102. 
 
 ordeals. It is proof against the wind, because it never can be banged 
 
 about. It can be pushed aside wholly or in part, just as w^e wish the 
 
 size of the opening for the time to be, and it will remain so in spite of 
 
 wind as long as we choose. It is the more expensive method of the two 
 
 to start with, but it is much the cheaper in the long run, as w^ell as by 
 
 far the most convenient at all times. 
 
 Reverting to the smaller doors, those up to four feet or 
 
 SmaUer^Doors ^° wide, that are hung in the ordinary way to the accom- 
 paniment of styles and lintel, these latter are not complete 
 
 without the stops or checks indicated on Figs. 103 and 104. These 
 
 stops a, as their 
 
 name indicates, 
 
 are there to afford 
 
 something for the 
 
 door to shut 
 
 against. Were 
 
 they wanting, the 
 
 door, if one that 
 
 opened inwards, 
 
 would project 
 
 beyond the build- 
 ing because 
 
 nothing was there 
 
 to keep it back. Fig. 103. 
 
 ~ 
 
 
 ~1 
 
 1 
 — 
 
 — 1 — 1 
 
 . . . c . •- • 
 
 1_J~ 
 
 I — 
 
 ■ 
 
 i 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 I i
 
 I20 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The hinges would, to a certain extent, but their attachments would be too 
 weak to hold the door in check. The leverage of the door would put too 
 strong a pressure upon them. The ordinary size of lintel and styles, 
 b and c in the figures, for a single door is five inches broad by six inches 
 
 C 
 
 Fig. 104. 
 
 thick. The styles are nailed to plugs of wood, driven into the sides 
 of the doorway. The Scottish tradesman speaks of these plugs 
 as " dooks." In place of driving in these plugs, which is at no 
 time a commendable practice, blocks of wood are occasionally built in 
 the wall for the purpose. In brickwork pieces of wood of the same 
 dimensions as a brick, termed " belgates," are built in as the work 
 proceeds. These are all right for inside work, but for an outer doorway 
 they are not suitable. It is common to see these bricks of wood at the 
 sides of an outer door rotting away, and the styles quite loose. It is 
 not so convenient, however, to build wood 
 blocks into the sides of the doorway when this 
 is built of stone, and in the generality of cases 
 the plug has to be called into requisition. 
 
 Half an inch is a sufficient thickness for the 
 stops. Their width is governed by the thickness 
 of the door. If the door is flush with the edge 
 of the style, the full breadth of the style minus the 
 thickness of the door will be taken up by the 
 stop. The stop, it is evident, is fixed upon the 
 sides of the opening, contrary to the direction 
 in which the door opens. 
 
 A usual kind of hinge is the one represented 
 in fig. 105. It is known as the batt-and-band, 
 or T hinge. The band, which is not shown to its 
 full extent in the fig., stretches well across the door as we see in Figs. 
 102 and 104, helping thereby to distribute the strains pretty uniformly. 
 Occasionally, however, stronger made articles, but of the same type as 
 in Fig. 106, known as the hook-and-band hinge, are set to do service. 
 
 Fig.
 
 DOORS, WINDOWS, AND VENTILATORS. 
 
 121 
 
 ©I 
 
 © 
 
 Fig. io6. 
 
 The hook is attached in \arious ways, as the Figs, from 107 to 109 
 
 shoAV. These indicate attachment to wood, but when styles and hntel 
 
 are dispensed with, the hooks are attached 
 directly to the rybats if these are present, 
 or to the scuntion stones, if these are 
 placed suitably for the purpose — being run 
 in with lead. This, indeed, is the rule 
 rather than the exception with regard to 
 byres and stables. The doors of the 
 stores, granaries, and the inner ones 
 relating to the barn, are always of neces- 
 sity mounted on styles. A closer fit is 
 required at these places than serves at the 
 houses occupied by animals. The latches, 
 
 or "snecks" for fastening the doors are of all manners of type, one being 
 
 peculiar to one district, and some 
 
 other to a neighbouring one. Fig. 
 
 no, the Norfolk latch, is a usual 
 
 pattern for the style-fitted door. 
 
 Simpler than any 
 Mounting: the r ^u 
 Sliding Door. ^^ ^hese IS, as we 
 
 have said before, 
 
 the door that is hung from wheels. 
 
 In Fig. Ill we represent the 
 
 elevation of a door hung in this 
 
 manner, showing the position of the wheels and the rail upon which 
 
 these move from one side to the other. 
 This system of door-hanging is equally 
 applicable to small doors as to large ones. 
 The rail and the wheels at the top, two 
 guides and a stop in the ground at the 
 foot, a handle at the outside edge to slide 
 the door open with, and a catband or 
 catch inside to fasten it therewith, are all 
 the fittings a door of this description 
 a section showing the nature of the rail that 
 The latter have, it 
 
 Fig. 
 
 Fig. 108. 
 
 needs. Fig. 112 is 
 
 supports the wheels. 
 
 will be seen, an uninterrupted run from 
 
 end to end of the rail. The sort of girder 
 
 or plate of which the rail is a part juts out 
 
 from the wall far enough to protect the 
 
 top of the door from rain. The whole 
 
 affair, it is needless to say, requires to 
 
 be firmly attached to the face of the wall. Where a beam is doing 
 
 service as lintel, this is not such a difficult matter. The lintel does not 
 
 109.
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 stretch tlie whole lengtli of the plate, otherwise tlie latter would be 
 firnilv fastened to it by means of large "wood" screws. So far as it 
 goes, however, the wood lintel can in this way be taken 
 advantage of. Beyond its stretch it is needful in order 
 to make sure of a proper grip that bolts be passed through 
 the wall and be screwed up tight inside, as in Fig. 113. 
 Where no wood is present bolts of this kind alone can be 
 used. Not many are needed, however, seeing they are 
 so effective. To save after boring of the walls it is 
 sometimes practicable to leave provision for the bolt- 
 lioles at the time of building. This can be done 
 either by building in stones already bored or that 
 can be easily done afterwards, or as the work pro- 
 ceeds building in rods that can be substituted by the 
 proper article when the time comes for fixing up the 
 plate. The iron lintels need, of course, to be bored 
 before they are put up. The suggested stone facings 
 of these would necessarily be bored at the time of their application. 
 Three wheels may be required if the door be a very large one. As a 
 
 Fig. hi. 
 
 rule two serve the purpose. The big door may be in two, the'respective 
 hahes opening away from each other. 
 
 ,, . ^ Doors hung from above can safely be made of a heavier 
 
 Various Types 1 • • , , . 
 
 of Doors. description than those intended to be hmged at the sides. 
 
 The latter method of attaching doors gives the hinges so 
 
 much to do in bearing them up that, without loss of efficiency, the
 
 f 
 
 DOORS, WINDOWS, AND VENTILATORS. 123 
 
 lighter they can be made the better. There is no danger on this head, 
 however, when the doors run on wheels. The ordinary hinged 
 door is constructed according to Figs. 
 114 and 115, the first portraying the 
 front and the second the back thereof. It 
 simply consists of flooring-boards held 
 together by being nailed to the cross- 
 bars at the back. The boards are usually 
 3 inches broad by i^ inch thick. The 
 bars, either three or four in number, 
 oftener three, however, are from 6 to 9 
 inches broad and i inch thick. The ex- 
 posed edges are chamfered more or less. 
 The face boards are nailed firmly to 
 these cross-bars and the door is com- 
 pleted. For the sliding doors a frame 
 has first to be made, and on the face of 
 this boards as before are fixed. The 
 larger we make the door the greater care we have 
 to take that it will be stiff" and unyielding. To 
 accomplish this struts have to be introduced here 
 and there. From Figs. 116 to 119 we give some 
 examples of how these doors are put together. It 
 is us'jal to finish the framed door with a thin beaded 
 edging as shown in the figures. 
 
 It is not a good plan, in so far as the welfare 
 
 of the big door is concerned, to make a smaller 
 
 one therein. So many more joints are caused 
 
 and these are so manv extra attacking points for weather to 
 
 1-IG. 113. 
 
 there b} 
 
 seize upon — that the 
 door is certain to suffer 
 on that account. 
 
 The rails 
 The Sliding- r 1, 
 
 Door Rails ^"^ ^^^^^^^ 
 
 doors 
 
 can be cast in a single 
 piece. Those for larger 
 ones can be cast in 
 sections. This makes 
 them easier to handle, 
 and if carefully put up, 
 by no means interfere 
 with their efficiency. 
 The ends of the rails, 
 it will be noticed from 
 
 w 
 
 Fig. 114. 
 
 Fig. 115.
 
 124 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Fig. Ill, are turned clown at riglit angles for two or three inches. 
 The object of this, it is easy to understand, is to clieck the further 
 
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 l"iG. ii; 
 
 progress of the door when it has cleared the opening. Care has to 
 
 be taken that the door when erected hangs plumb, otherwise it will either 
 
 grate on the wall or, on the other hand, tend to keep aw'ay from it and rub 
 
 hard on the guides at the 
 
 foot. If plumb, however, it 
 
 will run easy without rubbing 
 
 on the wall behind or the 
 
 guides in front, and still be 
 
 near enough to the building 
 
 to afford proper protection to 
 
 the opening. To further the 
 
 latter aim, the chief end of 
 
 the door, the door has to be 
 
 made wide enough to overlap 
 
 the doorway at least three 
 
 inches on both sides. 
 
 A strip of iron 
 
 Other Fittings about an inch 
 of the Sliding- , , , 
 
 Door. I'road and a 
 
 (juarter of an 
 
 inch thick, rounded off at 
 
 edges, may with advantage Fio. nS. 
 
 be screwed to the face of the 
 
 door about an incli or two from the bottom. It will iielp considerably to 
 
 resist the wear and tear of the door due to any friction betweeh it and
 
 DOORS, WINDOWS, AND VENTILATORS. 
 
 125 
 
 the guides. The latter may be either of wood or stone. One of these 
 at each side of the door and another near to the point which the off side 
 of the door reaches when pushed aside to its full limit, as on Figs, ii i 
 and 113, are sufficient for ordinary sized doors. Large ones may need 
 more, for these are the sole checks against their being pushed out 
 at the bottom. But these are details that have to be faced as each 
 special occasion arises. 
 
 It is a good plan when screwing home the plate to insert some plaster, 
 lime, or cement and sand between it and the wall. This makes a 
 
 Fig. 119. 
 
 watertight joint, preventing water getting in between the two and down 
 upon the door-head. 
 
 It is no uncommon occurrence to find sliding doors fitted up with the 
 wheels undermost. The arrangement may be cheaper, but it is in no 
 way so satisfactory as the previous one. The rail must be small if it 
 is not to constitute a constant nuisance ; but being on the ground level, 
 even a thinnish rod gathers rubbish at each side. Obstructions to the 
 free run of the door are in this way frequently happening, and occasion- 
 ally the door gets derailed, when it may come down with a flop, at the 
 risk of harm to itself, and it may be to man and beast as well. And any- 
 thing in the form of a rail laid on the threshold of a house is not conducive 
 to its being thoroughly swept out.
 
 126 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The door of the loose-box is generally divided into two 
 ^f°thi^Doo°n^ parts horizontally, as in Fig. 120. The upper half is the 
 
 smaller, so that the animal which is confined in the house 
 may have the liberty of projecting its head, but nothing more, from the 
 interior, to breathe fresh air and see what is going on outside. When 
 small doors were commoner in connection with the barn these also used 
 to be in two parts horizontally, about equal in this instance. The 
 arrangement originated, perhaps, as much through a desire for light as 
 on any other ground. In the days when much hard labour had to be 
 performed — thrashing, winnowing, and so on — in the barn, light was 
 admitted by way of the half-open door, or, more strictly speaking, the 
 
 
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 Fig. 120. 
 
 door with one half open. Light came in, as we said, by the open upper 
 half, while the closed bottom half kept hens and prowling pigs from 
 gaining admittance. 
 
 Where hinged doors are fitted to stables and byres they are often in 
 halves, vertically this time, however, as in Fig. 121. This is done to 
 prevent the door getting too far into the inside of the building. Or, 
 towards the same end, they are hinged up the middle as well as at one 
 side, as in Fig. 122, so that they may chng close to the wall. Both 
 contrivances are clumsy, however. Neither is so handy or so safe as 
 the sliding door. The latter cannot, like the one or the other referred to, 
 or like the ordinary hinged door, ever be blown to just as an animal is 
 emerging and thus induce a catastrophe. There is risk even, with any
 
 DOORS, WINDOWS, AND VENTILATORS. 127 
 
 Fig. 121. 
 
 one of these, of a horse's harness pulHng the door shut as the animal is 
 
 passing through the opening, 
 
 with disastrous results. Noth- 
 ing of this kind can take place 
 
 with the sliding door. No 
 
 animal will seek to pass through 
 
 until the doorway is sufficiently 
 
 clear to allow its head and neck, at any rate, to get through. It may stick 
 
 there, without suffering 
 much harm, if it cannot 
 get any further. The pro- 
 bability would be, how- 
 ever, that its struggles 
 
 Fir,. 122. 
 
 Handles, 
 Latches, 
 Locks, and 
 Bolts. 
 
 would widen the openuig. 
 Whatever took place, it 
 is evident that the door would not tend to lessen the opening ; it would 
 slide away from where the pressure was, and although 
 most of the force would be exerted outwards, some of 
 it would be sure to bear sideways. 
 
 Care has to be taken that the handles, 
 latches, and locks or bolts which we 
 apply to the doors of stables, loose- 
 boxes, and byres are not of such con- 
 struction that harness can catch on to them, or that 
 they can harm animals knocking up against them. 
 A combined latch and handle, such as the one repre- 
 sented by Fig. 123, would afford no point to which 
 harness could attach itself, or that could tear or other- 
 wise hurt an animal. The handle folds to either side 
 and then becomes almost flush with the door, and 
 there is no projecting thumb-piece as in the ordinary 
 Norfolk latch we have depicted in Fig. no. The 
 thumb-piece is, it will be seen, substituted by a 
 push-in knob. There could be no disparagement of this latch for the 
 byre door ; and for the stable, if a safer thing were wanted, we 
 have it either in Fig. 124, or in Fig. 125. A plain handle, such 
 
 as in Fig. 126 or in 
 Fig. 127, is all that is 
 needed for the outside 
 of the sliding door. 
 If anything of the kind 
 is required on the in- 
 side of the door, it must 
 be sunk in flush with 
 Fig. 124 Fig. 125. the surface. 
 
 Fig. 123.
 
 128 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Windows. 
 
 Coming to windows, we have not much to say on that 
 head. We liave already expressed our preference for roof 
 
 Hirlits, and driven our reasons therefor. It 
 
 is hardly practicable, however, to have 
 
 all the lights at the homestead distributed 
 
 amongst the slates. There are bound to be 
 
 places at nearly every group of farm build- 
 ings in which side windows are a necessity. 
 
 The ordinary I^'ew realise what an impor- 
 
 Sash Window tant work of art on the part 
 
 rather at a Dis- ... , 
 
 advantage at of a jomer a common sash 
 
 the Homestead. -window really is. In the 
 South casement windows are the rule. 
 These are hinged at one side, and open 
 and close in the same manner as an hinged 
 
 Fig. 
 
 127. 
 
 Fig. 128 a. 
 
 Elevation ot part of interior (the inside 
 
 lining having been removed). 
 
 ^ Fig. 126. 
 
 door. North of the Border, how^ever, 
 the sash window prevails. It is in two 
 halves, which slide up and down in 
 side grooves. One half — the upper 
 one — slides in front of the other 
 parallel to it, separated by the bead a, 
 in Fig. 128, which is slipped into the 
 side of the window frame or case. 
 This bead or slip is termed the 
 "parting bead"; it does not pass 
 through the case, neither is it nailed 
 to it, but is fitted neatly into a square 
 groove sunk a quarter of an inch or 
 so into the side of the window frame. 
 It can be easily taken out, and when 
 it is removed there is then nothing 
 behind to hold the outer or upper sash 
 in its place. 
 
 If we turn, however, to the different 
 divisions of the figure, and take 
 note of the window as a whole, we 
 can better understand the several 
 parts that constitute a sash window, 
 and the relation they bear to one 
 another. The sill h is the thickest 
 part of the case; the sides c are 
 mortised thereto. At right angles 
 to these side pieces are, so to 
 speak, the wings (the facings) d 
 and c. When the window is m
 
 DOORS, WINDOWS, AND VENTILATORS. 
 
 129 
 
 position these three pieces-the side and the Avings-to-ether with 
 
 the wall bordering the window 
 
 Fig. 128 b. 
 Vertical section. 
 
 opening, form a sort of well or 
 recess, in which the weights that 
 balance the sashes move freely up 
 and down. The ropes connect- 
 ing the weights play over the 
 pulleys / that are mserted into 
 the side of the case. The outer 
 wing projects half an inch or so 
 over the side of the case next to 
 the window. The upper sash plays 
 between this projecting part g and 
 the bead a already referred to. The 
 under sash in turn plays between 
 the latter and a movable batten, h, 
 which is screwed to the inner edo-e 
 of the window case. This batten 
 is the key of the situation ; without 
 Its removal neither of the sashes 
 can be unshipped. It holds all in 
 place. In spla}'ed openings the 
 inner wings of the case are broader 
 than the outer ones, thus giving it 
 the wedge shape necessary to fit 
 closely into the space. The upper 
 surface of the sill is bevelled out, 
 the better to free itself of rain, the 
 under edge of the inner sash being 
 bevelled in to fit close to the sill. 
 The two sashes fit together Avhen 
 each is home. The top part of the 
 frame of the lower sash is so much 
 thicker or broader than its other 
 three sides, as well as the four 
 sides of the frame of the upper 
 sash by the thickness of the inter- 
 A-ening slip bead a, that when both 
 sashes are closed the parts that 
 come into side contact are close 
 against each other. These two 
 parts, the top bar of the under 
 sash, and the bottom bar of the 
 
 upper sash, are together called the "meeting-rail." Were the frame of 
 the lower sash of the same thickness throughout, there would be a 
 vacant space equal to the thickness of the slip bead a between the 
 
 M.H. 
 
 K
 
 UO 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 sashes where they adjoined, but the enlargement of the sash referred to 
 obviates this. Sometimes this extra breadtli is divided between the 
 two. The sashes are divided up into panes by means of wooden 
 divisions termed " astragals," moulded and so checked as to retain the 
 glass on their inner sides, and to hold putty in front. 
 
 Hardly any other portion of a building so soon betrays the fact that 
 unseasoned wood has been used in its construction as do the windows 
 thereof. To begin with, the wood, if unseasoned, swells when it is 
 affected by damp. All wood, of course, does ; but unseasoned wood is 
 more readily affected by this cause. Before the house is occupied, then, 
 tlie windows, if made of improperly seasoned wood, have begun to swell. 
 Comparatively dry when they left the joiner's shop, their after subjection 
 
 Ou^sitie 
 
 
 
 
 ^^^f i^ ^ '/'^■v 
 
 to the damp emanating from the newly-plastered walls causes the w^ood 
 to expand, and the sashes get jammed. By-and-by a shaving is taken 
 ofif the sides of these with the plane. As time goes on the building 
 becomes dry, a condition which eventually tells upon the windows. The 
 sashes, in common with the otlier parts, shrink, and in the end become 
 too loose. Most of us know the annoyance, due to this, of rattling 
 as well as draughty windows. Had the wood been well seasoned to 
 start with, it would not have expanded so much as to interfere with the 
 sliding of the sashes. No planing would then have been called for, and 
 planing in the instance above assumed was simply paving the way for 
 an aggravated state of matters. When shrinkage set in the misfit would 
 be all the worse on account of what wood had been stripped from the 
 sides. Moreover, with the properly prepared wood, when the circum- 
 stances conducive to shrinking set in, the window would be comparatively 
 little affected. At any rate, it is open to easy conception that a piece of 
 work sucli as a window w^ith so many separate pieces taking part in its
 
 DOORS, WINDOWS, AND VENTILATORS. 
 
 131 
 
 constitution must give very much better results when made out of 
 sound, well-seasoned timber than with raw stuff, if we may use such 
 an expression. 
 
 The window serves further to bring home the ground for our already 
 often repeated objection to the making use of appliances or parts of the 
 buildings at the homestead that have to depend on the frequent applica- 
 tion of paint for protection against weather, ^^'ith its many corners 
 and joints into which rain is ever ready to seek an entrance, once these 
 begin to open, decay is certain ere long to make its appearance. Paint 
 alone, frequently applied, can keep the window in a sound condition. 
 
 i ' 1 *'l 1 
 
 
 Fig. 129. 
 
 Fig. 130. 
 
 Even the putty, as we mentioned when speaking of roof-lights, cracks 
 and falls away when paint is denied the window. But painting at the 
 homestead is by no means a frequent proceeding. The less, therefore, 
 there is left about the place to paint the better for all concerned. 
 
 Once the windows have room to rattle, there is little 
 chance of a remedy. With casement windows there is 
 little or no rattling. They are easier of construction, 
 But then, they are not so convenient. They require too 
 much room in opening and shutting. And, further, unless made to 
 open outwards, which is not always desirable, it is difficult to keep 
 them watertight if they are exposed to pelting rains. It seems a 
 little strange, all the same, that the simple, easily constructed casement 
 window should so seldom in Scotland be substituted for the more 
 complicated sash window. 
 
 K 2 
 
 Casement 
 Windows. 
 
 and cheaper.
 
 132 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Other sorts 
 of Windows 
 in use at the 
 Homestead. 
 
 l)Ut the windows such as we have been referrin<,f to come more 
 under tlie head of Houses and Cottages than of the buildings proper 
 to the liomestead. Still, as already 
 remarked, there are places here that 
 require one or more windows of the kind 
 just discussed. There may be a bothy 
 about the homestead that requires a 
 window of either sort ; or the harness- 
 room may be so situated that such a 
 window is the proper one under the cir- 
 cumstances. But if unsuitable in the 
 cottage the sash window is less so here. 
 
 As regards the stable and 
 other buildings, the windows 
 of which are not wanted to 
 be so well finished as are 
 the two classes above referred to, the kind 
 of window — half window and half venti- 
 lator — shown in Fig. 129 is a common one in this connection. The 
 glazed upper half is fixed ; so, indeed, is the whole frame. But behind 
 the fixed vertical laths or spars of the bottom half is a similar series of 
 spars, the frame of which is slideable to the extent that the openings 
 can be covered in whole or in part or left entirely open, just as one 
 
 wishes. A somewhat 
 similar window is that 
 in Fig. 130. Instead of 
 the "hit-and-miss" ar- 
 rangement of spars cha- 
 racteristic of the window 
 in Fig. 129, two doors 
 or shutters, each hinged 
 at the side and folding 
 against a centre upright, 
 take its place. Neither 
 of them, however, is a 
 long liver, and, therefore, not to be recommended. 
 
 Iron window-frames seem never to have gained ground 
 Wiridows^ ^^ ^^^^ homestead — perhaps on account of their being 
 thought very easy of fracture and difficult in replace- 
 ment. But they can be no more liable to fracture than wood frames, 
 and we seldom see accidents of this kind happen to windows. As to 
 replacement, articles of this class are only made by the leading 
 founders. They are in a position to store their patterns, and at 
 any time to produce articles listed in their catalogues which they 
 do not happen to have in stock. 
 
 ' 1 
 
 
 
 r\ 
 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1^ 
 
 Fig. 
 
 132.
 
 DOORS, WINDOWS, AND VENTILATORS. 
 
 133 
 
 Iron side windows are, perhaps, more suitable for brick than for stone 
 buildings. Still, there is nothing to hinder their satisfactory application 
 
 to stone-built houses. In 
 
 fact, a very good job, both 
 neat and strong, can be 
 made of them with brick 
 facings in a rubble wall. 
 Sills, rybats, and lintels 
 can be dispensed with 
 A\- hen brie k s properly 
 moulded for such openings 
 are available. If the sill 
 bricks be laid on a bed of 
 cement, and be closely 
 jointed and pointed with 
 the same, a perfectly 
 watertight ledge is the 
 result, and this is about 
 all we look for in the free- 
 stone sill. If we dispense 
 with the lintel, we are 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 rs /~\ r>i /^ 
 
 j 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 U W VJ v^ 
 
 Fig. 
 
 133- 
 
 obliged to build the bricks in the form of an arch. Most of the 
 catalogued homestead iron windows are of the arched pattern. In 
 Figs. 131, 132, 133, and 134 we give examples of these. A window of 
 arch shape at the farm may seem incongruous to some : but it is onlv 
 a matter of prejudice. A " flat " 
 arch is handsomer than a square- 
 topped opening. The brick facing 
 is checked all round the sides and 
 top two or three inches back from 
 the face. The inner casement, 
 faced with cement, fits close into 
 this, where it can be firmly wedged. 
 Tiie sill dips outward from a slight 
 check for the base of the window 
 to rest against ; at sides, and top 
 the clieck is in front of the frame ; 
 at the bottom it is behind it. The inner part of the opening can be 
 finished off with cement plaster. Completed thus, we have a window 
 which, if a little out of the ordinary run where North Country notions 
 are concerned, is both cheap and strong, and, better than all, one capable 
 of holding out in the midst of neglect. \'erv little paint serves the turn 
 of the iron frame. \'ery good windows of this kind are represented by 
 Figs. 134 and 135. They are to be had square-topped as well as arched. 
 They are fixed against the interior of the wall. Either is suitable for any
 
 134 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 stable, loose-box, or bvre, where side light is considered preferable to 
 that deri\ed h\ way of the roof. The former is not \ery large, but on 
 that account all the more of them 
 
 can be used. It opens nearly to 
 its whole area under a simple and 
 easily controllable arrangement. 
 Fig. 136 shows a larger window 
 of the same description suitable for 
 the buildings that require windows 
 more after the ordinary type. Tlie 
 opening part is regulated on the same 
 easy principle as obtains with the 
 other two. Besides these there are, 
 of course, endless varieties of others. 
 The commonest sort 
 
 ^hfin^T^^nn ^^ ^^of ventiktors, 
 1 he common ' 
 
 kinds at the where such form a 
 
 Homestead. p^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ |^^-j^_ 
 
 ings, is the lou\re-board lantern 
 affair, Figs. 137 and 138, something like a small dog-kennel, placed on 
 the ridge, and the arrangement as in Figs. 139 and 140, whereby a part 
 or parts of the roof are tilted up a little above the general level and 
 
 I open spaces made in 
 
 1 r^ PI ' I I \ p' this way. Neither is very 
 
 I | v'^^^^^^^^^J ||^g|jS^MSS^^^^T' satisfactory. The hrst, 
 
 being usually of wood, 
 very soon gets out of 
 repair. Wood is placed 
 in a trying position in this 
 instance. Exposed on 
 the outside to all ex- 
 tremes of weather, and 
 the inside parts subjected 
 to warm, moist air, it has 
 more to withstand than 
 it can really be expected 
 to bear for any length of 
 __ _ time. Even with frequent 
 
 J — r- — r~^ ^ "'J-^'T^ ^T 'i^dministrations of paint, 
 
 ' ) i _____J. — -"X""^ J J'—x^' a thing of this description 
 
 1-ic;. ijo. cannot be expected to last 
 
 long. It is but a makeshift, in fact. Occasionally we come across them 
 made of iron, but so small as to be rather ineffective. But iron, also, is 
 in too trying a position when taken in this connection. Paint would 
 keep it riglit, no doubt, but that is not always forthcoming.
 
 DOORS, WINDOWS, AND VENTILATORS. 
 
 ^35 
 
 The slit in the roof, when properly made, is free of these objections, 
 but it is not so efifective as a ventilator. The lantern sits clear of the 
 
 interior of the 
 
 building alto- 
 gether, and 
 foul air that 
 reaches it is at 
 once swept out 
 between the 
 spars at one 
 side or the 
 other. It is 
 bound, there- 
 F"^- ^37- fore, to be a 
 
 better means of withdrawing or extracting the spent air of the building, 
 or of allowing it an unobstructed 
 exit, than the slit, which is some 
 distance below the apex of the roof. 
 The air may get locked, as it were, 
 under the latter arrangement. It 
 cannot, however, with the lantern. 
 As it fills into this it is virtually 
 mixing directly with the outside air. 
 A fault common to both, however, 
 is that birds are free to come and go 
 through the openings. This is no 
 fault, indeed, when the welcome 
 swallow is the one that takes advan- 
 tage of these passages. But when 
 the sparrow is the intruder he 
 becomes a nuisance, especially if he 
 elect to set up house in the ventilator itself. He and his partner are 
 slovenly builders, and having to make up for want of neatness with in- 
 creased quantity of material, 
 they soon interfere with the 
 usefulness of the opening. 
 
 But, worse than the 
 sparrow, both kinds of 
 ventilators admit drifting 
 snow. They are easily con- 
 structed so as to forbid the 
 entrance of rain, but wind- 
 dri\en snow sails in with ease. This may not often happen ; but a 
 building that is liable to allow such a state of matters is imperfect as 
 a shelter for stalled animals. 
 
 Fi 
 
 G. 13<j.
 
 uc. 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The double- 
 horned Zinc 
 Ventilator. 
 
 Better than these, in our opinion, is the double-horned 
 zinc ventilator shown in Fig. 141. It is simplicity 
 itself. Nothing about it can go out of order. No 
 painting is needed where it comes, zinc being capable of resisting 
 the attacks of weather. Rain cannot gain admittance through its 
 openings ; neither can birds, nor 
 snow. It may, however, be 
 hardly so effective as the louvred 
 lantern. It stands, like the latter, 
 above the level of the air within ; 
 but, on the other hand, unlike the 
 lantern, there is the downward 
 curve in it that must to some 
 extent retard the free e.xit of the ' ^"^°' 
 
 inner air. But when it is fitted with the diaphragm, or division, 
 the position of which is indicated by the dotted line on the figure, 
 this obstruction or retardation of the outward passage of air is con- 
 siderably obviated. The circulation of air through the ventilator goes on 
 freer with the passage divided into two than it does with the opening 
 left as one. The air is apt to be locked in the undivided ventilator, 
 similar to what takes place with it in the slit-in-the-roof arrangement. 
 
 A roof fitted up with one or two of these ventilators insures a good 
 circulation of air within the building it covers. More are, of course, 
 
 required in a building that con- 
 tains live stock than in one set 
 apart for other purposes. One or 
 two Avill do in barn or granary, 
 while thrice as many may be 
 needed in a byre of the same 
 length. And fewer will keep the 
 stable comparatively well aired 
 than can do the same wath regard 
 to the byre, the horses, though 
 larger, being less closely packed 
 together. They are not expensive to begin with, and their maintenance 
 is a small item. They are easily fixed, and not liable to be thrust out 
 of position. As the figure shows, they have lead flanges, or aprons of 
 lead attached. These are made to suit the pitch of the roof, and to 
 cover a sufficient area all round the opening into which the shaft fits to 
 make sure that no rain can gain entrance. The shaft passes into the 
 interior of the building far enough to clear the roofing boards. There 
 is little use in inserting it further. The shorter distance it dips into 
 the interior the better will it be able to draw off the spent and heated 
 air that seeks the inner apex of the roof. Air in that quarter that might 
 be slow of exit through a single opening is, as remarked above, set 
 
 MI.
 
 DOORS, WINDOWS, AND VENTILATORS. 
 
 137 
 
 agoing more briskly if the opening be divided into two. The cold air 
 may be struggling to get in from above while the warm air within is 
 at the same time pressing up from beneath, both, in this way, being 
 hindered the free use of the passage. But when the passage is divided 
 each gets a road to itself, and the exchange of the air from without for 
 that from within can go on without let or hindrance. The division in 
 the ventilator acts like mounted police or cavalrymen when slowly 
 patrolling the centre of a street crowded with people going in opposite 
 directions, to make sure of keeping each current in its own channel. 
 Were the crowd left to its own devices, a block would ensue, and little 
 progress could be made ; but so long as those desirous of proceeding in 
 one direction were kept to one side of the street, the other being left for 
 those bent on going the contrary way, all confusion would be avoided. 
 
 The roof ventilator is generally supposed to be constructed for the 
 purpose of allowing foul air to escape, openings whereby fresh air can 
 get in being made lower down in the building. This holds good with 
 the louvre board lantern. x\nd so it does with the slit in the roof 
 referred to, although in lesser degree. No doubt the same can be said 
 of the horned ventilator. But the construction of the latter, which 
 necessitates a curve downwards at each exit, retards, as we have said, 
 the outward current. The heated air seeks to rise, and its progress out- 
 wards is sure to be hindered where it has to dip downwards a little 
 before it can escape from the building. Besides, however, acting almost 
 solely as a discharger of used-up air, as happens with the lantern and the 
 slit, our double-chambered affair serves likewise as an inlet for fresh air. 
 Cold air gains admission by one opening, helping, as we explained above, 
 to make easier the exit of the heated and already breathed air within. 
 
 Acting thus, as it were, in two capacities, a ventilator of this kind is 
 admirably adapted for the granary and similar places. In these, while 
 there is little call for 
 a constant replacement 
 of the air contained 
 therein, all the same, 
 there is need for a cer- 
 tain amount of circu- 
 lation of air within the 
 building. Where air 
 is stagnant as well as 
 damp, which it is bound 
 at times to be in an 
 unfired building in our 
 climate, moulds and 
 
 fungi thrive, .and most - — 7- 
 
 of its contents grow - ^ — - — 
 
 mouldy and musty Fig. 143.
 
 I3S 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 preparatory to decay. But if the air is kept nioxing, there is even at the 
 dampest times of the year not half the harrti Hkely to arise from these 
 promoters of decay. A \entilator such as we are speaking of answers 
 well, therefore, to keep the atmosphere of the buildings referred to in 
 wholesome condition. One or two in the roof of each keeps the air 
 within the building in close touch with the atmosphere itself, at the 
 same time keeping at bay the rain and snow that are every now and 
 again emanating from the latter. The' advantages of this in connection 
 with houses the doors and windows of which are seldom open are 
 surely too obvious to require further dwelling upon. 
 
 It is none the less suitable either as a circulator of air within buildings 
 of which horses or cattle are the occupiers. If it does admit air with 
 
 one hand as well as withdraw it 
 with the other, matters are thus 
 made all the more satisfactory, for 
 as a rule the fresh-air inlets are 
 in no wise satisfactory. 
 
 There are, of course, many 
 patented ridge ventilators in the 
 market. INIost of them, however, 
 are rather too complicated, or, at 
 any rate, too expensive, for the 
 simple requirements of the home- 
 stead. Those on the system of 
 Boyle's patent might suit the 
 steading. They are simple, having 
 no movable parts likely to go out 
 of order, and being made of zinc, 
 need little attention of the kind 
 Their underlving principle is that of 
 automatically maintaining a constant movement up the shaft of com- 
 munication between the building and the outer air. But they are more 
 expensive than those we ha\-e been reconimending, and we question 
 if they are a bit more effective. Moreover, thev are not so simple in 
 construction, therefore not so easily kept in repair. In fact, those we 
 advocate approach the primitive type — the more primiti\e the better, 
 howe^•er, so long as they perform their part. 
 
 A really good ridge ventilator is the one patented by 
 Venfilator ^'^^" ^^^^S' Langbank, Port Glasgow. It has all the 
 
 ad\antages of the louvre lantern without possessing any 
 of its defects. Mr. Craig has been so long connected with landed estate 
 work that he knows well what is required of an article of the kind that 
 has to do duty at the homestead. His ventilator is constructed either 
 of cast-iron or of wood covered with zinc. At top it opens clear to the 
 outer air without let or hindrance. In Figs. 143 and 144 we represent 
 
 Fig. 144. 
 we ha\"e so frequentlv hinted at.
 
 DOORS, WINDOWS, AND VENTILATORS. 
 
 139 
 
 this \entilator. It shows a diaphragm dividing the shaft proper into 
 two, as we have adopted in the case of the zinc one above referred to. 
 Any rain that gains admittance at the top as well as what snow gets in 
 there is caught in the tray or trough a. The latter leads to each end of 
 the ventilator, and passing through it a little, delivers its moisture on the 
 roof. The top is covered wath wire netting in order to prevent sparrows 
 from making a convenience of the thing. It is both serviceable and 
 effective, and can be easily fitted up. Although made of iron as well as 
 wood, there is nothing to hinder the former being galvanised if wished. 
 Its effectiveness in affording a free communication between the air with- 
 out and that within enables one to do the work of two or three of the 
 kind we haA'e spoken of as favoured by ourselves. They are rather too 
 
 Fresh Air 
 Inlets. 
 
 Fig. 145. Fig. 146. 
 
 effective for being put to service in barn and granary, but for byre or 
 stable they are eminently suitable. 
 
 Figs. 145 and 146 represent a somewhat similar type of 
 
 Ve^tn"^ t \entilator to Mr. Craig's. It is patented and manufactured 
 
 by Mr. Taylor, Nether Leask, Ellon, N.B. We cannot 
 
 speak of it from experience, but froni the appearance it seems to follow 
 
 the lines Ave advocate. 
 
 Fresh air inlets are generally made somewhere towards 
 the le\el of the wallhead. They would be more effective, 
 perhaps, were they constructed nearer the foot than the 
 head of the wall. But there are difficulties in the way at the bottom of 
 the wall that do not apply at the top, and on that account the upper 
 part of the wall is chosen in which to make the necessary openings. 
 The nature of these differ with the district. In some places a series of 
 vertical slits widening inwards like the loopholes of old do duty. At 
 others mere round holes are formed in the wall. At many places there 
 is nothing of the kind, fresh air being left to find a way in for itself 
 
 It is becoming common now to build glazed fireclay pipes in about 
 the top of the wall. These make neat and unimpeded channels for the 
 passage of air. When they are built in with a slant upwards, rain can- 
 not beat through, and, in addition, the inward passing air is given a
 
 I40 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 current upwards and impelled well into the building and made to mix 
 more uniformly with that already in the place. The probabilities are 
 that the incoming air, when introduced in this manner, will have a 
 better effect than it would if allowed to blow directly in through the 
 ordinarily constructed inlet. If it blew in, it might indeed clear the 
 animals that were near to the opening, but draughts would be induced 
 rather close to the floor level. These, if they did not interfere directly 
 with the comfort of the animals, might in the end come to hurt the health 
 of many of them. 
 
 Danger to the health of the animals is one of the strongest arguments 
 against admitting outside air at the level of the floor or thereabouts. It 
 is almost impossible to admit air by way of openings in the floor itself 
 without causing draughts that will afifect the animals. And if this 
 difficulty be o\ercome, we are met with the other of how to keep these 
 inlets in the floor clear of obstruction. How is it possible to sweep the 
 floors without allowing matter to get through the gratings ? In the act 
 of carrying straw about or pushing it along the floor in front of one, 
 both straw and chaff will find their way down the grating. Little better 
 is it to have openings at the foot of the wall so much above the floor as 
 to avoid risk of impediment to the free action of the passage. These, 
 unless on a principle rather complicated for the somewhat primitive 
 practices of the majority of the occupiers of our homesteads, could not 
 be placed at the heads of the animals. On the other hand, if placed in 
 the wall behind the animals, the latter are certain to feel the effects of 
 the draughts that must arise therefrom. 
 
 If we cannot make sure of these side openings when placed in the 
 floor itself or in its vicmity, we may as well at once place them near 
 the wallhead where they are out of all risk of obstruction and are quite 
 effecti\e enough for ordinary purposes. They may as well be there, at 
 any rate, as at the head of hollow pilasters against the wall which act 
 as conductors up the side thereof from openings leading to the exterior 
 at the base of the wall. These only take up room, and are for no other 
 use than by way of ornament, which, it is needless to say, is at a 
 discount in the byre and stable of the economically conducted estate, 
 whatever the farm may be. 
 
 \\"ith air inlets in the shape of pipes at the wallhead, and 
 The Fresh Air r- r r 
 
 Inlets ought ^^^^ ^^^^ ridge ventilators we have been saying so much 
 to be con- about, or those of Craig's, we have at our command a 
 
 trollable. . , , , ^ . . . , . ... 
 
 sunple method of mamtammg a change ot air witliin our 
 
 byres and stables. It is rather a crude system, perhaps ; still, it is one 
 
 that answers the end in \ iew. It is fairly automatic, a condition that 
 
 is, as we have so often repeated, greatly in favour of any arrangement 
 
 that applies to affairs at the homestead. But unless the wallhead 
 
 openings are under the control of the attendants upon the animals, or 
 
 of the overseer or the farmer liimself, our arrangement is little better
 
 DOORS, WINDOWS, AND VENTILATORS. 141 
 
 than what constitutes the ordinary state of matters — some holes in the 
 side-walls, with may be openings in the roof and may be not. 
 
 With some simple and ready means of regulating the size of the wall- 
 head openings at our disposal, we can suit these to the conditions that 
 rule either outside or in. When it blows a gale we can close entirely 
 those at the weather side of the house and leave open those on the 
 lee side as much as we think necessary. On a still, frosty night when 
 there is no movement in the atmosphere, and the air within the building 
 can hardly be stirred, we can open the inlets to their fullest extent and 
 so induce some slight draught through the place. And if the occupier 
 of the farm be far-seeing, he will, on occasions of this kind, have the 
 opening roof lights in such a condition that he can press them into 
 service as effective aids towards the circulation of air within the building. 
 
 \\'ithout the means of controlling the action of the side openings the 
 farmer is in the position of having his building so constructed that its 
 ventilating properties are a fixed quantity. Its \entilating capabilities 
 are devoid of adaptability, and yet they have to face the weather that 
 is embraced between the fierce, cold blasts of winter and the occasional 
 mild breezes of spring. All that can be done to mitigate the piercing 
 winds of January and March is to stuff the most exposed openings with 
 straw, and there it remains blocking up the passage when it may be 
 wanted in a time of calm and a high barometer. Before the offensiveness 
 of the air of the house has made itself manifest to the men or women who 
 look after the animals, these, which have been breathing it continually, 
 must surely have felt oppressed. 
 
 In Fig. 147 we represent a cheap, simple, and easily 
 Method of workable arrangement for regulating the admission of 
 accomplishing air by the wallhead openings. It is simply a round 
 piece of wood, or, to speak more definitely, a circular 
 board, a on the figure, large enough to cover the inner mouth of the 
 opening. To this is fastened the long leg or lever b. The whole 
 moves on the pin r, which acts as a fulcrum as well as the point of 
 attachment. The lever is w'orked by means of the string d, hanging 
 from its free end. When this end is pulled down, the circular board 
 clears the opening. When it is released, the board, being heavier than 
 the handle, tends downwards, obstructing the opening. It is arrested 
 by the stud e w^hen the opening is completely covered over, and there it 
 remains so long as it is not interfered with. To open completely or in part, 
 all that one has to do is to pull the string attached to the lever until the 
 desired size of opening has been attained, and secure it to a nail or cleat 
 put in the wall for that purpose. To shut up the hole entirely nothing 
 more is needed but to free the string and let the end of the lever go up. 
 
 This is surely simple enough viewed either as matter of cost or as a 
 saver of trouble. No one with such an arrangement at hand can say, 
 what is so often true in this respect, that he is powerless to adapt the
 
 142 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 provision for ventilation that liis buildings are supplied with to the 
 almost daily changes that take place in our climate. It affords him a 
 ready, as well as fairly effective, means of coping with changes of weather 
 without ha\ing recourse to complicated arrangements for ventilation, 
 which in nine cases out of ten at the very least would if fitted up never 
 be appreciated, not to speak of their receixing due attention. 
 
 If to be under control in the way we have suggested, we can safely 
 make the wallhead openings of a much larger size, or make more of 
 them than usually happens. We are then in a position to aerate the 
 house fully during spells of anti-cyclonic weather, as we are to close 
 our port-holes in times of storm and stress. But how often do we see 
 the side-walls of stable and byre, instead of being left free to ser\e their 
 original purpose, turned to account as the back wall of some lean-to 
 building. It is folly to speak of holding control over the air of the 
 
 Fig. 147. 
 
 building when this is the case. Each building of the kind should stand 
 
 free from others. It matters not about the gables, but the side- walls 
 
 should be free of all encumbrances in the shape of sheds of any kind. 
 
 The wall alone, if we are to be free in our simple way to supply fresh 
 
 air to the animals within, must be between them and the outer air. More 
 
 complicated methods can, no doubt, be adopted irrespective of the position 
 
 of the buildings, but simple methods alone are justifiable at the homestead. 
 
 We have made no mention of applying control to the 
 
 Howt e Ridge ^^^„q ventilators. That, we consider, is hardly necessary. 
 Ventilator may '^ ' ' •' -' 
 
 be controlled if Assuming, for instance, that all the side openings were 
 considere closed, what air did enter the building by its roof openings 
 
 necessary. ' . f rs 
 
 would in all probability under these circumstances be no 
 
 more than was needed. If this be correct (it is at least reasonable) we 
 
 can, by regulating the side openings, indirectly control those on the roof. 
 
 But should direct control of these be desired, its accomplishment need 
 
 be no very difficult matter. Zinc flaps could be hinged to the internal 
 
 openings of the ventilator shafts, and by means of a pulley and a cord 
 
 each flap would be under separate control. But all this means so much 
 
 likely to go out of order, which is a condition of affairs strictly to be 
 
 guarded against at the homestead. We see the principle applied to the 
 
 ventilator in Fig. 146, but in this case at the top instead of the bottom.
 
 CHAPTER Vll. 
 
 SaXITATIOX at the HONfKSTEAD. 
 
 Her]-;, as obtains somewhat similarly elsewhere, sanita- 
 What Sanita- . . , ^ , , ^ , i- " • i i , 
 
 tation at the ^^^"^ '^ the tworold art or so ciealmg with the members of 
 
 Homestead the microscopic world, that they are kept from workine 
 
 implies. , i r . i • i i- i ■, , ^ 
 
 harm on the larmer s stock, either live or dead, and of 
 
 insuring that the air within the various buildings is so far as possible 
 kept in a wholesome condition. The former comes under the head of 
 Cleansing, and the latter under that of Ventilation. Cleansing is carried 
 out by means of drains for the conveyance of liquid matters, and with 
 broom and shovel the solids — the dung and the soiled litter — are 
 removed ; and to ventilation we have to look for the maintenance of a 
 due standard of atmosphere. 
 
 Out in the open, and well aw^ay from populous places, as nearly all 
 homesteads are, there is little need to bother about such matters, one 
 would naturally think. With sun, rain, and wind, each free to make its 
 influence fully felt about the place, why trouble about sanitation ? 
 They are the best sanitarians ; and their services are free. But the 
 animals must be kept warm when in winter quarters, and rain and wind 
 must be excluded to make sure of this. As we hinted towards the end 
 of last chapter the wind is usually so thoroughly excluded from the 
 farm buildings that a proper exchange of air from without inwards is 
 rendered all but impossible. Coupled with this we have, when the 
 drains are defective and cleanliness is not otherwise well observed, a 
 condition of matters that indicates on the part of both proprietor and 
 occupier ignorance of the first laws of sanitation. When, for instance, 
 along with the warm, impure air of an unventilated byre, we have a 
 large proportion of excreta ever present in the building, and this placed 
 under the most favourable circumstances for rapid decomposition, the 
 occupier of the place would seem to be courting disaster upon his animals. 
 But one can with impunity do in the country what he cannot in this con- 
 nection do in the town. Isolated in the country, he is removed from the 
 reach of the more harmful microbes. These are either gregarious them- 
 selves or like best to be where the big numbers of the animals they most 
 effect are congregated together. At any rate, they are more virulent 
 under these conditions. And even into the most insanitary country places 
 a fresh whiff now and acfain grains admittance and turns the balance.
 
 144 ^"^^ MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Not\vitlistaiKlin,L,f the penalty that is certain to follow any 
 Classes of Live breach of the law of sanitation, as well as of other sciences, 
 Stock that !(- jg wonderful how long farm animals when in winter 
 
 suffer most , . r • . •• • ^i i- ^ ^ 
 
 from defective (juarters evade the consequences ot mtnngmg the dictates 
 
 Sanitation. ^f sanitarians. Only the cows and the horses, however, 
 
 run any great risks on account of improper observance of sanitary laws. 
 
 They are kept so long as they are fit for duty, and in consequence have 
 
 recurring periods of these adverse circumstances to go through, while 
 
 the other classes of stock, such as the pigs and the beef-producing cattle, 
 
 are despatched from the homestead before the ordeal has had time to 
 
 show its influence upon them. 
 
 Of the two classes of stock most liable to suffer from the 
 
 are apt t^o be^^ cause we are discussing, the cows feel its effects in the 
 
 the greater greater degree. The horses, if half suffocated by night, 
 
 u erers. -^ their stuffy stalls, are out nearly all day under the 
 
 vault of heaven, breathing the purest of air. But not so the cows. 
 
 From October until May not only are they housed by night in their 
 
 very often noisome houses, they are there all day as well. Towards the 
 
 beginning and the end of that period they are, of course, out of doors 
 
 for a good part of the day, according to the state of the weather. In 
 
 the dead of winter, however — in December, January, February, and 
 
 March — they are little out of doors except for a short run to water and 
 
 back. What is more, the}', unlike the horses, must be out of condition 
 
 muscularly, or bodily. The horses are kept in good condition because 
 
 they are hardly ever completely off duty for longer than one or two 
 
 days at a time all the winter through. But the cows have not even 
 
 exercise during many consecutive months of the time they are housed. 
 
 In summer their exercise is not to say of a very thorough description. 
 
 Still, the work of finding and of cropping their daily supply of grass 
 
 implies no small amount of muscular effort, which, together with their 
 
 walk to and from the steading to be milked, and their endeavours to 
 
 keep insects from alighting upon them, is sufficient to keep them in 
 
 good tone physically. 
 
 , ^ ^ It is during winter that the cows run the risk of the seeds of 
 How the Seeds ° 
 
 of Bovine tuberculosis being imbibed into the system. The annual 
 
 Disease are recruits to the company are rarelv found to be affected 
 
 spread in badly- . . . ."'... 
 
 ventilated With the disease previous to their joining the ranks of 
 
 Byres. motherhood. They are more in the open air during their 
 
 first year or two of existence, and less crowded together. At any rate, 
 
 they have more freedom and exercise. And if they are packed closely 
 
 at times, it is in company with fellows showing a clean bill of health. 
 
 When it comes, however, to their taking place with their elders the 
 
 danger begins. There are bound to be one or two cows in the house so 
 
 far advanced in the disease as to be centres of its dissemination. And 
 
 the conditions under which the animals are housed are such that there
 
 SANITATION AT THE HOMESTEAD. 145 
 
 is hardly any chance of their escaping the malady. With little room, as 
 we have pointed out, in which to move about in — pilloried, in fact, in a 
 row of others — the animals are under constant bodily constraint. Never 
 free to stretch body or limb, as they are at liberty to do whenever 
 inclined at pasture, but kept to one position almost, the additions to the 
 herd must at first feel the effects of their close confinement and 
 restrained position. Neither able to lick nor to scratch themselves as 
 they are wont when untied, and not even a-ble to lie down exactly when 
 they want, are, one might conjecture, conditions by themselves enough 
 to place the youngsters at the mercy of those germs that take advantage 
 of lowered vitality, even of a temporary nature, to gain hold of the 
 constitution. 
 
 But to conditions of this kind the junior cows seem soon to grow 
 accustomed, their apprenticeship of former years having prepared them 
 to a certain extent to face these with impunity. They can stand all 
 that without serious harm apparently. It is to the noisome state of the 
 atmosphere they are subjected to that one has to turn his attention as 
 the most dangerous medium of inducing the contagion of this form of 
 lung disease. Hot, moist, and laden with emanations from lungs and 
 skin, together with the odours from excretal matter as the air of the 
 average cow-house is, little wonder many of the young animals soon 
 fall victims to tuberculosis. Having to breathe an atmosphere of this 
 sort almost continuously for months at a time is certain to lower their 
 vitality. Such an atmosphere is of the most favourable nature for the 
 transmission of the disease germs from affected to healthy animals. 
 Once these enter the system of an animal placed under the conditions 
 we are describing, but hitherto immune, there is small chance of their 
 being thrown off. They are not so diflficult to resist, we are told, when 
 the animal is in the field most of its time. The infecting germ may 
 then be destroyed in the system before it has had time to implant itself 
 where it can increase and work harm. 
 
 Much depends, as we have hinted, upon the condition of health of 
 the animal at the time the disease germs gain admission to its organ- 
 isation. If strong and vigorous at the time, the ill-sown seed falls on 
 stony ground and has no effect. But if out of sorts or down in condition 
 at the time the germs come its way, the seed falls on deep ground and 
 returns a bountiful crop. Both states, as is generally believed, are 
 further ruled somewhat by the general constitution of the animal. One 
 may be so constituted that it is more susceptible to the disease — it 
 affords a more congenial soil to the germs — than others of its kind 
 happen to be. 
 
 No matter, however, the degree of susceptibility inherent in the 
 respective animals that are annually introduced into the cow-house, 
 every one of them is placed in circumstances which almost inevitably 
 brings it into the clutches of tuberculosis. The affected animals 
 
 M.H. L
 
 146 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 spread around them abundance of the germs. Tliey cough them up 
 and scatter them about in the saHva with which they beslabber 
 whatever comes in their way. A turnip may be lying on the road as 
 she goes to water. This she makes a snatch at, biting a piece off 
 perhaps. Whatever she leaves behind of that she has mouthed in this 
 way is now sufficient to infect the next healthy animal that gets hold of 
 the remainder of the root. The same is, of course, liable to happen in 
 the pasture-fields. Grass at* places may be rendered dangerous in like 
 manner. And it is common to see one cow, when the needs of her 
 stomach have been attended to, helping another in toilet matters. On 
 occasions of exchange of courtesies of this nature there is every likeli- 
 hood of the disease germs being passed from one to the other. But at 
 grazing time the animals are, as we have said, under conditions less 
 liable to render them susceptible to the seeds of the disease. 
 
 We do not often, however, see such a good understanding existing 
 between seniors and juniors as to admit of so much familiarity. The 
 matrons are bullies of the first water, and show no mercy to those who 
 shrink from them. But the juniors have ample opportunity of meeting 
 the disease half way without actual contact of this kind with their elders. 
 It may so happen that the young cow may, on admission to the ranks 
 in the byre, be stalled with an aged one that has contracted the disease. 
 If this be the case, there is little chance of her escaping the malady. 
 Although the animals are tied up in such a way that - they cannot assail 
 ■each other with hoof or horn, still, the individuals of each pair can reach 
 with tongue to the edge of each other's trough. And portions of the 
 food belonging to one may be pushed aside within reach of the other, 
 which she will avail herself of before consuming her own share. Her 
 neighbour on the other side of the travis is so near that she may cough 
 almost in her face. On both sides, therefore, is the hitherto unaffected 
 young cow liable to be subjected to contagion when introduced to the 
 amenities of cow life in winter-time. 
 
 Even if her neighbour on either side should be clear of the disease, 
 the stance taken up by the young one may previously have been 
 occupied by one that was victim to it, which, under ordinary circum- 
 stances, is about as bad a state of affairs as being alongside diseased 
 animals. The usual kind of byre with the wall in front of the cows, 
 rough and full of holes and crevices — at any rate, not pointed and 
 smoothed as it might be — affords lurking-places in which the disease 
 germs find safe harbourage. Deposited inadvertently by the diseased 
 animal, and becoming dislodged thereafter in front of the newcomer, the 
 latter gets opportunity of absorbing them into her system ; or they 
 may issue from crevices in the travis or from about the troughs. 
 
 In these and in many other ways have the young cows to run the 
 gauntlet of the disease on admission to the byre. The atmosphere of 
 the place is, as we have been endeavouring to make plain, conducive to
 
 SANITATION AT THE HOMESTEAD. 147 
 
 the dissemination of the seed thereof, and also is favourable to the pre- 
 paration of the soil for its reception. Warm, moist, and charged with 
 organic matter, it favours the spread of the germs of the disease, while, 
 on the other hand, it lowers the tone of the animals that have to inhale 
 it, and makes them more receptive of the germs, and a better field in 
 which they may flourish. With good air to breathe the animals would 
 not so easily fall under the bane of tuberculosis ; neither would the germs 
 thereof be so freely spread about in a purer medium than usually prevails 
 in our cow-houses. We should endea\-our to bring the air of these 
 places near to a par with what we find in the open. 
 
 Our atmosphere is a vast gaseous sea of unknown depth, 
 
 P""" , enveloping: the land and water that constitute our sflobe. 
 
 Atmosphere. . . 
 
 Unlike the fishes, which are free to ascend and descend in 
 
 their sea, we are obliged to confine ourselves to the bottom of ours, 
 
 which is its densest part. But although the fishes elect the waters for 
 
 their habitat and we the dry land, both of us exist alone by reason of 
 
 making use of the oxygen of the atmosphere — they obtaining it from 
 
 solution in the water, and we direct from the air itself. If one of either 
 
 of these representatives of animated nature be deprived of oxygen, it 
 
 ceases to exist. 
 
 Oxygen, as nearly all of us know, but are nothing the worse for being 
 
 reminded, is the great instigator and supporter of life. It is due to the 
 
 endless pertinacity of this chemical element that life goes on ; but for 
 
 it no manner of vital force could ever exert itself. 
 
 The atmosphere consists almost entirely of a mixture of 
 
 J^ ... the two gases nitrogen and oxygen, four parts bv bulk- 
 
 Composition. " *=> . . 
 
 of the former to one of the latter. Nitrogen is as loath to 
 combine with other elements or combinations of these as oxygen is ever 
 ready to combine with them separately, or to have a finger in any pie 
 that may be concocted of these. Thus we have one of the most active 
 of the elements mixed with one of the most inert. No other, however, 
 could serve so well to dilute the virulent oxygen. Ordinary combustion 
 is but the oxidation of the substances being consumed. New combina- 
 tions are formed, some of them gases and others solids. The gases 
 escape in the atmosphere, the solids remain behind as ash. Much the 
 same occurs in our individual organisms. Heat and force are de\'eloped 
 therein by oxidation of the bodily tissues. The waste due to this 
 constant combustion is made good by the food we consume. Our food 
 is the fuel that keeps the lire going. We inhale diluted oxygen into 
 our lungs ; this is passed on to the different parts of the body by the 
 blood as it circulates through the system, and it keeps the fire going as 
 it proceeds. The waste products of the fire find their way into the 
 return stream of the blood, eventually to be cast forth as excreta, or 
 given off as gaseous emanations from various parts. And not only is 
 this marvellous machine self-stoking— both as regards replenishing with 
 
 L 2
 
 148 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 fuel and the removal of the resulting ashes — but it automatically 
 
 regulates the degree of heat to be attained, and guards against any 
 
 marked variance therein. 
 
 Pure oxygen would be too strong for life as at present 
 
 ordered on our globe. Were we to be exposed to it we 
 
 would probably be burned to cinders in a very brief time. IMost of 
 
 the elements take fire spontaneously in an atmosphere of undiluted 
 
 oxygen. Iron filings thrown into it emit an intense light due to 
 
 their combustion. A glowing ember inserted into it blazes forth 
 
 at once. But Nature has enshrouded it in a thorough wet blanket : 
 
 this everlasting busybody is severely effaced by the extremely 
 
 negative nitrogen. 
 
 Nitrogen, notwithstanding its slowness to move, is a most 
 Nitrogen. . , , ,.^ . , \ . 
 
 miportant element where lite is concerned. It is an 
 
 essential element in all the most vital tissues and organs both of plants 
 and animals ; no cultivated plant can thri\'e unless there be abundance 
 of it at its disposal in the soil. It does not suffice for them, however, 
 that it be there in its simple form ; plants can make no use of it in that 
 way. It must be in combination with other elements before they can 
 turn it to their own purposes, and even then as one certain compound — 
 as a nitrate, one of the salts of nitric acid. In its elementary form plants 
 are all their lives waving in the midst of it, yet unable to avail them- 
 selves of any. There is air, too, about their roots, and consequently 
 nitrogen is within reach of these organs as well as of the leaves and 
 stems. But they also are helpless in regard to laying hold of nitrogen, 
 although it is by way of their roots solely that plants obtain their needed 
 supply. If the soil be devoid of nitrates, plants may therefore starve in 
 the midst of plenty. 
 
 Nitrogen is among the most plentiful elements in nature, but nitrates, 
 as most of us know, are dear. Nitrogen in this form costs the farmer 
 about sixpence a pound — and all on account of the exclusiveness of 
 this element. Nitrogen is too coy for oxygen to induce it into partner- 
 ship. Stronger influences than oxygen can put forth alone are required 
 to bring about such a consummation. It goes on steadily all the same, 
 steadily but imperceptibly. Under the influence of electricity the two 
 are brought together to form the oxides of nitrogen, and then in time, 
 with the addition of water, to form nitric acid. The latter finds its way 
 to the soil, to serve as an important plant food. 
 
 If the plants are unable to make use of the free nitrogen of the air, we 
 are less so. We cannot even turn the nitrates to account as suppliers 
 vl the nitrogen we need to maintain our bodies with. They must first 
 be built up by the plant to the more elaborate substances Avhich are 
 embraced under the head of Albuminoid Bodies. The plant stores up 
 these in the organs that are in future to serve as propagators of the 
 species to which they belong.
 
 SANITATION AT THE HOMESTEAD. 149 
 
 These two, then, the optimist oxygen and the pessimist 
 sibstances nitrogen, form the great bulk of the atmosphere; but 
 contained there are important substances present along with these 
 
 Atmosphere. ^" ^^^^'^ ^^^' ^^^^ atmosphere is, of course, the great 
 receiver of all evaporation and emanations that arise from 
 sea and land, but only those are suffered to remain therein that are 
 natural to it. Over populous places the atinosphere is bound to become 
 the recipient of many gases and vapours and more dust particles than 
 ascend into it from places in the country or away from the haunts of 
 man. But these, unless of the kind that are characteristic of air, are 
 soon returned to earth. Oxygen lays hold of any that are susceptible 
 to its influence : rain carries the bulk of them back to mother earth. 
 Eventually the air is cleared of them, either on account of the solvent 
 powers of rain or of the action upon them of oxygen. The latter may 
 cause those it has any influence over to assume a semi-solid state and 
 settle out as a sort of precipitate ; or it may render them more soluble. 
 At any rate, the air soon clears itself of all impurities that reach it in 
 this way. As the sea maintains its characteristic composition because 
 it is obliged to stick to the more soluble of the stable substances that 
 water from mother earth brings to it in solution, somewhat in the same 
 way but inversely does the atmosphere maintain its standard composition 
 by a process of rejection. What is not natural to sea-water, what cannot 
 be held in permanent solution, is precipitated as a solid at the bottom ; 
 what is unnatural in the composition of the atmosphere is washed there- 
 from by rain or deposited as dust on the surface of the earth. 
 
 Next in importance, from a chemical point of view, to the two gases 
 above mentioned as contained in the atmosphere are carbon di-oxide, 
 commonly called carbonic acid, and ammonia, together with the oxides 
 of nitrogen. There are present, too, the vapour of water as essential to 
 the economy of life, and such w^ayfarers as microbes and dust particles. 
 As compared with nitrogen and oxygen, carbon di-oxide is present in small 
 quantity, from three to six volumes of it to ten thousand of the mixed 
 gases being the accepted standard. This seems a small proportion rela- 
 tively, but actually it forms a large quantity. This is the source whence 
 vegetation derives its enormous supply of carbon. Fully half of the com- 
 bustible matter of plants consists of this element. Coal is the fossilised 
 remains of dense \egetation, overwhelmed and buried under sediment 
 borne along by water ere ever the organic matter therein contained had 
 time to decompose in a natural manner under the influence of oxygen. 
 Shut off from the action of oxygen by the accumulating strata of rocks 
 under which the coal seams now he buried, the carbon stored up by plants 
 in these remote ages has thus been reserved till the enterprising man 
 of recent times began to understand its value as a heat and force 
 giver. 
 
 Plants depend, we have said, on the atmosphere for the carbon with
 
 I50 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 whicli they build up their tissues. Slowly but steadily they absorb it 
 from the air that laves their leaves and stems. This they are able to do 
 under the influence of sunlight. If the rays of the sun are denied them, 
 this faculty is paralysed. By night it is in abeyance entirely, and instead 
 of the plant then making use of the carbon di-oxide of the air, it is 
 giving oft' that substance as the result of changes taking place in its 
 constitution. Only slightly, however, does this retrogressive progress 
 go on. Plants, unlike animals, are independent of internal heat, and 
 using up tissue on their own account is therefore unnecessary as regards 
 their internal economy. 
 
 In the animal system, as we have seen, the internal fire is never 
 (juenched so long as it holds together. Carbon is the fuel proper to the 
 machine. We are consumers, not producers, of the commodity, and to 
 plants we look for the needful supply. We put to waste in this way 
 what they slowly and laboriously build up. They lay hold of the carbon 
 di-oxide of the air, assimilating the carbon and letting loose the oxygen. 
 The carbon they introduce to hydrogen and oxygen, which they derive 
 from water, and the three unite in varying proportions to form woody 
 fibre, starch and sugar, and the innumerable compounds allied to them. 
 The wood warms us externally when we set it on fire ; the starch and 
 the sugar support the internal combustion of the individual. Heat is 
 given off whenever chemical union between bodies takes place. In both 
 cases instanced the result is the same — the carbon, which is so largely 
 represented in wood, is being oxidised or converted into carbon di-oxide, 
 and so with the carbon in both starch and sugar. In each instance the 
 carbon is uniting with oxygen, or vice versa, seeing the general aggressor 
 is in question, and heat is being evolved. In both cases, too, the 
 resulting carbon di-oxide is returned to the atmosphere ; in the one 
 directly from the glowing wood, in the other along Avith the exhalations 
 from the lungs, and in lesser degree from the skin, the carbon di-oxide 
 of the burnt tissue entering the blood that is returning to the lungs, 
 there to be got rid of along with the excess of moisture. In this way is 
 the balance of carbon di-oxide contained in the atmosphere maintained. 
 Plants absorb it therefrom and animals in the act of developing heat 
 and force return it. Every act of combustion, either slow as in imper- 
 ceptible oxidation, or violent, as in fire, means the return of carbon 
 di-oxide to the atmosphere. And so does all splitting up of organic 
 matter — the remains of animals and plants — whether by reason of 
 ferments or microbes or under the direct influence of oxygen. In their 
 case, however, the contained available hydrogen is also oxidised, water 
 this time being formed. So, of course, with the hydrogen in the starch 
 and sugar already instanced. 
 
 It is wonderful how closely the proportion of carbon di-oxide in the 
 air is observed by Nature. Out in the open it is found almost unvarying. 
 It is different, of course, with the atmosphere which envelops towns and
 
 SANITATION AT THE HOMESTEAD. 131 
 
 cities. There, many men and many fires are giving off much of this 
 gas. Where the wind gets free play the polluted stuff" is soon wafted 
 away, to be replaced by air of a normal nature. But for all that, 
 numerous are the nooks and corners that interrupt the air-currents and 
 form eddies in which the foul air is at times free to lurk awhile. If this 
 be so outside of houses, matters must be worse in places enclosed by 
 walls and roof. There, of course, wind is not so free to replace the air 
 that may be overladen with carbon di-oxide as it is to sweep the same 
 out of street or court when it gets a chance. Besides, the building 
 depends on street or court for its supply of air, which, under the existing 
 circumstances, may not be altogether fresh. 
 
 Ammonia and the oxides of nitrogen as components of the 
 and the atmosphere are, like carbon di-oxide, of more importance 
 
 Oxides of to the vegetable than to the animal kingdom. They 
 
 Nitrogen. c ^ ^ r 1 • 1 
 
 serve no useiul end so tar as the annual economy is con- 
 cerned. Indeed, there is so small a quantity of either of them present 
 in the air as to be imperceptible to our senses except on the rare 
 occasions mentioned below. It is from these, however, that soil in a 
 state of nature receives its supply of nitrogen. Rain washes them out 
 of the air and carries them to the soil. There, under the influence of 
 oxygen, they are eventually converted into nitric acid, which, with lime 
 or other base, forms the nitrate that yields nitrogen to the plant. Fixed 
 nitrogen has, in this and other ways, been accumulating in soil that has 
 never been disturbed by man. At the start it had no other means of 
 obtaining nitrogen capable of acting as plant food than what came to it 
 in the rainfall. Gradually, however, it became the receiver of fixed 
 nitrogen, resulting from decayed plants that had been borne on its 
 surface. A little would also be derived from the remains of animal life 
 that in some way or other found a location therein. As time passed, 
 when circumstances were suitable, tracts of soil in these ways grew rich 
 in nitrogen. To all, however, whether spendthrift or saving, came, as 
 it still comes, the annual supply from the atmosphere. The late. 
 Sir John Bennet Lawes, of Rothamstead, in his time the great British 
 authority on such matters, tells us that the soils of England annually 
 receive from the skies about fifteen pounds of fixed nitrogen to the acre. 
 Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen, while the oxides 
 referred to consist of nitrogen and oxygen. Electricity gets credit for 
 thus bringing the free nitrogen of the air into the latter of these forced 
 companionships. The great heat of the electric fluid as it passes through 
 the atmosphere forces the union. The peculiar smell one sometimes 
 feels after lightning is due, it is said, to the presence of these oxides. 
 Some ammonia may be formed in this way, too, but the most of it 
 ascends from the surface of the earth. All decaying organic matter that 
 has nitrogen as one of its component elements gives off ammonia. 
 Soil absorbs what of it is set free in its midst, but what is given off from
 
 152 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 matter on its surface escapes into the atmosphere. The constantly 
 recurring evaporation of Avater is also supposed to be responsible for 
 some of the annnonia of the atmosphere. 
 
 The vapour of water — that is, water in its gaseous form — 
 Moisture. -^ ^j^^ j^^^ ^£ ^j^^ special substances characteristic of the 
 
 atmosphere. Although last referred to here, it is one of far-reaching 
 importance. Water is in this form drawn from the oceans and carried 
 away on the winds of heaven, to be dropped again by-and-by, and thus 
 give vegetation a chance of receiving moisture. At sea le\el the weight 
 of the atmosphere is equivalent to a pressure of 15 lbs. to the square 
 inch. Were this weight removed, water would be free at once to change 
 from the fluid to the gaseous state. Applying heat to water, and so 
 raising its temperature, we bring it to a point at which its internal heat 
 enables it to cope with the pressure of the air. While maintained at 
 this temperature, 212° F., it continues to go off as gas until all has 
 become vaporised. This is known as the " boiling point " of water. 
 At this stage the vapour escapes violently in little bubbles of gas set 
 free from the points of application of the heat. But at all stages, from 
 this one down to its ice-forming stage, water is constantly, although 
 imperceptibly, being absorbed into the air as vapour. 
 
 It cannot be so, however, without first assimilating to itself the 
 amount of heat necessary to maintain it in the gaseous form. Heat 
 impels the molecules of matter to assume the active form they reveal 
 when it is in the gaseous condition. They are comparatively dormant 
 in the solid, rather sluggish in the fluid, but full of restless energy in the 
 gas. Both cold and pressure, on the other hand, force the molecules into 
 a state of quiescence. Such a strong natural tendency has water to 
 escape into the atmosphere as a gas, that in order to do so it will rob 
 all surrounding objects possessed of heat of as much of it as they are 
 capable of yielding. When after a wetting we feel chilly in our damp 
 clothes, this is due to the water evaporising at the expense of the heat 
 of our bodies. In the same way are wet and undrained soils kept cold. 
 When they do become dry it is mostly under the influence of evapora- 
 tion, which can only be accomplished at a certain outlay of heat. The 
 necessary heat must either be derived from the soil itself or at the 
 expense of heat that the soil would be free to apply to its own benefit 
 Avere there not an undue amount of water contained in it ready to lay 
 hold thereof. Wet soil can derive little benefit from the genial sun-rays 
 so long as the surplus water it holds in its embrace claims to be first 
 served. 
 
 The amount of water contained in the air is ever varying. The 
 warmer the air the more moisture is it capable of absorbing. Air is 
 said to be saturated when it holds the full amount of the vapour of 
 water it can absorb. As the temperature of the atmosphere is con- 
 stantly changing, it follows that there is considerable range in the
 
 SANITATION AT THE HOMESTEAD. 153 
 
 atmospheric moisture. It is constantly running up and down the scale 
 — at one time free to expand without limit, at another squeezed close to 
 the critical point and on the verge of the fluid state. A current of warm 
 air encountering or passing through some cold strata has its temperature 
 lowered, and in consequence its retaining power over vapour is lessened. 
 All excess of moisture is then obliged to resume the fluid state and fall 
 earth or seawards. The warm air of the Tropics absorbs an enormous 
 quantity of w^ater as vapour from the sea. Much of this moisture-laden 
 air is driven into colder latitudes, where as it begins to lose heat the then 
 superabundant vapour condenses to form either rain or snow. 
 
 In a warm, moist atmosphere we feel languid and oppressed. Exer- 
 tion becomes difficult because our energy grows dull. The fully charged 
 air is slow to accept of more moisture, and we can hardly get rid of our 
 bodily moisture that seeks escape in evaporation. This disturbs the 
 balance and throws the bodily machine out of gear, giving one organ 
 the work of some other one in addition to its own. In a badly ventilated 
 building, whether occupied by men or animals, if filled to its capacity, 
 the vapour of water is usually present in excess. This alone is not 
 good. But when we add to it the other drawbacks we previously hinted 
 at as being characteristic of the byre — the excess of carbon di-oxide, the 
 gaseous emanations from the animals, the smell of the excreta, and 
 relative nuisances — matters are bad indeed. They may not directly 
 cause harm, but together they cannot but tend to the detriment of the 
 animals that are for long stretches of time subjected to their influence. 
 If nothing else, they together lay the animal open to become, as we said 
 above, an easy seed-bed for the germs of disease-causing microbes that 
 are apt to abound Avhere crowding takes place. 
 
 Microscopic These microscopic organisms deserve more than a passing 
 Organisms notice in this connection. The substances we have just 
 been describing are inseparable constituents of the atmo- 
 sphere. Excepting the two fundamentals nitrogen and oxygen, the 
 proportion they bear to the whole may vary in accordance with circum- 
 stances. The amount of water, w'e have seen, varies in accordance with 
 the temperature of the air and that within a considerable range. The 
 proportion of carbon di-oxide varies perhaps least of all among these 
 fixed accompaniments of the atmosphere. Ammonia and the oxides 
 of nitrogen are more largely represented in the atmosphere of tropical 
 countries than of the temperate and cold parts of the world. Where 
 the sun has the greater influence, atmospheric disturbances are more 
 frequent, as well as more violent and decided, and in consequence the 
 substances referred to are more in evidence. But coming to the more 
 adventitious constituents of the atmosphere, such as the germs and dust 
 particles, we find the quantity of these varying considerably. These, 
 as one would expect, are the most plentiful nearest to w^here cities and 
 manufactories are situated. Away from mankind and their various
 
 154 T^^ MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 works the air is coniiparatively free of them. Nature herself, however, 
 occasionally acts as a pollution in this respect. Volcanoes emit immense 
 quantities of gases and dust. It is wonderful how far such dust is 
 carried on the air. Out in mid-ocean it can be detected by means of 
 proper apparatus. In the same way as dust particles are spread abroad 
 in the air, the germs of living microscopic organisms are disseminated 
 far and near. Nansen tells of the presence of microbes in the pools of 
 melted snow or ice as near to the North Pole as he was able to attain. 
 There, if anywhere, we would be inclined to regard the atmosphere as 
 absolutely pure. But the atmosphere is never stagnant. No bulk of 
 it can ever be at peace for any length of time ; one portion gets 
 chilled and therefore reduced in volume and in outward pressure ; the 
 surrounding air presses in to restore the balance. A stratum next the 
 warm earth expands under the influence of this heat, and thus becoming 
 lighter, rises, its place being taken by streams of colder air ready to move 
 in as it finds room. In ways like these arising from such causes is the 
 atmosphere being continually stirred up and its contents, whether natural 
 to itself or accidentally added thereto, pretty well distributed out over the 
 face of the globe. 
 
 x\lthough dust and germs are plentiful in the air at all parts adjoining 
 the earth, it is not to be inferred that the latter are every one of a viru- 
 lent or disease-causing order. The germs found free in good air are of 
 the harmless sort so far as man and animals are concerned. Many 
 of the everyday processes of life with regard to both plants and animals 
 are supposed to depend for their proper fulfilment on the organisms of 
 which these free germs are either the seed or the representatives. In 
 fact, we are only becoming alive to the all-important, if not vital, part 
 the microscopic members of the world play in promoting the welfare 
 of the more visible members of creation. Not a few, as we know too 
 well, fulfil their own ends at the expense of our lives, each species of 
 plant and animal having apparently one or more that are specially 
 adapted to make it a world to themselves regardless of the consequences 
 to their supporters. But it is the minority (the more specially developed 
 ones), it would appear, that bring harm in this way to their hosts. The 
 widespread organisms are common to groups of beings, either plant or 
 animal, and work for their good rather than their ill. From these we 
 have nothing to fear. 
 
 Those of evil omen, if no less virile in themselves, are fortunately 
 unable to let loose germs so tenacious of life as are those that drift 
 about in the atmosphere. Once established in a congenial soil, they 
 increase at an enormous rate, but the seed is not capable of withstanding 
 circumstances that act adversely to it. Sunlight and fresh air are both 
 detrimental to it. Filth, either semi-solid or liquid, and foul air are 
 good nurseries for propagating these, to us, harmful little foes. Thus it 
 is that in badly lighted, unventilated, and crowded places we find the
 
 SANITATION AT THE HOMESTEAD. 155 
 
 disease-producing micro-organisms thoroughly at home. In house, 
 stable, or byre, it is all the same. Not only, therefore, as we have seen, 
 do places of this description lower the vitality of animals for long confined 
 therein, and thus lay them open to attack by their insidious foes, but 
 they serve to propagate these foes and to conserve the germs or seed 
 thereof under circumstances most suitable to the purpose. 
 
 The woodwork of the buildings in which the air is suffered to remain 
 in the condition just referred to is also severely tried thereby. The 
 heat, together with the excess of moisture, is badly against the keeping 
 powers of the wood. Matters are worse if it has not been well seasoned 
 to begin with. Any remains of the sap that have not been got rid of 
 will, under the circumstances Ave are dealing with, be sure to decompose 
 and induce disintegration of the woody fibre. 
 
 Fresh Air in There are, it will be seen, many interests at the homestead 
 many ways demanding that some attention be paid to maintaining the 
 with?n^^he ^^'^ "^^'ithin the several buildings as pure as it is practicable 
 
 Farm to accomplish. \Ke could, of course, easily maintain it 
 
 ings- about as pure as it is outside by simply leaving enough 
 
 of openings for currents to play throughout them ; but then, the animals 
 have to be kept warm as well as dry. Neither of these conditions could be 
 attained under such circumstances. In the open air one can stand without 
 inconvenience a degree of cold that he cannot face when wind is an accom- 
 paniment of the low temperature. A calm frost, even when intense, is 
 often pleasant, but a blizzard never. When the air is calm the heat of 
 our bodies radiates more slowly than it does when wind blows upon us. 
 In the first instance, we are consequently parting with our heat slowly ; 
 in the second, it is snatched from us almost before it reaches the 
 radiating points, and we are "chilled to the marrow" in a brief time. 
 That is why we house our cattle in winter. The food they would 
 require to consume in order to replace the heat necessary to maintain 
 the temperature of life against the vicissitudes of weather we wish 
 them to devote to the laying on of beef or the production of milk, and 
 provide them with shelter accordingly. But in doing so, and thereby 
 subjecting them to restraint and crowding, we cannot avoid subjecting 
 them to a more or less polluted atmosphere, with all the evils 
 that follow thereon. Neither man nor animal, as we have been 
 endeavouring to point out, can breathe the same air repeatedly without 
 risk to health. 
 
 Air that is breathed and rebreathed gradually loses the proper 
 proportion observed between its respective constituents. Both carbon 
 di-oxide and moisture gradually increase in quantity, both chiefly 
 emanating from the lungs of the animals. But they emanate, too, 
 from the pores of their skins. What proportion of carbonic oxide 
 in air beyond the natural one an animal can inhale with impunity 
 has never, so far as we know, been discovered. By itself, the gas
 
 136 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 is a deadly poison to the animal constitution. The choke-damp of 
 
 mines is none other than carbon di-oxide. Perhaps it would hardly 
 
 be possible to so pollute the air of an ordinary building such as we 
 
 find about a homestead with this gas emanating from the animals as 
 
 to reach the danger point to hfe. Doors and windows are never so 
 
 tightly fastened but what some change of air takes place within the 
 
 house. But there is slow poisoning as well as the quick process, and 
 
 a long course of dilute poison may kill in the end as certainly as a dose 
 
 of the concentrated stuff. At any rate, we find it oppressive to breathe 
 
 air that has done service frequently. How much more offensive this 
 
 becomes when accompanied by animal odours and the gases from 
 
 decomposing excretal matters one is not long in discovering should 
 
 he happen some bracing day in midwinter, after a turn in the fields, 
 
 to enter directly into a byre of the ordinary stamp. In some instances it 
 
 is literally appalling to feel the contrast between the two. After a while, 
 
 if the case is not extreme, one becomes a little accustomed to it. But 
 
 how different an effect must the one — the clear, crisp fresh air — have on 
 
 the animal organism in comparison with the other, the one that at first 
 
 taste gives an impression of foul suffocation impending over his head ! 
 
 That the animals do become accustomed to their surroundings and 
 
 evidently thrive therein, so far as rapidly becoming fat or yielding 
 
 milk amply may be held as thriving, can hardly be denied ; but this 
 
 does not imply that such is taking place under healthy influences. 
 
 If placed under the latter, it is reasonable to suppose that the results 
 
 would be even better. 
 
 The difficulty, however, is, as we have already stated, the 
 
 ,f. ^ \, reconciliation of a free circulation of air throughout the 
 culties in the '^ 
 
 way of pro- house with the maintenance of a proper temperature 
 viding this. ^yithin the same. If we let in much fresh air, which 
 in winter is certain to be cold, we are bound either to let out much 
 heat, or, what is the same thing, lower the temperature of what it mixes 
 with. And warm either cow or fattening beast must be kept if we are 
 to derive a full return for the food administered to it. And it has to be 
 remembered that only rather primitive apparatus, such as described in 
 last chapter, for facing the difficulty with are at our disposal. But even 
 with these we hold that at the expense of a little care and watchfulness 
 on the part of the attendants a medium may be struck whereby a com- 
 paratively sweet atmosphere can be maintained without undue sacrifice 
 of the heat of the place. 
 
 The problem is hardest to soh'e with regard to cows giving milk. It 
 is asserted, and the belief is almost universally acted upon by dairy 
 farmers, that in order to get the most out of the cows the temperature 
 of their house must be steadily maintained at about 60° F. — at least, it 
 must not be allowed to fall below that. This can only be done in a 
 smallish place, and then by reducing as much as possible the several
 
 SANITATION AT THE HOMESTEAD. 157 
 
 openings in the walls and roof — carefully excluding fresh air, in fact. 
 But there are many changes in the weather within a week, if not in a 
 day, and what, as -sve observed previously, may suit one kind of weather 
 will not another. The house can hardly be so situated as to be altogether 
 cut off from outside influences. If the beasts within are comfortable when 
 the blizzard rages without, what must they be in the muggy November 
 nights, when fogs settle down and stifle all air movements in their 
 embrace ? Little wonder tuberculosis is rampant when such a 
 fa\ourable field is placed at its disposal. 
 
 Artificial Heat Some of the leading sanitarians, with a notable disregard 
 recommended of the practical side of the question and of ways and 
 tarfans^for^"' means, advocate the introduction of hot-water pipes 
 application into the byre. But where the pipes, if forthcoming, 
 o yres. could be stowed away in the buildings as we know 
 
 them would puzzle most folks. Every ordinary byre would require 
 to be remodelled ere room could be found within for the pipes and a 
 suitable place obtained for the furnace and boiler connected therewith. 
 Neither the cost of fuel nor the amount of labour necessary to keep the 
 heating apparatus at work would be much felt by the tenant. These he 
 could provide without any strain ; but unless he attended to the matter 
 himself he might perhaps have difficulty regarding the steady, if slight, 
 care and attention that is needful to keep such an affair in order. In 
 the case of a byre fitted up with a heating apparatus such as we refer 
 to, one would certainly be at liberty to promote a freer circulation 
 of air between the house and the outside than would be advis- 
 able in one where the heat that radiated from the animals required 
 to be conserved. 
 
 This only ^^ ^^ only the COWS giving milk, however, that need to be 
 
 admissible, coddled up in this manner during winter. Those in calf 
 the^case'oT *'^^' '^^'^^h benefit to themselves, be subjected to a more 
 Cows yielding Spartan treatment. But in order to make matters right 
 ' ■ for the few that happen to be yielding milk, the others 
 
 whose turn of motherhood has not yet come have to undergo all the 
 inconvenience and risks to health above referred to. They may have to 
 be semi-suffocated and nearly parboiled for weeks on end for the sake 
 of the few. If the milk-giving matrons must be kept extra warm, it is 
 surely bad policy doing so to the hurt and detriment of the remainder 
 of the herd housed along wdth them. The way out of the difficulty is 
 to have, an artificially heated house constructed and set apart for the 
 cows in milk during winter. It need not be large, because it is the 
 exception for many of the cows at the ordinary sort of dairy farm to be 
 brought to calve in winter-time. Where wanter milk-selling is a practice 
 of the farm the place would, of course, require to be larger. But holdings 
 where this is observed are generally near towns, and rather out of the run 
 of the usual type of homestead.
 
 158 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 ^^'ith tlie actual milking stock thus pro\ided with 
 No need for heated quarters where air is freer to come and go than 
 other classes can be permitted under prevailing circumstances, we 
 of Stock are ^,^j-, jg^j niore liberally in the matter of air supply 
 with those they have been parted from. The latter) 
 not now requiring to be put in purgatory for the sake of the 
 few that are being treated something like invalids, may be dealt 
 with in a rational way. They can do with a cooler atmosphere ; 
 therefore, a freer exchange of air can be permitted in their house 
 of detention. 
 
 The same applies to the fattening cattle. Some managers believe in 
 keeping them in almost as warm a temperature as we quoted in connection 
 with the milk cows. This is surely unnecessary. It is bad management, 
 on the other hand, to subject them to cold. But there is a happy medium 
 in this as in other things, and it can be obtained without shutting up 
 every crack and crevice in the walls of their house. Many a good beast is 
 turned out of the sheltered cattle courts during the season. These get 
 air at first hand; but then, unlike their stalled fellows, they are, of course, 
 free to move about at pleasure and assume almost any attitude they 
 choose. Those confined in the covered boxes come betw^een the latter 
 and the tied-up ones as regards the degree of heat adapted to their 
 comfort and well-being. They too are free in the matter of attitude, 
 and to move about, although in a far more circumscribed space. They 
 are too much restricted in mo^'ement, however, to be left without some 
 attention being paid to keeping them warmer than they would be if 
 left outside. 
 
 But the stalled oxen or heifers, which in common with the cow have 
 barely enough room in which to stand or lie, not to speak of being able 
 to move about therein, need to be in an atmosphere at a temperature 
 between 50° and 55° F., if food is not to be wasted in keeping 
 them warm. A pretty liberal exchange of air can safely be allowed 
 without interfering with this arrangement — a freer one, at any rate, 
 than can be permitted with regard to the byre containing cows in milk. 
 Even with it, however, some of the heat radiating from the animals has 
 to be conserved for the purpose of keeping the air of the house warm. 
 What suits the requirements of the fattening animal is, we maintain, 
 sufficient for the interests of the cow^s in calf until their time of crisis 
 arrives, when they can be relegated to the heated house above 
 suggested unless the season be so far advanced that this is hardly 
 worth while. 
 
 It amounts to this, therefore, that the in-calf cows, the fattening 
 animals, and the juniors of the two classes, all of which, when confined 
 in byres, thrive under a moderature temperature, may be allowed a 
 liberal supply of fresh air. This can be given to them without fear of 
 making their enforced quarters too cold. And with the simple arrange-
 
 SANITATION AT THE HOMESTEAD. 159 
 
 nient we propounded in last chapter for enabling the attendants to 
 govern the admission in accordance with atmospheric conditions 
 fitted up, there is not much excuse for some degree of regularity not 
 being observed in the aeration of the buildings that contain those 
 classes of cattle. 
 
 Coming to the horses, it is very common to find them in 
 Condition of ^" overheated atmosphere in the stables. Unless the 
 the Atmos- stable be wide and lofty and freely ventilated, the animals, 
 the ^Sta^ble^'^ ^^ confined therein for a few hours, soon render the air of 
 
 the place both obnoxious and warm. There is no 
 necessity for keeping the horses unduly warm in the stable. Farm 
 horses are seldom clipped and their coats in winter are heavv. If 
 during the night their house becomes too hot, they perspire, and by 
 morning the pores of their skins are relaxed and their coats damp. 
 When morning arrives they are taken out in the face of hard frost, 
 pouring rain, or it may be the cutting east wind. It requires a horse 
 with a strong constitution to face circumstances of this nature very long 
 with impunity. Much healthier are those horses which are stabled in 
 roomy buildings wherein air is comparatively free to circulate. They 
 turn out in the morning better fitted to face the weather, whatever it may 
 be, whether cold, wet, or windy. The A'et. is seldomer in evidence 
 about stables of the latter than of the former description. The arrange- 
 ment recommended for aerating the byre answers equally well with 
 respect to the stable. 
 
 Officialdom has begun to concern itself over the matter 
 laws with of fresh air for the animals of the farm when housed. It 
 
 regard to Farm does SO directly in the case of cows connected with the 
 
 milk supply of the public, because the owners of these 
 come under the provisions of the ]\Iilk Shops Act. And indirectly it is 
 beginning to gain a more comprehensive control on account of the right 
 of interference that County Councils, through their health officers, now 
 have in respect of farm buildings. These men in authority cannot 
 enforce their by-laws at farms that do not come within the scope of 
 the xAct referred to, unless, of course, the homesteads are a menace to 
 the health of the people about the place, and a nuisance generally ; but 
 in one or two counties advantage is being taken of statutory powers, 
 and no building can be erected or alterations made in existing ones, 
 without plans of the same have been first submitted to and approved 
 by the health officers of the Council. This departure, when it becomes 
 general (for it can be universally adopted at any time), is bound to tell 
 its tale. But knowledge of what is needful under such circumstances, 
 as well as the use of common-sense and tact in expressing the same, 
 will be needed on the part of those who are to ha\-e such large discre- 
 tionary powers if heart-burning is to be avoided and much money 
 prevented from being wasted.
 
 i6o THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Hitlierto the central authorities in such matters not being" 
 Whythe . 
 
 Central Autho- able to enact any system of ventilation which would 
 
 ritieshave serve for universal application, and further make sure 
 
 sought toregu- , . ^ . , , , , , , , 
 
 late the Size of that when m force it would be attended to, have been 
 
 Cow-Houses. obliged to content themselves with providing that byres 
 
 devoted to milk-cows shall be of such and such a size. So many cubic 
 
 feet of air space must be set apart for each of the cows, the amount, 
 
 however, being left to the discretion of the respective County Councils. 
 
 But this has not improved matters very much. It does not imply that 
 
 because one byre embraces more space within its walls and roof than 
 
 another of equal accommodation, but neither so wide nor so high, that 
 
 the air of the former is always the purer of the two. Indeed, it is often 
 
 the other way about. Here as before heat is the crux of the question. 
 
 The air within the larger place will be the more difficult to keep warm, 
 
 and in order that this may be done as effectually as possible, there must 
 
 be the very minimum of outside air allowed entrance. The tighter 
 
 closed all openings are kept the warmer will the interior of the house 
 
 be. More or less fresh air may be admitted into the small building, 
 
 but it must be jealously excluded from the large one in the endeavour 
 
 to maintain some degree of heat therein. 
 
 It is apt to be inferred, because we generally feel the 
 Some of the f r , , , , rr • i . • • 
 
 Anomalies atmosphere of the larger place less onensive, that it is 
 
 which have ^j-jg purer of the two. When it is less obnoxious, the 
 
 arisen out of ^ . . . 
 
 that Inter- true cause is usually due to its being lower m tem- 
 
 ference. perature. Used up or polluted air of the kind referred to 
 
 is less offensive when cold than when warm. We can put up with a, 
 
 tighter closed bedroom in winter than we can in summer. We are 
 
 using as much air too in the winter — in fact, more, on account of the 
 
 greater demand on oxygen to promote the increased internal combustion 
 
 to cope with the greater loss of heat through radiation from the surface 
 
 of our bodies. 
 
 To begin with, the animals in the larger byre are assured of more air 
 
 than those in the smaller. But air is not like more material substances 
 
 that can be consumed part by part, the last remaining unchanged until 
 
 its turn to be made use of comes round. Once a beginning is made to 
 
 inhale it whatever comes forth in the succeeding exhalation is diffused 
 
 at once throughout the bulk of what is being started on. This property 
 
 of matter when in the gaseous condition distinguishes it entirely from 
 
 fluids and solids. Solids reveal no trace of it, and fluids hardly any. 
 
 Different fluids do show a tendency to form a homogeneous mixture 
 
 when brought together, and when a solid is dissolved in a fluid it 
 
 inclines to affect the whole medium into which it merges, but all the 
 
 same the fluid tends to settle in strata or layers of different densities. 
 
 From this there can be no such continuity of substance in a mixture of 
 
 fluids that is found to obtain in a mixture of gases. When two or more
 
 SANITATION AT THE HOMESTEAD. i6i 
 
 of the latter, no matter their difference in density, are brought together 
 and left free to commingle, each at once begins to lose itself among the 
 others, reaching to the farthest limits that bound the whole. This law is 
 known as the diffusion of gases. No two gases can be brought together 
 without each losing itself in the other, the eventual mixture being 
 thoroughly homogeneous in all its parts. This is, of course, the prime 
 means whereby the atmosplaere maintains its original character under 
 all circumstances. It is no doubt helped, as already pointed out, by the 
 various phenomena that cause currents and disturbances in the aerial 
 ocean that envelops us all. There is thus no reserve of absolutely 
 fresh air possible in either building. The air of both alike begin to be 
 polluted when the first breath is taken in either. It is simply a matter 
 of degree in the rate of the pollution. And once the air of the larger 
 place has become spent (if such a word may be used here), or 
 obnoxious, the initial advantage over the smaller one possessed by this 
 building in its being able to hold more air at the start and so take 
 longer to become offensive is lost, and the beam turns against it over 
 the matter of temperature. Communication between outer and inner 
 air must now be rigidly cut off if a due amount of heat is at all to be 
 maintained in the place. But with the smaller one, even in times of 
 storm and stress, an occasional sniff may be allowed in without much 
 heat being lost, while at ordinary times a fair amount of circulation 
 between the pure and impure may without fear of the consequences 
 be permitted. 
 
 It follows, therefore, that while the larger place must necessarily be 
 the colder, it by no means holds good that it is the better aired of the 
 two. If our reasoning be correct, then it must be waste to go to the 
 expense of building byres beyond a medium size. We may make them 
 large, and at the same time be free to ventilate them without stint, if 
 we fit them up with hot-water pipes, but the "if" here presupposes what 
 cannot be got over in conditions where sound economic principles 
 prevail. The landlord would be spending extra money for which there 
 was no call, or at least from which he could hardly expect to receive any 
 return ; and the tenant would be put to extra outlay that might be 
 dispensed with. A medium-sized house, such as we shall afterwards 
 describe when we discuss the byre more in detail, fitted with the simple 
 contrivances for regulating the circulation of air, can, as argued above, 
 be made to answer the purpose effectually, especially if it be supple- 
 mented with the casual ward referred to for the use of the animals 
 giving milk. 
 
 In the department of ventilation we have been dealing with, one 
 would think that we have been treating the pure outer air as a thing to 
 be avoided on the whole, and, as it were, kept at arm's length and only 
 allowed access to the houses in small quantities at a time. So indeed 
 are we almost obliged to act with regard to the animals when in winter 
 
 M.H. M
 
 1 62 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 <iuarters. Witli the dairy buildings, on the other hand, we are free to 
 flood them with fresh air. This is partly in order to keep down the 
 temperature, but principally to prevent stagnation of the air anywhere 
 within the buildings. Stagnant air, as we have already remarked, is 
 conducixe to the well-being of moulds and other lowly organisms, all of 
 which are inimical to the products of the milk-house. The dairy worker 
 is more ali\e to promote the interests of the microbes that act on his 
 behalf. The best of these, so far as he is concerned, thrive most in 
 surroundings where the air is pure and free to circulate. About this 
 we shall have more to say when dealing specially with the dairy 
 premises. In the other buildings composing the homestead we ventilate 
 for the purpose of keeping the air moving on, and avoiding the evil 
 consequences that follow on its non-observance.
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 The Water Supply — In Theory. 
 
 It goes without saying that good water, and plenty of it, 
 
 ^°°^^f^^^ is essential at the homestead. It must, like Cesar's 
 and plenty ot . ' 
 
 it, essential at wife, be above suspicion so far as contamination from 
 
 the Home- what proceeds out of the abodes of men is concerned, 
 stead. '^. 
 
 But this is no easy matter even in country districts. 
 
 Wliere the land is chiefly pastoral, man and his works are less in 
 evidence, and there is not so much risk in this respect. Scarce and 
 well scattered, however, comparatively speaking, as are men's habita- 
 tions in the strictly arable parts of the country, there, little as the novice 
 would think, one has to be wary in selecting water that has to act for 
 domestic purposes. The burns or streamlets are liable to receive 
 drainage matter from cottages, either on the farm which the homestead 
 serves, or from others on neighbouring farms situated on higher ground. 
 Should they escape contamination of this sort there is still the risk of 
 what may have been added to the ground in the way of manure to be 
 faced. And where police manure — the sweepings of streets, contents of 
 middens and ash buckets, and so on, mixed together — is put to use in 
 this manner, the danger is no imaginary one. Wells that are independent 
 of surface water and far enough remoA'ed from houses to be out of reach 
 of any manurial matters that might thence find their way in are the 
 safest source of supply. No well is independent of surface water, of 
 course, seeing that the water all comes from above as rain. But the 
 source of a well can be deep enough to be independent of tlie 
 immediately overlying surface for its supply of water. The latter 
 may be drawn from either a widespread or remote area, the water 
 having to descend far ere it can affect the well in question. It is 
 this indirect connection with the surface, therefore, that makes for 
 the purity of the water. It has to pass through much earth or 
 porous stone in its way to the well, which means that it undergoes 
 the process of filtration. Should it be polluted or contaminated to 
 begin with, it becomes purified as it percolates the earth. In losing 
 the one form of impurity, however, it is almost sure to take on 
 another, but one that it is not at all vital such as the other is liable 
 to be. To understand this it is necessar}^ to make clear what pure 
 water is. 
 
 M 2
 
 1 64 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Absolutely pure water is not to he met with in nature. 
 m!re°Wa^ter not I^^ii"' hefore coming in contact with the earth, is the 
 met with in nearest approach to it we have. But we saw in the pre- 
 ^^^^^- ceding chapter what rain is apt to wash out of the air as it 
 
 condenses therein. It brings with it to the earth dust of various kinds 
 and several gases, air itself in small quantity, together with those we 
 mentioned as being natural to the atmosphere, and occasionally others 
 that find their way there either as the result of man's work or of some 
 abnormal terrestrial conditions. And once the earth is reached its original 
 comparative state of purity disappears. The distilled water of the 
 chemist may be accepted as almost pure. In the process of distillation 
 the water being dealt with has the gases that are dissolved therein 
 driven off as the heat is applied to it. At boiling-point the water passes 
 away as vapour, to be cooled down and condensed again into fluid, this 
 time rid of all extraneous matter that was previously mixed up with it, 
 the gases returned whence they came, and the solids left behind in the 
 vessel wherein the water was boiled. 
 
 Water pure and simple is composed of the two elementary 
 
 The Composi- substances, hydrogen and oxygen, the former as well as 
 tion of Water. . . . 
 
 the latter being, when free and subjected to ordinary 
 
 circumstances, a gas. This time the busybody oxygen is completely 
 
 disguised in the fluid. \\'ater is a chemical compound, not like air, a 
 
 mixture only. In the compound the substances which take part therein 
 
 lose their identity — the individual merges in the state. In the mixture 
 
 each is as it was before the mingling took place, although in looser 
 
 union and, consequently, diminished force, on account of the watering. 
 
 down due to the crowd of strangers in its ranks. Oxygen is still oxygen, 
 
 although, as we know it, in the air it is pretty well smothered by the 
 
 wet blanket nitrogen. But oxygen as a component of water has totally 
 
 parted with its individuality. Another property thoroughly marks off 
 
 the compound from the mixture. The components of the mixture make 
 
 no demonstration when shuffled together, but the components of the 
 
 chemical compound, when brought in contact, go through more or less 
 
 violent disturbance, beat being always concerned in the business. Heat 
 
 is made manifest when the bonds of the compound are being entered 
 
 into, and conversely the application of heat is required to break the 
 
 compact and liberate the parties thereto. 
 
 Two volumes of hydrogen go to one of oxygen in the formation of 
 
 water. All gases are physically built up of molecules of equal size, like 
 
 as sandstone is built up of grains of sand. But the grains of sand are 
 
 stable, while the gaseous grains — the molecules — of the gas are mobile 
 
 and restless. The molecules of a gas are for ever striving against 
 
 pressure. The slighter the pressure they are put to the more do they 
 
 expand ; and this will go on until the last degree of tenuity — whatever that 
 
 may be — is reached. On the other hand, the pressure may be made so
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN THEORY. 165 
 
 great that the molecules of the gas, being squeezed into so small a space, 
 
 can no longer hold out against it, but are driven to take up the fluid 
 
 state. Fluids yield comparatively little in bulk under the influence of 
 
 pressure. In proof of this we ha\e the steady, enormous force that is 
 
 available in hydraulic machinery, which is simply the turning to account 
 
 at one point the pressure exerted on enclosed water at another. The 
 
 molecules of the gas rendered liquid are still freer to move in the mass 
 
 than in the solid body, although more cabined and confined than they 
 
 were before being squeezed out of their original condition. Increased 
 
 pressure, it is evident, will not coerce them into the sluggish state they 
 
 pass into when the solid form has to be assumed. But lowering their 
 
 temperature will. If we reduce the temperature of the molecules in 
 
 water to a certain degree, they can no more hold out against this than 
 
 could the molecules of the gas against the critical degree of pressure. 
 
 Reducing the temperature of water to the freezing-point brings the 
 
 molecules thereof to the torpid state they are driven to in the solid. 
 
 ^, , All matter, whether simple or compound — whether con- 
 
 The three . . ' ^ ^ 
 
 physical con- sisting as one of the elementary substances by itself, 
 
 ditions of oxvgen, for instance ; or made up of two or more of these 
 
 Water. . 
 
 to form a chemical compound, as water, by way of example 
 
 — takes on in accordance with circumstances the three states of solid, 
 liquid, and gaseous. P'ew elements or compounds assume the three 
 forms under everyday sort of conditions, the bulk of them having a 
 wider range between the various stages than is included between the 
 extremes of even our variable climate. Water is one of the substances 
 that does. At all temperatures between 32° and 212° F. water remains 
 fluid. The pressure of the atmosphere due to its weight is sufficient to 
 withhold the molecules from bursting forth unfettered in vapour. True 
 enough, water is always emitting more or less vapour into the atmo- 
 sphere in accordance with the condition of the latter. But what escapes 
 in this way is little in comparison with the water yielding it. If we 
 place water in a \acuum the pressure of the air is removed from it, and 
 the molecules are freed and the fluid takes on the gaseous form. We 
 do something equivalent when we heat water up to boiling-point. The 
 heat puts energy into the molecules sufficient for them to cope with and 
 overcome the resistance to their liberty caused by the pressure of the 
 atmosphere, and to burst forth as steam or gas in spite of this. 
 
 At 212° F. water passes into the liquid form of matter ; cooled below 
 32° F. it solidifies into ice. These figures refer to sea level and average 
 atmospheric pressure, conditions which speak to a pressure of fifteen 
 pounds to the square inch. As we rise above sea level the pressure 
 decreases, the air becoming less dense as we ascend, and in consequence 
 water will boil at a lower temperature on high ground than it will at sea 
 level. Not so long ago this fact was turned to account in measuring the 
 height of mountains.
 
 1 66 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Neither oxygen nor hydrogen by itself can be forced so easily to take 
 upon itself the three forms of matter at the will of man. It is only 
 recently that either could. Both enormous pressure and a most 
 excessive degree of cold are together required in the accomplishment 
 of these feats in chemistry. But water (the two combined) we see 
 can be put through these phases by means compatible with ordinary 
 workaday conditions. 
 
 Water when at the point of passing from the solid to the 
 as^exem^Hfied liqi-iid form — from ice to water — absorbs a large amount 
 in the case of of heat of whose presence it makes no sign. One pound 
 
 ^^^^' of water at a temperature of 144° F. added to one pound 
 
 of ice is just sufficient to turn the ice into water, without, howe^•er, 
 raising it to a higher temperature than 32° F. — that of melting ice or 
 water at the point of freezing. But add a pound of water at 144° F. to 
 another pound at 32° F., then the temperature of the mixed water will 
 be 88° F., or the average of the two. What then has become of the 
 144° F. of heat in the first instance, which is absorbed without revealing 
 any outward trace of its effect ? It has gone to give the molecules of 
 water the energy necessary to enable them to maintain against external 
 pressure the state of fluidity. All the heat beyond that amount received 
 by water becomes apparent to our senses in its rise of temperature. If 
 heat be steadily applied until a temperature of 212° F. is attained, 
 another disappearance or absorption of heat takes place. This is the 
 point at which water takes on the gaseous form. 
 
 But water when about to pass from the liquid to the gas drinks up 
 much more heat than is lost sight of when passing from the solid to the 
 liquid. About one thousand times the amount of heat required to raise 
 a pound of water one degree in temperature is needed to fortify the 
 molecules in that weight of water in assuming the free state represented 
 in the gas. It takes nine hundred and sixty-seven thermal units to 
 convert one pound of water at 212° F. to steam at the same temperature. 
 In other words, if to be had, one pound of steam at 967° F., if added to 
 one pound of water at 212° F., will give us two pounds of steam 
 at 212° F. 
 
 Tlie heat tliat in botli instances thus disappears is termed latent heat. 
 But although latent or hidden, this heat is by no means lost. Every 
 portion of it is duly returned when the reverse processes take place — 
 when the gas returns to tlie fluid and the fluid reverts to the solid. A 
 knowledge of these facts regarding the physical properties of water 
 brings home to one's understanding the important part that is taken 
 by this homely substance in the economy of nature. The heat of the 
 tropical sun draws, as we have already mentioned, enormous quantities 
 of water from ocean surfaces in the form of \apour, to be wafted far and 
 near throughout the atmosphere. Wherever this vapour is condensed to 
 rain, gaseous water is being changed into fiuid and the latent heat shed
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN THEORY. 167 
 
 abroad in the surrounding air. Every inch of rainfall means a hundred 
 tons of rain to the acre. In each inch of rain, tlierefore, let loose from 
 the atmosphere, there is liberated in that medium about a quarter 
 of a million heat units. Water thus serves to distribute the heat of the 
 sun more uniformly over the globe. We find it of great use in 
 our concerns as a carrier of heat. It rises readily in temperature, and 
 parts steadily witli its heat between the range of its minimum and 
 maximum points of fluidity. But nature is able to deal with it in the 
 highest phase — the wholesale one, as it were — and get the ad\antage of 
 the bigger deals. 
 
 Falling snow, as most of us will have obser\ed, is warmer than sleet, 
 because snow is not robbing the surrounding air of heat to anything 
 like the extent that sleet is. As regards the latter, it is half-way between 
 the solid and the fluid, but tending towards fluidity and hungry for the 
 heat that will enable it to rise in the scale. The snow, on the other 
 hand, is not so grasping of the heat of surrounding substances, and they 
 are not called upon to pay tribute to it so much as to the sleet in its 
 search for the necessary heat wherewith to subsidise the greedy molecules 
 it contains. 
 
 Water in its solid form also plays into our hands on occasion. It 
 
 slightly contracts as it decreases in temperature until within a few 
 
 degrees of the freezing-point, when it begins to expand until it passes 
 
 into the solid. On this account ice is lighter than water, and freezing 
 
 takes place at the surface instead of the bottom of any sheet of water. 
 
 Were it otherwise, mundane matters would not go on as at present 
 
 arranged. It is in accordance with this law whereby water expands 
 
 on freezing that frost ameliorates our soils and weathers down rock 
 
 surfaces in preparation for fresh soil-making material. 
 
 It is, howe\-er, with water as the great solvent that we 
 Water as the ^. 
 
 universal are here most concerned about. It is on account of this 
 
 Solvent. solvent property of water that there is so much difficulty 
 
 in obtaining it pure. Before it reaches the earth it has, as we pointed 
 out, laid hold of the gases of the atmosphere — air itself, carbon di-oxide, 
 ammonia, some of the nitrogen oxides — and of the dust and other suspen- 
 sory matter that may happen to be floating therein. But with all this 
 it is comparatively pure when it touches earth. Indeed what it has 
 picked up from the atmosphere increases its solvent powers. The 
 carbon di-oxide it absorbs in passing from the air to the earth enables 
 it to dissolve solid matters of the universe on which it would otherwise 
 have little efifect. No sooner, therefore, does it fall upon the earth than 
 it loses the comparative purity it came with. 
 
 Next in purity to rain-water comes the water of lakes, and following 
 it that of ri\ers. Running water has more matter in suspension than 
 lake-water. The one has time to settle and let fall to the bottom any 
 fine matter it may have held in this way. But the ever onward course
 
 168 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 of ri\er-\\ater prevents its loitering by the way to clear itself of what it 
 is bearing along. Rivers that form lakes as they lead their waters to 
 the sea emerge from the lakes purer than they entered, just because 
 their course has therein been arrested for the time and the suspensory 
 matter gi\en a chance to gain the bottom of the water. 
 
 This suspensory matter, it has to be borne in mind, is 
 sory Matters entirely different from the matters held in solution by the 
 in Water. water. The dissolved substances, whether solid, fluid, or 
 
 gaseous to begin with, lose themselves for the time being in the body 
 of the water and take part with it in the various phases it may have to 
 pass through. But although they lose their identity to this extent they 
 still make their influence felt. Different substances have different points 
 at which the physical changes in matter take place. So long, therefore, 
 as these relating to water and what it holds in solution do not clash, the 
 two act in unison physically while each is free to exert its own peculiar 
 influences. In the distillation of water, for instance, we get rid of what 
 it contains by acting in accordance with these simple principles. The 
 air contained in the water to be purified in this way is driven off as the 
 water begins to boil. Other gases may also then go. For a little time, 
 therefore, the water may be allowed to boil and the \apour to escape 
 without our seeking to condense it. In the latter process we simply 
 lead the vapour into a cooling pipe or chamber and collect the resulting 
 Avater. We rob the vapour of its heat and oblige it to revert to the 
 fluid state. Those substances dissolved in the water that do not vaporise 
 or pass into gas at 212° F., the point at which water does, are consequently 
 left behind when all the water has been boiled away. Were some 
 other fluid dissolved in the water taken to be distilled it would, if its 
 vaporising point were lower than that of water, ha\e escaped before the 
 water began to boil, but if it happened to be higher, then it would remain 
 as part of the residue in the \'essel wherein the water was boiled. 
 
 There is, howe\er, no such firm bond between the matters in suspension 
 in water and the water itself as exists between water and what it contains 
 in solution. The right relations between the latter two are in fact not 
 yet clearly understood. They are not in direct chemical combination, 
 but that there is some slight approach to this is e\idenced by the heat 
 that is exinced when some substances are dissolved in water. Dissolved 
 matter is difficult of withdrawal from water. The separation of the two 
 has to be attained in roundabout ways, taking advantage of the laws 
 that bear upon chemistry ; but the matters in suspension can directly, by 
 simple mechanical means, be removed from water. What will not settle 
 down of its own free will when water is allowed to remain undisturbed 
 and gra^•ity is given a free hand to assert itself, can easily be abstracted 
 by filtration. If water be allowed to drain through porous strata of 
 some kinds, the solid matters it contains are arrested as the water 
 penetrates, they being unable to pass through where it can. This fact
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN THEORY. 169 
 
 is turned to account in the artificial filtration of water. On the large 
 
 scale water is filtered by passing it through layers of gravel and sand. 
 
 We see the chenaist doing the same thing in a small way by letting 
 
 Avater soak through a sort of porous paper resembling blotting-paper. 
 
 The filter has no effect whatever on the matters that are dissolved in 
 
 the water. They go with the water to where\'er it penetrates. 
 
 It is evident that rain-water, with its great solvent powers, 
 
 Y^^^^ no sooner comes in contact with the earth than it rapidly 
 
 happens to . . . ... 
 
 Rain when picks up matter and carries it along either in solution or 
 
 P touches -j^ suspension. The rain that does not immediately enter 
 
 the soil makes at once along the surface in search of a 
 way to seek the level of its parent, the sea. In many cases this is a 
 long and troubled journey. At one time the way may be gradual and 
 unobstructed ; at another precipitous and in a channel both tortuous 
 and jagged. The raindrops unite in the ground, and as they accumu- 
 late their combined weight becomes sufficient to urge them on in 
 obedience to gravitv till equilibrium is gained in the ocean. The 
 nearer they get to their journey's end the larger the stream of others 
 they fall in with, all bent on the same errand of returning whence they 
 started. They left empty-handed, but they return laden with spoil, 
 some of it bound closely in solution and some merely held in suspen- 
 sion. The stronger the velocity of the converging streams the more of 
 the latter there is likely to be. But a good deal depends, of course, on 
 the nature of the district watered by the streams for the quantity as 
 well as the quality of both dissolved and suspended matter contained in 
 the seaward-bound water. If the earth and rocks be of a friable nature, 
 a great deal of matter is borne along bv the running water. In the 
 same way, if, for instance, the district traversed by the water is one 
 where limestone predominates, the water will have dissolved much 
 lime during the time it took to collect and pass on. 
 
 When the sea is reached the stream slows down, and the suspended 
 matters begin to fall. The heaviest material is dropped first and the 
 finest last, the interval between being taken by the intervening grades. 
 Geologists tell us that the earth's surface is being slowly reduced through 
 these two actions on the part of rain-water — its solvent action and its 
 action of carrying along with it loose matter that is unable to resist its 
 power when brought within its reach. It is the latter action, however, 
 which tells most in wearing down the earth's crust, and tending to bring 
 all under the surface of the sea. It gets credit amongst scientists for 
 having to a great extent moulded the surface of the earth as at 
 present revealed. Dreadful contortions, uphea\als, and subsidences 
 have undoubtedly often put new shapes on the earth's surface when 
 adapting itself to changing pressure due to the more rapid cooling 
 down than now takes place ; but rain is allowed to have, in recent 
 geological times, done more in eating awav the uncovered crust of
 
 I70 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 the earth than all other agencies of the kind put together. It has 
 eaten out the passes and valleys, and slowly rounded off the ruggeJ 
 outlines of hills, and cut deep furrows into the mountain sides. This 
 action of rain tends to level down the crust to a more uniform outline, 
 if not to carry all seawards. But tlie crumblings of the elevated peaks 
 do not all get the length of the sea at once. The bulk of them go to 
 raise or at least extend the lower-lying lands. They, too, however, arc 
 constantly paying tribute to running water, and paying with one hand 
 as much as they are receiving from higher lands in the other. The 
 process is a long and almost imperceptible one, but steadily the sea is 
 gaining mastery of the land and reducing it down to its own dead level. 
 The sea gi\es off into the atmosphere its moisture in the 
 Sea^eceives ''^^''^ ^^ vapour, much of which falls upon the earth as 
 back in the rain, more or less of it returning once more to the sea. 
 itg\ves^forth ^^"-^^ '^^ brings to the sea, as we have said, matters 
 to the dissolved from earth and rocks and others worn there- 
 
 tmosp ere. j^-q,-,-,^ which, though unable to dissolve, it is capable 
 of bearing along with it in its descent to the universal level. W'liat 
 it carries mechanically it lets drop when it reaches the sea. And 
 what it brings with it in solution the sea absorbs, if able to retain 
 the same. If not of a kind o\ er which sea-water holds a permanent 
 sway, it will be rejected from solution, and it, too, will find a resting 
 place on the sea bottom. But the sea will hardly reject what river- 
 water is capable of holding in solution. The salts of sodium, calcium, 
 potassium, and magnesium are the leading chemical substances that 
 rain-water robs the earth of, making the sea the resetter. Neither river 
 nor sea-water holds such solvent powers over other earthy matters 
 as over these, consequently the salts referred to are the substances that 
 characterise sea-water. Common salt — chloride of sodium, formed by 
 the union of hydrochloric acid witli sodium — is the predominant sub- 
 stance in sea-water, and the one which gives it the characteristic taste 
 we all know so well. It is this selective power on the part of water 
 over what it will hold in solution that enables sea-water to retain its 
 distinctive character without appreciable change. Sea-water, taken on 
 the whole, is bound to be growing Salter. Enormous volumes of fresh 
 water are ever pouring into it, but that water originated from itself, 
 leaving it pure, while it returns with other substances in its grasp. A 
 point there is beyond wliich water can absorb no more of any separate 
 substance, the point in (juestion \arying with each. That point is the 
 point of saturation of water with regard to any of the soluble sub- 
 stances. When it is reached, no more of the special substance can be 
 dissolved. Ordinary sea- water is as yet far from saturation, and 
 therefore still has room in its embrace for much of the salt of the 
 earth. In the Dead Sea, o\er wliich evaporation is freely exercised, 
 and into which little or no river-water finds its way, the point of
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN THEORY. 171 
 
 saturation is near at hand. From similar causes the sea-water under 
 
 the tropics is Salter than that near to the poles. At the one place 
 
 evaporation is constant and rapid ; at the other there is little 
 
 evaporation, while snow and ice, unsullied as regards contact with 
 
 the earth, though derixed from atmospheric moisture, are steadily 
 
 returning to the sea-water almost as fresh as the vapour that 
 
 escaped therefrom under the heat of the nearly \ertical sun. 
 
 What is picked up by water as it runs along the surface 
 What Sur- r .i_ , 1 l , ■, 
 
 face-water °^ ^"^ earth, or percolates by short cuts underground to 
 
 generally appear at lower levels, is not as a rule harmful to man. 
 
 In the first case is included brook, ri\er, and lake-water, 
 and in the other that of springs and deep wells. The water of the 
 former class is characterised by the foreign matters they contain being 
 more in suspension than in solution ; that of the latter, on the contrary, 
 being almost wholly in solution. The reason is plain enough when we 
 consider that the one journeys along amongst loose material and open 
 to whate^•er is wafted its way by the wind or is dropped from cliff or 
 bank as it is impelled onwards ; and that the other, as it seeks downwards 
 through earth and rock, while offered many chances of dissolving such 
 earthy salts as those above referred to, has no opportunity of carrying 
 away solid matter in suspension. The matter beneath the surface is 
 too well packed to admit of much being abstracted in this way. It 
 may encounter strata which if by themselves and exposed it could 
 successfully attack and disintegrate, bearing the fragments with it ; 
 but when these are sandwiched between others of stronger cohesion 
 and are but part of a group, water is able to affect them by means of 
 its solvent powers alone. 
 
 The big continental rivers, long ere they approach the sea, are 
 discoloured by the matters they are bearing along in suspension. 
 So, too, are our rivers in their times of flood. It is not to these, 
 however, nor to lakes, that homesteads e^•er have to look for their 
 water supply. When surface-water is the source of supplv, it is 
 usually among the tiny tributaries to the parent stream of the district. 
 The water in these has not travelled so far as to be so smirched from 
 contact with the earth as to be unacceptable at the homestead. Where 
 artificial filtration is practicable the matters in suspension, provided the 
 water is good, are no obstacle to its use. They can be readily remo\ed 
 
 by this process. But at the farm it is not practicable, 
 not^^e^rv'^ It is an operation that requires close attention by men 
 
 practicable experienced in the work. An ill-kept filter, especially 
 at t e arm. g^^}-^ ^ ^^^ .^^ ^^.g should be likely to find at the home- 
 ste^id, is more dangerous than unfiltered water — the water is safer 
 before than after it has been passed through. The water supplies 
 of populous places are always filtered before use, but this is done 
 on a large scale and on fixed principles such as can hardly be
 
 172 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 obser\ed at the ordinary lioniestead. It is wise, therefore, m 
 selecting a supply of water for the homestead, to fix on a source 
 the water from which is sufficiently free of suspended matter to 
 render filtration unnecessary. 
 
 \\'ater from deep-seated wells needs no filtration. When one of these 
 is available to get the water handy therefrom, it is a fortunate circum- 
 stance for tlie occupier of the farm. He is then sure of water of a clear 
 character. It mav, indeed, ha\'e much matter in solution, but there 
 will be little, if any, in suspension. The water will have had to per- 
 colate too far for any matter of that kind to have been able to accom- 
 pany it. Surface wells, like open streams, are apt from their situation 
 to receive all manner of loose material, and, what is worse, drainings 
 that bring with them deleterious matters either already dissolved or 
 ready to enter into solution. The nearer the surface we come we 
 get more into the part of the ground ^\'here waste vegetable and 
 animal matter is undergoing decomposition, and thus water that lies in 
 that position is almost certain to receive more or less of the matters 
 resulting from this never-ceasing process of decay. 
 
 It is not, however, usually the matters in suspension in 
 
 Dissolved water that we have to be on our guard against. Those 
 
 Matters more ,- ^, ^ . ^ j .1 4- 
 
 to be con- '" solution are the aptest to render water dangerous to 
 
 sidered than mankind. But as a rule it is only those matters, whether 
 Q^^^^t'I?^^ ^" suspended or dissolved, that can be traced back to man 
 himself that render water containing them dangerous to 
 his fellows. It is in the fact that water which has been in direct con- 
 tact with man, or has been the recipient of matters that have been 
 derived from him in some way or other, may contain germs of various 
 diseases, where lies the danger of its use by others of his kind. Even 
 if it has kept clear of these dangerous guests, the other matters it is 
 likely to contain on account of its connection with man and his doings 
 make it a favourable nursery-ground to these should they at any time 
 effect a lodgment therein. Organic matter derivable from man and 
 his doings is, therefore, the worst kind we have to do with in water. 
 But organic matter being represented either by the decayed fabrics of 
 bodies that have been quickened by life in some one or other of its 
 phases, or the result of the waste of these while ali\'e, it follows that the 
 vegetable as well as the animal kingdom has also a considerable hand 
 in the contamination of water. Organic matter, however, which is 
 traceable to animal life is, as we have been saying, more than the other 
 to be feared in relation to water that has to be turned to account by 
 man. The effective filter is capable of remo\ing these dangerous 
 sul)stances, that is to say, those in suspension, be they derived from 
 animal or vegetable, and disease germs as well if present. The 
 filter, however, we maintain, is not practicable in connection with the 
 homestead.
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN THEORY. 
 
 173 
 
 If we can manage to avail ourselves of a source of supply that is 
 well reino\ed from dwelling-places, or otherwise free of contamination 
 therefrom, we have little to fear from the danger of disease germs 
 peculiar to mankind ; and further, if the burn, well, or spring be com- 
 paratively free of matters in suspension, we are fortunately situated as 
 regards water for man as well as for beast. We. may, without fear of 
 evil results, use it as we find it, and be thankful. It will of course 
 contain, in accordance with its opportunity of picking up the same, more 
 or less of the earthy salts and other matters that water derives from 
 the soil and rocks. Rarely will it contain any that render it dangerous. 
 Its solvent powers may, in consequence of what it already has assimilated, 
 be slightly impaired. The more matter it already holds in solution the 
 less will it be inclined to add thereto as it keeps pressing on to find a 
 resting-place. It will seldom, however, have its solvent powers affected 
 to the extent of seriously interfering with its usefulness. 
 
 Among the earthy salts already mentioned as those most 
 
 Lime the likely to be dissolved in water that has percolated far 
 
 most abun- - ^ 
 
 dantly repre- underground are those of lime. \'ery seldom do any of 
 sented of ^j^g others put their stamp effectually upon water. In 
 
 Matters. the rare instances they do, they render the water offensive 
 
 to taste, and sometimes to smell, and therefore useless at 
 the homestead. Neither man nor animal will, unless hard pressed, face 
 water that either tastes decidedly or smells of any matter that it holds in 
 solution. And if water be unpalatable in drinking, it will never answer 
 for cooking. Iron is, in many districts, a frequent cause of rendering 
 water unfit for domestic purposes. It is present in nearly all water 
 that has been much underground, but onlv in exceptional cases to such 
 an extent as to be a nuisance as far as our wants go. Well-water, as 
 we all know, is more sparkling and palatable than either river or rain- 
 water ; and this is by reason of its containing more gases as well as 
 earthy matter in solution than either of the other two. Rain-water is 
 almost devoid of the earthy or mineral matters referred to in the instance 
 of spring-water, and it is extremely insipid to the taste. Lake and 
 river- water come in grades between the two just mentioned. They 
 ha\'e neither had time nor opportunity to pick up what the spring- water 
 has, both as regards gases and salts ; but they have improved on the 
 chances of rain-water in this respect. So long, therefore, as spring- 
 water is able to observe a due proportion in what it abstracts from the 
 soil — nothing of this, of course, being dangerous — and no substance is so 
 prominent as to assert itself over the others, we have the most palatable 
 of all waters at our disposal. It may not be the best one theoretically, 
 seeing that its solvent powers are already so well exercised, and the 
 place of water in natural economy being the great solvent agent. But 
 spring-water is hardly ever so well supplied with dissolved matters 
 that it has not a considerable reserve of its solvent powers left intact.
 
 174 ^^^ MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Much depends, we need hardly say, on the geological features of the 
 district for what the spring-water of any place is likely to contain. 
 Where one or more of the substances are so prominent as to make 
 their presence easily felt, we are in touch witli tlie so-called mineral 
 springs. 
 
 We speak of one sample of water as being hard and 
 Hard Water another soft. A soft water is one containing com- 
 Y/g^ei-. paratively little mineral matter in solution ; and on this 
 
 account rain is the softest natural water at our disposal. 
 Starting from rain-water as the bottom of the scale, therefore, we go. 
 through the various degrees of hardness in lake, stream, and lastly 
 spring-water, in which kind of water we find, as we have said, the 
 largest amount of mineral matters dissolved. Rain-water, being the 
 softest of all, is dear to the heart of the housewife. Its high standard as 
 a solvent makes it the best of all water as a cleanser. Its use saves 
 soap as well as much hard rubbing on washing-day. Hard water, on 
 the other hand, will not dissolve sufficient soap to penetrate thoroughly 
 among the fibres of the material being manipulated in the washtub. 
 We know for ourselves how much easier it is to wash hands and face 
 in a soft than in a hard water. In the latter it takes some trouble to 
 raise a lather ; in the former the trouble is to get rid of the soap from 
 our skin when the wash is completed. No rough-and-ready test as to 
 the degree of hardness of a water is so decided as the effect soap has 
 upon it. On sea-water ordinary soap has no effect whatever. It is 
 impossible to obtain a lather therein. There is so much mineral matter 
 dissolved in sea-water that it cannot dissolve so much of the soap as 
 will give any appreciable effect. 
 
 Rain-water, however, is insipid to drink. It ought, one would 
 think, to be more effective when imbibed than a hard water can be. 
 The hard water is pleasanter certainly both to sight and taste, but it 
 is hardly likely to be more acceptable otherwise to the animal economy. 
 It is hardly questionable that soft water is the better assuager of thirst. 
 The salts of lime are, we repeat, the most prominent of 
 HardneTs^and ^^^^ earthy matters contained in ordinary spring- water — 
 Permanent spring-water, we mean, that is adapted to domestic 
 W^at'er^^^ °^ purposes. It is the amount of these dissolved in the 
 water that rules its degree of hardness. P'rom this it 
 can be implied that the salts of lime may be present in water to a 
 much larger amount Avithout destroying its usefulness where we are 
 concerned, than those of other minerals apt to be picked up by water. 
 The lime salts affect water in two ways. One of the salts, the 
 carbonate, causes temporary hardness ; and another, the sulphate, 
 brings about permanent hardness. The temporary hardness is remov- 
 able — it can be obviated to a considerable extent ; but the otlier 
 cannot.
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN THEORY. 175 
 
 The solvent powers of water are increased when it 
 
 P w rs of"' holds carbon di-oxide in solution. Rain, we pointed out, 
 
 Water dissolved this f(as out of the atmosphere, and when it 
 
 increased y touclies earth it has other opportunities of gainintr more. 
 
 the presence . ^^ o 
 
 of Carbon Aided by this co-partner, water is able to take up an 
 
 1-0x1 e extra amount of mineral matters, lime amongst the 
 
 therein. ' . 
 
 number, as it percolates down in the soil. But if the water 
 
 is forced by any means to part with its share of carbon di-oxide it must 
 
 also liberate the increased quantity of lime which, by help of the gas, 
 
 it was able to retain. When water that is temporarily hard is boiled 
 
 the carbon di-oxide is driven out from it and the extra lime falls to the 
 
 bottom of the vessel. Most of us know the effect that some kinds of 
 
 water ha\e on boilers and kettles wherein they are boiled ; how in a 
 
 short time the boilers become coated inside with a mineral deposis 
 
 and the tea-kettle in time becomes so encrusted witli the stuff that water 
 
 can hardly be poured from the spout. A marble is, in many houses, 
 
 a not uncommon inmate of the kitchen kettle. It is there to keep the 
 
 flocculent precipitate of lime from settling down to form a scale on 
 
 the metal. As it rolls about it stirs up the sediment, giving it a chance 
 
 to escape by the spout when the last of the water is being drained 
 
 thereby ; at the same time it is probable that the marble gets coated 
 
 in turn. 
 
 I->V adding a little lime-water (water with lime dissolved in it) to a 
 temporarily soft water, we can fix the free carbon di-oxide contained 
 in it, and, as before, liberate the carbonate of lime it was able to hold 
 through the agency of the di-oxide. We shall then have two precipitates, 
 the one we have already been discussing, and the new carbonate, 
 that due to the combination between the added lime and the carbon 
 di-oxide dissolved in the water but otherwise isolated from the other 
 substances it happens to be in close relationship with. For a somewhat 
 similar purpose the experienced housewife adds a pinch of bi-carbonate 
 of soda to the contents of the teapot when the water is hard. She 
 knows that hard water is not well suited for tea-making, and has 
 learned that a little soda improves it in this respect. The soda serveS) 
 no doubt, to fix the carbon di-oxide that has not been driven off during 
 the heating of the water, and thus let free some of the lime ; and in 
 this, as well as in other ways of a similar description, to render the 
 water softer. 
 
 Permanent hardness is due, as we have said, to the presence of 
 sulphate of lime in the water. This we cannot reniove by the same 
 methods that enable us, as we have just seen, to get rid of much of the 
 carbonate. Other salts there are, of course, that induce permanent 
 hardness in water. Common salt (sodium chloride), for instance, will, 
 but then, as we have been seeking to point out, waters with other salts 
 than those of lime predominating therein would never be selected for
 
 1-6 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 supplying the homestead. The hme sahs are those that least deteriorate 
 water as it affects man and animals. Were it not on account of the 
 hindrances it places on the solvent properties of water its presence 
 would be rather acceptable than otherwise. It has been argued, in 
 fact, that for cooking and drinking purposes it is essential towards the 
 health of human beings, especially when young, that the water at their 
 disposal ought to contain a fair percentage of lime. ^luch. lime is 
 needed in the building up of the animal frame, and if some be available 
 in the water consumed by the growing organism, there is less chance 
 of its being at a loss where to obtain the needful amount. 
 
 But to food, not to drink, one ought to look for the necessary supply 
 of mineral matter. Water's place in nature is as a general solvent. In 
 our bodies, as elsewhere, we should look upon its mission as being to 
 that effect. As regards plants, nearly all their mineral food is supplied 
 to them dissolved in water. But our bodies are different. Our com- 
 plicated digestive apparatus is competent to put before our \arious 
 tissues matters suitable for their daily requirements as well as for 
 general upkeep, without having to rely upon water for bringing lime 
 along Avith it. We may as well turn to it as a medium for supplying 
 us wath salt. What we want water for is to act as a soh'ent capable of 
 carrying life-supporting matters from the various organs that elaborate 
 these and send them out for use throughout the body generally ; and in 
 addition bring back to the other organs, whose duty it is to get rid of 
 spent or superfluous matter, what the tissues are either done with or 
 have no need of. If this be the case, the purer the water at our 
 disposal the more effective will be the results following upon its use. 
 Let the body be supplied with pure water, it has then at its disposal a 
 proper distributing medium wherew'ith, on one hand, to send out the 
 matters with which it supports life, and, on the other, to drain off w'hat 
 would otherwise clog up the system and retard useful work in its several 
 branches. Further, let the body have enough of food to keep all going. 
 Let the water be devoted to its own proper end, and the food likewise. 
 There is plenty of lime in milk, meat, and bread, wdthout looking to water 
 for it. The water is wanted in the animal economy for making the food 
 matters in them fully available ; nothing further need be expected of it. 
 So in theory, but in practice we have to take things as they are, and 
 . act accordingly. If rain-water be the softest at our command, although 
 we know it be the most serviceable, still it is not the most palatable, 
 and we cannot have two full supplies at the one place. Where other 
 water is to be had, rain-water is never made the source of supply at 
 the homestead. It is always competent to the thrifty housewife to 
 make provision for the storage of as much rain-water as will keep the 
 washhouse going. More than this, however, can hardly be looked for 
 when provision is made for a supply of water from some other source 
 than the rainfall collected from the roofs of the buildings.
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN THEORY. 177 
 
 Tu nu ^- .. It is advisable, whenever there is doubt in the matter, to 
 1 he Chemist ' ' 
 
 should be con- consult a chemist with regard to water about to be chosen 
 Doubt exists ^'"^'^ supplying the homestead. The water selected may be 
 over a new pure so far as one's eyes can tell. It may be clear and 
 
 ater upp y. gpj^j-i^-Jii^^r^ and yet contain substances both in solution and 
 suspension that render it unsuitable as a chief source of supply, and 
 even it may be positively dangerous to the health either of man or 
 beast. The matters in solution may be such that at one homestead 
 they may have no ill effect, while at another they may render the water 
 quite unsuitable for some important operations at another one. At an 
 ordinary arable farm, for instance, a water highly charged with the salts 
 of iron, say, may be quite acceptable at the place ; but at a neighbour- 
 ing one, where butter-making is the leading industry, a water of this 
 nature may be entirely unsuitable in that connection. At the one place 
 the water might answer all requirements, at the other it would be rejected 
 as being prejudicial in the preparation of the principal commodity of the 
 farm. Hard water, if otherwise good, is acceptable at the dairy. 
 
 Taste is a very good guide in some respects. When too pronounced 
 in a sample the source thereof is to be avoided. The salts of lime can 
 hardly be distinguished in this way. Neither can those of sodium, 
 unless present to a large extent. Common salt we mentioned above as 
 being the chief of these. But few of us ever come across an inland 
 spring so strong of ordinary salt as to give the unmistakable taste. 
 Potassium salts are equally difficult of recognition. The salts of 
 magnesium are more readily revealed when present in water. But of 
 the most prevalent substances found dissolved in water the salts of iron 
 are perhaps the most readily recognisable by the tongue. And some of 
 these are the most objectionable among the lot. They give the water 
 a decided taste. ^Moreover, when allowed to stand in a vessel for some 
 time, it in many cases develops an offensive odour. A scum appears on 
 the surface and a rusty sediment gathers at the bottom. A water of 
 this kind is entirely unsuitable as a source of supply to the homestead. 
 
 It will be a strongish water indeed that makes the average man 
 suspicious of it through taste alone, more especially if the flavour thereof 
 is not due to the presence of iron. The others seldom go alone, or, what 
 is perhaps more exact, we rarely find one group of the various salts, 
 excepting that of lime, predominating over the rest to any marked 
 degree. When this is so, we are then, as we said above, dealing with 
 what may be truly termed a "mineral spring." 
 
 The degree of hardness in a water we can tell approxi- 
 read"^'^" f ™3,tely by the rough-and-ready method referred to above 
 gauging the of trying what effect soap has upon it. Doing so with the 
 W^at '^^^^ water both as it is and after being boiled will reveal to us 
 
 relatively how much of the hardness is "temporary " and 
 how much " permanent." 
 
 M.H. N
 
 lyS THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 But the chemist who is experienced in water analysing will clear up 
 all these matters without further ado, and provide us with a tabulated 
 statement of the principal substances that are dissolved in water. It 
 may be wise, therefore, in every case, whether there be room for suspi- 
 cion or not, to submit a sample of the water that is considered likely to 
 serve the homestead to be dealt with in the laboratory. For not only 
 will the expert furnish us with full particulars of what the water contains 
 in the way of mineral matters, but in addition he will point out (what 
 we are unable to tell even the existence of therein) the amount of 
 organic matter dissolved in it. This organic matter may have its 
 origin either from vegetable or from animal sources. It may arise 
 from the decay of herbage or from the remains of animals in the 
 soil, in either case washed out by the rain. It may have resulted, 
 too, from matter brought more or less direct to it from where either 
 man or animals were housed. 
 
 _, No matter whence derived, however, the presence of 
 
 The presence ' ' r 
 
 of Organic organic substances in water is, as stated above, more pre- 
 
 M alter in iudicial than the earthy substances referred to. The latter 
 
 Water to be ^ _ •' 
 
 viewed with cause inconvenience rather than carry danger ; but it is 
 Suspicion. different with the former. So long as the organic matters 
 
 are not acting the part of host to disease-causing microbes, their presence 
 in the water has little or no effect thereon. It is almost alone in respect 
 of their being accompanied by these dangerous organisms that the 
 organic matters present in water have to be carefully watched and kept 
 at bay. The organic matter that arises from decay going on in the 
 soil has a fairly clean sheet in this respect, unless under exceptional 
 circumstances. Instances of these may arise, as already hinted, in the 
 manuring of the land, and in the burial of carcases near enough to the 
 collecting area of the water to affect the same. In these, as well as in 
 many other ways, which will readily occur to the man who knows 
 something of rural affairs, may the w^ater supply be rendered unsafe. 
 Most of them may, however, be guarded against, and the gathering 
 ground of the water be kept clear of danger in this respect. But there 
 remains the fact that should the water by any means come to contain 
 any of the microbes that are prejudicial to the health either of man or 
 animal, the organic matter we are referring to will be favourable, if not 
 to their propagation, at least to their maintenance in the fluid. The 
 less of this the water is known to contain the more security therefore is 
 one justified in feeling that his water supply is beyond suspicion. 
 
 But with organic matters derived from the other source mentioned — 
 from the waste of man and animals — w^e can never have the satisfaction 
 of knowing that they are free from dangerous organisms. And we 
 repeat once more, it is these we have to dread as accompaniments to our 
 water. And what makes the danger the greater, neither the taste, the 
 smell, nor the appearance of the water w'ill reveal the presence of these
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN THEORY. 179 
 
 when it is fully charged therewith. The water may be all that is 
 desirable, and yet be poisonous on account of its harbouring countless 
 organisms far beyond the powers of our senses to distinguish. For all 
 we can tell, they may be abundant in the water at one time and completely 
 absent at another. 
 
 It must not be inferred from this that water is ever altogether free of 
 the microscopic life w^e refer to. No water, unless what has been newly 
 distilled, or that has been sterilised, ever is. We question if even dis- 
 tilled water has shaken off all the organisms that were in the water from 
 which it was prepared. Some of the organisms that live in water can 
 survive a light boiling such as takes place in distillation. But under 
 the process of sterilisation, whereby water is heated to a higher tempera- 
 ture than boiling-point (which can be done under pressure), there is 
 small chance of any surviving the ordeal. On occasion, when dealing 
 with special fluids — milk, for instance — the process may have to be 
 renewed. What will kill the mature organisms may not harm the 
 spores or germs thereof. When these have had time to develop after 
 the cooling down of the fluid, another heating disposes of them ; and so 
 on with successive crops. 
 
 The analytical chemist may, as we have said, indicate the special 
 substances contained in any sample of water, and the comparative 
 quantities of each. He might be able also to give us some idea of the 
 amount of microscopic life it contained. But even if he did, what 
 would be the good ? W^ater is never free of the organisms we speak of ; 
 and the evil-disposed ones may show themselves at one time and not at 
 another. Besides, the work that is involved in the separation, or rather 
 the identification, of the different species of these organisms is out 
 of the sphere of the analytical chemist. It comes under the province 
 of the bacteriologist, with his high-power microscopes and gelatine 
 preparations. 
 
 It is enough for us to be told that there is almost no trace of animal 
 organic matter in the water, or at any rate to know what organic matter 
 does reveal itself is in all likelihood derived from a vegetable source. 
 The chemist may be misled on this point, but we who happen to know 
 the physical conditions of the gathering-ground of the water can satisfy 
 ourselves on this head. If the water be out of reach of drainage from 
 hamlet or homestead, and of surface-water that has been in contact with 
 midden manure, and the chemist otherwise testifies favourably regard- 
 ing its composition, we may accept of it wath confidence as a suitable 
 source of supply of water to the homestead. 
 
 Specimens of Below w^e give two reports by Dr. Aitken, chemist 
 Water to the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, 
 
 na yses. ^^^ some samples of water submitted to him for 
 
 analysis. 
 
 The first embraces waters from three different sources, which were 
 
 N 2
 
 i8o 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 looked upon as being likely to answer the requirements of several 
 
 homesteads : — 
 
 " Parts per 100,000. 
 
 
 No. I. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 Solids dissolved .... 
 
 26 
 
 27 
 
 23 
 
 Chlorine ...... 
 
 1-6 
 
 1-6 
 
 1-4 
 
 Free ammonia .... 
 
 •0048 
 
 •0045 
 
 •0035 
 
 Albuminoid ammonia 
 
 •0214 
 
 •0300 
 
 •0132 
 
 Nitric acid 
 
 •I 
 
 trace 
 
 trace 
 
 ^^ , ( Removable on boiling . 
 Hardness -^^ ^ , , 
 
 I Not so removable . 
 
 37 
 
 8-1 
 
 8-0 
 5-i 
 
 7-2 
 4-6 
 
 " Waters No. i and No. 2 are very similar — they are dull, turbid 
 waters, containing a good deal of vegetable organic matter in solution. 
 It does not seem that the organic matter is either of a kind or quantity 
 to render the waters unfit for use for domestic purposes. They are 
 third-rate potable Avaters. 
 
 " No. 3 is rather better than the other two as being less contaminated 
 with organic matter. It is a somewhat hard water ; the hardness is 
 such as to cause boiler incrustation, but I have no doubt of its being 
 quite wholesome. ,, j^ p Aitken." 
 
 The somewhat muddy state of the water which is implied with regard 
 to Nos. I and 2 w^as due to the samples having been taken before the 
 water had settled down properly after excavation, and to a heavy rain- 
 fall coming on the back of the same. 
 
 The next report is with regard to a sample drawn from a well within 
 the precincts of a homestead. It was the only source of supply at the 
 place. It had been complained of for some time, and was gradually 
 becoming worse, at which, judging from the following, there is little 
 wonder : — 
 
 "Parts per 100,000. 
 
 Solids dissolved ....... 
 
 ii6-o 
 
 Chlorine ........ 
 
 17-0 
 
 Free ammonia 
 
 •0184 
 
 Albuminoid ammonia ...... 
 
 •0166 
 
 Nitric acid ........ 
 
 •6 
 
 TT , f Removable on boiling 
 Hardness J , , , ^ 
 
 ( Not so removable 
 
 26-5 
 IO-5 
 
 " This is a sample of very hard water — too hard to be recommended 
 for household use, and quite unfit for a closed hot-water supply.
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN THEORY. i8i 
 
 " It is at present polluted with organic matter, probably accidentally 
 introduced from interference with digging, draining, or working about 
 the works or the pump, or the like that may be there. 
 
 " In the absence of all knowledge of the source and surroundings of 
 the water, I am unable to say if the organic impurity is of a kind to 
 make the water unfit for drinking. ,c \ -d \ 
 
 ° "A. F. AlTKEX. 
 
 Fuller reports than these are, of course, to be had of the chemist, but 
 the foregoing, read in the light of local knowledge, are explicit enough 
 as guides whether a certain water can with propriety be turned to 
 account for homestead purposes. 
 
 An undue amount of chlorine present in water is Aiewed, as we have 
 already said, with suspicion, as likely to arise from the break-up of 
 organic matter. In fact, its presence is suggestive of some connection 
 with excretal matter. And similarly with the two forms of ammonia 
 quoted, and with the nitric acid. The organic matter referred to in the 
 first report, and bearing on samples Nos. i and 2, was due to vegetable 
 rather than animal sources, and, therefore, comparatively harmless. 
 The water from each source now supplies several homesteads, that of 
 No. 2 some half-dozen at the least, and at every one the water is most 
 acceptable. In both cases it is clear and bright, and gets no filtering 
 of any kind. 
 
 The water involved in the second report had evidently been receiving 
 all sorts of stufif from the subsoil of the farmyard, and its character as 
 revealed by the chemist at once put it out of count. Fancy having to 
 cook wath this water, or to wash ! It already held so much matter in 
 solution that its solvent power was about exhausted. It had no 
 stomach for more, either solid or liquid. 
 
 It is well, therefore, to make certain of a matter of the kind by sub- 
 mitting Avater over which there is a doubt to the searchlight of the 
 chemist.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Water Supply — in Practice. 
 
 The rainfall from the roofs has in many situations to act 
 The Rainfall , ^ , ^ , , , ^ . 
 
 on the Roofs ^s the source or supply or water to the homestead, it is 
 
 as a Source Qj^g^ however, that ought to be evaded as far as possible. 
 There are so many difficulties and draAvbacks connected 
 with a supply of this sort that it has always to be treated with sus- 
 picion. To begin with, the water requires to be stored so close to the 
 buildings that it is almost impossible to avoid offensive matters now 
 and again gaining admission to the tank. The top of the tank has 
 perforce to be pretty near the surface of the ground, and leakage there- 
 into is consequently difficult of prevention. And Avhen the tank is 
 sound in this respect there is still the danger connected in this way 
 with the piping that coiiAeys the water to the tank. These may be 
 Avell enough laid to start with, though to insure this alone the closest 
 supervision of the tradesmen is required. And even when a good job 
 has been secured the pipes after they are covered up are liable to suffer 
 from accidents. One or two may easily be fractured without the 
 waterway being interfered with, or any other indication of the damage 
 being revealed, but these flaws will, until remedied, be a constant 
 source of danger to the purity of the water. 
 
 But jobs of the kind have to be faced sometimes, and 
 The Construe- then there is nothing for it but to make the best of the 
 Storage Tank business. ^luch depends upon the nature of the subsoil 
 as to how deep the storage tank will be. If hard rock 
 comes near to the surface, we may be sure it will not, under this circum- 
 stance, be constructed A-ery deep. For our part, Ave aa'ouIcI rather haA'e 
 the tank narroAv and deep than broad and shalloAV. The one is far 
 more easily coA'ered ovev than the other ; and the top is the most diffi- 
 cult part of the tank to construct properly. The A\'alls — the sides and 
 ends — of the tank may be of brick or of concrete. Either can be made 
 thoroughly AA^atertight. The bricks may be built Avith lime mortar, and 
 afterAA'ards be all faced over inside Avith a continuous coat of Portland 
 cement plaster ; or they may be built Avith cement mortar and made 
 Avatertight as the building proceeds. The former method is the more 
 advisable of the tAvo. The bottom of the tank is generally left until the 
 sides and ends have been built. It is practicable sometimes to lay tlae
 
 //'■/ ■/'■■///' ^'/'fu///''//////^f ///'//// 
 
 } 
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN PRACTICE. 183 
 
 bottom first, making it both wide and long enough to afford a scarce- 
 ment for the walls to bear upon. But the walls usually have a sound 
 enough foundation in the subsoil without this being had recourse to. 
 And where water proves troublesome during the excavation, it is 
 necessary to have done with the walls before completing the bottom. 
 If there is much water to contend with, this is often a very troublesome 
 operation. When the water can be drained away from a \e\el 
 below the bottom of the tank matters become easy. But this can 
 seldom be done. If a corner happens to be near dipping ground, a 
 trench may be cut from there down to a lower level than the base of 
 the trench, and so draw the water from where it is in the way. As a 
 rule, however, at those places where tanks have to be made for the 
 storage of rain-water there is not much underground water to trouble 
 one in the construction of these. Were underground water so plentiful 
 as to prove an obstruction in this way, it could surely be turned to 
 account as a supply in itself. If 
 there v/ere abundance of water 
 near the surface adjoining the 
 buildings, there would, in all pro- 
 bability, be plenty available far 
 enough from the steading to be 
 out of reach of pollution therefrom, 
 yet near enough to be readily avail- 
 able thereat. Rain-water would in 
 all likelihood be the only water left 
 to deal with, and it would not be 
 difficult to encounter. At any rate, there would not be any more water 
 to cope with than could be mastered by means of baling with pannikin 
 and bucket. 
 
 The top or cover of the tank is, as we remarked above, the most 
 difficult part of the affair. Arching it over with brickwork as a con- 
 tinuation of the walls makes the strongest job. Where, however, there 
 is not much chance of heavy weights, such as loaded carts, and it may 
 be an occasional traction-engine or itinerant thrashing-machine, a flat 
 cover may do. Here, again, concrete comes in as a suitable material. 
 T-shaped angle iron or steel beams are laid across the tank a foot or 
 two apart, and sheets of concrete laid between, as in Fig. 148. Boards 
 propped up from underneath keep the concrete in position until it sets, 
 after which they are taken out. This makes a capital cover and a 
 watertight one. The flat cover enables us, as a comparison of the last 
 fig. wath Fig. 149 will show, to have more water storage for the sam'e 
 depth of excavation than the arch-covered one permits of. The arch 
 takes up more room than the lintel or flat cover, and each must have 
 a certain amount of soil over it. We advocate, as already said, deep 
 and narrow tanks in preference to broad and shallow ones. If it is 
 
 Fig. 1/
 
 1 84 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 impracticable to ,qo deep, then the loss in this direction must be made 
 up in length. Tiiere is a limit here, too, however. But we can 
 duplicate the narrow tank with another alongside, as in Fig. 150. We 
 may, in fact, widen the tank to any size in this way so long as we have 
 
 partitions near enough to allow 
 , \\\\ii^^xT"^*TTTT2;2'/'- °*^ strength either to arch or lintel. 
 
 The partition may either be of 
 brick from top to bottom, with 
 abundance of openings therein for 
 the water to pass to and fro, or it 
 may consist of brick pillars with 
 a girder on top ; or the partitions 
 may have arched openings therein. 
 Somewhere in the top there 
 must be provision made for gain- 
 ing admittance to the tank for its occasional inspection, as well as for 
 cleaning it out and repairing it. The sides of this opening ought, of 
 course, to be carried up clear of the ground, completely watertight, and 
 stand a little height above the same and be closely covered over. It 
 must be after the nature of and as effective as a ship's hatch, in fact. 
 
 A tank constructed on these lines will be capable of retaining 
 unharmed, so far as it is concerned, the water that may be delivered 
 into it. It will be no cheap affair, however. In order that the water 
 may be carried to it as led from the roofs the conductors or drop-pipes 
 must all communicate with Hart traps in the manner described on 
 page no. The Hart traps in their turn have to be carefully jointed to 
 the spigot and faucet fireclay pipe drain that leads to the tank. These 
 drains, how many soever there be, must, when laid, be thoroughly 
 watertight from one end to the other — from the Hart trap to the tank. 
 They should enter the tank as near 
 
 n: 
 
 I 
 
 t5 
 
 ji^i 
 
 the top as possible in order to 
 
 make the most of the storage room. 
 
 To make sure that the drains will 
 
 be out of harm's way from ordinary 
 
 traffic overhead, they should have 
 
 at least eighteen inches of cover; 
 
 but generally more than this 
 
 will have to be allowed on account 
 
 of affording a sufficient cover 
 
 of soil over the top of the tank. 
 
 It is not practicable to fit these tanks with filters that 
 Not very 
 practicable to \v()uld liave any marked degree of efficiency. \\'hen the 
 
 annex a Filter uater is delivered into a tank of the kind it is often in 
 
 to the Tank. , , , /- , ,- 1 rr ^ ^ 
 
 such \()lunie that only a hlter 01 tlie coarsest stun would 
 admit the water as fast as it came. It is by paying proper attention to 
 
 /," ■/,'., ■'// 
 Fig. 150.
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN PRACTICE. 185 
 
 the <:(eneral cleanliness of the various roofs that we can best promote the 
 purity of the water in this instance. If the work be efficiently done on 
 the lines above suggested, all the filter required would be a grating over 
 each of the inlets from the rhones to the conductors. Nothing could 
 get into the water from the ground level, and these gratings would keep 
 back leaves and straws that had found their way to the roofs, the only 
 place left to be guarded against as likely to pass odd matters along with 
 the water that fell thereon. 
 
 An overflow drain from the tank is an essential adjunct. If the tank 
 were large, the overflow would not often be called into service ; still, the 
 tank could not be considered effective unless provision were made 
 for its relief during a time of pressure. A run-ofif or scour-drain is, in 
 order that the tank be complete of its kind, even more essential than 
 the overflow. The tank can never in the absence of this be thoroughly 
 cleaned out. Rarely, however, is such a convenience provided. Its 
 construction generally means so much trouble and expense that it is at 
 times rather meanly passed over by those who ought to know better. 
 Once let the contents of the tank become polluted by disease-causing 
 microbes, it is difficult to see how it could be properly cleaned and 
 disinfected failing such effective aid as a flushing or scouring drain 
 affords on these occasions. 
 
 A tank of this nature requires to be of a considerable size, else it will 
 often be a source of discontent ; it will be found empty at a time Avhen 
 water is most needed. ]\Iore especially is this so in the dairying districts. 
 In spring the roots have become scarce about the place, the cows have 
 begun to calve, and in consequence much sappy food has to be prepared. 
 That means the use of a good deal of water daily. But this is at the 
 time of the year when the rainfall is light, and the stored rain-water is 
 decreasing rapidly. If the tank be not, therefore, of a fair size to start 
 with, the supply of water from such a source will frequently fail at the 
 time it is most wanted. 
 
 Storage for no less than a six-weeks' supply ought properly to be 
 provided. March, April, and May are the trying months. During 
 these, e\'en in times of phenomenal drought, it seldom happens that 
 there are not frequent showers now and again. But these may not be 
 heavy enough to weigh against the daily demand on the dwindling store. 
 It is not a very difficult matter to settle on the size of a 
 
 the^Ank °^ ^^"^ ^^^^^ ^""'^^^ ^^°^^ ^^^^ quantity of water we have just 
 mentioned. Allowing fifteen gallons a day for each cow, 
 and assuming that there is a herd of fifty to be catered for, this means 
 750 gallons a day for the cows alone. But there are the horses and the 
 other live stock at the homestead to be kept in view ; and there is also 
 the house to be provided for. Say that we allow 200 gallons dailv for 
 these inclusive, the total comes up to 950 gallons a day ; but let us fix it 
 at 900. W'e ha\e forty-two days in the six weeks, which at 900 each
 
 1 86 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 amounts to 37,800 gallons in all. Now, it takes six and a <iuarter 
 gallons of water to make a cubic foot of the fluid ; consequently we have 
 a tank of a capacity of 6,048 cubic feet to construct. This is no small 
 affair when it comes to be looked into, either on paper or in reality. 
 We can give no rule for the shape of the tank. That must be governed 
 completely by the circumstances of the case, no two of which are alike. 
 If the proposed site of the tank is on rock or other stuff difficult to 
 excavate, or in a place where underground water is apt to be trouble- 
 some, or over ground that would need much propping up while the 
 excavation was being proceeded with, depth would ha\e to be evaded 
 and the size made up either in the length or the breatdh of the tank. 
 Suppose it were inad\isable to sink no deeper than would give us a tank 
 five feet deep, then if we made it ten feet wide, it would, in order that it 
 possessed the capacity specified, have to be within an inch or two of 
 121 feet long. It can, of course, be made wider than ten feet. It may 
 be twenty feet or it may be fifty feet in width as circumstances dictate. 
 But whatever the width, we would make it some multiple of five, in 
 order that the partitions therein were no further than five feet apart. 
 The arch over this space can be kept flattish without loss of strength ; 
 and it is not a stretch to test too much the powers of the lintel. Seldom, 
 however, is a tank of this size constructed. Affairs of the kind are too 
 often made on more restricted lines, with the result of an occasional 
 water famine. But when rain sets in, the past inconvenience is for- 
 gotten ; and the following spring may be a wet one and allow matters 
 to drift on. 
 
 When the tank is arched over it is the outside part of the brickwork 
 that needs to be made watertight. There is no chance of water forcing 
 its way upwards through the brick covering, but plenty will leak in if 
 it can gain an inlet. There is little use therefore plastering the inside 
 of the arch in the same manner as we suggested the walls should be 
 done. The inner plastering might be continued for five or six inches 
 above the level of the spring of the arch, but no more is needed. The 
 outer plastering, however, is the better to be carried a few inches down 
 from the level of the wallhead. Finished thus, the tank is capable of 
 retaining what is brought to it by the feeders laid for that purpose, and 
 of rejecting whatever seeks an entrance at other points. The concrete 
 of the flat-covered tank, if laid a little thicker than the depth of the angle 
 iron, so as completely to embed the top therein, will be one continuous 
 sheet impervious to water. 
 
 It has to be remembered tliat, unless where it is so con- 
 
 A Pump a 111 r r 1 -1 1- • 
 
 necessary tnved tliat the roof water of any buildmg is set apart for 
 
 Adjunct of the special use of the inmates thereof, and stored at a 
 the Tank. 1 1 , • 1 , • , • , . , . . 
 
 level high enough to gravitate to the points at which it is 
 
 wanted, every drop of water from a supply of this kind has to be pumped 
 
 up from the tank. That alone is a serious drawback to this method of
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN PRACTICE. 187 
 
 securing a supply of water. It is little thought of by those accustomed 
 
 to scarcity of water ; but when the water is assured the constant labour 
 
 implied in ha\ing to pump up all that is required for hourly and daily 
 
 use grows irksome. Unquestionably it is an item of labour which so 
 
 far as lies in the power of the proprietor ought to be spared the occupant 
 
 of the farm. But there are situations where it cannot be avoided, and 
 
 a homestead that is dependent for its water supply on what falls upon 
 
 the roofs of the houses is one of these. Others there are which we shall 
 
 touch upon further on. 
 
 It rarely occurs even at those places where rain-water is 
 
 The ordinary turned to account as above described that there is not 
 
 Horse and 
 
 Duck Pond. some pond or other watering-place which in so far as 
 
 the animals are concerned helps to eke out the main 
 supply. Too often, however, the pond is suffered to become a nuisance. 
 If ducks and geese have free access to it, they help to make matters 
 Avorse ; they stir up the loose sediment and keep the water muddy. 
 When the pond is merely the accumulated surface-water of the 
 surrounding ground it may be empty for long periods, the contents 
 as it approaches ebb being thick mud. But if fed by a streamlet the 
 pond is generally capable of being kept wholesome for most of the 
 year. The outlet of a main drain is often the sole tributary to the 
 pond, contributing liberally in the wet seasons, but not a drop during 
 drought. 
 
 Even the pond that is merely a widening out of some passing stream- 
 let dries up in summer. But it is not during summer that the homestead 
 pond is most in requisition. The live stock are then away in the fields, 
 where they are supposed to ha\e water as well as grass to come and go 
 to at pleasure. It is at the time of hand-feeding, from October till May, 
 that the pond is serviceable, and usually it contains water during this 
 period. At the dairy farm the homestead pond, if available, is visited 
 morning and exening all through summer by the cows as they pass to 
 and fro at milking time. It is at the dairy farm, if anywhere, therefore, 
 that the pond must be attended to. If other water is to be had there, 
 the pond should be abolished. So indeed it ought to be elsewhere, if 
 it be practicable to dispense with it, although horses may safely be 
 treated to water which it would be bad policy to present to milk cows. 
 But we are speaking of it here as supplementary to a ram-water supply. 
 The rain-water supply is rather against there being a large trough con- 
 structed whereat all kinds of stock can drink their fill without making 
 the water filthier for those who come after them, as they are so apt 
 to do when they have to wade into the pond to get a proper mouthful. 
 When the trough is dependent on the pump for being kept full the 
 arrangement never answers well, and this is the reason why a good 
 supplementary watering pond is a good thing to have in connection 
 with a homestead so situated as regards water.
 
 1 88 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 If, however, the pond is to be an adjunct of the homestead, 
 b t^rned^^ let it, no matter how fed, be constructed in such a way 
 to better that there Avill be a i\iinimum of mud at the bottom and 
 
 Account. ^j- g^j^ji^^ ^^ ^Yie top. Let tlie bottom be of some hard, 
 
 impervious material smoothed off in such a manner that it can easily be 
 scraped when it comes to be exposed during drought, or for that part at 
 any time it may be con^•enient to withdraw and divert the water there- 
 from. Let the banks or sides be similarly of a material that will not 
 crumble away under the influence of every mimic wave that spends 
 itself against them. Constructed thus, the pond, whether filled witli 
 surface-water, with the effluent of a main drain, or with water from a 
 passing streamlet, will keep its contents comparatively sweet and whole- 
 some, will be capable of at any time being easily cleansed, and at no 
 tmie, unless when gross carelessness and laziness prevails at the place, 
 will it ever become a nuisance. Ducks and geese may be left to their 
 own sweet wills in a place of this kind. \Mien the silly mood overtakes 
 them and they rush with flapping wdngs from one end to the other, one 
 minute above water and the next beneath, the water will be little the 
 worse for their strange evolutions. It will not, like what liappens in the 
 ordinary farm pond when " the devil enters the ducks," be left as though it 
 were some spent part of a spate. 
 
 In some parts of England, in those districts w^here the subsoil is 
 pervious to water, and none is to be looked for from that source, great 
 care is taken in the construction of watering ponds. Not only is the 
 bottom of the pond carefully scooped out and made firm and smooth, 
 but in addition it has to be left thoroughly watertight. If it were not 
 capable of keeping the water from passing to the subsoil, none of it 
 would remain in the pond. At most places the subsoil is sufficiently 
 retentive to enable us to dispense with this operation. Were it not so, 
 the farm ponds would, we suspect, be very different affairs to those 
 which the most of us are familiar with. 
 
 When water other than that from the roofs of the buildings 
 w ^11 is selected for the wants of the homestead the occupier is 
 
 nearly always saved the labour of pumping by hand. If 
 the water will not come to the place by gravitation, but has to be lifted 
 from a lower level, then, in the latter case, it will be too far away to 
 admit of hand-pumping, for it would never do to have a well sunk so 
 near to the homestead as that implies. A well, unlike the rain-water 
 tank above described, is not an affair intended only to hold water until 
 wanted. The tank admits no water either at side or bottom ; it must 
 come in at the top, without having once touched the soil. But the well 
 is simply an artificial opening underground, sometimes deep and some- 
 times shallow, into which the water in the surrounding subsoil can 
 drain and collect. The rain-water tank, if well constructed, can be 
 ranged alongside the dungstead without liarm to its contents. Were
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN PRACTICE. 189 
 
 the well put there, however, its contents would be on a par with the 
 liquid manure tank. There would be nothing to hinder the drainings 
 from the dungstead finding their way into the well. The well, there- 
 fore, having a " crop for all kmds of corn," is not a safe contrivance to 
 be placed anywhere in or adjoining the homestead. Being no dis- 
 criminator, but ready to welcome all comers, it is easily seen that the 
 subsoil that comes within the influence of the homestead is no place in 
 which to sink a well. We get an instance of this at the close of last 
 chapter, in the latter of the reports by Dr. Aitken. How near it may be 
 with safety to the homestead is entirely dependent on the circumstances 
 of each case. 
 
 It is different, as we mentioned in last chapter, with 
 
 Water from regard to water derived from a source deep down in the 
 a Bore. ^ . ^ 
 
 ground. In boring, we seek to tap a supply far beneath 
 
 anvthing with which the water in the subsoil at the mouth of the bore 
 has to do. If successful, we have delivered at the surface cool w'ater 
 that has undergone the perfection of natural filtration. Surface-water 
 to begin with, the deep-seated water that rises in the bore as it per- 
 colated through earth and rock in its downward course, gradually got rid 
 of all that it carried in suspension. But while doing so it was dissolving 
 substances from the different strata, hard and soft alike, that it penetrated 
 on its way downwards. We may therefore look for the water from a bore 
 to be thoroughly pure as regards matters in suspension, but, as a rule, 
 considerably hard. It will have cast off what solid matters joined com- 
 pany with it in the air and on the ground — dust, microbes, mud, and all ; 
 but it will be pretty heavily charged with the various salts of the earth 
 that are unable to resist the solvent property of water. 
 
 This will not hold good unless the bore-hole be protected for the first 
 twenty feet or so at the top. If bordered there by the earth or rock alone, 
 unless the latter is dense and homogeneous, then therS is nothing to 
 hinder the water in the surface soil from draining into the bore as it 
 does, although in a freer manner, into the cavity of the well. But to 
 guard against this the upper end of the bore, from the surface soil to 
 where the rock, at any rate, is struck, is rendered secure by means of 
 zinc tubes fitted closely therein. This precaution enables the water 
 from the bore to be obtained quite free of contamination from the 
 surface soil. 
 
 At this rate the bore could, so far as immunity from contamination 
 therefrom is concerned, be sunk alongside a dunghill. But the bore, if 
 formed beside the buildings, leads, as the well does, to the obligation 
 of hand-pumping on the part of the farm hands. It is not suitable, 
 therefore, to place it there if the farm be large and much water in con- 
 sequence be required. At the small homestead, however, the bore may 
 be within hand-reach of the kitchen door. We have in our mind"s eye 
 two or three instances of homesteads where the bore is so situated, and
 
 I go THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 always ready to respond to the pump-handle with a delivery of clear, 
 sparkling, and cool water. 
 
 W'e have in our mind some others, too, sunk at some little distance 
 from the homestead, and at a higher le\ el, the water from which 
 gravitates in a steady " pirl " day and night all the year round down to 
 the steading without aid from pump or other mechanical contrivance. 
 It is in cases like these where the bore is the most serviceable. It can, 
 when thus situated, with regard to the farm buildings, be made to yield 
 a steady supply without the labour of pumping. The kind of bore we 
 speak about rarely, however, delivers water over the sides of the opening 
 at the surface. The w^ater generally rises no higher inside the bore than 
 the water-level of the surrounding ground. But if the ground in which 
 the bore is sunk be a little higher than the site of the homestead it is no 
 difficult matter to run a drain or lay a pipe from a little below- the water 
 level in the bore down to the steading, along which the water can 
 crravitate freely. Although the bore is but a small opening, usually no 
 more than three inches in diameter (generally four from the surface 
 until the rock is tapped and three thereafter), yet, if a successful one, it 
 is in direct communication with water-bearing strata that are ready to 
 avail themselves of the relief that an expansion pipe such as the bore 
 resembles yields to them, and in consequence is almost certain to be 
 kept constantly supplied with water. Hard pumping has little or no 
 effect in lowering the water-line of the bore. 
 
 If, therefore, it is competent to get the supply pipe connected to the 
 column of water in the bore sufficiently far below- the water-line referred 
 to, we are insured of a steady supply of good, wholesome water. It may 
 be hard, but it will be free of the kinds of pollution that are characteristic 
 of water obtained from the surface of the ground, or from the subsoil 
 not far beneath. Sometinjes it answ^ers better to form a watertight tank 
 at the head of the bore and carry the supply-pipe therefrom. This is 
 advisable when the yield of the bore is not very strong as affording a 
 store in advance of the ordinary issue from the orifice. Or, for that 
 part, there may be a receiving tank dow^n somewhere in the neighbour- 
 hood of the buildings, with pipes led therefrom to the \'arious points of 
 the homestead where the delivery of w-ater is required. But these are 
 details regarding w'hich there can be no fixed rules laid down, for each 
 case must be dealt with according to surrounding circumstances. 
 
 Boring for water in the small way we have been discuss- 
 Watef on'^the '^^" ^^' unfortunately, very uncertain work. On the big 
 small Scale scale of which we read about it being done in connection 
 usualfy rather ^^"^^^'^ artesian wells there is no uncertainty about the 
 uncertain in matter. The latter are sunk on principles which are 
 ^^" *^' ruled by the geological features of wide areas of country. 
 
 For every hundred feet we go down, by means of our hand-worked 
 drill, the artesian well sinker, with his efficient machinery, penetrates a
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY —IN PRACTICE. 191 
 
 thousand, until he taps the locked-up water of some stratum which is 
 ever on the watch for an outlet, and will, when the opportunity occurs, 
 rush up the bore-hole with a force sufficient to lift itself some feet clear 
 of the surface. The pent-up water may be collected in a large hollow 
 or fold in the strata that affects a large tract of country. Nearly the 
 whole of the rainfall that is imbibed by the latter eventually collects in 
 the hollow or fold in which there is certain to be some stratum or other 
 impervious to water, and beyond which it cannot descend. In this 
 hollow, tlien, the water has to lie, all the relief it is ever likely to get, 
 under ordinary circumstances, consisting in spilling over the edges in 
 the times of plenty. A bore let down into a water source like this is 
 pretty sure of an endless supply of good, pure water. 
 
 The geologist can tell when the conditions favourable to artesian 
 well-making exist, and, once assured on this point, the well-sinker has 
 no doubt of water plentifully rewarding his labours. But it demands 
 no great stretch of intellect to foresee that these conditions will not hold 
 good where the rocks of a country, favourably situated otherwise for the 
 purpose, are traversed by fissures or cracks. These would turn our 
 hollows into cracked basins, as it were, and water would not lodge 
 therein. The conditions favourable to this method of water-procuring 
 are, therefore, only met with where the geological formation of the 
 district are either of a comparatively recent origin, and therefore little 
 knocked about, or, if far back in the earth's history, has been but to a 
 slight extent the sport of the forces that have torn and twisted tlie 
 earth's crust into its present shape. 
 
 But the boring likely to be undertaken in the interests of a homestead 
 is a small affair in comparison with one viewed in connection with the 
 lie of the rocks within a wide area. In one case the bore is but a pin- 
 prick to the long probe that affords an outlet to the deep-seated waters 
 that are set at liberty in the case of the artesian well. The latter, as we 
 have already said, takes into account the geological formation of the district, 
 w^hereas our undertaking is no wider in its reach than a few acres at the 
 outside. It is, as a rule, all guess-work with us. We may be success- 
 ful in finding water or we may not — all according to circumstances that 
 we are not in a position to cope with, ^\'e may at one time strike 
 water at an early stage of operations, but towards the termination of 
 the job, having to penetrate a fair depth when about the business so 
 that a good supply is made sure of, may lose the whole of it by coming 
 in contact with a seam that will absorb the water or give it free passage, 
 without its having to rise to the water-level in the opening. A hole is 
 then knocked in the bottom of our cask with a vengeance. Or we may 
 find after driving the drill a hundred feet or so down that from some 
 similar reason the water will not rise high enough in the hole to be 
 available at the surface, even with the aid of a pump. We cannot help 
 smiling to ourselves at an incident that happened during the sinking of
 
 ig2 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 a bore with a \ iew to supplying a dairy-farm homestead with a supply of 
 water. Water had been found and lost as aboxe, but the leak had been 
 made ti^-ht by means of zinc casing, and hope was high that the work 
 would, after a little more sinking, be successful. Sunday then inter- 
 vened. During the long, idle day the farmer betook himself to sounding 
 the well. His apparatus was primitive, consisting of one of his beam- 
 scale w-eio'hts with a string attached to the ring. But the well was deep 
 (between ninety and a hundred feet), and the impro\ised line was so 
 weak at places that it parted under the strain of withdrawal, and there- 
 after the weight most effectually barred the way to further operations 
 in that bore-hole. 
 
 Borino- was then given up in disgust and attention turned to an 
 excellent spring half a mile or so from the homestead, but eighty or 
 ninety feet lower down. To sink another bore where it w^as known the 
 chances of obtaining water were doubtful seemed questionable policy. 
 Had the result been less uncertain, it would nevertheless have been 
 faced before the spring was taken in hand. The spring-water was both 
 abundant and of good quality, and was well away from the risk of any 
 serious contamination. There being no other source of water available 
 (all parties being against having recourse to the roof water), there was 
 nothing for it but to pull or push the spring-water along uphill to the 
 homestead. A Avindmill was set to do the work, and admirably it did 
 it. A small gathering basin, or well, was constructed at the spring. 
 This consisted of two or three large fireclay plain pipes, one on top of 
 the other, sunk so as to enclose the eye of the well, and finished with a^ 
 flat stone on top. Into this well an end of the pipe was led, the other 
 terminating in a tank situated among the farm buildings. The wind- 
 mill was erected at a point on the line of the pipe w' here it was considered 
 there would be a draught so long as there was any motion at all in the 
 air thereabouts. From this coign of vantage it kept agoing the pump 
 that w-ith one hand drew water from the spring while with the other 
 it forced it to the level of the homestead. A 2Vinch iron pipe 
 was laid from the w^ell to the pump, and a 2 -inch one from the pump 
 to the storage tank. The storage tank was made large enough to hold 
 a week's supply of water, and was placed at an elevation sufficient to 
 allow the water to run by gravitation to the several points where it was 
 required. The tank in this instance was made of wood, lined inside 
 with sheet lead, and it had a complete cover of galvanized iron. This 
 is a method of securing a supply of water that in the event of a 
 gravitation supply not being practicable can often be fallen back on. 
 
 The first essential of a gravitation water supply after that 
 
 Gravitation ^f quality of course is, as tlie name implies, that it issues 
 Supplies. ^ -^ . . r > 
 
 from a source situated high enough above the homestead 
 
 to allow it to run thereto of its own accord when afforded a proper 
 
 channel to course along in. If the source be a tiny rill, the channel
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN PRACTICE. 
 
 193 
 
 thereof must be deepened and ^videned out so as to form a collecting 
 space or head of water into which, near to the bottom, the conducting 
 pipe can be introduced. When one is sure that the inlet of the pipe 
 will always be covered by the pent-up water, tlais may answer well 
 enough ; but if there be doubt on this point it is advisable to divert 
 water from this rill to a storage tank and make it the head of the water 
 supply. The tank may be placed close to the rill or at some distance 
 just as circumstances admit. This gives us a more satisfactory system. 
 Running the water to the tank before admitting it to the supply pipe 
 enables us better to arrest any sand or fine gravel that happens to 
 accompany the water being drawn from the rill. The mouth of the pipe 
 is placed in the side of the rill so as to avoid the sediment at the bottom ; 
 still, there is certain to be more or less at times drawn into the pipe. 
 The tank will retain the heavier of the suspended matter, more especially 
 if we provide it with diaphragms such as are represented in Fig. 151. 
 The water is admitted at one end of the tank and drawn off 
 at the other. 
 x\ny sand or '^ ' ^ 
 similar matter 
 that is carried 
 in from the rill 
 will as the run 
 of the water is 
 checked when it 
 encounters the 
 contents of the 
 
 tank tend to settle. At any rate, only the lightest of the matters in suspen- 
 sion will be carried over the barrier. The outlet pipe is kept, it will be 
 noticed, an inch or two above the bottom of the tank in order to be clear of 
 any sediment; so be fore the water escapes from the tank it must be carrying 
 less along with it than it was doing when it constituted a part of the rill. 
 Were we to pass the water through a layer of gravel or stone chips, 
 roughish to begin with and finer towards where the water issued, a good 
 deal of the lighter and more minute matters in suspension would no 
 doubt be arrested. But unless these contrivances are regularly attended 
 to they are better omitted from the homestead water supplies. They 
 too often serve but to concentrate noxious matters which, if allowed to 
 pass with the water, are never noticeable to our senses, and are so much 
 diluted or show so small a percentage as to be comparatively harmless 
 otherwise. But arresting these matters at a certain point and allo\\'ing 
 them gradually to accumulate, and all the time forcing the whole of the 
 water to find a passage through the mass, is a mild form 'of "poisoning 
 the water at the fountain." It is giving any dangerous organism that 
 has found its way into the source whence the supply is drawn a capital 
 forcing ground, as well as ample sustenance which in the absence of 
 
 M.H. o 
 
 Fig. 151.
 
 194 T^^ MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 this concentrated supply it might have difficulty in findinj; when the 
 various matters are sparsely scattered throughout the bulk of the water. 
 The filter at the farm is therefore, as we remarked before, better to be 
 left out of reckoning. For one who will attend to it there are nineteen 
 who will not — if indeed they know in what form this attention has to be 
 gone about, and why. 
 
 Much the same, so far as collecting the water preparatory 
 Walter from ^o allowing it entrance to the supply pipe is concerned, 
 Surface applies when we have recourse to the water of surface 
 
 prings. springs. These are as a rule not very difficult to locate. 
 
 A practised eye can soon tell where a spring can be struck. Oftener 
 than otherwise the water is unable to force its way to the surface of the 
 ground directly over the " eye " of the spring, and appears at the top, at 
 a distance which varies according to circumstances. But it is seldom 
 difficult to trace up a surface spring from where the water makes its 
 appearance to its originating point. Indeed, the observant man can, 
 judging from the natural features of the ground, usually take upon 
 himself to say " If you sink here, I am almost certain you will catch a 
 spring." We have never come in contact with a water expert — such an 
 one, we mean, as makes use of the twig, or so-called " divining rod." We 
 know plenty of men, however, who, while ignorant of geology as a 
 whole, are sufficiently well versed in the nature of that part of the 
 earth's crust that comes within their ken as to be able to act as pretty 
 accurate guides in a hunt for effective springs. 
 
 It is not, however, so much the difficulty of tracing springs home to 
 their sources that gives us trouble in finding water suitable for the 
 homestead as making it easily available thereto when found. The 
 spring or springs selected must, of course, be well out of reach of the 
 influence of contaminating matters either from the homestead or from 
 dwelling-houses of any kind. It saves trouble and otherwise is more 
 satisfactory when we can build our well or gathering-place right 
 over the eye of the spring. This ensures immunity from surface 
 contamination. We are then able to bring spring and homestead into 
 direct communication, as it were, without the w^ater ever seeing day- 
 light. Generally speaking, however, it unfortunately happens that this 
 is only practicable in those flatfish positions that are found at a lower 
 level than the site occupied by the homestead, which means forcing up 
 instead of leading down the water. But when it can be done in this 
 way for a gravitation supply the job is more effective than where the 
 w'ater is to be led to a gathering tank as above, and thence to the home- 
 stead. The water is more in contact with the soil, or at any rate more 
 under its influence, in the one way than in the other. When we are 
 fortunate enough to meet with a good spring well above the level of the 
 homestead it is usually found issuing from rock, or from the side or 
 immediate base of a slope, therefore not easy of imprisonment in a large
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN PRACTICE. 195 
 
 enough well of the kind above implied. In this case we are obliged to form 
 the reservoir away a little from the spring. It is not always impracticable, 
 however, even on the high ground to have spring and reservoir in one. 
 The nature of the tank or reservoir to be formed for the 
 
 The Nature of purpose of collecting the overflowings of a surface spring 
 the Collecting , ^^ ,. , ^ ■, r r t -i 
 
 Tank. ^^^ anordmg a good store or head of water for distribu- 
 
 tion at the homestead depends, of course, \ery much on 
 the surrounding circumstances. But something on the same lines as we 
 suggest at the beginning of this chapter in connection with the storage 
 of roof water applies here also. It does not require, however, to be any- 
 thing approaching that in size. What is needed in this case is more in 
 the way of making sure that the pipe which conveys the water to the 
 homestead will be always full than anything else. Were the tank 
 a wanting, there would be nothing but what issued regularly from the 
 spring to keep the pipe agoing, which it might not be able to do unless 
 of exceptional volume. But gathered together in a reservoir, the units, 
 so to speak, which, as they issued from the spring, were impotent by 
 themselves, now joined together in force, are capable of acting as a 
 volume of water does. 
 
 The stronger the spring the smaller the reservoir requires to be so far 
 as serving the part of reserve to the spring is concerned. But then, on 
 the other hand, we have to keep in view the quantity of water that is 
 likely to be drawn in a short space of time or in one spell at the buildings. 
 The strong spring, however, will be able to deliver almost as much 
 water into the tank as can be withdrawn from it, while the weak one, 
 unable to keep pace with the outgoing supply, requires a long start, or 
 what is the same thing, a large reservoir somewhere between the well 
 and the homestead. But these, as we have so often repeated in this and 
 in other connections, are matters that must be decided on the spot. 
 
 Whatever the size fixed for the tank, we would build it. 
 
 Its Con- ^g before, of brick — the bricks bedded either in lime or 
 
 struction. 
 
 cement ; if the former, the whole inner surface of the 
 
 walls being plastered with cement. The bottom we would have con- 
 structed of concrete. Where the circumstances are favourable it may 
 be wholly constructed of concrete. For the sake of making it easy to 
 cover over it is advisable to make it long, narrow, and deep, rather than 
 short, shallow, and wide. Two-and-a-half or three feet wide is an ample 
 size for a thing of the kind. It is not like when we are constructing a 
 reservoir that catches water only now and again, as happens with the 
 rain-water one. At present we are dealing with one into which water 
 is being constantly delivered. The delivery may at times be small, but 
 never nil, else a mistake has been made in selecting the source of supply. 
 In no instance in a supply of this sort need the reservoir be larger than 
 will contain a full day's supply for the homestead. The tank will make 
 up by night what it loses by day. 
 
 o 2
 
 196 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Flagstones answer well enough to cover a tank of this description. 
 If allowed to overlap the sides a little, tlie workmen can easily remove 
 them and lay bare the whole affair at any time this is wanted. And the 
 flags can be laid close enough together to prevent soil or other matter 
 dropping into the tank. These are better left rough at the edges than 
 sawn, because it is advisable to plaster the joints wnth a little lime, and 
 the rough joint renders this easier than the smooth one. The top may 
 then.be earthed over, and all is out of reach of sun, wind, and frost. 
 When the water supply is on a larger scale than our description implies 
 the tank or reservoir may, with advantage, be roofed o\er — ha\e a house 
 or shed erected over it, in fact. When this is done the tank is at all 
 times open to inspection by the one whose duty it is to attend thereto. 
 But an expense of this kind is not considered necessary in regard to the 
 homestead supply. 
 
 If it is practicable to place the tank on sloping ground in 
 How to place such a w^ay that an end or side can have a drain led into 
 lessen^Dlgging. ^^ without much deep cutting, unless when close up to the 
 tank, being necessitated, much work is saved. The exit 
 pipe has to be placed near to the bottom level of the tank — not exactly 
 at the bottom, but two or three inches above, for the reason already 
 given, and this means considerable cutting in forming the pipe track. 
 But over and above the exit pipe it is advisable to provide this tank also 
 with a scour-drain, by means of which the tank can be completely emptied 
 when it is thought necessary to give it a thorough cleaning out. This, 
 it is needless to say, requires to be carried in below the level of the 
 base of the tank, which implies a deeper track than serves for the 
 supply pipe leading to the homestead. Moreover, the scour-drain must 
 have a clear fall to its outlet, whereas it is competent, once we are well 
 clear of the tank, and so long as we do not rise too near to the level of 
 the water in the tank, to raise the supply pipe and ride over obstacles 
 that intercept its path. But the scour-drain must go direct to its 
 destination in one or more steady gradients. This is perhaps rather 
 extreme. There are few instances where the scour-drain would \\^.x& to 
 be carried very far to ensure it a proper outlet. Where this did happen 
 the drain would in all probability be dispensed with. It is, in fact, 
 oftener omitted than made a part of the arrangement, even where 
 circumstances are favourable to its adoption. At any rate, the less 
 deep drain-cutting it is necessary to do in connection with the tank the 
 better for all parties concerned. If one bears in mind that six feet or so 
 will be about the depth of the excavation preparatory to tank-building, 
 it is easy to see how much the cutting of the drains adds to the expense 
 of constructing the tank. A minimum of two feet deep from the surface 
 of the ground does for the position of the supply pipe once it is clear of 
 the tank. This keeps the contents safe from frost in winter, and prevents 
 the sun's influence being felt in summer. But unless the nature of the
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN PRACTICE. 197 
 
 ground favours a quick approach to the surface on the part of the scour- 
 pipe, the deeper of the two to begin with, a long deep pipe or drain track 
 is the result. 
 
 It is well to have some contrivance whereby the water can be diverted 
 past the tank or cut off therefrom at any time this is desired. It is 
 necessary to do so when the tank is being cleaned out or is needful of 
 repair. A side drain into which the water running towards the tank can, 
 as wanted, be diverted and led round the side to the exit end of the tank, 
 and there be joined either to the scour-drain or the drain that leads away 
 the surplus water, gives one the necessary control over the feed pipe. 
 
 It is essential to provide the tank with an overflow pipe of some sort. 
 If the spare water issuing therefrom is to be used for supplying live 
 stock in the fields, it had better be led to them in a covered drain. If 
 suffered to run into an open ditch, it will soon be converted into puddle. 
 But in whatever way it is to be made a\ailable to the animals, it should 
 not be placed at their disposal until it has been led away some distance 
 from the site of the tank. If the distance is not too great, it serves a 
 good end to lead the overflow water to the neighbourhood of the home- 
 stead, there to act the part of tributary to such a pond as we described 
 a few pages back. 
 
 Ordinary drain-pipes are good enough for laying both the 
 The Water- scour and the overflow^ drains w"ith. But for leading water 
 to the Tank from the spring to the tank only jointed fireclay pipes, as 
 before described, ought to be used. And the joints should 
 be rendered tight, as before, with cement. If this is overlooked, roots 
 of various kinds will insert themselves through the joints into the pipes, 
 and eventually come to interfere considerably, if not entirely obstruct 
 the bore of the channel. Sometimes these jointed fireclay pipes are 
 pressed into service as supply pipes for the homestead. This is generally 
 done to save expense, but it never answers where any pressure is put 
 upon the pipes. So long as thev are laid with a slope from the head of 
 the drain to the foot, and an open end is left at the latter point, they do 
 well enough, but tliey will not bear a closed end. They act admirably 
 as a channel through which water is obliged to run along and evacuate 
 at once ; but they fail entirely when made to do duty as a retaining 
 medium as well as a conduit or aqueduct. 
 
 ^, ^ , Lead and iron are the two materials in use for water 
 
 The Supply 
 
 Pipes : Lead supply pipes that have to resist pressure. Lead pipes 
 
 Piping. \rA\G few joints, the metal being capable of elongation 
 
 into continuous lengths of piping limited only by their handiness for 
 
 manipulation. Each coil can be rolled out in the pipe track as it comes 
 
 from the manufacturer, joints only being needed between the respective 
 
 coils. No other w^ork is needed. No preparation is applied to the lead 
 
 by way of protecting on one side from corrosion in the soil or from the 
 
 action of water on the other. The few ends are soldered together and
 
 198 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 the pipe is ready for service. The weight per running foot rules the 
 price of the pipe, consequently either increased thickness of the lead or 
 enlargement of bore makes it dearer. 
 
 Iron is the more generally used of the two. It is much 
 ron iping. d^eaper than lead, which fact allows us to make use of 
 larger bore piping than the price of the latter would justify us in adopt- 
 ing. A two-inch iron pipe can be laid as cheaply as a half-inch lead 
 one, and this is a great advantage, because a biggish supply pipe holds 
 a considerable store of water to begin with, and allows the water to run 
 through it more freely. The iron pipes are manufactured in lengths 
 running from six to twelve feet. They are cast in moulds standing 
 upon end, and have spigot and faucet or socket joints. In some cases 
 the joints are made smooth and tight-fitting and in others are left rough 
 and loose, something like those of the fireclay pipes. The former are 
 simply jointed by inserting the small and slightly tapered end of one 
 pipe into the correspondingly enlarged end of another, and tapping the 
 pipe hoTne with a sharp knock or two of a wooden mallet. The formation 
 of rust on the clean faces thus brought together is thereafter trusted to 
 as the bond of attachment between the two. The pipes with loose 
 joints are fastened together by means of rope yarn and lead forced in 
 by hammer and chisel between the faucet of one pipe and the spigot of 
 another. The lead is first run in molten and afterwards hammered 
 home. The joints are caulked, as it were, with lead, the rope yarn being 
 first inserted to form a sort of cushion for the lead to bear against, and at 
 the same time hinder the lead from being forced into the freeway of the 
 pipe — for a similar purpose to which we saw it was put in the joining 
 together of the fireclay pipes we referred to in a previous chapter. 
 
 _, ^„ ^ Iron, beinsf less capable than lead of withstanding the 
 
 The Effects of ' . ^^ ^ . ° 
 
 Soil and of corrosive effects both of soil and water unless protected 
 
 Water on Iron jj-^ gQ,-,-^g -way, is apt soon to wear out. In fact, a two-inch 
 Pipes. . . -^ ^ . . 
 
 iron pipe runs greater danger of rusting up or becommg 
 
 choked witliencrustation of some kind or other than a half-inch lead pipe 
 runs a chance of becoming obstructed by deposits on its internal surface. 
 It is usual, therefore, to dip iron water-pipes in a solution resembling 
 thick black varnish, and thus coat them within and without with a 
 material that helps them considerably to resist the action of water on 
 one side and the various agencies at work in the soil on the other. The 
 only drawback to this varnishing of the pipes is the sort of tarry taste 
 it gives to the water that at first passes through them. But this soon 
 dies away. In a few weeks if much water be drawn it becomes gradu- 
 ally imperceptible. Water pipes of wrought iron galvanized are to be 
 had, but these are of small bore, and are used for distributing water 
 throughout houses and other buildings in place of lead piping. These 
 are not intended for underground use, but not infrequently we see them 
 doing duty there. That is bad economy, iiowever.
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN PRACTICE. 199 
 
 The Effects of Some soils are more severe on lead than others. This 
 the same on depends entirely on the nature of the emanations there- 
 iping. fj-Qj^-^^ either gaseous or liquid. Both carbonate of lead and 
 sulphate of lead are among the most insoluble salts of the metal, conse- 
 quently it stands to reason that neither the presence of much carbon 
 di-oxide or carbonic acid nor sulphuric acid in the soil can have much 
 corrosive effect on lead. If either had free access to the metal, the result 
 would in all probability be the formation round the pipe of an insoluble 
 coating, proof against the constant attacks of the universal solvent already 
 dealt with. But in a soil where nitric acid may come in contact with the 
 lead the piping has less chance of keeping itself intact. Nitrate of lead is 
 one of the soluble salts of lead, and were it formed on the exterior of the 
 pipe, that coating would soon disappear under the influence of water. 
 When it went another would be formed, and ere long the pipe would be 
 too thin to hold its contents within bounds. Acetic acid, if present in 
 the soil, would have a similar effect on the lead. Acetate of lead — sugar 
 of lead as it is popularly designated — is another soluble salt of that 
 metal, and there is every probability of acetic acid, although in small 
 quantities, being present in some classes of soil. In fact, it has every 
 chance of being near at hand wherever there is much nitric acid about. 
 Both are accompaniments of active decomposition of animal and 
 vegetable matter in the soil. 
 
 The same holds good in the interior of the pipe. If nitric acid be 
 present in the water that passes through it, the lead will become affected 
 as before. Nitrate of lead will be formed and become dissolved in the 
 water and in this way the pipe will be gradually eaten into. But in prac- 
 tice these eventualities rarely reach perceptibility. We are not supposed 
 to make use of water that shows more than a trace of nitric acid. The 
 water is more likely to contain sufficient free carbonic acid to form an 
 insoluble skin of carbonate of lead throughout the bore of the pipe. 
 
 _ . , The piping, whether it be of iron or of lead, is apter to 
 
 Points to be , , r • 1 • 
 
 observed in cause trouble on account of miproper laymg than by 
 
 laying Supply reason of fallinsr under the sway of chemical action either 
 Pipes. . . ^. ^ . ..... 
 
 m the water it gives passage to or in the soil in which it 
 
 is buried. There is no necessity for the pipe being laid in one gradient. 
 
 In fact, this can rarely be accomplished. It may be led up and down 
 
 as in Fig. 152, provided none of the crests of the waves or curves of the 
 
 undulating length of piping rise above the level of the outlet from the 
 
 tank, else there will be the certainty of the water refusing to run 
 
 whenever its level within the tank coincides with the top of the curve. In 
 
 the troughs between waves, however, there it is easy to understand will 
 
 sediment accumulate, more especially if for one thing the water moves 
 
 a little sluggishly through the pipe, and for another the depressions 
 
 be abrupt and not wide across. Care must be taken therefore to flatten 
 
 out as much as possible all sinuosities of this sort, to keep down the
 
 200 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 crests and keep up the troughs. They can seldoni be a\oided, but in 
 this manner they can be rendered comparatively harmless. 
 
 In the worst of the hollows it is advisable where it can be managed 
 without much trouble to fit scour-cocks on the pipe by means of which 
 any sediment that collects in these situations can, when water is plentiful, 
 be washed out of the waterway. A main drain or a ditch sometimes 
 comes in handy as a way of escape for the water so discharged from the 
 supply pipe. If such or something equivalent is not immediately within 
 reach, a branch pipe can be carried thereto. The scour must at any 
 rate have a clear outfall, therefore its emptying-place must be some 
 inches beneath the level of the supply pipe. 
 
 And at the crests of the undulations it is good policy to have air-cocks 
 fitted to the pipe. Where these are awanting from a supply pipe that 
 goes up and down as we are assuming, it takes a long time to get the 
 air expelled therefrom and its place taken by the water, even with a 
 
 Fig. 1=52. 
 
 good head to fall back upon. The water is unable to force the air 
 over the crests. When the pipe is on one gradient, or closely approach- 
 ing thereto, the water Avhenever admitted clears the air before it as it 
 rushes for the open valves at the foot. But where there are heights and 
 hollows in the way it cannot so readily push along the air in its front. 
 The air, a gas, and light in weight, will ascend readily enough. It 
 naturally makes for the highest parts of the pipe. It will then pack 
 into small space under the force of the water endea\ouring to push its 
 way over the ascent, but eventually will have to yield to circumstances 
 and seek room for expansion on the other side of the rise. If, however, 
 the rise and fall make but a narrow fold, the air can hardly be forced 
 out of the crown thereof. The sides are so steep that unless exceptional 
 pressure is at our disposal the confined air will not be driven down the 
 opposite side by the advancing water. But with air-cocks attached to 
 the pipe at the critical points we are referring to all we have got to do. 
 while filling the pipe with water, is to open the first cock and let the air 
 escape, and when water begins to flow from it to shut it off, and so on
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN PRACTICE. 
 
 20I 
 
 until the pipe is full from end to end. Without their aid it is often a 
 
 tedious business to get the pipe filled. 
 
 It is sometimes practicable to syphon the water out of a 
 deep-seated well and lead it to a lower level. Usually, 
 however, this is practicable only in regard to small 
 supplies. All the same, there is nothing to hinder its 
 application to the class of supplies we are discussing. 
 'I'he water of a steady spring capable of supplying a 
 
 homestead could easily be syphoned to the buildings and there be stored 
 
 in a tank large enough to hold an ample reserve. But a ball-cock 
 
 Sometimes 
 practicable 
 to apply the 
 Syphon to the 
 Purposes of 
 the Water 
 Supply. 
 
 Fig. 153. 
 
 would be needed at the end of the pipe, otherwise the well would be 
 emptied right off. The adoption of the syphon saves much mitial deep 
 cutting ; for instead of having to cut a track for the pipe away from near 
 the bottom of the well, all we have got to do, as we represent in Fig. 153, 
 is to lead the pipe over the side. The principle of the syphon, it is 
 almost needless to say, is, as 
 depicted in Fig. 154, that 
 water contained in any vessel 
 or cavity can be drawn there- 
 from by means of a pipe, one 
 end of which is inserted in 
 the water, the other, the 
 longer of the two, dipping 
 over its edge and liberating 
 the water at a lower level. 
 In this instance the operator 
 is able to run off .a decoction 
 free of lees, or sedmient, with- 
 out moving the vessel. The Fig. 154. 
 bend of the syphon must at 
 
 no time be at a greater height above the surface of the water in the 
 well than is equal to a column of water that can be sustained in a
 
 202 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 tube forming; a vacuum by the pressure of the atmosphere. It must 
 be a little lower, in fact, to allow for friction between water and 
 pipe, and for eventualities. The syphon, therefore, cannot be expected 
 to be reliable if the short leg, as in Fig. 153, the one that dips into the 
 well, is longer than tliirty feet— that is to say, from where the pipe bends 
 
 over the side to the 
 bottom of the well. 
 We cannot adapt the 
 syphon to the rise and 
 fall of the contents of 
 the well, and conse- 
 quently are obliged to 
 take the bottom of the 
 water as the standard 
 whereon to base the 
 proportions of our 
 apparatus. 
 
 The air must of 
 course be withdrawn 
 or ejected from the 
 syphon pipe before the 
 water will flow through 
 it. It would be enough 
 to begin with to get the 
 pipe filled with water 
 between a and h. The 
 latter point is a little 
 the lower of the two, 
 and therefore the limit 
 it represents is the 
 heavier, and so cap- 
 able of drawing up 
 the other, after which 
 the automaton begins 
 to work. An air-pump 
 attached to the lower 
 end of the supply pipe 
 will soon exhaust the 
 air in the pipe suffi- 
 ciently to induce the 
 water to take its place, and once the pipe is full there is no more 
 bother with the affair so long as the water holds out and no harm 
 comes to the pipe. But once air gains admittance, either at 
 the high end of tlie pipe, on account of water running short, 
 or anywhere m its length between the points a and h, so tha 
 
 Fig.
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY— IN PRACTICE. 203 
 
 the continuity of the core of water is broken, the syphon ceases to 
 
 act. It is a good plan to have an air-pump attached as a fixture to the 
 
 syphon pipe. This makes one independent of professional aid when the 
 
 core of water gets broken through other causes than the fracture of the 
 
 pipe. Lead, it can easily be understood, is the best material for the 
 
 construction of a pipe of this kind. 
 
 The ordinary domestic suction-pump (Fig. 155) resembles 
 
 The Ordinary ^|^g syphon pipe in SO far that, like the latter, it is of non- 
 Lift-Pump. J f f f 
 
 effect in raising water to a greater height than the air is 
 
 capable of supporting it in an inverted tube or vessel forming a vacuum 
 
 internally. We work the pump and exhaust the air within the pipe 
 
 leading down therefrom into the water we are seeking to raise. The 
 
 pressure of the air upon the water forces it up the pipe ready for 
 
 delivery at the under valve of the pump ^vhenever we bring the handle 
 
 into play. But the air will force the water no further up the pump-pipe 
 
 than it will up the short leg of the syphon — hardly so far indeed. This 
 
 height varies with the pressure of the atmosphere. When the barometer 
 
 stands at twenty-eight inches the air is supporting a column of mercury 
 
 that length. Mercury is thirteen-and-a-half times heaA'ier than water, 
 
 therefore a water barometer used under the same conditions would 
 
 register thirty-one-and-a-half feet. But pumps and barometers are 
 
 hardly on the same footing as regards finish, &c. 
 
 D „ -.a; r. Providing a supply of water in the various fields is often 
 
 Providing * ff j 
 
 Water in the a more momentous work than making sure of the same at 
 
 '^ ^' the homesteads, and one which to a greater extent than 
 
 the other calls upon the resource and skill in interpreting local signs 
 of the water-finder. It is one, however, that is hardly within our 
 province at present. But we touch on it merely to say that in this 
 connection alone is it pardonable to put to use the old-fashioned surface 
 well excavated in the first place as a wide, circular hole and completed 
 by filling it up again with stones packed loosely therein, but leaving a 
 circular opening in the centre. The clear opening is the well proper, 
 although the interstices of the loose building are there in its company to 
 serve the purposes of storage. Failing brooks, burns, becks, and surface 
 springs, there is often nothing for it but recourse to the " cradled well," 
 as an arrangement of the kind is termed. It is good management to 
 make one serve several fields if such can be accomplished. A well of 
 this sort is pardonable in the field but not in the vicinity of the home- 
 stead. It lays itself open for pollution in any situation where such is 
 likelv to arise, and once afl'ected it is almost past purification.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 "Power" at the Homestead. 
 
 Now that horse-power is nearly obsolete, there are as yet 
 Available for ^^^^^ the three great forces, wind, water, and the expansive 
 "Power" at the power of gases as exemplified in steam and oil engines 
 made much use of for motive power at the homestead. The 
 first mentioned was at one time more popular than nowadays. It is too 
 uncertain, however, to be depended upon to perform work at stated times 
 — to be ready when w^anted, in short, — and in consequence has become 
 obsolete as a motive power for thrashing, which is the one operation at 
 the homestead that requires very much expenditure of force. But it is 
 coming into favour again as a force for doing work that does not require 
 to be performed at stated intervals, pumping up water, for instance — 
 work than can be done any time within certain periods so long as a 
 certain amount is carried out during these times. 
 
 Water is very different in this respect. Where it is available in 
 sufficient quantity it is the most serviceable of the three for the require- 
 ments of the steading. It is ready the minute its services are needed, 
 and it can be turned off without more ado when the work is done. Its 
 installation is seldom expensive ; and if this is thoroughly done the upkeep 
 is trifling. 
 
 With steam, on the other hand, the installation is costly, and the 
 upkeep considerable. Moreover, a skilled attendant is needed for the 
 engine, and the cost of fuel is an accompanying item. It is available 
 when wanted, however, and is not, like w'ater, somewhat dependent 
 upon weather. In time of drought the water may fail, but never the 
 steam. But the times of drought come usually when the machinery at 
 the homestead is at a standstill for a season. 
 
 Oil-engines are now gaining ground as agencies of motive power 
 at the homestead. At first they were introduced for the purpose of 
 working the lighter machines, such as pulpers, corn-bruisers, and 
 cake-crushers, but now they are being manufactured of a sufficient 
 power to cope with the thrashing-mill. Petroleum is the medium 
 turned to account for the development of power in these engines. 
 The oil is vaporised and volumes of the gas periodically ignited and 
 the expansive force thereby generated is the power that they are
 
 ^'POWEir' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 205 
 
 made capable of turninf( into work that can be made useful under 
 
 the guidance of man. 
 
 But before we take up the practical features of the 
 The First . \ 4.- a -^ a 
 
 Principles motive powers we have mentioned it may serve a good 
 
 involved in end to clear up the first principles that are involved in 
 
 the subject. When these are understood it is easier to 
 
 follow up what succeeds. Commencing near the root of the subject 
 
 therefore, it is beyond dispute that all matter on our earth tends towards 
 
 the centre thereof, being irresistibly drawn thereto by the natural force 
 
 known as gravitation. At the poles the amount of matter that with us 
 
 constitutes a pound in weight will there weigh more, because at either 
 
 pole the surface of the ground is nearer to the centre than it is at any 
 
 other part. At the equator it will weigh less, for there it is farther 
 
 from the surface to the centre of the earth. These facts, the one being 
 
 corroborative of the other, although inversely so, go to prove that as 
 
 we approach the centre the stronger becomes this attractive force. 
 
 The mass of matter we speak of as representing a pound 
 
 The Force -j^ weight is so called because it takes a certain amount of 
 
 of Gravity. '^ 
 
 force to counteract the attraction of gravity that bears it 
 
 downwards. Hung from a spring balance, what it registers therein is 
 
 the amount of force that gravity is expending upon it in dragging it 
 
 towards the centre of the earth, or what is the same thing, the force that 
 
 is capable of resisting the attraction that the earth has towards the 
 
 particular mass of matter being dealt with. 
 
 Irrespective of the law^ of gravitation as above defined, masses of 
 
 matter are mutually attracted to each other, and, if free to move, soon 
 
 come together, and, further, are under fixed rules as regards their 
 
 respective rates of motion. Each one attracts the other with a force 
 
 that bears a fixed proportion to the amount of matter it contains. The 
 
 larger one advances towards the smaller, but of course at a slower rate 
 
 than it. Ships becalmed show a tendency to draw together. On a 
 
 small scale floating objects in a bowl of water, if placed apart from each 
 
 other, soon yield to this attraction, and are mutually attracted or drawn 
 
 one to another. In these instances the action is slow, both air and 
 
 water obstructing it. On a small scale we might exemplify it clearer if the 
 
 pieces of matter be dealt with in vacuo. On the large scale the action 
 
 has much to do with the behaviour of the heavenly bodies. They^ 
 
 move about in the ether unhampered by friction, completely under the 
 
 influence of the laws that govern the motion of matter in mass. Coursing 
 
 along in unresisting medium, they are fully susceptible to these laws, 
 
 and so situated as to be able to respond at once to their dictation. 
 
 The Centre ''^^^ coming to earth again, we have to deal with matter 
 
 of Gravity in its relation to the parent globe, and gravitation as a 
 
 ° ^' terrestrial phenomenon, we may state, is simply a phase 
 
 of this attraction of separate masses to one another. We referred to the
 
 2o6 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 centre of gravity of bodies when discussing the erection of walls and 
 their stability, pointing out that when the centre of gravity of a body 
 was supported the body was at rest. The centre of gravity of a body, 
 we said, is the point within that separate mass of matter through which 
 a single force equivalent to the many forces represented by the weight 
 of the various molecules of matter that together make up the combined 
 mass would act. A set of forces, not necessarily equal in degree, 
 equivalent to the combined w^eights of the molecules of matter composing 
 the body, and acting in a contrary direction to these, would keep the 
 body at rest against the force of gravity. So too would a single force 
 equal to the several, but it would need to be applied to the point we are 
 referring to — the centre of gravity of the body. It does not matter 
 where the separate forces apply so long as the line of the centre of 
 gravity passes down, as we saw before, within the figure formed by 
 a line joining the outer points of its basis of support. When this 
 holds good the body is at rest ; and where it does not the body will 
 move about until matters so adjust themselves as to give it this 
 stability. 
 
 When a falling object strikes the earth it is there supported against 
 gravity and can proceed no further. It cannot force its way in towards 
 the centre of attraction because the matter it comes to rest upon blocks 
 its way. All the matter on the surface of the earth is bound on the 
 same errand, being drawn irresistibly to the centre point thereof. 
 Any solid body that is denser than water will press down through it to 
 the bottom. The molecules in fluid matter are less cohesive than in the 
 solid, and therefore more easily pushed aside. But even in sand or soil 
 a body much denser than either cannot penetrate far if under the 
 influence of gravitation alone. Solid matter reduced in texture to the 
 fineness of either sand or soil has certainly lost much of its property of 
 cohesion, but the various particles maintain their property of inertness 
 or disinclination to move under pressure. In the same way even a ball 
 of lead will not be able to sink far down if laid on a heap of feathers. 
 Its weight — that is to say, its downward pressure towards the earth's 
 centre — fails to enable it to make way through the fluffy material that is so 
 much lighter than itself. The feathers give way so far as elasticity is 
 concerned, and the force gets spent in that direction ere it can serve as 
 an aid to penetration. Conversely to the action that takes place in 
 these instances, the balloon rises in the air because its bulk is lighter 
 than the air which it displaces or whose room it takes up. If allowed, it 
 will rise until it reaches a height where the two are equal in weight, 
 when its upward course will cease. 
 
 The density of a body means the amount of matter it 
 Body ^ contains in a certain mass as compared with that of 
 
 other substances. A cubic foot of lead, for instance, is 
 denser than a cubic foot of water. There is more matter in the one
 
 ^' POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 207 
 
 than the other. The cubic foot of lead is better packed together than 
 the cubic foot of water. The one weighs heavier than the other. 
 
 The term "specific gravity of a body" is simply another 
 
 Sjpecific Gravityj.-^j.j^^ ^£ speech wherewith to express the density thereof, 
 of a Body. ^ "^ -^ 
 
 It implies the density as the latter governs weight. 
 
 Specific gra^■ity, in fact, is but comparative weight of different sub- 
 stances. Water is taken as the standard substance for comparison. 
 A cubic foot of distilled water at 32" F., under a pressure of 28 
 inches on the barometer, as at sea level, represents the starting point of 
 measurement. We therefore begin at i with water, and rise or fall 
 accordingly as the substance to be compared therewith is heavier or 
 lighter than water. Water being i, lead is ii'352, and wood, say 
 seasoned fir wood, -556. Lead accordingly under the influence of gravi- 
 tation sinks in water till a firm bottom is gained. Somewhat like the 
 balloon, wood of the description mentioned, on the other hand, floats, 
 the power of gravitation not having power to draw it to the bottom. It 
 is not so dense as the water that sustains it, and were both free to rush 
 inwards the water would proceed faster than the wood. 
 
 The action of bodies under gravitation can be observed 
 Bodits unde°/ ^y ^''^ising them to a height and then allowing them to fall 
 the force of therefrom. To the eye alone little is revealed, except that 
 Gravity. ^^i {^\\ ^,x\t]\ an increasing velocity. This much, however, 
 
 is patent to any one, that it is exceedingly difficult to throw anything 
 far up in the air. In one's cricket-playing days it is possible to sky a 
 ball with some effect, but further on in life it takes it out of a person 
 when he tries what can be done in this way. The ball or stone that he 
 essays to send aloft soon loses the initial speed at which it left his hand 
 and gradually slows down until a dead stop takes place. Then at 
 once its descent begins, the rate of its drop increasing at a regular ratio 
 until its course is arrested. A falling body, under the influence of 
 gravitation falls through space at the rate of 32 feet each second it is on 
 its way. Were it to take a full minute to reach the ground, it would by 
 that time be travelling at the speed of sixty times 32, or 1920 feet in a 
 second. A body moving along at this rate is, it is needless to remark, 
 capable of exerting a considerable force. 
 
 It requires no reasoning to convince a person that the heavier the 
 falling body is the greater force will it be able to bring into play. The 
 degree of force of a falling body is therefore dependent on the amount 
 of matter it represents, and that multiplied by the speed gives us the 
 momentum, or moving force, of -a mass of matter in motion. But the 
 weight of the mass must be considered in relation to its density, for it 
 is truer to say that the density rather than the amount, as regards 
 bulk of matter, rules the momentum of a falling body. Density implies, 
 as we have seen, close packing, and the tighter put together or closer 
 packed of two equal weighing masses of matter will of the two be the
 
 2o8 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 lesser impeded by the air as it rushes along. A ton of stone will reach 
 earth before a loosely trussed ton of straw let fall at the same instant as 
 it from any height. And much sooner will a marble touch ground than 
 say an equal weight of ostrich-feathers attached to one another let loose 
 at the same time. The one takes up so small room that the air offers 
 but little resistance to its progress, and although the acceleration of 
 speed that is gained by falling bodies as quoted is based on what occurs 
 in vacuo or in the absence of air, the marble shows almost as good a 
 record as if it too were performing in a vacuum. The feathers, how- 
 ever, are so differently built up and, on that account, so buoyant and 
 balloon-like that they can hardly be induced to settle on mother earth. 
 They will not, at any rate, come down direct and plump like the marble, 
 but will drift about in the air should currents be forthcoming. At the 
 best their descent will describe a zig-zag course. For the same reason 
 can the aeronaut with parachute on hand drop from a balloon to 
 mother earth with impunity. The formation of the parachute hinders 
 so much its passage through the air that it can retard the velocity of 
 his descent to a rate that is not inconvenient to him. ^\'ithout this 
 drag he would be precipitated to earth like a bolt from the blue 
 at an accelerated speed that would be but little affected by the 
 resistance of the atmosphere. 
 
 The first axiom laid down by Newton in connection with 
 
 Newton's first j j-i-,otion of matter in the mass is that " Every body 
 Law of Motion. ... 
 
 perseveres in its state of rest or of moving uniformly in a 
 
 straight line, except in so far as it is made to change that state by 
 external forces." But no single body can have a sphere for its own 
 uses alone, neither can any constellation have the heavens to itself. If 
 the former case were possible, then bodies at rest would remain so, 
 and those in motion would move gently on without variance, or rush 
 ahead at lightning speed just as they had been set in motion by the last 
 force that had borne upon them. One body is, however, so much 
 dependent upon others that individual action is circumscribed on every 
 side. Were nothing to hinder the passage through space of say a pro- 
 jectile discharged from a piece of artillery, it would move on without 
 ceasing in a straight line at the rate with which it issued from the 
 muzzle of the gun. It no sooner leaves the gun, however, than another 
 force exerts an influence over it. It then comes within the power of 
 gravitation. While it remained in the gun it was borne up against the 
 force of gravitation, but once discharged therefrom, although at a 
 marvellous speed, it came as surely under the grip of that force as if 
 allowed to drop gently out of the mouth of the gun. The resistance of 
 the air comes in too to retard the motion of the projectile, but only 
 slowly it is true. The latter is so constructed as to pass through the air 
 with the maximum of piercing power. That some resistance exists is, 
 if in no other way, fully manifest in the ominous "hum" of the projectile
 
 ''POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 209 
 
 as it proceeds on its message of destruction. But this resistance of the 
 
 air, if apparently weak to start with, is strong enough to win in the end. 
 
 The force of gra\'itation on he one hand, and the retarda- 
 TheForces ,■ ,• r .1 • .1 .1 1 . 1 
 
 that bear ^^^'^ action or the air on the other, between the two serve 
 
 upon Bodies ere long, as we have said, to stop the career of the pro- 
 jectile. Could the former force be kept in abeyance for 
 the time, the air by itself would be a long time in slowing down and 
 stopping the speed of the body. It would be a case of accelerated 
 retardation or application of the brake. That is, of course, if the air 
 were calm. Were it disturbed, side issues would be brought into play. 
 A head wind would increase the friction, and cross ones would deflect 
 the projectile from the straight path it entered on. We have all heard 
 mention of the "allowance for windage" that marksmen competing 
 with rifles have to take note of when shooting at the target from long 
 distances. 
 
 But air or no air, it is much the same to the force of gravitation. 
 The greater the retardation of the air on the object, it no doubt all the 
 sooner falls to the clutches of gravitation. But gravitation will soon 
 have it for its prey whether there be little or no retardation in this 
 respect. It cannot proceed very far before gravitation draws it down 
 to the surface of the ground, after which, though its velocity be far from 
 being spent, it cannot force its way much further. If the ground be 
 hard, it may rebound or ricochet therefrom, its initial velocity enabling 
 it in this way to gain a little respite from gravitation, but its momentum 
 is lessened and its message all but delivered. If the ground be soft or 
 loose, the energy of the projectile is absorbed therein by the inertness 
 and inelasticity of such a medium. 
 
 So long therefore as the projectile is kept from striking the earth, its 
 effectiveness in the way of destruction is but little impaired as it is 
 impelled on its way. To keep it above ground and thus secure a long 
 range it is necessary either to give it an upward direction as it leaves 
 the muzzle of the gun, and so increase the distance of the point where it 
 must at last yield to gravitation and come to earth, or to send it forth 
 from the muzzle with such an increased velocity that gravitation is 
 long in overtaking it. Before our weapons had reached such a degree 
 of perfection as now prevails the former course had to be followed up. 
 The " Brown Bess " musket with which Wellington's soldiers were 
 armed, if aimed at the head of a foe a hundred yards or so off, might 
 land the bullet in his chest or stomach. " Aim high " was the order in 
 volley-firing — to make sure that the bullets found a billet elsewhere 
 than in the ground. But the modern rifle, with its small bore and more 
 effective charge, can send off its messenger at a reasonable elevation 
 with sufficient velocity to keep it above ground for a mile or thereabouts 
 before it succumbs to gravitation. It can be ejected with so great 
 speed as to be pulled but a small way downward by the time it has 
 
 M.H. p
 
 2IO THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 reached tliat distance. It has to be given a certain amount of elevation 
 
 as it leaves the rifle, but much less for the mile than was allowed in the 
 
 case of the smooth-barrelled, big-bored musket for the hundred yards. 
 
 _ The (luicker the projectile travels the greater will be its 
 
 TheMomen- ^ , , ,, . ^ . , ,. 
 
 turn of a momentum. A bullet one ounce m weight, speedmg 
 
 Moving Body, ^{q^^ ^{ the velocity of 960 feet a second, has the same 
 
 momentum as a ball weighing one pound going at the rate of 60 feet 
 
 per second. The momentum gives the amount of energy or power of 
 
 performing work on the part of each moving body. It will take that 
 
 same amount of energy, exerted in an opposite direction, to resist and 
 
 stop the body. The resistance may be either immediate, intermittent, 
 
 or gradual. Still holding by our projectile, it will be stopped dead if it 
 
 strike straight against a thick plate of iron firmly stayed in position — 
 
 a strong target for instance. But in this action the plate will have to 
 
 put forth an equivalent amount of energy to what is represented by the 
 
 velocity of the projectile. If it is incapable of doing this, it will either 
 
 be overturned in the atttempt, or be pierced through if the projectile be 
 
 hard enough to rend asunder the texture and continue on its way with 
 
 what momentum it may still have left. 
 
 The resistance may in many ways be intermittent. The projectile 
 may, as in the last instance, pass through some obstructing body at a 
 considerable expense in energy no doubt this time, but yet with enough 
 left to carry it through several other obstructions of a less serious 
 nature, each time, of course, emerging beyond with lessening vigour 
 until forced to yield up its power entirely. 
 
 Tlie projectile, again, may, if it meet with no obstacle in its path, be 
 gradually brought to the pass that the energy it had given it at the 
 start is no longer sufficient to keep it skimming above earth in spite of 
 gravitation, when it will touch ground and be brought to a standstill 
 either at once if it penetrate the soil, or at the end of a series of 
 rebounds if the ground be firm and the angle of impact suitable. 
 
 But whether brought to a stop by impediments in the 
 Newton s ^^.^ ^^ simply because it has run its career without let 
 
 Second Law. . 
 
 or hindrance and can go no further, in some way or other 
 an amount of energy equal to what the body was sent off with has been 
 expended upon it in accomplishing this. Had no antagonistic force or 
 forces interfered, it would, in the words of Newton, have persevered in 
 its state of moving uniformly in a straight line. But the air through 
 which it had to pass disputed its passage, feebly, no doubt, but steadily 
 all the same ; and another and stronger force, gravitation, was all the 
 time diverting it from the straight course and with a strong pull 
 dragging it downwards towards itself; for, as Newton's second law 
 says : " Change of motion is proportional to impressed force, and 
 takes place in the direction in which the force acts." The air, 
 then, before the energy of the body had become spent, had met it
 
 ''POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 211 
 
 with an equal amount in the form of resistance to being pushed out 
 of the way. The target barred the passage of the bullet promptly, 
 while the air took a long time to do so ; but the amount of resistance 
 offered in each case was the same, and equal to what the body possessed 
 at the beginning of its journey. 
 
 Newton's third law of motion is that: "Reaction is 
 Th'^ri°T' ^ always equal and opposite to action — that is to say, 
 
 the actions of two bodies upon each other are always 
 equal and in opposite directions." The bullet and the target meet 
 each other straight, and what the bullet delivers upon the target is 
 returned by the latter, not with interest neither with shorter measure, 
 but plain tit for tat, which turns the missile outside in and flattens it 
 like a button. Were the target not equal to the occasion, and the 
 bullet either got through or glanced off it, the reaction of the one 
 not being in the first case equal and in the other not opposite to the 
 action of the other, the bullet would go on its way with what action it 
 had left until brought to a halt by some other body or bodies that would 
 meet its action with an equivalent in reaction or opposition. In the 
 body at rest, too, the action and reaction between it and the body that 
 supports it are equal and act through the centre of gravity of each^ 
 through that of the boulder which rests on the outer skin of the globe 
 as well as through that of the globe itself. 
 
 All this would appear to be in direct contradiction to the 
 Force in ^^^^t that there is never any loss of force in Nature. The 
 
 Nature, but bullet put forth a considerable force as it smote the target, 
 vertible from to which the target responded with no less vigour as it 
 one Form to knocked the bullet shapeless. What, therefore, has 
 
 become of these two forces after the contact between 
 the two opposing bodies has taken place ? The target remains intact 
 in its old position, the flattened bullet lies flat at its foot, and motion 
 has ceased. Lift the bullet, and it will, perhaps, tell a tale. It is so 
 hot that one can hardly hold it in the palm of his hand without 
 wincing. Where has it obtained the amount of heat sufficient to 
 raise it to so high a temperature ? Not in the gun, at any rate, for 
 it sped forth from the barrel in advance of the expanding gas let loose 
 from the ignited charge ere it had time to absorb any of the heat thereby 
 generated. Nor did it derive that amount of heat from the atmosphere 
 as it sped along. No, it received nearly all of it at the moment of 
 impact upon the body which it was unable to clear out of its path, and 
 on account of the force of motion thus suddenly arrested being converted 
 into that of heat. Were it possible to collect the whole of the heat 
 developed in this way, we would obtain an amount capable of doing as 
 much work or of setting free as much energy as apparently become lost 
 when the missile was in an instant stopped dead ; and heat, as we shall 
 afterwards point out, is a potent source of energy or force. 
 
 p 2
 
 212 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The energy of bodies in motion, if it can be turned to account in a 
 practicable manner, is perfectly capable, as we see every day, of doing 
 man's work. Instead of applying his hand to lever or wheel, he can 
 enlist the wind or mo\-ing air, running water, and lieavy weights of 
 
 solid matter into such service ; and further still, 
 
 A^^ ^^^^:;r^^ he can impress the force that is connected with 
 
 the expansion of gases, those that have to do 
 with chemical action, and that are bound up in 
 electricity, to be his bondsmen. Man, we can 
 now realise, gained an irretrievable start over 
 other animals when he realised that he could 
 turn the forces of Nature to account in doing 
 useful work in his own interest. When he first 
 wielded a stick either in attack or defence he 
 .^^ increased the length of his arm and the efficiency 
 
 of that organ of his body as a lever, and his foot 
 '^'" ^^ ■ was on the first rung of the ladder that led the way 
 
 to his being the lord of creation. Armed with a stone alone, he added to 
 the weight as well as to the hardness of his fist, which gave him an 
 immense advantage when in confiict with his fellows or with other 
 members of the animal kingdom trusting to their unaided powers alone. 
 A stone-weighted fist or a heavy-headed stick in hand gives one a strong 
 pull over an unarmed antagonist. To these simple, though most effective, 
 advantages in close-quarter strife he by-and-by added the bow as a 
 means of projecting his missiles. These he had all along, from the 
 time he first thought of picking up a 
 stone and shying it in the face of some 
 man or beast that threatened violence, 
 been gradually perfecting in so far as 
 increasing their range went, and, in 
 company with the original stick or club, 
 had developed the longer and lighter 
 thrusting one into the spear or lance. 
 Thus in time man, who was the first of 
 the animals to learn to profit by the 
 use of Nature's more simple forces, 
 stepped so far ahead of his fellow- 
 creatures of the animated kingdom as to 
 make one and all subject to his dominion 
 — to be wielded, alas ! indiscriminately by foolish and wise alike. 
 Man's first Man's first invented machines for converting force or 
 power at his disposal into useful work were all so many 
 modifications of the pulley, the lever, and the inclined 
 plane, machines which are put to use in overcoming 
 the force of gravitation. In the first the distance through which 
 
 Fig. 157. 
 
 Machines 
 for turning 
 Forces to 
 his Service.
 
 ''POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 213 
 
 The Pulley. 
 
 Fig. 158. 
 
 the power moves in relation to tlie fixed point or axis which 
 
 supports the arrangement bears a distinct ratio to that through 
 which the weight does. With the single pulley 
 (Fig. 156) there is no difference between the power and 
 
 the weight, and, therefore, no gain in 
 
 the use of the machine, unless by way 
 
 of convenience in handling different 
 
 commodities. In raising any body by 
 
 its means as much force has to be 
 
 exerted by the raiser as the weight 
 
 bears down on its side. But power and 
 
 weight move through equal spaces. 
 
 No more rope is pulled down by the 
 
 operation than measures the distance 
 
 that the weight has been raised. With 
 
 the double pulley (Fig. 157), one fixed 
 
 and one movable, the same pull as in 
 
 the last instance will lift twice the 
 
 Aveight the same height, but there will 
 
 be double the rope to drag in. \\'ith a 
 
 three-pulley arrangement, as in Fig. 158, 
 
 the same pull will raise four times the weight and give four lengths of 
 rope to dispose of. This combined arrange- 
 ment of a fixed and one or more movable 
 pulleys is termed "the first system" of pulleys. 
 In practice what is known as the second system 
 is the one adopted. An upper and a lower block 
 are used, each containing one or more pulleys, or 
 "sheaves" as they are called, in the combined 
 pulleys or blocks, the upper block alone being 
 attached to a fixed point. In Fig. 159 we 
 represent a four-sheaved arrangement. Usually, 
 however, the sheaves of each block are similar in 
 size and placed together in one case. In this 
 four-sheaved arrangement, although one more 
 pulley is used than in the last mentioned, the 
 same pull will lift no more weight and the same 
 length of rope will be pulled in. It is, perhaps, 
 necessary to say that we are leaving out of 
 
 account the weight of the mo\able blocks, and, what is more important, 
 
 the friction on the axles of the sheaves or pulleys of the blocks. 
 
 I'he lever acts as a rigid rod supported at some part or 
 other wdth the power and weight acting in contrary 
 
 directions to one another. The point on which the rod or lever is 
 
 supported is called the "fulcrum" thereof, and tliis, it is easy to see, 
 
 The Lever.
 
 214 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 must be capable of resisting botli of the forces that bear upon the 
 lever. A beam Aveighing-machine is simply a modification of the 
 lever. Its arms are of equal length ; therefore, in order that it may 
 
 Fig. i6o. 
 
 maintain a horizontal position, each arm must be equally weighted — 
 
 the weight in one scale or pan must be counterbalanced by an 
 
 equal weight of matter in the other — and the points or fulcrum upon 
 
 which the beam plays supports 
 
 the latter and the matter in both 
 
 scales as well. The pulley is, in 
 
 fact, a form of the lever. If we 
 
 refer to the single pulley, the axle 
 
 thereof, we shall find, forms the 
 
 fulcrum, and so long as the forces 
 
 applied to the wheel are equal 
 
 there will be no motion of the 
 
 pulley. The diameter of the wheel 
 
 is equally halved by the axle, 
 
 seeing the latter is the central 
 
 point of the wheel ; therefore, in 
 
 this case we have, as with the 
 
 beam weighing-machine, a lever 
 
 with its arms of equal length, in 
 
 which machine, in order that 
 
 motion may take place, there must 
 
 be difference between the forces that apply to such arms thereof. The 
 
 windlass (Fig. i6o) is an application of the same principle, as we shall 
 
 see by paying attention to Fig. i6i — the wheel and axle modification of
 
 ''POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Fig. 162. 
 
 the windlass. Here, again, tlie fulcrum lies in the centre of the wheel, 
 this time represented by the roller round which the rope is wound, 
 a on the Fig. Now, as a h, the distance between the matter to be 
 moved and the fulcrum is less 
 than a c, the distance between the 
 fulcrum, and the force applied to 
 move the windlass, so in propor- 
 tion is the latter less than the 
 former. The smaller the drum, 
 or roller, therefore (the distance 
 between a and h), and the longer the arm of the windlass (the distance 
 from a to c) the more powerful it is. 
 
 There are three modifications of the lever proper. In the lever of 
 the first class the fulcrum, as in Figs. 162 and 163, is between the 
 
 applied force and 
 the weight — be- 
 tween the force that 
 is set in motion to 
 displace the ob- 
 stacle to which the 
 lever is applied and 
 the obstacle itself. 
 The force we apply 
 bears the same ratio to what the obstacle has to resist at the hand of the 
 lever that the length of the one arm of the lever, the one we push or draw 
 down, bears to the other. If we force down the free end of the lever with 
 a pressure equal to a hundredweight and the free end of the lever be ten 
 times longer than the other, then we bring to bear upon the body affected 
 a force or pressure equal to half a ton. The longer, therefore, our end 
 of the lever in comparison with 
 that at the other side of the 
 fulcrum, the more effective is the 
 machine at our disposal. And 
 proportional, of course, to the 
 length of the arm of each 
 division of the lever as to the 
 separate forces applied will be 
 the space moved by the respec- 
 tive points of application of the 
 force we put forth and the weight 
 we disturb. 
 
 Fig. 163. 
 
 Fig. 164. 
 
 The lever of the second class has, as in Fig. 164, the force at one end 
 of the rod, the fulcrum at the other, and the weight between the two. 
 The force in this case is hardly likely to be so advantageously situated 
 as in the lever of the first class. It is capable of being applied as
 
 2l6 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 forcibly, however, but not to the same extent as the other. There 
 are fewer cases w^here it is applicable. It can be used to disrupt or 
 draw a body into separate parts. It is shown in Fig. 165 as put 
 to the purpose of withdrawing a peg from the ground. An ordinary 
 nut-cracker is a double arrangement of this class of le\'er. The 
 
 Fig. 165. 
 
 humble wheelbarrow, Fig. 166, is a modification of it. The fulcrum 
 is the axis supported on the wheel so as to be capable of being 
 transported or pushed along at a minimum expenditure of force 
 against friction. 
 
 The lever of the third class, Fig. 167, has the applied force put in 
 action between the fulcrum and the resistance or weight to be moved. 
 In this instance the applied force must always be the greater of the two. 
 It is, in fact, simply a reversion of the conditions that govern the second 
 lever. The applied force in the latter is the weight in the third variety 
 of the lever. It is of no use of course as a mechanical advantage by 
 way of giving us increased force against any body Ave are dealing with; 
 
 but it affords means of 
 obtaining an increased 
 range of movement by 
 the free end of the 
 lever. Nature has in 
 this way turned it to 
 account in giving such 
 a wide range of move- 
 ment to our forearm. 
 The elbow, as shown 
 in Fig. 168, is the 
 fulcrum, the hand the 
 free end of the lever; 
 and the contraction of 
 the biceps the source of the applied force that sets the contrivance in 
 motion. What an expenditure of force must at times be called forth in 
 the working of that organ we may form some idea of when we consider 
 how close to the fulcrum (the elbow) the biceps muscle (the motive 
 force) is applied. When one displays his thews and with satisfaction 
 
 Fig. 166.
 
 '^ POWER" AT THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Fig. 167. 
 
 The Inclined 
 Plane. 
 
 shows how his biceps swells as he slowly raises a hea\y weight from 
 the horizontal, resting on outstretched palm to the level of his shoulder, 
 
 he little knows what force is 
 being developed at the expense 
 of the contractibility of the 
 fibres of the muscle of which 
 he is so justly proud. A much 
 greater force, however, is ex- 
 pended in getting the forearm 
 from a hanging to the hori- 
 zontal position. ]Man's jaw- 
 bone is another common 
 illustration of the application 
 by nature of the third lever to the everyday affairs of life. The fulcrum 
 plays on the skull a little beneath the ear, and the muscles embedded 
 in either cheek are the applied forces that move the lever and bring 
 the lower teeth into action as 
 crushers or grinders of food 
 against the upper set. 
 
 The next of the 
 simple machines, 
 the inclined plane, 
 supplements the applied force by 
 enabling the weight on which it 
 bears to be slid up a gradually 
 rising path in place of its ha^■ing 
 to be lifted bodily up a height Fig. 16S. 
 
 equal to that which the head of 
 
 the path or plane attains. How much easier, for instance, is it to 
 wheel a cask (one, say, that we can just manage to raise breast 
 high) up a plank from the ground to a lorry than to lift the article 
 direct from the ground and deposit it thereupon. The cask has a longer 
 journey to take by way of the plank than it has straight from the ground 
 to the vehicle, but an easier. Here again, as happens in the case both 
 of the pulleys and the levers, that Avhat we sa^•e in the applied force we 
 have to make up for in the increased space that the point of application 
 of that force has to mo\e. The longer the plank the longer is our plane 
 and the more easily can the cask be rolled up the same. 
 
 The stair is simply an adaptation of the inclined plane. It is an 
 inclined plane with horizontal footholds attached at regular intervals, it 
 being easier of ascension when provided with these on account of their 
 enabling the body to be kept erect without undue strain on the muscles 
 of the legs and back. As we are all aware, the angle at which the stair 
 is set rules its degree of comfortable use. The gently-sloping stair is a 
 pleasure to move up and down upon in comparison to another of a steep
 
 2i8 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 slope. Wg lia\e the longer distance to go in connection with the former, 
 but it can be done with less muscular effort. We do not feel we are 
 climbing when ascending the long, slowly-rising one ; neither do we 
 need to hold back when retracing our steps. Were the stair removed 
 for a time we would soon realise its advantage as a machine for circum- 
 venting gravitation, as it affects us in our efforts to keep up communi- 
 cation between the separate flats of our houses in a perpendicular 
 direction. \\"e would certainly have less distance to traverse, but then 
 more force has to be expended, a result that no doubt would soon set 
 us about contriving something after the nature of an artificial lift. It is 
 with ourselves as it was with the cask. In carrying our bodies against 
 gravitation, the easier we make the process the longer time w-e are 
 obliged to take to it, or at least, the further we have to go. The 
 mechanical advantage of the inclined plane is the product obtained by 
 dividing the length of the incline by the height thereof. 
 
 The screw is a modification of the inclined plane. In 
 fact, it is nothing more or less than a spiral inclined plane. 
 As most of us know, the closer the threads of the screw are the more 
 powerful it is. We have more turns to gi\e it because, as we have so 
 often repeated, the greater is the mechanical advantage of a machine, 
 the more distance has the applied force to describe. The screw is a 
 powerful help in moving heavy weights through short distances. And 
 we increase its power manifold as we add to the length of the handle we 
 make use of in turning the screw. By doing so we introduce the lever 
 between the applied force and the inclined plane, and thus obtain the 
 further aid of the mechanical advantage that it supplies. 
 
 The wedge. Fig. i6g, is another application of the principle 
 
 ' that underlies the inclined plane. Instead, however, as 
 
 in the case of the inclined plane of the bodies being slowly applied 
 
 thereto as a means of raising them against gravitation, the wedge is 
 
 called into service by being applied under a 
 series of blows to bodies, and made to do 
 work either in rending them asunder or raising 
 them slightly from their points of attachment 
 to the ground. It is the sudden impulse of 
 tlie heavy blow bestowed upon it that gives 
 the wedge its great power. A certain force 
 borne gradually on the wedge might have 
 small effect, but the same coming upon it with 
 the speed of lightning would tell a different 
 tale. Something would then have to go. The 
 reaction of the block or body against the action deli\ered by the wedge 
 is not, under tlie peculiar circumstances of the case, sufficient to serve 
 both wedge and hammer as the target served the bullet, for the wedge, 
 when once inserted, cannot as a rule be shaken off bv the bodv, and
 
 ''POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 219 
 
 until it lias ^^ot a grip it is not struck hard. Once it bites, ho\ve\er, 
 
 the pressure of the body on its sides holds it as in a vice, and it is 
 
 then, so far as reaction goes, now a part of the block. The reaction 
 
 of the body is then manifest in the rebound of the hammer from 
 
 the end of the wedge. 
 
 When man had become master of these simple mechanical 
 
 What Man contri\ances he was fairly on the way to turn the avail- 
 was enabled / . ■' 
 to do with able forces of Nature to his own interests. To begin with, 
 
 these simple |-,g ^^.^g ^|^jg ^^ move and break up heavy blocks, either 
 Contrivances. r j > 
 
 of wood or stone. He was in no hurry — at least, he could 
 
 afford time ; and it did not matter to him that what he gained in force or 
 
 power he lost in speed of execution. It was enough if he could move 
 
 about and break up what before he was all but powerless to deal with. 
 
 Afterwards he fashioned the windmill, and thus took advantage of the 
 
 wind to grind his corn or do other work of a similar nature. Earlier, 
 
 no doubt, he took advantage of the air-currents to waft along the boats 
 
 and vessels that took hard labour to move by means of paddle or oar. 
 
 By-and-by he enlisted water on his side, thereby gaining for many 
 
 purposes a more reliable and steadier servant than the uncertain wind. 
 
 After a while he discovered the virtue of fossil fuel, and with coal as his 
 
 friend he had Nature very much at command. The sun is the mother 
 
 of all the forces that are connected with our universe, and in coal he 
 
 had unearthed a vast reserve of them. It represents the stored-up rays 
 
 of the sun that were directed on the earth for ages. It is, in fact, bottled- 
 
 up sunshine, as Stephenson so pithily put it. 
 
 Coal represents the force to be derived from heat. We 
 
 Force derived \^^yQ spoken of the force derived from motion as being 
 
 from Heat. ^. ° 
 
 convertible into heat, and conversely of the force of heat 
 
 being convertible into that of motion. The force that seemed lost when 
 
 the bullet we instanced above came to an instant stop against the 
 
 target developed, as we tried to explain, into heat. The head of the 
 
 iron wedge becomes hot under repeated blows from the sledge-hammer ; 
 
 and so does the brake as it presses hard against the wheel, and retards 
 
 its movement. Hitherto we have dealt with force in relation to the 
 
 amount of bodies or masses of matter under the influence of gravitation, 
 
 excepting, of course, when air-currents over which gravitation has little 
 
 influence are taken advantage of. But a different class of phenomena 
 
 manifests itself when we deal with the forces arising from heat. Heat 
 
 takes to do with the molecular composition of matter, with the internal 
 
 component particles that constitute a body. W^e have already noted 
 
 how these change their state accordingly as matter takes on its three 
 
 different physical conditions. In the solid they are quiescent and at 
 
 peace, as it were. In the liquid they are mobile, but still willing to club 
 
 together and be at rest once they are adjusted to gravitation. But in 
 
 the gas each is for itself, regardless almost of gravitation, and had it all
 
 220 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 space to itself would seek to fill it. In the solid the molecides content 
 themselves within the bounds described by the body and each keeps xtxy 
 much its original position therein. In the liquid this bond of integration 
 is broken, and cohesion is virtually gone. The body is now shapeless and 
 without bounds of its own, and unless held together in the mass, each 
 molecule will, regardless of its neighbour, start to carry out the behests 
 of gravitation. In the solid all work as one so long as the body holds 
 together. But in the liquid there is no such bond of union ; each 
 molecule is a body to itself. These two conditions of matter somewhat 
 resemble the well-built wall and the ill-built one already instanced. 
 The separate stones in the former are bound together to make a firm 
 and compact whole capable of resisting gravitation otherwise than it 
 applies to the body corporate. As regards the other, however, the 
 whole is so loosely knit together that each component part is apt to 
 become a law to itself and fall away from the union that alone gives it 
 strength. 
 
 In the gas not only are the molecules detached from each other, but, 
 unlike their behaviour in the li(}uid, in which state thev are content in 
 each other's company, they repel one another in their struggles for elbow- 
 room. The li(]uid can be kept within bounds so long as the bottom and 
 sides of their storage-place are imper\'ious to water. It matters not 
 that its surface is exposed to the heavens. It will remain there until 
 wanted. Water is, indeed, one of the exceptions in the last respect ; 
 for in time if thus exposed, it will be absorbed in form of gas by 
 the air, there to perform its most important part in the economy 
 of nature. But with the gas it is different. It must be confined all 
 round, else it will speedily vanish into space. There are heavy gases 
 and light gases : the latter will be the first to disappear. Some are 
 even heavier than air. These, one might naturally think, would be held 
 down in a vessel of gravitation similarly as it affects a fluid. It does 
 for a time, but only apparently, for from the beginning of the exposure 
 of the gas the law of diffusion is at work, and the molecules of gas, 
 heavy in comparison though they be, are being disseminated through- 
 out the atmosphere, and with others left free to knock figuratively 
 against the gates of heaven. 
 
 Heat, as already explained, is the controller of the different conditions 
 of matter. By its application to the solid the molecules thereof are 
 forced to assume the liquid state. A further application raises the 
 liquid to the gas and sets the molecules into movement. The tendency 
 of these is, we have seen, to demand room and space. Without these 
 they cannot expand, and expansion is as the breath of their nostrils. It 
 takes force to curb their aspirations. Were the pressure of the atmo- 
 sphere suspended for a little, were it moved out of the way and its 
 weight lifted off the surface of the earth for a time — for it is simply its 
 weight or its obedience to gravitation tliat makes it press so heaA-ily
 
 ''POWER" AT THE HOMESTEAD. 221 
 
 upon us — water for one liquid would tliere and then without assistance 
 
 from heat pass into the gaseous state. Other bodies would we daresay 
 
 do the same before it came to water's turn. Thus it is that before 
 
 water can be brought to boiling-point we must bestow on it as much 
 
 force in the form of heat as will enable its component molecules to cope 
 
 with the weight of the air that tends to hold them in thrall. After that 
 
 stage has been reached the molecules are free to take up their ethereal 
 
 form and search through the atmosphere at will almost. 
 
 It is only at the expense of much counter-pressure that gases can be 
 
 kept from expanding themselves. The heat and the pressure serv^e, as 
 
 we have been saying, to counteract each other. On the one hand heat 
 
 supplies the force necessary to their expansion, and on the other the 
 
 sides of their enclosure keep them so cabined and confined that they 
 
 have not room to stretch. Close confinement even for a long term does 
 
 not impair their vitality of movement, unless it be that they are again 
 
 deprived of a certain amount of heat. With heat goes their force. 
 
 Keeping this in view, chemists, as we have already pointed out, have 
 
 been able to reduce the most stubborn gases to liquids by placing them 
 
 under circumstances whereby intense cold and immense pressure are at 
 
 one and the same time brought to bear thereon. 
 
 It is clear, therefore, that having at command a body of 
 
 TheExpan- g.^^^ closely confined under great pressure we possess a 
 
 sive Property ^ ■' . . 
 
 of Gases a fund of power that is capable of being put to useful 
 
 Souice of purpose if it is possible to apply the force to a machine 
 
 much Power, t- r r rr j 
 
 by means of which it can be turned to profitable account. 
 Machines of the kind we now possess in plenty. By their means force 
 of the nature we refer to is now turned to account as readily as that of 
 running water or the hand of man can be — much more readily, in fact. 
 
 In a store of gas under pressure we have a reserve of force, just as 
 we ha^■e one in a good head of water dammed up in a reservoir. In 
 the water thus held back against gravitation we have a store of latent 
 energy ready to be turned into the active energy of motion, as, when 
 released of the sluice, it rushes down to a lower level in search of 
 another resting-place. In like manner we have an accumulation of 
 latent energy contained in the compressed gas ready when liberated 
 to bestow upon the machine it is connected to the energy of motion 
 as it seeks a passage into space, there to obtain relief from its 
 straitened position. 
 
 The Use of Without coal as a promoter of heat man could never 
 Coal in this have developed manufacture to the extent it has reached 
 Connection. g^^ce he became alive to the possibilities that lay latent 
 in that commodity, and turned it to the production of power. 
 It enabled him, moreover, to make machines at the same time that 
 it afforded him the means of obtaining the moti\e power necessary 
 to keep these effective. The property possessed by water of being
 
 222 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 easily converted into gas, together with the general plentifulness of the 
 fluid, early stamped it as the medium through which to utilise the heat 
 that lies latent in coal. With these two substances, therefore, man was 
 able to evolve steam, and steam as a force capable of being turned to 
 man's interests was the fundamental cause of the great progress made 
 for one thing in quick transit, and what is implied, both in the attaining 
 and carrying on of the same, that will for ever characterise the 
 nineteenth century. 
 
 It was fortunate for man that Nature stored up so vast a supply of 
 concentrated force-supplying matter. True, she afterwards suffered 
 enormous quantities to be either shorn away or crumbled down from 
 their places of deposit in the course of changes in the geological features 
 of the earth's crust, and only patches remain of the original widespread 
 coalfields. But enough was left for man wherewith to enable him to 
 obtain and keep in easy touch with all parts of the globe, and to develop 
 arts and manufactures in a mighty way. This is being carried on, 
 however, at a tremendous expense as regards eating into the supply of 
 coal. Future generations may have reason to regret the manner 
 in which we dip into this precious store of heat and force. We cut and 
 come again regardless of those who are to succeed us. Woe betide man 
 when the inevitable stage of universal scarcity, not to say want, of coal 
 has been reached ! He will neither have sufficient fuel to give out heat 
 for his own comfort, nor enough to provide the higher kinds of motive 
 power. Thenceforward, judging from analogy, he will perforce be 
 obliged to confine himself to warm latitudes, and to fall back on wind 
 and water as force suppliers. 
 
 The sun itself must in time cease to give forth enough of heat to 
 
 maintain our globe in its present condition. Since the vegetation the 
 
 remains of which compose the deposits of coal grew the sun's power 
 
 has evidently lessened, because nowadays, among other proofs, plant 
 
 growth is far less vigorous, partly due no doubt to loss of heat in the 
 
 earth itself. What with increasing multitudes of people, the sun 
 
 declining in power, and coal practically used up, habitation of the earth 
 
 in the remote future does not call up a pleasant picture. 
 
 Every display of force that manifests itself on earth is 
 The Tendency , ^ . , . , , ^ ,, 
 
 of Heat and ^^^^ ^ see-saw movement m the universal tendency of all 
 
 Force alike to things to come down to one dead level. It is the same 
 come to a • i i ■ i • • , ,i , , 
 
 State of witli heat as with gravitation. All matter on our globe 
 
 Uniformity or seeks to wind its way towards the centre. Whether solid, 
 
 liquid, or gas, all forces are alike. The densest stuff gets 
 
 the furthest in, and the nearer the centre the more tightly is the matter 
 
 packed together. That, at any rate, is the lesson unfolded in the earth's 
 
 crust so far as it has been penetrated. The fluid matter apparently can 
 
 only force its way a little distance into the crust, and has to content 
 
 itself with pressing against the outer skin thereof, collecting in volume
 
 '' POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 223 
 
 where it can in the depressions on the surface that are available. The 
 gases, being the lightest, have to rest content with the outermost circle, 
 where, like Mahomet's coffin, they exist, as it were, between heaven and 
 earth. On one hand their molecular expansive force would lead them 
 heavenwards into the starry space, were even they, etherealised matter 
 though they be, not in manner similar to more materialised matter, 
 completely under the grasp of gravitation. The earth allows them full 
 scope to swell out to their utmost limit, but withal they are unable to 
 break loose from the tie that binds them to the globe in its giddy 
 whirling course in the ether. So tight a grip does the earth keep of 
 her airy mantle, or rather, so closely does it cling to her, that it presses 
 around her, as we all know, with a force equivalent to a weight on her 
 surface of 15 lbs. to the square inch. 
 
 A mass of solid matter will, if left free to obey gravitation, fall through 
 air for a similar reason that a stone sinks in water, because, as we have 
 already indicated, gases as well as liquids fail to support compact 
 masses of matter of a greater density than themselves. Denser solid 
 matter, as exemplified in boats and balloons, can be fashioned into such 
 form or be so balanced and assisted as to float in water and drift in the 
 air ; but we are speaking just now of matter in the lump. If free to 
 slide or roll down a hillside, it will similarly set out in obedience to the 
 same influence and keep on its way until checked. In the same way, as 
 we have so often repeated, will water take the first advantage to run or 
 slide down to a lower level. All matter, even when in the gaseous 
 condition, is, indeed, ever on the watch to evade obstructions that come 
 between it and its inherent desire to be off on that errand of Nature's 
 bidding to find its level. Once all matter has under this law — that of 
 gravitation — found its level, what is there that can disturb the balance 
 again, and so afford us some opportunity of turning to useful account 
 the force expended in restoring the equilibriuni ? It is evident that 
 falling masses of solid matter and water seeking a lower level would be 
 capable of performing useful work for us could we succeed in applying 
 their energy of descent to a machine that can convert force of this 
 nature to a useful purpose. But it would take as much force to raise 
 either to a position of vantage whence they could yield energy as what 
 it would be capable of exerting on its way down again. That process 
 would therefore simply be robbing Peter in order to pay Paul, and 
 could serve no profitable end. It would, at any rate, be impracticable in 
 cases where much expenditure of force was in question. In several minor 
 afifairs of life it is an accepted mode of deriving force. Clocks, for instance, 
 that depend on weights for giving motion to the machinery, afford a well- 
 known example of this method of turning gravitation to account. 
 
 We have nothing advantageous, then, to look for from the falling of 
 solid matter in the way of obtaining useful force ; and well, perhaps, it is 
 so ; for the placing by Nature of solid matter in places of the kind would
 
 224 ^^^ MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 imply such convulsions and upheavals of the earth's crust as would 
 make it a very unsuitable field for our operations. Thanks, howe\-er, 
 to the sun's influence, water, in spite of gravitation, is constantly being 
 raised in \apour, afterwards to be let loose as rain, which, when it 
 accumulates on sites at all elevations, gives man a never-failing source 
 from whence to derive force that can be put to service in manifold ways. 
 Only a small fraction of the immense power that Nature in this way 
 develops is taken advantage of by man. But now he is recognising its 
 adaptability to many of his purposes, and is beginning to avail himself 
 of it on a much larger scale than of old. 
 
 As all matter tends to find its level, so, as hinted above, does heat 
 incline to come to an equal temperature in all substances. When a hot 
 and a cold body are placed together, in time they will be of one 
 temperature. The hot body will have yielded heat to the cold one until 
 the latter was of a like temperature to itself ; and further, these two will 
 do likewise with surrounding objects, if not with the air itself, and then 
 there is stagnation in so far as force is concerned. But even with coal 
 all spent, so long as the sun is there to rule by day we have a head of 
 energy that can effectually kick the beam and disturb any balancing of 
 this sort. While the prime source of terrestrial heat maintains its pro- 
 minence, there is little fear of a general levelling up of force in that respect. 
 The vulgar interpretation of socialism which implies equal shares all 
 round of the world's gear has no counterpart in Nature's economy. Her 
 fundamental laws are based on inequality and opposition ; and when a 
 general peace on the part of her forces that rule the earth is at hand the 
 end of the globe as an animated stage, if not then reached, is very near. 
 Gathering together the threads of our discourse, the sum 
 and the substance of what we have been seeking to make 
 plain in this chapter is that man is able to put to his own uses many of 
 the forces of Nature as represented in the movement of matter. In our 
 present connection — that of the homestead— there is hardly need to 
 touch on the more subtle forces, such as those of chemical reaction and 
 electricity. It is only the simpler ones that as yet are of moment at the 
 farm. The movements of air and water in the mass and of the expansion 
 of gases as exemplified in the generation of steam in the steam-engine, 
 and in the sudden expansion of petroleum vapour in the oil-engine are — 
 never of course forgetting the assistance of our invaluable serf the horse— 
 the only sources of energy that farmers find practicable for the hitherto 
 rather cumbrous sorts of machinery that are in evidence at the home- 
 stead. These the agriculturist finds it easiest to enlist into service in thd 
 working of his fixed machinery. 
 
 In the simple machines that we referred to and described, viz., the 
 pulley, the lever, and the inclined plane, we saw that when we sought to 
 concentrate the power at our command, whether strength of arm or 
 weight of body, or, as it were, make it more effective and do more work
 
 ''POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 225 
 
 at the other end, we had either to cause it to move through a greater 
 space than the point of appHcation did, or make it move at a greater 
 speed, usually indeed both. What we gained in efficiency we sacrificed 
 under these two heads. Coming now to the application of force to the 
 machinery representative of the homestead, we find the position of 
 matters somewhat reversed. The stronger force is now the one that 
 is applied to the machine. We are now, so to speak, working from the 
 wrong end of the lever, the one that moves the slower and for the 
 shorter distance of the two. But ere we get our motive force fairly to 
 bear upon the part of our machines that do the useful work, much of 
 it is unavoidably rendered non-effective. There are almost necessarily 
 so many parts through which it has to be transmitted that a great deal 
 is swallowed up in passing from one point to the other. 
 
 The inertia or unwillingness of the matter involved in the construc- 
 tion of the machine to move has, in the first place, to be overcome. 
 This, however, disappears as a factor of resistance when proper way 
 has been gained on the machine — these two incidents illustrating rather 
 patly Newton's first law quoted on page 208. It takes, for instance, a 
 considerable effort to set the thrashing-mill going ; and once it is in 
 full swing, it takes as much to bring it quickly to a standstill again, 
 assuming, of course, that no corn is being fed into it. It would 
 gradually come to a stop of its own accord, pro\'ing that there was 
 much resistance against its " moving uniformly " on its course. 
 
 None of the force expended in giving motion to the mill is lost, 
 although it does not give a full account of itself at the further end. 
 What disappears on the way thither is lost in the many changes in 
 direction that are given to the force in leading it to the point of 
 application. Every change of this kind means resistance in the form 
 of friction. When a body is made to move against or to glide over 
 another the attraction one to the other causes some degree of resistance 
 to this movement. When the faces of the bodies in contact are rough 
 there is greater resistance than if smooth, and if soft and yielding, more 
 than if hard and firm. Force exerted against friction is converted into 
 heat ; but heat that we do not wish for is no compliment. Perfection 
 of workmanship in the construction of the mill, together with due 
 lubrication of the bearing parts, reduces friction to the minimum point. 
 The parts that rub together during motion are made hard and smooth, 
 and are in addition kept from complete contact by means of the 
 lubricating medium employed. 
 
 „, _ , The great art in machine-making is, of course, to make 
 The Retarda- ° o ' 
 
 live Effect of the machine so smooth-working that as much as possible 
 
 Friction m ^f ^^le force bestowed on it will be transmitted to the 
 
 Machines. 
 
 working point. The amount of power that is taken up 
 
 in overcoming friction in a home-made or crude sort of machine as 
 
 compared to a well-finished one would astonish any one who has never 
 
 M.H. Q
 
 226 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 considered these matters. It comes home to him when we draw his 
 attention to the extra force a horse has to put forth in drawing a load 
 o\er a newly metalled road not yet rolled beyond what is needed at 
 another part that is firm and smooth of surface. It is on account of 
 friction being reduced to the lowest point that the railway is such a 
 perfect road for the transportation of goods. The polished unyielding 
 surface of the steel rails affords such an easy path for the equally 
 smooth-tired wheels to roll upon that between the two similar surfaces 
 there is only the minimum of friction involved. The traction power 
 put forth to draw a heavy train would not have much effect in dragging 
 the same along an ordinary road. It would be a very small part 
 indeed of the train that it could even manage to give a start to. 
 
 The part of the motive force applied to any machine which is 
 swallowed up in overcoming what we may call the inertia of its various 
 parts is called the co-efficient of that force, the other factor being its 
 mechanical efficiency. The less the co-efficient, the less, other things 
 being equal, is the motive force needed to make the machine perform 
 its work. As we shall see in the course of the succeeding chapter, 
 there is considerable room for improvement in this respect as regards 
 the usual class of machinery put to work at our homesteads. 
 
 It is usual to speak of force-producing machines as being 
 
 yvhat a q£ gQ many horse-power or even a fraction of that 
 
 Horse-power -^ ^ 
 
 represents. measure. We may have, for instance, an eight-horse- 
 power steam-engine or a half-horse oil one and so on. 
 This, no doubt, has arisen from the fact that horses have to so large 
 an extent been devoted to the purpose of providing motive force. One- 
 horse-power is equivalent to a force that wall raise 33,000 pounds of 
 matter one foot high in the course of a minute in opposition to the 
 force of gravity.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 " Power " at the Homestead — continued. 
 
 "Power "now On'ce upon a time the thrashing of the corn crops was 
 for^^T'^ the sole operation at the homestead that had other than 
 more Purposes manual power provided for its execution. Now, how- 
 at^he°Home- e^^'^r, there is pulping of turnips and mangolds, corn- 
 stead, bruising, cake-crushing, and very often coarse grinding 
 of grain all to be provided for. In the earlier days at 
 the small farms even the thrashing was done by hand. In fact, the 
 noise of the flail is occasionally to be heard at this date. It is not, 
 indeed, so long since the thrashing-mill came to be an essential at the 
 big homesteads. Before its introduction there was nothing for it but 
 to beat the crops on the thrashing-floor. 
 
 When the thrashing-mill was introduced, in the absence of a head 
 of water for its motive power, there was only the wind or the never- 
 failing horse to press into service in this way. And because of the 
 rather wayward nature of the wind it was seldom turned to account. 
 To the steady horse, therefore, fell this addition to its already full 
 round of labour. This extra branch of labour formed a heavy burden 
 on the horse-power of the farm. Heavy, unremitting, and most 
 monotonous work in the mill-course took the spirit sadly out of the 
 poor animals. The farmer, obliged to make use of his horses for 
 driving the mill, had good reason to envy his neighbour who had water 
 at command for the same purpose. Notwithstanding its cost, he gladly 
 turned to the steam-engine when it appeared in the market as a 
 practicable aid at the homestead. 
 
 In those districts, where, as a rule, the farms are 
 
 Horse-power gniall, even there the horse - driven thrashing - mill is 
 
 all but Obso- . . ° . . 
 
 lete. now being often left to fall into decay. The itinerant 
 
 thrashing-mill is at the farmer's disposal, and he prefers 
 
 paying for its help to " taking it out " of his horses. But this is a plan 
 
 that, in many cases, is conducive both to untidiness and waste. It 
 
 usually implies heaps of loose straw about the place. The straw thus 
 
 yielded in large quantities at a time is never put together so neatly as 
 
 the sheaves are to begin with. It could be, no doubt, but as it has to 
 
 be used soon the labour spent in doing so would generally be looked 
 
 upon as lost. With so much at hand there is certain to be less 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 economy in the using of it ; and being so much exposed to air and 
 weather, it loses not a little of its freshness as fodder. These, however, 
 are points of less moment at the big arable farm, where often the cry 
 is how to get enough of the straw trodden underfoot, than they are at 
 the dairy farm, for instance, where the straw is held as an article of 
 fodder. Asking recently the tenant of a North-country farm of the 
 latter class, whose horse-mill was fast becoming useless, if he now 
 depended entirely upon the travelling mill, the reply Avas, "'Deed no; 
 I get it as seldom as I can ; it makes sic a waste." " What do you do, 
 then?" we incjuired. "Do you handle the flail ? " " Oh, I daud a few 
 sheaves against the rungs of a ladder every morning," he answered. And 
 not a bad idea either. If the sheaves are not clean thrashed, the cows 
 and the horses enjoy them, and consequently profit by them, all the 
 more. They are served to them for being eaten, not for being slept upon. 
 So great is the advantage of having water power at the 
 Advantages homestead, one has reason to be surprised that this has 
 of Water been so often overlooked. That we find so few home- 
 
 steads provided in this way is, perhaps, due to the fact 
 of their respective sites having been chosen at a time so far back that 
 there was then no machinery calling for motive power other than manual 
 labour could cope with. It is not, however, to long-established home- 
 steads alone that this neglect on the part of those who planned them in 
 seeking the aid of water power is applicable. The same can be advanced 
 against many of recent date. It is only, of course, in certain districts 
 that water is available in this way. In some of the wide level tracts of 
 good cropping country, where thrashing is such an important operation, 
 water is too scarce for the purpose ; and were it more plentiful, the 
 configuration of the ground is usually of such a nature that it cannot be 
 fully turned to account. There is generally a difficulty in giving enough 
 of fall to the water to allow much work being got out of it. We are, unfor- 
 tunately, likelier to meet with water available as power at the homestead 
 in those districts where corn growing is more a subsidiary branch than the 
 almost all-absorbing one it is in the strictly arable parts of the country. 
 But wherever power is needed at the homestead, whether on the half 
 arable or the wholly arable farm, water when available in this respect 
 should be taken advantage of. And whenever it falls to one's lot either 
 to select the site for a new homestead or to give advice thereon he 
 should bear in mind the great importance of securing so valuable an aid 
 in the performance of work at the place. A homestead well supplied in 
 this way ought certainly to add to the letting value of the farm. We 
 question if it ever did so in the past, but the cost of labour, whether 
 manual or mechanical, is not now what it used to be in country districts 
 any more than in towns ; and the time is approaching when a cheap 
 source of power, such as water in many cases can be made, will be taken 
 at its proper value.
 
 ''POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 229 
 
 ^, , There are three modifications of the vertical water-wheel. 
 
 The three • 1 j 1 1 
 
 Modifications viz., the undershot, the overshot, and the breast wheel. 
 
 of the Ordinary i-^ the first-mentioned, as Fi^. 170 shows, the force of 
 Water-Wheel. . . ,• , 1 , 
 
 the moving water is applied to blades which are attached 
 
 to the circumference of the wheel, and in turn as it revolves dip into the 
 water. The running water strikes against these blades, its momentum 
 
 as applied to them serving 
 to give motion to the 
 wheel. A wheel of this 
 kind is applicable in cases 
 where water is so plentiful 
 that there is not much 
 need to economise it. 
 Almost all water power 
 derived from pent-up 
 streams is utilised in this 
 manner. In fact, it can 
 hardly be applied other- 
 wise, unless the bed of the 
 stream happens to have a 
 steep declivity. With a lowland stream there is usually so slight a fall 
 from where the water is diverted into the mill lade or lead and the point 
 at which it rejoins the stream that no other class of wheel is practicable. 
 But the abundance 
 of water in these in- 
 
 stances makes up for 
 
 the deficiency in the 
 
 fall of the stream. 
 
 The 
 The Under- 
 shot Wheel. 
 
 Fig. 170. 
 
 under- 
 
 s h o t 
 wheel acts in a 
 directly opposite 
 fashion to the paddle- 
 wheel of a steam- 
 boat. In the latter 
 the blades of the 
 wheel strike the 
 water, and in this w^ay impel the boat onwards, but with the under- 
 shot wheel the water is this time the moving agent which, as it 
 strikes against the blades, causes the wheel to revolve. 
 
 The overshot wheel, on the other hand, is utilised where 
 
 u. ?Ju^' 1 water is not so plentiful, and where, in addition, it can be 
 shot Wheel. . . ... 
 
 afforded a considerable drop in order to give it increased 
 
 impetuosity. The water, as indicated in Fig. 171, is led on to the top
 
 230 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The Breast 
 V/heel. 
 
 of the wheel, and is caught in the series of buckets that in this class 
 takes the place of the blades or paddles that characterise the undershot 
 wheel. Not only does the water tend to force round the wheel as it is 
 arrested in its course by the constantly succeeding buckets, but its 
 weight as these become filled adds to the w^eight of the rim of the wheel, 
 and thus, under the law of centrifugal force, increases the momentum of 
 that part. The buckets empty themselves before the water can become 
 an encumbrance by being raised on the other side against gravitation. 
 The breast wheel is a sort of compromise between the 
 other two. It is used where a shorter drop is given than 
 in the case of the overshot wheel, which, of course has to 
 be compensated by a fuller body of water. The stream of water 
 is led on to the side of the wheel, or, perhaps, the shoulder rather 
 
 than the side. But a 
 reference to Fig. 172 will 
 explain the arrangement. 
 This wheel, it will be seen, 
 turns in the same direction 
 as the undershot wheel, 
 but contrary to the over- 
 shot. The water is dropped 
 between the end of the 
 shoot and the wheel, and 
 falling upon the latter, fills 
 the buckets, which, as with 
 the overshot wheel, are 
 fixed upon its circumference, and so carries it round by sheer weight. 
 Where water is plentiful paddles are substituted for buckets. 
 
 The water-wheel not only enables us to transmute the 
 
 motion of the water to other points more convenient to 
 
 our purposes, but it also serves the part of a simple 
 
 mechanical advantage. It is a modification of the lever, 
 
 as exemplified in the wheel and axle, P'ig. 161. The 
 
 length of radius of the wheel multiplied by the momentum of the water 
 
 (the sum of its weiglit and velocity) gives us the amount of power 
 
 we have at command at the axis of its axle. 
 
 Sticking to round figures — for mathematical accuracy is hardly 
 practicable in the every-day affairs of the farm, and in consequence 
 is seldom run after — a cubic foot of water weighs about 62^ pounds. 
 In a cubic foot of fluid, as we have seen, there are about 6^ 
 gallons, and a gallon of average surface - water weighs rather 
 better than 10 pounds, but for our purpose may be taken at that figure. 
 These figures are sufficient to prove the comparati\e accuracy of our 
 statement, and they are easy to remember. With this knowledge for a 
 start, what is needed in addition to enable us to calculate approximately 
 
 Fig. 172. 
 
 The 
 
 mechanical 
 Advantage of 
 the ordinary 
 Water-Wheel
 
 '^ POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 231 
 
 the power of any water-wheel is the quantity of water that can be 
 steadily applied to the same, together with the distance which the water 
 falls while it is in contact with the wheel. 
 
 In addition to this, however — at least, as regards both the undershot 
 and the overshot wheels — there comes in the momentum (the quantity 
 and rate of motion or velocity) of the body of water as it impinges upon 
 the floats in the former case and against the buckets in the latter. In 
 fact, as regards the undershot wheel, the somewhat primitive data given 
 above is not sufificient for guiding us to a solution of its power. Some- 
 thing besides what we have stated is required to lead us to any degree 
 of accuracy on that point. The running water is in contact with each of 
 the floats as its turn comes but for an instaat, and only a proportion 
 of the passing water gets a chance to bear upon the wheel. The floats 
 are never so large as to take up the whole area of the channel. 
 
 But with the other two respectively, when matters are properly 
 adjusted, nearly every drop of the water led forward is applied to the 
 wheel, and accompanies it in a part of its revolution in the overshot for 
 half a turn, and in the breast wheel between a half and a quarter turn. 
 x\pplying now our data, suppose we have available a supply of water 
 capable of playing upon a wheel, 20 feet in diameter, at the rate of 
 300 cubic feet in a minute, and that it keeps in contact with the 
 wheel while it descends, say, 10 feet. Here we have 300 cubic feet 
 of water, weighing 18,750 lb., which, multiplied by 10, the number of 
 feet it falls while doing work in connection with the wheel, gives us a 
 force of 187,500 lb. applied at the rim of the wheel. This represents a 
 motive force of 187,500 foot-pounds. A horse-power we noted at the 
 end of last chapter as being equivalent to 33,000 foot-pounds. We 
 have, therefore, with our assumed wheel and available water supply at 
 our command, a working force equal to a little over five and three- 
 quarters horse-power. 
 
 This is only theoretically, however. In practice the farm water- 
 wheel is too clumsy a contrivance to transmit a very large proportion 
 of the motive power to the working point. Only about -60 of it comes 
 to be effective. Ten times the initial force playing in this case upon 
 the circumference of the wheel comes, we must bear in mind, to act at 
 the central point of its axle. 
 
 A reference to Fig. 173, taken from Stephen's " Book of the Farm," 
 and which explains itself, makes clear how simple in all its parts, as 
 well as in the application thereto of the force, is the ordinary water- 
 wheel. Simple in construction, easy of control, and not readily put out 
 of order, it is a mechanical appliance admirably adapted to the uses of 
 the farmer. The figure represents a breast wheel, the water being led 
 on about forty-five degrees from the top. It is shown made all of iron, 
 excepting the buckets and the rim to which these are attached. Some- 
 times these parts of the wheel are also of iron, but wood is, perhaps.
 
 232 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 the preferable material with which to fit them up. A bucket made of 
 wood can be more easily repaired or replaced than one of iron. The 
 wheel is cast in separate pieces, which can at anytime be taken asunder 
 for repair. The simplicity of the arrangements for letting the water 
 when not required past the wheel and for regulating the quantity to be 
 applied is self-apparent. 
 
 A Drawback '^^^ °^^ drawback to the water-wheel is the introduction 
 of the Water- in connection therewith of so much water about the 
 ^^ ' place. As a rule places of the kind are damp enough 
 
 without adding to that condition by introducing an underground stream 
 alongside some of the buildings and beneath others. The wheel pit, in 
 order that the power may be nearer its work, is usually placed alongside the 
 barn wall in line with the thrashing-mill inside, and, on account of so 
 
 Fig. 173. 
 much water being splashed about it, that part of the wall is constantly 
 dripping. If the side wall of the barn be badly built— loose and hollow 
 inside, as so often happens — there is little wonder that the barn itself is 
 damp, and not infrequently infested with rats. But there is no reason 
 why the water-wheel cannot be prevented from becoming a nuisance in 
 this way. If care be taken in providing for the introduction of water to 
 the homestead as a source of power, and its installation be carried out 
 properly, there need be nothing to fear in that respect. With large-sized 
 fireclay pipes now so readily available, the water can easily be provided 
 with a watertight channel, if not all the way from the dam to the wdieel, 
 at least as far back from the latter as will safeguard the homestead from
 
 ''POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 233 
 
 the effects of leakage as the water approaches the buildings. And what 
 with fireclay bricks and cement easily procurable, it need be no difficult 
 matter to render the sides of the pit watertight ; and with concrete to 
 put the bottom thereof in like condition. And if pipes are not 
 practicable in the construction of the tail-race or exit from the pit, 
 bricks and cement will serve to keep it from being a source of dampness 
 until it is clear of the buildings. 
 
 Through neglect of the former of these precautions, that of making the 
 lade or conducting channel from dam to mill-wheel watertight, we have 
 often seen parts of homesteads rendered worse than useless. The 
 places so affected got the name of sheltering or housing cattle ; but 
 while affording this they lay the stock open to diseases which they 
 would never contract if left out in the open without other shelter than 
 fences, and perhaps an open shed to which they could retreat in times 
 of stress. And not only does the stock of the occupier suffer under 
 conditions of this sort. The woodwork of buildings so situated very 
 soon becomes a prey to the lowly organisms that breed and flourish in 
 the mouldy corners characteristic of buildings which are subjected to 
 a constant state of almost stagnant dampness. But the mill-pit is 
 generally the greater sinner of the two in respect of introducing damp- 
 ness to the homestead. In neither case, however, need there be room, 
 as w^e ha\e already said, for any harm to arise from water as the motive 
 power to the homestead. It is as easy to make a satisfactory job here 
 as in any other department of the buildings. Careful, though bv no 
 means necessarily expensive, work is no doubt required here, but the 
 same applies to all the other parts. Something like what holds good 
 with the drains, however, is apt to be the case with the water-power 
 installation. Because it is to be out of sight it is thought less care may 
 be taken with it than with work that will be abo^■e ground and always in 
 view. The laying on of water for this purpose is undoubtedly a consider- 
 able addition to the cost of building the homestead, but, as we have said, 
 it is seldom taken account of in estimating the value of the farm it is 
 intended to benefit. This extra cost has, we suspect, much to do with the 
 number of places unprovided with water power that might easily have 
 been served with so great a convenience. But estate managers stand in 
 the light of the interests of the estates they control when they curtail ex- 
 penses that would confer so great a benefit on the occupiers of a homestead. 
 
 It is not necessary, of course, that the water-wheel should be absolutely 
 alongside of the barn wall. There is nothing to hinder it from being placed 
 some distance away from the buildings so long as it is practicable to 
 transmit the power to the point where it requires to be applied. But this 
 implies shafting and allied means of passing the force from the wheel to 
 the thrashing-mill, all of which add to the cost of installation. ^Nlore- 
 over, a good deal of force is sure to be dropped by the way in overcoming 
 the friction between the various parts that serve to transmit the force.
 
 234 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 There is a class ot water-wheel which, in our opinion, is 
 
 The Turbine j^^^^ ^^ much taken adxantaL^' of at the homestead as it 
 Water- Wheel. - 
 
 ought to be; we mean the turbine wheel. One can turn a 
 
 head of water, whether it be a plentiful one with a short drop, or one 
 small in quantity but with a long fall, to far better account with the 
 turbine than with any of the other kinds of water-wheels. This form 
 of wheel takes up far less room than any of the others we have 
 mentioned. It sits horizontal and immersed in the water of the tail 
 race. The water is led on to it in an iron pipe, fixed vertically above 
 it, and parallel with the shaft or axle of the wlieel. With the older 
 sorts the water pours down the pipe into the wheel, entering it at the 
 centre and escaping at the circumference, but those of later construction 
 reverse the process by admitting the water at the circumference of the 
 wheel and allowing it to escape at the centre. Internally the wheel is 
 vertically divided into watertight compartments radiating from the 
 central point to the rim — not straight, however, like the spokes of a 
 wheel, but at a tangent, with a certain twist or sweep that impels the 
 wheel round as the water in its eagerness to escape impinges upon the 
 walls of these compartments. The whole arrangement is of necessity 
 so compact and so well constructed that this method of utilising water 
 as a motive power cannot lead to much dampness in connection with 
 the farm buildings. Its installation may be more expensive than is the 
 case with the others, but so much depends upon the site of the home- 
 stead and the general configuration of the surrounding ground that 
 comparisons of this kind in the absence of reliable data are aimless as 
 well as unsatisfactorv. At any rate, a much smaller supply can be 
 made to do useful ser\ice in conjunction with the turbine water-wheel 
 than with any of the others. 
 
 It is so well adapted for developing small powers that we often 
 feel surprised tliat it is not oftener made to do duty in this direction. 
 A three- or a four-inch pipe is sufficient to keep going a well-appointed 
 turbine wheel capable of developing a force in accordance with the 
 available fall of the water. Even at a large homestead supplied with 
 ample steam power a subsidiary power such as we refer to would prove 
 a great boon. The lighter machinery, that used for preparing food for 
 the different classes of animals, could be kept going thereby. Some of 
 the machinery in that department is at work on most days of the week — 
 at least, it would be if power were available. But when there is 
 none other at the homestead except the strong power that has been 
 provided to deal with the thrashing-mill, putting it to do these petty 
 jobs is like setting three men to do a boy's work. Instead of doing 
 so, however, it is usual to put off the minor jobs until the thrashing 
 day comes round. This is equally the case where water instead of 
 steam is the prime power. And then too, when the water-wheel is one 
 of so powerful a nature that its use in connection with the minor
 
 ''POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 235 
 
 machinery savours of mockery it would not be bad economy, if matters 
 
 warranted sucli a step, to pro\-ide a small turbine as a subsidiary source 
 
 of power. But there 
 
 is less likelihood of 
 
 that being required at 
 
 those places that de- 
 pend upon water power 
 
 than there is where 
 
 steam is the force- 
 giver. We can limit 
 
 the amount of water 
 
 being led to the wheel 
 
 until it is just sufficient 
 
 to keep the wheel 
 
 moving and little more, 
 
 and in this way bring 
 
 the giant's force down 
 
 to child's work. We 
 
 cannot very well do the same with an eight-horse-power steam-engine. 
 
 This is a matter, howe\'er, on which no one can dogmatise. No rule 
 
 is in this respect of 
 general application. 
 Few homesteads are 
 placed under similar 
 circumstances, and 
 there are many thou- 
 sands of them scattered 
 over the face of our 
 country. The fact re- 
 mains at any rate that 
 in numerous cases it 
 might easily liave been 
 practicable to lay on 
 water power to home- 
 steads that are de- 
 prived of so cheap and 
 easily managed a help 
 
 towards executing the heavy work that goes on there. In no instance 
 
 ought water power to be overlooked, whether it be plentiful enough to 
 
 serve the ordinary wheel, or so limited in quantity as to be only sufficient 
 
 for the more ingenious and less exacting turbine. 
 
 A D«>^..„^ In order to make clearer the matter of the turbine wheel 
 
 A Kepresen- 
 
 tative Form of we represent in Figs, from 174 to lyg the one known as 
 t e Turbine. ^.j^^ ,, vortex " turbine. It was invented by Professor James 
 Thomson, and is manufactured by Messrs. Gilkes, Kendal. Since it
 
 236 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 was put on tlie market it has been applied to falls ranging from three 
 feet to five hundred feet. It consists of a movable wheel (Fig. 176) with 
 radiating vanes, which revolves upon a pivot, and is surrounded by an 
 annular case, closed externally, but having towards its external circum- 
 ference four curved guide passages. The water is admitted by one or 
 more pipes to this case, and entering through the guide passages, acts 
 against the vanes of the wheel, which is thus dri\en round at a velocity 
 depending upon the height of the fall. The water, having expended its 
 force, passes out at the centre both above and below the case. In 
 Fig. 174 the case is complete as usually placed at the bottom of the 
 fall ; in Fig. 175 it is shown with the cover removed. The wheels range 
 in diameter from six inches upwards. In this instance A is the revolving 
 
 wheel keyed on the shaft C. 
 B represents one of the 
 guide blades for regulating 
 the amount of water ad- 
 missible to the wheel ; and 
 D the bell cranks and shafts 
 connecting the guide blades 
 with the outside bell cranks 
 and coupling rods E. F is 
 the guide blade gear (kept 
 out in this instance, but 
 easily discernible in Fig. 
 177) ; G the bracket and 
 screw for raising the pivot ; 
 H the wheel cover ; and I 
 the supply pipe by which 
 the water enters the case. 
 
 Fig. 177 shows a wheel 
 of the kind fixed in position, 
 the top of the case being le^•el witli the floor of the tail-race, so that any 
 loss of fall is avoided. The water in this case has a fall of eighteen feet, 
 and it develops a force of fifty horse-power. The wheel rests upon 
 three large stones with an opening towards the tail-race for the escape of 
 the water from the under side of the wheel. The lever end of the shafc 
 works upon a lignum vitae pivot, supported by the bridge or bracket 
 seen below. A lever, with a rod rising to the surface of the tail water, 
 is provided for raising the pivot when worn. Above the case are 
 shown the cranks and rods for working the guide blades, which are 
 moved by a worm and segment, seen towards tlie right-hand side of the 
 fig. A part of the strainer box (intended to keep sticks, &c., from 
 gaining access to the wheel) is broken away to show the arrangement 
 of the strainer and bell-mouth entrance of tlie pipes. The power 
 is transmitted from tlie upright shaft of the turbine by a pair of 
 
 Fig. 176.
 
 "POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 237 
 
 bevel-wheels to the horizontal shaft which passes through the wall 
 into the mill. 
 
 It is practicable, as we see in Fig. 1 78, to construct the " vortex " so that 
 it can be fixed in a vertical position. And this form of the wheel admits 
 of being placed without much loss of power at any height above the 
 level of the tail-race not exceeding thirty feet, or the length of a column 
 of water which the atmosphere pressure is capable of supporting in a 
 tube with one end closed and the air abstracted therefrom. We see the 
 principle put to practice in Fig. 179. The principle is that the water 
 in the pipe between the wheel and the tail-race is drawing round the 
 
 Fig. 
 
 wheel with about as much force as it would push it round were the 
 wheel placed at the bottom of the column. The water in the pipe below 
 the wheel is still in this case a continuation of the head of water between 
 the reservoir and the tail-race. At more than thirty feet beneath the 
 wheel the column of water disconnects ; therefore beyond that distance 
 the water has no draw, or suck, on the wheel it has passed through. 
 
 It is in respect of acting as a water supplier to the 
 turbine, if in any, that we think the windmill can be 
 called into service as an auxiliary power at the home- 
 stead. It is too uncertain, as we have said, to serve as a prime power. 
 In accordance with the perversity that is so often displayed in human 
 
 The Wind 
 Wheel.
 
 238 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 affairs it is apt to fail us at the times it is most needed, and be rampant 
 when not required. But if taken in connection with water and bound 
 in partnership to that less wayward medium, it is (juite practicable to 
 blend its extremes into a steady average force of almost automatic 
 habit. While in many cases it is utterly impracticable to avail oneself 
 of a head of water to give motion to the fixed machinery of the farm, in 
 not a few of these is the project quite feasible of pumping up by means 
 of wind power to a level where it can be utilised to drive a turbine 
 
 Fig. 17S. 
 
 wheel. That form of wheel, we repeat, is not exacting in its contribu- 
 tion from water, and there are places without count where water of 
 some sort or other — either running or stagnant — is available for the 
 purpose indicated. By means of a suitable wind-motor it is easy to 
 raise water from a level lower tlian the site of the homestead to one 
 equal to or above it. And it is no difficult matter, and need be no 
 costly one, to form a reservoir capable of supplying the requirements of 
 the wheel. This is, we consider, the only feasible way we can contrive 
 to turn wind to account as a help at the homestead. The windmill will
 
 ^^ POWER" AT THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 239 
 
 often be idle, but it will be oftener on the move, and, like Cuddie 
 Headrig's tree, it will during most of its existence be making progress in 
 its way while we are sleeping. If the installation is well planned, the 
 reser^'oir, provided that the pump never sucks, will always be prepared 
 to meet its calls. 
 
 Thanks to makers in the United States, followed now by those of our 
 own country, we ha\e ample choice of easily erected and easily main- 
 
 FiG. 179. 
 
 tained wind-motors suitable to the purpose we suggest. Fig. 180 is 
 an example of one of these useful machines which are familiar to the 
 readers of agricultural journals as being prominent in the advertisement 
 columns of these, and to frequenters of agricultural shows as figuring 
 among the groups of machinery exhibits. Some are of wood, excepting, 
 of course, the axles and allied parts ; and others are wholly of 
 metal, the most being galvanised. They are so constructed as to a 
 certain extent to be self-regulating. When the wind increases to a 
 pressure that is too severe for them, they come almost to a standstill,
 
 240 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 patiently waiting their chance to resume operations in a normal way 
 when the gale has blown itself out. When the wind reaches a certain 
 pressure, or, what is much the same thing, when the wheel attains a 
 certain velocity, it brings a lever into play that so affects the rudder or 
 tail-piece, whose prime duty is to keep the wheel dead on to the passing 
 air-current, as to cause it to throw the wheel out of the eye of the wind — 
 to " luff" as a sailor would say, and thus reduce its rate of revolution. 
 The harder it blows the more does the rudder force the wheel to keep its 
 full face from the wind, and to turn sideways thereto, until at last the 
 rim of the wheel is presented to the gale and the machine is brought to 
 
 Fig. 180. 
 
 a full stop. When the force of the wind moderates the rudder is eased 
 from this abnormal duty, and the wheel begins to face up to its work 
 again. By reason of this simple contrivance therefore are these machines 
 prevented from racing and coming to untimely ends. Its application 
 thereto enables them to maintain a steady pace which is a favourable 
 condition as regards wear and tear. It is practicable further to fit up a 
 simple automatic arrangement whereby when the reservoir becomes 
 full the wheel can be thrown out of gear, and thus be sa\ed from doing 
 unnecessary work.
 
 ''POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 241 
 
 Fi(,. iSi. 
 
 We have spoken, under the head of Water Supply, of the utihty of 
 such a wind motor as we are dis- 
 cussing in raising drinking-water 
 to a height that will admit of its 
 being distributed at \arious points 
 of the homestead. What applies 
 to it in the instance of raising 
 water to afford power at the home- 
 stead applies to it also in raising 
 water to supply the demand for 
 it there on the part both of man 
 and beast. It is a most useful 
 aid in either case when water at 
 a lower level than the building is 
 to be had for the lifting any dis- 
 tance that is not beyond prac- 
 ticable means. 
 
 While on the sub- 
 
 The Water ^^^ ^f forcing 
 
 Ram. ■' . . - 
 
 drinking water to 
 
 a higher level it may be oppor- 
 tune to look into the action of the hydraulic ram, under the influence of 
 
 wdiich a moving body of water is 
 made to force part of its own 
 volume to considerable heights 
 if wished. Fig. 181 shows the 
 apparatus as supplied by the 
 Glenfield Company, Kilmarnock, 
 viewed externally. It looks 
 simple, and it does not belie its 
 appearance. The section of the 
 ram given in Fig. 182 enables one 
 to understand the principle of this 
 useful appliance. It is fed through 
 the pipe D P which leads the water 
 into the body of the ram. The 
 latter has no other outlets than the 
 opening at D V, leading direct to 
 the exterior, and that at C V, which 
 leads into an air chamber. Both 
 openings are, it will be seen, pro- 
 vided with \alves that can efiec- 
 tually bar the passage of water 
 through either, except in the 
 direction desired. Further there 
 
 M.H. R 
 
 O.P.^,
 
 242 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 is led away from the air clianiber the rise or supply pipe R P, which, it 
 will be observed, is much smaller in bore than the drive pipe. S V is 
 the snifter valve for the admission of sufficient air into tiie chamber 
 to replace what is carried therefrom b\- tlie water tliat passes through 
 or past it ; and M H is the manhole cover whicli allows access for 
 examination of the clap-valve at times. 
 
 \\'hen the body of the ram is emptv the drop-\alve D V, which sits 
 bottom downwards, leaves the opening tree. The clap-valve C V 
 sits the reverse way, closing up the passage that communicates 
 with the air-chamber A V. If we turn on the water into the drive- 
 pipe D P, it forces its way down the pipe and seeks to escape past the 
 valve D V. But the rush of water to the opening there carries up the 
 \alve, which now suddenly blocks the opening, and in consequence the 
 momentum of the water stops with a sudden jerk which reacts on the 
 water, and seeks to force it back. It cannot, however, force the water 
 back up the drive-pipe, but it is strong enough to press up the valve at 
 C V, and force some of it therein. The air within the chamber acts as 
 a cushion in giving way before the water that is suddenly ejected into 
 the chamber, and in its turn forcing it into the rise pipe R P that is led 
 away to the point of delivery. Meantime the balance within the body 
 of the ram has been redressed, and the Aarious forces have come to a 
 momentary pause. There now being nothing to withhold the valve D V 
 against the force of gravitation, it falls to its original position, and once 
 more the water begins to flow down the drive-pipe and out at the 
 opening thus afforded. But headway has no sooner been gained than the 
 valve is again carried in the upward rush, with the same result as before — 
 an instantaneous check to the movement which spends itself in forcing open 
 the valve C V, and forcing some water into the chamber whence through 
 the elastic force of the compressed air it is pushed along the rise-pipe 
 which leads therefrom. And so when the A'arious parts of the ram are 
 properly adjusted does this combined and automatic action proceed with 
 regular beat day and night without attention from anyone. Floods and 
 frosts may, of course, come to interfere with the steady performance of 
 its work, but how these will afTect it is simply a matter of situation. The 
 ram may be so placed that it is out of the way of frost ; and the rivulet 
 may be of such a description as not to be much liable to flooding. A 
 flood would not harm the ram so long as it was not submerged — so 
 long, at any rate, as the opening at D \' was above water, and the valve 
 liad free play. 
 
 With rams of a higli power it may be feasible under certain conditions 
 and in suitable circumstances to raise water to the homestead, there to 
 be turned to account in developing power capable of giving motion to 
 machinery. But these would be exceptional cases. The place of the ram, 
 so far as we are presently concerned, is as a carrier of water for drink 
 either to man or animal, and even in this department of farm economy
 
 ''POWER" AT THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 243 
 
 Steam. 
 
 only to a very limited extent. In Fig. 183 we show a contrivance 
 capable of doing work similar to what the ram is put — a small water- 
 wheel driving a pump. It is forcing up water from that which supplies 
 it with motix'e power. 
 
 Failing the means of obtaining water power at the home- 
 
 The Expansive stead, there is nothing for it at the big arable farm but to 
 Force of Gases , , , • r , . 
 
 as Power. ^urn to the expansive property of gases as the motive 
 
 force for thrashing the corn crops. The oil-engine, we 
 
 have hinted, is now being put forward as both a handy and cheap agent, 
 
 well adapted to the end in view ; but it has hardly become popular yet. 
 
 The steam-engine was the only one a\ailable when horse power was 
 
 being discarded as wasteful and behind the times, which, no doubt, 
 
 accounts for its general adoption. Had any other more handy source 
 
 of power been at command, this cumbersome and expensive one would 
 
 not have been in such demand. 
 
 Steam, as w^e remarked in the last chapter, brings us to a 
 different kind of energy or source of work than we ha\e 
 
 to deal with in respect of the power either of wind or of water. The 
 
 source of power 
 
 in these is the 
 
 momentum of 
 
 moving bodies. 
 
 We erect our 
 
 wind motor in 
 
 face of currents 
 
 of air, and the 
 
 latter, as they 
 
 seek to force it 
 
 out of their way, 
 
 impart motion 
 
 to it. In like 
 
 manner, we set 
 
 our wheel in the 
 
 path of water Pi^ jS^ 
 
 running to a 
 
 lower level while it may, and the wheel, receiving the impress of the 
 
 stream, has some of the momentum of the moving water imparted to it. 
 
 As regards steam, however, we have, we repeat, to do with the molecular 
 
 forces of the water we take in hand, not with the body itself in motion. 
 
 We get our force now out of the tendency of the body to expand, not to 
 
 be set in motion itself and carry other bodies with it. W'e enclose water 
 
 in a strong boiler and heat it until it is converted into steam. Steam 
 
 being the gaseous form of water, its component molecules are, in that 
 
 condition, free, if not too stoutly opposed, to expand towards infinity. 
 
 F)Ut opposed to them are the thick iron plates of the boiler, which bids 
 
 R 2
 
 244 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 defiance to their strivings after liberty. Thick though these be, liowever, 
 it is possible, if we apply great heat to the boiler, to rend them asunder. 
 
 It is this expansive force of water turned to gas that the steam turns 
 to account as useful work. The steam is utilised by allowing it to 
 escape into a chamber — the cylinder — in which works a piston, the 
 head of which fits close to the sides, but can easily be moved from one 
 end to the other. The handle, or rod, of the piston projects beyond the 
 cylinder through a close-fitting hole at one end, and the motion of this 
 as the piston moves to and fro, taken up by crank and fly-wheel, 
 constitutes the moti\e power of the steam-engine. 
 
 Fig. 184 demonstrates at a glance the principle on which the steam 
 is brought to play upon the piston within the cylinder. A is the cylinder 
 as a whole, and h the head of the piston ; r is a supplementary part of 
 the cylinder into which the steam is admitted through d, preparatory to 
 being brought into action upon the piston head. As the piston moves to 
 and fro this reciprocatory motion, with its sudden stops and starts, is 
 converted into a circular one by means of the crank e keyed to the shaft, 
 which is attached at its other end to the fly-wheel — which is not shown, 
 
 Fig. 1S4. 
 
 however. Attached to this same shaft is what is termed the " eccentric," 
 /, the rod of which, g-, moves backward and forward the port-cover /;, 
 which regulates the admission of steam into the cylinder through the 
 two ports i. By this arrangement, while steam is being admitted to 
 one side of the piston head a way out by the escape pipe is being left 
 for the steam at the other side of the piston head. 
 
 The forms in which steam-engines are now manufactured 
 The Steam- ^j.^ igg^Q^^ and successi^•e makers, profiting by accumu- 
 lated experience, are able to produce machines that can 
 almost be termed perfect of their kind. One of a simple description, 
 however, is the best suited for the requirements of the homestead. 
 Skilled men are not readily available at country places, and during the 
 part of the year that it is needed for one day the engine is idle four or 
 five ; while from the end of spring to late in autumn it is wholly at rest. 
 A strong, simple machine answers treatment of this kind more satis- 
 factorily than a complicated one, well balanced, no doubt, in all its 
 parts, but ill adapted to withstand inattention of any kind. Those of 
 the latter description are made with a view to economise fuel as far as
 
 ^' POWER" AT THE HOMESTEAD. 245 
 
 possible, and to turn the steam thereby generated to the best account. 
 Still, conducted as the affairs of tlie homestead have usually of necessity 
 to be, it is better to lose a little in extra fuel at the hands of an easily 
 maintained engine than run the greater risk of rendering the more 
 perfect one ineffective. 
 
 At the more important liomesteads it is usual to find the engine apart 
 from the boiler, the latter built up in a house by itself. This arrange- 
 ment saves the engine from exposure to the dust and moisture that arise 
 in the boiler-house from the work connected with attending to the 
 furnaces and the escape of steam from the boiler. The fixed boilers 
 necessitate a tall chimney-stack such as we see in connection with manu- 
 factories, but on a smaller scale than these, of course. The tall chimney 
 is necessary in order to promote a strong draught in the furnace. With- 
 out it the fire would not burn briskly enough, nor could the heated gases 
 and air arising therefrom be led along the boiler in the manner best 
 adapted to heat the water to ad\'antage. The higher we make the 
 chimney the more effecti\e we make the furnace, but there is a medium 
 point beyond which it is unnecessary to go. This depends, it is needless 
 to say, on the circumstances peculiar to each case, and we seldom find 
 two alike. In no case, ho\ve\er, need the homestead boiler house 
 chimney be made to compete in height with the factory chimney. The 
 factory furnace is generally fed on dross, which requires a powerful 
 draught to digest it ; but the farmer is usually obliged to deal out good 
 coal to his, and it burns with less coaxing. Further, the manufacturer 
 is compelled by law to deliver the smoke that emanates from his boiler 
 furnaces well above the heads of the lieges or else his place of business 
 will be declared a nuisance. 
 
 There is about as much ingenuity displayed in making 
 Engine Boilers. , ^ , , ., , i i i ■ i • i 
 
 the most or the boiler as we have already hmted is the 
 
 case regarding the engine. At many homesteads there is to be seen the 
 
 primitive long tubular, egg-ended boiler, with the furnace underneath. It 
 
 takes a long time to get up steam in a boiler of this description. There 
 
 is so small a quantit}- of water in proportion to its total bulk in contact 
 
 with the heated surface, that before all has been raised to boiling-point 
 
 much time and patience, as well as fuel, have been expended. More 
 
 heat goes, we suspect, up the chimney than can be imparted to the water 
 
 under an arrangement of this kind. The man whose duty it is to attend 
 
 to the furnace must be at work o\-ernight if the engine has to be agoing 
 
 next morning. This simple old sort of boiler forms a striking contrast 
 
 to the one, for instance, that is typical of the locomotive. In it are 
 
 inserted in the body of the boiler numerous tubes running its whole 
 
 length at equal distances apart and open at the ends. Briefly, it is a 
 
 series of parallel open tubes encased in a water-tight box of boiler 
 
 plating. The water fills the interstices between the exterior of the 
 
 tubes. One end of the latter connnunicates with the fire-box and the
 
 246 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 other witli the smoke-stack ; tlie tubes, in fact, are but a continuation 
 of the furnace. They are the big tiue of the old boiler cut up into small 
 branches and led through the heart of the water instead of the original 
 cavernous opening that led from the furnace along the bottom of the 
 boiler more or less direct to the chimney. The heat, instead of playing 
 upon a small surface of water as it hurries past to the chimney under 
 the old arrangement, is here distributed uniformly throughout the bulk 
 of the water, with the result that the same amount of fuel will, in the 
 one case, give a very different account of itself to what it can in the 
 other. So much progress has been made in these niatters during recent 
 years as to justify the statement we recently noted that at the beginning 
 of the late Queen's reign a ton of coal was equal to twenty horse-power, 
 
 Fig. 185. 
 
 in 1853 to forty horse-power, while to-day the power represented by a 
 ton of coal is sixty-three. 
 
 A great improvement on the old round boiler is effected 
 Bofler°'^"'^ by placing the fire-box or furnace in the centre thereof 
 
 instead of having it underneatli. It then forms a central 
 tube or box, as it were, right through from end to end of the boiler. The 
 flames and heated air from the fire pass along the tube, which represents 
 a water surface all round throughout its entire length. Under this 
 arrangement the water, it is easy to see, will be more easily heated than 
 it can where the big boiler sits o\er the fire like a kettle in the kitchen 
 grate. Fuel will be saved, and steam will be raised in a much shorter 
 time. And the boiler made on this principle, known as the " Cornish " 
 boiler (see I'^ig. 183), is as safe as that of the original type. Other
 
 ''POWER- AT THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 247 
 
 improvements have been wrought on the same Hnes, but for homestead 
 use the boiler we ha\e described is quite advanced enough. 
 
 It is becoming common to construct boiler and engine in 
 one as indicated in Fig. 1S6. This is a very handy 
 arrangement. It economises room at the homestead, and 
 it saves the erection of such a large chimney as the fixed 
 boiler necessitates. Here again it is practicable to have the furnace or 
 
 Combined 
 Engine and 
 Boiler. 
 
 Fig. 1 86. 
 
 fire-box placed in the heart of the boiler, and so make as much as 
 possible out of the fuel consumed, as we see in Fig. 187, which gives 
 the section of a detached boiler such as we are describing. The furnace 
 box is jacketed round with a thin sheet of water encased between con- 
 centric plates reaching to the base block on the ground. A little above 
 the bars, high enough, of course, not to hamper the fire, tubes (known 
 as " Galloway " tubes) cross from one side to the other of the Avater skin,
 
 248 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Locomotive 
 Engines. 
 
 while, finally, the heated <:jases pass up tliroii<4ii the dome in which the 
 circular jacket-shaped boiler culminates. The bulk of the water is in 
 the upper part of the boiler over the dome in the part in which the heat 
 vibrations strike hardest, and the entrance to the chimney being up 
 through the centre of this, the very most almost can be taken out of the 
 coal that is burned on the furnace bars. The fire, together with part of 
 the chimney, is almost completely surrounded by water, and, further, 
 several cores of the same cross the heated chamber between firebox and 
 flue, so that the water is spread over a wide surface exposed to the 
 influence of the fire — very difTerent, indeed, from the state of matters we 
 spoke of as prevailing with the huge circular 
 boiler, in connection with which the flames 
 crawl along the bottom in a half-hearted 
 sort of way, seemingly aware that the work 
 in hand is too much for them in any 
 reasonable time. 
 
 On a few exceptional farms 
 
 traction-engines are put to 
 
 service for thrashing. They 
 are employed in haulage work of Aarious 
 kinds, and on thrashing days are drawn up 
 near the barn in a position handy for 
 transmitting power to the mill. There used 
 to be more engines of tliis kind seen about 
 farms. Twenty years ago much ploughing 
 and culti^■ating generally was done with 
 their aid. But since then agriculture has 
 fallen on bad times and undergone severe 
 straits — so much so as to put out of count 
 all such costly investments as are implied 
 under the head of steam tillage. Machines 
 of the kind are too cumbersome as well as 
 costly ever to gain an important place of their own at the farm. Could 
 a handy traction-engine, suitable for farm use, be introduced, it would 
 soon gain hold. We mean such a one that would not cut up both roads 
 and land as the one that we have hitherto had to rest content with. The 
 heavy and unwieldy traction-engine we are accustomed to requires better 
 bottomed roads than prevail at the farm, and when taken on the fields 
 they poach them in a most distressing manner. But we are on the eve, we 
 suspect, of a great change in this connection. Motor machines are making 
 progress towards practicabilitv, and ere long attention will no doubt be 
 paid to motors suitable to farm roads and fields. What with india- 
 rubber tyres ; and with mineral oil as a force-giver, and, more important 
 still, liquid air witli its immense head of expansixe force, there is no end 
 to the possibilities that may be attained by means of motors. Lightness 
 and mobility will have been secured to start with, after which handiness is 
 
 Fig. 187.
 
 '^ POWER" AT THE HOMESTEAD. 249 
 
 but a matter of detail. We see nothin.u: to hinder tlieir coming even- 
 tually to supersede our patient friend the horse in tlie work of cultiva- 
 ting the soil, hauling manure to the fields, taking home the matured 
 crops, and otherwise transporting farm produce. A handy little motor, 
 with plough attached, might be made to perambulate a field as easilv 
 and with as little detriment to the soil as occurs with a team of horses. 
 America has already produced one combined with a self-binder reaper. 
 
 The traction-engines we see at the farms have boilers of the same 
 class as are typical of the railway locomotive — a bundle of tubes, as it 
 were, encased in the boiler and surrounded by water whereby the heat 
 of the fire as it courses along these is carried right into the heart of the 
 water. Some of the engines of this class meant for colonial use are 
 made with a fire-box that will consume straw and chaff as auxiliary 
 fuel. These are intended for the vast corn-growing farms. Coal is 
 scarce thereaway, and straw and chaft' both plentiful and \-alueless. An 
 engine, therefore, that can utilise this waste crop must be a welcome 
 machine. But the stoking of such will surely be a terrible as well as a 
 continuous strain on the attendants. 
 
 At some homesteads, more especiallv those of dairy 
 Steam for Heat- r ^ r ■ ■ " ■, , 
 
 ing, Scalding, i^rms, a supply 01 steam is m constant demand, not so 
 
 and Cooking much, however, for moti\e purposes as for heating water. 
 Purposes. 
 
 cooking food, and scalding utensils. In these instances 
 
 copper fires are dispensed with, the food being steamed instead of 
 boiled. Much labour, one can understand, is saved by this arrange- 
 ment. Instead of several copper fires having to be lighted and attended 
 to, there is here but one, that which generates the steam. Along with 
 the saving of labour that this invohes, the risk from fire is lessened 
 The copper fires are kindled with IWe coals eitlier from house or farm 
 under some other boiler, and on a windv day to carry matter of this sort 
 about the homestead is anything but fair to insurance companies. We 
 remember a case where a shovelful was emptied b}' a violent gust and 
 blown against the end of the season's hay packed in a new shed o\er a 
 hundred feet long, with the consequence that in a few minutes hay, 
 shed and all were enveloped in flames and soon thereafter reduced to 
 ashes. 
 
 Steam for the purposes mentioned can of course be derived from the 
 boiler of the power-giving engine, if there be such about the place when 
 steam is raised therein. The former is wanted e\erv day, however, 
 while the latter may not be ; and to heat up the latter daily for the sake 
 of obtaining, so to speak, casual steam, would be bad economy. The 
 engine in question may happen to be of so small power that it would be 
 wise enough policy to turn it to account in the manner referred to. But 
 when the circumstances are otherwise, a supplementary boiler is neces- 
 sary. It need not be a very large affair, neither need it be so strong as 
 one connected to an engine. Such a one as shown in Fig. 188 (of which 
 P'^ig. 187 is a vertical section) is very suitable for the purpose. It being
 
 ^5° 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 wanted merely for discluirging jets of steam here and there, no great 
 amount of pressure is ever brought to bear upon the phites that form the 
 shell thereof. Very few pounds of pressure serve the end in view, and 
 the escape vah'e being set accordingly there is in consequence a very 
 small strain upon the casing of the boiler. Indeed, experienced persons 
 maintain that steam issuing forth from an orifice under easy pressure, 
 and therefore close to the boiling-point of water — 212^ F. — is a far more 
 efitective scalding medium than steam under high pressure which means 
 steam at a higher temperature than the boiling point of the water which 
 
 it arises from. They say that dairy utensils 
 can be more effectively plotted with one than 
 the other. This statement, coming from men 
 wliose opinions can hardly be gainsaid, has 
 sorely puzzled the quidnuncs of agricultural 
 science. It is more than likely that this paradox 
 arises from the fact of steam at 212" being at a 
 temperature that allows it at once to revert to 
 the liquid form, and in so doing liberate the 
 great amount, comparatively speaking, of latent 
 heat that we reverted to when discussing the 
 physical properties of water. The hotter steam, 
 one would think, would soon cool down 
 to the critical point, and then part with its 
 latent heat, but by that time a good deal of it 
 might have escaped. Much of it would be 
 bound to do so under the circumstances to 
 which the paradox applies— the steaming of 
 dishes, milk-butts, etc. At any rate, in making 
 use of steam for the above purpose, it is a 
 waste of fuel to raise pressure in the boiler to 
 anything beyond what will deliver it freely 
 at the points where it is wanted. High-pressure steam is not called for 
 in these operations ; and raising steam abo\e its initial temperature is 
 all so much waste of heat in the fire-box. 
 
 The pipes required for leading steam to the dififerent coppers ha\'e no 
 need to be of larger diameter than from a half to one inch ; neither need 
 they be of any extra thickness. The respective pipes are led from the 
 main one to Avithin an inch or so of the bottom of the copper each has 
 to ser\-e. The free end is left open, but within easy reach of the hand 
 there is fitted to each, close to its junction with the main pipe, a 
 shut-off valve with which to control the steam. A curious coincidence 
 sometimes happens in this connection if care be not taken to close the 
 \alve before the boiler cools down on the one hand, and before the 
 contents of the copper have been removed on the other. As the water 
 in the boiler cools the steam therein condenses and the space it occupied 
 forms a vacuum, with the result that the contents of the copper — at 
 
 Fig. 1 88.
 
 "POIl'£/?" AT THE HOMESTEAD. 251 
 
 least, those that are plastic or fluid enough — are forced along the steam- 
 pipe into the boiler ; the boiler sucks the lot into its maw. 
 
 When we think of the heat that is held in reserve by steam we can 
 easily understand what a potent agent we possess in having its services 
 at command in this connection. Among other advantages that can be 
 claimed for its adoption in this respect is the saving in the erection of 
 the coppers. No furnace has to be built under them and no chimney- 
 stack above. P'urther, in the absence of the furnace, they do not require 
 to be placed so high above ground. They can be fitted either in or as 
 near the latter as will best suit the convenience of the operator. 
 _. p . The oil-engine, as already remarked, is rapidly taking the 
 vapour or Oil- place of the steam-engine as a provider of motive power 
 Engine. ,^j. j.|^g homestead. It is now being manufactured to 
 
 develop high powers as well as small powers. One can be had fit to 
 drive the thrashing-mill witli ease, and another that is only capable 
 of coping with, say for instance, the cow-milking machine. This engine 
 is certainly an advance on the steam-engine for farm purposes. It is 
 not nearly so cumbersome. Fig. i8g represents one of nine horse- 
 power. How much less room it takes up in comparison with a steam- 
 engine of equivalent power, especially if it be one of which the horizontal 
 boiler forms a part. The oil-engine is ready for work in as many 
 minutes as the old-fashioned egg-end boiler takes hours almost ; and it 
 takes up but little room, and necessitates no factory-like chimney being 
 erected. Neither, of course, as we saw, does the vertical steam boiler 
 already referred to, which also sa^■es room compared to the horizontal 
 one. But the oil-engine takes up less space than it even, and is ready 
 for work in a few minutes after a light has been applied to it. There is 
 no coal to be carted in order to keep the oil-engine going, nor ashes to 
 be removed when it has done a spell. Neither is there smoke about ; 
 nor do sparks issue forth. When its work is finished for the time the 
 oil has simply to be turned off and the light extinguished. The stoking 
 consists in keeping the oil-tank supplied and attending to the taps that 
 regulate the quantity to be consumed. The consumption of ilb. of oil 
 is capable of maintaining one horse-power for an hour, so that the 
 cartage of fuel with which to maintain the oil engine is but a small item 
 in the labour bill in comparison to what is needed either in the case of 
 the old-fashioned horizontal boiler or in its recent modifications, and 
 even as regards the more scientific vertical boiler. 
 
 The principle on which the oil-engine works, similarly to 
 
 The Gas- ^j-,^j- ^yhjch underlies the steam-engine, and the gas-engine 
 
 Engine. . - i i i 
 
 as well, is, we repeat, the force that is put forth by the 
 
 expansive power of heated gases. The oil-engine is, however, more 
 closely related to the gas-engine than the steam-engine. In the last- 
 named we have first to produce gas (the steam) from the boiler, and it 
 is this that causes the extra plant we have in this connection. As 
 regards the gas-engine we draw the gas already made from the nearest
 
 252 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 main connected with tlie gas-works, thereby escaping the necessity of 
 providing ourselves with gas-making apparatus. But it is only in 
 populous places that coal gas is available. \\'e cannot look for it at 
 the ordinary homestead. There, if we want it, we must make it our- 
 selves, therefore we are obliged to dispense with it. The oil-engine was 
 happily introduced to meet the cases where coal gas is not procurable. 
 It is an ad\ance on the gas-engine in so far that it provides itself 
 ^\■itll the gas that is needed to supply it with the requisite motive power. 
 
 There is this difference between these three engines, that 
 The Differ- , ., . , , . , ... , V 
 
 ences in wliile steam is led mto the cylmder ready tor action 
 
 Principle be- against the head of the piston, both the coal gas and the 
 
 tween these , , ^ . ,,,.,.,. 
 
 Engines. Oil vapour have to be e.xploded either m their respective 
 
 cylinders or in chambers closely connected therewith. 
 Steam acts with a steady pressure, but the other two in a series of 
 impulses or jerks. The heating is done in the boiler of the steam- 
 engine and the gas passed therefrom to the cylinder, but both in the 
 gas and the oil-engine the heating is done in the cylinder, with the 
 result that boiler and furnace are dispensed with. The steam in its 
 struggle for elbow-room is ready to seize on any wc:.l; place in its 
 prison walls that offers a chance for expansion. Admitted to the 
 cylinder, it tries conclusions with the piston, which, if found movable, 
 is kept going to and fro by the endeavour of the steam to gain an 
 outlet. It presses equally on the different surfaces that hold it in 
 control — those of the boiler plates, the pipes it is led into, and of the 
 cylinder itself But with the other two engines the expansive force of 
 the gas is felt in the cylinder alone. 
 
 In the gas-engine coal gas mixed with air is exploded in the cylinder, 
 and the great heat developed thereby gives a great expansive or explosive 
 force to the new gases formed under the chemical reaction that takes 
 place in the process. This drives the piston before it. And likewise 
 with the oil-engine : the vapour of the oil and the charge of air are 
 exploded by means of the ignition tube, and so drive the piston forward. 
 The piston returns under the impulse of the fly-wheel, forcing out 
 through the exhaust pipe the gases that result from the explosion. 
 Once more it is carried forward, oil vapour and air filling up the space 
 behind. On its way in again it compresses and forces them in intact 
 Avith the ignition tube, causing another explosion and a renewal of 
 \igour to the piston. Unlike the action of steam, therefore, which plays 
 alternately on each side of the piston in these engines, the action is on 
 one side alone of the piston and not at every stroke of the same either. 
 The governor is so arranged, indeed, as to regulate the action of the 
 exhaust val\e, and thereby adjust the explosions in accordance with 
 the \arying resistances the engine has to overcome. But there is a 
 \ ital difference between the gas-engine and the oil-engine, in so 
 far that with the former we have, as we said, gas ready made to 
 deal with, whereas in this we have first to vaporise the oil into gas
 
 POWER" AT THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 253 
 
 before it is on the same footing as the other. This, ho\ve\^er, is accom- 
 plished without having to make the oil-engine much more complicated 
 than the one that depends on coal gas as the explosive substance. 
 Mineral oils are, as we all know, very easily vaporised — too easily under 
 certain circumstances, as the many accidents through tlie careless 
 handling of lamps fed therewith testify. 
 
 A state of most intense heat prevails in the interior of the cylinder 
 both of the gas-engine and the oil-engine, far beyond what is developed 
 in that of the steam-engine, and on that account the cylinders of these 
 two are surrounded by water-jackets. No chemical action takes place 
 within the cylinder of the steam-engine, and the temperature of the 
 interior coincides, therefore, with that of the steam which is admitted 
 therein. Within the other two the action of combustion takes place 
 
 Fig. 189. 
 
 through the hydro-carbon substances of the gas and tlie oil respectivelv 
 becoming oxydized by the oxygen of the air that is allowed to mix 
 with them as they enter the explosion chamber. We obtain heat and 
 light by the slow combustion in tlie air of either coal gas or mineral 
 oil. The bodies referred to, while undergoing oxidation as they emerge 
 from the gas burner or from the lamp burner, give forth much heat at 
 the same time that they shed abroad light. At these points they are 
 being consumed slowly, but in the explosion chamber of either the gas 
 or the oil-engine they are being consumed instantaneously in quicklv 
 recurring instalments. It is, however, this strong force of heat that 
 lends motive power to the engine of either class. The igniting of 
 the gas in either case is like sending a spark into a charge of gun-
 
 254 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 powder. In that instance, the spark sets free the gases that are loosely 
 held together in the cunningly-devised mixture, and the ever ready 
 oxygen laying hold at once of the carbon compounds thereof, de\"elop 
 so much heat that the gases expand to such an extent, and that so 
 
 suddenly, as to send forth the 
 missile with a tremendous force. 
 The unremitting explosions in the 
 cylinder of such an engine as we 
 are dealing with are just so many 
 shots being fired, the piston in this 
 case representing the projectile. 
 A gun of any kind becomes after 
 much shooting untouchable on the 
 barrel by the naked hand, which 
 will give some idea of the heat of 
 the interior of a gas or an oil-engine 
 when in action. The explosions 
 in the latter are not, of course, 
 so violent as in the gun-barrel, 
 but they proceed more steadily 
 and continue for long spells. 
 
 Figs. 190, 191, and 192, taken 
 
 Fig. 190. 
 
 together with Fig. 189, enable one to grasp the working principle of the 
 oil-engine. These are illustrations of the Campbell Oil Engine, and are 
 taken from the report on the trial of oil-engines given in the "Transactions 
 of the Highland and Agricultural Society, 1900." We have selected 
 those bearing on the engine in 
 question for no other reason than 
 their apparent simplicity. The 
 first is the front end view of the 
 working parts with the interior of 
 the vaporiser laid open ; the second 
 gives a vertical section of a portion 
 of the same end ; and the third a 
 corresponding horizontal section. 
 The requisite oil is placed in O C. 
 the oil cistern, w'hence it is allowed 
 to trickle through the pipe O into 
 the vaporiser V, which communi- 
 cates with the inlet valve. " This 
 valve is automatic in its action and 
 opens when the piston makes a 
 suction stroke — provided the ex- 
 haust valve E is then closed ; the 
 oil can then flow through past the 
 valve into the vaporiser ; at the same time, air also is drawn in, and
 
 ''POWER'' AT THE HOMESTEAD. 
 
 ^55 
 
 spreads or sprays the oil aj^ainst the heated sides of tlie \aporiser. The 
 oil thus completely \aporised and mixed with sufficient air to form an 
 explosive mixture is drawn into the cylinder, and finally ignited at the 
 end of the compression stroke through contact with the heated ignition 
 tube I." The following is the key to the lettering of the several parts 
 illustrated by the diagrams : V is the vaporiser ; O C the oil cistern ; 
 O the oil supply-pipe; F the oil-cock; L the oil supply-pipe to vaporiser 
 lamp ; A the stem of air and oil inlet valve ; E the exhaust valve ; I the 
 ignition tube ; H the exhaust pipe ; M the water inlet pipe (to jacket) ; N 
 the water outlet pipe (from jacket) ; W the water jacket ; and P the piston. 
 The reciprocatoryorback and forward motion of thepiston- 
 The Piston ^.^j ^f ^j^^ engine is 
 and Crank of ^ 
 
 the Engine. turned, as we have 
 
 seen, into a rotary 
 one by means of the mechanical 
 arrangement termed the "crank " e 
 in Fig. 184. There is a feature in 
 connection with this arrangement 
 which is worth noting here. It 
 may be observed from the fig. that 
 when the piston has made its full 
 thrust it, for the moment, has no 
 power whatever over the crank. It 
 has reached its limit, and for the 
 time is neither pushing nor pulling 
 against the pin. The same thing 
 occurs when the piston is home at 
 the inner end of the cylinder after 
 dragging the pin back with it. 
 These two stages in its movement 
 are called the dead points of the 
 crank, for the very obvious reason 
 that at each the motion of the 
 
 Fig. 192. 
 
 The Fly 
 Wheel. 
 
 piston is for less than a second arrested — the forward movement has to be 
 checked and changed to a backward one and vice versa. But both checks 
 take place at the points where the piston is powerless over the crank. 
 
 In the fly-wheel of the engine we have the means, 
 however, of efTacing the dead points. In the mass of 
 metal it is composed of, bulking largest at the rim, once 
 this wheel is set going the momentum attained thereby serves to tone 
 down the irregularity of motion in the piston due to the back and 
 forward motion above described. This formidable body, part of the 
 crank shaft be it remembered, is quite competent to persevere in its state 
 of moving uniformly without being put out in the slightest by such 
 breaks to continuity of motion as occur at the dead points referred to.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Barn Range, 
 
 V\'e have now, we hope, cleared the way sufficiently for us to take 
 
 up the different parts of the homestead in detail. It has cost time and 
 
 space, but our race loves to be logical, and is fond of the fundamentals. 
 
 If our readers have followed us, the remainder of our work ought to be 
 
 to them both easy and interesting. 
 
 ^, „ We have chosen to start with the barn range as being 
 
 The Barn , , ., . ^ ^ . ^ 
 
 Range the the central buildmg of the group, the one near to which 
 
 Centre of the j^ jg desirable to place all those that accommodate live 
 
 Group. 
 
 stock in order that the straw may ha^•e to be carried to 
 the animals as short a distance as possible. We have already pressed 
 the importance of this matter, and need hardly say much more on that 
 head. To begin with, we would have the door of the thrashing-floor 
 in the gable. It may either be in the centre of the gable or a little to 
 one side. Having it at one side allows storage-room for sheaves at 
 the other, while if it be placed right in the centre neither corner is 
 then of much avail in this respect. The door we would elect to be a 
 sliding one, and when the doorway is in the centre of the gable it is 
 competent to have it made in halves, one to slide one way and the 
 other in a contrary direction. With the doorway up to one corner we 
 are obliged to have the door in one piece. It is an advantage, no 
 doubt, to have the door halved. In this way it is both easier to work 
 as well as easier on itself and its supports. 
 
 \\'here the storage of sheaves on the thrashing-floor is 
 The Position an important matter, more may be gained in this way 
 j^QQj.. by having the door in the side-wall of the building than 
 
 in the gable. If thus placed nearer to the mill than to 
 the gable, it allows considerable storage room between it and the end 
 wall. At some farms it is usual to fill the available space referred to 
 with sheaves which are thrashed at convenience, not necessarily on tlie 
 day they are carted in. What space of this kind there is to be provided 
 for, however, ought to be arranged to accommodate the contents of 
 some fixed number of ricks, be it one, two, or three, so as to have no 
 broken stacks left liable to damage through exposure to the elements. 
 The carts loaded with sheaves are backed into the barn and tipped up 
 on the floor and roughly lieaped up by any odd hands wlio are to spare
 
 THE BARN RANGE. 
 
 257 
 
 for the job, and the thrashing done as circumstances arise. In this way 
 
 fewer hands are able to overtake the work. Those who filled the barn 
 
 beforehand are so many extra hands to attend to the mill on thrashing 
 
 day ; and with the thrashing-floor full the beating out of the grain can be 
 
 taken in hand when a storm arises and outside work is interfered with. 
 
 There is nothing of this kind, however, at the big arable 
 
 The usual farm. There the w^ork of thrashing is a more momentous 
 
 Arrangements _ _ ° 
 
 for Thrashing, affair. But girls and lads are more plentiful at these 
 
 busier places, and the bulk of the business is seen 
 through by them. An experienced and trustworthy man is required 
 to preside at the feeding-board of the mill and to see generally that all 
 goes right with the latter. And perhaps another is needed at the other 
 end of the mill to see that the straw is cleared away briskly and stowed 
 properly. The hired girls and a lad or two usually attend to the rest. 
 The odd horses — the old and the halt — which are kept for doing the 
 miscellaneous cartages incidental to the daily wants of the homestead 
 are retained on thrashing days for conveying the sheaves from the 
 stackyard. Managing in this way, neither the ploughmen nor their 
 teams are taken away from the tillage operations of the farm. A 
 whole day is then usually devoted to thrashing, if steam is the motive 
 power, that is to say. Where water is the power the spell is ruled by 
 the length of time that the water will hold out. It would hardly be 
 worth while getting up steam, more especially in the case of the old 
 round-ended boiler, if a day's work were not to be the result. It is 
 different, of course, with respect to the vertical boiler, and more so 
 still when the oil engine is in question. The latter, as we have said, 
 can be set going while one waits, and be stopped when wanted, without 
 our grudging the loss of heat that takes place when a steam-engine is 
 brought to a standstill while there is yet a considerable reserve of both 
 heat and steam at disposal. 
 
 Thrashing by means of the home appliances is thus 
 
 The Itinerant arranged to fit in with the routine work of the farm 
 1 hrasher. . ^ 
 
 without disorganising it in any way. It is different, 
 
 however, when the aid of the itinerant thrasher is called in. A 
 considerable addition to the ordinary staff of attendants thereat is 
 then required. Both the grain and the straw, in the absence of the 
 elevators and similar contrivances that do service in the barn, have 
 to be handled and conveyed to shelter. The mill in this instance is 
 taken to the ricks, instead of, as with the home one, the sheaves being 
 carried to it. On the other hand, the grain and the straw are corre- 
 spondingly withdrawn from the arrangements set apart for delivering 
 them in their proper quarters. And, further, mills of this description 
 are capable of dealing with such large quantities of stuff" in a day that 
 the handling of the same, taken together with these other causes, 
 necessitates, as we have just remarked, a large number of workers being 
 
 M.H. s
 
 258 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 in attendance. These movable mills show a great advancement alike 
 in labour saving and in construction over the fixed mill usually seen at 
 the homestead. They deliver the grain much better dressed, and turn 
 out the straw bound up in trusses or lead it away loose on elevators 
 and deliver it to the rick builders to be tramped under foot. It is not 
 uncommon, indeed, to see the fixed mills provided with arrangements 
 after the nature of an endless web or band on which to convey the 
 straw, so that it can be stowed at all parts of the barn ; but it is, 
 to find one fitted up with a self-trussing arrangement. We can 
 instance a case where a movable mill, such as above referred to, is 
 dismantled of its wheels and fixed in position in the barn as the every- 
 day mill of the farm, partly on account of securing the advantage of 
 having the straw trussed up as it quits the thrasher. 
 
 Both engine and mill, however, are matters that lie more 
 of^rhe°fixed" in the province of the tenant than the proprietor, seeing 
 Thrashing they are usually fixtures that pass from the tenant to his 
 
 successor. But the homestead must be so planned that 
 a due amount of room is afforded both one and the other. The mill is 
 handiest on the ground floor, unless, of course, the configuration of the 
 site of the homestead is such that it is practicable, or it may be necessary, 
 to have the second storey of the barn somewhat on a level with the stack- 
 yard, in which case the sheaves can be carted direct to it as the thrashing- 
 floor. It is always the most convenient to have the mill so placed that 
 it can be fed with the minimum of labour, and whether that is better 
 accomplished on the one floor or the other is very much a matter of 
 circumstance. In the foregoing instance of the movable mill dis- 
 mounted from its wheels and fixed to the barn floor, it would, of 
 course, be a great saving of labour could the sheaves be carted to 
 the upper floor and be tipped thereon within easy reach of the person 
 or persons who feed sheaves to the mill. A mill of this description is 
 fed on a level with the attendants' feet, and when the sheaves can be 
 tipped directly out of the cart upon the floor on which they stand all the 
 labour of having to pitch them up to their Xaxel by fork is avoided. In 
 a case of this kind, should the levels forbid a natural cart access to the 
 upper floor, it is worth v.'hile indeed to construct an artificial one. It is 
 not uncommon to find the mill on the top floor, and all the sheaves 
 being forked thereon from the carts drawn up alongside on the base- 
 ment level. Two separate forkings of the sheaves are thereby entailed 
 — one from the rick to the cart and another from the cart to the thrashing- 
 floor. One of these is saved wherever the cart can be tipped up at a 
 level to suit the purposes of the person who feeds the mill. One man 
 with a couple of girls to untie the sheaves for him can keep the ordinary 
 fixed mill going. It requires to be steadily fed, the sheaves having to 
 be Avell shaken out and the whole length of the rollers to liave an 
 ecjual bite. The movable mill has a more capacious maw, and is less
 
 THE BARN RANGE. 259 
 
 particular about the form and size of its mouthful, which it almost 
 instantaneously licks into a shape that can easily be dealt with in 
 its passage through the mill. More than one feeder is needed to 
 keep pace with its capabilities. But the sheaves can be dropped in 
 whole almost ; therefore the girls, whom we spoke of above as untying 
 the sheaves and passing them to the feeder of the common farm mill, 
 can drop them in on their own account w^hen the improved mill is 
 the one in action. 
 
 The hand-trolley system of conveying sheaves from the stackyard to 
 the mill, which we hinted at towards the beginning of our work, is 
 calculated to prevent much unnecessary handling of the sheaves, and 
 consequently to go far to economise labour generally. It would save 
 both hand and horse labour. Horses could, as we have said, be 
 altogether dispensed with where it was installed. Three, or at most 
 four, girls could keep the ordinary mill supplied wdth sheaves. They 
 could, we mean, keep the hands at the feeding-board in full supply. 
 The system could only, however, be worked to advantage where 
 sheds were erected for holding the sheaves. Trolley rails could be 
 run alongside a shed, but they could hardly be laid so that a wide- 
 spread group of ricks could be severally assailed therefrom. But 
 this is a detail that affects the occupier rather than the proprietor. If 
 the former saw it was to be to his advantage to adopt such a system, he 
 would find the rails and make use of them in his own way. Movable 
 contrivances of the kind are in the market, and such plant might be 
 turned to useful account at the homestead in many various ways. 
 Considering the barn range is two-storeyed, side windows 
 
 The Barn would be a necessity. On thrashing days the h'lQ, door 
 
 VVindows. ■' o J G 
 
 would be open most of the time, so that the place would, 
 
 to a certain extent, be independent of window light ; but there might 
 
 be work to do on other occasions when it might be inconvenient to 
 
 have the door open. Stormy weather, too, might compel the shutting 
 
 of the door between the times when sheaves were being admitted ; 
 
 and then we ha\'e to keep in mind the thrashing as conducted at 
 
 those places where the sheaves are housed previous to starting the 
 
 mill — one or more days beforehand. We have not marked positions 
 
 for them on the ground plan of any of our typical homesteads. 
 
 Their place in the wall would have to be arranged in accordance 
 
 with the character of the farm which the homestead was being built 
 
 to serve. If they were placed in such a way as likely to be interfered 
 
 with by the stored-up sheaves, care would have to be taken that the 
 
 glass was protected from damage. Stout wire-netting or some iron 
 
 bars would meet the end in \iew. 
 
 We are somewhat prejudiced against large windows being built in 
 
 places like the barn. Our preference is for a wdndow after the pattern 
 
 of P^ig. 193 put well up in the wall. They, no doubt, help to light 
 
 s 2
 
 26o 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 the floor better tlie lower down tliey are, but if tlie inner sill is given 
 a quick slope, as in Fig. 194, the light will strike down to the floor 
 without lea^•ing nauch shade along the foot of the side wall. And 
 when well up from the floor they are better out of danger. It is 
 
 with us a mat- 
 ter of Hobson's 
 choice, how- 
 ever. We are 
 obliged, ac- 
 cording to our 
 various plans, 
 to keep the 
 windows high. 
 The side sheds 
 preclude their 
 Fig. 193. being in any 
 
 other position. It may be necessary, perhaps, to have a window put in 
 at a lower level than the others, somewhere adjacent to the feeding-board 
 of the mill, even though the light be borrowed. It need not be a large 
 one, however, neither need it be an opening one. Our recommendation 
 of the kind of window referred to is largely based on the getting rid of 
 one after the pattern of those used in houses. Such, as we have 
 already said, are not at all well adapted for the ordinary farm 
 building. They are so apt to be neglected that they soon fall into 
 disrepair, and nothing looks so untidy about a building as broken 
 and decayed windows. As we pointed out when discussing windows 
 at length, the opening window, at least the case and sash one, is far 
 too delicate a work of art to be put to the rough-and-ready usage 
 
 Fig. 194. 
 
 that prevails at the farm. Tlie fixed wood window is not so liable 
 to suffer harm through neglect, there being fewer parts and less
 
 THE BARN RANGE. 261 
 
 workmanship concerned therein. But in the barn we want an 
 opening window — if not to let air in, at any rate to let dust out. 
 The kind of window we suggest can be so built in as to give 
 sufficient light ; and with the glazed part made to open as shown, 
 dust can find an easy exit. The case is of iron. The sides of the 
 opening can be finished with brick, the outer part of the sill with 
 freestone, and the inner bevelled part of the same with cement 
 plaster. This class of window is well clear of the floor, and con- 
 sequently in no wise interferes with full advantage being taken of 
 the area within the barn. And protected with netting or bars, they 
 are not in the way as regards the storage or piling up of sheaves 
 against the walls. 
 
 Were no granary erected over the thrashing barn we would, of course, 
 have the place lighted from the roof, using the kind of window described 
 in an earlier chapter. But whether or no there happened to be a second 
 floor in the barn, some skylights would require to be in the roof. They 
 Avould be there to light the barn in the absence of a granary overhead, 
 and were there a granary they would be needed to give light to it. 
 
 The ground floor, we need hardly say, we would have of 
 The Ground concrete. It is not necessary to have such a finish, but a 
 
 cement skirting about nine inches deep all round the base 
 of the wall is an improvement. ]\Iade an inch in thickness and bevelled 
 off at the top, it is not at all in the way. Its presence serves to make 
 the place look neat, and it forms an additional check to rats and mice 
 seeking a base of operations in the wall. At the doors the floor would 
 require protection against chipping, either by means of a granite or a 
 whinstone step. Or a border or edging of cast iron would do. Some- 
 thing of this nature is needed, because concrete corners are easily 
 fractured. The body of the concrete will stand wear and tear, but the 
 edges of any sheet of this material soon crumble down under traffic, 
 more especially if wheeled vehicles come to play upon it. At the big 
 doorway alone will there be carts passing in and out ; but at the others 
 sack barrows and such like will frequently be made use of. An edging, 
 therefore, of some more durable material in this respect than the con- 
 crete is a necessity to protect the same from being worn away where it 
 finishes in doorways. A kerb or step of granite is the best of all where 
 carting is practised. At the smaller doorways freestone, if hard and 
 close grained, will do. 
 
 The upper floor must of necessity be of wood — of joisting 
 The Upper or ^j^^^ flooring, as already described. The joists would 
 
 require to be of considerable strength, not less in section 
 than nine inches by three inches, set on edge of course, and running the 
 short way of the building, across it that is to say. One ply of flooring 
 would be ample were the place to be for the storing of grain alone. If, 
 however, the upper floor were to be the thrashing-floor, a two-ply floor
 
 262 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 would be called for. It might not be requisite all over the floor space, 
 but it would ^vhere^•er the horses Avere likely to tread or the cart wheels 
 to bear thereupon. Felt between the two layers, as recommended in 
 connection with the dairy buildings, would be unnecessary in this instance. 
 The extra ply is recommended here principally for the purpose of acting 
 as buffer between the under boards and both the horses' feet and the cart 
 wheels. The extra strength afforded thereby is indeed almost essential, 
 especially if the bottom boards are to suffer the wear and tear as well as 
 do the supporting of such trying burdens as horses and carts. But the 
 top boards alone come in for the wear and tear proper, and would be 
 certain of renewal or repair long before the boards beneath came 
 under the direct action of the heavily-shod feet and the iron-rimmed 
 wheels. 
 
 It is not always convenient to give a centre support to joisting. To 
 make this effective pillars or posts of some description are a necessity in 
 the space beneath, and these are apt to be in the way — to somewhat 
 interfere with the floor area of the part of the building where they are. 
 But in some way or other the joisting of a floor that has to carry loaded 
 carts requires support of this kind. No risk of disaster in this con- 
 nection must be run. A six or an eight-inch square beam borne on 
 cast-iron pillars would enable a floor such as we are describing to carry 
 Avith safety any weight that under the usual circumstances would be 
 brought to bear upon it. The beam to be made effective as a support 
 would require to run down the centre of the building so as to apply to 
 the joists in the centre of each. The space bridged across by the joists 
 would then be half the distance they Avould stretch over in the absence 
 of the beam, and their strength would be proportionately increased at 
 a far higher ratio, be it understood, than the double thereof. 
 
 Even w^here the loft or upper floor is to be devoted to granary purposes 
 alone it is advisable, as we suggested, when dealing with floors under their 
 proper head, to stretch a point towards providing the centre support 
 now being discussed. This means, of course, the erection of pillars in 
 the straw barn as Avell as in the thrashing barn. But perhaps these are 
 less in the way in the former than in the latter. Carts are less likely, 
 one would think, to have business in the straAV barn, although it might 
 at times be a convenient arrangement were they at liberty to be loaded 
 directly from the mill instead of the straw having to be carried outside 
 to them. There is nothing, however, to hinder this being effected, 
 although pillars are in the straw barn. In the off season, Avhen straw 
 takes little or no part in the daily operations at the farm, the straw barn 
 comes in handy for odd purposes other than those of storage. It is, for 
 instance, a convenient place for rolling and packing fleeces at sheep- 
 shearing time. No matter, however, what end it may be put to serve, 
 there is none, we think, that the presence of the pillars we refer to will 
 seriously interfere with. And the same may be confidently said with
 
 THE BARN RANGE. 263 
 
 regard to the thrashing barn as well. A little forethought should 
 enable them to be placed where they will not be much in the way. 
 
 A partition or division wall shuts off the one barn from the other. 
 The mill communicates with each. In the one, indeed, it is wholly 
 situated, but its end opens into the other so that the straw may be 
 delivered therein. A doorway at the other end of the partition affords 
 communication between the two places, the door from choice being a 
 sliding one. The partition is carried to the upper floor if there is a 
 loft overhead, and to the roofing boards if there is not. 
 
 The straw barn is even more devoid of fittings than its 
 House sister building. Doors and windows are all that we have 
 
 attached to to provide for over and above the walls, roof and floor. 
 
 The floor Ave would arrange to be of concrete. The doors 
 w-e would have hung on rails. And the windows we would stipulate to 
 be the same as in the thrashing barn. 
 
 In Fig. 194 we give a section common to the combined barns. 
 Eleven feet we consider the minimum height from floor to ceiling (the 
 under side of the flooring boards) of a good barn for the homestead of 
 an arable farm of the ordinary type. Where neither place happened to 
 have a loft overhead a lower side wall might be sufficient ; but either 
 one or other is usually covered oxer in this way, and the roof being 
 continuous so must the walls be. 
 
 The granary we are obliged to roof on the couple 
 Roof best pattern in order to gain head-room without unduly 
 
 adapted to heightening the walls. At least six feet six inches of 
 
 head-room is required in the granary. Five feet of side 
 wall will enable us to get this, because the bottom couple tie or baulk is, 
 as we have seen, in a good position for strength when eighteen inches 
 above wall-head level. Were it to be roofed on the king-post principle, 
 the tie sitting, as it then would, on the wall-head, would cause us to add 
 other eighteen inches to the height of the walls. In fact, the clear head- 
 room in the granary is all the better to be six feet nine inches. This 
 only means an additional three inches of building to that we have 
 indicated. Allowing for that in the section, the walls thereof show a 
 height of sixteen feet three inches from inside floor level to the top of 
 the Avail. Eleven feet in height of the Avail are apportioned to the barn, 
 and five feet three inches to the granary. The barn being eleA'en feet 
 clear to the flooring boards, the thickness of these falls to be deducted 
 from the granary head-room, but then the A\-all-plate raises the couples to 
 almost an equiAalent degree. EleAen feet may be considered an undue 
 height to make the barn, but in many A\-ays much head-room is an 
 advantage there ; besides, AA'e need it in order to gain light. 
 
 The granary is usually characterised by the naked 
 
 simplicity of floor. Avails and rough roofing timber. 
 For our part Ave incline to the mild extravagance of haA-ing the side
 
 264 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 walls lined right up to and hard against the roofing boards. This saves 
 
 the expense of beam filling the wall-heads, while, at the same time, it 
 
 renders the granary far more efficient. Grain can at any time be heaped 
 
 against the side walls with 
 
 impunity when they are 
 
 lined ; it cannot always 
 
 be so when they are bare. 
 
 The advantages of lining 
 
 the walls in the manner 
 
 suggested, irrespective of 
 
 tidiness and cleanliness, 
 
 are the counteraction of 
 
 the dampness that more 
 
 or less is inseparable from 
 
 a bare wall surface, and 
 
 its playing the part both 
 
 of a skirting to the floor 
 
 and as an efficient beam 
 
 filler. A skirting to the 
 
 floor is a necessity to 
 
 keep grain from trickling 
 
 through the crevice that 
 
 is "sure to be left or to 
 
 form between the wall and 
 
 the boards. Filling the 
 
 wall-head angle, though 
 
 not perhaps essential to 
 
 usefulness, is a precaution 
 
 that no man who cares for 
 
 efficient work will leave 
 
 out of count. 
 
 The lining need not be 
 thick. It will do capitally 
 if five-eighths of an inch 
 in thickness ; in fact, half 
 an inch if the boards are 
 carefully put on is ample. 
 
 Fig. 195. 
 
 The best way to do this is to have strips of w^ood, say three inches 
 broad by one inch thick, built in the wall as it is being erected. 
 One would require to be placed a little above floor level. Other two 
 between that and the wall-head are all we need to make sure of the 
 boards ha\ing the chance of a firm attachment to the wall. A fillet 
 may be required to be fixed to the roofing boards so as to ensure a good 
 backing to the tops of the lining boards. This can be dispensed \\ ith. 
 but its presence makes a more satisfactory job. Fig. 195 gives a section
 
 THE BARN RANGE. 
 
 265 
 
 of the wall finished in the manner we advocate, and will make matters 
 plainer. The rail or rod a, attached to the couples in the position 
 shown, is a useful acquisition in the granary for hanging empty sacks 
 thereon. 
 
 It is well, of course, to secure as dry wood as possible for lining the 
 walls. The joints will then shrink less than if unseasoned wood is taken. 
 To make certain of a good job the wood built in the wall (bond timber 
 as this is called) should project say a 
 quarter of an inch beyond the face 
 thereof, and, previous to the boards 
 being nailed on, this space be brought 
 up flush with the edge of the bond 
 timber by means of Portland cement 
 plaster. The boards will thereby have 
 an even and solid backing, and one that 
 is thoroughly dry, and behind which it 
 is impossible either for rats or mice to 
 gain entrance from any direction. 
 
 o;^« -^r^^*:! Side Ventilators are some- 
 biue Ventila- 
 tors for the times inserted in the wall, 
 ranary. ^ £^^^, inches say, above the 
 
 level of the floor. W'e show^ one in the 
 section represented in Fig. ig6. It is 
 questionable, however, if these are worth the trouble and expense they 
 cost. Not, as we shall see, that there is much of either involved, but 
 in most cases there cannot be much need for them. In districts where 
 the corn crops are at times diflicult to " win " thoroughly, it must 
 undoubtedly be an advantage to command at will cross currents of air 
 to bear upon the grain that lies on the floor or heaped against the wall ; 
 the grain must be all the better for the air that will circulate through 
 its bulk by way of these openings. If called for, howe\-er, they can 
 be easily constructed. They are not in the way when not wanted. 
 
 The passage through the wall is handiest formed with the aid of 
 plain jointed fireclay glazed pipes, say six inches in diameter, laid with 
 a good slope outwards. To save the bevelling of the ends that this 
 slope implies, the maker of the pipes will, if requested, supply pipes 
 specially manufactured for the purpose, which ensures a much neater 
 job than having recourse to chipping the pipes as their fitting in takes 
 place. At the outer end the opening requires the protection of a 
 galvanised iron grating of such a shape as to interfere as little as 
 possible with the area of the pipe. If not guarded in this manner our 
 cheerful little friend the sparrow will speedily set up house therein. 
 He is a rough hand at building construction, but spares not material. 
 ?o that by the time he has established himself comfortably the usefulness 
 of the passage as a ventilator is altogether in abeyance.
 
 266 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The grating may either be left flush with the face of the wall or it 
 may be kept in a little, whichever way it is considered the better job 
 can be made. The only danger connected with the opening is the 
 chance of water thereby gaining access to the heart of the wall. It 
 cannot gain admittance to the granary without being forced upwards, 
 which is nowise probable, but it will readily take any advantage of 
 chink or cranny that may happen to be about the sides ot the outer end 
 of the opening to penetrate within the wall. The grating can be made 
 securest when a proper opening, bordered either with brick or with 
 freestone, is made for it to fit into. If of freestone a solid block 
 thereof can be turned to account, after which there need be little to 
 fear from the cause referred to. The grating can be checked into the 
 stone and thus be kept back from the face of the wall a little. The 
 bottom part, whether the opening be round or square, can then be 
 bevelled or "washed" off", and thus make surer of rain being quickly 
 cleared away. 
 
 On the inside all the finish required is a piece of copper wire-netting 
 of small mesh placed over the mouth of the pipe behind the boarding. 
 The end of the pipe is supposed to be flush wdth the thin coat of cement 
 and coterminous with the back of the lining, therefore the wire-netting 
 
 will be kept securely in position. It 
 
 might, for that part, be tacked on over 
 
 the opening on the inner face of the 
 
 boards, but we prefer it to be placed 
 
 where we have indicated. It is more 
 
 out of harm's way there ; moreover, 
 
 we consider it advisable to provide a 
 
 covering to the opening in order that 
 
 it may be used or shut off as desired. 
 
 This we accomplish in the simple 
 
 biG. 197. manner indicated on Fig. 197, which 
 
 speaks for itself. A flap or some sliding arrangement can be contrived ; 
 
 but what we illustrate is as simple as effective, and as little in the way 
 
 as any of these is likely to be. 
 
 It may be desirable to divide the range of granary room into two or 
 more places. There is no need, however, for other kind of partitions 
 than boarded ones, and we need hardly spend much time over these. 
 Upright pieces, say four inches by two inches, set up three feet apart, 
 fastened to the floor or the joists at foot and to the roofing timbers 
 above ; and with runners, say four inches by one-and-a-half inch, checked 
 into them horizontally, also at three feet apart, would make a strong 
 framework upon which to fix the boards. Lining boards seven-eighths 
 of an inch thick are strong enough for a division of the kind. A door- 
 way, it can readily be understood, is easy of construction in a partition 
 put together in this manner.
 
 THE BARN RANGE. 267 
 
 W'itli regard to the roof of this range the remarks we have 
 f th R^ f^^ made on roofing generally may be applied to this as well as 
 
 to any other one in particular. We strongly advocate 
 having the roofing timbers planed smooth. There is not much extra 
 cost concerned in this. We wish grain in store to be kept free from 
 dust. Quite enough develops in the grain when in bulk without having 
 it exposed to dust that arises from other sources. We have already 
 drawn attention to the secure lodgment which rough surfaces of wood 
 afford to dust. It is not easy to sweep it off places of this nature even 
 when one tries. The trial is seldom made, however, and consequently 
 dust and cobwebs are allowed a free and undisturbed domain into which 
 the fear of cleaning day never enters. When the wood surfaces are 
 made smooth a less firm foothold to dust is the result. It may 
 accumulate on the upper surface of a beam, but it cannot do so to any 
 appreciable extent on the sides as it will, and even on the under faces, 
 where the wood is used rough as derived from the sawmill. The same 
 of course holds good with the roofing-boards. In the case of the 
 granary we incline to use flooring-boards in covering it in. These laid 
 with the smooth face downwards make an excellent finish to the inner 
 side of the roof. 
 
 As to light, w^e need hardly repeat that we would use 
 Light to the opening skylights of the kind previously referred to. 
 
 Thirty inches by sixteen inches is a suitable size of roof- 
 light to adopt. Sixteen inches is the distance across from one rafter to 
 the other, which, coinciding with the breadth of glass, makes the most of 
 the space there is to spare, A lesser breadth of glass would be a waste 
 of space in so far as the position of the rafters goes, and a wider one 
 would mean waste in the form of the glass projecting on the boards at 
 one or both sides. Besides, the frame of a skylight of the breadth 
 quoted has its bearing directly on the two rafters that border the 
 opening made to suit it. This is not a point to make much capital out 
 of, perhaps, and one hardly worth advancing. 
 
 The window placed in the roof of the granary is clearly in a more 
 advantageous position than when built in the side wall thereof. As a 
 rule, no sufficient height of window can be secured in the side wall. It 
 could not, at any rate, with our five feet three inches of building. But 
 room or no room, we maintain that side windows completely destroy the 
 continuity of the walls of the granary, and very much mar the usefulness 
 of the place. Little or nothing can be thrown up against the sides of 
 the store. Grain in bulk cannot, nor can bags filled Avith it be ranged 
 for any length in continuous rows against the wall. If they are, the 
 light is shut out and the windows had as well been omitted while the 
 building was being constructed for all the good they then perform. Up 
 on the roof, however, they cannot be interfered with either by grain in 
 bulk or in sacks ; and whenever it is considered advisable they can be
 
 268 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 thrown open to their full extent, whether for the admission of more air 
 or for the outlet of dust that is being driven from the grain as it is 
 being passed through the cleaning-machines. The undesirable dust will 
 escape more readily by way of an opening in tlie roof than it will 
 through a window opening not much abo\e the level of the floor, and 
 rather below than above the winnowing-machine. The side window is 
 in the way when sound and effective so far as it goes, but when out of 
 repair it is a source of harm. It opens a road for water to get into the 
 wall, and also allows it to reach the barn floor, to the general hurt of 
 the building, and to the damage of what may be stored therein. 
 Ridge Venti- ^^^ have still the ridge ventilation to provide for, after 
 lators for the which our granary is about complete. These we would 
 
 have to be of the description already advocated — the 
 double horned zinc arrangement with the diaphragm up the centre. A 
 due number of these fitted into the roof would keep up the circulation 
 of air that is necessary to maintain the wood- 
 work of the roof in good condition, and at the 
 same time to keep the air within the granary 
 in a wholesome state. Fewer would meet the 
 end in view here than in those buildings in 
 which animals are housed. \\'hat the number 
 of these ought to be in connection with the 
 granary depends on local circumstances and 
 must be based thereupon. One to every 
 twelve or fifteen feet of length of ridge ought 
 to meet the requirements of average cases. 
 
 Where the stair leading from 
 St^alr^'^''^'"^ the thrashing - barn to the 
 
 granary should be placed 
 depends upon the exigencies of respective 
 homesteads. We show it on the several 
 ground plans in the corner beside the door- 
 way that is mutual to the two barns, at the 
 corner opposite to that occupied by the mill. 
 The stair need not be other than a simple 
 affair, something after the nature of a trap 
 ladder or gangway. Three feet three inches 
 would afford an ample breadth of stairway. 
 The steps would do very well if nine inches 
 broad and an inch and a half or so thick. 
 Risers would not be required, the steps being simply attached to the 
 side pieces or stringers that stretch on the slant from one floor to 
 the other, the steepness of the whole depending on the length of the 
 inclined plane. The longer the slope and the nearer together the steps 
 are placed, the easier of course will be the stair as a means of ascent. 
 
 Fig. igS.
 
 THE BARN RANGE. 
 
 269 
 
 Conveniences 
 for filling and 
 emptying the 
 Granary. 
 
 And it goes without saying that an easy stair is a boon to those who at 
 
 times have heavy loads to carry up and down thereon. 
 
 But it does not follow that all the grain, seeds, and other 
 commodities that are taken to the granary have to be 
 carried up on men's shoulders, or, on the other hand, that 
 they have to be taken out by the same exit. The mill of 
 
 course deli\ers the grain on the upper floor by means of mechanical 
 
 elevators. And there is nothing to hinder what other substances are 
 
 independent of the mill (feeding-stuffs, for instance) 
 
 also being hoisted up by mechanical means. Some 
 
 pulley arrangement is quite easy of contrivance by 
 
 which full bags can be raised to the upper floor 
 
 without their having to be carried upstairs pick-a- 
 back. One of the description depicted in Fig. ig8 
 
 is somewhat suitable to the purpose. It is known 
 
 as the " differential pulley." One person can work 
 
 it by him or herself. The motion can be stopped at 
 
 any point and the load will remain there as long as 
 
 one wishes. They are made of different powers, so 
 
 that half a ton, for instance, can easily be raised by 
 
 one person with a pulley of this nature at his dis- 
 posal. The progress of the load is correspondingly 
 
 slow, and the distance travelled by the working 
 
 point considerable ; the reason why our readers 
 
 ought to know. A simpler arrangement still, and 
 
 one more adapted to the farm generally, is a 
 
 hoisting apparatus such as we show in Fig. 199, 
 
 which is an application to practical purposes of the 
 
 principle of the wheel and axle discussed on page 214. 
 
 Unlike the last mentioned, however, if one lets go the 
 
 chain, the load drops. But while we raise the load 
 
 the free end is descending in readiness to be 
 
 attached to another when the former has reached 
 
 its destination, thus saving all waste of time in 
 
 reversing the tackle. 
 
 Contrivances of this kind, however, are movable 
 
 fittings such as the occupier sees after for himself. 
 
 But we are not going very far out of our way if we 
 
 provide a place convenient for the working of such 
 
 an apparatus. It is easier, as well as more satisfactory, to make a 
 
 suitable hatch when the floor is being laid than to cut up the place 
 
 afterwards. At any rate, if it is decided at the beginning that the 
 
 floor is to be formed as a continuous whole, we can make provision in 
 
 setting the joists for there being a hatchway therein at some future time. 
 
 In this connection it simply means cutting a piece out of the length of 
 
 fc 
 
 1) 
 
 Fig. igg.
 
 270 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 one of the joists and supporting the free ends or cross-pieces stretching 
 from the complete joist on one side to that on the other side, as 
 in Fig. 200, the various pieces being firmly fastened together. The 
 respective ends are usually half-checked into the side of the joist they 
 abutt against, and they are in addition spiked through from the opposite 
 side of the joist, and thus firmly held in position. Even if floored over 
 to start with, it is easy, should it be wished thereafter, to form at any 
 
 time a suitable hatch- 
 way to serxe for the 
 purpose we indicate. 
 The width at Avhich 
 the joists are set binds 
 us to a breadth of 
 hatchway of thirty-nine 
 inches, unless of course 
 we cut into two instead 
 of a single joist. But the 
 width mentioned is quite 
 sufficient, and we are 
 not bound down in the 
 matter of length. We 
 can take whate\er we 
 consider practicable. 
 From three to four feet 
 would be ample to afford 
 a hatchway that would 
 admit the passage of 
 anything that had to be 
 hoisted to the granary 
 in bags. But how handy 
 one, say twice the extreme length quoted, would come in for the operation 
 of packing fleeces ! 
 
 _ . . ,, Carpenters speak of this manipulation of the flooring 
 " Trimming 
 the Joists for timbers as " trimming the joists." It has to be done more 
 
 Hatchways in ^^^ jg^g w'ith all upper floors. In the dwelling-house the 
 the Granary ^^ ,.,.,. 
 
 Floor. places for the hearths have to be trmimed m this way 
 
 because of the danger that results from carrying beams near to fire- 
 places. And the staircase has similarly to be dealt with. So indeed 
 has the hatchway for our granary stair. This necessitates the inter- 
 ference with more joists than are affected by the hatch set apart for the 
 hoisting up or lowering from one floor to the other of sacks of grain. 
 Four or five of them at least are cut into by the stair hatchway. 
 Fig. 201 represents a plan of the framework of this opening in the 
 floor. It is evident therefrom that the joists a and h, besides having 
 their own parts to perform, are saddled with the upkeep of the joists 
 
 ^ 
 
 Fig. 200.
 
 THE BARN RANGE. 
 
 271 
 
 which intervene and are attached to the cross piece c, seeing that they 
 have to act as supports to the latter. The joists a and h can of course 
 
 Fig. 201. 
 
 be made heavier than the others ; but the better plan is to place supports 
 
 bearing upon 
 the floor under- 
 neath below 
 each end of the 
 cross piece 
 where it joins 
 these joists. 
 Or should two 
 be inconve- 
 nient, one 
 placed under 
 the middle of 
 the cross piece 
 will have about 
 the same effect. 
 It will have 
 more pressure 
 to bear than 
 either of the 
 pair, and ought 
 therefore to be 
 stronger than 
 they.
 
 272 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 „ . . f It is even more essential to provide a place whence carts 
 Provision tor . 
 
 Loading and can be loaded direct from the granary floor than one by 
 Disloading ^^ ^f which the various farm commodities can be passed 
 
 Carts in connec- ^_ '^ 
 
 tion with the Straight from cart or waggon to the granary, because it is 
 Granary. easier for men to carry loads on their backs up a stair 
 
 than to come downstairs with similar burdens-so disposed. In fact, it 
 is out of the question nowadays to set the farm hands to do porters' 
 work. Labour has become too valuable for this. If the hatchway first 
 referred to happens to be in an 
 impracticable position for filling 
 carts as well as emptying them, 
 then a special one must be arranged 
 for furthering the first - mentioned 
 operation. Sometimes, indeed, this 
 can be managed if there is a door- 
 way below the level of which a cart 
 can be drawn up alongside the wall. 
 It is easy then to slip or drop bags 
 into the cart and thus make up the 
 load. Failing a convenient door, 
 however, the hatch has to be 
 resorted to. It should be placed so 
 that horses and carts have to tres- 
 pass as little within the barn as 
 possible. There is no use in allow- 
 ing more traffic of this kind on the 
 barn floor than is absolutely neces- 
 sary. In either of our barns there 
 is ample head room for loading carts 
 from the floor overhead. But in- 
 creased granary accommodation may be called for, and it might not be 
 practicable to obtain it over so lofty places as those we are dealing 
 with, and it is well to bear in mind the danger that lies in working 
 with horses in a building scant of head room. 
 
 Hatchways of the kind referred to should, where possible, be avoided 
 in situations of the latter description. If a door can be constructed 
 suitable for carts being brought close enough to it to be loaded and un- 
 loaded thereat, this is a safer arrangement. A door in the gable is often 
 made serviceable in this way by erecting a pulley above the lintel by 
 means of which bags can either be raised or lowered to or from the 
 granary floor. To effect the same at a doorway in the side wall generally 
 means the formation of a pediment roofing over the door, as in Figs. 202 
 and 203, for in nine cases out of ten the side wall will not be high 
 enough to enable the doorway to be got in under the level of the 
 Avallhead. But breaks in the roof, such as the figure represents, are 
 
 Fig. 203.
 
 THE BARN RANGE. 273 
 
 better avoided. They are troublesome to make, and they always 
 remain so many places that are readily thrown out of repair, and 
 which, if not speedily attended to, thereafter bring harm upon the 
 rest of the building. 
 
 Outer Doors ^^"^ °"^ P^"^^' ^^though we show one on Plan La, we seek 
 of Granaries to steer clear altogether of outer doors in granaries. 
 uo"ubfiiome. ^ '^^-' ^^^ generally so many inlets for rain and snow. 
 •\\'hen one happens to be in a part of the building that is 
 exposed to a stormy point of the compass, it is almost impossible to 
 make it capable of keeping out rain or fine snow when either is beaten 
 upon it by a gale. In consequence the water is dri^•en along the floor 
 to the detriment of what may be stored therein, and to the exentual 
 decay of the woodwork. If, therefore, there is to be an outer door 
 in the granary, let it, if possible, be in a position of least exposure 
 to the prevailing winds of the district — those that are aptest to 
 lash rain against the door. We have no liking, as we have said, for 
 outer doors, nor have we for outside stairs in connection with 
 granaries. But where the conveniences we have just described are 
 pro\ided, there is need for neither. 
 
 Arrangements '^'^^ "^'^^ automatically delivers the grain on the granary 
 forthe Delivery floor, and the hatch wavs and doorwavs pro\-ide for the 
 
 of Food Stuffs transmission here and there of grain in sacks. But to 
 Dy vjisvitSLion 
 
 from the further economise labour provision has to be made for the 
 
 ranary. deli\ery at points on the ground floor of grain intended 
 
 for consumption at the homestead. It would be poor management to 
 sack up this and send it down the hatchway from under which to be 
 wheeled to the desired place, whether to the stable direct or in the first 
 instance to the food-preparing room to be passed through the corn- 
 bruiser before being served to the animals (or if for the cattle to be pre- 
 viously ground into meal), when it is possible to deliver the grain at a 
 point handy for the stable and to feed it direct either to bruiser or 
 grinder. 
 
 The latter arrangement is not very difficult in contrivance. A hopper 
 fixed against the side wall and communicating with a shoot, which may 
 either be of metal or wood, leading to the desired point, whether on 
 the floor beneath or in an adjoining shed, is all that is required. The 
 shoot must of course be given the due amount of slope necessary to allow 
 the grain to slide along under the force of gravitation. A wood shoot 
 will answer well enough where the point of delivery is in the barn 
 underneath. \\'hen it is in an adjoining building, however, one of 
 metal lends itself more readily to taking a curve through the wall of one 
 house into the other, or of turning a corner for convenience sake. Were 
 we to make a shoot of this devious nature out of wood, the resulting 
 corners would retard the passage of the grain, and often choke the affair 
 altogether. But piping is easily to be had that will follow all the 
 
 M.H. T
 
 274 ^^^ MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 twistino-s that are likely to be comprised in such an arran.t^enient as 
 we are referring to, and consequently allow the grain to slide along 
 without difficulty. 
 
 It would indeed be almost entirely in the food-preparing sheds 
 that the loose grain sent down from the granary would be sought 
 delivery of. A shoot would be handy also to deliver corn for odd 
 purposes in the barn at some convenient point. In connection 
 with the bruiser, and the grinder as well, not only is it a handy 
 appliance, it is a necessity. Each of these apparatus must indeed 
 have a hopper and shoot to itself. A four-inch, or, at the out- 
 side, a tive-inch thin cast-iron pipe, will make an efficient shoot. 
 It is easy, we repeat, to fit up piping of this description. It 
 is manufactured, as we ha\-e hinted, as well in straight lengths 
 as in pieces of varying curves or bends which make it quite easy 
 to be led in almost any direction wanted — any one reasonably 
 practicable in this respect, that is to say. We need hardly indicate 
 that the shoot is imperfect unless fitted with some arrangement 
 whereby the delivery therefrom can be regulated. The nature of 
 this we must leave to individual ingenuity. 
 
 With regard to the buildings we have shown on the 
 The Build- . '^ , i • r ^ ^i i i n i 
 
 ings subsi- respective plans as subsidiary to the barn, we shall only 
 
 diary to the j-|(..^i \^ ^]jig chapter with those that are directly related to 
 
 the commissariat department. As catering for the cattle 
 
 is the leading operation at the homestead, it is only natural that the 
 
 food-preparing sheds should be at the side of the barn nearest to the 
 
 byres and loose-boxes. We show two sheds in position there. One we 
 
 set aside for the preparation of grain and cake, and the other for the 
 
 preparation of roots and the chopping of hay and straw. Which is to 
 
 be which is a matter of choice. Either will do for one or the other 
 
 purpose. The power-shed being at the opposite side of the barn easily 
 
 admits of motion being given to the various machines in these two 
 
 sheds by means of shafting passing through the main building. Our 
 
 choice would be to have the grinder and cake-crusher in the end shed, 
 
 and the pulper and chaffer in the corner one. 
 
 On the plan of the homestead for the cattle-feeding farm we show 
 
 these sheds of an equal size, while in that for the farm where dairying 
 
 is an additional branch we show the corner shed the larger of the two. 
 
 Where dairying is prosecuted there is usually less cake-crushing and 
 
 grain-grinding going on than at the former class of farm. Chaffing is 
 
 not much in vogue, either, where dairying is concerned. It is well, 
 
 howe\er, to afford the place the use of the two sheds in (question. The 
 
 smaller can at least ser\e either as a cake or meal store ; or for that 
 
 part do to house both substances. And the larger one is there, 
 
 should the occupier wish house room for any of the appliances 
 
 mentioned.
 
 THE BARN RANGE. 275 
 
 We ha\e taken further achantage of the barn to place two smaller 
 slieds against it on the other side for the purpose of affording accom- 
 modation for horse provender and the preparation of the same. One 
 may be turned to account for hay-chopping, and tlie other for corn- 
 bruising. They, too, are conveniently situated as regards the power- 
 shed, and not far from the stable door. If hay-chopping should not 
 happen to be practised by any occupier the shed is there as a useful 
 store for some kind of dead stock. And should corn-bruising be con- 
 sidered unnecessary by him, the other shed is there as a cornstore, in 
 which delivery can be taken of the grain direct from the granary 
 which it adjoins. Where chopping was carried out extensively the more 
 economical plan would be to do the work in the granary itself ; and so 
 with corn-bruising, and grinding, and cake-crushing. It would be a 
 simple method to raise the hay and straw and the cake from the barn 
 beneath in ele\ators to the upper floor, there to be dealt with and 
 thereafter dispatched down a shoot for use either by cattle or horses. 
 Indeed, were a portion of the second floor set apart for these operations 
 tiie roots might also be elevated to these quarters in order to be pulped, 
 and the resulting stuff be sent down as before, ready for use. 
 
 Where dairying proper is conducted, as at the homestead 
 PUns^of delineated on Plan III., we not only keep the sheds as 
 
 arranging first arranged, but add another between the dwelling- 
 
 ines^ ^' " bouse and the barn. This makes a capital place for a 
 meal and cake store. In the shed next to it pulping, 
 chopping, grinding, and cake-breaking, or such of them as may be 
 thought desirable, could be carried on, while the end one could be 
 de^■oted to scalding or boiling or otherwise preparing the sappy messes 
 that are considered necessary to the welfare of the cows at certain 
 stages of their physical condition. It strikes us, however, that one or 
 other of these houses would at times be turned to account as a store 
 for oat chaff. This is carefully collected during winter with an eye to its 
 being the principal ingredient or rather the basis or thickening medium 
 of the aforesaid concoctions that are given to the cows between mid- 
 winter and spring as a substitute for roots on the one hand and grass 
 on the other. Roots do not play the important part at the dairy 
 farm that they take up so prominently at the combined cattle and 
 sheep-raising holding, and are never much in evidence thereat. 
 Were they looked upon as essential in this branch of farming more of 
 them would, no doubt, be forthcoming. But they are not considered 
 indispensable thereat, and this, together with the trouble and expense 
 involved in their cultivation, almost entirely throws them out of court. 
 
 The end shed would be the proper one in which to ha\e the 
 coppers fitted up. There they would be con-v-enient both to byre 
 and piggery. To that end a short chimney stack would be required 
 in the side wall where indicated. But if steam were to be used
 
 276 THE MODERX HOMESTEAD. 
 
 in tliis connection such an erection would not be needed. The 
 steam would be derived from the power-shed on the opposite side 
 of the barn, whether from a subsidiary lx)iler or from the vertical 
 engine, wiiich we presume would be the prime motion dexeloper 
 of the homestead. It is no difficult matter to convey a small steam 
 pipe the distance suggested. Wrapped in felt or some similar non- 
 conducting material very little heat would be lost on the way, and its 
 proximity to any of the wood-work of the barn would cause no harm. 
 
 The buildings we are discussing are set forth on the \arious plans as 
 leaning against the side walls of the barn. We haxt already e.xpressed 
 disapproval of ranging one building against another in this manner. 
 l)Ut we were referring then to making the houses occupied bv li\e stock 
 act as main props to smaller ones. The case of the barn is on a 
 different footing. So long as we are able to get the interior lighted 
 and ventilated it matters little how or in what way the building is 
 surrounded. The building occupied bv animals, howe\er, needs all 
 the air around it that can be obtained. 
 
 _, . ^ Figf. IQ4 gives the outline of these sheds in section. 
 
 Their Con- o ^-r o 
 
 struction : In order that we may be able to admit sufficient light 
 
 the Walls. jj-^^^, ^^^^ barn we must not keep the roof of the sheds 
 
 too far up the side wall of the main building. If we leave two 
 feet clear between the under-side of the granary floor and the outer 
 finish of the shed roof, there is room therein for the insertion of the 
 kind of window we recommend for the barn. We ha\ e allowed nine 
 feet as the limit of height to which the sbed roof may be carried up the 
 side wall. The front wall of the sheds we have put down as of brick- 
 work. This takes up less room and reduces the length of the roof, 
 which is an important point where there is likely to be a deficiency in 
 the slope of the same. In this we are confronted with that contingency. 
 At the back wall the shed is nine feet high over all. Now, if there is 
 to be enough of head-room to allow of effective doorways in the front 
 wall it must be at least seven feet to the line of the outer co^•ering. 
 The shed is nine feet inside, and the outer wall is nine inches in thick- 
 ness, consequently we are left with only two feet of fall to clear away 
 the rain over a space measuring nine feet nine inches across. This is 
 too little for the purpose if slates are to be used. \\'e might increase 
 the slope either by raising the back wall or lowering the front one, or 
 by both methods. But raising the back wall means interference with 
 the lighting of the barn, and lowering the front one renders access to 
 the sheds inconvenient. A building is not thoroughly efficient so long 
 as we are impeded in taking the full advantage thereof ; and low 
 doorways are always obstacles in this respect. 
 
 _. „ We can get out of the difficulty by adopting corrugated 
 
 galvanised iron sheets as the roofing medium here. A 
 
 roof of this description will do with far less slope than ser\'es for a
 
 THE BARN RANGE. 
 
 ■■II 
 
 1m(>. J04. 
 
 slated one. We ha\e no liking for a coxering of the kind for the 
 
 permanent buildings of tlie homestead, it being perhaps rather too much 
 
 of a makeshift at the best. But under the 
 circumstances we consider its use quite 
 justifiable here. The front wall may even 
 be obtained a little higher than the seven 
 feet spoken of. If, howe\er, we manage 
 to get a doorway, say six feet three 
 inches high, and still leave room for the 
 wheels of the sliding doors to clear with 
 ease the eave gutters, then we ha\e all 
 that is required to make a satisfactory 
 job of that part of the building. The 
 
 width and the position of the respecti\ e doorways are matters that it 
 
 is needless for us to enlarge 
 
 upon here. Thev fall to be / T T Y T IT 
 
 decided in accordance with 
 
 the type of homestead taken 
 
 in liand, and the class of 
 
 live stock likeK- to be 
 
 maintained thereat. 
 
 The flooring 
 of the sheds 
 
 in question would, of course, 
 
 be directed to be of con- 
 crete. The brickwork of 
 
 T 7 I / 
 
 T^T~~Y^T^ 
 
 I I I I 
 
 \ r\ \ 
 
 The Floors. 
 
 t^4tti^Mliii%%i^%%\ 
 
 2^22^>^ 
 
 Fig. 205. 
 
 outer wall and partitions, if brush-pointed with Portland cement mortar, 
 
 would form a hard, smooth 
 surface that needed no further 
 finish. And were the surface 
 of that part of the barn wall 
 included in the slieds plastered 
 over with a thin coat of Portland 
 cement, the interior of those 
 places would afterwards leaAe 
 little to be desired from the 
 points of withstanding wear 
 and tear and being easily kept 
 clean. The floors would not 
 admit of being much above the 
 level of the surface of the 
 courtyard. It would be all the better to be a little higher, however, if 
 only an inch. There would be no likelihood then ol surface-water 
 finding its way into the shed. The floor could be kept so much 
 higher than the yard bv simply be\elling back the outer edge of the 
 
 Fig. 206
 
 278 THE MODERN }IOMESTEAJ). 
 
 step or stone finisli to the concrete of the tloor to the extent tluit the 
 difference of level would not interfere with tlie passage of a wheel- 
 barrow or similar contrivance for the conveyance in and out of the 
 stuff peculiar to these sheds. 
 
 Sheets of corrugated iron roofing are now to be had with 
 
 Light and hghts fitted therein, so there is no difficulty in lighting 
 
 Ventilation. "^ ' r ^r-, i- , r . 
 
 the sheds by way of the roof. 1 lie lights referred to, 
 
 as Fig. 204 reveals, are similar to the ordinary skylight already 
 referred to. These, seeing they can be opened at will, may be con- 
 sidered sufficient for ventilation as well as for light. But the method 
 we point out in the section of the shed, and more in detail in Figs. 205 
 and 206, of protecting the junction of the roofing sheets with the barn 
 wall enables the place to be kept well aired at all times, irrespectixe of 
 opening skylights or other arrangements. The sheets of iron, it will 
 be seen, butt against the wall, while close abo\-e them, resting upon 
 them, in fact, is an apron of zinc with one edge let well into the wall and 
 the other lapping over the iron for a few inches — as far, indeed, as will 
 guard against the inlet of drifting i-ain. When tlie barn is being built 
 there is nothing to hinder the raggle for this apron being formed in 
 the wall. A strip of wood might be built in the desired place in such 
 a manner that it could be removed when the zinc was about to be 
 inserted in the wall. The raggle would require to be formed with 
 an inclination to suit the final position of the zinc, for the latter, unlike 
 lead, is a metal that will not stand bending or twisting without soon 
 showing signs of fracture. The zinc flap rests upon the crests of the 
 corrugations, while beneath it, in the troughs thereof, there is room for 
 air to pass to and fro and round the heads of the sheets into the shed 
 itself. Sliould this not meet the requirements of the shed wlierein the 
 coppers are contained, it is an easy matter to keep a sheet or part 
 thereof clear up for an inch or so from the others it is in touch with. 
 A few extra washers between the sheets in question will effect what is 
 required in the matter of aftbrding a ready outlet to the \apour that 
 arises from the cooking-pots.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Buildings West oi- thi: Bakx. 
 
 ^, ., West of the barn block we place on Plans I. and II. 
 
 The Nature . ^ . 
 
 of these tlie byre or cowhouse — in the former instance a single 
 
 Buildings. byre, and in the latter, since it is connected with dairying, 
 
 a double one. It is a chance, in fact, if many cows are kept at the class 
 of liomestead of which No. i is typical. The byre is there, however, 
 and, if not required for cows, it can be put to use for housing fattening 
 heifers. One or two cows, at any rate, will be kept, and there is nothing 
 to hinder their being kept under the same roof as their shorter-lived 
 virgin fellows. If they must be kept separate, a wood partition will enable 
 this to be done. The byre in each of the two instances occupies all the end 
 of the homestead west of the barn. And at right angles thereto runs the 
 range of building which occupies the whole of the west side of the estab- 
 lishment. This side in the first instance is, with the exception of a root 
 house at the extreme end, wholly taken up with cattle feeding-boxes. In 
 the second instance it is set apart as additional accommodation for cows 
 and other dairy stock ; part, if necessary, to be used in connection with 
 beef-raising cattle. And the adjunct to these byres, in the form of dairy 
 offices, are, it will be observed, placed in isolation near to the outer 
 angle of the two ranges we are now about to discuss. 
 
 On Plan III., that of the homestead for a pure and simple dairy farm 
 instead of the byre we started with in both the above cases, we set down 
 the dwelling-house separated from the barn by the small storehouse 
 referred to in last chapter, along with the sheds built against the barn. 
 And at right angles thereto, as before, comes accommodation for the cows 
 and for the younger animals destined to fill the stalls of their elders when 
 the latter are dri\en ofif to furnish, if not beef itself, then beef e.xtract, 
 or, at least, sausage meat and gelatine. The dairy offices, as in the last- 
 (^uoted instance, are also isolated from the main group of the buildings, 
 but, notwithstanding, placed convenient to house and byre alike. 
 
 Figs. 207 and 208 show sections of a single and double 
 
 How the bvre respectively. These, however, are representative 
 
 Cow fares for " . - . 
 
 Room in her of the requirements of the Ayrshire breed of dairy 
 
 )y*"'^^'^ cows, and the sizes they indicate would in consequence 
 
 Quarters. -^ '^ 
 
 render the accommodation too restricted for other classes 
 of cattle. For tlie Ayrshire cow, from se^•en feet to seven feet three
 
 28o 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 inches, ineasuriiifi^ from side wall of byre to ed<fe of ,<,^rip or ,<,"utter, is 
 the length of lair allowed ; but throughout the south-west of vScotland 
 
 one will meet with more 
 of the lesser than of the 
 greater length. The 
 proper length is the one 
 that allows the cow to 
 stand and move about 
 without having to place 
 her hind feet in the grip. 
 She is wanted to be 
 close to the latter with- 
 out being obliged at 
 times, for the sake of 
 gaining more room, to 
 place her hind feet 
 therein. The grip is 
 there, to use plain terms, 
 to catch her droppings, 
 and the nearer the two can be brought together, so long as the cow is not 
 restricted in the length of her stance, the more cleanly can the latter be 
 kept. In a byre well fitted to the size of the cows it contains, or the other 
 
 Fig. 208. 
 
 Avay about,say,the droppings, both solid and liquid, of the \arious animals 
 will invariably be deposited in the grip without messing the lairage in 
 the slightest. This only holds good, of course, so long as the animals 
 are kept at right angles to the side wall, and this posture on their part
 
 BUILDIXGS WEST OF THE BARX. 281 
 
 can, as we stated at an eaiiv stage of our work, only be maintained hv 
 dint of close packing. Three feet is almost the invariable width of 
 elbow-room allowed to the Ayrshire dairy cow. Perhaps it is truer 
 to say that six feet is allowed to each pair of cows, seeing that the 
 travises or stall divisions are fixed up six feet apart and each space 
 divided thereby holds two cows. Seven feet by three feet, or at the out- 
 side seven feet three inches by three feet, is truly a small space for such 
 a large animal as a cow. About as much as that is allowed to man's 
 remains when '■ dust to dust " is enacted. The remains rest undis- 
 turbed, however ; but the cow has to stand and lie in her allotted space 
 through many months in each year of her life. From October till April 
 has she, who has roamed at liberty in the fields during the rest of the 
 year, to content herself witli the close quarters noted. In fact, slie has 
 less room than the figures indicate, because the breadth of the travis, 
 in whatever manner constructed, falls to be deducted therefrom. The 
 breadth of the double stall is measured from the centre line of one 
 travis to that of the next. Necessity decided the point, however, 
 and the lessons derived from such a teacher usually leave little 
 room for question. Had the cow more lateral space at her com- 
 mand she could hardly, we repeat, be kept so passably clean as we 
 see her under existing circumstances. She cannot when ranged up 
 in the manner indicated make so free with her tongue as a toilet 
 appliance as she can when at liberty out of doors, but this does not 
 seem to have any influence for evil upon her, and then there are no 
 flies in the bvre to annoy her and keep her on the fidget. 
 
 If we cannot help lier in the matter of room, we can. 
 
 The Byre however, make her lot in confinement a little easier by 
 
 Floor. . . - 
 
 seeing that her stance is made smooth. She will then 
 
 be able to stand as well as lie in comparative comfort, which cannot 
 
 be the case when the surface of the lair is rough and irregular. It 
 
 becomes painful to stand as well as to lie on a surface of the latter 
 
 description. Concrete, as we have already pointed out, comes in 
 
 here again as a suitable material for a floor on which to station 
 
 cattle. In addition to its other good properties, both in keeping 
 
 ground-damp from rising through it and pre\enting surface moisture 
 
 from being absorbed instead of run off, and checking the inroads of 
 
 rats, the concrete floor affords the animals an easy place to stand 
 
 upon as well as a smooth bed to lie on. 
 
 The Position '^^ ^'^^ sections show, the feeding-troughs are placed on 
 
 of the the floor — on the top of the concrete. Some are inclined 
 
 roug s. j.^ omit the concrete under the troughs, laying the latter 
 
 upon the soil, as it were, but this we consider mistaken policy. One 
 
 might think that it would give greater comfort to the animals if the 
 
 troughs were placed higlier. It seems to be otherwise, however. The 
 
 universal custom is to place the troughs on the floor of the house. The
 
 282 THE MODKRX IIOMESTKAI). 
 
 cow and the o\ lia\e to tear their food tVoin tlie surface of the <;round 
 in the act ot cropping grass and herbage of a lo\\l\- liabit ; and in 
 feeding them at troughs not raised from the ground we are but con- 
 forming to nature. It is good practice to keep the troughs back a 
 little from tlie wall. If set close to the wall some of the animals 
 have difficulty in rising without touching it with their horns. There 
 is not much in this, perhaps, but a well-bred animal looks blemished 
 a bit if her horns are worn down e\er so little. In time the wall, too, 
 suffers. It is a good, plan, therefore, to keep the troughs back from the 
 wall as far as is equivalent to the breadth of a brick. If bricks are not 
 difificult to get, these mav be bedded between the trough and the wall. 
 If they are, then concrete or any other material will answer equally well. 
 But whatever material is used the angle formed by the upper edge of the 
 trough and the wall should be filled with cement, given such a slope that 
 nothing can lodge upon it. It is advisable, also, we think, to add a thin 
 coat of cement plaster to the walls in front of the cows, carried up to be in 
 line with the top of the travises, perhaps. This ensures a good hard and 
 smooth surface to the wall directly in front of the animals, which must 
 obviously conduce somewhat to the impro\ ed sanitation of the building. 
 We see no need for carrying the plaster any higher than we have noted. 
 The noses of the animals are seldom elexated so high, and it is with the 
 view of there being few chinks and crexices and little roughness of surface 
 on that part of the wall upon which the breath of the animals is likely to 
 play that we are inclined to suggest this skin of cement being applied thereto. 
 There is less chance of pathogenic matters expired from the lungs of some 
 unsuspected unhealthy animal that may be in the rank gaining a foot- 
 hold on a smooth, hard surface such as we recommend, than upon one 
 characteristic of the ordinarv rubble-built wall. A brick wall, tliat is to 
 say, one built of smooth, hard bricks with sharply defined edges, not one 
 of what the trade knows as partition bricks, has no need of any additional 
 finish of the kind. Such a one, if neatly pointed with a good mortar, 
 forms an almost ideal wall surface for the interior of farm buildings. 
 One of the best finished and most substantial homesteads we ha\ e had 
 the pleasure of inspecting has the walls e.\ternall\- of strong red sand- 
 stone rubble work, and inwardly finished with warm-looking red bricks 
 of the faxourable description just quoted. The cement coating we refer 
 to, in addition to its benefit from a sanitar\- point of view, gives a more 
 pleasing appearance to the otherwise bald-looking byre ; moreover, it 
 helps to withstand tear and wear a little. 
 
 The grip should never be less tlian eighteen inches in 
 The Grip. , ' ,,,.,. .- ^, 
 
 breadtli. 1 hat breadth suits the circumstances ot tlie 
 
 average countrx' dair\- farm. The cows undergo no forcing treatmeiil 
 
 there. At the farms where they do. however, the grip is all the more 
 
 effectixe if made a little wider. It mav with adxantage be increased to 
 
 the width of two feet. The bottom is laid with a sli'dil hang to tlie
 
 BUILDINGS WEST OF THE BARN. 283 
 
 edge next the walk. This allows the fluid excreta to drain to that side 
 of tlie channel and f^et away past the solider stuff, which for most part is 
 deposited close to the other side. To put it plainly, therefore, the widtli 
 of the f,frip should be ruled by the amount of excreta that is likely to be 
 deposited therein between the times of cleaninf^ out the byre. The 
 narrower breadth mentioned is sufficient in the case of Ayrshire cows 
 under ordinary management, while the greater is needed where the 
 same class of cows is more generoush' dealt with than usual. The 
 
 atter is also needed to meet the case of breeds of bigger cows than the 
 Ayrshire, as well as for animals which are being fattened. One cannot 
 pretend to construct a building that will adapt itself to the niceties of 
 hypothetical cases, so perhaps the best thing to do, when the breadth 
 of the grip is matter of debate from an ordinary dairying point of 
 view, is to strike a medium and make the channel one foot nine inches 
 across. 
 
 As regards the depth of the grip, six inches at the side next to the 
 animals and four at the other is a workable conformation. This 
 enables the walk to be kept three inches or so below the lexel of the 
 lairage. The two inches of difference between the depth of the 
 respective sides, together with the fall outwards of the bottom of the 
 grip, makes up the difference, whatever it amounts to, in level between 
 the walk and lair. Stock owners prefer to have their animals elevated 
 n this wav a little above the standing-point of those who come to have 
 a look at them either in a friendlv wav or with a view to a deal. 
 The different '^^^^ '^^'^ "^ difference of level in the sole of the grip 
 Inclines ofthe lengthwise is one that cannot be dictated with the same 
 
 yre oor. amount of confidence that can be applied to the lateral 
 dip. ^^'hile one inch may be laid down as sufficient allowance in 
 respect of the latter, the other is ruled very much in accordance with 
 the configuration of the ground occupied by the byre. An inch of fall 
 to every six feet, or the breadth set apart for each pair of cows, would 
 serve sufficiently to drain the urine to the outlet. Should the byre, 
 however, be built on sloping ground, more than this would be appor- 
 tioned in the fall of the gutter. 
 
 The Lairs to -^^'-^^ the leveller, comparatively speaking, that the byre 
 be as Level as can be constructed, the better will it conform to the 
 comfort of the cows that come to be housed therein. 
 Tliere is no necessity, so far as the animals are concerned, for the lairs 
 to be off the level either in the length or in the breadth. Vox an animal 
 constituted like the cow, the leveller is her standing-place the better is 
 her cliance of maintaining health under the rather unnatural circum- 
 stances she is subjected to. It cannot be conducive to an animal whose 
 bulk is carried largely in the hinder half of her frame to stand in such a 
 position that her hind feet are constantly at a lower le\el than the fore 
 ones; more especiallv when we bear in mind tliat the organs of an
 
 284 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 animal such as she are so large and \ascular and so slackly knit to her 
 carcase. In fact, if there is a difference at all it ought in accordance 
 with analogy to be in the other direction. There is little risk, as we 
 have said, of urine falling on the lair occupied bv a cow, therefore there 
 is no need of giving it an inclination from the wall to the grip with the 
 view of keeping it dry. At any rate, if any is allowed it need only be 
 the very minimum — an almost imperceptible difference in le\el will drain 
 oflf any liquid that may happen to find its way on this part of the byre 
 floor. None is, indeed, likely to do so unless when the place is being 
 swilled down. 
 
 If slope can be dispensed with in the length of the stance, much more 
 so can it be in the breadth, for should it get wet the liquid will be all 
 the longer in gaining the grip. Instead of running or trickling direct to 
 the part of the grip immediately connected with the affected stance it 
 will, before it reaches the gutter, have crossed more or less of the others 
 on its lower side. But each stance should as far as possible be inde- 
 pendent of the others. To a certain extent, however, the lairage of the 
 byre must be given a dip broadwise even when the house has the chance 
 of a level site. The grip is not fully efficient if water will lie in it, and 
 the floor of the byre must conform to the run that is gi\en to the grip. 
 It would not answer to have the sides of the channel deeper at one part 
 than another. The channel must be of the same depth all through, and 
 the remainder of the byre must be in conformity therewith. I'^or sake 
 of the animals, howe\er, the dip given to the grip should, like that 
 given to the lairs lengthwise, be the least that will admit of efficiency. 
 This is, perhaps, a less important point than the other. Standing at an 
 angle to a slope can hardly be so prejudicial to the cow as standing 
 parallel to and facing the slope. And in Iving down under the former 
 conditions the animal has opportunity of reversing matters, for while on 
 one side her bod\- be downhill, on the other it is against the incline. 
 But the one circumstance helps to aggraxate the other ; and when both 
 are well pronounced we have the animal all the time she is on her feet 
 not only down in the stern, as a sailor would say, but, as he would add, 
 with a heavy list. The list is the lesser e\il, which is fortunate, because 
 it is the one less easily avoided. 
 
 This lateral hang being then unavoidable, nothing remains but to 
 take the sting out of it so far as we can. All that we can do, however, 
 is to reduce both inclinations, one as already suggested almost to ;///, 
 and the other nearly to the minimum that will cause water to flow. 
 Very little inclination in the channel will ser\e this end, and here comes 
 in one ad\antage of making the channel a little wider than usual, for 
 the wider it is the less likelihood is there of the solider excrement block- 
 ing up the waterway therein. A broad grip, therefore, allows us to do 
 with less inclination lengthwise in the building than we would be 
 obliged to provide for in the case of a narrow one.
 
 BUILDINGS WEST OF THE BARN. 
 
 28: 
 
 Under-drains 
 in the Byre to 
 be avoided 
 whenever 
 possible 
 
 Were it allowable to ha\e under-drains in the byre the 
 difficulty in question could easily be overcome by havinj^^ 
 a drain running underneath the grip, and making con- 
 nections between the two at short inter\als. A series of 
 gratings in the bottom of the grip would allow the liquid 
 matter to disappear to view ere it had proceeded far ; and so long as 
 tlie drain liad ample fall the grip might be kept almost le\el. But then, 
 as already pointed out, co\ered drains either in byre or stable are 
 inadmissible. It serves a bad end to get rid of the liquid excreta in 
 this hidden manner. To render matters safe we must keep our eye on 
 it until it gains the side of the doorway outside. We must deal with it 
 as we would with suspicious characters found prowling around our 
 
 2/ 3% -2/ 
 
 premises. Under every circumstance, therefore, we ha^"e to face the- 
 longitudinal slope of the byre floor. Whether the site of the byre be 
 on sloping ground and running with the decline, or whether it be on 
 level ground, it is all the same — we have to provide for the difference of 
 level under discussion. In the one case we have to tone down the 
 natural slope ; in the other we have to make a slope for ourselves. 
 
 The walk or pavement behind the cows we would 
 advocate not to be less than five feet wide. It might be 
 better if made wider, but all that can be saved in this 
 way means reduction in the item of roofing as well as in flooring and 
 wall-building. If the byre be of the type represented in section on 
 Fig. 2og, four feet would be a liberal allowance to set apart for each of 
 the side passages, seeing their purpose is principally for the removal of 
 
 The Byre 
 Passages.
 
 286 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 droppings. They are, in addition, tlie ways of access bv whicli the 
 
 animals pass to and from their respecti\e places in the row. But the 
 
 breadth we ha\ e figured, three and a half feet, is quite sufficient for 
 
 either purpose. Feeding is overtaken from the central passage, which 
 
 necessitates that five feet at least be allowed for it. Here we have 
 
 thirteen feet of the breadth of the byre set apart for passages alone — 
 
 little short of what is occupied by the cows. The stalls, however, can 
 
 in this type of byre safely be made a few inches shorter than in the 
 
 other two, the cattle being better able to stand well up in them. 
 
 _, „ . , This bvre, it is needless to say, is much more expensive 
 
 The Byre with . -. ■' ... 
 
 a Central Feed- in erection than the other two, the sections of which are 
 
 ing-passage. depicted in Figs. 207 and 208. Without doubt it has 
 
 advantages o^•er the others, but it is possible to pay too dearly for these. 
 
 It means saving of labour to be able to feed the cattle from a central 
 
 passage instead of having to pass up between each pair from behind. 
 
 The fodder can be tipped over the boarding at either side of the central 
 
 passage, and the roots and the prepared food be slid down the sloping 
 
 shelf into the troughs right and left, as one proceeds along the byre 
 
 with barrow in front. The animals, too, one would think, are under 
 
 healthier conditions when ranged with their heads in the part of 
 
 the building where the column of air is highest. It must be better for 
 
 them to be placed so than face to face with a cold wall. Towards the 
 
 centre of the building the expired air has room to spread out, but close 
 
 to the wall, before it can get far away, the animal is inhaling some of it 
 
 over again. 
 
 This in fact is, in our opinion, tlie one ad\antage that tells in fa\-our 
 
 of byres arranged in this manner. We question very much if the cattle 
 
 settle so well tied thus as they do when facing the wall. They are full 
 
 of curiosity, and there is more to be seen in the former position. Exery 
 
 movement in the passage at their heads is suggestive of rations, and 
 
 therefore conducive to distraction — mild, no doubt, but unsettling all 
 
 the same. And, after all, the saving of labour is more apparent than 
 
 real, at least when we compare it with the double byre with the one 
 
 passage, that in Fig. 208. The one with the feeding-passage down the 
 
 centre of the byre has tlie advantage at meal times, but it necessitates 
 
 more coming and going in the work of cleansing. It comes to this, 
 
 therefore — is the extra expense involved in the erection of the larger 
 
 byre worth gaining what, after all has been said and done, is but a 
 
 liypothetical point ? for it has never been proved that healthy cattle 
 
 suffer on account of being housed after the manner implied in Figs. 
 
 207 and 208. We hardly think it is. If the byre is finished on the 
 
 lines we are suggesting, the cows are not exactly close to the wall, and 
 
 the wall being hard and smooth on the internal surface is easily 
 
 maintained in a sanitary condition. And what the combined passage 
 
 of the two-rowed wall-facing byre loses in the matter of feeding the
 
 BUILDINGS WEST OF THE BARN. 287 
 
 animals, it gains, as we have said, at cleaning time. On the whole the 
 balance in respect of economical working is in favour of this byre. 
 
 We sometimes see a feeding-passage between the cows and the side 
 wall in byres after the plan both of Figs. 207 and 208, but unless it 
 serves to keep the animals back from the wall, we fail to see its use as 
 an economiser of labour. Another four feet added to the breadth of 
 Fig. 207 brings it within five feet of the width of Fig. 208, which may 
 as Avell be o\ertaken, and the benefit of a double byre be obtained 
 thereby. And to form passages of the same sort in Fig. 208 brings us 
 to the same width as Fig. 209, with no advantage o\er the latter. A 
 passage of the kind is shown in Fig. 212 and in Fig. 213. 
 The Single ^ '^*^ one-row byre is the least efficient of the three 
 
 Byre with represented. It is one we would never recommend 
 
 assage. ^j-,iggg Qj-,iy ,^ f^^^. animals were to be accommodated 
 therein. Exactly twice the distance has to be tra\elled up and down 
 the service passage of the one-row byre that has to be gone over in the 
 two-row one, both in the work of feeding the animals and cleanino" 
 up after them. On Plan I., indeed, we show a long single byre 
 immediately to the west of the barn. In this instance the building is 
 likelier to be filled with fattening heifers than with milk cows. Not 
 that this makes much difference as regards the working efficiency of 
 the byre. In fact it makes matters worse in that respect. More food 
 has to be handled when beef is being produced, and, of course, more 
 stulThas to be wheeled to the dunghill. And fattening cattle are rarelv 
 denied a good littering, while it is the exception to see dairy cows 
 lying on straw. 
 
 ^, ^ , , There is nothing, however, to prevent the sing^le bvre 
 The Double . ^ ^ o . 
 
 Byre with referred to being doubled as on Plan II. This would 
 
 Single reduce the adjoining food-preparing sheds a little, but 
 
 not very much, it we brmg the side wall towards the 
 north flush with the barn gable. By doubling the byre, a part of it at 
 the west end might be spared to ser\e as a root-house, and in con- 
 sequence be able to dispense with the one shown against the side wall 
 of the loose-boxes ; and the coppers, did such happen to be in 
 use at the place, might be placed there. We show it doubled 
 on Plan II., because it is meant to be typical of a homestead where 
 both fattening cattle and dairy cows would be kept. And we ha\e 
 the byres doubled at the farm where dairying is the leading agri- 
 cultural industry practised. 
 
 In both cases we show a doorway between the byre 
 Communica- , , , ,r hi- 1 ■ ^ • • ■ 
 
 tion between '^^d tlie barn, jlany will object to this. At times it is 
 
 Byre and bound to be a convenience. If such a communication, 
 
 however, is undesirable, the door can be kept locked, or, 
 
 for that matter, the opening can be bricked up. Straw could be 
 
 brought that way under cover, which is a boon in stormy weather ;
 
 288 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 and temporarilv stored cake or meal could sometimes be fed directly 
 from the barn by the doorway in question. These conveniences would 
 cause even the greatest sticklers for keeping each place to its own 
 uses, and observing general order, to stretch a point in these little 
 trespasses. 
 
 Fig. 210. 
 
 On Plan III. representative of the homestead for a dairy farm 
 we place the dwelling-house in the corner filled by the byre we have 
 
 Fig. 21 t. 
 
 been speciall)- dealing with, the cattle acconnnodation taking up the 
 adjoining side of the square. This arrangement gi\es the occupants 
 of the house easy access both to byre and dairy.
 
 BUILDIXGS WEST OF THE BARN. 
 
 289 
 
 Fig. 212. 
 
 The Bvre ^^^ lia\e little to add liere with regard to the fitting 
 
 Fittings : The up of the byres. We ha\e already gone fully into the 
 "^^"^ ^' matters of flooring, roofing and lighting under their 
 
 respecti\e heads, and about all that remains to be discussed is 
 the subject of the stall and its fittings. We gave our preference 
 for a concrete 
 floor and the 
 reason thereof. 
 And so with 
 the roofing and 
 lighting. Feed- 
 ing - troughs 
 we have not 
 touched upon. 
 It will h a \' e 
 been gathered, 
 h o w e \' e r , b }" 
 our readers, 
 that our pre- 
 ference lies 
 towards those 
 
 manufactured out of fireclay. These are made with a glazed surface 
 which renders them impervious to penetration on the part of food matters, 
 either liquid or solid. In consequence, they can never be permanently 
 
 tainted. When 
 the surface is 
 clean they are 
 fresh and pure 
 as articles of 
 that kind go. 
 And they are 
 not difficult to 
 clean. A wisp 
 of straw care- 
 fully applied 
 leaves little 
 behind it. But 
 far more effec- 
 tual in that way 
 is the tongue of 
 
 the cow or other member of the cattle classes. When judiciously fed it 
 would take a good eye and a sensitive touch to find much in the trough 
 after the animal has licked it out. There are no corners where particles 
 can lurk. In addition to all this, the troughs are strong and easily set 
 and maintained in position. And given fair play, their resistance of wear 
 >r.H. u 
 
 Fig. 213.
 
 290 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The Travises. 
 
 and tear is iinincible. Wood cannot compete with fireclay in any one of 
 the points mentioned ; stone can do so but in the one of easy setting ; 
 iron approaches close in some, but unless the byre is planned to be 
 fitted throughout with cast-iron appliances, troughs of that material are 
 inapplicable by themselves. Complete appliances of that description 
 are, however, in our opinion, far from being suitable to the a\erage 
 homestead. They make a neat job, however, and are well adapted to 
 the home farm and similar places where money is not scrimped in these 
 matters. In Figs. 210 to 213 we show some good examples of these as 
 supplied by Messrs. Steven, Glasgow. In the first two the cows are 
 ranged close to the wall, in the others a feeding passage runs alongside 
 the wall. One of each pair shows a fodder-rack in front. 
 
 Coming to the ordinary byre, the travises or partitions 
 that divide the lairage into the several compartments 
 that each hold a pair of cattle are, we consider, best when made of 
 wood. \\'e have no objection to iron posts, but the remainder of the 
 
 erection we would ha\e of 
 boarding. Stone, unless it be 
 of the nature of Caithness flag 
 or Welsh slate, we do not care 
 for. Stone of a kind other than 
 these two requires to be so 
 thick in order to withstand the 
 bumps it so often receives 
 when set up on edge in the 
 position indicated, that, besides 
 being clumsy, it takes up too 
 much of the room that the 
 cattle have at best little to spare 
 of. The six feet we mentioned 
 as being allotted to the pair of 
 cows measures, be it remem- 
 bered, from centre to centre of 
 the travises. The thicker, therefore, the travis is made, the less 
 room each cow has at her disposal. Concrete we see occasionally 
 in use as a travis-forming material. But it possesses similar faults 
 to stone in this connection. Concrete, like the class of stone that 
 can be put to service in this way, is too brittle for the purpose. 
 Either, when in bulk, will withstand enormous compression, but 
 when set up in comparatively thin sheets, as in this case, they are 
 easily snapped under cross pressures. From their thickness they are 
 apt at times to act the part of masses of cold material intervening 
 between the animals. Moreover, the surface of either is rough and 
 therefore objectionable. The cement surface can, of course, be polished 
 pretty smooth, but there still remains the objectionable thickness of the 
 
 Fig. 214.
 
 BUILDINGS WEST OF THE BARN. 
 
 2gi 
 
 erection. Flag and slate, when of good quality, that is to say, are 
 tougher than either stone, such as we are referring to, or concrete, con- 
 sequently thinner sheets of these can be used without risk of their 
 being fractured. The surface of either is easily made smooth ; and the 
 thinner sheet is not so cold, neither does it take up so much space 
 
 Fig. 215. 
 
 laterally. But it is only in exceptional localities that it is practicable 
 to turn flag or slate to account in the manner referred to. 
 
 Wood is procurable everywhere, and it responds better 
 to the general requirements of the situation than any 
 other material. It is easily put together, and in such a 
 way that it will not occupy an undue share of the space at disposal ; 
 and, another thing, it will never chill the animals. 
 
 The board travis is usually set up in connection Avith 
 two posts as in the Figs, from 214 to 216. One of these 
 — the one nearer the wall — is termed the shoulder-post, 
 and the other the hind or heel-post. In Fig. 216 both of 
 the posts are carried up and secured to the roofing 
 timbers, being fastened to a runner, a beam or batten which stretches 
 along under the bottom edge of the rafters. One end of each of the 
 
 u 2 
 
 The Wood 
 Travis. 
 
 The various 
 Methods of 
 Arranging and 
 Fixing the 
 Travis Posts.
 
 292 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 posts is slifi^htly cliecked into a dressed stone with the top just clear of 
 the ground, and the other is made fast to the runner o\ erliead. This 
 makes a strong enougli erection, but it offers one great objection in so 
 many posts being stuck up interfering with the circulation of the air 
 within the house and blocking one's view of the byre and its inmates 
 as a whole. 
 
 As arranged in I'ig. 214, the objection referred to is got rid of. The 
 ends of the posts are sunk about three feet in the ground, and they 
 stand no higher than to clear the uppermost board a little. The hole 
 for the reception of the posts is made large enough to allow the posts 
 to be embedded in and surrounded by a body of Portland cement 
 concrete. This, while it most effectually preserves the wood, at same 
 time gives stiffness and stability to the post. And if the cement be 
 carried up an inch or two above the floor all round the post, the latter 
 will not be likely to succumb to decay induced by wet. It is at the 
 
 neck of the post that air 
 
 and moisture together set 
 up decomposition of the 
 wood. Most kinds of wood 
 can resist the attacks of 
 either of these agencies 
 acting singly, but when 
 they combine it takes stuff 
 of the nature of heart of 
 oak or prime larch to hold 
 out against them. The 
 part of the ordinary post, 
 
 I 
 
 ~7 — r~ 
 ZlJtZ =■ 
 
 rz5— "tzi^ 
 
 Fig. 216, 
 
 that has been long in use, sunk furthest in the ground, will be found far less 
 affected than that which adjoins the surface. Thus the two extremities, 
 the one buried in the soil and the other exposed to the air, are longer 
 lived than that part of the wood that is half and between as it were. 
 Down in the ground there is plenty of dampness but little air ; clear of 
 the ground there is air all round but no appreciable quantity of moisture 
 (it does not get leave to remain long enough to do harm) ; where, how- 
 ever, the two merge, there is sufhcient of both to promote chemical 
 reaction and decay in the wood. This applies, perhaps, more strongly 
 to wood in the open than to wood under cover of a roof, as in the 
 byre. But the conditions are similar in the two cases, only a little 
 slower in the latter. The casing of concrete puts matters on a different 
 footing however. It keeps the buried part of the post quite free of damp, 
 and if continued upwards for an inch or two round the neck, as we 
 indicate, the upstanding part of the wood is out of danger from moisture 
 that may be spilled upon the floor. Not that there is ever much of this 
 about in the byre lairs ; it is only, indeed, when the byre is being 
 washed out that there is likely to be any.
 
 BUILDINGS WEST OF THE BARN. 
 
 293 
 
 Size of the 
 Travis. 
 
 Fig. 21- 
 
 Fig. 215 shows a compromise between the two methods we liave 
 been describing, but in our opinion a lialf-hearted one. Sometimes in 
 this modification it is the hind-post tliat is continued to the roof, but 
 oftener the arrangement is the one illustrated. 
 
 The usual '^'"'^ customary size of the travis in Scottish dairying 
 
 districts is four feet long, inclusive of hind-post, and four 
 feet high. Five inches square, or its equivalent if round, 
 is a suitable scantling for the posts. The square 
 hind-post is chamfered (has the corners planed 
 off) something in accordance with Fig. 217. The 
 latter shows, too, how the boards are secured to 
 the post, being let into a groove in the front part 
 of the same. Held thus behind, and butting 
 against the wall at the other end, the boards are 
 effectually pre\ ented from moving backwards or forwards lengthwise ; 
 and to keep them equally firm against lateral movement the fore-post 
 is made of two pieces, each fi\'e inches by two inches, set wide enough 
 apart to fit close to the boards, as in Fig. 218. It makes the firmer job 
 when the two parts of the fore-post that are sunk in the floor are joined 
 together. This necessitates a piece of wood the same thickness as the 
 travis boards being placed between them. It is an easy matter, once 
 the posts have been fixed, to slip the boards into the groove on the hind- 
 post, and between the tw^o halves of the shoulder-post. And all that 
 remains thereafter to complete the job is to bolt the separate parts of 
 the shoulder-post together and fill up the blank between the two where 
 they project above the top of the boards (as we suggested could with 
 advantage be done with the posts underground). When the fore- 
 post reaches to the roof one half is erected, after which the boards 
 are put in position and the other half of the post fixed up. In this 
 case, too, it may be ad\isable, though it is not altogether necessary, that 
 
 the vacancy between the posts be filled up as 
 before. At the bottom of the post there is 
 none of course, the end being coincident with 
 the floor of the byre. What ^•acancy there 
 is in this instance lies between the upper- 
 most of the boards and the runner to which 
 the halves of the post are attached. 
 
 Boards from three-quarters to one inch in 
 thickness, supported as above, form a sufficiently strong barrier to 
 separate tlie cows into pairs. These as well as the posts we would 
 advise, for the reasons already advanced, to be planed on their exposed 
 surfaces ; and so, we repeat, would we have done with all the roof-wood 
 surfaces exposed to the byre. 
 
 Traviseswith Iron posts are sometimes substituted for those of wood. 
 Iron Posts. ^t least as regards the hind-posts. These are provided 
 
 Fig. 218.
 
 294 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 c:\ 
 
 with strong bases for sinking in the ground and thereby ensuring 
 their rigidity. Flanges are cast on tlie posts for the purpose of 
 fixing the ends of the boards. The shoulder-posts put to use Avith 
 these are of wood, either the same as or something after the style of 
 those above described. The shoulder-post part of the travis might be 
 dispensed with, and some contri\ance for fixing the boards against the 
 
 wall be substituted were it not 
 necessary for it to be there as 
 a point of attachment against 
 which to secure the cows. The 
 boards could be so arranged as 
 to be rendered secure and fit 
 to do their part in the way of 
 dividing the byre were they 
 fixed at each end, but something 
 more is needed when in addition 
 they have to hold the cattle 
 in their respective places. 
 
 \\"e have introduced an ar- 
 rangement whereby the travis 
 can be erected Avith a shoulder- 
 
 
 ^^=^.=^^=fe'^ 
 
 B 
 
 3"Iji---==^'-' 
 
 
 "l^-^^^ 
 
 
 ^?^§^ 
 
 
 ^^^^IT 
 
 tj 
 
 ;S^^ 
 
 
 -^^^^^ 
 
 
 P^^==^;-^~ 
 
 ^^■. 
 
 Fig. 2ig. 
 
 post alone, and a most efficient one it makes. Fig. 219 gives the side 
 elevation thereof, and Fig. 220 a horizontal section through the same. 
 The hollow post, it will be seen from the latter, is cast with a slit that cuts 
 it above ground into two equal segments. The boards fit into the slit, 
 their heads at the same time dovetailing into an iron plate attached to 
 the wall. An iron cap, which may be a little ornamental if required, fits 
 on the top of the divided posts and holds the two parts tightly together 
 with the boards between. The bolts which secure the tra\ellers up and 
 down, which slide the ends of the chains that hold the cows to the posts, 
 when tightened up help further to stiffen the erection. Boards a little 
 thicker than those already 
 quoted are needed, seeing 
 that in the absence of the 
 hind-post there is no 
 stifFener at the free end 
 of the travis. Inch-and- 
 half boards are strong 
 enough for the purpose. 
 
 A travis of this kind may be more expensive to start with, but it will 
 be the cheaper in the long run. It is one eminently suited to tlie 
 concrete-floored byre. Gi\en fair play, the iron post may last indefinitely. 
 The wood may need renewing in the course of time, but if the boards 
 are well selected to begin with even tliis will be a remote eventuality. 
 And another adAantage that goes with this tra\is is tliat it leaves a 
 
 Fig. 220
 
 BUILDINGS WEST OF THE EARN. 295 
 
 little more room for the animals when they lie down. A five-inch post 
 
 takes considerably more from their bed space than an inch-and-a-half 
 
 board is likely to do. 
 
 It is seldom one sees in Scotland fodder-racks fitted up 
 
 Rack seldom ^'^ front of dairy cows. And the seldomer the better', we 
 
 fitted up in think. The cows are generally fed in such a way that 
 
 ^ ^^ ' little remains o\er from one meal to another. With a 
 
 rack for ever more or less full the fodder cannot at all times be sweet ; 
 
 and an obstruction of the kind attached to the wall in front of the 
 
 animals is bound to interfere with the wholesomeness of the building. 
 
 The air exhaled against the wall we liave spoken of as apt to be 
 
 hampered in the act of diffusion, and some of it ere time has been given 
 
 it to spread out has been inhaled again. How much Avorse, tlierefore, 
 
 must matters be when a rack is fixed up on the wall not far above the 
 
 level of the muzzles of the animals as they stand eating therefrom. 
 
 There is less to say against it when fitted up in a byre with a centre or 
 
 a side-service passage. It is less in the way there. And where fattening 
 
 and store cattle, in loose box and court, with plenty of room to spare are 
 
 concerned, it is almost a necessity. And so too, perhaps, in respect of the 
 
 tied-up animals which are being fattened. But the milk cow under the 
 
 straitened circumstances of confinement that apply to her is better 
 
 without such an adjunct to the byre. 
 
 So much uncertainty and so many conflicting ideas 
 
 The Air Space pj-g^j,^il o\er the matter of pro\iding a due amount of 
 of Byres. ^. . , . . 
 
 air space for each of the cows housed m a byre that it is 
 
 hardlv one to enter upon here. The subject is still in the early stages of 
 evolution. Authorities, in their very praiseworthy anxiety to make 
 sure that milk-yielding cows are placed under sanitary conditions in 
 order to be certain that for one thing enough of good air will be at the 
 disposal of tlie animals, seek to enact that each must have so many 
 cubic feet of air space within the building in which they are housed. 
 But once, as we ha\e seen, that we pass a certain limit in this direction 
 we begin to render tlie house too cold for the welfare of its inmates. And 
 the limit is usually far under the proclaimed figure. And what makes 
 matters more unsatisfactorv is that separate authorities differ over where 
 the limit ought to stand. It is impossible, of course, to fix a limit that 
 will suit all circumstances. What breathing space is little enough for a 
 cow housed among close packed streets or lanes may be quite out of 
 proportion to the wants of anotlier tied in a byre on some upland 
 wind-swept farm. MoreoAer, on what assumption as regards atmo- 
 spheric conditions is the limit for any special locality to be based ? As 
 the two byres we have instanced are under totally different weather 
 conditions, even more so do the conditions which affect any single byre 
 vary from day to dav. A windy day succeeding a calm one renders as 
 mucli change in the atmospheric conditions of the indi\idual byre as
 
 296 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 takes place generally between those that affect the former two. The 
 authorities in question are on the wrong lines when endeavouring to 
 mend matters in this way. The right direction lies along the path that 
 leads to a controllable system of ventilating the byres and thereby 
 making them easily adaptable to the continually \arying phases of our 
 fickle climate, a point which we have already gone pretty closely into, 
 and therefore need not follow up again. 
 
 Before leaving the subject, however, it may be interesting to note what 
 air space each of our respective sections of byres are indicative of. That 
 in Fig. 207, according to the various dimensions figured, affords 54375 
 cubic feet of air space to each cow. Section Fig. 208 gives 491-25, and 
 the one in Fig. 209, 686-25. It is evident there is more outcome in a 
 byre after the type of the last one than in the others. Adding to or 
 taking from the width of the separate passages gives us more scope to 
 come and go in than is the case with the other two. They ha\'e but the 
 one passage each which, on the one hand, will hardly stand any curtail- 
 ment without loss of efficiency, and on the other if enlarged much 
 beyond what we ha\e set down simply means a waste of room and 
 more work for the attendants. But with the three passages, and these 
 more elastic, so to speak, than the single one, it is easy to stretch a point 
 and enlarge the cubic contents of the building. A foot more than we 
 have allowed added to the respective passages will not aftect them 
 adversely from a working point of view, while it swells out the air 
 capacity of the building. And, similarly, if we add to the space by raising 
 the walls a little more, that which is broadest to begin with responds 
 soonest in the way of increase. This is the one, therefore, that is best 
 adapted both to those places where it is compulsory to have much air space 
 in the byre and to those where some considerable show is desired. It is 
 the one for the suburban dairy, as well as for the home farm perhaps. 
 
 The floor space of these several byres is respectively 42, 
 The Floor ^^^^ ^^^ ^_^^ £gg^ ^q each cow. The floor space, however, 
 
 is a matter of minor importance. So long as the animals 
 have room, and so long as the attendants are not hampered in their 
 movements, and the building is efficient otherwise, nothing further is 
 required. It is better to provide for air space beyond the customary 
 amount, by heightening the walls, than by putting them further apart 
 than is needed for the general efficiency of the byre. 
 
 The byres we have been describing, we need hardly 
 Byres for mention, are such as are adapted to Scottish dairying. 
 
 th^Ayrshires. Cows of the Ayrshire breed are the all-pre\ ailing animals 
 
 used in that industry. But a byre that suits them only 
 needs to have the travises set further apart and the lairage lengthened 
 between wall and grip, in order that cows of a bigger frame may be 
 accommodated. We do not for a moment wish to infer that those we 
 have been recommending are capable of being remodelled in this way.
 
 BUILDINGS WEST OF THE BARN. 297 
 
 They are put together too substantially to admit of that ; and they must 
 continue to house the same class of cattle that were in view when 
 planned and constructed. Concrete floors, once they have become firm, 
 cannot be cut and car\ed to suit one size of cow one season and a 
 different one at another. If erected according to the rules we have laid 
 down, the cattle will ha\'e to be adapted to suit the byres, not the byres 
 to fit themselves to varying sizes of animals. The houses will not 
 permit intermittent modification of beds. There are big and little, ill- 
 favoured and good, specimens in all breeds, of course. The conforma- 
 tion of the byre, however, will cope with this without annoyance to man 
 or inconvenience to beast. 
 
 But it is different when we take other breeds, either larger or smaller, 
 into account. A smaller breed we may leave out of count, not forgetting, 
 all the same, that it is necessary to lodge the young females in quarters 
 adapted to aninials of their years. They may be allowed to go loose in 
 a shed during their first winter, but in those that intervene between that 
 stage of their existence and promotion to the byre proper (other two, 
 say) they are ranged in line similarly to their elders. Thus we have 
 two supplementary byres in connection Avith the main building of the 
 kind. The two may be in one, or, what is the same thing, one building 
 may be arranged with lairs of two sizes, one to suit the younger lot and 
 the other the more ad\'anced heifers. 
 
 g ^ J J. Larger breeds are the exception Avhere dairying is 
 
 fattening concerned, but the animals which are tied up for beef 
 
 ^^"^^' production in nearly every instance need more room 
 
 than is allowed the national dairy cow. It is only, however, in few 
 parts of the country that fattening animals are tied by the neck. 
 In Scotland, Aberdeenshire and the adjoining counties are perhaps the 
 only places where it is practised to any considerable extent. Elsewhere 
 they are privileged to go loose either in court or box. There is little to 
 be said against the tying up of heifers during the fattening process, but 
 when it comes to bullocks being thus managed it is usually a dirty 
 business. With them tlie flat beds we have been advocating would 
 prove a snare. The constant dribble they maintain, if not drained 
 away quickly, makes a sad mess of the litter they are supplied with. 
 
 It seems, as we ha\e already pointed out, nowadays very 
 Variance in , . 1 • •• ^1 r 
 
 the Methods much a matter of custom, this variance m the manner ot 
 
 of Housing housin<:{ beef-producing cattle, that marks one district 
 Fattening ^ ,.,, ,1 1 i.i. 
 
 Cattle very from another. And the reasons that have brought about 
 
 much a Matter these differences of custom seem to us to have been, on 
 
 us om. ^^^ hand, the amount and kind of fodder, or rather litter, 
 
 available, and on the other, the house accommodation at disposal. 
 
 Where straw was abundant and not all of it fit for fodder, it could never 
 
 all be converted into farmyard manure unless it were trodden under foot 
 
 by cattle in open courts. \\'here all the barley straw and what of the
 
 298 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 wlieat straw tliat could not find a market, which, we daresay, in earher 
 times than tlie present, meant the whole of it, was made into manure of 
 a kind, the oat straw, ere it reached that stage, had first to serve as food 
 and run the course of the alimentar}' canal. Where straw was less 
 abundant, and where oats was the principal, if not the sole, cereal crop 
 of the farm, and, further, where farms were smallish, the open court was 
 found too wasteful an institution, and recourse was had to closer con- 
 finement of the cattle. Failing loose-boxes, which imply more building 
 than suffices for byres, no other method remained but ranging them rank 
 and file. Customs die hard, and now that different conditions apply than 
 when they came into force, they still stick to their respective places of 
 origin. The loose-box is perhaps less urgent in its demands for litter 
 than even the byre, and the dung formed in the one is superior to that 
 deri\ed from the latter ; at least, there is less chance of waste in the 
 box manure, which need ne\-er be exposed to sun or rain until the time 
 is opportune for its coineyance to the fields. 
 
 The wants of the cattle are unquestionably more easily 
 
 The Loose-Box -attended to in the box than in the byre ; but then, as 
 Advantageous. . -^ . 
 
 already remarked, more space is needed m the box than 
 
 in the byre system of treatment, and, consequently, more building 
 
 material is needed. The fittings proper of the box are certainly less 
 
 expensive than those of the byre, but the enclosing shell of the former is 
 
 much the larger of the two, and if well constructed, the floor is no less 
 
 expensive, while it, too, is bigger. Once, or at most twice, in the 
 
 season have the boxes to be cleaned out, whereas the byre lairs have 
 
 to be attended to twice or thrice a da\-. ^lore ground has to be 
 
 traversed by the attendants on animals in boxes, seeing they are 
 
 thinner on the ground than is the case in byres, but this distinction is 
 
 perhaps a little fine drawn. At any rate, few, we think, will dispute 
 
 that the loose-box is preferable to the byre for the accommodation of 
 
 cattle undergoing the process of fattening. When the byre is still 
 
 observed as the field of operations in beef producing, it is either because 
 
 boxes are denied by the proprietor, or through force of habit the farmer 
 
 prefers the byre, and expresses no wish for a change of system. 
 
 On Plan I. a range of loose- boxes for cattle forms the west side of 
 
 the scjuare. Besides tliis, howe\er, we have a set of open courts south 
 
 of the homestead, and completely detached therefrom. We have set 
 
 down only a single row of boxes. There is no reason, howe^■er, why 
 
 the row should not be doubled if increased room is imperative. There 
 
 are ten boxes in the row, each twelve feet square, and capable of holding'' 
 
 two animals and two root-houses, one towards each end of the block. 
 
 One or either might be dispensed with perhaps, but to have both would 
 
 be advantageous. The upper one would serve the byre that connects 
 
 the head end of this range with the barn as well as the boxes adjoining 
 
 it. Or if pulping of roots was exclu5i\ely practised, the shed in the
 
 BUILDINGS WEST OF THE BARN. 
 
 299 
 
 angle could be used as a subsidiary store for straw, being filled up on 
 thrashing days. Yet again, if both pulping and " chaffing " were the 
 rule, the building in question could be set to serve as a temporary store 
 for the different stuffs so treated. It is there, too, on account of its posi- 
 tion, well fitted to serve the ends of a calf-house should such be in 
 demand. As for the one at the end of the range, should it not be con- 
 sidered necessary, there are many useful purposes it can be put to if its 
 space is not thrown into a continuation of the boxes. We are not, of 
 course, tied to the size of box mentioned. By widening the house a little 
 we can make them large enough to accommodate three animals each. 
 The Arrange- ''^^ ^^^^ boxes are represented on the plan, they are 
 ranged against the back wall of the building, a service 
 passage, four feet wide, running the whole length 
 thereof in front of them. The frontage of the boxes and the par- 
 titions as well are almost always of wood. The front is sometimes 
 formed of boards within toucli of each other. At other times it is 
 
 ment of the 
 Loose-Boxes. 
 
 V/A/^Ay>/)// /////// / y ,''//'// / ^ 
 
 Fig. 221. 
 
 formed of stout rails ; and nearly always the partitions are constructed 
 in like manner. Either a gate or door is necessary in the front, and 
 also some form of shoot or inlet in the same, through which the feeding- 
 trough within can be replenished. A fodder rack is also a necessity. 
 It is possible to arrange the racks so that one can be common to two 
 boxes. These can be filled from the passage, and one big one is easier 
 attended to than two small ones, with the same joint capacity. 
 
 ^, . .. The floor, as Fig. 221 will show, is at a lower level than 
 
 Their Manner ^ f^ ^ 
 
 of Construe- the service passage on one side and the general level of 
 *^°"' the outside ground surface on the other. This is necessary 
 
 to allijw for the </raduallv accumulating litter as it becomes trodden
 
 300 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 underfoot bv the cattle. The tioor of these pits, as Ave may call 
 them, and that of the passage we would lay with concrete — the concrete 
 of the passage floor to withstand the wear and tear incidental to the 
 working of the place, and that of the boxes to prevent the liquid matter 
 of the box-made manure from being absorbed by the subsoil. The 
 floor of each box is cut off from those adjoining it by means of brick- 
 built partitions carried up to the level of the passage floor. Above that 
 level, because then pretty well out of reach of the dung, wood makes an 
 efficient division. One or more supports for the dividing rails (which 
 at one end are secured in the wall and at the other to a post in the front 
 line) can be in the line of the partition, their ends sunk far enough below 
 the level of the floor to give them stability, and, like the travis-posts 
 above, well safeguarded with concrete from the soil up to above dung 
 level. The inner sides of the back walls of the boxes would require to 
 be plastered with cement as far up as the top level of the brick under- 
 partitions, this coat of plaster being merged into the concrete of the 
 floor. There being no way of escape for the fluid at the other sides of 
 the pits, the same precautions against leakage need not be observed. 
 That next the walk would, of course, have to be faced up either with 
 stone or brick. 
 
 But Fig. 221 further shows a better method of fitting up the wood 
 part of the divisions between the boxes. A wall-plate is laid on the 
 brick partitions, and uprights attached to it at foot and to runners over- 
 head fixed to the principal rafters. These uprights give support to the 
 crossbars of the division. Finished thus, all woodwork sits clear of the 
 manure. 
 
 The walls and roof of the loose-box range we would ha\e constructed 
 on the general lines we have been advocating. With regard to the 
 former, however, it would be of great ad\'antage were there doorways 
 formed in the back wall — one opposite each of the boxes — for the purpose 
 of loading the accumulated manure directly into carts. These are not 
 shown on the plan, but all the same their presence in the completed 
 building would render it much less exacting of labour. 
 
 The place would be lighted by way of the roof. Dead-lights would, 
 however, be sufficient in this instance. Fewer than usual would be 
 required because subdued light is more conduci\'e to animals settling 
 down peaceably than a full glare is. We do not advocate semi-darkness, 
 but a medium state of light. 
 
 But as many ventilators w^ould be required here as in any other of 
 the buildings containing live stock, and preferably of Craig's pattern. 
 And in the front wall we would have a series of the wallhead 
 openings described on p. 139. When doors are in tlie back wall there 
 would be little need for these wallhead openings at that side of the 
 building ; but failing the former, we would be inclined to ha\e them 
 there, too.
 
 BUILDINGS WEST OF THE BARN. 
 
 3or 
 
 On Fig. 222 we show an ele\ation of part of the front of the boxes as 
 these face the passage, finished in hke manner to the partitions. Some- 
 times, as we have said, the front is closely boarded, but for our part 
 we would ha\-e it railed as depicted. Less wood is then required, and 
 the end equally well attained. Unplaned wood generally does service 
 in this connection, but here, as elsewhere about the liomestead, we have 
 tiie woodwork made smooth of surface. Estate-grown timber, if avail- 
 able and of a fitting quality, properly prepared, would here come in as 
 a very suitable substitute for imported wood. Larch, Scot's pine, silver 
 fir, and spruce would either singly or together make efficient fittings for 
 the boxes. But then, as already hinted, in the absence of proper 
 facilities on the estate, which is the rule, taking the country as a whole, 
 imported converted timber is cheaper than the home-grown article. 
 
 It is essential that the feeding-troughs be so fitted that they can be 
 raised or lowered in accordance with the amount of manure there is in 
 the box. This can easily be managed by having the boxes in a frame, 
 the latter fitted at each end to a vertical post in such a way that it is 
 capable of a certain 
 amount of play up and 
 down its supports. 
 Holes at fixed distances 
 through the parts of the 
 posts on which the frame 
 is movable, and pins to 
 insert therein, give us a 
 ready means of adapting 
 the height of the troughs 
 to changes of level of the floor of the box. There is nothing to hinder 
 fireclay troughs being fitted up in the manner hinted at. One, of course, 
 is requisite for each animal the box is supposed to accommodate. 
 
 It is hardly so practicable to make the fodder-rack on the same 
 shifting principle as the troughs, but that is a less important matter. 
 Only for the first week or two after the manure has been remo\'ed out 
 of the boxes will the cattle have to stretch very far up in order to draw 
 fodder from it. Gradually, therefore, will they be able more easily to 
 avail themselves of the contents of the rack ; and by that time if all is 
 going well with them they will be lazier, and not so disposed to expend 
 exertion in reaching for food. 
 
 We ha^■e said nothing in respect either of byre or box 
 with regard to supplying water to the cattle confined 
 therein. To lead water directly to the several animals in 
 their winter quarters is easy enough, no doubt, where the 
 expense is not considered ; but it seems a little out of place in con- 
 nection with the types of homestead we are dealing with in these pages. 
 Doing this implies so much extra outlay to start with, so considerable a 
 
 Fig. 
 
 Supplying 
 \A^ater in 
 the Byres 
 and Boxes
 
 3C^.2 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 cost both in money and attention in the upkeep, and withal the resuhs 
 are usually so disappointing, that we tliink it almost unnecessary to 
 discuss the matter. \\"\X\\ enough of roots at disposal cattle have little 
 need for water when in confinement. At the dairy farm, where roots 
 are scarcer than where fattening cattle are concerned, the cows are daily 
 turned out to water, but generally as much for the sake of a little exercise 
 as on account of necessity. 
 
 If the single row of boxes should be considered rather 
 Single Row of short measure, it is, as we have said, a simple busi- 
 Boxes may ness to double the same as on Fig. 223. Here we keep 
 
 the service passage in the centre of the building, and 
 have a row of boxes the same as before on each side of it. A double 
 house of the kind is certainly easier worked than a single one ; and its 
 
 0=3 
 
 S 
 
 S 
 
 
 s 
 
 Box. 
 
 /////'/'//////>///////'/ /// ' 1/ 
 
 Fig. 223. 
 
 erection costs less in proportion than the narrower one. The same 
 number of boxes are easier attended to in the matter of food supply 
 when arranged along both sides of a passage than when strung out 
 along one side thereof. Some readjustment of the root-sheds would be 
 necessary, and also an access through from the outside to the passage 
 for the purpose of conveying straws or hay thereto. Doors communicating 
 with the boxes would then be in the side wall next the courtyard as well 
 as in the outer wall of the building. We sometimes think if the cattle in 
 the boxes were bedded with roughly chopped straw, how easily the 
 resulting manure could be removed from them when emptying-time 
 came round ! How easy too would it be to spread manure of this 
 nature when deposited on the land !
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Buildings East of the Barn. 
 
 These to bejjin with until the anerle is turned we set 
 Motor-House. 
 
 The Power or ^^p^rt as the power or motor-house, the implement-shed. 
 
 and the hospital or loose-box for animals out of sorts. 
 The first-mentioned is continuous with part of the shedding built against 
 the bam, and, on the other hand, it is more or less in touch Avith the 
 implement-shed. But these are details which will evidently be ruled by 
 the form of moti\e power that circumstances render adaptable to the 
 requirements of the homestead. Alongside that part of the barn, however, 
 one would naturally think was the most suitable place either for engine or 
 water-wheel. The room we provide is, no doubt, scant enough for the 
 old-fashioned horizontal boiler and detached engine to which we haAe 
 referred. But it is very unlikely that in these days of oil-engines, and 
 when the application of electricity and condensed air to country work is 
 beginning to exercise the minds of engineers we shall see many more of 
 these cumbersome installations of power introduced at homesteads. At 
 any rate, we have left no space on our several plans for their accommo- 
 dation. There is room and to spare for the oil-engine in the portion of 
 the range set apart for storing the source of power. There is room, too, 
 for an upright steam-engine if such be selected, and for a subsidiary 
 boiler as well if steam be wanted for cooking and cleansing purposes — 
 for steaming food, or bringing water to the boil, and for scalding dishes 
 in the dairy, and so on. And should a traction-engine be in use on the 
 farm, there is ample room for it to back in and set to Avork alongside the 
 barn. In the event, too, of the feasibility of leading water past the 
 homestead and deri\ing power from it there, it could be led through the 
 part we are discussing as easily as elsewhere ; and the wheel, whether 
 of the ordinary type or a turbine, could be housed in the space we are 
 referring to. Besides, it is easy to encroach on the implement-house a 
 little should more room than is shown be required for power-giving. 
 The placine ^^^^ arrangement of doors and partitions would, of course, 
 of the Door- largely depend on the power that was in force, and might 
 ways t ereo . -^ consequence differ from that shown on the respecti\e 
 plans, because no plan can be adaptable to all manner of conditions. 
 It might, for instance, be essential to separate completely the power- 
 house from the implement-shed. As laid down, however, the fact of
 
 304 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 the two being mutual, as it were, enlarges the scope of both. It would 
 be a convenience to ha\e a way of communication between the barn and 
 the motor-house. This, in fact, is almost a necessity, and ought to have 
 been referred to under the head of The Barn Range. It could be placed 
 near to the feeding-board of the mill, and thus be free of interference 
 with the storage of sheaxes. The doorways of the implement-shed all 
 lead to the courtyard, but so long as this place is common with the 
 outer portion of the motor-house, it has communication with the road- 
 way between the north side of the homestead and the rickyard. It 
 might, of course, be a convenience to pro\ide the implement-shed with 
 a big door of its own at this side, especially should it be separated from 
 the motor-house ; but we would not recommend one. The majority of 
 the implements are not housed during the season they are called into 
 action, and it is no hardship having to take them round by the yard 
 twice or so in a year. There might, however, be one in the partition 
 dividing the hospital from tlie implement-house for the purpose which 
 we Avill hereafter mention. 
 
 ^, ^, ^ The floor of the motor-house we would have made of 
 
 The Floor of 
 
 the Motor- concrete as before ; and we incline to recommend the 
 House. same in the implement-shed. The latter might, of course, 
 
 be done off with gravel or with sand, but this is a house that is capable 
 of occasionally being devoted to some temporary purpose other than its 
 original one. Wt have not hitherto referred to any places about the 
 homestead wherein sheep could be dealt with at such times as dipping 
 and shearing occur. This shed, we consider, might easily be set to 
 fulfil this end as well as to protect the implements of the farm from 
 the effect of weather when not in use. The implements that were 
 in store could readily be drawn out and left to take their chance for 
 the short time the shed was required for handling the sheep. Those 
 that might take harm from exposure could be run in temporarily 
 somewhere else. 
 
 .p. The implement-shed, as so many of us know, is not a 
 
 Implement- usual accompaniment of tlie homestead. It is full time 
 ^ ■ now, however, that it be considered an essential part 
 
 thereof. The various miplements concerned in the work of the farm 
 are both more complicated and more expensi\"e than they used to be, 
 and it will not do to leave them outside exposed to the elements as, 
 until lately, was so often the case. The implements of tillage are, 
 perhaps, not very susceptible to damage due to the effects of weather, 
 but even they — the ploughs, harrows, grubbers, and rollers — are surely 
 more lasting if kept under roof when not in use than if left alongside 
 some fence among long grass and other rubbish. If they are the better 
 for shelter, how much more will the implements that have to do with 
 seeding and the still more complicated machines that take part in har\est 
 operations repay attention of the kind ! We gi\e the carts a fixed place of
 
 BUILDINGS EAST OF THE BARN. 305 
 
 shelter at the homestead. The cart-shed has always been a well-known 
 building in the group. In future, therefore, the implement-shed will 
 have to acquire an even more important position among the buildings. 
 It speaks ill for proprietor and occupier alike to see a self-binder, for 
 instance, huddled into some odd corner of the buildings, a prey to damp 
 at one time of the year and to dust at another, and all through liable to 
 be speckled by the poultry by day and by the sparrows by night. 
 Worse still, is to see one housed where the mixing of artificial manures 
 is in full force. It is bad enough when the manures are merely being 
 stored in the same place until the crop or the ground is at the proper 
 stage for their reception. Then, even, the close presence of so much 
 stuff, most of it highly charged with sulphuric acid, is detrimental to 
 the machine ; but when mixing proceeds matters become much worse 
 in this respect, and although noiselesslv accomplished, more tear and 
 wear results to the machine therefrom than can happen to it during its 
 short season's work carried out under ordinar\' circumstances. There 
 are men, it is true, who, if supplied with proper accommodation of 
 the kind, will not think twice about turning it to account in some 
 other way — withdrawing the implements and stocking the shed 
 with pigs, it may be. But the many need not be \ictimized on 
 account of the few. 
 
 \\'e oursehes are advocating the adoption of this shed to 
 poses to which other than its original intent, but only in a mild and very 
 the Implement- temporary fashion. A day or two now and again (twice 
 Hospital may ^^ thrice a year) would be all we would make requisition 
 be occasion- of. Constructed, however, as we would have it, no harm 
 Dipping of would result either to the building or to the implements 
 Sheep for from the occasional short turn aside from its regular 
 
 sphere of usefulness. The fioor being hard and smooth 
 could speedily be got rid of all traces of the presence of sheep thereupon, 
 consequently no harm need afterwards come to the implements on that 
 account. 
 
 In order that full advantage could be taken of the building in its 
 combined functions of implement-shed and occasional house for the 
 handling of sheep, it would be necessary to construct a dipping-tank 
 somewhere in the floor. Our idea would be to have it where we have 
 dotted it on Plan I. In that position it would be possible to pass the 
 sheep direct from the tank into the hospital, making the latter serve 
 for the time the purpose of a dripping pen. The dipping-tank, being 
 sunk below the level of the floor of the shed, would offer no obstacle to 
 the full use of the shed for the storage of implements. The tank and 
 the side pits would be covered with close-fitting boarded lids or hatches 
 when not in use, hence their presence in the building would offer no 
 impediment to the moving about of implements and machines on the 
 floor. 
 
 M.H. X
 
 3o6 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Arrangement 
 of the Inner 
 Doorways of 
 this Range. 
 
 We are rather against the idea of liaxing a door in the 
 partition tliat divides the hospital from the implement- 
 shed. The door proper of the former we have placed in 
 the outer wall of that corner of the homestead, so as to 
 render tlie isolation of the place as complete as possible. The making 
 of an additional one, however, rather mars the isolation of the house ; 
 but not, we daresay, to any very serious extent. This extra door is 
 certainly not far from the door of the adjoining loose-box, but when the 
 shed doors are closed there is little chance of the occupant of one box 
 being influenced by the one pertaining to the other. 
 
 It is well to remember in this connection that so many 
 doorways leading from one building to another are all 
 additional sources of danger should an outbreak of fire 
 take place. But one is hardly justified in letting fear of 
 that rather remote contingency override the matter of 
 convenient, and therefore economical, working of the group 
 There is nothing, of course, to prevent these casual doors, 
 one last 
 
 Too many 
 Inner Door- 
 ways Often a 
 Source of 
 Danger during 
 an Outbreak 
 of Fire. 
 
 of buildings, 
 such as the 
 referred to and those 
 giving access to the 
 barn from the wing at 
 each side — from the 
 byre at the west side 
 and from the motor- 
 house on the east side 
 thereof — being made 
 of stoutish sheets of 
 iron attached to a 
 wrought - iron frame, 
 something after the 
 style of Fig. 224 or 
 224A, according to the 
 width of the opening. 
 Doors of this descrip- 
 tion would effectually 
 check the passage of 
 flames from one build- 
 ing to another by way 
 of these openings in 
 the wall. Only where 
 there is a break in the 
 roof, however, is there 
 likely to be much 
 chance of fire being arrested once it has caught hold effectually of any 
 separate portion of the homestead. IJy a break in tlie roof we mean 
 
 Fig. 224.
 
 BUILDINGS EAST OF THE BARN. 
 
 307 
 
 either where a partition is carried up clear of the slates, or where it stops 
 against a higlier wall without communicating with the roof in connection 
 with the latter. We have an incomplete example of the latter at each 
 side of the barn range, where the respectixe one-storey buildings run into 
 it at right angles. These two roofs are a little too high for their ridges to 
 strike the barn beneath the level of its wall-head, therefore the roofs of 
 all three communicate slightly. But, as we remarked at an earlier stage, 
 breaks in the roofs of the homestead mean weak spots in defence against 
 the elements and places that are difficult to keep in repair ; and we took 
 credit for a minimum amount of these being shown on our plans. 
 
 As regards the outer doors of the implement-shed — those 
 Doorways of communicating with the courtyard — nothing beyond what 
 the Implement- will indicate that there 
 Shed. . • w f 
 
 is no nglit or way 
 
 within, no admission except on busi- 
 ness, is called for. Air is to be freely 
 welcomed within, but rain and tres- 
 passers generally to be hindered 
 entrance. A sparred door will do ; but, 
 better still, one constructed of a 
 light skeleton framework, with small 
 meshed wire netting tacked to the 
 face of it. This will keep men, beasts, 
 and birds from gaining admittance 
 (unless, indeed, the first two are not 
 averse to use violence), and nothing 
 further is required. It could not turn 
 rain very effectively, but on account 
 of their sheltered position in the 
 corner tlie doorways would rarely 
 be affected by rain. 
 
 Something more sub- 
 The outer • 1 • • , 
 
 Doorway ofthe stantial is essential at 
 
 Motor-House the outer doorway of 
 
 and ofthe ^1 ^ 1 , FiCr. 224 a. 
 
 Hospital. the motor-house ; and 
 
 also at the north side of the implement-shed should it be 
 
 decided to have an opening therein. At each of these places a good 
 
 stout door, framed in accordance with the size of the opening, and 
 
 hung from the top on wheels, would be the suitable finish. And the 
 
 hospital door, the one leading to the outside of the courtyard, would be 
 
 such as we show in Fig. 120, p. 126. This is divided horizontally into 
 
 two, the under portion being made the larger. The horse, if not 
 
 so inquisitive as the ox and the sheep, is equally loth to be left in 
 
 isolation ; and the door in question, when the upper part is undone, 
 
 enables the animal to get its head out and have a look about, if nothing
 
 3oi^ THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 further. It admits of this and also insures a sniff of fresh air when 
 sought for, while at the same time it retains the animal in its allotted 
 quarters. The two parts of the door open outwards. The fastenings 
 are on the outside of the door, and it is well to take care that the one 
 which secures the lower part is of sucli a description that an}- knowing 
 old horse is not able to undo. Some of them lia\e a wonderful knack 
 of opening gates and doors. 
 
 ^, _ , . The roof of this range we would continue on the same 
 The Roof of '^ 
 
 these principle of construction as before. It might, for the 
 
 Buildings. g,^j^g qJ- gcQnomy, be made a couple roof, but the difference 
 
 between the two is so small that we would stick to what we started with. 
 And, as before, we would have all the exposed surfaces planed smooth. 
 We would have it ventilated as usual, using the zinc ventilators shown 
 on Fig. 141 for the implement-shed, and that represented on Fig. 
 143 for the motor-house and hospital. Here, too, we would have 
 all the lights in the roof. Dead lights would do for the implement- 
 shed, but opening ones would be an advantage in the other places we 
 are dealing with. 
 
 The roof of the shed which forms a continuation of tlie 
 the^hed ° motor-house would, perhaps, under some circumstances. 
 Supplement- almost require to be slated to ensure any degree of per- 
 Moto°r-House m^nency. We have spoken of the sheds that lean against 
 
 the barn at each side as being roofed Avith galvanized 
 corrugated iron. But if this part of these sheds happened to contain 
 either an oil engine or a steam engine, galvanized iron might not be a 
 suitable material to cover it in with. Escape pipes and miniature 
 chimneys of some sort or other are certain to be carried up through the 
 roof, and the proximity of fittings of this kind is \ ery prejudicial to iron 
 roofing. The galvanizing w'ill keep intact for a long time provided it 
 get full play, but when in touch with iron pipes that jut through the 
 roof and at times are pretty hot, the zinc near thereto soon succumbs,, 
 leaving the unprotected iron sheeting a ready prey to the elements. 
 What is emitted from these outlets is also trying to the zinc upon wdiich 
 it falls. Iron roofing, therefore, is not a good material to use at places 
 where it is liable to receive much soot from chimneys, or the ejected 
 matters that more or less emanate from the escape pipes of either oil or 
 steam engines. Where pipes are projected through the roof, and 
 where the roof is liable to receive emissions from these, it had better be 
 covered with slate. But head room here is limited, and slating 
 hardly practicable, consequently the most would have to be made of 
 matters as they stood. 
 
 The sheep-dipping tank being by way of convenience in 
 
 The Sheep- handling the sheep, and in this instance, for sake of being 
 dipping Tank. o r; ' o 
 
 out of the way when not in use, sunk with the top flush 
 with the floor of the shed, it is requisite that a pit, in wliich a man can
 
 BUILDINGS EAST OF THE BARN. 
 
 309 
 
 stand, so as to ha\e comiiiand of the tank in so far as beinjj^ able to 
 reach easily from one end to the other, be formed at each side tliereof. 
 Fig. 225 shows a plan of the tank and pits, which may be considered in 
 its relation to the implement-shed and the liospital, as ticked in on 
 Plan I. ; and Fig. 226 is a cross-section 
 of the tank and pits. 
 
 Sawn slate or flag makes an excellent 
 tank. Good ones of a small size are now 
 to be had, made of glazed fireclay, as in 
 Fig. 227. It is so difficult, however, to 
 bake articles of this nature without their 
 becoming twisted during the operation, that 
 large sized ones manufactured out of this 
 material are hardly to be looked for. But 
 with brick and cement as good a tank can 
 be constructed as need be wished for. If 
 enamelled bricks are used to line the interior, 
 a smooth and easily cleansed surface is 
 obtained. These are, of course, much dearer than ordinary bricks, 
 but not very many are required, so this extra need hardly be questioned. 
 Only the end and the sides are built with brick. Concrete does for the 
 bottom of the tank proper, as well as for the sloping continuation of the 
 same that leads up from the tank. This part, if grooved, as in Fig. 225, 
 allows the sheep foothold as thev emerge from the dip stuft, without 
 hindering the return flow of the liquid as it drips from the sheep. 
 
 The breadth of the tank need be no more than v/ill admit 
 a full-sized sheep easily, without, howe\ er, its being able 
 to turn end for end therein. \'ery little, indeed, suffices, 
 for a sheep is not very broad. In length a little more room has to be 
 given. The sheep is introduced feet upwards, and when liberated its 
 position is reversed and its forefeet applied to the inclined plane which 
 
 ascends from the bottom 
 
 ~ 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 21' 
 
 
 '' 
 
 
 
 
 
 01 
 
 18" 
 
 
 18" 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 Fig. 225. 
 
 The 
 
 Dimensions 
 of the Tank. 
 
 777777777, 
 
 ~ iS" 
 
 Fig. 226. 
 
 J' 
 
 cf thetank. This slope, it 
 will be seen from Fig. 228, 
 which is a longitudinal 
 section of the tank, ser\-es 
 to lengtlien the tank. The 
 fuller the tank liappens to be filled tlie longer it becomes. There is no 
 use, therefore, in ha\ing the le\el portion of the bottom thereof any longer 
 than will serve easily to dip a sheep when the tank contains sufficient of 
 the solution to cover the animal effectually. If the exit be made too 
 steep, it causes a great strain on the animals as they struggle upwards 
 under the heavy burden of their moisture-laden fleeces. A suitable 
 relationship of the various sizes would seem to be something like what 
 we have figured on the plan and sections.
 
 3IO 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The pits need be no lonj^^er than the level part of the bottom of the 
 tank. Past that the sheplierd at either side can when necessary reach 
 far enough to guide the animals clear of the tank as they flounder and 
 stagger upwards. And otherwise the trench, if so constructed, affords 
 him room to grasp the unwilling sheep and drag them forward to 
 undergo the ordeal of the bath. We show the tank twenty-one inches 
 in breadth, and eighteen inches is a suitable width to make the pits or 
 wells. The latter may be faced up at sides and ends with brick neatly 
 
 pointed with cement, and be bottomed with concrete. The coping of 
 the sides of the tank may be worked out of concrete, and be very 
 efficient. But we prefer a finish of wood there. The men press on the 
 cope as they bend over the sides of the tank, and a surface of wood 
 is less se\ere on their bones and muscles than one of such a hard 
 material as concrete. Stone is not very suitable for the purpose. It 
 is quite practicable of course to ha\'e a portable wood cope on either 
 side, which is, perhaps, the preferable plan. At that rate the top edge 
 of the sides of the tank finishes with the brick (or slate or concrete, 
 it may be). And when the tank is about to be used, the wood cope 
 
 ^rrrvrTTTTTJT' 
 
 Fig. 228. 
 
 can easily be adjusted in position by means of clips, which embrace 
 the bricks (or other material) and hold it firm. The movable cope, 
 when lifted, enables the lid or hatches to fit down close on the top 
 of the bricks when the tank is not in use. The sides of the tank — that 
 is to say, the portions dividing it from the walls or pits — we have set 
 down as being nine inches thick. Four-and-a-half or single brick thick 
 might be sufficient, but it is better to err on the safe side, and have the 
 bath sides strong. ]3esides, the broader the cope the easier is it on those 
 who ha\ e to bear their bodies against it as they stretch o\er. Should
 
 BUILDINGS EAST OF THE BARN. 311 
 
 the tank be constructed of some other material than brick the tliickness 
 of the sides \\\\\ of course be governed by the nature of the materiaL 
 
 One drawback there is in having the dipping tank in the 
 
 A Drain from ^q^^. ^f ^j^^ implement-shed, and that as regards the 
 
 the hjottom _ . . 
 
 of the Tank draining away the Hquid botli from the tank and the 
 
 almost Avells. Their efficiency is much impaired where this is 
 
 Necessary. ■' ^ 
 
 impracticable. It is possible at any time to bale out the 
 liquid contents of either place, but this is a tedious process when they 
 have to be carried away to a suitable place of disposal — at some distance 
 more than likely. Not that there is any chance of much liquid ever 
 finding its way into the pits, unless what happens to be spilled therein. 
 The bottom and sides of each are watertight, therefore no water can 
 leak in from the soil, should it be of so wet a nature as to render this 
 possible, which is hardly very probable. In the tank there is a residue 
 of the solution left after every occasion of dipping, as much indeed as 
 sufficed for the immersion of the last sheep. It is not perhaps necessary 
 that the tank should be emptied at all times after use, but if not done 
 so pretty frequently, what remains therein is sure to be oflfensive on 
 account of what has returned to the tank in company with the drippings 
 from the fleeces. From the same cause it is bound to ha\e lost much 
 of its original efficiency. It is evident, therefore, that in order 
 to derive full benefit from the tank, it requires to be provided 
 with a drain that will ser\e to empty it completely of its contents 
 when this is desired. 
 
 The forming of the drain need, however, be no serious 
 
 rt ?^™^^^°'^ obstacle against the construction of the tank. This can 
 of the Dram. _ * 
 
 be kept in view when the foundations of the shed are being 
 laid, and a passage accordingly be left for the pipes beneath the wall. The 
 laying of the pipes would precede the formation of the fioor. We have 
 been condemning any but surface drains in the several buildings of the 
 homestead, but this is one of the exceptional cases, and with due care 
 the drain under notice can easily be rendered innocuous. The drain will 
 be in ser\ice only some three or four times in a year, and although there 
 is a large proportion of animal excrement in what flows through, it is 
 pretty well disguised in the constituents of the dip, and not at all like 
 what passes from the byres. A three or a four-inch fireclay glazed 
 spigot and faucet pipe drain carefully jointed in the manner already 
 mentioned answers the purpose well enough. This, communicating on 
 the one hand with the bottom of the tank in such a way that the latter 
 has a clear drop into it, and on the other led clear of the building, is an 
 easy matter to see through, and all that remains to make it harmless 
 so far as being a nuisance goes is to fit it with inspection eyes and a 
 disconnecting trap. The latter shuts it off from the drains outside the 
 building, or at any rate from the one it is joined to. Shut off is hardly 
 the right expression to make use of. It is shut off from the outer drain
 
 31^ 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 only in so far as gases are concerned, not, lio\ve\er, in such a way as to 
 
 interfere with the passage of water from one drain to the other. 
 
 A trap of the description of the one shown in Fig. 229, 
 
 How It may whicli is known as Duchan's trap, is a proper one to 
 be Trapped. . , , 
 
 use in a situation such as the one ni hand. I he diagram 
 
 ahiiost explains itself. Any gases that originate in the outer drain fail 
 to get past the water which lies in the hollow formed by the bottom of 
 the trap, l^ut water coming from the inner drain flows easily through 
 the trap into the outer drain. The water that flows in at one side of the 
 depression forces the water that lies therein over the other side into the 
 escape drain, and thus the flow is maintained. And so long as tliere is 
 water contained in the trap — sufficient to keep the tongue a immersed 
 a little — gases cannot escape that way. But the trap offers no obstruc- 
 tion to the entrance of air into the inner drain h by the opening c. It 
 is so arranged, in fact, as to encourage the passage of air through the same. 
 
 Traps of this kind were in\ented 
 to prevent the access of gases from 
 the outer drains or sewers into the 
 drains that empty into them .from 
 dwelling houses. The soil pipes or 
 inner drains are fitted with shafts that 
 are open to the atmosphere, which 
 have the effect of maintaining a con- 
 stant through current of air from the 
 trap to the outlet of the shaft, which 
 is usually well up on the roof, and clear of windows and other openings 
 into the house. 
 
 A trap of this kind, therefore, shuts off communication between the 
 outer and the inner drains so far as gases are concerned, while it in 
 nowise interferes with the flow of water from one to the other. Conse- 
 quently it is well adapted to the end we have in ^•iew of breaking 
 communication between the outer drains and the tank. In this case, 
 however, there is no need for a shaft leading from the head of the inner 
 drain to the outside of the building. The drain will be short, and what 
 it affords delivery of is not of a fermentatixe nature like the stufif that 
 pertains to house drains, hence there is not the danger that follows tlie 
 latter when they are either faulty in construction to begin with or 
 allowed to get out of order. W'e would, in fact, let the outlet of the 
 tank communicate directly with the drain. A bent pipe could be made 
 to join the two, the faucet thereof being made flush with the surface 
 of the concrete bottom of the tank. There would be little chance of 
 leakage from the tank were the pipe thus embedded in the concrete. 
 And a wood plug or a good-sized bung inserted in the faucet would 
 keep the contents of the tank from escaping down the drain. A bent 
 pipe arranged similarly would ser\e to keep dry each of the pits or 
 
 Fig. 229.
 
 BUILDINGS EAST OF THE BARN. 
 
 ?>^i 
 
 ■\vells, the mouth being covered by a grating of some suitable sort. A 
 
 three-inch pipe drain, or at most a four-inch one, would be of ample size. 
 
 An inspection eye attached to the drain close to the last of the junctions 
 
 of the pit drains, continued to the surface of the floor, would, together 
 
 with the "Ikichan"' trap outside the building, enable one at any time to 
 
 see if the drain was clear between these two points. And the inspection 
 
 eye would serve to do the same with regard to the continuation of the 
 
 drain, both to the tank and to the two side pits. The air would be at 
 
 liberty to course through the drain from the trap to the three openings 
 
 inside, but that would be no drawback in a building such as the 
 
 implement-shed. It is an action that ought, indeed, to be encouraged, 
 
 therefore the hatches that cover tank and pits need not be very close fitting. 
 
 The three places will keep all the more wholesome the brisker the air 
 
 circulates through them, and the implements will not suffer from draught. 
 
 The drawback connected with this drain does not, as we 
 How to Deal , ...... , , , .• -it 
 
 with the have said, lie iii the part we have been dealing with. It 
 
 Effluent from lies more in what has to be done with its effluent. \\'hat 
 it discharges is almost always of an extremely poisonous 
 nature. Some few sheep-dips are non-poisonous, but the great majority 
 of the dip solutions are too dangerous to be left exposed about the 
 homestead. The waste substances from the dipping tank require to be 
 disposed of somewhere out of reach of the live stock of the farm. It 
 does not do to let them into the other drains about the homestead if 
 that can be avoided. Indeed the drain where we are planning it will 
 be deeper than the other drains, therefore it will be impracticable to lead 
 it into them, at least to those near to it. But all depends, of course, 
 on the configuration of the ground. P^ailing, however, any suitable 
 means of disposing of the stuff, it is sometimes practicable to lead it 
 into a hole or well filled with stones, through which it may percolate 
 into the subsoil, and in that way be got rid of. 
 
 The sheep-dipping tank is sometimes constructed on the principle of 
 making the sheep walk through it in single file. \\'hen this is the case 
 both ends require to be inclined planes. But it is only at the big 
 pastoral farm that this occurs. At the homestead we are dealing with 
 the handling of sheep is on a much smaller scale. The numbers are 
 comparatively so small that they can be accommodated within the 
 buildings we are referring to, which is a considerable convenience. 
 \\'hen the dipping place is situated away from the homestead there 
 is none of this trouble with regard to drains that we have been dis- 
 cussing. It is easier on the hillside or on the rough ground of the 
 farm to let loose Avith impunity the lees of the dipping solution than 
 it is within the immediate precincts of the homestead. 
 
 The hospital is intended for the reception of anv animal 
 The Hospital. , , ,- i • r / ^ ■ ■, ■ 
 
 that shows symptoms or being out or sorts, and which it 
 
 would be desirable to isolate until its trouble could be declared. It is
 
 314 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 advanta<:^eous to have a place of this kind in whicli to house an animal 
 
 sufferinfjj from some contagious malady away from contact with its 
 
 fellows ; or one that is under necessity of being lodged in quarters 
 
 out of touch with the stir of the homestead. The finishing and 
 
 furnishing of the hospital is on the same footing as applies to the 
 
 loose-box succeeding. 
 
 Following up our present group of buildings and turning 
 
 The Loose- ^j-,g corner, we come to another loose-box for horses, 
 
 box. , 
 
 either young or old — a place meant to be oi general 
 
 con\enience in this respect. The doorway thereof is next the court- 
 yard. The floor of this place may be either of rough -surfaced concrete or 
 be pa\ ed with suitable hard clinker bricks. It is not usual to provide for 
 drainage from the horse loose-box. The litter is generally plentiful 
 enough to absorb the urine voided by the animals, so that there is 
 seldom anv fluid matter to be led therefrom. But if provision be 
 made for this, no underdrain should be laid. Let the floor be laid 
 with a hang to the doorway, or, better perhaps, to one of the corners, 
 so that liquid will trickle there and make its escape, a pipe being led 
 through the wall at the latter place a little below floor level. An 
 underground drain is a dangerous contrivance to have in a place of 
 this sort. There would never be sufficient fluid to cause a flow 
 through the drain, and in consequence the pipes would very soon 
 get so full of semi-fluid matter that the channel would be incapable 
 of acting when licjuid did find its way to the inlet thereto. 
 
 \'ery few fittings are required in this building. Two fireclay troughs 
 built on brick foundations, one at each side of the doorway close up to 
 the corner, and a fodder rack between it and the door, comprise the 
 lot. The rack may either be low set with its top on a level wath that 
 of the trough, or it may be attached to the wall pretty high up from the 
 ground. It matters not very much which plan is adopted. The former, 
 however, allows of the tying up of an animal at an odd time when stall 
 room is scarce. And a horse feels more at home tied to the front of a 
 manger (which the former arrangement corresponds more closely to than 
 the other) than it does to a ring fastened to the bare wall. The loose-box 
 thus fitted is capable of housing a single animal or a pair of young ones. 
 
 The door we should ha\e made on the same principle as for the 
 hospital. The building would, of course, be open to the roof ; and 
 the wood thereof, as hitherto recommended, planed smooth. Dead- 
 lights in the roof would be efifective enough — one being in each side. 
 One ventilator of the pattern shown in Fig. 143 we would have on the 
 ridge, and we are done. 
 
 Next in order comes the hay house, which is even simpler 
 
 The Hay jj^ detail than the last mentioned. A concrete floor, one 
 
 House. ... ... 
 
 dead skylight, a zinc ridge \entilator, and two sliding 
 
 doors are all that we need enumerate here. The wide door at the back
 
 BUILDINGS EAST OF THE BARN. 
 
 315 
 
 is to allijw of the tippinj^ up of cart loads of liay witliin tlie place. This 
 
 might, without blame of extravagance, be supplemented with a narrow 
 
 one in front to admit of an occasional armful being taken out at the 
 
 courtyard side of the house. The doorway leading into the stable is, 
 
 of course, put there to place the hay house in direct communication with 
 
 the stable, for the con\enience of serving which it has its position as 
 
 indicated on the various Plans. The wider door we place at the back of 
 
 the house, as there being nearer to the rickyard than it would be at the 
 
 other side. \\'ere we to have it at the courtyard side one outer door 
 
 would suffice. Indeed, the suggested front one might be dispensed with, 
 
 and anv hay wanted in the courtyard be carried through the stable. But 
 
 we prefer the additional door. Tlie back door, we may say, we have in 
 
 \iew to work in unison with a special hay shed large enough to supply 
 
 the wants of the stable, can such be got. Ranged alongside that building, 
 
 or, better even, end on to the hay house door, much saving of labour 
 
 would thereby be ensured. There would be no need then for a wide 
 
 door. What would easily let through a goodly armful of hay would 
 
 suffice. A four-foot doorway would do that. 
 
 . ^^ r-T- J With the shed so placed the hav house would, indeed, be 
 
 A Hay Shed ^ 
 
 in Connection almost unnecessary. It could then be narrowed down to 
 
 therewith. ^ mere passage from the hay shed through to the court- 
 
 yard. No wide door would then be required. The two outer doorways 
 would coincide with the passage, or. like them, it would be four feet in 
 width. More con\enient still, it might be left as on the Plans, but with 
 wide doors at each side, so that hay could be carted from the shed right 
 through to the courtyard. Hay might occasionally be wanted at the 
 other side of the courtyard, and to be able to cart it there would mean 
 economy of labour. A great deal of hay is consumed at the dairy 
 homestead, but it is of a different kind to that given to the horses, 
 therefore this cart passage would not be of much benefit there. The 
 cows in this case need a shed to themselves, whether or not the horses 
 get one set apart for them. The former is, indeed, the more needful of 
 the two, the cows- consuming so much more than the horses. The 
 latter are given hay made out of rotation grasses, while the cows get 
 so-called meadow hay — the meadow in this instance being ground of a 
 half marshy description occupied by a very mixed group of plants, 
 many of them without any claim of relationship to the family of 
 grasses. If the dairy byre is accordingly to have a hay shed as 
 tender, this must be placed in some position as handy thereto as we 
 are proposing to place the one in connection witli the stable. But 
 whether the place is to be a hay house or merely a passage, we 
 would have means of communication between it and the stable. We 
 have spoken of a sliding door for this position, but, perhaps, a hinged 
 one openi-ng into tlie stable back towards the front wall would be less 
 in tlie wav. Of necessitv, the sliding door would be at the hay house
 
 31 6 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 side of the partition, wliere at times it niiglit become obstructed by the 
 
 hay. In the passage it would be less apt to be interfered with in this 
 
 way. If at all practicable, however, we would here, as we lia\e often 
 
 implied elsewliere, give our vote for the sliding door. 
 
 ^, „ ^, We are now at the stable. Commencing with the floor, 
 
 The Stable : . , y rr • ^■ 
 
 The Floor concrete, while a thoroughly eflfective medmm to use for 
 
 thereof. la) ing the passage behind the horses, is not, as we said 
 
 under the head of " Floors," to be recommended for use in pa^•ing the 
 stalls, at least on the parts thereof on which the horses stand. The rough 
 and heavy shoes of the work horses are too trying on concrete for it to 
 withstand such a severe ordeal. Granite or whin "setts" — that is, handy- 
 sized square blocks — make the best job here. Placed close together 
 on edge, end, or bottom, according to the shape of the blocks axailable, 
 on a bed of fine ashes or sand, these hold out a long time against the 
 wear and tear due to the frequent pounding and friction caused by the 
 horses' heels. But at the head of the stalls, where the feet of the liorses 
 have not mucii effect, we would again have recourse to concrete. It is 
 there, as we have seen, that rats love to frequent, or, at any rate, like to 
 have the run of. They fight shy of tliat quarter, liowex'er, wlien they 
 are not at liberty to burrow there. And nothing prevents this so com- 
 pletely as a floor of concrete. All along the back wall of the stable, 
 therefore, in front of the horses we would lay a border of concrete at 
 least eighteen or twenty-one inches broad. The rats would be powerless 
 against this, and they would not venture on a footing out from the wall 
 beyond the distance we have stated. Were the stone blocks continued 
 up to the wall, we would have no surety against rats establishing them- 
 selves under the mangers, because they can easily circum\ent obstacles 
 of that kind. 
 
 Failing convenience in obtaining these blocks of whin or of granite, 
 there are the clinkers we have already spoken of to have recourse to. 
 Unless, however, these are of the best quality, they will not stand the 
 test of the situation very long. The ordinary paving bricks that we 
 sometimes see doing ser\ ice in byre and pighouse are of no use in 
 the stable. They are out of place, we consider, e\en in the passage 
 behind the horses. 
 
 The blocks or clinkers which happen to be selected for the pavement 
 of the stalls should be continued to form the gutter. This is a very shallow 
 affair compared to the grip of the byre. 1 Uit the liorse when stabled 
 receives dried food, and in consequence the waste matters it \ oids are 
 scant in comparison to what proceeds from the cow or ox which is 
 being fed on the sappy food tjiat is characteristic of the byre. In fact, 
 all that is needed by way of gutter in the stable is the sliglitest depression 
 in the floor, as much for the purpose of forming a line of demarcation 
 between the stalls and the passage as for anything else. Iron gutters, 
 sucli as are represented on Fig. 230, are a common accessory to the
 
 BUILDINGS EAST OF THE BARN. 
 
 317 
 
 The Drains. 
 
 better class stable for harness and saddle liorses. These are fitted, it will 
 be seen, with gridded covers set flush with the surface of the floor, thus 
 leaving the latter continuous in its gradients. But unless these gutters 
 are frequently flushed with Avater, they are certain to become objection- 
 able. As we remarked when speak- 
 ing of the horse loose-box, there 
 is never sufficient liquid draining 
 away from the stalls to keep these 
 channels clear. Indeed, what 
 does find its way therein evapo- 
 rates before the outlet is reached. 
 Should there be enough to begin 
 with to run unobstructed the 
 course of the gutter, it is stopped on the way by the matter that has. 
 dropped through the openings in the covers while the stable was being 
 swept out, or the litter was being tossed up and re-arranged. 
 
 It is clear, then, that in the stable where the surface drain 
 will hardly act, or, rather, where the excretory matter that 
 proceeds from the animals contains too small a proportion of fluid to 
 force the whole along the gutter, an underground drain is altogether 
 out of the question. Where it is introduced it can but act as a receiver 
 for stuff that ought to be removed from the stable by means of broom 
 and shovel. A festering sore of this description, if we may use such an 
 expression, wherever it has been allowed to develop should be eradicated 
 at once. 
 
 The covered iron channel, such as in Fig. 230, is now gi\ing way 
 before the open one, after the principle of that in Fig. 231. This is a 
 much better arrangement than the covered one. Decomposing matter 
 has every chance of lurking unobserved in the latter. But the former 
 is constantly open to inspection, and always accessible to the broom. 
 
 Besides its utility, it makes a neat 
 distinction between the stalls and 
 the remaining part of the floor, what- 
 ever these respective parts may 
 happen to be paved with. And it 
 serves as a well defined border 
 against which to finish either pave- 
 ment. This is quite a strong 
 enough article for introduction to 
 the work-horse stable. It is common 
 
 Fig. 231. 
 
 to run. as the two figs, show, a branch from the gutter a short distance 
 up each stall. This makes sure that the animals of the male sex will 
 at all times have a dry bed. 
 
 It seems rather absurd to particularize about the gutter, and yet 
 make no pro\ision for an outlet thereto. Seeing that we are altogether
 
 3iS THE MODERS HOMESTEAD. 
 
 discarding the underground drain, we are completely breaking off com- 
 munication between the channel and the exterior of the building. 
 Were it absolutely necessan.- the open gutter might be continued at 
 right angles down alongside one or other of the partitions, and thence 
 through the outer wall. In our case, however, this is not ven*- feasible. 
 It is impracticable to lead it out under the manger, and to take it the 
 other way means p>assing over a gutter even^- time one enters either 
 the hav house or the harness room. It is quite practicable, however, to 
 cover, as in Fig. 230, the part of the gutter that passes in front of the 
 door either of hav shed or harness room. But the gutter, as we have 
 said, reailv acts more as a break to the end of tlie stalls than as a 
 drain projjer. There is, it wiU be found, httle or nothing to drain 
 awav. And what does at times happ>en to collect in the channel, can 
 almost always be sopped up along with the soiled litter. A little saw- 
 dust or prepared peat litter sprinkled in the channel is generallv always 
 sufficient to drink in the urine that trickles into and along the gutter. 
 But this is a precaution that is hardly to be looked for in the farm 
 stable. It is further practicable, of course, to form a bhnd cesspool — 
 one with no outlet — at the low end of the channel, in which liquid that 
 got so far could collect. A suitably constructed one would be easv to 
 clean out. For our part, we would dispense with it. and leave the open 
 channel to be dealt with alone. Unless attended to frequently the cess- 
 pool would degenerate into a nuisance. It would never be so dangerous 
 a one. however, as the underground drain is capable of becoming. 
 
 There is no necessity- for much fall backwards in the 
 Tne Dip o length of the stall floor. What will ensure the passage 
 
 of urine channelwards is sufficient. It may not be so 
 detrimental to the horse as to the cow to be kept standing Avith the 
 forequarters at a relatively higher level than the hind ones, but whether 
 or not, there is no use in making a greater difference in this respect 
 than series to keep the floor dn.-. The difference in level lengthwise 
 of the stable need similarly be no more than to keep the liquid that can 
 run mo\-ing to one or other end. If, however, it be not provided with 
 an outlet, it may be kept level. Preferably we would give it an easy 
 dip to an exit leading through the wall to a gully trap outside in con- 
 nection with the sewer drain, so that should any stuff ever get so far 
 it has then a way of escape without causing a mess. 
 
 A little over ten feet from the front wall is a suitable length of stall, 
 inclusive of gutter, for the farm stable. And si.x feet from centre to 
 centre of the travises gives breadth enough for the horses' comfort, and 
 room for their food to be carried to them. 
 
 T,, TT , The travis, if nine and a half feet long inclusive, 
 The Usual ' . . 
 
 Form of keeps the horses from plying their heels at one another 
 
 Travis. when so disposed. The hind-post is thus bordering 
 
 upon the edge of the gutter, which will run about nine inches in
 
 BUILDINGS EAST OF THE BARN 
 
 319 
 
 breadth. Fig. 232 gives a very common pattern of travis. This is on 
 the same principle as some we referred to when discussing the byre 
 divisions. \'ery often, however, both of the posts are carried up to 
 the roofing timbers. In that case the bases are let slightly into stones 
 sunk almost flush with the pavement. The hind-post is always solid 
 with a check in front, as in Fig. 217, for retaining the ends of the 
 travis boards, while the fore one or shoulder-post is in two parts bolted 
 together, as in Fig. 218, with the travis boards held tightly between. 
 The hind-posts, if square, require to be about six inches on the face : 
 and if round, sometimes of a corresponding scantling or cross area. 
 The pieces which form the combined fore-posts are six inches by two 
 
 Fig. 232. 
 
 inches or so, the space between them — from the travis boards upwards — 
 being filled up by a piece of wood of the right thickness. 
 
 But this seems a cumbersome arrangement for stable as well as for 
 byre. The short hind-post arrangement we show is preferable, we 
 consider. The better looking plan, howe\'er, is to carry neither post 
 to the roof. This requires the posts to be sound and stout and firmly 
 fixed in the ground. The horses sometimes press hea\"ily against these 
 stall divisions, and it takes some degree of stability to withstand such 
 pressure as they can exert. But if the posts are set up in the way we 
 suggested for those in the byre they can easily be made firm enough to
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 resist the side thrust they are apt to encounter from the horses. In 
 this case the posts should be at least three feet in the ground, with 
 abundance of concrete both under and around them. 
 
 , IniDroved travises of wood and iron coml)ined are 
 An Improved ^ ■ i i , , 
 
 Form of nowadays readily available. \\ ith these the shoulder- 
 
 Travis. pj_|g^ jj. dispensed with, a short heel -post of iron 
 
 tof'-ether with both a top and a bottom runner for the attach- 
 ment of the boarding forming the complete framework of the 
 travis. Some persons object to iron posts in the farm stable as 
 their opinion, being sufficiently strong. Kicking horses 
 
 to break tliem, they say. \\'e never saw one broken 
 
 that cause. And certainlv thev 
 
 not, m 
 are apt 
 
 through 
 
 will last long enough 
 otherwise. We ha\e 
 known them turn slack 
 in their fastenings to the 
 stones that acted as 
 bases. Where properly 
 attached to the stones 
 this will not occur. 
 Better than stone bases, 
 however, are now being 
 afforded them in the 
 shape of iron ones con- 
 structed so as to give 
 the posts a firm hold 
 of the grovmd. Tliey 
 go deep, and are wide- 
 spread as well, and con- 
 sequently strong against 
 o\erthrow. 
 
 A good travis of the sort depicted in Fig. 233 is fitted with a ramp 
 rail B, and a sill C (the runners above referred to), both attached at 
 one end to the post, and at the other to a half post or pilaster fixed 
 to the Avail. These stiffen the erection, and at the same time hold 
 the boards in place. In each there is a grooxe for the latter purpose. 
 Part of one edge of the groo\-e in the sill D is mo\able for tlie purpose 
 of arranging the boards in their place, which manner of doing so can 
 be inferred from the fig. \\'hen the boards are all home the piece D 
 is again screwed on, and the travis is complete. The sill is perhaps 
 the weak part of the arrangement. We confess to have seen instances 
 wherein it was fractured. It can be made extra strong, however, if 
 called for. For one thing, tliere is less strain on tlie boards under this 
 plan. Placed according to the first methods we referred to, the boards 
 run the whole length of the travis, each being about nine feet long. 
 -Vs arranged in the latter, they run from between four and fi\e feet at 
 
 Fig. 233.
 
 BUILDINGS EAST OF THE BARN. 
 
 321 
 
 the hind post to se\-en or so at the wall. In the former case the shoulder- 
 post comes in, of course, to stiffen them, but even with that support 
 they are much less favourably situated for withstandinf^ side pressure 
 than the shorter ones 
 set upritj^ht and fixed 
 both at top and bottom. 
 The latter kind of 
 boards suffer quicker, 
 however, at the heels of 
 kicking horses than do 
 the others which have 
 more spring about them. 
 Thinner boards are, not- 
 withstanding, almost 
 always used in con- 
 nection with the ramp 
 rail and sill than according to the more primitive double-post system. 
 Extra thin boards are now and again fortified by means of slanting 
 runners stretching from fore post to hind post. Boards an inch and five- 
 eighths or an inch and three-quarters thick answer for the older plan, while 
 boards one and a half inches or even slightly less do for the newer. 
 
 The remainder of the stall fittings are few, and like the 
 travis itself, exceedingly simple. Something is wanted 
 to secure the horse to. It, therefore, and two feeding 
 places, one for corn and another for hay, comprise the lot. We prefer 
 to have these as simple and inexpensive as possible. The hay-rack 
 and the corn-box we place on a level coincident with the top of the 
 biting-rail or cross-piece which holds the ring through which the 
 
 halter-rope or chain is 
 passed. This rail 
 stretches across the 
 stall about eighteen 
 inches from the wall 
 and thirty inches from 
 the floor, its ends being 
 secured to the travis on 
 either side. In that 
 position it both serves 
 for the attachment of 
 the animal and acts as 
 front to the mouths of 
 the corn-box and rack. In Fig. 234 we represent the front elevation of 
 the head of the stall, and in Fig. 235 we give a section of the fittings 
 there. It may be noted, howe\'er, that although we show the corn-trough 
 at the near side of the stall, it is found oftener at the oflf-side thereof in 
 
 M.H. Y 
 
 The Stall 
 Fittings. 
 
 Fig. 235.
 
 322 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 the homestead stable — the latter position ,t;i\inK' the men more freedom 
 to strij) the animals durin,c: their f;Teedy attention to the corn. 
 
 The hav-rack we keep below instead of above the level of the horse's 
 breast. The horse, like the cow, prefers to eat with his head down. 
 At least, he does the greater part of the mastication of his food in that 
 position. When he happens to be confronted with an o\erhead fodder- 
 rack we do not see him chewing the hay with his head in the position 
 he is obliged to hold it while plucking the fodder from between the 
 spars. He raises his head to snatch a mouthful and then lowers it to 
 the pendent position. The o\erhead rack is only permissible in those 
 stables that carry a loft. It is convenient, no doubt, to fodder the 
 horses in such a simple manner as forking or throwing the hay from 
 the loft floor directly into the racks implies. But the opening at the 
 liead of each stall down which the hay is pitched remains there to 
 allow the spent air and the unpleasant odours of the stable to ascend. 
 This state of matters is bound to affect the quality of hay that is 
 subjected thereto for any length of time. Most horses are very sensitive 
 with regard to the condition of their fodder, and it is not fair, nor is it 
 good policy, to feed them with stuff that already tastes of the stable. 
 P'conomy of labour in this instance runs contrary to the welfare of 
 the animals. 
 
 For the latter reason alone is the presence of a loft in the 
 the Stable ^ stable to be condemned. It is wrong, too, we maintain, 
 not at all on sanitary grounds generally. Proper ventilation 
 
 cannot in the majority of cases where it is met Avith be 
 maintained. It is in some, but not at the ordinary run of homesteads. 
 When built, as we suggest, without obstruction between floor and roof, 
 it can easily be kept in good sanitary condition by following along the 
 simple lines upon which we have been recommending that it and the 
 adjoining buildings should be constructed. 
 
 In the absence of a loft one would never think of erecting an over- 
 head fodder-rack. Such a step would only be leading to extra labour 
 for which no reason existed. The fodder would all ha\e to be raised 
 by fork into the rack to a position wrong in principle. The one 
 indicated in Fig. 234 can be filled by hand, and in it the fodder is 
 placed more in accordance witli the habits of the animal than is the 
 case with the other. 
 
 The corn-box is best when constructed of glazed fireclay similar to 
 the feeding-troughs for the cattle. It can be fitted in between the 
 biting-rail and the wall at the near side corner. The remainder of the 
 space at the head of the stall is taken up by the hay-rack, the biting- 
 rail serving as the top edge thereof. As Fig. 235 shows, the rack slopes 
 back in front as it is carried to the floor, thus being deeper at top than 
 bottom. This keeps the horses' knees clear of the front of the rack 
 while the animals are eating therefrom. The bottom of the rack is
 
 BUILDINGS EAST OF THE BARN. 323 
 
 kept clear of tlie floor. The travis forms one end of the rack, ghing 
 support to the framework there, while the other end of the framework 
 rests upon the floor. 13ut there is little framework required. The 
 biting-rail does for the top, and two rails, one in front and another next 
 the wall, constitute the bottom part. These rails, as we have said, are 
 secured at one end to the travis, while at the other they are born on 
 upright pieces that rest upon the floor. 
 
 It is usual to spar both the front and the bottom of the rack. But 
 the front, so far as we can judge, may as well be boarded. The horses 
 never reach down to pluck fodder from between the spars ; they always 
 eat from the mouth of the affair. The idea may be to make the 
 manger look lighter, or perhaps to let air into it and keep things in a 
 more wholesome condition. Likelier than either reason, however, 
 spars may have been preferred on account of their re\'ealing how the 
 rack stands at any time as regards contents. It is wise, however the 
 front is finished, to ha\e the bottom sparred, and in that wav let sand 
 and refuse escape from the rack. If the bottom is six inches or so 
 clear of the floor, any rubbish that falls through can easily be removed. 
 The rack may taper from eighteen inches in depth at the top or mouth 
 to nine inches or so at the bottom. The breadth will, of course, depend 
 on the length of the fireclay trough. This had better be of good size 
 in order to be capable of holding a fair amount of chaff when such is 
 administered to the horses. 
 
 It is necessary that a cross piece, either of wood or iron, be fixed on 
 
 the top of the manger between the biting-rail and the wall. When 
 
 this is awanting the horses are almost certain to toss out a great deal 
 
 of fodder from the rack. They cannot settle down to the steady work 
 
 of reducing the hay to pulp without first investigating the lot and 
 
 making sure that it is all good alike. If they belie\e it to be better at 
 
 the bottom than at the top, then, in the absence of the check we suggest, 
 
 they will soon, with a side jerk of the head, toss out the inferior stuff, 
 
 and perhaps trample the most of it underfoot. But the check referred 
 
 to prevents this improvidence. A similar check is an ad\antage in 
 
 connection with the corn-trough. A fastidious horse often acts with his 
 
 oats or other feed in the same way as he inclines to deal with his hay. 
 
 If, however, the trough be of a fair size, he has less chance of being able 
 
 to dislodge its contents in any other manner than the one intended. 
 
 Two ridge ventilators of Mr. Craig's pattern, Fig. 143, to 
 
 \T^1*\^ ^^^ three horses, taken in connection with the wallhead 
 Ventilators. ' 
 
 openings referred to in Fig. 147 (two say for each horse 
 that can be accommodated — one at each side of the house), would per- 
 mit of a good circulation of fresh air throughout the stable. At that 
 rate dead lights would suffice. One for each pair of horses might be 
 sufficient. But this is a matter that would fall to be decided by 
 circumstances. It is better, however, to err on the side of plenty than 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 of scarcity in this instance. Lif^dit, as we indicated before, is an enemy 
 
 to dirt, tlierefore a friend to liealth. 
 
 A\'e make no provision for the stowing away of harness 
 
 The Harness- ^^.;ti-,jj-, ^\^q stable. The harness-room is there for that 
 Room. 
 
 purpose, which is an advantageous arrangement for 
 
 horses and harness alike. Harness hung up in the stable is placed 
 under circumstances anything but conducive to its being maintained 
 in good order. Even Avhen hung up dry it will soon become damp in 
 the humid atmosphere of the place. But when put away against the 
 stable wall damp, either on account of rain, or because of the per- 
 spiration it has absorbed, it is there a sure prey to causes of early decay. 
 
 The harness-rooni ought, we consider, to have a boarded floor with 
 efficient \entilation as described on page 103. And the walls all round 
 we would ha\e covered with lining boards. The wood surface of the 
 walls ensures a dry background for the harness, and at the same time 
 makes it easy to attach shelves and pegs thereto wherever wanted. 
 The method of lining the walls of the granary w^e ga^'e on page 263 is 
 suitable to the harness-room also. Seeing that the harness-room has 
 usually to do duty as club-room for the ploughmen and other men 
 about the place at odd times of the day — is, in fact, the only shelter 
 they have at disposal on w^et days when outside labour is at a stand- 
 still and they are kept hanging on, waiting events — it is but right that it 
 be made somewhat comfortable. To this end a proper fireplace is 
 necessary. A sto\e is often made to do ser\ice, but an open fireplace 
 is more satisfactory. 
 
 The room will be more comfortable, too, if in this case we erect a 
 ceiling about wallhead level. When the room, therefore, is not to be 
 open to the roof the latter may as well be of the ordinary couple and 
 baulk type. This will enable us to make the under edges of the bottom 
 collars or ties serve as the framework of the ceiling. The consequence 
 of this will be that, as Fig. 236 shows, the ceiling will, as it follows the 
 outline of the couple feet and the ties, be above the level of the wall- 
 head, which, however, is rather beneficial than otherwise. Lining 
 boards, similar to those applied to the walls, nailed to the ties, will 
 ansAver admirably, and when the job is finished give a neat and com- 
 fortable appearance to the place. A controllable ventilator between 
 ceiling and ridge is almost essential. A zinc ventilator, same as 
 I'^ig. 141, will be suitable in this instance. The shaft will require to be 
 continued down to the ceiling, where the opening can be controlled by 
 means of a sliding cover made movable by means of string and pulley. 
 A mantelshelf may be erected over the fireplace ; and a strong grate 
 with side hobs and brick back be fixed in, after which we ha\'e a 
 decent sort of place both for men and harness ; in which the " orra " 
 or handyman may take his piece, and both he and the ploughman 
 take a smoke at any off-time.
 
 BUILDINGS EAST OF THE BARN. 
 
 325 
 
 'J"he door will ha\e to be a hinged one opening back into the stable. 
 And since we ha\ e blocked out all chance of light by way of the roof, 
 a side window looking to the courtyard is a necessity. An ordinary 
 sash window with both parts hung is the proper kind. Should, how- 
 exer, the walls be of brickwork, an iron casement window would be 
 quite applicable here. 
 
 The cart-shed is the simplest building of the whole group. 
 It needs a no more expensive floor than one of gravel or 
 of ashes, and no doors are required. It may perhaps be 
 too much to leave the openings the whole height of the side wall minus 
 the depth of the lintel, whether it be of wood or iron. It is handy, no 
 doubt, to have a place in the courtyard into which a loaded cart can be 
 backed and the contents be protected from rain, but it would be bad 
 
 The 
 Cart-Shed 
 
 Fig. 2j6. 
 
 policy in order to attain this to subject the housed carts to the influence 
 of drifting rain. Much depends, of course, on the exposure of the front 
 of the cart-shed. If it be such that wind and rain can beat upon it, then 
 it is necessary to keep the openings lower than would be quite efficient 
 in a more sheltered situation. The carts nearest to the openings would 
 be certain to get wet more or less where the latter were high and rain 
 occasionally had that side of the building at its mercy. Seven feet, or 
 at the utmost se\en feet six inches, would be height enough for these 
 openings in walls that were any way exposed. 
 
 The lowering of the openings does not imply much extra cost. A 
 beam or girder is essential, whether it has to act as support to the roof 
 alone or to the extra building o\er the openings in addition ; and there 
 is very little in the latter item. W'e would prefer an iron or steel girder 
 to a beam of wood, for the reasons we mentioned on page 118. 
 
 The supports to the beam or girder may be of stone, brick, or iron.
 
 326 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 A stone pillar takes up most room, a cast-iron colunm the least. Our 
 choice would be the iron column. This, it is needless to say, needs a 
 large and properly-dressed stone for base. 
 
 No roof lights are required here unless it happened that doors for 
 some valid cause were fitted to the openings ; but we should erect two 
 or more of our ordinary zinc ventilators in order to make sure that the 
 roofing wood was maintained in good condition. Here, if anywhere 
 about the buildings of the homestead, ridge ^■entilation might be 
 dispensed with, but we would prefer to have it even here ; and the 
 wood surfaces we would ha\e as before. 
 
 ^, ^ , , ^, ^^'ith the odd place at the corner tliis trroup of buildings 
 The Odd Place. . . . or- o 
 
 comes to a finish. A sliding door, a concrete floor, open- 
 ing roof liglits, and one of Craig's ventilators, are about all we can 
 specify for it without knowing further what its uses are likely in 
 reality to be.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Thk Dairy Buildings, Pig-House, and Dungstead. 
 
 We have now been the round of the homestead proper. But there 
 still remain the dairy buildings, the pig-house, and the dungstead. And 
 besides these are the various subsidiary sheds. The former by them- 
 selves are sufficient to afford matter for a chapter, and this one we shall 
 accordingly set apart to their discussion. 
 
 Tile dairy buildings are set down on Plan 1 1 . and Plan 111. 
 of the Dairy" ^^ '^'^^ north-west corner of the homestead. In that position 
 Buildings with they are not far removed from the byres, nor from the 
 mhYr Houses, ^^o'-ise on the dairy farm, but still far enough to be practi- 
 cally isolated from the remainder of the buildings. Thev 
 are handily situated enough in relation to the latter for economy of 
 labour, and yet cut off from them as regards their tendencv to react 
 unfavourably on milk and the products of the dairy that come under 
 their influence. Where we place them they are prettv well out of reach 
 of the odours that are liable to arise from the dungstead, pig-house, and 
 cooking-shed, which three are the worst offenders in this connection. 
 Neither can the byre in the one instance, nor the byre and the house in 
 the other, have any adverse influence over the dairy affairs. 
 
 In both cases represented the arrangement of the dairv is the same. 
 We have the scullery or washing-up place to begin with. This leads 
 into the churning and making-up-room if butter-making is the method 
 of utilising the milk, or the -vat and press-room if cheese-making is 
 adopted. At the other end of this, and furthest from all the other 
 buildings, is the milk-room. Another place is wanted should cheese- 
 making be the industry selected, viz., a ripening-room. This w"e can 
 best obtain by adding a half-storey or loft to the milk-room. 
 
 ^^ ^ ,, The scullerv makes small demand in the matter of fittings 
 
 The Scullery. - . . . 
 
 One or more coppers are essential for the heating of water 
 
 wnth wliich to scald the dishes, either steam or fire being applied for the 
 
 purpose. Another is needed for a supply of hot water to the jacket of 
 
 the milk- vat. This one is sometimes placed in the vat-room itself It 
 
 is better, however, to have it in the scullery. The latter is rendered no 
 
 worse by the extra vapour this arrangement implies, and the vat-room 
 
 is kept rid of this form of moisture. It is easy to obtain a copper, such 
 
 as shown in Fig. 237, fitted with an offset or outlet at bottom from
 
 328 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 which the water can be drawn as wanted at the other side of the wall. 
 It shows a better class, being of tinned copper, than is likely often to be 
 used, one of cast-iron being good enough in most instances. A hose 
 can, if required, be coupled to the offset and to the vat and direct 
 communication thus be made between the two. Where steam is used 
 in the dairy the arrangement referred to is unnecessary, and one copper 
 is enough in the scullery. 
 
 The walls of the scullery, if built of stone, are better to be plastered 
 with cement. They will then be able to withstand the knocks that are 
 likely to fall to their lot at times. They will also be smooth enough to 
 hinder the accumulation of dust or dirt of any kind. Dust will not often 
 indeed ha\e a free hand in the scullery ; there is too much moisture 
 about for it to be able to manifest its presence in the house when the 
 customary operations are in force. On the other hand, the impervious 
 surface of the cement plaster will suffer no harm from the abundance 
 of moisture that characterises the interior of this room. If built of good, 
 hard, well-formed bricks, it is quite sufficient to leave the brick surface 
 unprotected otherwise than by having the joints thereof neatly pointed 
 
 with cement. This also gives us a firm 
 and smooth wall surface. There are no 
 openings other than the doorways required 
 in the walls. We would ha\e it lighted by 
 way of the roof. The floor we would have 
 of concrete, but no drain therein. The 
 floor should be laid with a hang towards 
 T7,^. ^,^ "^^ the outer doorway, so that all water that is 
 
 r IG. 237, J ^ ^ 
 
 spilled upon it may gain an outlet in that 
 direction. Outside it could be gathered in a gutter and led along it to 
 the nearest gully trap. The room we would have open to the roof as so 
 often referred to, and the roof wood we would, if practicable, ha\e cleaned 
 and varnished. Three opening roof lights — two at one side and one at 
 the other — and one of Craig's large-sized ventilators, not forgetting the 
 doors, complete the place. 
 
 ^, ,, ^ The midroom, whichever of the two purposes it is set to 
 
 The Vat-Room, ' ... r t- 
 
 or Churning- fulfil, may be almost identical in character to the scullery. 
 Room. Floor and walls may be the same. It too may be devoid 
 
 of ceiling and be lighted and ventilated in similar manner to the last 
 mentioned. There is not so much w^ater being spilt on the floor of this 
 room as in the scullery. Almost the only water that is introduced 
 into the place in cheese-making is in connection with the \at. What 
 is run into the false bottom and sides of the vat must of course ha\e a 
 way of egress appointed for it. But there need hardly be a drain formed 
 for this alone — not one in the floor, at any rate. There must be no 
 chance of odours arising from drains within the dairy buildings, and the 
 most eflfectual manner of preventing this is to ha\"e none inside the
 
 DAIRY BUILDINGS, PIG-HOUSE, AND DUNGSTEAD. 329 
 
 premises. An opening tlirough the wall at floor le\el will admit of a 
 hose connected to the outlet of the jacket that encloses the vat discharg- 
 ing into an open gutter outside and the water being led away as before. 
 In butter-making there is certainly more water thrown about, but as 
 with the scullery, the level of the floor can.be so arranged that water 
 will run therefrom to the outlet just mentioned. 
 
 ^ ^ . ^ But cheese-making renders necessary another kind of 
 
 A Dram for . . . . . -' 
 
 leading the dram m connection with this room. The by-product 
 
 Whey to the \vhev is Utilised as food for the pigs. And in order to 
 Pighouses. " . . . 
 
 economise labour it must be led to their quarters by way 
 
 of an underground drain. To have to carry it all from the dairy to the 
 pig-troughs would be a serious matter — more than it was worth in many 
 cases. A watertight drain is essential for the purpose. Either a three 
 or a four-inch spigot and faucet cement jointed drain answers well. At 
 the far end it is requisite to have some kind of tank in which the whey 
 can accumulate and be used out of as needed. It may be constructed 
 with such a covering or lid that the attendant can lift the whey with a 
 can or bucket and pour it into the pig-troughs. In some instances the 
 tank is substantially covered and fitted with a hand-pump for raising 
 the whey. Like the other drain, the inlet to this one needs to be placed 
 outside, and then no ill effects as regards operations in the dairy can 
 arise therefrom. A hole in the wall will as before admit of a runnel 
 discharging the whey from the vat into the head of the drain outside. 
 The drain can be led where it is least likely to do harm should it ever 
 require to be lifted. But if well laid at the start this eventuality need 
 not be dreaded. It is wise, however, to have it fitted with inspec- 
 tion eyes wherever these are practicable. Accidents may arise to 
 interfere with its efficiency, and inspection eyes here and there will serve 
 to locate the fault. 
 
 The milk-room of necessitv gets more money spent on it 
 The Milk-Room. , , 1 1 ' 1 Tin 
 
 than does to complete the others. It hardly answers to 
 
 dispense with a ceiling here, and thereby leave the room open to the 
 roofing boards as with scullery and midroom. In their case it answers 
 better to have the extra space thrown in. They can then be lighted 
 through the roof, which is cheaper than having recourse to side 
 windows, and they are so much more easily ventilated when ridge 
 openings are a\ailable. The rough-and-ready ventilation that door and 
 ridge ventilators afford suits the nature of these respective rooms, more 
 especially the scullery where so much water is vaporised. In the milk- 
 room there is no less demand for ventilation, but on a more refined 
 scale so to speak. So long as the air in the milk-room is kept from 
 stagnating not much else is required. We do not want it left at the 
 mercy of the wind altogether. If a steady exchange of air in the room 
 is maintained, nothing further is called for. This can perhaps be better 
 obtained with than without a ceiling in the room. But the ceiling is
 
 ^^o THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 more efFecti\e in giving one control of the temperature of the air w ithin 
 the room, and that is its principal office in this place. The slates and 
 roofing boards quickly heat up under the sun's influence ; and on sunny 
 days the air of a room that is devoid of ceiling soon responds to the rise 
 of temperature in its covering. The open door and the slit in the roof 
 give the air in the scullery and the midroom little time to be in contact 
 with the I'oof. In the milk-room, however, sucli vigorous ventilation 
 would not answer. Live things, both big and little, would avail them- 
 selves of the free access which it implies. Small things innumerable 
 come and go constantly, for without their presence our various methods 
 of turning milk to useful account could not be carried on. We do not 
 refer, however, to these invisible entities, but to those of a grosser being 
 which closed doors and wire gauze can keep out, and to dust and dirt 
 in general as well. 
 
 Provided with a ceiling, the milk-room is then less at the mercy of the 
 sun, and the air thereof can accordingly be more easily maintained at a 
 comparatively regular temperature. The ceiling, while it shelters the 
 room from the sun, on the other hand goes to hinder the loss of heat 
 therefrom by radiation in times of cold. Jkit the latter condition is of 
 less importance than the other. The milk-room is often too hot inside, 
 seldom too cold. Thatch is the ideal roofing material for a milk-room, 
 but one hardly practicable at the modern laomestead. 
 
 The fioor of the milk-room is, like so many others at the 
 u »;-,?°i° homestead, best when of concrete. There are, as we have 
 
 the Milk-Room. 
 
 so often repeated, no joints in a fioor of tliis description 
 
 into which spilt milk can penetrate, there to become sour, and encourage 
 
 the production of low-class bacteria and taints and odours generally. 
 
 It is impervious to damp from above or below and is easily wiped clean. 
 
 These are qualities that, even were it costly, recommend it strongly for 
 
 a place in the milk-room. 
 
 The walls, if of stone or of brick, built in the ordinary 
 
 manner, should be plastered on lath. There must be no 
 
 damp spots or patches on the walls of the milk-room. These become 
 
 centres for the dissemination of minute fungi that work harm in milk 
 
 and cream. It is ail-but impossible, however, to avoid damp places on 
 
 the wall surfaces if the latter are not plastered on laths. When spread 
 
 on these the plaster is completely insulated from the stone and lime of 
 
 the wall, and therefore out of reach of any dampness that can arise 
 
 from the outer shell of the fabric. Thick though tlie latter is, it is 
 
 bound to feel on its inner side the effects of what the outer face has to 
 
 endure at the hands of our variable weather. Sun, frost, wind, and 
 
 rain all have at it in turn, tlie last two sometimes in company, and it 
 
 requires good workmanship to withstand these without occasional hurt. 
 
 .\ctual wet need not find its way into the mass before damp shows 
 
 inwardly. It will appear on the painted or whitewashed surface of the
 
 DAIRY BUILDIXGS, PIG-HOUSE, AND DUSGSTEAD. 331 
 
 niilk-rooiii wall that is unlathed wlien there is nothing \isible outwardly 
 to account for its presence. The mass of stone and lime forming the 
 wall absorbs more or less moisture according to the amount in the 
 atmosphere. Seldom does a good wall absorb so much as to become 
 apparent on its inner surface. But what may not readily reveal itself 
 on the rough, unplastered surface will quickly do so on the plastered 
 one where no lathing intervenes. When the laths are there the plaster 
 does not touch the wall, so that even w^hen the wall happens to be 
 damp enough to affect plaster applied to it directly, that which is 
 applied to it through the medium of laths remains unaffected. All the 
 same, care has to be taken that the inner surface is no damper than is 
 due to the state of the atmosphere. If dampness due to defects in the 
 building is suffered to exist for long, the straps to which the laths are 
 attached, and in turn the laths themselves, are bound in time to feel its 
 effect and become prematurely decayed. 
 
 If the walls are built of brick and have a hollow space within from 
 top to bottom, there is tlien no need for lathing. The hollow keeps the 
 inner part of the wall thorouglily insulated from the outer part in the 
 same manner that the lathing keeps the coat of plaster apart from the 
 solid wall whether it be of stone or of brick. It does this more 
 thoroughly, in fact, because the straps are attached to wood plugs 
 driven into the wall, whereas the two parts of the brick wall are tied 
 together with galvanized wrought-iron clips along or through which 
 damp cannot pass from the outer to the inner portions of the wall. 
 Damp may pass from plug to strap and from strap to lath, but it cannot 
 pass from one part of the hollow wall to the other by way of the clips or 
 ties. And the space in the heart of the wall lessens the conductiveness 
 of the latter. Heat passes slower through a wall so constructed. If the 
 bricks of the inner part of the hollow wall are hard and well formed, 
 plaster may be dispensed with and neat pointing take its place. Even 
 then, however, the surface may be a little rough, and therefore conducive 
 to lodgement of dust thereon, which is not a favourable condition of 
 matters in the milk-room. One may be pardoned, we think, if he 
 makes use of enamelled bricks for the inner portion of the walls of the 
 milk-room. \'ery little dust will effect a foothold on their surface ; 
 what does can be easily wiped off. Xo plastering is then required, so 
 after all the extra cost of the glazed bricks does not amount to so very 
 much as to render it prohibitive. 
 
 The side windows shown on the Plans II. and III. afford 
 in ow . ^^^j^ light and air to the room. Sash windows do not inter- 
 fere with the space of any room they are fitted into, therefore they are 
 the best to use in connection with the milk-room. Were the windows to 
 project into the room every time they were opened, they would interfere 
 with the storage capacity of the slielves, which usually are placed 
 against the walls. Casement windows to open out could of course be
 
 332 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 used, but these would pre\ent the windows bein.i,' safej^uarded with 
 perforated zinc or copper-wire gauze on tlie outside. Sash windows 
 are therefore clearly the best kind for application to the milk-room. 
 They can be opened and shut without first ha\ing to clear parts of the 
 shelves on the one hand or to remove the screens on the outside. 
 Screens of the material referred to are essential, otherwise flies and 
 winged insects generally have free entry whenever a window is opened. 
 A light wood frame made to fit closely into the window and co\ered 
 with either of the materials mentioned, makes an efficient screen. Ikit 
 this is an item that falls to be provided by the tenant rather tlian the 
 proprietor. So also the blinds, should any of the windows re(|uire a 
 fitting of the kind. 
 
 Th V t"l "'^ ° augment the means of ventilation it is well, if it can 
 tion of the be managed, to ha\e an opening in the ceiling leading 
 
 °°^- therefrom to the roof and terminating in some suitable 
 
 form of protected outlet. This may not be \ery practicable should a 
 cheese-room be placed overhead. Still, even then it can sometimes be 
 arranged to make room for such an air-shaft as we suggest. And near 
 to floor le\el a few air inlets such as are usually constructed to promote 
 circulation of air under floors of wood, made through the walls, help to 
 keep matters wholesome under the shelves. Without these air is 
 almost certain to stagnate in the corners at that low level. Stagnant 
 air is, in our climate, almost certain to be damp, and this is the con- 
 dition that favours the growth of the bacteria and moulds referred to 
 above that work ad\ersely in the interests of the products of the dairy. 
 A few of these inlets prevent the air lurking undisturbed and favouring 
 the spread of harmful organisms. The inlets can be controlled either 
 outside or within the building. An ordinary "hit-and-miss" covering, 
 such as used to gi\'e control of openings of the kind, is placed at the 
 end chosen to be regulated from, and the other, similar to the windows, 
 is protected with perforated zinc or wire gauze. It is the better plan, 
 where practicable, to have the controllable end of the opening at the 
 outer side. It is easier got at there than under the shelves inside. A 
 fireclay pipe is the best form of channel to carry through the wall. 
 Laid Avith a slope outwards, there is no danger of rain being driven 
 through. If the walls are hollow, the pipe must, of course, be continued 
 intact across the hollow, else the incoming air will lose its way in the 
 latter and fail to carry a direct current into the room. 
 
 ^, „. , The shelves are usually of either sandstone or thick slate. 
 
 The Shelves. ,,,, . 
 
 i lie latter is the better material. It is harder and less 
 
 absorbent, and can be polished smooth enough to be easily wiped clean. 
 
 Sometimes the shelves are fixed upon upriglit slabs of tlie same material 
 
 or on brick supports, but iron legs are better. The former obstruct the 
 
 circulation of air between the shelves and the floor, but the latter have 
 
 no effect in that way, as may be seen if we compare Figs. 23S and 2y).
 
 DAIRY BUILDINGS, PIG-HOUSE, AND DUNGSTEAD. 333 
 
 T 
 
 T 
 
 Z3 
 
 »/ 
 
 Fig. 23S. 
 
 The Ceiling. 
 
 " T " angle iron or steel as arranged in the latter figure takes up so 
 
 little space as not to interfere with air-currents. But the solid divisions 
 
 represented in Fig. 238 act as so many partitions in dividing the space 
 
 under the shehes into a series of bunkers. They are but bulkheads, in 
 
 fact, round which the air must pass 
 
 from one cell or compartment to 
 
 another. But not only the shelf 
 
 supports would we ha\e of a kind 
 
 that would not stand in the way of 
 
 air mo\ement ; we would have the 
 
 shelves themsehes constructed on the 
 
 same principle. Instead of having 
 
 them solid as at present, we would 
 
 prefer to have them grated or trellised. 
 
 A thin latticed iron or steel shelf 
 
 would answer admirably. It would offer little or no obstruction to 
 
 air-currents, and would effectually hinder the stagnation which is so 
 
 apt to take place under the solid shelf. Such a thing could be got 
 
 with an enamelled surface if pressed for ; at any rate, it might easily 
 
 be had galvanized. 
 
 No matter how the walls are finished on the inside 
 surfaces, whether plastered on lath, or on the solid brick- 
 work of a hollow wall, or lined with enamelled bricks, the ceiling, if the 
 building is one-storied, had best be of lath and plaster. A ceiling of 
 wood does not answer xexy well. The wood eventually shrinks, and 
 dust from above comes through the cracks and may fall into the milk. 
 The plastered ceiling contains no cracks — none at any rate that will 
 suffer dust to pass, else it is but a makeshift — and here as in the house 
 
 makes the best of all overhead enclosures. 
 If, however, the cheese-room is placed 
 above the milk-room, the combined floor 
 and ceiling recommended on page 106 
 and represented in Fig. 89 may with 
 advantage be used. The floor of the 
 cheese-room is put to severe strain at 
 times, and this comes to tell on the plaster 
 ceiling that is attached to the underside 
 of the flooring joists. The turning of the 
 cheeses and other operations that go on 
 in the cheese-room give sudden shocks 
 to the joists, and the hea\y weight these are set to carry as the 
 shelves begin to fill up are apt to cause the ceiling to yield and gi\-e 
 way in places. But the double floor just referred to affords increased 
 steadiness in the room above, while at same time it acts as an efiFecti\e 
 ceiling to the room below. No dust can penetrate from one room to 
 
 Fig. 239.
 
 334 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 tlie other, because if a crack in the upper boards should happen to be 
 
 opposite another in the lower set, the felt between tlieni effectually pre- 
 
 \ents conjunction between the two. And when the joists and underside 
 
 of the boards have been cleaned and \arnished, little dust can settle 
 
 thereupon, and what does can be easily brushed or wiped off. And let 
 
 the floor above be thumped and strained to any reasonable degree, the 
 
 contents of the niilk-rooni will not be effected thereby. 
 
 The cheese-room is the room in which the cheeses are 
 
 The Cheese- arranged on shelves to undergo the process of ripening. 
 
 Room. '^ ,, r . ^ 
 
 ror the sake of economy, as well as of convenience, we 
 
 place it in this instance over the milk-room. Fig. 240 gives a section 
 
 of the two. Access is given to it by means of a trap stair or ladder 
 
 Fig. 240. 
 
 leading from the vat-room. Each cheese can then be taken directly 
 from the chissel in which it has been pressed to the ripening-shehes. 
 And if a door can with advantage be made in the gable of the cheese- 
 room the ripened cheeses can therefore be straightaway loaded into carts 
 drawn up alongside the wall beneath the same. It is not essential that 
 the cheese-room be placed in the second storey. Some of the best cheeses 
 ever manufactured are ripened on the ground floor ; but as good ones 
 and perhaps more in number are matured in the "cheese-loft" situated 
 overhead of some other building. The situation of the room as regards 
 relation to ground level or first floor is therefore seemingly of small
 
 DAIRY BUILDINGS, PIG-HOUSE, AND DUNGSTEAD. ^^s 
 
 The Side 
 Walls and 
 the Ceiling 
 thereof. 
 
 importance, and may be left to be decided by the matter of con\enience. 
 This, it must be borne in mind, appHes to the manufacture of Cheddar 
 and other liard kinds of cheese. A ground floor apartment, if not 
 indeed an underground one, is a necessity in the manufacture of soft 
 cheeses. And therein provision needs to be made for the maintenance 
 of a duly warm and moist temperature. At parts of the sunny South, a 
 basement milk-room is considered a necesssary part of the farm house. 
 The side walls of the cheese-room shown in section in 
 I'ig. 241 are not carried up so high as to admit the 
 ceiling being on one level. So long, however, as they 
 are high enough to allow headroom along the wall side, 
 no more is required in that respect in the camp-ceiled room. With this 
 height the revolving shelf cases have room to work by reason of their 
 being out from the wall a foot or two, because then they are brought 
 nearer to the level part of the ceiling, and further from the co\ed side. 
 There is no doubt, however, that the upstairs cheese-room is better to 
 be so high in the side wall as to enable the ceiling to be on one level as 
 in Fig. 240. And 
 the reason of this is 
 apparent if we com- 
 pare the two. The 
 more equable we 
 can keep the tem- 
 perature of the room 
 it will be the better 
 for the favourable 
 development of the 
 cheeses. But the 
 room with the camp 
 ceiling has a vulnerable part a at each side which does not exist in 
 the one with the straight ceiling. At a there is not much thickness 
 of material between the room and the sky — just the slates and the 
 roofing boards joined together, a little air space, and the thin sheet 
 of plaster. The sun, when it strikes on this part, makes its influence 
 felt inside when perhaps the air of the room is o\er the mark to begin 
 with. - In cold weather the balance tells the other way, and radiation 
 follows suit. The warm air of the room can part with heat to the cold 
 air outside through a at a much quicker rate than it can directly through 
 the walls or upwards into the enclosed air space above. The roof with 
 the straight ceiling. Fig. 240, has no weak parts in its armour such as 
 the other has at a. On the one hand, the sun's influence on the J:lates 
 in summer is counteracted by the air-cushion contained between roof 
 and ceiling ; and on the other this body of air hinders radiation upwards 
 from the room in winter. This body of air is in that position an 
 effective non-conductor of heat, and in Fig. 240 it covers the whole
 
 336 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 ceilings which is onl}- partially the case in Fi<^. 241. It is atKisable to 
 put felt between the slates and the boards of the cheese-room roof. 
 This further hinders the two actions thereon referred to — the radiation 
 of the sun's heat inward, and the radiation of the heat of the room 
 (Hitwards. 
 
 This may be considered a little fine-drawn, but it is really annoying' 
 when in the dog days the temperature of the cheese-room rises to a point 
 that makes the cheeses perspire and shine. This will hardly occur in a 
 room of which Fig. 240 is a representation. It may readily happen, 
 however, in one after the plan of the other ; and the latter is a 
 favourable example of its class. Many a one in actual use has much 
 more coving than it shows. This is a defect of which the ground- 
 floor cheese-room is quite free. The temperature in one of these is 
 less apt to fluctuate on account of the reasons given than in one on 
 the upstairs floor. But then the ground floor is more apt to be damp 
 than the other. A good deal, however, depends on the situation of 
 the dairy. In one a coved ceiling may answer well enough ; 
 in another it may be mistaken economy to keep the side wall lower 
 than the ceiling. 
 
 Side windows, we need hardly say, are the proper sources 
 
 The f^f lifrht to the cheese-room. Those on which the sun 
 
 Windows. . . 
 
 plays can be mounted with blinds. 1 he sash window is 
 
 suitable as being easily fitted in that respect, either inside as a protection 
 
 from the sun or outside as a guard against tiny intruders, and readily 
 
 adapting itself to the requirements of ventilation, as we pointed out in 
 
 connection with the milk-room. We belie\e in abundance of light here. 
 
 This is allowed to be a condition rather unfavourable to the propagation 
 
 of germ life, and the busybodies of that field of existence have a hand in 
 
 what goes on here as well as in the milk-room beneath. Their work 
 
 is deeper seated and more gradual in the hard-pressed curd, howe\er, 
 
 than is that which is overtaken by those infesting milk, therefore a 
 
 little extra light in the room cannot be prejudicial to them. Neither 
 
 can it in the milk-room ; for those that induce the characteristic changes 
 
 in milk are ever ready on the shortest notice to turn out in their 
 
 thousands upon thousands, irrespective of the effect of an ordinary 
 
 amount of light. 
 
 As a furtlier aid to the \entilation of the room (for here, 
 
 Ventilation as in other places, air that is allowed to remain still 
 
 of the Room, f-^yours the generation of moulds and such like) it is well 
 
 to have an air-shaft from ceiling to ridge, finished at bottom with a 
 
 controllable flap or slide, and at top ending in a large double-horned 
 
 zinc ventilator of the description referred to further back. 
 
 The inner surface of the walls should here, too, for tlie reasons 
 
 already advanced, be plastered on lath if the wall is not hollow built ; 
 
 and it may be understood that lath and plaster will constitute the ceiling.
 
 DAIRY BUILDINGS, PIG-HOUSE, AND DUNGSTEAD. 337 
 
 All well- 
 appointed 
 Cheese 
 Rooms are 
 Nowadays 
 fitted up with 
 Reversible 
 Shelves. 
 
 All well-appointed cheese rooms are now fitted up with 
 revolving or reversible shelves. The cheeses have 
 regularly to be turned end for end at least once a day 
 during the height of the season, and as the shelves begin 
 to fill it is no joke, in the absence of reversible shelves, 
 having each cheese to turn over. But Avith reversible 
 shelves at command, in single minutes for each ten it took 
 before they were available, the operation can be accomplished, and at the 
 exercise of little or no exertion. These kind of shelves are arranged in 
 a series of boxes or cages, as in Fig. 242, which shows the ele\'ation of a 
 set of six boxes, in vertical pairs. The number of boxes in a line is 
 of course ruled by the length of the room, as the number of rows is by 
 the breadth, and the number of shelves one above tlie other by the height 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ( 
 / 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 : = 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 ,1 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 ~ 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 j 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 " 
 
 
 
 
 :f' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ( 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 ■1 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 ■' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' 1 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 »i^+ , |,| 
 
 
 ( 
 
 Fig. 242. 
 
 thereof. Whatexer the height of the room, however, it is hardly practi- 
 cable in most cases to have more than two sets between floor and ceiling. 
 A third one Avould be out of reach of a person on the floor. But this 
 depends on the depth of the cheeses made. Where flat cheeses are 
 made the boxes are shallower, so that either an extra shelf can be 
 introduced in the box, or if not an additional box, provided there is 
 room, may be placed above the two. 
 
 Reverting to Fig. 242, the top set of shelves have the 
 front outwards, and the bottom set the back. The spars at 
 the back of each box are there for the purpose of holding 
 in the cheeses as the shelf is turned bottom up or reversed. Then- 
 purport will be better understood by referring to Fig. 243, which is a 
 single shelf to hold four cheeses, drawn to a larger scale, the position of 
 the cheeses being shown by the dotted lines. The inner sides of the 
 spars, it will be seen, are shaped to fit to the cheeses so that they cannot 
 
 M.H. z 
 
 A Description 
 of these 
 Shelves.
 
 33^ 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 mark them wlien their wei.tjjht comes to bear upon the spars. They 
 take up the weight of the cheeses as the box begins to tilt and throw 
 them on their sides, and they support them until the box has passed the 
 horizontal and what was the top of the cheeses is now becoming the 
 bottom, and they are sliding into their new position. It is e\ident that 
 the less difference there is between the depth of the cheese and the space 
 that divides the shelves, the less violent will be the shock to the respec- 
 tive cheeses as they alight upon their new support. So long as sufficient 
 room is left for air between the tops of the cheeses and the shelf above, 
 the smaller the difference referred to the better. And the same applies, 
 although for different reasons, to the side room afforded the cheeses. So 
 long as air has room to circulate around them any further room is just 
 so much waste of material. There is waste of material, too, in placing 
 the shelves further apart than is necessary for the free access of air; but 
 there is further, as already stated, the risk of damage to the cheeses in 
 giving them too long a drop. 
 
 In the Fi.£:s. bearing on this subject we have taken, by way of example. 
 
 Fig. 243. 
 
 the shelves as fitted up in the cheese room of the West of Scotland Agri- 
 cultural College, at Kilmarnock Dairy School. There the shelves are 
 14I- inches broad, i^ inch thick, and the space between each is 16 inches. 
 The length of each box of three shelves is 64 inches inside measurement. 
 The size of the cheeses made at that institution is 14 inches deep by 
 14 inches in diameter, each one forming a perfect cylinder. At this rate 
 the cheeses have two inches clear space between their tops and the shelf 
 next above, and they sit two inches apart. The end ones, however, are 
 only a single inch from either side of the box, which seems barely 
 enough. Were the boxes lengthened two inches it would allow each 
 cheese in the row the same air space around it. 
 
 A free and full distribution of air no doubt being as essential to the 
 favourable development of the contents of the shehes in the cheese room 
 as it is to those on the milk room shelves, we would incline to have the 
 shelves of the former place also made of lattice work. The bottom, top, 
 and sides of each cheese would then be on a pretty equal footing as 
 regards exposure to air, liglit, and heat. There would still, however, 
 exist the necessity of periodically turning the cheeses. This is needed 
 as much perhaps to ensure homogeneity in the cheese as for the other
 
 DAIRY BUILDINGS, PIG-HOUSE, AND DUNGSTEAD. 339 
 
 purposes referred to. Were 
 occasionally, they would tend 
 to become denser in some 
 parts than in others, and con- 
 sequently ripen irregularly. 
 It will be seen from Fig. 
 243 that the vertical spars 
 on the boxes are checked 
 into the shelves, to which 
 they are also screwed, thus 
 serving to stiffen the latter, 
 as well as keep the cheeses 
 from falling out when being 
 reversed. A single strap 
 put on in front helps further 
 to brace the shelves and 
 hold them in position. The 
 shelves are dovetailed to the 
 ends or sides : the top and 
 bottom shelves ought to be, 
 at any rate ; the inner ones 
 may be checked thereto. 
 Either white or yellow pine 
 does for the construction of 
 
 the cheeses not made to change ends 
 
 Fig. 
 
 244- 
 
 the boxes. 
 
 thickness as the 
 
 The ends may be of the 
 shelves — one-and-a-quarter 
 
 Qzmi 
 
 m 
 
 Fig. 245. 
 
 same 
 inch. 
 
 Fig. 244 shows the end elevation of two rows of 
 three shelves. This makes plain that the rows can 
 be placed pretty closely together. Overcrowding is 
 a disadvantage, however. But this is a matter that 
 will be ruled by the storage room required, and the 
 space at disposal. Fig. 245 gives a vertical cross- 
 section of two rows of shelves — two boxes. 
 
 Fig. 246 shows how the boxes are fixed at each 
 end to the standards ; and how they are held steady 
 by means of latches. 
 
 In Fig. 247 are represented the iron mountings on 
 the respective ends of the boxes. These consist of 
 catches which enable the latches, such as shown in 
 Fig. 246, to intercept and hold the box from making 
 a complete rotation, and a central pivot. Should 
 the latch happen to clear the catch and allow the 
 box to make more than half a turn, the result is the 
 pitching out of the cheeses upon the floor. The 
 
 pivot fits into a corresponding socket attached to the standard. 
 
 z 2
 
 340 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 Although we have somewhat fully described the shelving that is reciuired 
 
 to complete the cheese room, 
 
 it is often an item that falls 
 
 to the tenant to fit up. 
 
 TT »• And so, very 
 
 Heating ' -' 
 
 the Cheese often, is the 
 
 ^°°"'- item of pro- 
 
 ^•iding some arrangement 
 for heating the room. Hot- 
 water pipes are acknow- 
 ledged to be the best medium 
 for accomplishing this. 
 Steam, when available, is 
 sometimes substituted for 
 heated water, but it is hardly 
 so satisfactory. A stove is 
 out of the question in the 
 majority of cheese rooms. 
 But even where practicable 
 it is irregular in action, and 
 therefore unfit for the pur- 
 pose. The most suitable 
 place in our Plans for the 
 
 Fig. 246. 
 
 position of the saddle boiler for supplying the pipes with hot water is 
 somewhere in the scullery, near to the copper 
 furnaces. This implies a little extra piping, but 
 it keeps the furnaces all in one place, and 
 properly under cover. 
 
 We have placed the pig-house 
 e ig- ouse.^^ 1^^ .^^ touch with the dunghill, 
 
 and within easy reach of the cooking shed. It 
 is not far from the straw barn either. That, 
 hoAvever, is a less important matter, because the 
 pigs are not, as a rule, treated to very much 
 straw by way of bedding ; and they cannot 
 make use of it as a food. They can turn a 
 sheaf to good account by chewing ofif the ears 
 of grain, but the straw itself is not sufficiently 
 concentrated to answer the rather exacting 
 requirements of the alimentary canal of the pig. 
 Either Double ^^^^ house may either be made 
 or Single, and double, as in Plans II. and III., or 
 how Arranged, ^jjg as in Plan I. In the 
 
 Fig. 24". 
 latter case the house is built as a lean-to 
 
 against the side wall of the dungstead, the latter being heightened for
 
 DAIRY BUILDINGS, PIG-HOUSE, AND DUNGSTEAD. 341 
 
 that purpose, or it may be the contrary way, witli the higher wall next 
 the court and the lower the side of the dungstead, as shown in the section 
 given in Fig. 248. The pens are arranged against the lower wall, and 
 suitable holes or openings are left therein for allowing the manure to be 
 pitched directly into the 
 dungstead. The liquid ex- 
 crement can be led directly 
 therein by means of an 
 easily accessible channel or 
 drain either inside the house 
 or round the outside corner 
 by preference. A feeding 
 passage with a door at each 
 end, or with one, if con- 
 sidered sufficient, runs in 
 
 ■ 1 ' I'l'i '■ ' I ■ '■ 'I'l "~r~ 
 
 Jill I I It. 
 
 ' i 'i ' i 'i' iV i Vi 
 
 Fig. 248. 
 
 front of the pens. Fig. 249 gives the plan at cope level of the pens of 
 such an arrangement as we are describing. Each pen measures twelve 
 feet long by nine feet wide, and trough space is afforded for seven 
 animals, which number the pens are severally easily capable of housing 
 with comfort to the inmates. A trough for each animal is almost essen- 
 tial. If the swilly food which falls to the lot of the pigs is poured into 
 fewer troughs than there happen to be animals confined in a pen, we all 
 know the result. If poured into one common to all, or e\en into two, 
 none gets a chance of taking its food in a rational manner. One to 
 
 Fig. 249 
 
 make sure of room may get in on all fours, while nearly all the others, 
 to make a good resistance, strive to plant their fore feet in the trough. 
 Peace there is none, at any rate until the trough is emptied, or until the 
 majority are satiated. It is easier, howe^■er, to fill one or two troughs 
 than seven, besides, such a number of single troughs cannot be accom- 
 modated, therefore the pigs must adjust themsehes to circumstances.
 
 342 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 We have now, however, a trough in tlie market tliat 
 
 ^,|P°'^H^"'^ effectually overcomes these difficulties against making 
 of Trough. -^ r , , , . r ,• • 
 
 matters more comfortable to the pigs at feedmg tmie. 
 
 There are single troughs to be had, of which Fig. 250 is a representation, 
 
 so divided that each part thereof serves as a separate trough, and yet 
 
 all being continuous at bottom, no one can be fuller than another. So 
 
 long as it sits level, each division holds the same amount of fluid or 
 
 semi-fluid food. The pig that, in the absence of others, essays to empty 
 
 any one compartment, must deal with the whole contents of the divided 
 
 trough. The trough we refer to is made of fireclay, and glazed similarly 
 
 to the cattle troughs and horse mangers we have so often referred 
 
 to in earlier pages. The sloping divisions and the high back of the 
 
 trough are important points. The former keep the pigs apart most 
 
 effectually. These obstructions prevent the animals seeing each other 
 
 when engaged feeding, a condition which makes for peace to start with. 
 
 Fig. 250. 
 
 Instead of spending energy in seeking to shoulder aside a neighbour it 
 cannot see, and can only feel behind a point that does not react by way 
 of strife to jostling, the individual pig is more intent on overmatching 
 the snout it hears and may see at one side or other at the bottom of the 
 trough, but which it cannot reach, nor can others it. No doubt it 
 thinks itself king of the w^alk so long as it has part of the dish to itself, 
 and in this way each of the animals can partake of its food in a compara- 
 tively calm and philosophic mood, utterly different from the frantic 
 manner in which it gulps the stuff over when many mouths, not to speak 
 of feet, dip in the one dish. The high back, while it acts as a filler down 
 which the food, as delivered from tlie pail, slides to the bottom of the 
 trough, comes in as a barrier at that side of the pen. It is a barrier 
 barely complete in itself, but one, or at most two, iron rods, as in 
 Fig. 251 (which shows the elexation of this part of the pens), stretched 
 parallel with tlie tops of the troughs between them and the wood lintel 
 which runs le\el with the tops of the di\isions, as in Fig. 249, serve 
 effectually to keep tlie pigs from getting out at this side of their enclosure.
 
 DAIRY BUILDINGS, PIG-HOUSE, AND DUNGSTEAD. 343 
 
 The wood lintel may be dispensed with, and an iron rod or pipe be taken 
 
 as substitute therefor. 
 
 The floor of the house we would have laid with Portland 
 
 The Pig-house cement concrete. Tar macadam is a likely material for a 
 rloor. J 
 
 pig-house floor. It requires a good stuff to withstand the 
 snouts of the pigs. Any crack or soft part in a floor of other materials 
 than these affords a starting point from which to undermine or overturn 
 the surface, of which the pigs are not slow to avail themselves. But 
 neither of the two substances mentioned is open to destruction in this 
 way. The one — concrete — is too hard and unyielding, and the other — 
 tar macadam — too elastic to allow of sap and mine by the pigs. The 
 floor of each pen must have sufficient inclination to run all liquid off to 
 one side. The preferable plan is to give the floor a good hang towards 
 the troughs. There, at any rate, the bulk of the mess will be, what 
 with spilled food and dribblings and droppings from the animals as 
 they stand expectant alongside the passage. The troughs may be raised 
 a little from the floor in order to let liquid matter escape beneath them, 
 
 Fig. 251. 
 
 and a gutter along the side of the passage will catch all this and lead it 
 out of the building, and round the corner into the dungstead. Unless, 
 however, the place is well kept, matters are better when the troughs are 
 bedded on the floor, and no liquid alloAved to pass beneath, for if the space 
 between trough and floor be not regularly cleaned out, the matter therein 
 is apt to become offensive. Besides, if they stand too high above the floor 
 the pigs are tempted to seek their overthrow. A shallow gutter in front 
 of the troughs (inside the pen, that is to say) will serve to carry liquid 
 stuff" to the door, by means of which it can escape into the gutter at the 
 side of the passage. Occasionally part of the floor of each pen is raised 
 a little above the remainder for the purpose of keeping that part dry 
 and clean ; but this breaks the continuity of the floor too much for our 
 liking. With a pen of the size we have quoted, and with the floor 
 arranged as described, there is ample room for the pigs to choose a 
 corner well away from the neighbourhood of the troughs. 
 
 Trough accommodation for seven and the narrow door take up the 
 length of the pen. A single trough might, no doubt, be made to afford 
 the seven spaces, and thus take up a little less space. It is better, how- 
 ever, to have two troughs, one of four di\-isions and one of three, because
 
 344 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 it might happen at a time that only two or three pigs occupied the pen, 
 and to part the food of tliree into dishes for seven is a httle ridiculous, 
 as well as wasteful. 
 
 The partitions dividing the pens are of nine-inch brick- 
 The Partitions work. The cope may be of bricks set on edge or of 
 Pgjjg cement, just as one chooses. The brick partition, when 
 
 neatly pointed with cement, is quite capable of putting 
 piggy's snout at defiance. Indeed, we would ha\e none of the walls of 
 the pig-house built of other materials than bricks and mortar. Rubble 
 work offers too many weak parts in its armour to remain long unscathed 
 from the attacks referred to, and once a start towards defacement is 
 achieved, the wall soon becomes unsightly. It is not at all times practi- 
 cable, howe\'er, to avoid rubble work in the erection of the pig-house, 
 
 Fig. 252. 
 
 more especially when, as in this instance, it is being built against the 
 dungstead wall. But cement can here as elsewhere at the homestead 
 be turned to good account. 
 
 In the other instances represented we have the pig-house standing 
 separate from other buildings, and as regards these there is nothing to 
 hinder their being built with brick. With them we stick to the same 
 relative position in the steading as before. More accommodation being 
 required, we double the house, as it were, by having, as in Fig. 252, a 
 central passage with a row of pens at each side. And instead of our 
 keeping them broadside to the dungstead, as with the single one, we 
 place them end on to it, so that each row of pens, with its gutter in front, 
 is on the same footing with regard to convenience of access to the 
 manure heap. And placed thus the pig-house has its other gable in the 
 best position possible for con\enience of service from both cooking house 
 and straw barn. Otherwise the two kinds of houses are alike. Althou<rh
 
 DAIRY BUILDINGS, PIG -HO USE, AND DUNGSTEAD. 345 
 
 the double pig-house is sliown detached from the dungstead, there is 
 nothing whatever to hinder their being united as with the single one. 
 The gable would be coincident with the dungstead wall, as in Fig. 253. 
 This allows more room in the court, and renders the house easier of 
 cleansing, though it hardly adds to the salubrity of the latter. 
 
 In Fig. 252 we give a section of the double pig-house. We make 
 the side walls eight feet in height. Less might do, but it is as well to 
 allow the animals plenty of air so long as the house is not thereby apt 
 to be unduly cold in winter. Here, too (in the single as Avell as the 
 double house), we would ha\e the roof wood planed smooth. Two at 
 least, but better three, of Craig's ventilators would be required on the 
 ridge of the double house. And four or five skylights would be needed to 
 light the place ; the single house being dealt with in proportionate lines. 
 The skylights we would ha\-e hinged, so that when the weather was 
 warm or close they could be opened at will. Air inlets in the side wall, 
 as prescribed for byre and stable, are hardly needed here. One or 
 
 Pi'/-Jioufir. 
 
 L^. 
 
 \ 
 
 DuDjIfill'dd. 
 Fig. 253. 
 
 The Pen 
 Doors. 
 
 other, and at times both, of the doors can be left open when extra air 
 flushing is desirable. \\'ith a door at each end it generally turns out 
 that one is sufficiently in the lee to allow of its being left open without 
 harm to the pigs. 
 
 The simpler the pen doors the better. Two layers of 
 boards nailed firmly together, as in Fig. 254 (which 
 gives the two sides and end of such a door), answer 
 better than a door of the pattern given in Figs. 114 and 115. The out- 
 standing boards on the latter offer a purchase to the pigs' teetli, which 
 is speedily turned to account to the detriment of the door. It is 
 possible, of course, to keep the smooth side of the door inwards, but 
 this is too untradesmanlike a proceeding to be recommended. The 
 door that is smooth on both sides is the more suitable ; and it is much 
 the stronger of the two. Strong and simple ironmongery suits the pig- 
 house door. It is as well to have both styles of stone. Wood could be 
 used for the one to which the door is hinged, but wood is not lasting 
 enough for such a position. Strong hook-and-band hinges — the hooks 
 batted to the stones with lead, and a simple slip bolt outside do very
 
 34^^ 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 ^vell. Tlie door should fit pretty closely to the floor, so that little 
 
 leverage is afforded to the investigating snouts of the prisoners ; and for 
 
 the same reason that leads us to discard the cross pieces of the single 
 
 door, the side of the door that is vertically boarded should be on the 
 
 inner side. The outer doors would be sliding ones, such as recommended 
 
 for the generality of the buildings. 
 
 The whey tank already discussed would fall to be placed in a position 
 
 handy for the administration of the stuff. Some place apart from the 
 
 pig-house proper is a necessity in the case of the littering of sows, when 
 
 such form part of the li\-e stock of the farm. But accommodation of 
 
 this sort need not be difficult to find. 
 
 The dungstead we would enclose within walls, as 
 
 The Dung- shown on the three Plans. On each we hiwe it the 
 stead. . ^ . . . 1 J r 11 1 
 
 same size. But its size is a matter that would tall to be 
 
 decided by the circumstances that characterized the farm. At a home- 
 stead where cattle-boxes and open courts are provided, the dungstead is 
 
 1 i: 
 
 mi 
 
 i i ■ ' 
 
 i 
 
 1'; 
 
 1.^ ' ^ ' > 
 1 jr 
 
 'f' 
 
 yll 
 
 1/'^ ' i' 
 
 '■1 
 
 1 ; 
 
 /i" 
 
 ■ 1 ! ' \ 
 
 ' \ 
 
 Fig. 254. 
 
 of comparatively less importance than at one intended to meet the 
 wants of dairy farming. At the former, the litter from only a small 
 proportion of the animals finds its way to the dungstead ; at the latter, 
 it nearly all is thrown therein before it reaches the fields. The dung 
 that collects in the boxes and in the courts is carted direct from these 
 places to the fields ; and the greater bulk of the straw from the cropping 
 farm is trodden down in box and court. But at homesteads where 
 neither boxes nor courts are made use of, the dungstead is the general 
 collecting depot for all the manure produced about the place. At the 
 average arable farm, therefore, the dungstead does to be comparatively 
 smaller than on the strictly dairying one. It has to be borne in mind 
 in this connection, however, that dairy cattle, at least as managed in 
 Scotland, produce less bulk of manure than is left by beef producers. 
 \\'e have already referred to the thinness of the contents of the dairy 
 farm midden. Walls are, in fact, essential to keep a midden of this
 
 DAIRY BUILDINGS, PIG-HOUSE, AND DUNGSTEAD. 347 
 
 description witliin bounds. A slight depression in the ground will 
 serve to keep the drier affair in a reasonable space, and pre\'ent the 
 unsightly oozings stretching all round therefrom ; but unless the fluxy 
 accumulations at the dairy farm are stricter dealt with, they will in time 
 spread out and settle down as a thin cake over the ground. It would 
 never do, however, to have even a mildly straggling midden, far less a 
 sort of cold lava-stream affair, such as the last-mentioned, taking up the 
 side and entrance to our otherwise well-planned and effectively con- 
 structed homestead. An enclosed dungstead is, therefore, an essential, 
 whether at the cattle-feeding or the cow-milking homestead — the size 
 thereof to be regulated- in accordance with the requirements of the farm. 
 The Formation ^^^^^ bottom of the dungstead must be dished or hollowed 
 of the Bottom in such a manner that moisture will collect therein, and 
 °^ °°'^' not ooze away from it here and there. And the bottom 
 
 must be rendered impervious, so that the liquid matter may be retained. 
 As a rule, the necessary exca^'ations leave a surface that pro\es water- 
 tight without further treatment. If we happen to strike the till or 
 boulder-clay there is no fear of anything escaping down through it. 
 Rock may ha\'e to be excavated, and if on edge and seamy there is 
 risk of loss here. But whether the bottom of the dungstead be in sub- 
 soil as distinguished from rock, or in rock itself, of which the watertight 
 effect is doubtful, a preventi\'e against the latter condition can be had 
 without going to much expense. A coat of clay and broken stones, 
 or till alone if it can be had, will make matters right in the first 
 instance. A coat of this description would not be long upon rock. 
 The horses" feet and the Avheels of the carts would work- it away there- 
 from. But a thickish mixture of Portland cement and water, run over 
 the weak parts and brushed therein, would prevent leakage. In any 
 case, there need be no recourse to such expensive precautions as laying 
 concrete, unless, of course, exceptional circumstances rendered the use 
 of that or of some other form of pavement necessary. 
 
 It must not be expected, however, that the mere hollowing out of the 
 bottom of the dungstead is sufficient to make it capable of retaining all 
 the liquids that generally find their way there. The shallow basin thus 
 formed is meant to collect and save the natural drainings alone of the 
 dung, as wheeled from byre or stable to the dung heap. Anything 
 beyond this it is not supposed to accommodate. Both the ordinary 
 rainfall and the contributions from the grips should be led elsewhere, if 
 the midden is not to be overloaded with wet or unduly diluted, with the 
 consequence that some of its manurial matters are certain to be lost so 
 far as the fields are concerned, ^^'hen the basin is full the liquid con- 
 tents are bound to spill over, and while contributing to waste they mar 
 the appearance of the homestead, and are offensiye to the passer-by. 
 
 Often, no doubt, the contents of the dungstead at some arable farms 
 are too dry, and would be impro^■ed by wetting ; not, however, by
 
 348 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 merely passing liquid through the mass, as would happen were the 
 bottom leaky or were the bottom of such a shape that no water would 
 lie thereon. Tliere would be little good done endeavouring to keep a 
 midden of this nature in a moist condition. Both water and liquid 
 manure would pass through, and make their escape either at bottom or 
 at sides. Walled in, however, and bottomed in the" manner we suggest, 
 the midden is (juite capable of retaining a due amount of moisture. 
 But one must be able fully to control matters in connection with the 
 treatment of the manure that is naturally prepared in the dungstead. 
 It is not enough just to empty the stuff therein and let it take its chance. 
 He must be able to relieve the half-drowned one ; and, on the other 
 hand, be able to administer moisture in proper amount to the dry and 
 fusty one. The possession of a liquid manure tank enables him to 
 accomplish the first, and a roof o\er the dungstead helps him materially 
 in the latter aim. 
 
 . J. . , The possession of a tank of this kind allows the farmer 
 
 Manure Tank at one time to keep his midden free of superabundance 
 
 a desirable ^^j: ,i-jQisture, and at another to apply liquid manure 
 
 Accessory ' . T , 
 
 to the to the too dry and therefore chemically inert fibrous 
 
 Dungstead. niatter of the moistureless midden. The tank enables 
 the farmer to lead tlie liquid directly thereto, as well as acts as a relief 
 to the midden when it is inclined to become waterlogged. And its 
 contents further enable him to distribute a most efficient quickener over 
 his dungstead when it shows signs of the want of such. The place for 
 the tank, of which we have already spoken, is one handy for the liquid 
 being pumped either into water cart or on to the midden ; account first 
 being taken, of course, how its proposed position will suit the flow of 
 the drains that will empty into it, and answer for draining into itself the 
 superfluous or overabundant moisture of the midden. Long, deep, and 
 narrow, we suggested the shape of this tank as being one more readily 
 kept out of the way, and easily, as well as more securely covered in. 
 
 Care being taken that no rainwater drains empty them- 
 Simpk Method selves into the dungstead, and no eaves-gutters near at 
 of Roofing the liand discharge therein, and further provided with a roof 
 ungstea . ^^ itself, the farmer has then full control of the midden, 
 and is therefore free to manage it according to enlightened ideas. An 
 inexpensive roof answers as well for the purpose in view — the turning 
 aside of rain — as a costly one. A corrugated iron roof is less expensive 
 than a slated one ; but cheaper still is one of wood. An ordinary board 
 roof is not usually a long liver, even when tarred or felted; but one 
 constructed as after described will last as long as an iron one without 
 assistance either from tar or felt. 
 
 The roof we refer to is called the open-board roof. The boards com- 
 posing it neither overlap nor do they touch each other. Neither do 
 they rest solid in the purlins, but on gahanized studs (hobnails or
 
 DAIRY BUILDIXGS, PIG-HOUSE, AND DUNGSTEAD. 349 
 
 tackets) driven into the latter. The secret of the long life of the boards 
 
 framed in tliis manner is the keeping of the wood surfaces apart from 
 
 eacli other. Tliere are no joints in which water can lodge and set up 
 
 decomposition. Water runs from the roof at once, and the wind is free 
 
 to whisk round e\ery board and whistle through every joint at pleasure. 
 
 Situated thus 
 
 the boarding 
 
 is under ideal 
 
 conditions for 
 
 seasoning, and 
 
 can hardly 
 
 e\er s u ff e r 
 
 se\erely from 
 
 weather. One 
 
 n a t u r a 1 1 y 
 
 thinks at first 
 
 sight that rain 
 
 must fall 
 
 through the slits between the boards, but what gets through is hardly 
 
 appreciable, not, at any rate, so far as the dungstead goes. The boards 
 
 attract the raindrops to themselves, away from the openings ; and to 
 
 safeguard the latter from water escaping down these small grooves, as 
 
 Fig. 257 shows, are formed close to the edges of the boards. 
 
 Fig. 255 represents a simple truss suitable for this class of roof. Nine 
 feet or so apart is a suitable distance to erect these at. Pillars may be 
 raised on the side walls of the dungstead for their support, and a strong 
 wallplate be carried all along the sides from one pillar to the other. 
 
 Twenty-five feet is 
 
 about wide enough for 
 a single span. More 
 than one span neces- 
 sitates centre gutters 
 and supports or pillars 
 inside the dungstead. 
 Fig. 256 shows 
 how the boards are 
 arranged in the frame- 
 work of the roof. • 
 Beyond a certain 
 length of boarding it is not ad\isable to go, because by the time the foot 
 of the boards is reached the accumulating raindrops have grown into a 
 streamlet ready on small occasion to burst its bounds and take short cut 
 through the slit on either side. But boards of a length to suit the span 
 quoted above, and laid on at an angle of 40 degrees at the eaves, do not 
 constitute conditions of a too exacting nature. Eaves-gutters may be 
 
 F\(,. 2iG.
 
 350 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 huiifjj on gahanized hooks attached to tlie boards ; or, perhaps better 
 still, be hung on hooks screwed to the wall plate. 
 
 L^ig. 257 is part of a purlin with three boards attaclied thereto, all on a 
 larger scale than the others. The purlin itself is marked a ; h represents 
 the roofing board ; c, the stud ; d, one of the wire nails that fasten the 
 boards to the purlin ; e, the slit between the boards ; and /, the side 
 
 d Q. 
 
 f 
 
 1-IG 
 
 groove in the latter. The boards used are simply the ordinary sarking 
 boards we put on preparatory to slating, nine inches by five-eighths of 
 an inch in size. Selected boards should, of course, be chosen — those 
 free of knots and flaws generally — and they should be planed on what is 
 to be the exposed side. The boards are placed about one-eighth of an 
 inch apart. Each one bears on the respective purlins on three studs 
 driven therein, and is attached to the purlin by means of four wire 
 nails, all as shown in the last Fig.
 
 CHAPTER X\'I. 
 
 THE CATTLE COURTS, THK HAY AND SHICAF SHKDS, AND THE SHEEP 
 
 FANKS. 
 
 The cattle courts (the "courtins" and "haiiimels," as tliev 
 The Cattle . , , • , ^ ,- , •' 
 
 Courts require '^-^e variously termed in places), on account ot their 
 
 a Favourable openness, need a fa\ourable situation as regards both 
 Exposure. i , i ,,-, i , , 
 
 aspect and shelter. W here we place them they are in 
 
 the best position at the homestead in these respects. They lie open to 
 
 the south-west, and have the main establishment between them and the 
 
 north-east. A good broad road separates them from the rest of the 
 
 buildings. And this being the main access to and from the fields, puts 
 
 them in easy communication either with the farm or the highway. 
 
 Although detached from the other houses, they are not so to such a 
 
 degree as hinders close enough contact between the two groups. The 
 
 cattle courts are not so very far removed from the commissariat 
 
 departments of the homestead but what, if desired, the cattle can be 
 
 catered therefrom. It is no hardship the courts being at some distance 
 
 from the straw barn. The straw as litter is usually supplied to the 
 
 courts in big quantities at a time, as much, at any rate, as will do from 
 
 one thrashing day to another, and is carted direct from the mill into the 
 
 several courts, so, under the circumstances, a few extra yards distance 
 
 cannot tell much on the labour bill. Besides, the courts can easily be 
 
 pro\'ided with storage for roots, and hay and straw, and thus be rendered 
 
 for a time almost independent of the homestead proper. There would 
 
 then remain only the cakes and meals and the cooked food to be dealt 
 
 with, which is no great hardship. The place of preparation of these, 
 
 and the place of their consumption, as here represented, are not so far 
 
 apart as to make their periodical conveyance from one to the other in 
 
 bag or in barrow a serious matter. 
 
 The number of the courts and the size of each will be 
 
 The Number J-^lgJ 5,. ^he circumstances of the farm. There may, for 
 
 and Size of -' 
 
 the Courts at instance, be more straw available than can be turned to 
 
 the Homestead .^^count for fattening cattle, and a number of stores or 
 
 ruled by the * 
 
 Amount of younger cattle may in consequence have to be kept. 
 
 ^""^.Y , , This would, of course, call for extra room both in number 
 
 Available. 
 
 of courts and in their size. But these are points that 
 need not be pressed. So much depends upon the class of cattle that are
 
 352 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 kept, the custom of the district, and so on, that what suits the require- 
 ments of one place may be considered unsatisfactory at another. Even 
 the space to allow for each occupant of the court, and what proportion 
 of the same of roofed to open tliere sliould be, it is needless to discuss. 
 Ikit the broad lines that include tlie subject are uni\ ersally applicable, 
 and thev are few, and easily followed. 
 
 Neither the framework nor the fittings of the cattle 
 
 The Con- courts are of an expensive nature. Simple and strons^ 
 
 struction of .. ^. 
 
 the Courts of are the qualifications looked for liere. It is necessary 
 
 an Inexpensive ^j^^|. ^.j^g outer walls tliat include three sides of the whole 
 Nature. 
 
 be hip^li and strong. Good rough rubble Avork is 
 
 perhaps the best. Tlie remaining barrier, the one next the other 
 buildings, is more convenient when constructed of wood. The various 
 kinds of food would be administered at this side, and wood lends itself 
 more readily than stone to convenient arrangements for this purpose. 
 Inside the block the division between shed and yard would be similar to 
 the outer walls, while those that portioned off the whole could either be 
 of wood or stone. Stone is, on the whole, the more satisfactory. Wood, 
 however, could be made to do service for a long time, more especially 
 under roof. And it lends itself more readily than the other to a remodel- 
 ling of the block, should this at any time be desired. Were the wood 
 divisions railed, they would be more serxiceable than if constructed in 
 the manner of boarding. But barriers that allow cattle to see what is 
 going on throughout the block may interfere with the well-being of the 
 animals (it will with some kinds, no doubt), and, therefore, be rather out 
 of court at places. Old railway sleepers would make a sufficiently close 
 fence for this purpose. Set up in the usual st\'le they would last a 
 considerable time, and they would effectually curb the curiosity of cattle 
 unduly disposed in that direction. But a stone fence would be cheaper 
 in the end. It would take up more room than a wood one, but space is 
 not expensive at this part of the homestead. 
 
 ,, ^-c • 1 No artificial floors are called for in connection with the 
 No artificial 
 
 Flooring cattle courts. If we except a part along the front of the 
 
 "^^ ^ " wall or partition next the road at which feeding would 
 
 take place, which in fact is hardly a part proper of the cattle courts, the 
 whole floor space of the latter is sufficiently good if it comes up to the 
 standard we laid down for that of the dungstead. Each division should 
 be constructed to retain tlie moisture that falls to its share. Accordingly, 
 therefore, the floor of each must be basined.out to a certain extent, so 
 much so that it will not spill over into other divisions, but when over- 
 charged relieve itself by way of the entrance gate. The degree of 
 hollow given to the bottom of the court wMll depend of course almost 
 entirely on the rainfall at the place. \\'here it is heavy the bottom will 
 have to be all the more scooped out. The floor of the shed had better 
 be gently inclined from all sides doorwards, and be well above the
 
 CATTLE COURTS, HAY AND SHEAF SHEDS, ETC. 353 
 
 le\el of tlie floor of the yard, so tliat it may be able to relieve itself of 
 excess of moisture in tliat direction, and be fitted to aflford a dry bed to 
 the cattle. It looks bad to see a thick brown effluent stealing away 
 from beneath the gateway of each courtyard, and it is no doubt wasteful 
 to allow this. If the courts are contrived as Ave suggest, however, there 
 will not be much of this going on. The wetness in the deep part of the 
 basin will call for additional straw, which will absorb the liquid and 
 keep it from draining outwards. It will be advisable to keep all water 
 from gaining access to the courtyards other than falls from the skies. 
 The rain that falls upon the roofed part of the court should even be 
 diverted from the yard, at least in wet districts. And water from 
 beneath must be guarded against. There must be no springs suffered 
 to contribute water to the floors of the yard. If there be such 
 within the site of the cattle courts they must be intercepted outside, 
 
 Fig. 258. 
 
 and a passage given that will prevent their doing harm in the 
 
 manner indicated. 
 
 . e V- f In Fig. 258 is gi\-en a cross-section of the cattle courts. 
 A Section of '^ -^ *=■ 
 
 a Court and The sloping bottom of the inner floor and the dished one 
 of the outer is easily observable. The roof, it will be 
 noticed, we carry beyond the side wall far enough to cover the path 
 alongside and protect it from rain. The path might further be railed 
 off from the road, which would permit fodder and other cattle foods to 
 be left secure there until wanted to feed the animals with. The section 
 shows a roof intended for slates. The open-board roof is in some 
 cases perfectly practicable, however, and so is a corrugated iron one. 
 Six feet ought to be ample height for the courtyard walls. The end 
 ones, that is the outer side wall of each of the end courts, might with 
 advantage be built a little higher, as a screen from the wind. A close- 
 boarded gate or door would be the consistent finish of the gateway into 
 the court. But Avhere the ordinary field gate is considered sufficient, 
 the one given in Fig. 259 is a more serviceable affair than the hung one, 
 more especially as there is little traffic out and in of the court this way. 
 No gate is required between shed and court, the cattle being at liberty to 
 go from one to the other, whether influenced by whim or moti\-e. Two 
 narrow communications might be better than a single wide one. They 
 
 Af H A A
 
 354 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 would make matters easier for some of the animals, at any rate. When 
 the bully came in at one opening the diffident ones could slip out by the 
 other, and should he take it into his head to lie down in the doorway, the 
 others would still have way of ingress and egress. But the one opening 
 is the more convenient when it comes to the removal of the manure. 
 And perhaps it makes the more comfortable shed. If the court and 
 shed are both of extra size, two openings might be of advantage in every 
 way, but in ordinary cases the one is sufficient. Sometimes shed and 
 court are in one, as it were, there merely being a part of the yard 
 protected from rain by means of a sort of roof or covering projecting 
 over the top of one of the walls. There is not much shelter from the 
 blast under an arrangement of this kind, however. It may do in 
 
 Fig. 259. 
 
 The Arrange- 
 ment for 
 supplying the 
 Wants of the 
 Animals in 
 the Courts. 
 
 exceptionally sheltered and mild situations, but these are few and far 
 between in our climate. 
 
 The cattle being fed from the road, the troughs and hecks 
 are arranged along that side of the shed. It is quite 
 practicable to fill both trough and heck without the 
 attendant having to enter the shed. All the same, it is 
 as w-ell to have a wicket entrance at that side. It will be 
 a handy place to get in by when a close inspection of the cattle is 
 wanted. What is even more important is its being there to allow of 
 access to clean out the troughs now and again, which it may not be easy 
 to do from the outside of the shed. It is necessary, in order to gain full 
 advantage of the shelter afforded by the shed, that this side should be 
 pretty well closed up, consequently flaps are almost essential o^■er the 
 several openings through which the food is passed inside ; and that the 
 partition be boarded close up to the roof. These flaps are generally an 
 annoyance to the attendant, but they may be dispensed with if we board 
 up or build up the barrier between the path and the road, and thus 
 make it a complete passage as part and parcel of the shed itself. When 
 this is done and doors are fitted up at either end of the passage, we may
 
 CATTLE COURTS, .HAY AND SHEAF SHEDS, ETC. 355 
 
 Food Stores 
 in Connection 
 with the 
 Courts. 
 
 L- 
 
 U-; 
 
 ~1. 
 
 Fig. 260. 
 
 then take ,t^reater liberty with the partition between it and the shed. A 
 sparred partition, such as we suggest for the bo.xes, or at any rate a 
 boarded one, would then suffice to di\ide the passage from the shed. 
 This would enable anyone to see what the cattle were after. The 
 closed-in passage would be much impro\ed, too, as a good temporary 
 store for fodder and other cattle food. 
 
 A fair-sized store for roots might be built at one end of 
 the block ; and another for fodder at the opposite end, as 
 in Fig. 260. But a better plan still, did it not mean too 
 extensive an affair, would be to widen the passage side of 
 the shed, as in Fig. 261, to such an extent that it would serve for regular 
 
 storage as well as for passage. 
 Carts could then be backed in 
 and discharged of their contents. 
 Where the courts were numerous, 
 too much room might be thrown 
 on one's hands — more, at any rate, 
 than was needed as service accom- 
 modation for the cattle courts. But 
 this might be got over by placing 
 the extra width towards the middle 
 of the range, and narrowing the 
 remaining space towards each end. 
 The widening of the shed would mean, of course, shifting the whole 
 block a little further away from the remainder of the homestead than is 
 shown on Plan I. It is as well to ha\e a good wide road here, and it 
 matters little to keep the yards 
 
 a few more feet further from the i ,— ZZ .. ^ 
 
 central department, while we are 
 making affairs easier at the side 
 where nearly all the constant 
 work in connection therewith 
 is carried on. When a con- 
 siderable number of courts 
 happened to be in demand, the 
 double arrangement, such as we show in Fig. 262, would answer well. 
 The courts still maintain the relation to the homestead we have assigned 
 them all through ; and the centre place roofed with iron gi\ es a com- 
 modious service passage and store in one, from which the cattle on either 
 hand would handily be attended to. The side walls of the sheds would 
 in this case run at right angles instead of parallel with the road, as before. 
 No light in addition to what proceeds by the openings to the yard is 
 required in the shed, but lights are needed if the shed roof is extended 
 on the other side. If merely the passage is covered and it is only railed 
 oif from the road, it will be light enough without windows. But 
 
 A .\ 2 
 
 Fig. 261.
 
 356 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 should the side of the covered passage next to the road he buih up 
 
 close, a roof light or two are then required ; and if extended to form 
 
 both passage and store-house, more in proportion must be fitted on this 
 
 mutual part of the roof. 
 
 _ , . A supply of water in the cattle courts is sometimes con- 
 
 Supplying rr J 
 
 Water in sidered essential. If it can be dispensed with, however, 
 
 the Courts. ^^^ -^ ^^.^jj clear of it. When it happens to be laid on it 
 usually leads to constant bother to the tenant. Pipes get broken at one 
 place and choked at another, and frost, should it get them under its 
 clutch, brings all to a standstill. And troughs and fittings are con- 
 tinually getting out of order. When roots are in abundance there is no 
 need for water being put before the animals. But when roots are scarce 
 and the food on that account dry, the cattle require an occasional drink. 
 It is almost a pity, however, to go to the expense of installing a water 
 supply in the courts even when water is freely available. The initial 
 
 Fui. 262. 
 
 cost will not be trifling ; and as we have been pointing out, the upkeep 
 thereafter, if not ^■ery serious, is certainly annoying. If one can be sure 
 that water will be only occasionally wanted in the courts, fitting up a 
 special supply for them would be mere waste. It could be carried to 
 the cattle at these odd times. When, however, it is likely to be almost 
 constantly wanted, the matter must be faced, and its accomplishment 
 gone about in a proper manner. Pipes and troughs are safer in the 
 shed than out in the yard. Frost, their arch enemy, has less power 
 inside than out in the open. The presence of a water trough in the shed 
 means the spilling of a certain amount of water round about it, which is 
 the worst fault we have against its introduction there. It can be so 
 arranged, however, that one trough will ser\'e two sheds. A hole in the 
 mutual wall will admit of an end of the trough being in one shed and 
 the other in the next ; and if provided w^th a ballcock there need not 
 be so much spilling and throwing about of water after all. Or the 
 trough may be let into the wall in such a manner that cattle at each 
 side of it may be able to drink therefrom without being able to butt one 
 another. This plan enables the trough to be kept flush with the two 
 sides of the wall, doing away with projecting corners in the respective 
 sheds. Wlien it is decided to dispense with water pipes inside the
 
 CATTLE COURTS, HAY AND SHEAF SHEDS, ETC. 357 
 
 courts, we would prefer to fix up the trouj^dis intended for an occasional 
 
 supply out in the open courts, somewhere against the end Avails. A hole 
 
 in the wall and a sort of hopper or filler apparatus would make it quite 
 
 easy to fill the trough from the outside, either out of water barrel or 
 
 bucket. And here, as inside, one trough might, in somewhat similar 
 
 manner, be made to supply two courts. 
 
 The Fittings '^'^^ fittings of the shed are not of great moment, not as 
 
 of the Court regards expense, we mean. They are of moment as well 
 
 as those of the other buildings we have gone through, 
 
 but almost solely from the point of economical working. The 
 
 courts need none beyond some outer gate or door already referred 
 
 to. And in the shed, if we except the front barrier, there are merely 
 
 the troughs and the hecks to provide. Either one or two troughs 
 
 common to all is the usual arrangement here. It depends on where 
 
 we place the door or wicket between shed and feeding passage whether 
 
 we make the trough in two or in one. If we place the wicket at either 
 
 side of the shed the trough may then be continuous ; but we prefer to 
 
 place it in the middle, therefore the trough is divided in two equal parts. 
 
 If we are to have an opening at this side at all it is better, we consider, 
 
 to place it thus, and thereby make matters pleasanter to the cattle. 
 
 They will get along all the friendlier and jostle each other less when 
 
 there are two troughs in place of one, e\en though it be a long one 
 
 indeed. Wood is the common material out of which the trough is made. 
 
 Stone is sometimes used. But here again glazed fireclay is superior to 
 
 either. It is to be had in lengths with open ends, which can be butted 
 
 closely together. Any length of trough can thus be put together. 
 
 Pieces with closed ends are manufactured to go with these when 
 
 desired. An end piece can, if wished, be dispensed with next the wall 
 
 at either side, but bordering the gap at the wicket end pieces 
 
 would be necessary. 
 
 _, _, ,. It is open to have the troughs laid upon pillars, or on a 
 The Troughs. . ^ . . ^ r r ' 
 
 solid built bed running the whole length of the trough, 
 just as one thinks fit. It is not practicable to have a trough of this 
 description made to slide up and down in accordance with the amount 
 of straw that comes to be trodden underfoot by the cattle. Wooden 
 troughs may be so arranged that this can be done. But we question 
 the need of such a proceeding. The troughs may be put up a little 
 higher than usual. This, if perhaps a rather awkward looking arrange- 
 ment to begin with, is daily impro\ing as the tramped down straw 
 accumulates. By the end of the season the cattle may find the trough 
 as low set as it was high when they were ushered into their winter 
 quarters, but this is a less inconvenient state of matters than the 
 former, cattle, as we remarked in a previous chapter when discussing 
 a similar subject, being accustomed to pick up their food from about 
 the level of their feet.
 
 358 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The fodder rack or lieck is easily made moxable, if this is 
 R k considered advisable. The latter plan, howe\er, is to 
 
 ha\e it a fixture, because fixed fittings are both simpler 
 to make and they last longer. \\'e prefer it fixed above the trough on 
 account of its being more easily filled there from the feeding passage 
 than it could be anywhere else. If placed against either of the side 
 partitions, or against the side or outer wall of the shed, all fodder would 
 have to be carried into the shed before the heck could be reached. But 
 placed as we suggest very little of either trouble or time is taken in 
 replenishing it from the feeding passage. The fodder can be filled in 
 with the hay-fork direct from the heap lying in the passage or store, or 
 from the barrow as it is brought along the covered path. 
 
 Fig. 263 represents the elevation of a boarded barrier between 
 passage and shed, assuming that the sheds are erected in such a 
 manner as to admit the barrier being comparatively fragile and open 
 
 Fig. 263. 
 
 in structure, without fear of the cattle suffering from the exposure which 
 such a method implies. It can be kept close as high up as will prevent 
 the cattle seeing what takes place in the passage side thereof ; and 
 above that be merely sparred, or it may be boarded up the full height, 
 as we show. It may indeed, if wished, in some places be left open 
 altogether above trough level without prejudice to the cattle enclosed. 
 When the doors of the passage or store are closed, the cattle are as 
 completely shut off from draught at that side of the shed as if the 
 barrier was carried up as a close partition to the roof. 
 
 The wicket may be of open construction, or a door may 
 Gafe °^^^ ^^^^^ '^^^ place if considered more suitable. A wicket 
 
 that one can see through might be allowed in the 
 boarded barrier, for all the width of view it would afford (two feet or 
 two-and-a-half at the most, being meant only for occasional use by the 
 attendant or the farmer) would hardly tend to distract the cattle which 
 happened to gain a peep thenceforth. 
 
 A slide or hopper arrangement for guiding food into the troughs 
 when delivered from the passage is an essential fitting at that side of 
 the barrier. Each trough requires a thing of the kind, and it nuist 
 be carried along the whole length of tlie same. I5ut it is a simple
 
 CATTLE COURTS, FLAY AND SHEAF SHEDS, ETC. 359 
 
 contrivance, only an inclined shelf or board supported on brackets on 
 
 which the contents of bucket, box, or basket can l)e emptied with the 
 
 assurance that they will find their way into the trough in the shed. 
 
 The kind of '^"ch are the simple fittings of the cattle courts. Rough 
 
 Timber that unplaned wood is quite good enough for the timbered 
 may be used , -... .... 7 - 
 
 in the Con- parts. Here, mdeed, is the first part of the homestead 
 
 struction of where estate-grown timber can, we consider, be used to 
 the Shed. , ^ , , ,, , 
 
 advantage ; and we have all but completed our round 
 
 of the buildings. If matured and well-seasoned it matters not 
 
 much what kind of wood it is — oak or sweet chestnut among the 
 
 hardwoods for posts ; and larch, Scots pine, spruce, or silver fir 
 
 among the soft woods for boarding (the former two for either). But if 
 
 neither well-grown nor properly seasoned, it had better be used for 
 
 firewood than put to the purpose indicated. If the estate on which the 
 
 homestead is being erected is one of the larger sort, and is well planted 
 
 and well manned, there can surely be no difficulty in turning out some 
 
 suitable wood for finishing the interior of the cattle courts. We do 
 
 not advocate its use in the framework of the roof (though even that is 
 
 also capable of accomplishment), but only for the rough fittings we 
 
 have been referring to. 
 
 T,, TT J In the construction of the hay and sheaf sheds, which are 
 
 1 ne nay and -^ ' 
 
 Sheaf Sheds: the next erections to claim our attention, we come to 
 
 lA^'^^j^^i?^?- another set in which it is quite practicable, to a consider- 
 Wood effective ^ '^ 
 
 as Pillar or able extent, to make use of estate-grown timber. Larch 
 or Scots pine make excellent posts for these sheds. So, 
 of course, does oak; and perhaps sweet chestnut might do too, but we 
 cannot speak from experience on that head. Larch and Scots pine 
 have this advantage over the others, that if the trees selected be sound 
 and well grown, and are seasoned somewhat, the trunks can be used as 
 posts just as they grew. It is sufficient to strip them of their bark, and 
 erect them in the positions they are intended to occupy. The outer skin 
 of wood soon hardens, and if the trees happen to be straight and regular in 
 taper, we have a range of cokunns far pleasanter to look at than cast-iron 
 ones. They are better fitted, too, to stand the hard knocks that these sort 
 of erections have occasionally to put up with. A wood post is quite capable 
 of standing a knock from a cart that would fracture a cast-iron column, or 
 bend a rolled one. And it is a simple matter to fix them up in such a way 
 that they will be subject alone to the gradual forces that induce decay in 
 timber. By the exercise of a little precaution to keep them dry at ground 
 level, there is not much danger of rot attacking them at any other part. 
 They could be fixed to heavy stones sitting clear of the ground, and in 
 this way kept clear of stagnant dampness at bottom. \\'ere we to do this, 
 however, they would then serve as mere carriers of the dead weight of 
 the roof; they would offer no resistance to side pressure, and a stiff wind 
 might upset the shed. Side stays would be required to counteract this
 
 36o THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 weakness. But these, to be of much use, must project far out, which 
 means their being in the way. If we sink the posts three or four feet in 
 the ground, however, the shed will not upset so long as they hold tlieir 
 own. Sinking them unprotected in the ground means a short life to the 
 parts at and near the surface, for there tliey are certain to give way very 
 soon to decay. If the underground part be embedded in and surrounded up 
 to a little abo\e ground level by a good body of concrete, it will last as 
 long as the rest of the stick. But the end that stands in the concrete must 
 be dry and thoroughly seasoned, otherwise it may easily succumb to rot. 
 Should oak be chosen for the posts, it is not practicable to use the 
 trunks in their natural form. There is always a large proportion of 
 unmatured wood on the outer circumference of the stem of the oak, so 
 that, if the naked trunk be set up exposed to weather, this decays, 
 leaving, however, the ripe wood of the centre untouched. This inner 
 part — the well-known heart of oak — will stand the weather undaunted 
 for a long time. Many of us are familiar with old ship timbers that 
 have done duty as gate posts as long as we can remember, and 
 apparently little the worse for wear whether in or out of the ground. 
 If w-e set up the oak stems as posts, the unmatured wood we have referred 
 to will keep mouldering away ; at some parts quicker than others, but 
 the posts will go on reducing in size until the ripe wood is reached. 
 There can be no assured stability of the erection under these circum- 
 stances. The post may soon become loose in its setting, and matters 
 thus be aggravated by water getting down between the wood and the 
 concrete ; and other pieces of the structure that may be attached to it 
 are liable to become loose too. Instead, therefore, of allowing natural 
 causes to remove the outer casing of imperfect timber from the post, 
 thereby, as we are pointing out, endangering the strength of the building, 
 it is necessary to remove this source of danger before we set up oak 
 posts as pillars of support to the hay or slieaf shed. This implies a 
 much thicker tree to begin with than would be required were we deal- 
 ing with larch or Scots pine. The oak trunk would have to be run 
 through the uprights in the saw mill before the sap wood could be got 
 rid of, and by the time this was effectually done the trunk would be 
 considerably reduced in section. But once the bone was well exposed, 
 we have then a subject that is well qualified for the position we are 
 assigning to it. The same applies, though in lesser degree, to the sweet 
 chestnut. On many English estates it is turned extensively to fencing 
 purposes, which speaks well for its weather-resisting properties. This 
 is a tree, howexer, that is hardly representati\'e enough on Scottish 
 estates to be taken into account in the present connection. The larch 
 and the native pine ripen their wood as the concentric layers become 
 deposited ; at any rate they keep better.up to date in this respect than 
 the oak, and we can safely use them as posts in their natural form, 
 Avithout the risk that is run in doinj? likewise with the other tree.
 
 CATTLE COURTS, HAY AND SHEAF SHEDS, ETC. 361 
 
 The side posts or columns of the shed are, as we have 
 the^Posts.^ ° ^^^^' l^etter to be sunk in the ground about three or four 
 
 feet. Set up in this manner the posts make the erection 
 quite stable enough without the aid of cumbersome side stays. If tlie 
 concrete by which the ends of the posts are surrounded is continued till 
 well clear of the ground, there is little chance of damp causing harm to 
 the wood at this critical part. It is there, we repeat, rot first begins on 
 the post that is set in the ground without a safeguard such as concrete. 
 As a rule the part of the post that is farthest in the ground keeps best. 
 It will be wetter there than nearer the top, but is further removed from 
 air, and it is the two together which induce rapid decay. At a point 
 just beneath the surface the post is neither very wet nor is it dry, and 
 air has almost full effect upon it. There it is, therefore, that the sunk 
 part first succumbs to decay. The air and the moisture combined are 
 too much for the woody fibre to cope with, and decomposition sets in. 
 But with concrete to sit upon, and surrounded by the same as described, 
 the buried end of the post is kept clear of the damp earth, and out of 
 harm's way therefrom. Were it not set on as well as in concrete, the 
 end of the post would be in contact with the ground, and damp would 
 be free, under certain circumstances, to ascend among the fibres of the 
 wood. It might be long before this brought harm to the part invohed, 
 but the slight precaution of having a little concrete underneath the end 
 of the post is worth taking in order to make sure on that head, and so 
 leave nothing to chance. 
 
 The height the shed is to be will depend, of course, on 
 
 Height of |-j^g length of the available posts. Assuming we are to 
 
 the Sheds. ^ '^. ^ , 
 
 make the shed fourteen feet high to the underside of the 
 
 wallplate, this means posts eighteen feet long. It is needless to say 
 
 that this implies some shapely trees if we are to be supplied from the 
 
 estate, a condition which will bear a little heavily on the rather slipshod 
 
 methods of sylviculture prevailing on the average class of estate. It is 
 
 an advantage, however, to keep the roof well up. Adding to the height is 
 
 proportionately far less expensive than increasing the length of the shed. 
 
 Sixteen or even eighteen feet is not too great a height for the side of the 
 
 shed. The sheaf shed, it is true, has a limit above which it is not very 
 
 practicable to go, seeing the sheaves have to be pitched up by means of 
 
 hand forks. It is different, however, with the hay shed, for by the 
 
 aid of a horse fork it is competent to lift half a cart load or so at 
 
 once, and run it along suspended from the roof to the part that is 
 
 being filled up at the time. 
 
 The width of the shed, whether meant for the storage of 
 
 sheaves or of hay, is ruled as much by the weather that 
 
 prevails in the district as anything else. If the, climate be a moist one 
 
 neither corn nor hay will suffer to be put together in the same bulk it 
 
 is feasible to pack them where the air is dry, and crops are nearly
 
 362 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 always easy to win. From sixteen to twenty-two feet runs tlie width 
 of these barns. It is exident that the broader tlie sheds are, no matter 
 -what the heiglit is, the greater is their stability. But a shed of this kind, 
 if well put together, can defy wind pretty effectually. It is when empty 
 that they are put to the greatest stress. \\'hen the shed is filled up the 
 wind has no separate part to lay hold of, but when empty, or partially 
 so, the tendency of the wind is to lift the roof from its attachment and 
 overthrow it. But with the posts secured in the ground in the manner 
 described, and the wallplate firmly attached to these, and the frame- 
 work of the roof in turn well fastened to the wallplate, the shed, 
 whether full or empty, can with confidence be left to hold its own 
 with the stififest of gales. 
 
 These buildings are for the most part roofed either with 
 
 galvanized corrugated iron or with wood and slate. The 
 
 wood or the iron pillar is suitable for both kinds of roof. Our preference 
 
 is for the wood pillar when there is a pick of trees to be had. \\'hen it 
 
 comes to buying the pillars, howe\er, the price ought to rule the selection 
 
 of the material. It is quite competent to build brick pillars when the roof 
 
 is to be slated ; and in some situations these may be cheaper than either 
 
 wood or iron ones. If built fourteen-and-a-half inches thick and, say, 
 
 two or two-and-a-half feet broad, they would be quite strong ; and were 
 
 the corner bricks rounded off or "bullnosed," the pillars would look neat 
 
 and tradesman-like. The brick pillar is not so well adapted to the iron 
 
 roof. The latter is so light, and, therefore, so easily uplifted by the 
 
 wind when in dangerous mood, that it requires to be bound down 
 
 firmly to the pillars. The slated roof is so much heavier that its own 
 
 weight alone is almost enough to hold it steadily in position. Even it, 
 
 however, requires more or less firm attachment to the pillars. If the 
 
 latter are of wood it is sufficient that the wallplate be well spiked to 
 
 them ; and the couples or rafters being fastened to the wallplate, the 
 
 whole erection is tlius kept bound together. It is easier, however, to 
 
 make a firm attachment between the wallplate and the wood or iron 
 
 pillar than the brick one. There are many Avays of fastening it to 
 
 either of the former two, but the only practical way to secure the 
 
 wallplate to the brick pillar is to build in a bolt in the centre of the 
 
 pillar. This, terminating at the free end in a screw and nut, enables 
 
 the wallplate to be screwed tight down on the heads of the pillars. 
 
 But the cross-section of the pillar is not so large in area as to afford 
 
 much weiglit or much resistance to a snapping force. It is different 
 
 when a bolt of this kind is built in a wall. We then have a strong 
 
 point of resistance against both a lifting and a pushing-over pressure. 
 
 Considering the weight of tlie slated roof, however, such strength of 
 
 attachment as we are able to obtain from the bolt built in the pillar is in its 
 
 case ample to give the necessary degree of stability. But it is different 
 
 witli the iron roof. It needs a firmer anchorage than the bolt in tlie brick
 
 CATTLE COURTS, HAY AND SHEAF SHEDS, ETC. 363 
 
 pillar yields. Roof, wallplate, and all will on occasion be ri\en away from 
 the posts, if the attachment is not of the firmest kind. 
 
 If the posts be set up at twelve feet apart ample room is thus allowed 
 for the getting in and out of loaded carts, and for the running in of rick 
 
 Fig. 264. 
 
 lifters with their loads direct from the fields. The height of the shed 
 and its breadth will, as we have said, be ruled by local circumstances. 
 Nine inches by three is, perhaps, as small a scantling for the wallplate 
 as it is advisable to use. With the posts at twelve feet apart the wall- 
 plate is given a good space to bridge over, more, indeed, in the case of 
 
 Fig. 265. 
 
 the slated roof than it is right to subject them to, unless they are sup- 
 ported by side struts, as in Fig. 264. The struts are advantageous, if not, 
 indeed, necessary, even in the instance of the iron roof. Its own weiglit
 
 364 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 is sufficient to cause it to sa<^ down a little between the posts ; and 
 
 besides counteracting this, the struts help considerably towards holding 
 
 the wallplate down firmly. 
 
 A„ • » » It is a most important matter to keep the roof as clear of 
 
 An important '^ ^ 
 
 projecting ties and stififeners as possible. These are much 
 in the way when it comes to filling up the upper tiers 
 either of sheaves or hay, and they prevent the use of the 
 horse fork in filling the shed. In Fig. 265 we show an 
 excellent form of roof girder (the one in connection with Fig. 264), 
 
 Point is to 
 keep the Roof 
 as clear of 
 Ties as 
 possible. 
 
 « 
 
 Fig. 2fJ6. 
 
 which serves to keep the shed entirely clear of all impediments such as 
 we refer to. It is of T angle malleable iron, three inches by two inches 
 by three-eighths of an inch, and wrought to the form the roof is intended 
 to take. One of these sits over each opposite pair of posts. They are 
 fitted with plates, by Avhich they are screwed firmly to the wallplate. 
 And to further strengthen each there is a supplementary girder fitted 
 under the crown of the main one, the two held together by a central 
 fishplate and two gussets of three-sixteenths-of-an-inch steel plate. 
 This, we consider, can easily be dispensed with in narrowish spans. 
 
 
 '^St^^S'i'i^^s-rr:-' 
 
 The one depicted is for a shed twenty-two feet in width. The purlins, 
 three inches by two inches or so, bear on the girders, being screwed 
 thereto, and to them and the wallplates in turn are screwed down the 
 sheets of galvanized iron. In passing, we may remark that no less a 
 gauge of sheet than twenty-two should be used for circular roofs. 
 One of twenty we would prefer ; and for ridge or pitched roofs we 
 would advocate the same.
 
 CATTLE COURTS, HAY AND SHEAF SHEDS, ETC. 365 
 
 The circular roof, of which this is a representative, is, in our opinion, 
 superior to the ridge roof for shedding in which shea\'es and hay are to 
 
 T/i/j End 
 dad fa £aves 
 
 15 O' 
 
 Elevation'. 
 Fig. 268. 
 
 be stored. The circular roof gives much more headroom than the 
 
 .LI PURLIN 
 
 Elliptical 
 Eaves Girders 
 
 v.////////////'. INTERMEDIATE CROSS 5ECTI0N-%^'^^^, 
 Fig. 269. 
 
 Other, and enables the shed with ease to be filled almost up to the 
 centre part of the roof.
 
 366 
 
 TFIE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 The Iron 
 Pi]lar. 
 
 3 h Steel 
 
 The round iron column, when used, is generally bolted to 
 a hea\ y stone at the base. At the top of the column 
 there is usually a broad flange, upon which the wallplate 
 
 can get a good bearing and be screwed down to ; and lug pieces are 
 
 formed on it for the support of struts 
 
 with which to stiffen the wallplate. 
 
 H angle-iron is now common as a pillar 
 
 of this kind. They are usually set in 
 
 concrete, after the manner of the wood 
 
 post as described. The concrete pro- 
 tects the buried end from rust, at the 
 
 same time gi^■ing it increased weight 
 
 and stability. It has no need to be 
 
 sunk so far in the ground as the Avood 
 
 post. All we want is to give it a sure 
 
 foundation. It is impracticable to attach 
 
 it to a flat stone on the surface, as we 
 
 do with the round column ; in place of 
 
 this we sink it in a concrete block 
 
 embedded in the ground. The angle- 
 iron column has less adaptability for 
 
 attachment to the wallplate. Some sort 
 
 of flange has to be fitted to it in order 
 
 that the two may be securely joined 
 
 together. A column of this sort is, in 
 
 factj better adapted to a barn or shed 
 
 that is wholly constructed of iron. 
 
 n,.r^^r.^ Figs. 266 and 267 are 
 
 Common c> / 
 
 Types of common types of shed, 
 
 ^ ^" all of iron The arrange- 
 
 ment of the roof supports are against 
 its utility, however. But the manu- 
 facturers of these are beginning [to recognize this, as Figs. 268, 269, 
 and 270 manifest. This shed, as manufactured by Messrs. Main, 
 Glasgow, seems almost to have reached the limit of cheapness with 
 efficiency. It can be erected for about £\ a running foot, in 
 accordance with the distance which the materials have to be sent, 
 and the amount of sheeting or lining placed on the ends and along 
 the sides of the erection. 
 
 Our preference inclines, however, to the composite shed — the one 
 partly of wood and partly of iron. We prefer to have it all of wood, 
 excepting the roof proper — wood posts, wood wallplate, wood purlins, 
 and wood lining ; the only iron parts being the girders, the roofing 
 sheets, and the eaves-gutters and drop pipes. The wood posts lend 
 themsehes very readily to the fixing up of lining and the putting in of 
 
 Column and End of Roof- 
 girder ENLARGED. 
 
 Fig. 270.
 
 CATTLE COURTS, HAY AND SHEAF SHEDS, ETC. 367 
 
 supports, and so on, and can stand a bump without much ado ; and to 
 
 us a shed of this kind ne\er looks so harsh and out of place as the 
 
 complete iron aftair. If the wood posts have to be bought, very efficient 
 
 ones can be made out of either pitch pine or red pine, say, nine inches 
 
 l)y four-and-a-half inches, which, if hxed as abo\e suggested, lea\e 
 
 little to be desired. 
 
 The Slated I'le slated shed is usually hampered with the roofing 
 
 Shed usually timbers overhead. One with the roof framed in the 
 
 hampered with . . 
 
 roofing ordmary manner, as m Fig, 271, is xevy unsuitable, as 
 
 Timbers. interfering seriously with the axailable head room. A 
 
 principal roof, with the trusses bearing on the opposite pairs of 
 
 pillars, is generally the adopted plan. But the resulting tie is both 
 
 a source of annoyance when the shed is being filled and a source 
 of danger to the stability of the shed when it is standing full. If the 
 shed is filled well up to the roof, it is almost impossible to keep the 
 sheaves or hay clear of the tie, and as the stufl begins to settle down great 
 stress is at times brought to bear on these ties, much to the detriment 
 of the erection. The section in Fig. 272, which shows a modification 
 of the couple truss, affords a class of roof that is less apt to come 
 under this risk. Its tendency, however, is to thrust out the Avallplate 
 but if the several pieces constituting the truss be firmly bolted together, 
 and the pillars be made stable, this can be fairly well counteracted 
 Comparing either of the last sections with the previous sorts depicting
 
 368 
 
 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 tlie circular type of roof, brings clearly home to one the truth of our 
 remark that the latter gi\es more storage room than the other. The 
 men's heads are bumping against the roofing-boards of the ridge roof, 
 unless almost on the \ery centre thereof, long before wall head level is 
 reached. The rounded roof gives far more freedom in this respect, and 
 can be filled nearly to the iron slieets with a minimum of work on all 
 fours. Figs. 270 and 271 serve also to demonstrate the advantage of 
 
 sinking the posts in the ground o\ex setting them on stones and falling 
 back on side stays for their support. 
 
 .,.,,- . A little ventilation is almost essential in the roof of the 
 A little Venti- 
 lation in the shed, especially if it be an iron one ; but it must be of 
 Roof beneficial. g^,,j^ a nature that snow cannot drift into the shed 
 thereby. A sheet here and there may, by the aid of washers, be so 
 raised a little aboAC the others that a slight draught may be induced, 
 and yet rain and snow be refused entrance. 
 
 ^ ^ Eaves-gutters and conductors are clearly essential. It 
 
 Eaves-Gutters " -^ 
 
 and Conduc- would never do to allow the roof water to run down the 
 tors essential, ^i^y ^^^ straw. This occurs in the case of the rick, but 
 the thatch yields it gradually, while the slates and the iron sheets run it 
 oflf at once. Moreover, the contents of the shed are not usually so well 
 stowed as those of the rick, and the exterior of the one may not therefore 
 be so able to ward off the aggressive attacks of wind-impelled water, 
 consisting not only of rain pure and simple, but with drippings from 
 the roof in addition. 
 
 ^, , . . , In nearly every case the shed is lined down a foot or so 
 The Lining of -^ •' ,,,.., 
 
 Parts of the from the eaves, and round the gable ends m unison, the 
 
 Shed. ^Qp5 Qf ^i^g latter to wallplate level being, of course, 
 
 closed in whether or not. This lining at the eaves is almost a 
 
 necessity, because as the contents of the shed settle down into smaller
 
 CATTLE COURTS, HAY AND SHEAF SHEDS, ETC. 369 
 
 bulk an open space is apt to show below the wallplate. This does not 
 matter so much in the case of hay, although even as regards it rain and 
 snow may be blown in at the vacant places referred to ; but with sheaves, 
 birds, as well as barn-door fowls, are not slow to avail themselves of the 
 opportunity thereby afforded of gaining both shelter and food. In 
 exposed districts it is usual to see one side and both ends of the hay- 
 sheds completely boarded up ; in the case of iron sheds these are usually 
 lined with corrugated sheets. The Ayrshire farmer very often has his 
 hay shed completely closed in, entrance thereto being gained by means 
 of large doors. If hay is being daily taken from the shed, there is 
 certainly less waste under an arrangement of this sort ; and tramps are 
 prevented taking free quarters in the place at will. It is unnecessary 
 to put this extra expense on the corn sheds. If they are kept right 
 about the eaves in the manner suggested, they need nothing further in 
 respect of lining or enclosing. Sheaf sheds are not yet, however, much 
 in evidence at our homesteads. We are bound to see more of them ere 
 long. As we remarked towards the setting out of our present work, 
 labour is now becoming so scarce that the building of sheaves into ricks 
 and the after thatching of these is yearly growing a greater strain upon 
 the resources at the command of the farmer. The erection of a series 
 of these sheds on the lines indicated above, means a considerable addi- 
 tion to the cost of a homestead ; but it is one, we suspect, that will have 
 to be faced before very long, whoever has to shoulder the burden, whether 
 it be the landowner himself or he and the tenant between them. A lighter 
 and less substantial affair than we have been advocating might do for the 
 storage of sheaves. What we have been dealing with is more for hay than 
 for sheaves. North country farmers can do with a narrower shed for 
 corn than is required for hay. One, say, 16 feet wide could be erected 
 for a good deal less money than another 22 feet wide. With pillars 
 at 12 feet apart, a wallplate 6i inches by 2 inches, a T angle girder 
 in one piece, three purlins 2^ by i^ inches, and sheets of 22 gauge, an 
 efficient yet effective shed would be the result. But once either our 
 farm implement manufacturers or the makers of hay and sheaf sheds 
 become alive to the demand for such an article, we may perhaps 
 see something developed on the lines of a movable shed or barn for 
 the storage of sheaves. 
 
 With regard to the position of the hay and sheaf sheds 
 The Position of , , ,,.,.. , 
 
 the Sheds rela- ^^ ^he homestead, their place is, of course, near to where 
 
 live to the their respective contents are to be disposed of. The site 
 
 of the sheaf sheds we have already referred to under the 
 
 head of the thrashing floor. Where we show them on the different 
 
 Plans, they are handy either for the farm mill or for the itinerant 
 
 thrasher. It is not so easy to locate the hay shed. At most places, in 
 
 fact, it is, as we have already noted, more convenient to have two sheds 
 
 instead of one of their combined capacity. Dairy cows, if they form 
 
 M.H. B B
 
 370 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 part of the live stock, consume a large amount of hay of one kind or 
 another, and almost need a shed to themselves ; at least it would be a 
 saving of labour were the hay shed placed nearer to the byres than to 
 the stable. The cows consume more than the horses, therefore more 
 has to be carried to the former, and the nearer the shed is to them 
 there is all the less labour spent in that operation. It may be different 
 when all the hay is chopped before it is given to both cattle and 
 horses. Then the proper place for the shed is somewhere near 
 to the chaff-cutter. At the dairy farm proper, however, meadow 
 hay is saved for the cows and given whole. In a case of this 
 kind, therefore, it is the better plan to let the cows have a shed 
 to themselves, and the horses another, A smallish one may 
 serve the horses' wants. 
 
 There can hardly be much need, one would think, for 
 of Shedding other kinds of shedding about the homestead. We have 
 at the been dealing pretty freely, we consider, in the matter of 
 
 accommodation for farm stock, alive as well as dead. 
 Any tenant who gets what we have laid out for him in the past pages 
 need not grudge the expense of any additional casual room he may think 
 necessary in his special case, and we can safely, without blame to our- 
 selves, leave him to his own resources in this connection. 
 Conveniences before we finish, however, we think it but right to say 
 for the hand- something more on the head of conveniences for the 
 ing o eep. i^a.ndling of sheep stock. In discussing the implement 
 shed we pointed out how it was feasible to turn it to account occasion- 
 ally for this purpose— at clipping time and for dipping. But there are 
 other occasions on which the sheep, if a breeding stock be kept, have to 
 be mustered and examined individually, a process that cannot well be 
 conducted within a building. The ewes and lambs have to be gathered 
 together not long after the birth of the latter, in order that the little ones 
 may be subjected to the mild mutilations that follow on their domestica- 
 tion. Again, when the weaning season has come round, dam and 
 offspring have once more to be penned for close inspection and 
 assortment into classes of different sex and quality. At other times the 
 ewes themselves have to be collected and graded, and otherwise dealt 
 with as the management of sheep renders necessary. Operations of this 
 nature cannot very well, as we have said, be carried out in such close 
 quarters as an ordinary building affords. Plenty of room is required 
 within the muster ground proper, but connected therewith must be 
 numerous pens in which the sheep can be closely packed, so as to be 
 easily within reach of one's hand. And these pens must be so arranged 
 that each can be made to communicate as desired with one or more of 
 the others. Without convenience of this sort it is, of course, utterly 
 impossible to handle a large sheep stock in the manner dictated by gocd 
 management.
 
 CATTLE COURTS, HAY AND SHEAF SHEDS, ETC. 
 
 This mustering place of the sheep is termed by the 
 lAhe ^^"^^'" ^^^P^^^^ the "fanks." But before we go further 
 Mustering with their description and suitable mode of erection, 
 it will make matters easier if we show a plan of a 
 suitable place of the kind. We represent one in 
 There is first the collecting court (the figure shows one 
 
 Place of the 
 Sheep. 
 
 Fi 
 
 273- 
 
 at each end, which is, 
 perhaps, a little extra^•a- 
 gant), which requires to 
 be of a considerable 
 size. The sheep are not 
 handled in it, therefore 
 there is no use in crowd- 
 ing them unduly. It is 
 only when we want to 
 be able to touch and 
 closely inspect the animals 
 at our leisure that they 
 need to be packed a 
 little tight. One can 
 then follow up any in- 
 dividual sheep without 
 much exertion, and if 
 thought necessary draw 
 it out from the others 
 and place it in a separate 
 pen. Without some 
 arrangement of the kind 
 it is, in fact, impossible 
 to deal thoroughly with 
 a large flock ; and a 
 well-planned and commo- 
 dious one makes matters 
 easier, both to man and 
 sheep. The work of in- 
 spection and assortment 
 can be gone about in 
 suitable enclosures at a 
 minimum of bustle and 
 
 GATHERING 
 COlJS^T 
 
 r h 
 
 PLti 
 
 
 
 *lll/ 
 
 
 PEt^ 
 
 
 ^LltY 
 
 PE^f 
 
 c^Tl-^ER,lNG 
 
 COURT 
 
 Fig, 273. 
 
 noise on the part of the men, and of hustling and terror on the part 
 of the sheep ; not to speak of the Acry subsidiary place the fussy 
 dogs have then to take, much to the peace of mind of the operators 
 and to steadiness of nerve of the operated upon. In touch with 
 the outer enclosure are the various pens which are needed for the 
 assortment and separation of the sheep. At the majority of places — 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 at nearly all the hill farms, we may say — the clipper forms an 
 adjunct of the tanks. Its position will of course be where likely 
 to be most convenient. In not a few cases, indeed, clipping also 
 takes place at the fanks, which means either that they are supple- 
 mentary to the hill farm homestead, or, if at a distance from it, 
 that there are some sheds erected in connection therewith. These 
 are points, however, that are settled in accordance with local cir- 
 cumstances, and do not lend themselves to be dogmatized about. 
 But a good set of fanks is a great boon, no matter whether in close 
 connection with buildings or standing alone. A less complicated 
 set of enclosures answers the end on the arable farm because the 
 lowland sheep are more domesticated and easier handled than their 
 wilder fellows that gain a living on moor and mountain side. Some 
 of the buildings can, as we have seen, be used on some occasions for 
 the mustering of the sheep ; and for the other occasions on which they 
 have to be penned a very modified series of enclosures, compared with 
 the fanks proper, answers the end. 
 
 The Fence ^^^^ fence enclosing the collecting court — the outer corral 
 
 of the outer of the ranche — is, perhaps, as suitable when in the form of 
 nc osure. ^ dry-stone dyke or wall as any other. It needs to be of a 
 
 fair height if hill sheep are to be gathered and retained within the court. 
 Both the Blackface and tlie Cheviot are nimble, and if they have been 
 allowed to acquire the bad habit of scaling fences, which they very soon 
 do where the dykes are suffered to become dilapidated, it then requires 
 a very high one, even if pretty plumb and built regular, to keep an old 
 ewe within bounds. And if one gets over, many others will follow 
 suit ; they will try, at any rate. A wire fence, or a post-and-rail one of 
 medium height (say three-and-a-half feet), will restrain these active 
 breeds of sheep better than a rough dyke five or five-and- a-half feet 
 high. But the dyke has the advantage of preventing the sheep from 
 seeing beyond the court and thereby adding to their distraction. They 
 settle a little better when unable to see the paths to freedom at the other 
 side of the fence. 
 
 The wall needs to be more smoothly faced on the inner side than 
 usually falls to the lot of the dyke. There must be no ends of through- 
 bands left sticking out to show what they are. These would hurt the 
 sheep when squeezed against the wall by their fellows in some frantic 
 rush. Pains must, in short, be taken to build the inner side of the wall 
 as smooth and free of projecting points and corners of stone as possible. 
 These, as well as the throughband ends, while apt to injure the sheep, 
 are at the same time so many points of vantage to any of them that are 
 prepared to scale the obstacle. A ewe well practised in that sort of 
 work will run sideways at a rough wall, making use of the projecting 
 stones, and thus surmount what she would be helpless in undertaking 
 were it built without any projections that could afford her foothold for
 
 CATTLE COURTS, HAY AND SHEAF SHEDS, ETC. 373 
 
 the moment. To point the joints of the inner face of the wall is in 
 
 many cases worth the expense it involves. 
 
 A wall is not a suitable fence, however, for the smaller 
 
 The Pen enclosures. Pens divided by means of dykes become 
 
 Divisions. ■' _ ■' 
 
 close and stuffy when filled with sheep. No air can get 
 
 in amongst them, and the thick-coated animals suffer in consequence. 
 Open partitions, such as those of wood and wire, and post and rail, allow 
 air to play through them, and in this respect have a very distinct 
 advantage over the dyke. Best of all is a fence after the description of 
 those we see in our large public cattle markets. They have no pro- 
 jecting parts, such as the posts that distinguish the two just referred to. 
 But they are rather expensive for the farm. The posts are no doubt a 
 drawback to the efficiency of both the wire and the wood fence. It is 
 possible, however, at a little extra cost, to qualify that disadvantage 
 simply by doubling the fence, having wires or rails on both sides of the 
 posts. This need not be done at all parts. Only those w^here sheep are 
 liable to be pushed against need such protection, although when one 
 looks closely into the matter there are few parts of the fanks where this 
 does not occur. 
 
 The post-and-rail fence is superior to the post-and-wire fence in this 
 connection. It does not yield so much to pressure, and a sheep pressed 
 against a 4-inch flat rail is not so liable to derive harm as one jammed 
 hard against thin wires. A fank fitted up with posts and rails, the latter 
 doubled where necessar}^ and chamfered at the edges, forms an ideal 
 one. The sheep get the benefit of all the air that is going, and the 
 shepherds, without having to climb over obstructions, can see at a 
 glance what is taking place in each of the enclosures. If the principal 
 posts be set in concrete, and they and the rails are creosoted before use, 
 the woodwork invohed will last a long time. 
 
 In some of the narrow alleys of the fanks it is all but impossible to 
 open and close the various gates when the sheep are closely packed 
 therein. It is a good plan, therefore, to have those that are most 
 encumbered in this way hung so as to move up and down vertically, 
 after the manner of a Avindow sash. This is a great convenience at 
 some points of the fanks. The gates are narrow, therefore of no great 
 weight, and no expensive arrangement is, in consequence, required for 
 fitting them up in this style. Nothing further is needed than the 
 lengthening of the posts, attaching guiding fillets to these to guide and 
 control the movements of the door, fixing pulleys on the top of each 
 post, providing the door with a rope and weight at each side, and the 
 thing is complete. Door, ropes, and weights can be taken down and 
 stowed away under shelter after each occasion of their use. At other 
 places little wickets, hung in the ordinary way^ serve to introduce the 
 sheep separately from the sorting alley or conversely, while larger ones 
 guard the openings that lead direct from pen to gathering yard.
 
 374 THE MODERN HOMESTEAD. 
 
 It is ad\antageous, where it can be accomplished, to have 
 
 The Floors of gome firm unvieldinK floor in the pens and alleys of the 
 Pen and Alley. ■' '^ ,,.,,.. 
 
 fanks. If the ground beneath the annuals feet is soft, 
 
 the different places soon become coated with mud ; if dry, the animals 
 are not long in stirring up a dust, and making matters unpleasant both 
 to themselves and their attendants. The court floor is not so important 
 so long as it is neither unduly wet nor dusty. The sheep have more 
 room to move about in it than within the smaller enclosures, and, there- 
 fore, the floor or surface of the same is less liable to be cut up. But in 
 the closely packed alley the innumerable footprints of the many small 
 hoofs are not long in taking effect. 
 
 Here, again, we are face to face with concrete as being a suitable 
 niedium for floors at the homestead, this time at the sheep fanks, the last 
 department we have to deal with. It need not be so heavy here as at 
 the other places we have discussed in the pages behind us. All we want 
 is a thin coat that will resist the action of the sheeps' feet. What will 
 do this will bear the weight of the shepherds as well, for it is hardly 
 practicable to form a coat of concrete that Avill not conform to both 
 requirements. Four inches of sound bottoming, with i^ inches of 
 Portland cement and fine gravel laid thereon (one to five), would serve 
 the end' in view admirably, and would not be expensive. Alleys and 
 pens floored in this manner can easily be kept clean. A hard broom or 
 a scraper and a bucketful or two of water enable one to clean out alleys 
 and pens in a very short time. In fact, if left to rain alone they will be 
 found well washed between the different times of using. A clean floor 
 such as we are advocating is of great advantage at a place where the 
 process of dipping is carried on. A'ery little dirt can be carried there- 
 from on the feet of the sheep into the dip tank. From an ash laid floor 
 or a gravel strewn one a good deal of extraneous stuft' can be conveyed 
 on the " trotters " into the tank, and much more from a muddy one. 
 Besides, when the sheep happeri to be gathered together, in order to 
 have their feet attended to, what a benefit it is to be able to have a clean 
 and firm surface for them to stand upon, both before and after treatment. 
 It is heartless work dressing diseased hoofs that have just been in con- 
 tact with either dusty or dirty floors, and being obliged to turn them 
 back into dust or mess after treatment is not very conducive to quick 
 recovery. Tar macadam seems a suitable material for the floors of 
 these places ; but concrete is within everyone's reach, and easy of 
 application. 
 
 The floors must, of course, have as much hang or incline as will 
 prevent water lodging upon any of them. Each must be able to clear 
 itself of its own share and what may come from another in such a way 
 that the various enclosures as a whole may be kept free of water. And 
 the pen which contains the dipper must have the floor so arranged that the 
 drippings from the sheep operated on will gravitate back into the tank.
 
 CATTLE COURTS, HAY AND SHEAF SHEDS, ETC. 375 
 
 Care must be taken, however, that none of the pens or alleys have 
 too much incline. Tight packing for a little upon the level will not 
 harm the animals, but if jamming takes place towards the lower end of 
 a floor with much inclination, there will be more or less trampling as 
 well as jamming. Some of the sheep at the foot of the incline are 
 certain to be pushed down and trampled under foot by the others, 
 Avhich, if not soon relieved, may be seriously hurt, if not there and then 
 made ready for classification under the head of loss — total loss, we may 
 say — not even " braxy."
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abundance of fresh air within the buildings an essential, 155 
 Action of bodies under the force of gravity, 207 
 Air-cocks on water-supply pipes, 200 
 Air-inlets at wallheads of buildings, 139 
 
 a method of regulating these, 140 
 Air-space within byres, 160, 295 
 
 anomalies arising from the restrictions regarding this, 160 
 Ammonia in the atmosphere, 151 
 Analysis of water, 179 
 Aprons of lead, 86 
 Arched doorway, 117 
 
 window opening, 132 
 Arden lime, 34 
 
 Arrangement of the loose-boxes for fattening cattle, 299 
 of the doorways of the implement shed, 306 
 of the doorways of the motor-house, 303, 307 
 of the buildings subsidiary to the barn, 275 
 Arrangements for thrashing at the homestead, 257, 259 
 
 for the delivery of food-stuffs by gravitation from the granary, 
 
 273 
 Artificial heating of byres, 157 
 Asphalt, for damp-course, 38 
 Atmosphere, the composition thereof, 147 
 
 ammonia contained therein, 151 
 
 carbon di-oxide therein, 149 
 
 microscopic organisms and dust therein, 153 
 
 nitrogen therein, 148 
 
 oxygen therein, 147 
 
 vapour of water therein, 152 
 
 the usual condition of the atmosphere inside the stable, 159 
 
 Barn-range of buildings, 256 
 
 position of the outer door of the thrashing barn, 256 
 
 the barn windows, 259 
 
 the ground floor, 261 
 
 the roof of the range, 263 
 
 the straw-house or straw-barn, 263 
 Batt-and-band hinge, 120 
 Belgates for door styles, 120
 
 378 INDEX. 
 
 Boards for roofins;, 62, 74 
 
 for floors. 103 
 Body, the centre of gravity of a body, 205 
 
 action of a body under the force of gravity, 207 
 
 density of a body, 206 
 
 forces that bear upon a body in motion, 209 
 
 fi-iction between bodies, 225 
 
 momentum of a moving body, 210 
 
 specific gravity of a body, 207 
 Boilers, engine boilers, 245 
 
 for providing steam for cooking food and scalding dishes, 249 
 combined engine and boiler, 247 
 the Cornish boiler, 246 
 Bond in building. 42 
 
 English bond, 42 
 
 Flemish bond. 42 
 Boring for water, 190 
 Boulders for floors, 98 
 Branch-pipes for drains, 112 
 Bricks, 21 
 
 " bond " of bricks, 42 
 
 " closers" in brickwork, 43 
 
 for floors, 96 
 
 partitions of brick, 44 
 
 standard size of bricks, 42 
 Building stone walls, 34 
 
 best stones for the purpose, 35 
 
 " bonding " the stones, 42 
 
 placing the stones properly, 40 
 
 pointing their outer joints, 44 
 Buildings connected with the dairy, 327 
 Buildings east of the barn, 303 
 
 the hospital, 313 
 
 the implement shed, 303 
 
 the motor-house, 303 
 Buildings subsidiary to the barn, 274 
 
 different plans of arranging these, 275 
 
 the flooring of these, 276 
 
 their lighting and ventilation, 277 
 
 their roofing, 276 
 
 the walls thereof, 276 
 Buildings west of the barn, 279 
 
 arrangement and construction of the byres, 280 
 
 arrangement and construction of the cattle-boxes, 299 
 Byres, air-space within, 160, 295 
 
 artificial heating of byres, 157 
 for fattening cattle, 297 
 the feeding-troughs, 289 
 the floors, 281 
 floor space, 296
 
 INDEX. 379 
 
 Byre s — conti n tied. 
 
 fodder racks in byres, 295 
 
 the grips or channels, 282 
 
 iron fittings of byres, 289 
 
 passages in bj-res, 285, 286 
 
 position of feeding-troughs in the byres, 281 
 
 sections of byres, 280, 285 
 
 travises or stall divisions of byres, 290 
 
 under drains therein objectionable, 285 
 
 Capacitv of the rain-water tank, 1S5 
 Carbon di-oxide in the atmosphere, 149 
 
 increases the solvent property- of water, 175 
 Cart-shed, 325 
 Casement window, 130 
 Cattle-courts, 351 
 
 elevation of barrier between sheds and passage, 358 
 
 fittings thereof, 354 
 
 food stores in connection therewith, 355 
 
 gate for court, 358 
 
 kinds of timber suitable for the sheds and divisions, 359 
 
 sections thereof, 353, 355 
 
 supply of water therein, 354 
 
 troughs within the sheds, 357 
 Ceiling of milk-room, },},i 
 
 of cheese-room. 335 
 Cement (Portland), ^^ 
 Centre of gravity of a body, 205 
 Centre-gutters, 81 
 
 of lead, 82 
 
 of iron, 84 
 
 section of, 82 
 Chain-pump for liquid-manure tank. 115 
 Cheese-room. 334 
 
 roof, 335 
 
 shelves, 337 
 
 shelves, reversible. 337 
 
 side walls and ceiling. 335 
 
 windows, 336 
 
 ventilators, 336 
 Choice of wood for roofs, 45 
 
 of slates, 88 
 Combined engine and boiler, 247 
 Composition of water, 164 
 Concrete (Portland cement). 25 
 
 as an aid in the •• founding " of walls, 25 
 
 for floors, 97 
 
 for travises in byres, 290 
 Conductors (rain-water) or drop-pipes, 81 
 Construction of loose-boxes for fattening cattle, 299
 
 38o INDEX. 
 
 Control of wall-head air-inlets, 140 
 
 of rids;e ventilators, 142 
 Conveniences for filling and emptying the granary, 270 
 
 for the handling of sheep, 370 
 Corner stones, 36 
 Cornish boiler, 246 
 Couple roof, 50 
 
 baulk, 51 
 
 the principle of its construction, 51 
 Covering of roofs, 70 
 Cover of slates, 90 
 Craig's ridge ventilator, 138 
 Crank of the engine, 244, 255 
 
 Dairy buildings, 327 
 
 cheese-room, 334 
 
 churning-room or vat-room, 328 
 
 milk-room, 329 
 
 scullery, 327 
 
 their position relative to the other buildings, 327 
 Damp-course of walls, 38 
 Density of a body, 206 
 
 Difficulties of providing fresh air within the buildings, 156 
 Doors, 
 
 arched doorways, 117 
 
 granary door, 272 
 
 handles for doors, 127 
 
 hinged doors, 118, 122 
 
 hung on wheels, 118, 121 
 
 hospital door, 306 
 
 implement-shed door, 307 
 
 iron doors, 306 
 
 loose-box door, 126 
 
 motor-house door, 303 
 
 pig-house doors, 345 
 
 section of wheel and rail for supporting door, 123 
 
 steps at doorways, 105 
 
 stops for doors, 119 
 
 stones for doorways, 36 
 
 styles for doors, 116 
 
 types of doors, 122 
 Drains, 
 
 branches thereon, 112 
 
 byre drains, 285 
 
 gully traps, 11 1 
 
 inspection eyes thereon, 112 
 
 manholes thereon, 113 
 
 pipes therefor and how to lay them, 109 
 
 rain-water drains, 110 
 
 rain-water supply drains, 184
 
 INDEX. 381 
 
 Drains — continued. 
 
 sewage drains, 113 
 
 sheep-dipping tank drain, 311 
 
 stable drain, 317 
 
 two sets of drains required at the homestead, 109 
 
 whej^-carrying drain, 329 
 Drop-pipes or rain-water conductors, 81 
 Dungstead, 346 
 
 cheap and simple roof therefor, 348 
 
 floor or bottom thereof, 347 
 
 liquid-manure tank in connection therewith, 348 
 Dust in the atmosphere, 153 
 
 Eaves-gutters or rhones, 78 
 
 fitting them up, 80 
 
 hooks for their support, 79 
 Elevation of sliding door, 122 
 
 of barrier between cattle-sheds and passage, 358 
 of front of loose-boxes for cattle, 301 
 Engines, 244 
 
 boilers in connection therewith, 245 
 
 fly-wheel of the engine, 244, 255 
 
 gas engine, 251 
 
 locomotive engine, 248 
 
 oil engine, 251 
 
 piston and crank of the engine, 244, 245 
 
 steam engine, 244 
 Expansive property of gases as a source of power, 221, 243 
 
 Fanks, or mustering-place for sheep, 371 
 fences therefor, 372 
 floors of pens and alleys, 374 
 pen divisions, 373 
 Fattening cattle, byres therefor, 297 
 
 various methods of housing, 297 
 loose-box accommodation therefor, 298 
 Feeding-troughs in byres, 281, 289 
 
 in the pig-house, 342 
 in the cattle-courts, 357 
 in the loose-boxes for cattle, 301 
 Filtration of water not very practicable at the farm, 171, 184 
 Finishings of the interior of the granary, 263 
 
 of the granary roof, 266 
 Fireclay drain-pipes, log 
 Fittings of the stalls in stable, 321 
 
 of the cattle-courts, 354 
 Flagstones for floors, 96 
 Flanks of roofs, 81, 85 
 Flashings of lead, 86 
 Flooring boards, 103 
 section of, 104
 
 382 INDEX. 
 
 Floors, 
 
 barn ground-floor, 261 
 
 barn upper-floor, 261 
 
 brick floors, g6 
 
 boulder or kidney-stone floors, 96 
 
 concrete floors, 97 
 
 dungstead floor, 348 
 
 flag floors, 96 
 
 floors of buildings subsidiary to barn, 276 
 
 floors of the pens and alleys of the sheep fanks, 374 
 
 granite-block floors, 96 
 
 milk-room floor, 330 
 
 motor-house floor, 304 
 
 overhead floors, 105 
 
 pig-house floor, 345 
 
 requirements of a first-class flooring material, 96 
 
 section of an overhead floor, 107 
 
 section of a wood floor, 104 
 
 stable floor, 316 
 
 tar macadam floor, 98 
 
 ventilation of space beneath wood floors, 104 
 
 whin-block floors, 96 
 
 wood floors, 103 
 Fly-wheel of the engine, 244, 255 
 Fodder-racks in byres, 295 
 
 in cattle-courts, 358 
 in loose-boxes for cattle, 299 
 in stables, 322 
 Food-preparing sheds, 273 
 Food stores in connection with barn, 274 
 
 in connection with cattle-courts, 355 
 Forces available for power at the homestead, 204 
 
 bearing upon bodies in motion, 209 
 
 force of gravity, 205 
 
 force derived from heat, 219 
 
 man's first machines for turning these to account, 212 
 
 no loss of force in nature, 211 
 
 tendency of both heat and force to come to a state of dead level, 222 
 Foundations of walls, 24 
 
 concrete an aid thereto, 25 
 
 trenches therefor, 25 
 F'ramework of roofs, 46 
 Friction between bodies, 225 
 
 its retardative effect on machines, 225 
 I'resh air within the buildings essential, 155 
 
 the difficulties of obtaining this, 156 
 
 Gables, 
 
 finishing of the slating thereat, 93 
 with skews, 93
 
 INDEX. 383 
 
 Galvanized-iron rhone or eaves-gutter hooks, 79 
 
 gratings for ventilator openings, 103 
 ridge clips, 93 
 Gas, 
 
 the expansive property of gases as a source of power. 221. 243 
 
 the gas engine, 251 
 Gate of cattle-court, 35S 
 Granary, 
 
 arrangements for the delivery of foodstuffs therefrom by gravitation, 273 
 
 conveniences for filling and emptying the granary, 268 
 
 doors, 272 
 
 the floor, 261 
 
 the floor joists, 105, 270 
 
 the general finishings of the granary, 263 
 
 lighting the granarj-, 267 
 
 provision for loading and disloading carts at the granary, 270 
 
 roof of the granary, 266 
 
 stock, 268 
 
 ventilation in connection with the granary, 264, 267 
 Granite " setts" or blocks for floors, 96 
 Gratings for ground-floor ventilators, 103 
 
 for gully traps, 1 1 1 
 Gravitation water supplies. 192 
 Gravity, the force exerted thereby, 205 
 
 action of bodies under the influence of gravity, 207 
 centre of gravity of a body, 205 
 " Grip " or channel in byre, 282 
 Ground floor, 
 
 boards therefor, 104 
 
 scarcements, 103 
 
 section thereof, 103 
 
 sleeper joists, 103 
 
 sleeper walls, 103 
 
 ventilation underneath, 104 
 Gully traps, iii 
 
 gratings therefor, iii 
 Gutters (Eaves-) or rhones, 78 
 
 centre gutters, 81 
 
 open gutters, 85 
 
 Handles of doors, 127 
 Hardness of water, 174 
 
 a rough-and-ready method of testing this, 177 
 Harness-room, 324 
 Hart trap, 81, no, 184 
 Hay-house attached to stable, 315 
 Hay-loft over stable not a desirable arrangement, 323 
 Hay-shed in connection with the stable, 315 
 Hay and sheaf sheds, 359 
 
 their height and width, 361
 
 384 INDEX. 
 
 Hay and sheaf sheds — continued. 
 
 iron columns or pillars, 364 
 
 kinds of wood that may be used in their construction, 359 
 
 methods of fixing the side posts or pillars, 361 
 
 parts to be enclosed or lined, 368 
 
 their position relative to the homestead, 368 
 
 their roofs, 362 
 
 ventilation thereof, 367 
 Headers or throughbands, 39 
 
 Heat — its tendency to come to a state of dead level, 222 
 Hinge, the batt-and-band hinge, 120 
 
 the hook-and-band hinge, 120 
 Hinged doors, 118 
 
 Hip or "piend " or pavilion roof, 81, 93 
 
 Home-grown timber, its place in the construction of the homestead, 46 
 Hooks for eaves-gutters or rhones, 79 
 Horse-and-duck pond, 187 
 
 how it may be turned to better account, 188 
 Horse-power now almost obsolete for thrashing purposes, 227 
 
 what a horse-power represents, 227 
 Hospital for sick animals, 313 
 Housing fattening cattle, 297 
 
 Implement shed, 304. 307 
 
 Inclined plane, 217 
 
 Inspection eyes on drain pipes, 112 
 
 Interests involved in the planning and erection of a homestead, i 
 
 Iron doors, 306 
 
 fittings of byres, 289 
 
 girder or lintel, 118 
 
 king-post, 65 
 
 posts or pillars for sheds, 364 
 
 roof lights, 76, 277 
 
 travis posts, 293 
 
 window frames, 131 
 
 Joists or sleepers of ground floors, 103 
 of upper floors, 105 
 of granary floor, 105 
 
 KiN"G-POST of roof, 59 
 iron king-post, 65 
 
 Landlords, interest in the planning and erection of a homestead, i 
 Lap of slates on roofs, go 
 Latch, the " Norfolk," 121 
 
 other sorts, 127 
 Latent heat of water, 166 
 of steam, 166 
 Lead as a roof covering, 72 
 
 centre gutters and valleys, 82 
 flashings and aprons, 86
 
 INDEX. 385 
 
 Levers, 211 
 
 Lighting the buildings in general, 76, 128 
 the barn, 259 
 
 the buildings subsidiary to the barn, 277 
 the dairy buildings, 328 
 the granary, 267 
 the pig-house, 345 
 Lime, 31 
 
 arden lime, 34 
 
 lime contained in ordinary water, 173 
 quick lime, 31 
 shells, 31 
 Lintels of doors and windows, ;^'j, 116 
 Liquid-manure tank, 114 
 Locomotive engines, 248 
 Loose-box door, 126 
 Loose-boxes, their arrangement, 299 
 their construction, 299 
 elevation of front, 301 
 for fattening cattle, 298 
 for horses, 314 
 section of, 299 
 section of double row, 302 
 
 Machines, man's original machines, 212 
 
 effect of friction in the working of these, 225 
 Manholes of drains, 113 
 
 Microscopic organisms in the atmosphere, 153 
 Milk-room, 
 
 ceiling, m 
 
 floor, 330 
 
 shelves, 332 
 
 ventilation, 332 
 
 walls, 330 
 
 windows, 331 
 Momentum of a moving body, 210 
 Mortar, 31 
 
 arden lime mortar, 34 
 
 ordinary lime mortar, 31 
 
 Portland cement mortar, 33 
 
 proportion of sand in mortar, 32 
 
 setting or hardening of mortar, 32 
 Motion, 
 
 Newton's first law of motion, 208 
 
 second law of motion, 210 
 third law of motion, 211 
 Motor or " power " house, 303 
 
 the doorways, 303 
 
 the floor, 304 
 
 M.H.
 
 386 INDEX. 
 
 Nails for attaching slates to roof, 88 
 Newton's first law of motion, 208 
 
 second law of motion, 210 
 
 third law of motion, 211 
 Nitrogen in the atmosphere, 148 
 " Norfolk " latch, 121 
 
 Oil-engine, 251 
 
 Organic matter in water, 178 
 
 Overhead or upper floors, 105 
 
 joists of same, 105 
 Oxygen in the atmosphere, 147 
 
 Passages in byres, 285 
 
 in cattle courts, 355 
 Physical condition of water, 165 
 Piecing together the framework of roofs, 62 
 " Piend " or hip or pavilion roof, 81, 93 
 
 finished with zinc, 82 
 Pig-house, 340 
 
 doors, 345 
 
 floor, 343 
 
 light and ventilation, 345 
 
 partitions, 344 
 
 troughs, 342 
 Pine or fir woods, 47 
 
 white pine, 47 
 
 red pine, 48 
 Pipes for drains, log 
 
 for water supplies, 197 
 
 of iron, ig8 
 
 of lead, 197 
 
 how soil affects both, 198 
 
 points to be observed in laying them, 199 
 Piston of the engine, 244, 255 
 Pitch of roofs, 52 
 Plan I. (for the corn-growing and cattle-feeding farm), 8, 278 
 
 II. (for the partly-dairy farm), 15, 17, 278 
 
 III. (for the dairy-farm proper), 16, 17, 278 
 
 IV. (for the sheep farm), 19 
 Planing the roof timber advisable, 69 
 Plinth of wall, 91 
 
 Pond, the ordinary horse-and-duck pond, 187 
 
 how it may be improved, 188 
 Portland cement, ^^ 
 
 for damp course, 38 
 concrete for floors, 97 
 
 for foundations, 25 
 Position of the thrashing mill, 258 
 
 of the hay and sheaf sheds, 369
 
 INDEX. 387 
 
 Posts or pillars for sheds, 359, 364 
 Power or motor house, 303 
 Power at the homestead, 204, 227 
 
 advantages of water-power thereat, 228 
 
 coal as a source of power, 221 
 
 derived from the expansive property of gases, 221 
 
 steam as a motive power, 243 
 
 what a horse-power represents, 226 
 Provision for loading and disloading carts at granary, 270 
 Pulleys, 213 
 
 Pump required as an adjunct of the rain-water tank, 186 
 for the liquid-manure tank, 115 
 the ordinary suction or lift pump, 203 
 Purlins of roof, 56 
 
 Raggle or raglet, 81, 85 
 Rain-water conductors or drop-pipes, 81 
 drains, 110 
 
 as a source of water-supply, 182 
 the purest natural water, 167 
 storage tank, 182 
 
 what happens to it when it touches the earth, 160 
 what it returns to the sea, 170 
 Rhones or eaves-gutters, 78 
 
 hooks for their support, 79 
 Ridge-ventilators (the commoner sorts), 133 
 of zinc, 135 
 
 how they may be controlled, 142 
 Ridge-board of roof, 59 
 Ridge-pole of roof, 93 
 Ridging of zinc, 92 
 Roofs, 
 
 choice of material for their construction, 46 
 their framework, 46 
 ordinary or " couple " roofs, 50 
 the outer covering of roofs, 70 
 piecing together the roof, 62 
 pitch of roofs, 52 
 the principal roof, 56 
 space or open-board roof, 349 
 spacing of couples and rafters, 64, 75 
 spars of the couple roof, 55 
 strains in roofs, 54 
 varieties of roofs, 66 
 Roof boards or " sarking," 62, 74 
 centre-gutters, 81 
 common rafters, 58 
 eaves-gutters, 78 
 flanks, 81, 85 
 flashings and aprons of lead, 86
 
 388 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Roof — continued. 
 
 gables, 93 
 
 king-post, 59 
 
 lights, 76, 277 
 
 open gutters, 85 
 
 " piend " or hip, 81, 92 
 
 purlins, 56 
 
 rafters, 56 
 
 raggle or raglet, 81, 85 
 
 ridge-board, 59 
 
 ridge-pole, 93 
 
 skews, 93 
 
 struts, 59 
 
 ties, 60 
 
 trusses, 56 
 
 valley, 81, 85 
 
 ventilators, 133 
 
 wall-plate, 56, 66 
 
 of the barn range, 263 
 
 of the buildings subsidiary to the barn, 276 
 
 of the buildings east of the barn, 308 
 
 of the buildings west of the barn, 280, 285, 289 
 
 of the dairy buildings, 328, 334 
 
 of the dungstead, 348 
 
 of the hay and sheaf sheds, 362 
 
 of the pig-house, 345 
 
 of the shed adjoining the motor-house, 308 
 Rubble walls, 35, 57 
 Rybats of doors and windows, 37 
 
 Sanitation at the homestead, 144 
 Scarcements of walls, 103 
 Section of cattle-courts, 353, 355 
 
 of centre gutter laid with lead, 82 
 
 of centre gutter of cast-iron, 84 
 
 of cheese-room, 334 
 
 of a double byre, 280, 285 
 
 of a double row of loose-boxes, 302 
 
 of flooring boards, 104 
 
 of a ground-floor of wood, 103 
 
 of liquid-manure tank, 115 
 
 of loose-box for fattening cattle, 299 
 
 of ridging, 92 
 
 of sheep-dipping tank, 309 
 
 of a single byre, 280 
 
 of an upper floor, 107 
 
 of a valley laid with lead, 85 
 
 of wheel and rail of a sUding door, 122 
 Sewage drains, 113 
 Shed for carts, 325
 
 INDEX. 389 
 
 Shed — continued. 
 
 for implements, 304 
 
 for sheep-dipping tank, 305 
 Sheds for hay and sheaves, 359 
 for food preparing, 273 
 for odd purposes, 370 
 Sheep fanks or mustering place, 371 
 Sheep-dipping shed, 305 
 tank, 308 
 Shelves in milk-room, 332 
 
 in cheese-room, 337 
 Sills of doors and windows, 38 
 Skews and skew-stones, 93 
 Skirting or base boards for wood floors, 106 
 Skylights, 76 
 Slates, 
 
 their bases of attachment to the roof, 74 
 
 choice of, 88 
 
 of copper, 88 
 
 their " cover " or lap, go 
 
 their finish at gables, 93 
 
 laid on boards, 74 
 
 laid on laths, 74 
 
 manner of arranging them on roofs, go 
 
 nails for their attachment, 8g 
 
 shouldering thereof, 92 
 
 their tilt at eaves, go 
 
 their weather-resisting properties, 70, 73 
 
 of wood, 70 
 Sleeper-joists, 103 
 Sleeper-walls, 103 
 Sliding doors, 121 
 
 elevation of a sliding door, 122 
 of iron, 306 
 
 section of wheel and rail, 122 
 Softness of water, 174 
 Solvent property of water, 167 
 Spacing the couples and rafters, 64 
 Spars of the " couple " roof, 55 
 Specific gravit}- of a bod}-, 2og 
 Spigot-and-faucet pipes for drains, log 
 Springs, collecting water from surface springs, ig4 
 
 collecting-tank for water of this description, ig5 
 Stable, 
 
 drains in connection therewith, 317 
 
 the floor thereof, 316 
 
 hay-house attached thereto, 315 
 
 hay-loft therein not advisable, 322 
 
 hay-shed in connection therewith, 315 
 
 latches for doors, 127
 
 390 INDEX. 
 
 Stable — coutuuicd. 
 
 stall fittings, 321 
 
 travises in stall divisions, 318 
 
 usual condition of the atmosphere therein, 159 
 
 ventilators, 323 
 Stairs to granary, 268 
 
 Steam for heating, scalding, and cooking purposes, 249 
 latent heat thereof, 166 
 as a source of power at the homestead, 243 
 the steam-engine, 244 
 Steel girder as lintel, 118 
 Steps for doorwaj's, 105 
 Stone. 21 
 
 " bonding " the stones of a wall, 42 
 
 for corners, 36 
 
 for doorways, 36 
 
 dressing usuall}' given thereto, 23 
 
 kinds used for farm buildings, 22 
 
 proper placing of the stones when building, 40 
 
 skew stones, 93 
 
 for window openings, 36 
 Stops for doors, 119 
 Strains in roofs, 52 
 Straw-house or straw-barn, 263 
 Struts of the king-post roof, 59 
 Stj'les of doors, 116 
 
 Surface-water, what it usually contains. 171 
 Syphon as an aid in water supplies, 201 
 
 Tank for collecting water from surface springs, 195 
 for dipping sheep. 308, 371 
 for gravitation water supply, 193 
 for liquid manure, 114 
 for rain-water from the roofs, 182, 185 
 Tar macadam for floors, 98 
 Taylor's ventilator, 138 
 
 Tenant's interest in the planning and erection of a homestead, i 
 Thrashing, 
 
 itinerant thrasher, 257 
 
 position of the door of the thrashing-barn, 256 
 position of the fixed thrashing mill, 258 
 usual arrangements for thrashing at the homestead, 257 
 Throughbands or headers, 39 
 Tilt of slates on roof, 90 
 Timber (home-grown), its place at the homestead, 46 
 
 ■ kinds suitable for construction of the cattle-courts, 359 
 kinds suitable for construction of the hay and sheaf sheds, 
 368 
 Traps on rain-water drains, 81, no, 184 
 on sheep-dipping tank drain, 312
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Travises or stall divisions, 
 
 byre travises of concrete, 290 
 of stone, 290 
 of wood, 291 
 
 of wood and iron combined, 293 
 stable travises of the ordinary form, 318 
 of an improved form. 320 
 Troughs for the byre, 281, 289 
 
 for the cattle-courts, 357 
 for the loose-boxes for cattle. 301 
 for the pig-house, 342 
 Turbine water-wheel, 234 
 
 Valley (roof), 81 
 
 section thereof, 85 
 Ventilation beneath ground floors. 104 
 
 of byres 
 
 of cheese-room, 336 
 
 of milk-room, 332 
 
 of stable, 323 
 Ventilators (roof), 
 
 common sorts, 133 
 Craig's, 138 
 
 double-horned zinc, 133 
 for buildings against barn, 277 
 for cheese-room, 336 
 for the granary, 267 
 for the milk-room, 332 
 for the pig-house, 345 
 for the stable, 323 
 Taylor's, 138 
 Ventilators at wall-heads, 139 
 
 in side-walls of granary, 264 
 
 in side-walls of milk-room, 332 
 
 Walls, 
 
 beamfilling the wall-heads, 68 
 
 best kind of stones for wall-building, 35 
 
 of buildings against barn, 276 
 
 of cheese-room, 335. 
 
 corners, 36 
 
 damp course, 38 
 
 distribution of the weight of the roof thereon, 57 
 
 foundations thereof, 24 
 
 materials for their erection, 21 
 
 of milk-room, 330 
 
 plinth, 91 
 
 pointing the outer joints, 44 
 
 reason why they must be built plumb, 28 
 
 rubble walls, 35 
 
 scarcements. 103 
 
 391
 
 392 INDEX. 
 
 Walls — continued. 
 
 sleeper walls. 103 
 
 standard thicknesses thereof, 39 
 
 wall-head air inlets, 139 
 Wallplate, 56, 66 
 Water, 
 
 a rough-and-ready method of gauging the hardness of water, 1 77 
 
 as the universal solvent, 167 
 
 collecting water from surface springs, 194 
 
 composition thereof, 164 
 
 filtration at the farm not very practicable, 171 
 
 for grazing animals, 203 
 
 from a bore, i8g 
 
 from gravitation supplies, 192 
 
 from the roofs, 182 
 
 from surface wells, 188 
 
 its dissolved matters more to be suspected than its suspensory substances, 
 172 
 
 its hardness and its softness, 174 
 
 its solvent powers increased by the presence therein of carbon di-oxide, 
 
 175 
 latent heat of, 166 
 
 lime the most prevalent substance in solution, 173 
 organic matter present therein, 178 
 points to be observed in laying supply pipes, 199 
 purest in the form of rain, 167 
 specimens of analyses thereof, 179 
 storage tank for gravitation supplies, 193 
 supply pipes, 197 
 
 supplying water in byres and loose-boxes, 301 
 supplying water in cattle-courts, 356 
 suspensory matter therein, 168 
 
 syphon applied to the purposes of water supply, 201 
 the three physical conditions of water, 165 
 to be both good and plentiful at the homestead, 163 
 what happens to rain-water when it touches earth, 169 
 what rain-water returns to the sea, 170 
 what surface-water generally contains, 171 
 Water-power, its advantages at the homestead, 229 
 Water-ram, 214 
 
 Water-vapour in the atmosphere, 153 
 
 Water-wheel, modifications of the ordinary water-wheel, 229 
 the breast wheel, 230 
 the over-shot wheel, 229 
 the under-shot wheel, 229 
 
 the mechanical advantage of the ordinary water-wheel, 230 
 its one drawback, 232 
 the turbine water-wheel, 234 
 Wedge, 218 
 Well, the surface well, 188
 
 INDEX, 393 
 
 Well, the "cradled" well, 203 
 Wheel-hung door, iig, 306 
 Whin " setts" for floors, 96 
 Windows, 
 
 casement windows, 130 
 
 barn windows, 259 
 
 cheese-room windows, 336 
 
 lintels for window openings, 37 
 
 in sides of buildings, 128 
 
 iron-frame side windows, 131 
 
 milk-room windows, 331 
 
 other sorts of windows, 131 
 
 rybats for window openings, 37 
 
 sash windows, 128 
 
 sills for window openings, 38 
 
 stones for window openings, 36 
 Wind-wheel or windmill, 237 
 Wood beam as lintel, 117 
 
 choice of wood for the framework of roofs, 45 
 
 fir and pine woods, 47 
 
 floors, 103 
 
 hard woods, 45 
 
 how wood grows, 49 
 
 post for sheds, 359 
 
 seasoning of wood, 48 
 
 soft woods, 45 
 
 Zinc as a roof-covering material, 72, 92 
 for the "piend" or hip, 82 
 ridge ventilator, 135 
 
 THE END. 
 
 BRADBURY,' AGXEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND TONBRIDGE. 
 
 M H. D D
 
 A/A 
 
 $aod 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 Santa Barbara 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 _, STAMPED BELOW. 
 
 \/\/\h 
 
 ^'■ZT^ JUM141975 
 
 Series 9482