venient arrangement is also one of the cheapest so far as cost of construction is concerned, and is, moreover, entirely consistent with the best stable conditions. We are approaching a common style of dairy-barn architecture just as a set type has been reached in the construction of some other buildings, and the prevailing cow-barn of the future will probably be a two-story building, thirty-two to thirty-six feet wide and as long as may be necessary. This will afford room for two rows of cows, each facing outward toward the light, with a feeding alley next the wall on each side and a single driveway in the rear about ten feet wide, through which a team can be driven from end to end of the building for the removal of the manure. If the posts run eighteen to twenty-four feet above the stable with the usual style of roof, there will be room above for the storage of hay, unthrashed grain, purchased foods and some farm tools. Hay chutes from the mows above will drop the hay into the feeding alleys in front of the cows, while a chute for bedding will drop this into the alley behind them. Spouts will conduct the grain from bins above into feeding boxes located at any convenient point. Such a barn should be flanked by two silos, one on each side, where the ensilage can be thrown directly into the feeding alleys. A barn of this type certainly reduces the labor of caring for the cows to the lowest terms, and still maintains a very economical form of construction. Other considerations may vary this precise planmay, for example, dictate the addition of an L for box stalls, as in the barn shown in Fig. 192, which is further modified by having three stories and by having the space beneath the bridge to the upper floor serve as a place for the farm engine and also for a granary; but the essential plans, so far as the width of the structure and the position of the silos are concerned, can hardly be changed without the sacrifice of desirable features.

The cost of such a barn will vary within wide limits, according to the finish and the locality where built. As an indication, it may be said that a builder of some experience in eastern New York estimates that a barn like

erect, inclusive of roof, would cost $135 to $145 each. For eastern American conditions, in most localities, a silo is a regular part of the farm equipment. This is not true north of the limit of maize-growing or where the condensaries refuse to receive milk made from ensilage.

Stable construction will be essentially the same whether the milk is to be sold raw or taken to the cheese or butter factory, or made into butter at home. But the equipment will vary considerably. Let it be said in passing, that within a few years there has come about the production of "certified milk," or sanitary milk, a product made with especial attention to care and cleanliness at every stage, which is sold at prices usually two or three times as great as that of the ordinary commercial article. The especial object sought is to keep down the amount of germ infection in the milk, and this requires a special equipment of stables, and, to some extent, of apparatus. For ordinary factory or market milk, the utensils are exceedingly few and inexpensive. They comprise little besides the milking pails, a strainer, a simple cooler or aërator, and the cans for taking the milk to the station or factory. But, when the butter is made on the farm, the question of apparatus becomes more complex. In addition to the pails and cans, there will be needed a small boiler and engine, a cream-separator with a capacity of 250 to 1,000 pounds of milk per hour, a revolving churn, a worker, a printer, and the various minor utensils such as thermometer, scrub-brushes and

put up in excellent shape,

well-roofed and painted, but without ornamental features, for about $30 per running foot. A barn of this type sixty feet long would then cost $1,800, and should store food for and stable, say, twentyfive cows and four horses, and leave room for three good-sized box stalls for calves and young stock. Such a place should have preferably two silos with a combined capacity of about 125 tons, and these, if purchased from a leading manufacturer ready to

(Jared Van Wagenen, Jr.)

mops; and, if possible, a warmly-built room, with cement floor and drain in one corner, and running water. All this will imply an outlay from $300 to $600.

The cows.

In equipping a dairy-farm, besides the questions of land, buildings, apparatus and utensils, there remains the item of cows-the vital machines

whose function it is to convert the raw material of the farm into milk. So far as the capital required for investment in the herd is concerned, it is possible to give a fairly satisfactory estimate. Milch cows seem to be more stable and better established in price than any other farm stock or product. Taking "fresh" cows as a standard, the price has, on the whole, fluctuated remarkably little for many years. Such animals of mixed or unknown breeding, if fairly young and sound, i. e., with four good teats, tractable, and not blemished or out of shape, will range in price from $30 to $60, the great

The writer feels sure, from experience, that it is possible to go into eastern New York, and, by using care and good judgment, pick up a good, creditable herd of grade cows at an average cost of not more

majority of them falling between $35 and $50. And let it be said that for purely economic milk production, when no question of selling the progeny is involved, carefully selected grades and natives" may be quite as valuable as pure-bred animals. Doubtless there will be a greater number of inferior animals among their descendants, however, and they will lack the finish and uniformity of a herd bred to one common type. In a general way, it may be stated that a good cow has her selling value doubled by being registered in one of the standard herd associations, i. e., by having a recorded history of ancestry. Most breeders will sell good, mature, recorded cows for, say $100, although occasional individual animals sell for several times this sum.

than $45. A bull of the very best breeding and individual excellence of the desired breed should be chosen, and a persistent policy adopted of raising the heifer calves and discarding those which fail to be among the best animals. While usually the system of rearing the calves necessary to maintain the herd is to be strongly advised, yet when the area of the farm is restricted and other lands are not available or are very high-priced, it may be wisest to depend on purchasing fresh cows, feeding them liberally until they begin to go dry and then selling them to the butcher. This is the plan that is followed on some of the most successful dairy-farms in the neighborhood of the big cities. It must be remembered that the equipment of a dairy-farm in non-essential details may vary within the widest limits. The cow asks only palatable, nutritious food, comfortable stables, and kind attention. She cares nothing for architectural ornamentation, or even for the refinements of paint and finishings. But the esthetic tastes of her owner, and the satisfaction and advertising that come from a well-appointed stable, may be ample justification for the elaborate equipment of some dairy-farms.

CAPITAL REQUIRED FOR A DAIRY-FARM

FOR THE MIDDLE SOUTH

By M. A. Scovell

In the equipment of a dairy-farm three things are essential: the farm itself, the herd, and proper buildings and conveniences.

+GREY TRON

-5

39FT CEMENT

FLOOR

15'0"

9'6"

* 10'0°

CEILING to 10'0" Cow

In the Middle South the climatic conditions are favorable for dairyfarming, and in the greater part of this area pasture-lands are abundant and wellwatered by running streams and springs. The winters are never severe. Pasturage can be had nearly the entire year. Under such conditions, where it is unnecessary to confine cows closely in stables even in winter, they are healthier, grow larger and produce more milk and butter than where by necessity they are more closely confined. The dairy-farm, therefore, in such climate should be mostly in pasture. There should be at least one acre of pastureland to each head of stock. But some of the land should be reserved for cultivation. All the corn for silage should be raised on the farm and, if possible, all the hay also; and at least twenty acres should be reserved for the house and garden and the raising of fruits. The pasture-land should be divided into fields or lots for the purpose of

30 COW STALLS IN AL

BARN

Hydrant

180°

-14′0

ELEVATOR

MILK ROOM

BELL TRAP CEMENT FLOOR

10'0"

70,0

-STALL

HOSPITAL

CALFPENS CALFPENS

--12'0

CALF PENS CALFPENS

27

YOUNG STOCK|| BULL STALL BULL STALL

Hydrant

190

DIRT FLOOR

-PASSAGE 2" OAK FLOOR TG

HAY MOW K-- 10'0"

-68FT---λ

-16′6′′--BATH W.C

SILO 16FT OUTSIDE GOUTSIDE DIAM