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about three feet ten inches apart horizontally, and three feet apart vertically. The log barns were usually built high enough to contain five of these tiers, besides those in the roof. Many of these log barns were chinked and daubed with mud all the way to the top, the only opening left being a window in each of the gable ends. Other farmers preferred to have the cracks between the logs closed only as high as the first set of tier poles. When the firing is kept up to a good degree of heat for three or four days, the tight barns are unquestionably the best, but where the firing is gentle, the barns should be open, otherwise there will be injury to the tobacco from "house burn," which is a breaking down of the vesicular system through the effects of heat and moisture-a partial decomposition of the leaf, which destroys the oily and gummy matter and renders the tobacco nearly worthless.

The body of a barn that is twenty-four feet square will contain thirty tiers for firing, six across and five high. The sticks are usually placed eight inches apart, so each tier will hold thirty sticks. The body of such a barn, not including the roof tiers, is capable of holding 1080 sticks of tobacco. The roof tiers, or collar beams as they are called, hold from 200 to 250 sticks more, according to the pitch of the roof. This makes the entire capacity of such a building about 1300 sticks, each containing eight plants, thus giving room enough to house about three acres of tobacco. The lowest tier upon which the green tobacco is put is about eight or nine feet from the floor. Sometimes a set of tier poles is arranged below those containing tobacco, but this is done for convenience of standing upon when lifting the tobacco to the higher tiers. A barn five tiers high in the body and 20 feet square will hold about 900 sticks, or it has the capacity to house two acres of tobacco. One built 16 feet square and four tiers high and wide will house about one acre of tobacco.

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Originally, barns were built of round logs, about ten inches through, but such were not durable and soon rotted down. The first improvement was to hew the logs and extend the roof, so as to give protection to the sides, and hoods were put on the ends for the same purpose, as shown in Fig. 27. Two of these pens were sometimes built with a passageway between. The next improvement was to build hipped-roofed sheds around

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FIG. 37. FIVE-TIER SIX-ROOM BARN, FOR YELLOW TOBACCO.

the single log pen (see Fig. 28). These sheds fully doubled the capacity of the barns. They were generally 12 to 15 feet wide. A shed 12 feet wide, if built around a pen 24 feet square, has 36 ground tiers 12 feet long, and if the shed is built three tiers high, such a building will provide 118 firing tiers, besides the collar beams, which will be equivalent to 18 additional ones, making 136 tiers. A shed so built is capable of holding 2448

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FIG. 38. FIVE-ROOM FIVE-TIER BARN, FOR YELLOW LEAF.

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