Sheeting paper is nailed on the studding, and the whole barn is ceiled and weatherboarded. Collar or wind beams are put in the roof. The first set of scaffold beams is set about seven feet from the floor on two sides and one end of the building; the next set, six feet above the first. Windows are put at each end with 12 lights of 10x12 glass.

In the barn of the size given, five pieces two by eight inches are placed upright, three and one-half feet

apart, and extending from bottom to top of the barn. In the center of each two by eight piece is nailed a piece one and one-half by two inches, which makes a groove on each side of the original piece for confining the racks as they slide up and down, as shown in Fig. 45. The racks, shown in the same illustration, are light frames 14 feet long, and, taking their places in the grooves, make five complete stanchions, or rooms, in the barn, of nearly four feet width each. Each rack has 14 notches

on the sides, for holding 14 of the wired, or Snow sticks (Fig. 48). The sticks are one inch square, with holes six inches apart bored through the center. Through these holes pointed wires, nine inches long, are put and doubled over at right angles to the stick, making 12 points to the stick, upon which the leaves are strung for curing.

BARNS FOR CURING CIGAR LEAF TOBACCO.

This operation, at the North, is somewhat different from that in the heavy leaf sections of the South. Considerable controversy has arisen, as to what is the best pattern of a barn for cigar leaf, but the one first described is the type in general use throughout the Connecticut valley and New York state, while it is but slightly modified in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin. The location should be on slightly elevated ground, well drained, convenient to the field, and sufficiently removed from other buildings to allow a free circulation. of the air, from all directions. As a rule, the barn should stand east and west, for it will thus have the benefit of the drying and dampening winds, which, coming from the south, will draw through the barn, with the best effect. In this position, it will be less liable to be blown over, for the strongest winds, or gales, come from the west, and would, therefore, only strike the end of the barn. This may vary, however, in different localities.

A barn 30 feet by 45 feet long, three tiers high, will hold an acre of heavy Havana seed cigar-leaf tobacco, or nearly an acre and a half of seedleaf. Three tiers is now considered high enough, though the cost of a like capacity is a little greater than in a four-tier barn. The expense of hanging and taking down tobacco each year from the fourth tier would soon amount to more than the extra expense of the building. More

over, the fourth, or higher tiers, do not cure as well as the lower ones, the colors are not as good or uniform, and the leaf is more liable to have white veins. The illustration, Fig. 40, is an outside view of a barn, 30x45 feet, three tiers high, or 17 feet from the sill to the plate. Fig. 41 gives the cross section of the erd of the barn, with the boards removed. Fig. 42 is a sectional view, lengthwise, through the middle of the barn, showing the posts through the center, and the girders on which the poles rest. A width of 30 feet is very convenient for a three-tier barn, and a building so constructed is easily and thoroughly aired. The first tie of poles, as shown in Fig. 41, b b, should be 7 feet from the ground, which will allow of free ventilation from beneath, after the plants are hung, thereby lessening the liability to stem rot, pole or cold sweat, or injury from moisture arising from the ground. The two tiers above the first one should be five feet apart, which will bring the second tier 12 feet from the ground, and the third 17 feet. About a foot or two before the second tier, c c, at each end of the barn, and at each bent, a stout tie girder, 5x5 inches in size, should extend across the barn, which will strengthen it very much; some, however, think that no tie girders are necessary on the ends of the barn. This tie girder is shown in Fig. 41, a a. The middle girders, lengthwise of the barn (Fig. 42, a a), should also be of 6x6 timber. They are sometimes made smaller, but the great weight on them, when the barn is full of tobacco, requires this size, at least. The upper girders should be braced, but the lower ones need not be; the latter can be made to take out at will, when it is called a slip girder. The posts, plates and beams should be 7x7 inches, and the outside girders, on which the boards are nailed, should be 4x6 inches. Sometimes 4x4 inch timber is used for these, but it is too small and will be likely to spring,

thus weakening the barn. It is better to use timbers of good size, and build a substantial structure at a somewhat increased cost, than to erect a frail structure that the first big wind might blow down.

The poles on which the tobacco is hung by tying should be 2x5 inches, of good timber; spruce is the best. These are cheaper in the end than round poles, even if the latter cost nothing, if the plants are to be tied to them; when laths are used, however, the round poles are just as good. In a barn 30 feet wide, the 15foot poles should be placed crosswise of the barn, one end resting on the middle girder, and the other end on the outside girder near the boarding. Roof tiers, if there are any, should be hung lengthwise of the barn. When tobacco is hung on slats, the bents should be 16 feet long, so as to take four lengths of four-feet slats. This would make a three-bent barn 48 feet long.

The covering should be of good boards, of uniform width. They should be lined, so that the barn can be made tight. Every other board should be hung for a door and left as long as will swing under the eaves. These may be hung in two ways; either on two hinges, to open outward in the usual way, at b (as shown in Fig. 40), or the door may have one hinge at the top and open outward at the bottom, as seen at a, Fig. 40. The latter door will keep the sun and rain off the tobacco hanging next to the boarding, but the two-hinged door is generally preferred, as giving the least trouble and better circulation of air. The eaves should extend two feet over the outside of the barn, so that the water will fall clear of the boards, and thus be prevented from trickling through upon the tobacco. Many pounds of fine leaf are every year damaged by the barn being faulty in this particular. The end of the barn needs doors for ventilation only at the top, where four are all chat are necessary, as shown in Fig. 40. Some growers advocate