Consolidated, 1904, witli Tlie Cotton Plant, Greenville, S. C.
PROGRESSIVE FARMER VOL. XXI. NO. 15.
THE COTTON PLANT VOL. XXIII. NO. 14.
RALEIGH, N. C, MAY 24, 1906.
Weekly-$I a Year.
A CONVENIENT CATTLE BARN.
Messrs. Editors: My experience in
feeding cattle convinces me that the
best way to secure, results at least
for the ordinary farmer with not
more than twenty to fifty cattle is
to keep, them in separate stalls.
That is not the usual way, I know,
and mine are not so stabled at present;
but I should never build a cattle barn
any other way. No two animals will
feed just alike, and the best money
a man can make is in studying the
individual needs and so ministering
to them as to secure best results.with
least expenditure. Then even when
cattle are dehorned, they worry each
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other quite a little when fed in pens,
and that worry costs money.
Again, the feeder often gets fret
ted at their contrariness and abueses
them more or Jess, when if each were
in his place he might keep his tem
per. I believe heartily in a place for
everything, and everything in its
place.
I submit herewith a plan for a cat
tle barn that I hope may be a sug
gestion to some brother farmer about
to build.
I have never seen a mudless barn
lot where there were cattle and rain,
so I should always try to locate a
barn with the feeding entrance open
ing on a road or some enclosure to
which the cattle have no access, so
one can go and come without wad
ing. The location should be well drain
ed, yet never (if it can be avoided)
such that the drainage will be car
ried into a. stream or highway.
For ordinary use, I should build
a barn sixteen feet high at the eaves:
this affords eight foot stables, which
I find ample and eight feet clear in
the mow which affords great stor-
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age for forage. The feeding of grain
is all done from the central passage,
and, if possible, water should be fur
nished beside each feed trough by a
system of pipes and bowls fed from
a spring, tank or pump. This is not
essential if a good stream flows
through the lot, but is a great help
as feeding cattle need' plenty of pure
water, when they want it, to do the
best.
Hay should be fed in vertical slat
ted racks against the outer walls,
filled from above.
The stalls are partitioned by gates
that all swing back against the grain
troughs, allowing room to drive
through the stables to haul out the
manure. This should be done often
enough to keep the stalls dry ana
clean.
A gate at each end in addition to
the tight doors will provide for ven
tilation. One end, away from the
wind, should always be open, and
both in mild weather.
The drawing herewith gives a sug
gestion of the plan for framing ana
end elevation.
Ground feed can be stored in bins
built in the mow with sloping bottom
and spout opening in the feed pas
sage beside the entrance door; but I
think most farmers will , find it best
to keep feed in a small rat-proof
building separate from the barn
PW, X Feed V Jiv X
W JV M R NT
I . TRQU Tppr ROUGH I
reached under shelter of the roof
covering silo.
We have all our feed upstairs and
feed it from there; it is a safe way in
one respect: careless help don't let
stock into the feed room.
Filling up feed bins is a job, but it
doesn't come often or last long. In
the plan enclosed the hay hoist could
be used for that purpose. Had my
paper been larger, I should have
shown silo ten feet from end of barn,
allowing drive-way between, all cov
ered by extension of barn roof. Hay
to be taken up from this end.
Of course this plan can be extend
ed indefinitely as needed. Should
prefer to do so at right angles rath
er than straight connecting at cor
ners. H. M. DANIEL.
Madison Co., N. C.
LAND HOLD ON TO YOUR DLTCT
AND GET 3IORE OF IT.
6 Steps by 40 Steps by 6 Steps by 40
Steps Can be Had for the Price of
Two Circus Tickets And Don't
Mortgage What You Already Have.
Being teetotally of the farm and
of the earth earthy, I have found
it a capital; idea to take the old
earth as a standard or measure of
value. Just as the Danker reckons
his capital in bonds and bullion, and
the merchant measures his worth by
his stock in trade, so should we hay
seeds reckon our worth by our acres
of arable and grazing lands.
The fact is, we don't realize the
value of a dollar compared to its
purchasing power of land.
Fifty cents is no money at all; and
any old stick of a farmer can drive
into town to a circus and go up street
and "smile" with a couple of friends
and thrown down a dollar.
Now, just look at it in this light:
Say, for instance, land sells for $20
per acre and you just had one dollar
to start with. Now get out and step
off six steps and turn at right angles
and step off forty good, big, long
steps, turn at right angles, then six
more steps, then right angles and
back forty steps and there you are:,
for only just one dollar but it's .a
nice patch and it's yours in fee simple,
yours and your heirs and assigns for
evermore. Yes, it is yours all round
and half way down and for the one
dollar you can get twenty million
tons of dirt and neighbors on both
sides of the earth. It makes a free
holder of you and adds dignity to you
and makes you a better, citizen.
Now you can plant this patch in
strawberries and it'll "double itself
ten times 'the first year, if carefully '
cultivated. That is just one of the
dollars you let slip away from you
carelessly every year. You could
save up several of these : in a year's
time, and your one dollar strawberry
patch would soon stretch out into
broad acres. 'Tis a cumulative in
vestment and grows very fast.
Now on the other hand suppose you
have a reasonable amount of land-
one or two hundred acres is quite a
sufficiency. But suppose you have
this much and have it paid for, but
have no extra money, and suppose a
fellow wearing a derby and a pleas
ant smile comes along selling county .
rights for some patent and lets you .
have one real cheap say $25 or $50.
You don't happen to have the ready
moneyso he carries off your note. .
Think about it will you? Fifty dol
lars isn't much but 'twould take a
big slice clear across "your best field.
If the derby and the smile were to
say to you, "Here, now, Mr. Farmer,
fifty dollars is no money at all. Why,
'twould only take a fraction over two
acres off of one side of that ten acre
clover field, and you'll never miss it."
But now, would you miss it?
Well, possibly if they'd approach you
in that way 'twould get your Irish up,
and you'd point to the derby and the
doofand tell him to get in one and
out the other pretty blamed quick or
you'd sick old Tige on him.
Remember you're a farmer and
that you served your apprenticeship
behind the hoe and that farming Is
or should be your strong point, and
that some some good old colver sod
is worth a county full of get-rich-quick
schemes. J
So when you feel tempted to go
into something, which promises . such
large returns jnst-calculate how much
of your clover lot or berry patch
'twill take and that'll help you cut
your eye-teeth. : '' X.
Iredell Co., N. C.
Some one has asked us who Was
the largest tobacco grower in the
State of North Carolina.; - We do not
know. Col. Cunningham has been
called the largest tobacco planter in
the South. He is not the largest in
dividual grower of the! weed, how
ever. Mr. R. H. Ricks, of Eastern
Carolina, has been an extensive to
bacco grower, so has been J. J.
Laughinghouse, and others. In West
ern North Carolina, Mr. J. M. Gallo
way, of Madison, is a large planter,
and so is J. Spot Taylor, of Dan
bury. We do not know who is en
titled to the honor of being the larg
est tobacco grower in North Carolina.
-Southern Tobacco Journal.
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