t
say; for in all the pages of our reading, we learn, by no creditable
history, of any virtuous sympathies in a hog.

FARM BARNS.

The farm barn, next to the farm house, is the most important structure
of the farm itself, in the Northern and Middle States; and even at the
south and southwest, where less used, they are of more importance in the
economy of farm management than is generally supposed. Indeed, to our
own eyes, a farm, or a plantation appears incomplete, without a good
barn accommodation, as much as without good household appointments--and
without them, no agricultural establishment can be complete in all its
proper economy.

The most _thorough_ barn structures, perhaps, to be seen in the United
States, are those of the state of Pennsylvania, built by the German
farmers of the lower and central counties. They are large, and expensive
in their construction; and, in a strictly economical view, perhaps more
costly than required. Yet, there is a substance and durability in them,
that is exceedingly satisfactory, and, where the pecuniary ability of
the farmer will permit, may well be an example for imitation.

In the structure of the barn, and in its interior accommodation, much
will depend upon the branches of agriculture to which the farm is
devoted. A farm cultivated in grain chiefly, requires but little room
for stabling purposes. Storage for grain in the sheaf, and granaries,
will require its room; while a stock farm requires a barn with extensive
hay storage, and stables for its cattle, horses, and sheep, in all
climates not admitting such stock to live through the winter in the
field, like the great grazing states west of the Alleghanies. Again,
there are wide districts of country where a mixed husbandry of grain and
stock is pursued, which require barns and out-buildings accommodating
both; and to supply the exigencies of each, we shall present such plans
as may be appropriate, and that may, possibly, by a slight variation,
be equally adapted to either, or all of their requirements.

It may not be out of place here, to remark, that many _designers_ of
barns, sheds, and other out-buildings for the accommodation of farm
stock, have indulged in fanciful arrangements for the convenience and
comfort of animals, which are so complicated that when constructed,
as they sometimes are, the practical, common-sense farmer will not use
them; and, in the _learning_ required in their use, are altogether unfi