housed by the 18th of August. Very little grain is stacked out in this
country: even the hay is put up in barns. As timber can be had for the
cutting, log or frame-barns can be built very cheaply. I would
certainly recommend frame in preference to log-buildings.

Square timber, fit for framing, can be purchased from four to five
dollars per hundred feet, running measure. Twelve hundred feet are
sufficient, varying in size from four inches to a foot square. This
quantity will frame a barn fifty feet long by thirty feet wide, and
sixteen in height, from the sill to the plate which supports the roof.
Twelve thousand feet of boards and plank, at five dollars per thousand,
superficial measure, will be enough to enclose the frame, and lay the
threshing-floor, and board the roof ready for shingling.

The best and cheapest method of barn-building is as follows: In the
winter season cut and square with the broad axe all the frame timber
you require, and draw it home to the place you have fixed on for the
building, and from the saw-mill all the lumber you require. As soon as
the weather is warm enough hire a framer, whose business is to mark out
all the tenons and mortices, and to make or superintend the making of
them. When ready, the building is put together in what is called bents,
each bent consisting of two posts, one on each side of the building,
connected together by a strong beam running across the building. The
foundation is composed of twelve cedar blocks, three feet long, sunk
two-thirds of their depth into the ground, one under each corner of the
barn, and under the foot of each post. These blocks support the sills,
which are firmly united at the corner to the cross sills. The bents,
four in number, are then laid on this foundation, and are ready for
raising, which is done by calling a "bee." Thirty-five men are ample
for this service--more are only in the way. Every two persons should be