Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/418

 39'i COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. 808 775. A Corn Barn on Posts was erected by Morel- Vindc, at Celle, St. Cloud, in 1 8 1 2 ; and the plan and details of it arc given in his excellent work. He observes, that though the construction of a barn on posts is necessarily more expensive than one the floor of which is the ground, yet that it does not cost more than one third of a barn of the same size built of masonry, while it is a great deal better, especially in countries where timber is at a low price. When Morel- Vinde's work was published, the barn at Celle had stood twelve years without undergoing any alteration, or requiring the slightest degree of repair, and without a single mouse or rat ever having been seen in it. The great advantage of this barn is that of preserving the straw always as fresh as if it had just come from the flail : he has preserved it one and even two years, without its undergoing the slightest damage. The saving from the ravages of rats and mice, produced by such a barn, is found by experience to be more than fifteen per cent ; and, compared with barns built of masonry, there is also another saving, that of being able to fill it with corn the first year ; whereas a barn with stone or brick walls requires a year to dry them. The wood of which this barn is composed was not felled on the 25th of March, 1812, and yet the barn was completed by the 25th of June in the same year ; and in the harvest follow- ing 15,000 sheaves of wheat were put into it. The only kind of wood employed in this barn is that of the Lombardy poplar, with the exception of the posts, two feet high, which are of oak ; it is covered with slates ; and the whole cost was only ^"182 : 5s. : lOd. in the neighbourhood of Paris. In the departments of France, the cost is estimated at the whole length of the structure, a a a, which support the joists, b b, on which is laid the plank- ing, c. Fig. 809 is a cross section of fig 808ontheline A B, on which are shown the threshing-floor, d ; a floor over it, e, and the suspend- ed fold-up steps, f. Fig. 811 is a cross section of fig. 808, on the line C D, showing that there is no second floor over any part of the barn, but the threshing-floor, as seen in the preceding figure. Fig. 810 is an elevation of one end, showing the cross braces, which are only placed in the ends and sides. Fig. 812 is a side view in which may be seen die threshing- floor, g ; the end of the floor over it at /(and, in the roof, four small openings for the escape of the wind during stormy weather, to prevent its blowing off the roof CB= The sideview of these openings is seen in fig. 811. Fig. 813 is a longitudinal section, showing the cross braces which strengthen the upright posts, and the construction of the roof.
 * ^I09 : 7s. : 6d. Fig. 808 is the ground plan, on one half of which are shown three sleepers