Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/427

 MODEL DESIGNS FOR FARMERIES. 403 required for drying on. In the north of Russia it is frequently found necessary to dry the corn, while in sheaf, in a particular description of kiln, the characteristic of which is, that the floor is of wooden rafters about a foot apart, and at least twenty feet above the hearth on which the fuel is burnt. There are %'arious uses to which a farmer could apply such a kihi as might be used for drying either malt or hops ; and since it is very desirable for every farmer who grows barley, to make his own malt, and brew his own ale, we think a drying-kiln ought to be considered as a part of the farmery on every large farm. 801. A Cider-house is only essential to an orchard farm. Where the fruit, as in Devonshire, is ground between rollers, the house for containing these need not be large ; but where it is ground in a circular trough by a stone roller mill, as in Worcestershire, greater extent of space is requisite. It seems to be agreed on by the most competent judges, that the Worcestershire practice is by far the best ; for, while the fruit is merely torn and crushed to pieces by being passed between two revolving cylinders, it, together with the rind and seeds, is reduced to a pulpy mass by the continued revolution of the stone wheel in the trough. The exposure of the pulp to the atmosphere, while this process is going forward, is also more favourable to its absorption of oxygen, than that given to it by the cylinder mill, from which it di-ops at once into a vat. Hence the great superiority, in flavour, of the Herefordshire and Worcestershire cider over that of Devonshire. It may be observed, also, that the malic acid corrodes the metal of the iron cylinders, and thereby injures the liquor ; and fiuther, that the machinery which impels these cylinders is much more liable to get out of order, than the extremely simple apparatus by which the roller mills are driven. In choosing a stone for a roller to grind fruit, all such as contain lime must be avoided, on accomit of the action which the acid of the fruit would necessarily have on it. Granite, quartzose rock, or millstone grit, is therefore necessary. The stones are mounted so as to turn in a circle of from ten to twelve feet in diameter, in the manner which we shall describe when we give an example in our succeeding section. 802. A Limekiln is a most valuable article on a farm containing limestone, or with limestone in its neighbourhood. We are even of opinion that, where fuel is abundant, a kiln for burning a portion of the soil of the farm, whether calcareous or clayey, would be a valuable source of manure ; because all calcined earths, in consequence of their affinity for oxygen and carbonic acid gas, decompose air, water, and insoluble organic matter. Almost all clayey soils contain a certain proportion of lime ; and it has been found that when such clays are calcined, and spread on any soil, even the same as that from which they were taken, they add to its friability and fertility. There are various rude modes of burning lime adopted in different parts of the country : in some districts it is mixed with the fuel, and burned in heaps ; in others it is burned in kilns in the form of an inverted cone, or of an egg with the broad end uppermost ; but the most improved form has been determined, by Mr. Menteath of Closeburn, after long experience, to be that of an inverted wedge rounded at the angles. The advantage of the wedge or oval form in the ground plan of a kiln is, that it admits of two or more openings at the bottom for emptying the kiln, by which that work can be more speedily performed than in the common round kilns, which admit of only one opening ; and by which improvement, of course, more lime can be burned in a shorter time. The great object, in burning lime, is to burn it thoroughly, with the least possible expense of fuel, and in the shortest time ; and for these purposes the kilns of the most improved construction, in addition to the wedge shape for the expeditious emptying of the kilns, have either non-conducting movable covers, or very small openings at top, into which the fuel and limestones are thrown. The first inventor of tlie cover for limekilns was Booker of Dublin ; but they have since been greatly improved by Mr. Menteath, as we shall show hereafter, in givuig designs. A most scientific combination of a limekiln with a coke oven has been made by Mr. Heathorn of Maidstone ; in which the lime is burned by the gases which are driven off" from the coal while it is being turned into coke, and which gases would other- wise be entirely lost. Of this kiln, also, we shall hereafter give a plan. 803. Buildings for carrying on Agricultural Manufactures, such as making potato flour, extracting sugar from the beet, maple, or cane ; distilling spirits ; crushing seeds for oil ; preparing woad, or weld, or flax, or hemp, and similar operations, have nothing so peculiar in them as to demand the particular study of the Architect ; the building being, in all these and similar cases, rendered subservient to the machinery. 804. Water is essential to every farmery, both for supplying the cattle with it to drink, for washing the feet of horses, &c., and for other purposes of cleanliness. The most convenient form of supplying this is from a well with a pump, in a central part of the yard. If the subsoil do not naturally afford water, the well, or in that case the tank, must be supplied artificially, either by pipes laid from some distant spring, pond, or brook ; or from the rain which falls on the roofs of the buildings. We have already, § 151, given Mr. Waistell's design for a tank, and shall here submit a plan which has been sent us by our ingenious and most scientific contributor Mr. Mallet.