The next day Merton and I cleared away the rest of the debris in and around the foundations of the barn, and before night the first load of lumber arrived from the carpenter who had taken the contract.

This forerunner of bustling workmen, and all the mystery of fashioning crude material into something looking like the plan over which we had all pored so often, was more interesting to the children than the construction of Solomon’s temple.

“To-morrow the stone-masons come,” I said at supper, “and by October we are promised a new barn.”

CHAPTER XLI

HOARDING FOR WINTER

As was stated early in this simple history the original barn was built on a hillside, the rear facing the southeast; and since the foundations were still in a fair condition, and the site was convenient, I determined to build on the same spot, somewhat modifying the old plan.  I had read of the importance of keeping manure under cover, and now arranged that by a trap door the cleanings of the horse and cow stable should be thrown into the basement, which, by a solid brick partition, should be so divided as to leave ample room for a dark cellar in which to store roots and apples.  Through this trap door in the stable rich earth and muck from the banks of the creek could be thrown down also, covering the manure, and all could be worked over and mixed on rainy days.  By this method I could make the most of my fertilizers, which may be regarded as the driving-wheel of the farm.

I had decided that the poultry-house and pigsty should form an extension to the barn, and that both should be built in the side of the bank also.  They would thus have an exposure to the south, and at the same time, being formed in part by an excavation, would be cool in summer.  The floor of the sty should have a slight downward slope, and be cemented.  Therefore it could be kept perfectly clean.  This residence of Bobsey’s future pets should be at the extreme end of the extension, and above it should be a room in which I could store picked-up apples, corn, and other food adapted to their needs, also a conduit by which swill could be poured into the trough below without the necessity of entering the pen.  I proposed to keep only two or three pigs at a time, buying them when young from neighboring farmers, and fattening them for our own use according to my own ideas.

The poultry-house, between the barn and sty, was to be built so that its side, facing the south, should be chiefly of glass.  It was so constructed as to secure the greatest amount of light and warmth.  Eggs in winter form the most profitable item in poultry keeping, and these depend on warmth, food, shelter, and cleanliness, with the essential condition that the hens are young.  All the pullets of Winnie’s early broods therefore had been kept, and only the young cockerels eaten or sold.  We had the prospect of wintering about fifty laying hens; and the small potatoes we had saved would form a large portion of their food.  Indeed, for some weeks back, such small tubers, boiled and mashed with meal, had formed the main feed of our growing chickens.