Shaker Farm

The present setllement of Shakers or United Breihren, nt New Lebanon, was the first spot on vliich thissect ever locaied. They commenced here about forty years ago. The society consists at present of about 600 persons, more than half of whom are females. From small beginnings they have acquired large possessions, holding at ihis time not less than seven thousand acres of land, mostly lyng contiguously. We spent a few hours cxamining various objects connecled with this community. Their buildings are oll built in the most substantie 1 manner, ond are constructed witli particular regard to convenience. - One of tlicir barns is considered in all respecis the best contrived and the most perfect of any we have seen. It Í3 one hundred' and forty-one feet long, fiftv feet wide, and twenty-five feet high in the wel!s. It consists of three stories. The basement isdevoled to tbc stock and the storage of vegetables in winter, the socond and third to hay ond grain. The mtiin entrance for produce is in the third lory, which) from ;he barn beingon the sideofa hill, is nearly level with the ground. A floor runs lengihwise through the barn on this story, and the hay and the olher anieles are pitched downward i tito the bays on each side. The barn is cu pable of entaining two hundred tons of hay, and it is so disposed that scarcely any of it has tn be r.iised higher than the wagon from which it id thrown. Only two hanJs are necessary to unload - one to pitch off, and oiie to keep the mow level, Unís saving a great amount pi labor, compare 1 willi what is required in barns ot common construction.The apartmenis for the caltleare complete. The walls, which are of very soüd stone work, are plaslered nnd tho' cool ín summer, we should suppoi-e they would be so warm in winter that no frost would be found there ; wjndows in each side permit free ventilalion. The fodder is ihrown into ncks for the stock from the "feeding floor " in tfie secotid story. In front of The racks are mangers tocatch any straw that drops from the racks, x.i the fodder is pulled out by the animáis. An open space is left beiween the racks and the mangers, which aüows the animáis ready access to fresh air, prevenís the hay in the racks from being made unpalateable by their breath, and gives room also to slip in boxesj wlien it is wished to feed with slopsor roots. The man who had charge of the stock said he could feed and take care of a hundred animáis in this barnj wilh less labor thaa he could manage twenty in any otber barn hc ever saw. The catile stand on a platform wilh a gei.tle slopp, which renders it easier to keep them clean and dry. The cows are tied with chains around the neck, and always milkedin the stalls, summer and winter. They are milked exacih" at fi.red titnes. So punctual are the attendants to this, that a clock is kept in the apartment and the herdsman told us al Vhat moment the cows would be in their places. The barnyard isso contrived that none of the manure is wasted It is kept 1 ï ttered with straw and such waste matters as can be procurad, and the manure from the stalls is made into compost with that in the yard, mixed with muck, and is not used until it has become fine by decomiOï.ition.