Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-03-31
Construction of Barns.

A correspondent to the New York World
writes:s
That manure which is kept under cover
till carried to the field is much more valua-
BILE than that which is exposed to the sun,
wind and rain, has been proved by numerous
experiments; yet farmers will so construct
their barns that their stable manure must be
thrown out Of doors where much of its plant
food is destroyed and lost. That the liquid
much as the solid is admitted by good judges
yet farmers will so construct their barns that
from one-half TO the whole Of that manure is
lost.
That there is much hard work on farm
and not little that is disagreeable, every
farmer knows yet farmers will SO construct
their barns that there will be more of both
than there need to be. That it is unhealthy
to live partly or wholly under ground, needs
no argument to prove; yet farmers will so
construct their barns that their COWS must
thus live most of the time that they are fed
in the stable.
Whereas, if farmers would so construct
their barns with a cemented cellar or base
ment under the stables for manure, that
would then be kept under cover till wanted,
and could be drawn out whenever convent
ent, all the liquid manure would be saved,
the stable could be more thoroughly cleaned
in one.iourth or one-third the time and with
much less hard, disagreeable work than it
would be to wheel the manure into the yard,
aud could be done just as comfortably in
stormy as in fair weather, and their COWS
would have a dry, healthy stable.
To wheel the manure Of forty head of cat.
tie three or four rods from the stable takes
ten or twelve days longer every six months
the cattle are stabbed over night, than it
does to drop it through the floor, to say moth.
ing of the hard, disagreeable work of wheel
ing in through the mud or snow or on a line
Of planks to the heap.
A tight stable floor, one or two small
windows en- each of two sides Of the cellar,
and a ventilator from the cellar up through
the roof, will prevent any odor from rising
from the manure into the stable. The bene.
fits Of cellars or Easements under stables for
manure, and the objections to keeping cat
tie in them, are like the goods the merchant
advertised for sale, "too numerous to mention.
year ago last January l called upon
ono of my neighbors who keeps about 25
cows, that were then eating hay in an open
lot. l asked him why he fed his COWS there
instead Of in the stable he said that it was
poor hay, and they ate it better there than
in the stable; that they had all the good hay
they would eat before they were turned out
Some four or FIVE weeks since l was there
agaia and his cows were in the stable for the
night. 1t is basement half under ground
the sill on one side being level with the yard
and a wall up to the barn floor on the other
usual doors and windows on one side. Two
rows of cows were standing leugthwise Of the
stable their heads towards each other with
an alley between another row across one
end, and his horses at the other. Thus they
stood surrounded by their own manure
breathing and re-breathing the air ovel
again,
referred to the conversation a year ago
and asked if he could give q reason for hi
COWS eating that poor hay so freely after eat
ing all the good hay they would in the stable
He replied, 81 cannot, only know it wa
poor hay, had been overAowed with water
and was very dirty" gave him this ex
PLANTATION Your cows after being fed II
this stable few hours, breathing this dam
air filled with the odor Of their own manure
lose all appetite for food, for their lungs auC
mouths are filled with the foul air, even {,
tasting, and they cannot cat. After being
out Of doors while, cleansing their lung
and mouths with pure air, their appetite
returned and they were hungry enough Il
eat "very dirty" hay.
Is milk perfectly healthy that is manu-
factured in such stables