Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-11-08
IMPERFECT STAeLEs.


De visited by = committee OF 1nSpec-
ton. would the stables be found so
perfect In their arrangements ~ to
call for NO criticism? imagine those
which would be graded perfect arc
few. Yet tho stable is q very impor-
tant part of the farm economy for il il
there that . largo part Of the farm
manufacturing 10 carried on. Tho hay,
and beef, and the fertilizers arc pre-
pared that are to restore the waste OF
the farm and enable US to grow profit
able crops in the future The essen
tials of good stable are that it should
be warm 30 that in winter no cold
drafts blow on the stock confined with
out exercise, and at the same time it
should be we'll lighted and ventilated;
that the arrangements for getting the
food to the stock be such rs to econo-
mize time and labor, and to enable US
to clean tho managers readily and
quickly; that the stable floor be made
tight so as to save all the manure,
liquid and solid, and SO arranged that
the stock is not liable to be soiled, and
the manure can be easily removed, and
that there be good roomy box
stalls to be used for cows at
narrowing time, for mares either
heavy with foal or with young
colts and for wintering calves and colts.
Tried by these standards few stables
viii be found that fill the specifca-
tions, It may not be easy to remodel
an old barn 50 as to get tho perfect
stables, but in most of them a little
planning and q moderate outlay of
time and money will result in great
improvement.
Perhaps an enumeration of some
things which have seen, and some
suggestions, may be helpful to our
readers: First, I suggest that on the
first rainy day when you are at leisure
you go to your barn and study for
few hours the details of your stable.
will tell you what many OF you will
find. Cracks between weather boards
that will let the cold winds in and the
fine snow slit through when there is a
blizzard so that your stock will stand
and SILVER. Stock will be far more
comfortable out of doors where they
can exercise and seek the lee of a
strawstack, or the shelter of a grove,
than when confined in q stall in such a
stable. To keep animals under such
circumstances is an expensive cruelty,
for at least one-fourth of the food
eaten is consumed in maintaining heat,
when it might as we'll be used in max
ing beef or milk. The thing for those
to do who find the stable in this condi-
ton is to buy paper and lumber and
have the stable double-boarded before
winter comes. After you have tried it
one winter if you do not conclude this
to be good advice, send the bill to me
and I will pay it, provided you will
agree that if you do and that the adj
vice was good, you will send me ten
dollar bill as fee for professional
services. Some of you will find
worse state Of affairs than this, for in
addition to the cracks in the sides of
your stable there is no underpinning,
and the wind sweeps under the stable
and comes up through cracks an inch
wide in the stalls. You ought to GO
around behind the barn and kick your
self on making this discovery. and
would like to tie you in one of
those stalls on the birthnight of next
winter when the mercury dropped
down near zero and the wind was out
on tear. think before morning
your repentance would be genuine and
your resolutions Of amendment sincere.
But these cracks are costing you
more than merely the extra feed to
keep your stock warm. just listen a
moment while read from table Civ
ing the values of manures, and there is
no question of the accuracy of the
statement: ''The fresh solid excre-
ment of horse is worth e1.36 and the
fresh urine is worth 8.62 per ton. The
solid excrement of the COW is worth Sc
cents and the urine is worth %. IA per
ton" These valuations are based on
the values OF nitrogen, phosphoric acid
and the potash in them at the same
price we are charged for them as COM
mercial fertilizers. The urine then
being so valuable, is not leak in the
stable floor worse than leak in the
roof How many stables have floors
tight enough to save the iquidp ]
was in the stable of neighbor last
spring and saw one of his horses
standing in a pool of urine where the
floor had been worn hollow and seeing
that noticed it he said alphabetically:
81 bored some holes in the floor to
keep the stall dry but they have got
stopped" said to him: Don't you
know that one pound of urine is worth
six pounds of the solid manure?" He
answered indifferently as though it
was matter in which he had no In
terest: Eyes; believe it is. and the
holes think are still in the floor. Yet
this man is in nearly every respect an
unusually good farmer. Yet such is