The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-12-15
AGRICULTURAL.
Preparing for the Cold.

The cold weather has come early this
year, and fortunate indeed are those
who are ready for it. Those who have
warm houses and barns which need no
hours and days of fixing up for the win
ter are certainly well off compared with
the great number that have old houses
and barns which must be made tight
every fall. AS the cold weather APP
proaches, we cannot help wishing we
lived in warmer climate, and turn our
thoughts toward the South. Certainly
it must be pleasant to live where there
is little cold, and it would seem nice to
be far away from snow and ice and all
the discomforts of the cold North. Be.
fore many weeks the writer hopes to be
able to tell the WATCHMAN readers
something of the South from actual
observation. Few can go away from
the cold, 80 we must learn how to keep
it away from us.
Few people realize how much cold
get into room through glass windows.
Zero outside thin sheet of glass,
seventy to eighty above zero inside.
That glass window is stealing away the
heat which has cost you so much and
throwing it away. To stop this theft is
not a difficult matter. just get storm
windows, but have slide or hinged
slat so that fresh air can be let in from
the window, if necessary. This pre-
caution very many forget. When there
are no storm windows, the blinds can
be shut and curtains drawn, and this
checks if it does not stop the circula-
ton of air currents and prevent the
great loss of heat from the glass. The
stable should have plenty of windows,
but they also need shutters or curtains to
keep the heat from wasting. The cold
winds find their way into the stables
and houses through tiny crevices, and
even when it is still great deal of cold
air gets in. This is great blessing
both to cattle and to folks. Cows need
great deal of fresh air, the board of
health officials will peep into the stable,
make lew measurements and calcula-
tions and then gravely tell the milk
producer for the city that he must
have more ventilation. Just as though
no air could get into an ordinary stable.
Go into cow stable when the wind
blows hard and the thermometer is
down to zero and you will not harp on
ventilation. The trouble comes on still
and warm days in the winter time.
Then if the stable is shut up close
there will be bad odors.
Many stables are made in the old
fashioned way, set up two or three feet
from the ground. What possessed
men to ever build stables so passes our
comprehension. 1t gives the COWS a
steep climb 10 get up to them, it lets the
stables, and the hens hide there and
lay and bring off broods of late chick
ems. How much better to build sta
BILE right on the ground, and avoid all
these evils. But If you are the owner
of one of these old things, be sure and
bank it up well 80 as to keep the cold
air out from under it. If dirt is thrown
against boards late in the fall and re-
moved early in the spring it will not rot
them appreciably. 1t is no disgrace to
bank up house or barn. 1t is much
more of disgrace to be 30 shiftless as
to let the cold winds blow under and
into your buildings. OF course it is
better to have buildings so made that
they need no banking. But all people
do not have such buildings, and if the
reader has them not, then let him do
the best he can to make his buildings
as comfortable as he can. Use dirt,
paper, boards, old bran sacks, anything
that will keep out the cold. A wind
break is fine thing to break the force
of the wind. Set out hedge of spruce
trees on the windward side of your
buildings and it will help keep them
warm.