476 REPORT ON THE TRANSIT OF STOCK. 



suffer on board a steamer, and to mitigate them somewhat, we* 

 propose that the pens in which they are placed should be boarded 

 and roofed over, as already described for sheep ; in addition to 

 this, a sparred floor should be put in their pen, raised about six 

 inches above the deck floor, so that the water and droppings from 

 them would pass through and afford the pigs a dry bed. This 

 alone would be a great benefit to them, as the wet and filth of the 

 pens, in which they are usually to be seen after a few hours' sailing,, 

 increases the evils of exposure in a very high degree. Further, 

 after the pigs are placed in the pen, a quantity of clean dry straw 

 should be shaken over them, as the best covering they can have ; 

 and if they have a dry bed, and a good straw blanket such as- 

 this, rain being kept off, they will stand the voyage pretty fairly. 

 The sparred floor suggested should be made movable, for the 

 purpose of cleaning; and although this floor would entail expense, 

 it need not be very costly, and it certainly would add much to 

 the comfort of the pigs. Food and water ought to be combined, 

 and with light wooden troughs, which might be readily placed 

 in or taken out of the pens, there does not seem any reason 

 against the proper feeding of pigs on shipboard. Some kind of 

 liquid food, such as meal boiled in water, or meal mixed with 

 whey or brewery wash, might readily both be carried, and sup- 

 plied at least three times a-day, without any great amount of 

 labour. It is therefore submitted, that the greatest of the evils 

 under which pigs labour during transit by sea may with com- 

 parative ease oe remedied. 



Before concluding this section, it seems necessary to notice- 

 the subject of cleaning, in reference to all descriptions of stock 

 on board a steamer. In general, no cleaning beyond the washing, 

 of the deck is attempted during the voyage ; and for the stock 

 in pens, perhaps it would entail more labour than can easily be 

 spared to it. However for the stock in the hold, arranged in 

 lines, cleaning is not attended with any practical difficulty; 

 and when the usual want of ventilation in the hold is 

 considered, the absolute necessity of the utmost cleanliness 

 becomes apparent, and the benefits of it must be too well 

 appreciated by all to need the support of any argument.. 

 The whole question, in fact, is one of labour — and no great 

 amount of labour either ; and it is simply submitted as an absolute 

 necessity, in securing the comfort and health of stock during 

 transit by steamer, that they shall be duly cleaned — the holds 

 three times a-day if possible, and all at least twice a-day ; and, 

 further, that after each cleaning a sufficient quantity of chloride 

 of lime, or other disinfectant, shall be scattered on the floors, to- 

 purify the atmosphere ; and that the pens and holds shall be 

 whitewashed with quicklime between the shipping of each cargo 

 of cattle. 



