Thikty-sixth Annual Convention 1019 



latiou. The wood itself is unsanitary. You cannot put it in tight 

 enough but what some liquid will go down through and that makes 

 it damp. If you want something soft to stand on, while your 

 floor is new run one-half to three-fourths of an inch of hot asphalt 

 on top and tamp sawdust in and it will be all right. In our sec- 

 tion I do not know of any stables overlaid with plank. 



^"oICE : There is no trouble during the warm Aveather, In the 

 winter time you could have a lattice work, hinged and laid down, 

 to put sawdust on or hold the bedding — not solid. 



jMk. Koss : That is much worse than plank, as all the liquids 

 would go through and, held by the sawdust, will become foul and 

 unsanitary. I would have a tight or solid wood floor if any, 

 matched just as closely as 1 could get it. However, a concrete 

 floor if properly insulated from the ground will be all right. If 

 floors are laid directly on the ground, as in milk rooms or detached 

 buildings especially, the frost will pass through the floor, freeze 

 and heave the ground much quicker than through ground stone 

 filling. Also if there is moisture in the ground it will come up 

 through. You have the wrong impression about water coming 

 through a concrete wall. Usually moisture will gather by con- 

 densation where there is no ventilation across it. Where there is 

 ventilation, moisture will not gather. In our own stables there 

 is solid wall to the top. 



Voice: In case of sli^^ping upon the cement floor, what is the 

 remedy ? 



Mr. Ross : As I stated, we should be very particular never 

 to allow a floor to be touched with a steel trowel. Leave 

 it rough with a wooden float, and you can leave it still rougher 

 by simply pulling up the float. If you have a floor that 

 is too smooth, probably the quickest and cheapest way to change 

 the surface is to treat with a weak solution of muriatic acid, which 

 will dissolve the cement off the top of the sand grains, then 

 immediately wash off the acid with plenty of water to stop the 

 action. The top can be readily roughened with a luish hammer. 



Voice: I would like to say that if you put an air space under 

 your cows it will solve the difficulty. 



Mr. Ross. — Air space is one of the l)est insulators there is, but 

 you can get the air space practically as well with simply field, 



