1883.] THE VENTILATION OF FARM BUILDINGS. 197 



read much of the requirements of good food and regular feeding; 

 our agricultural journals are filled with practical and instructive 

 articles upon it, lecturers descant upon the subject, chemists give 

 "US tables of food values, and we all know that a great deal of the 

 thrift of our stock depfends upon the quality and regularity of our 

 fodder supply. But whoever thinks of the quality or supply of 

 air that he allows his animals, or the effects of its deprivation ? 

 Alas ! we seldom hear it spoken of, and the only thought of the 

 farmer upon it seems to be to batten up the cracks and shut it out 

 from his premises. 



That there is a need of an agitation upon this subject is evident 

 to any one who enters almost any stable in the country, especially 

 in the morning; and well-constructed ones are worse, as a general 

 thing, than those of a poorer class, for they are more hermetically 

 sealed, the object being to make them warm. Little does the 

 owner think that warmth at the expense of air is far more inju- 

 rious than a cold air, which supplies a full amount of oxygen for 

 combustion. 



It has become the fashion of late in many sections to have the 

 stalls for both horses and cattle arranged on one side of the barn 

 and to enclose them by a partition in front, the lower part perma- 

 nent, the upper to be opened or closed at will. This allows of an 

 apartment of only about seven and a-half or eight feet high and 

 twelve deep, and long enough to meet the space demanded by the 

 stock kept. The plank floor is saturated with decomposing filth, 

 which emits its sickening odors continually. These stables are 

 generally over a manure cellar, where the whole accumulations of 

 a season are slowly fermenting, filling the whole place with dele- 

 terious odors. Here the cattle are confined and compelled to 

 breathe over and over again the imprisoned air till they have 

 exhausted its oxygen and loaded it with carbonic acid ; this com- 

 bined with the odors from their excretions make it a place wholly 

 unfitted for healthful habitation. Milk manufactured in a stable 

 Hke this is contaminated before it is drawn from the animal, and 

 rapidly receives further taint by absorbing it from the air before 

 it is taken to the dairy rooms. If the evil ended here it would not 

 be so bad, but this unwholesome milk is in many cases the only 

 food of children, who are watched over by tender, loving parents, 

 mourning over their feeble offspring, unknowing that they them- 



