266 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



with the floor; this is one of the most necessary and most used con- 

 veniences about the equipment. There are many who prefer that a 

 piggery cut through the center by an alley with pens on both sides, 

 should be placed on a north and south line in order to admit sunshine 

 on one side in the forenoon and on the other in the afternoon. Many 

 of the simplest, most useful and most inexpensive piggeries are long 

 narrow buildings with but one row of pens; in the use of this form of 

 piggery the pens should invariably face the south. 



Cross Section and Piggery. — Fig 40 shows a cross section of the piggery 

 at the section line indicated by A B in Fig. 39. The foundation, as shown 

 by the illustration, consists of the stone wall originally placed under 

 the building. Had it been necessary to replace this foundation, con- 

 crete would have been used, being easier to build and less costly. The 

 piers on both sides of the alley supporting the posts, are constructed 

 of concrete. The entire floor is made of concrete, and is four inches 

 thick ; the lower three inches consist of coarse gravel seven parts and 

 cement one; the upper inch, or top-dressing, consists of sharp sand 

 three parts and cement one. The alley running throughout the center of 

 the building its entire length, is six feet wide; this width rather than 

 being a waste of space, is one of the greatest conveniences about the 

 building. An alley placed along one side of a long narrow building 

 need not be so wide but should not be less than four and one-half feet 

 in the clear. Feeding alleys are almost invariably made too narrow. 

 The six-foot alley shown in the illustration is crowned over, being one- 

 half inch higher in the center to insure its being kept perfectly dry, and 

 was given a rough finish to prevent animals from slipping while being 

 driven to and from the weigh scales. A rough finish can be given by 

 brushing the cement lightly with a steel broom after it has been laid 

 and troweled down. The floors of the pens were given a fall of two 

 inches from the alley to the outer doors, but this is not as necessary 

 as was first supposed, the urine being completely absorbed when the 

 pens ara cleaned and bedded as frequently as they should be. We con- 

 sider some fall to the floors desirable but not more than has been given 

 in this instance; the fall is necessary when the pens have to be flushed 

 out and the whole house given a thorough cleaning and disinfection. 

 Pen floors should also be given a rough finish. 



The partitions are constructed of one and a quarter inch oak boards, 

 the material used for similar purposes in the original fittings. The 

 boards were cut into three foot lengths and placed in an upright posi- 

 tion, the bottom ends resting on a two-by-four and the tops capped with 

 similar material. The two-by-fours were not guttered to receive the ends 

 of the upright boards as this would make it difficult to replace one 

 should repairs be needed; the ends of the partition boards are held in 

 place by inch strips nailed on the two-by-fours on both sides. When 

 partition boards are placed on end with the wood fibre in a vertical 

 position, hogs cannot gnaw them so easily as when they are placed in 

 a horizontal position. The partitions are raised three inches above the 

 cement floor to ])revent Ihem from rotting quickly and to permit of 

 thorough disinfection and the maintenance of good sanitary conditions. 

 The raised sill may become dry and can be disinfected, the one on the 

 floor cannot. The objection to the raised sill is that pigs will work 

 manure underneath it and care must be taken to remove this when the 



