ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART IV. 117 



inconvenient arrangement of buildings now in almost general use. In 

 fact, there are very few farmsteads which can not be criticized from this 

 standpoint. 



The loss of labor from an inconvenient arrangement of buildings is 

 so gradual that it is not fully appreciated, but it is accumulative and 

 the aggregate is enormous. Thus, the total distance traveled in walk- 

 ing 300 feet and return four times a day for a year is over 145 miles, 

 and a saving of thirty minutes a day for a year is equal to over eighteen 

 days of ten hours each. 



We have succeeded recently in interesting a government investigatoi 

 in making investigations concerning the distance and time required to 

 do the chores on some of the Iowa farms he has under investigation, 

 and some interesting results are to be expected. To illustrate the great 

 difference to be observed in farmstead plans, I would like to call your 

 attention to the two sketches which I have here. The first of these is 

 the plan of the buildings of a farm with which I am familiar, and it is 

 presented just as it exists at the present time. In doing the morning 

 work upon this farm, tending to the horses, cows, and hogs, it is neces- 

 sary to walk 2,400 feet outside of the buildings. This may be good 

 morning exercise, but it will be hard to convince the average farmer 

 that he needs it. Besides the inconvenience in doing the morning work, 

 notice how inconveniently placed the garden is from the house. Attention 

 is also called to the position of the well. Instead of being between the 

 house and barn, it is beyond the barn. 



Compare this plan with the next. The house is 150 feet from the 

 road, and the barn is 200 feet from the house. Not too close, when 

 located in the right direction. The prevailing winds are either from the 

 northwest or southeast, and the odors from the barn are seldom carried 

 toward the house. 



The implement and wagon shed also includes the shop and milk house. 

 If the well can be located near this shop, so much the better, as a gasoline 

 engine can be used to do all the light work at this point. In doing the 

 morning work, a man will only walk 900 feet, a saving of 1,500 feet over 

 the former plan. 



It is generally recognized that it is impossible to produce dairy prod- 

 ucts economically without providing comfortable quarters for the dairy 

 herd. There is no data at hand to show to what extent comfortable 

 quarters will compensate for a reduced ration, yet there is no doubt but 

 what an animal well protected from the cold and wind, and housed in 

 sanitary quarters, not only will produce more, but require a smaller 

 ration. There is much difference of opinion in regard to the need of 

 warm quarters for beef animals. Some investigators have reached the 

 conclusion that the waste heat from the digestive processes furnishes a 

 surplus amount of heat, and warm quarters are not necessary. All 

 agree, however, that protection from wind and wet is essential to eco- 

 nomical beef production. 



The animal requires the oxygen of the air as much as food. In fact, 

 an animal will live much longer without food than without air. Perhaps 



