120 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



1. Economy of first cost. Volume of "building is secured with, mini- 

 mum of wall surface. 



2. Less expense for maintenance. 



3. More economical of labor. 



4. Better fire protection can be provided. 



5. Manure can be handled to the best advantage. 



6. Provides a very imposing structure. 



It is to be expected that opinions and tastes will differ as well as 

 conditions, and all these will determine the best arrangement for any par- 

 ticular location. Most farmsteads are the results of growth and develop- 

 ment, and for this reason are not what they would be if built entirely at 

 one time. As changes are made and new buildings constructed, it is well 

 to keep in mind the desired features and to approach the ideal as far as 

 possible. 



In commercial life it has often been found a matter of good business 

 to dismantle certain buildings designed for manufacture and entirely 

 rebuild the same. There are, no doubt, many farms so equipped that it 

 would be a good business investment to entirely dismantle the existing 

 buildings and rebuild in such a way as to insure a more economic oper- 

 ation. 



One feature of farm building construction which has received more 

 attention of late than formerly, is the matter of natural lighting. Not 

 only has the amount of window glass been increased, perhaps beyond a 

 practical amount, but the location of the windows to secure the maxi- 

 mum effect has been given due consideration. These statements hold 

 more nearly true in the case of dairy barns and poultry houses than in 

 other farm buildings. 



It is now customary to provide in dairy barn construction one square 

 foot of window glass for every twenty to twenty-five square feet of floor 

 surface. This seems to be adequate when care is used in seeing to it 

 that the entire floor is swept during the day by direct sunlight, and that 

 too much of the light is not intercepted by the window casings. 



There is no question relating to farm buildings which is in as unsettled 

 a state as the matter of ventilation. It is recognized generally that men 

 and animals must have fresh air, and the most favorable conditions for 

 life and health are attained when the air is as pure as the open atmos- 

 phere. It is not practical to provide air as pure as this to animals housed 

 in a building which is designed primarily as a shelter and for warmth. 

 The standard of purity or to what extent the air of buildings should be 

 diluted down in order to make it fit for breathing purposes, i's a question 

 upon which there is no agreement. This must be settled in a more or less 

 definite way before the engineer can work out a ventilating system. It is 

 customary to let the number of parts of carbon dioxide in 10,000 parts of 

 air represent the purity of air. In the open air there are about four parts 

 in 10,000. 



De Chaumont, an authority on ventilation, holds that air fit for breath- 

 ing purposes should not at any time contain more than six parts, and in 

 contrast to this, Professor F. H. King, designer of the common King sys- 



