590 THE AMERICAN FARMER 



cows, and conveniently wide ones across each end, so that each section is surrounded by a 

 passage-way. 



The stalls are nearly five feet wide too wide, 1 think; the mangers or feeding-troughs 

 about two feet wide, and the slightly sloping platform upon which the cows stand, 5^ feet. 

 At the rear is a gutter which holds the manure and conducts the liquid to traps placed at 

 convenient intervals in the gutter, through which traps the manure is dropped into the capa 

 cious, nine-foot cellar, 135 feet in length by 40 in width. 



It will be noticed that the double drive- way, before alluded to, does not extend up to the 

 barn proper, but stops some 1 2 i eet short, which space is bridged over by what is called the 

 dormer, and forms a room below 12x30 feet, which is used as a wardrobe and dressing- 

 room. The men call it the Parlor] not because they meet here to talk, but, I take it, because 

 it is the culminating point of the all pervading neatness and cleanliness which distinguishes 

 this establishment. Here are closets for the men s clothes, and for the brushes, brooms, 

 cards, and other tools; wash-basin, towels, a looking-glass and toilet articles; and here, morn 

 ing and evening, before going to milk, the milkers wash their hands and faces, comb and 

 brush their hair, and make such changes of apparel as may be necessary. I am free to say 

 that the majority of farmers in this country, which may indeed be justly proud of the civ 

 ilized cleanliness which prevails among its rural population, come to the table with less atten 

 tion to personal tidiness than is here both the rule and the practice. 



At milking-time, though the barns are often, one may say, full of visitors, all are 

 excluded, and the milkers have the floor to themselves. Spring balances hang at convenient 

 points, and the milk of each cow is weighed as soon as it is drawn, the weight set down by 

 each milker upon his own slate, and when he has done, the slate is delivered to the dairy 

 maid. 



At the eastern end of this stable is a room 35 x 40 the corner room, and part of the 

 &quot; 75 barn&quot; in which there are eight large box-stalls on two sides, with space for several 

 more. This is used as a lying-in ward, or for cows which may be injured in any- way. The 

 long loft in this building, which occupies the greater part of the same floor, is filled with hay, 

 straw, and bedding, sufficient for the stock beneath. A portion is used for storing duplicate 

 implements and machines, which, consisting of churns, butter-workers, a hay-cutter, and sun 

 dry others, are kept ready for use in case of an accident, that no delay may occur an 

 admirable provision. Another portion, opening out of the lying-in room, is occupied as a 

 grain and meal room. A passage-way, four feet in width, extends through to the southern 

 end of this floor upon the western side. The manure-cellar, before referred to, is continued 

 under the room in which the box-stalls are, but the rest of the basement is otherwise occu 

 pied. An inclined plane, well cleated, makes a passage-way for animals up and down 

 when it is necessary to transfer them. The ox-stable is at the left of this, on the ground 

 floor; while on the right are the bull-stables. 



Every farmer, and not less every householder, can appreciate the inestimable comfort to 

 man and beast of a never-failing supply of pure water. Without it the barns would have 

 been ill-placed and ill-planned. So important a matter, of course, received its due considera 

 tion. Upon the hill, above the barn, not far from the position chosen by the artist for his 

 sketch, and at a distance of some 500 feet from the barns, several springs are collected into 

 a reservoir. This is stoned about, roofed over, and connected by iron pipes with the dairy, 

 and with the barns, throughout which it is distributed by pipes. There are troughs, or 

 sinks, with discharge-pipes leading to the drains, located in convenient places, in the stables 

 and other rooms, and spacious drinking troughs in the yards. 



Mr. Starr dwells with force upon the importance of giving the animals the regular 

 exercise of a walk for their drink, and of their being watered twice a day, and, in carrying 

 out his view, the cows of each section of the main floor are turned out for an hour or more 



