658 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



The pens may be easily varied in width by moving the sheep-rack which divides them. To 

 assist in readily supplying feed from the alley, a slanting board or door inclines towards the 

 alley, and on this the hay or grain is placed on its way to the feeding-trough below. These 

 slanting doors are 2| feet high, and are held in place by long hooks at the top. In the 

 summer, these doors are set up vertically against the studs (which form the division between 

 the pens and alley), and are held there by buttons. 



Stal)les. It is always well to have plenty of stable room, even in a warm climate, 

 where protection from the weather is not as necessary as in the higher latitudes. Animals 

 that are stabled a portion of the time are more tame and gentle, hence more easily managed, 

 and are really more valuable on this account. They can also be kept in better condition by 

 the care they may thus receive, while they will not waste one-half the food that they would 

 if fed upon the ground. Animals that are fed on the ground will not only waste a great 

 deal, but are liable to be injured by being hooked by others, while the master spirits of the 

 herd prevent the timid ones from getting their portion. By stable-feeding, these evils are 

 all avoided. Stables should be so arranged as to avoid crowding. Animals that are crowded 

 into narrow quarters will not thrive. 



Stables should, as a general rule, be built higher than they commonly are. They should 

 never be less than eight and a half feet, while ten feet would be much better. A better and 

 dryer condition of atmosphere is thus secured. The atmosphere of any stable should be 

 sufficiently dry to permit the insensible perspiration to pass off, and, at the same time, suf 

 ficiently warm to dry a horse readily when its coat is wet with perspiration, and is being well 

 nibbed. 



Light in Stables. Stables should be located in the sunny side of the building, that 

 the animals may have the benefit of the warmth and sunlight thus afforded. A dark stable 

 should always be avoided. Light is as essential to animals as to men, and no animal will 

 thrive to be excluded from it for any length of time. At the same time, the arrangement of 

 the stable should be such that the light can be admitted without its being too intense in the 

 face of the animals. We have known horses and cattle to have been made partially or 

 wholly blind by being confined in stables where the eyes were exposed to a strong light most 

 of the time. If practicable, the light should come in from the rear, thus affording a pro 

 tection to the eyes. Stables located on the south side of a building which is the most 

 desirable arrangement will admit of the best means of thus adjusting the light. 



Yentilation of Stables. G-ood ventilation is also highly essential. So much has 

 been previously stated with reference to this subject, that a repetition here seems unneces 

 sary. No animal can be healthy without pure air. Good ventilators should be arranged at 

 the top of every barn where stock are kept, to permit the foul air to escape, while there 

 should also be openings near the floor for admitting the pure air. Great care should be 

 exercised in order to &quot;have the arrangements for ventilation such that no animal shall be 

 exposed to a draught of air. Such exposure will produce the most serious results to man 

 kind or animals, pneumonia and other diseases being frequently occasioned by it. 



&quot;We have in mind a farmer who lost, with lung fever, a valuable Alderney cow from his 

 dairy herd for three winters in succession, from having them stand in the stable directly in 

 front of an open window, where they were constantly exposed to a draft of air from the rear. 

 And this farmer was either so indifferent or ignorant, with respect to sanitary laws, that it 

 was only the fact of the cows that died in this manner having each occupied the same place 

 in the stable that aroused his mind to investigate as to the cause. 



Stables should be built tight and warm, for the comfort of the stock as well as for 

 economic reasons, while the pure air to be supplied for the animals to breathe should find an 

 entrance in its proper place, and not through the cracks of the barn at the sides, or up 



