FARM BUILDINGS. 661 



cellars for the storage of manure are in a great measure obviated, since the manure is taken 

 out before fermentation commences. Gutters for saving the liquid manure separate from 

 the solid, when desired, are shown in previous description and illustrations of horse and cow 

 stables. 



Barn Cellars. Various opinions are entertained with reference to the use of barn 

 cellars for the storage of manure. A few years ago cellars for this purpose were much in 

 favor, but at present many grave objections are being urged against them from some author 

 ities, while others are as strongly as ever in favor of them. 



That a barn cellar may be very convenient for many purposes cannot be denied, among 

 which is the storage and manufacture of manure. But in their use for this purpose, unless 

 great care is taken, and the building supplied with a most complete and thorough system of 

 ventilation, they will become the source of disease by the contamination of the atmosphere 

 which the stabled animals must of necessity breathe. 



The fumes of decomposing manure in a barn cellar will be sure to find their way to the 

 stable above, where the animals are kept, which will poison their blood and be a source of ill- 

 health, while the quality of the hay and other fodder stored away in such a building will be 

 greatly injured by this means. 



Absorbents will prevent decomposition in a measure, but not wholly, even when 

 used in large quantities, while the ordinary facilities for ventilation will prove only partially 

 effectual. But the decomposition of the manure is one of the advantages claimed in the use 

 of the cellar for its storage, and unless this is accomplished, one of the objects sought in their 

 use is not attained. 



Wherever so used, great care should be taken to have on hand at all times an abundant 

 supply of dry, absorbing material, which should be employed freely, and especial pains taken 

 to have the building thoroughly ventilated. It is also well to make use of deodorizers occa 

 sionally to prevent, as far as possible, the evil effects that may result from the storage of such 

 a quantity of fermenting material directly under the building where animals are stabled, and 

 fodder stored. Barn cellars furnish a very convenient place for the storage of roots for 

 feeding stock, where they will also be beyond the reach of the frost. Such places of storage 

 should not be directly under a stable, but under the portion of the building where hay and 

 grain are kept. 



Animals should never be stabled in a cellar. Such places are damp and unhealthy, 

 and are injurious to animals that are confined in them. A side-hill or bank-barn may be 

 so constructed as to have a basement on a sunny side of the building, the floor being on 

 a level with the ground, and be less objectionable for stabling cattle than cellar stables, 

 as sometimes arranged ; but even then such stables will be more or less damp and un 

 healthy, and we would not recommend them for that purpose. The practice of confining 

 swine in barn cellars where manure is stored is open to serious objections. No animal 

 thus kept is fit to become food for mankind. It is very true that swine may thus be 

 able to work over the manure and aid in its thorough mixing, and will eat much of the 

 food wasted by the horses and other stock that may be mixed with it; but no animal 

 can be healthy when forced to live in this manure and breathe such vitiated atmosphere. 

 The &quot;Massachusetts Ploughman&quot; contains the following sensible advice with reference to 

 this subject : 



&quot;It is a fact that is conceded by every intelligent individual, that animals of all kinds, 

 to be healthy, must have plenty of pure air and sunshine. If this be so, then what must be 

 the condition of swine kept in a cellar where no draft of pure air can pass through; where 

 but little sunshine can penetrate, and where the continual decomposition of animal manure is 

 filling the air with carbonic acid and ammonia. To suppose that any animal, except of a low 

 order of existence, can be kept in health in such a position, for any great length of time, is to 



