HOG HOUSES AND PENS 459 



"Part of the floor is made of hard brick, laid flat in 

 the pens and laid on edge in the alley ; the remainder is 

 of cement. Lumber is not used, because, being necessa- 

 rily laid on the ground to prevent cold air or cold drafts 

 getting beneath the floor, it would rot out too quickly, 

 making it very expensive. Brick is thought to be a lit- 

 tle warmer in winter than cement, and not so slippery, 

 l)ut both are being tried. Brick, of course, is colder in win- 

 ter than is lumber, but this can be obviated by using bed- 

 ding or by making an overlay (portable floor ) of one-inch 

 lumber for the corner of the pen where the bed is made. 



COST 



"The house is divided into unit lengths of ten feet 

 each, this being the dimension of the pens parallel to the 

 long dimension of the building. Where there is proper 

 drainage, an earth floor is probably the best kind of a 

 floor in a hog house, although it is a little harder to keep 

 in repair. Therefore, by omitting the floor, tile drain 

 and eaves-troughs, the building still contains all the es- 

 sential features, and costs approximately $122 per unit 

 length of ten feet, which contains two pens. If the car- 

 penter work and painting can be done with the regular 

 farm help at odd times when there is no other employ- 

 ment at hand, the building can be constructed for ap- 

 proximately $100 per unit length of ten feet. This in- 

 cludes the labor as well as the material on the tar-and- 

 gravel roof, which is the flat roof on the part of the 

 building south of the alley, a two-foot brick wall under- 

 neath the structure and the iron posts, gates, panels and 

 fenders, which cost at the rate of $13.60 per pen. 



