CPIAPTER IV. 



BUILDINGS, AND THE MANUFACTURE OP MANURE. 



HE importance of providing shelter for our live-stock 

 is generally acknowledged ; the economy of pre^ 

 serving the animal from the depressing influences of 

 a low temperature and exposure to rainfall is na 

 longer questioned. It is not now, as formerly, necessary to 

 explain how food supplies combustible material wherewith the 

 temperature of the body is maintained, or to show that the 

 quantity of such food will bear a direct proportion to the 

 temperature in which the animal lives, and that an equable 

 and rather high temperature is the most favourable for econo- 

 mising the food. Nor is it necessary to dwell upon the injury 

 arising to the health and growth of the animal when, in place 

 of being comfortably housed, it has to face the pitiless blast on 

 a bare pasture, or to stand in an open yard, over fetlocks in 

 sludge, as we too frequently see in our dairy districts. These 

 questions, we repeat, are now fully understood, and it is rather 

 with a view to moderate opinions, so that we may not exaggerate 

 the value of shelter, that we propose to discuss the question of 

 covered versus open yards. 



It is always difficult to get a new idea entertained, however 

 good it may be, and a long time must elapse and much discus^ 

 sion is required before the agricultural mind is j)repared to 

 receive any novelty ; but when once the crust of prejudice is 

 broken through, and we are fairly afloat, there is the danger of 

 being carried away by the tide that sets in, and landed far 

 beyond the point we aimed at in starting. Enthusiasts, with 

 more ardour than judgment, are prepared to advocate their 

 hobby under all circumstances. It appears to us that the 



