196 KANE COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



meadow fails to yield a paying crop, it should be broken up, 

 cultivated a year or more, and re-seeded as before. 



DAIRY BARN. 



My dairy barn is built with a stone basement eight feet 

 high. The building has twent}^ feet posts, sides and ends 

 boarded and battened, and made as nearly air-tight as possible. 

 The roof is provided with a cupola for ventilation, and venti- 

 lators are in the gables. 



A horsefork and carrier is used on account of the 

 extra hight obtained by the twenty foot posts, and for the 

 purpose of carrying the hay to the end of the longest barn. 

 To give a free passage to the carrier, no beams cross the 

 center of the bay. The basement is finished with large doors 

 in the center of each end, for the entrance and exit of the 

 cows, and the team used to haul out the manure. Windows 

 along the sides are provided with sash hung at the top for the 

 sake of ventilation. Stanchions are also placed on each side 

 far"*ienough from the wall to admit of manger and a row of 

 cliests for ground feed, with space to pass along next the wall 

 to feed hay. There is an opening through the floor above over 

 this passage to throw down the hay. The floor is raised three 

 or four inches high back from the stanchions toward the center 

 of the stable, far enough so that the hind feet of the cows will 

 be on the edge, and with a slight inclination, so that no water 

 will stand on it to foul the cows when they lie down. 



CARE AND FEED OP COWS. 

 During the pasture season my cows are out night and 

 day, except while milking, when they are driven quietly 

 into the stable and turned out again as soon as milked. The 

 milking is done in the most cleanly manner at regular 

 intervals, just twelve hours apart if possible, and by the same 

 hands, in the same rotation, commencing each time with the 

 same cow, and going through to the last. When the pasture 

 begins to fail, the deficiency must be made up by feeding some 

 green crops. Corn is sown in drills generally for this purpose. 

 Some feed bran in addition. Pure living water in abundance, 



