304 



THE FARMERY. 



[CnAP. 111. 



stock, particularly the bovine portion, tlian closelj boarded ones. A cora- 

 inuiiication from a farmer in Maine says : 



'• Several years ago, I learned by experience that tight barns were not 

 healthy for cattle, and a little reasoning upon the subject will explain why 

 this is so. It is a well-known fact, that the droppings of cattle, both solid 

 and liquid, exhale a vast amount of gases of dift'erent kinds, and these gases 

 are unfit for respiration ; if cattle are deprived of air, and breathe thcso 

 gases, they die instantly, and if they breathe air impregnated M'ith a largo 

 proportion of these gases, they sicken immediately ; the disease most likely 

 to be produced is pneumonia, or inflammation of the lungs, as the poison is 

 a2)j)licd directly to theni. 



" Now what provision is made iu modern tight barns to get rid of these 

 gases ? Why, there is a ventilator on the top of the barn, but how are 

 these gases to get to the top of the barn, since a large proportion of them 

 are heavier than atmospheric air ? The carbonic and sulphurous gases, 

 which are more abundant tlian all others, are heavier than air, and con- 

 sequently will not ascend ; anuDonia is light and would fly away, but the 

 carbonic and sulphurous gases, having a strong aflinity for ammonia, seize 

 the fugitive, and by a chemical action a new compound is formed heavier 

 than air, which, of course, must remain, unless there is some underground 

 passage by which it can escajJe. If there is no place for its escape, these 

 gases accumulate until the barn becomes filled with them, the hay is im- 

 ]iregnated, and the stock has to eat as well as breathe this noxious matter, 

 and the trouble is worse if the stock is high fed. First, because high-fed 

 animals have a greater amount of blood, the blood-vessels are fuller, and 

 consequently a greater tendency to congestion. Secondly, because the 

 excrements of high-fed animals evolve a much greater amount of gases tlian 

 those of others, and the difliculty of ventilation is increased by the fact that 

 these gases are so nearly of the weight of air. If they were all light, like 

 carbureted hydrogen, they would soon escape at the top ; or if they were 

 heavy like water, or even pure carbonic acid gas, they would, in most barns, 

 find cracks sufficiently large to run out near the bottom ; but as the facts 

 prove that the gases are nearly of the same weight of air, I am led to the 

 following conclusions : 



" First, that the walls of barns should never be clapboarded ; then there 

 will be a gentle current constantly passing through the barn, and the gases 

 passing out of the cracks on the leeward side ; second, that the stable for 

 horses and cattle shcfnld extend from one end of the barn to the other, with 

 a door at each end, both of which should generally be ojien excepting in 

 severe cold weather, and in storms. I have found by experience that a 

 horse kept in a small, tight stable, will commence coughing in a very few 

 days. Cattle do not sufl'er with the cold (unless the cold is exti-eme) if they 

 are in good health, are well fed, and have a dry, clean stall, and plenty of 

 good air to breathe. The lungs of an ox will manufacture a vast amount 

 of animal heat. I have known a cow to be wintered with no other shelter 



