306 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 



are tiijlit, they slioukl have high ceilings; if they are not tight, but open to 

 tiie udmissiou of cold currents of air from all directions, they will be too 

 much ventilated, or, rather, ventilated in the wrong i)lace. One of th:^ 

 cheapest modes of ventilation is to build the stable high, so as to give room 

 for the light air to rise above the heads of animals. The grand rule thai 

 must be observed is not to coniine a beast in a room so small that its 

 breathing will soon poison all the air unless the foul portion can escape and 

 fresh air enter. 



328. Cattle Sheds tliat Cost Nothiiigi— It is an act of wanton ci-ueUy to 

 expose stock to the blasts of winter without shelter. In a country of saw- 

 mills, how cheaply a shed can be built of slabs nailed to rough jiosts, set in 

 the ground, and roofed by laying one coarse of slabs round side down, and 

 the upper course round side up I The cracks of the sides cau be battened 

 with thin strips of slabs or refuse boards. 



In a wooded country, where sawed stuff can not be had, how cheaply a 

 side of round logs can be built and cracks daubed with mud. Then an 

 excellent roof can be made of split stuff, called shakes in some i>laces and 

 clap-boards in others, being sjilit 2i to 5 feet long, and 4 to G inches wide, 

 according to the quality of the timber for riving. These laid upon round 

 ribs, and held in place by weiglit-i)oles, make a roof, though rough in appear- 

 ance, as tight as a shingled one. If bark is peeled at the proper time and 

 laid at once, or piled and dried flat, it makes a pretty good roof, still cheaper 

 than one of shakes, though not so durable. We have seen a very good 

 cattle-shed roof made of hemlock boughs, laid on in courses, butts up. 



Cheap sheds on the ])rairie, where cattle are exposed to winter blasts more 

 than in any other locality, can be made so easily that it seems worse than 

 cruel — it is wicked — to leave the poor brutes exposed. 



Where rails are to be had, lay up a double wall of rails a foot apart, liy 

 using cross-pieces at the end, and fill up the space with sods, or with earth 

 and leaves, or brush, or with coarse manure, or moldy hay and .straw, such 

 as cattle will not eat out, and you have a good wind-breaker. Extend from 

 this wall, to the south, rails or poles to rest upon a girder on posts, and stack 

 hay or straw on top, and there is a shed. It costs but little more to stack 

 hay in this way than it does to make a suitable stack-bottom, and then fence 

 the stack. As the hay is fed off in winter, fill up the space with refuse hay 

 and straw, so as to break the wind, if it does uot stop all the rain. Such 

 sheds for sheep are very valuable. 



Where rails are scarce, a good wall can be made of prairie sods laid up in 

 courses, with hazel brush or small limbs to bind the sods together, to give 

 strength and prevent cattle from hooking the M'all down. On this wall lay 

 a jilate to support the floor of the stack or roof. Such cattle shelter pays its 

 cost every winter. Tlierc is straw enough burned or wiisted every fall, upon 

 ti:e Western prairies, to shelter all the stock every Arinter, if it were put up 

 ill some such cheap form as we have indicated. 



329. A Valuable, (heap Foed-Trougli.— One of the puzzles in building horse 



