COW-BYRES 155 



If a 9-inch external wall consists of good bricks, well laid, it should 

 require no support from buttresses. 



"When, however, a 9-inch wall is built of inferior bricks, laid by 

 partially skilled labour, it will be well to provide occasional buttresses, 

 as shown in Fig. 129, where a buttress is built mid-way between adjacent 

 windows, the buttresses being thus 14 feet apart from centre to centre. 



If the walls have been built of good bricks, it will be sufficient to 

 point them, both outside and inside the building, with cement mortar. 



If, however, poor quality bricks have been used, the walls should be 

 plastered both outside and inside the building. The plaster applied to 

 the outside of the building should be cement plaster, and this material 

 should also be applied inside to a height of at least 6 feet from the floor, 

 on account of its superior strength to resist breakage by knocks from 

 animals' horns, etc. 



All sharp corners of doorways, etc., should be rounded off to prevent 

 animals injuring themselves. To effect this purpose, in the case of brick 

 buildings, bull-nosed bricks may be used for the jambs of door-ways. 



The life of a wood, or wood-and-iron building will be greatly 

 lengthened by using creosoted timber for all uprights and sills. 



If animals are stalled heads to wall in an iron building, their breath 

 condenses on, and runs down, the corrugated iron of the walls, in cold 

 weather. This may be prevented, and the comfort and warmth of the 

 animals increased, if the inner side of the wall be close-boarded to a 

 height of 4' 6" above the floor. One-inch deal boards may be used for 

 this purpose. 



The Roof. — In this country, for reasons of cost, the roof covering 

 would probably consist of corrugated iron. This material, as already 

 mentioned, has the fault of being a bad heat-insulator. Thatching is 

 much better in this respect, but it cannot be recommended on account 

 of the difficulty of thoroughly disinfecting such a roof, after an outbreak 

 of infectious disease, since it cannot be whitewashed or sprayed effectively. 

 Further, the use of thatching appreciably increases the risk of fire, a 

 matter of great importance when valuable animals are housed. 



Various corrugated iron roofs suitable for cow-byres are illustrated and 

 dimensioned in this chapter, while a roof suitable for any particular 

 width of byre can also be selected from Chapter VI. 



The Floor. — A perfect floor would be 



(a) Impervious to moisture, and non-absorbent ; 



