156 FARM BUILDINGS IN SOUTH AFRICA 



(b) Not too cold or damp ; 



(c) Not slippery ; 



(d) Of uniform, hard-wearing material, which will not wear into 



hollows ; 



(e) Easily cleaned. 



No material fulfils all these conditions. The following flooring 

 materials are used : cement-concrete, hard blue bricks, asphalte. 



Good cement-concrete, well laid and finished, forms probably as good 

 a floor as can be got, being specially satisfactory from a sanitary point of 

 view. Such a floor may consist of 4 inches of concrete laid upon a 6-inch 

 layer of hard-core, both hard-core and concrete being well rammed while 

 being laid. 



The concrete may have proportions of 1 : 3 : 6 if the sand is very 

 clean and otherwise suitable (say river sand); but if the sand be even 

 only slightly dirty or fine in the grain, proportions not leaner than 1:2:4 

 should be adopted. 



The above 4-inch layer of concrete should be topped by a 1-inch layer 

 of granolithic, as specified and explained on p. 133. 



To prevent slipping, the surface of the floor should be indented with 

 grooves of V section, about £ inch deep, and from 4 to 5 inches apart. 

 With the same object in view the floor surface may be roughened by 

 brushing it over with a stiff brush, before the granolithic has quite set. 



Hard blue bricks, if easily obtainable, may be used for the floor. 

 Such a floor would consist of a lower layer of hard-core, a mid layer of 

 2h inches or 3 inches of concrete, and an upper layer of the hard blue 

 bricks, laid as explained for stables in Chapter XVII., p. 185. 



It is impossible, however, to obtain bricks of uniform hardness, hence 

 a hard blue-brick floor wears unevenly, and hollows soon form in its 

 surface. 



Ordinary bricks are quite unsuitable as a flooring material, being 

 much too soft and absorbent. 



The front part of the stalls, to a distance of about 3' 6" from the 

 manger, may with advantage be laid with asphalte, clay, or ant-heap ; 

 this conduces to the comfort and warmth of the animals while they are 

 lying. 



If asphalte be put down it may consist of a layer |-inch thick carried 

 on 3" of concrete. 



Drainage. — No covered drains should be permitted inside cow-byres. 



