258 The Farmstead 



one side of the covered walk might well be used 

 in the sj)ring for growing early vegetables. If 

 the manure be properly cared for at the far end 

 of the barn, good sanitary conditions would be 

 preserved. 



The refuse of the stables, if left exposed at 

 the barns in the summer, forms breeding 

 ground for flies, which reach the house if it be 

 near. The substitution of electric street cars, for 

 horse cars which necessitated numerous stables, 

 has noticeably diminished flies in the cities. 

 TJiere should be room between the house and 

 barn for a score or more of large trees, which 

 may serve, in part, to screen each building from 

 the other in case of fire, to shade the walk be- 

 tween the two buildings, and, in part, the barn 

 itself. No tree is better adapted for this pur- 

 pose than the white elm. The open barnyard 

 should, wherever possible, be discarded, for it 

 tends to increase the wasting of manures and 

 the cost of getting them to the field; to the 

 multiplication of fences and flies, and to unnec- 

 essary exposure of animals. Why not substitute 

 paddocks or small fields of a few acres for the 

 wasteful, expensive barnyard? If the animals 

 need exercise they should take it at suitable 

 times in closely- sodded fields, or covered yards, 

 rather than in confined barnyards filled with a 

 mixture of straw, mud and manure. A few 



