Floors 279 



also be aired. The animals meantime should be 

 allowed to stretch their limbs, by which it is 

 not meant that they should be hooking one 

 another around a muddy barnyard, or running 

 foot races up and down the lane. On the one 

 hand, it may be all well enough for those who 

 sell animals at fabulous prices and have long 

 bank accounts, to procure water -proof blankets 

 for them, and to accompany them on their regu- 

 lar daily "constitutional." The other extreme is 

 where the animals are fastened by the head or 

 neck by contrivances not always comfortable, 

 and left standing for six months without being 

 removed from their stall. Is there not a happy 

 medium between these two extremes ! 



Animals are more comfortable on a wooden 

 floor than on one built of either brick, cement, 

 or asphalt. Notwithstanding this, most of the 

 floor of the basement should be constructed of 

 more durable material than wood. If the ani- 

 mals are kept fully bedded, as they usually are 

 not, then it would be best to discard wooden 

 floors entirely. Fig. 105 shows a basement floor 

 designed for cattle. The part where the animals 

 stand is of wood, the balance of hard or 

 pavement brick set edgewise on a bed of sand. 

 The cement or grout floor may be substituted 

 for the brick if desired. If the cracks between 

 the bricks in the floor are filled with thin 



