390 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap. sx. 



at one end of the building for the reception 

 of their excrements, which should be fre- 

 quently swept away, and the gutter sluiced 

 with water, in order to secure the great object 

 of cleanliness. So far, indeed, is this carried 

 in Holland, where the dairy forms so promi- 

 nent an object, that the cow-house is regu- 

 larly swept and sanded to a state of the most 

 extreme neatness ; and the animals are not 

 only wisped and curried like horses, but their 

 tails slung up in pulleys, in the same manner 

 as those of horses after they have been 

 nicked : and this solely to prevent their soil- 

 ing themselves. 



The Dutch have, indeed, some minor ar- 

 rangements in their cow-houses, which might, 

 we think, be copied in this country with ad- 

 vantage. As, for instance : the sweeping is 

 done chiefly by a square board, the exact size 

 of the gutter, down which the dung is pushed 

 by the cow-herd into the reservoir at its end, 

 and when sluiced with w^ater from the pump, 

 the drain is completely cleansed. The floor, 

 instead of being made slanting to the gutter, 

 is set rather higher under the hind than the 

 fore-feet : both to enable the cow to reach her 



