646 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



i 



too, that is high enough from the ground to avoid a harbor for 

 vermin and fungus, endangers the limbs as the floors become 

 worn or decayed from age and moisture. 



On the whole, there are more objections to the plank-floor 

 than to earth or brick, or cement or bowlder-floors. The earth- 

 floor is the best of all so long as it can be kept free from holes. 

 If the foundation be well drained, and well packed by tamping 

 as thoroughly as the dirt is packed about a post, a good clay- 

 floor will last years if it has reasonable care. The writer has 

 such a floor that has been in use five years and has never been 

 repaired, yet there are no holes in it. The secret is in first hav- 

 ing it well made and evenly packed with clean clay in which 

 there are no stones or gravel. If packed and made as level and 

 true as a board-floor, it will cost far less and last as long with- 

 out repair as a board or cement-floor. It takes more bedding to 

 absorb the moisture than the board-floor. This also protects the 

 floor from injury by the feet of the horses. The feet of the 

 horses that stand on the earth-floor are never so hard and dry 

 as to be brittle, and the horses never slip or break through, and 

 there is no harbor for rats and filth underneath. 



The floor most usually recommended as best, is one made of 

 good pavement-brick, set on edge on a good foundation of coarse 

 sand. If the bricks are uniformly good, evenly laid on a foun- 

 dation that will not settle in holes, we have in such a floor a sat- 

 isfaction that does not come with any other. 



The writer has a stable paved with cobble-stones, such as 

 are used in street pavements. It has been in use now twelve 

 years and has not come to repair. It has all the advantages of 

 the brick, except that when there is most moisture the cement or 

 sand that fills the crevices works out when the broom is used 

 to clean the floor. By using the pavement-brooms we can clean 

 the floor perfectly, and we have no defilement of the atmosphere 

 from gases arising from fermentation and decay beneath. A 

 well-made bowlder-pavement has no superior for utility, neat- 

 ness, comfort, economy, and sanitary conditions. The black- 

 smith who shoes the driving-horses kept on this floor says the 

 horses' feet are in uniformly better condition than any horses 



