THE HORSE HYGIENE AND SANITARY CONDITIONS. 653 



Loam is the kind of soil most easily obtained on the 

 average farm. It will absorb half its own weight of urine, and 

 if then it is sprinkled with a little dry earth, it will give off 

 no odor. 



We thus see nature has provided us farmers with a perfect 

 disinfectant, which if we will use constantly and freely, we will 

 keep the air of our stables, pig pens, and privies pure and free 

 from all disease germs and odors, and also retain and return 

 the most valuable fertilizer to our soils. Dry earth is at once 

 an absorbent* deodorizer, disinfectant, and antiseptic. 



Artificial Disinfectants. When any disease prevails, or 

 when an epidemic, threatens or epizootic disease approaches, our 

 cellars, dwellings, barns, stables, and pens should all be purified 

 by use of disinfectants. They are cheap and most effective in 

 destroying germs of disease and spores of fungous growth. In 

 the swine-yards and pens, we have nothing better than a liberal 

 use of carbolic acid about the beds and feeding troughs. Copperas 

 water not only cleanses the floors, but purifies the atmosphere. 

 Whitewashing with fresh lime is unequaled as a means of puri- 

 fication and prevention of diseases that so readily develop in 

 an impure atmosphere. These same remedies are all equally 

 efficient in cellars, stables, and pens. By their regular and 

 seasonable use on the farm, the loss by disease would rapidly 

 decrease. 



When stables or pens have been occupied by sick animals, 

 the quarters should also before whitewashing be disinfected by 

 smoke of sulphur, that it may penetrate every pore and crack 

 and destroy the hidden germs. Of course the animals must first 

 be removed, as sulphur smoke will destroy animal life. In 

 cases of too great moisture, the free and frequent use of fresh 

 lime is most helpful, as it absorbs many times its own bulk of 

 ammoniacal and other gases. 



Fresh Lime is cheap and most effective in reducing the 

 moisture of a cellar or stable, as one bushel of it will absorb 28 

 pounds of water, and yet its value is not diminished for many 

 purposes. It absorbs carbonic acid, compounds of sulphur, and 

 hastens decomposition and causes "dry putrefaction." 



