CATTLE GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 795 



not be had fill the bottom to a depth of six inches with broken 

 stone or coarse gravel and pound it down well, then pour in a 

 grout made with one part of cement to four of good sharp sand, 

 and after it has set, use an inch coating composed of two parts 

 of sand to one of cement, and mixed to the consistency of 

 mortar for plastering. There should be a floor laid on this, but 

 it may simply be two boards, each a foot wide (so they will fill 

 the space), laid in loose. It will require but little bedding to 

 keep your cattle clean on such a floor as this, as, if it is of the 

 proper length, most of the manure will drop into the ditch. We 

 always keep a hoe hanging behind the cattle, and every time 

 we visit the stable if there is any manure on the floor we 

 scrape it down into the ditch. 



The length of the floor will depend on the method of fasten- 

 ing and the size of the cattle. If their heads are kept in the 

 stanchions the floor may be a foot shorter than if tied. I use 

 in my cow-stable a floor five and one-half feet long, and find it 

 long enough for the largest cows, and I have some Short-horns 

 that weigh fifteen hundred. I think four and three-quarter feet 

 long enough for common cattle of from nine to twelve hundred 

 pounds each and five and a half for large steers. I allow four 

 feet of width for each cow, and have plenty of room to milk, 

 and think that box stalls three and a half feet wide in the clear 

 would be ample. 



There is no material for bedding that I have ever used which 

 keeps the cattle so clean or gives as good satisfaction as saw- 

 dust; and when I can get it within five miles by paying fifty 

 cents a cord for it, I use no other bedding. I keep the ditch as 

 well as the floor littered, so as to absorb the liquid. It is best 

 to clean the ditch every day and wheel the manure to the barn- 

 yard, but in case of bad weather, or a press of other duties, a 

 ditch of this size will hold the manure for three days. 



If one was arranging a new stable and intending to go into 

 the business of feeding cattle on a large scale, two rows of 

 cattle might stand with their heads from each other, and have 

 the floor between them eight inches lower than that on which 

 they stood, and wide enough to drive through with a wagon or 



