168 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



In the leased farm referred to we have not an ideal place ; 

 it has an old-fashioned barn, and we have turned all the 

 lower floor into pens. Naturally, it is rather dark. 



I hope in the near future to build entirely different barns 

 or sheds in which to winter all our young stock. They 

 will be long, low, one-story affairs, divided into sections, 

 say about 12 feet square, in each of which I would keep 4 

 or 5 heifers. The building would run east and Avest, giving 

 southerly exposure, and each section or pen would have 

 plenty of windows, including one in roof, and would open 

 into an outside yard. The doors between pen and yard 

 would neve;* be closed, except in extremely cold or stormy 

 weather. I have used this plan with bulls with great satis- 

 faction, and am confident of its successful use in producing 

 healthy, rugged stock. 



If outdoor air is so essential in curins; tuberculosis in 

 human beings, as man}- of our best physicians now claim, 

 it must be equally good in guarding against it, whether in 

 men or animals. Undoubtedly the cost of raising will be 

 somewhat increased, but as undoubtedl}' the results will 

 warrant the expense. 



The tendency with too many farmers has been to go from 

 the old barn (with which we were so familiar in days gone 

 by, and through which the wind and snow had free range) 

 to close, unventilated quarters, in which I believe it is 

 impossible to make wholesome milk. Sunlight and good 

 ventilation, however obtained, are essential factors, and so 

 I believe is exercise. I am not in sympathy with the plan, 

 so Avarmly advocated in some quarters, of leaving cows in 

 the stanchions from fall to spring. It may result in tempo- 

 rary increase of milk yield, but must be at the expense of 

 constitution, if long continued. I would give all cows 

 some out-of-door exercise in all but the stormiest weather. 

 If possible to have a yard or lane so arranged that the 

 cattle could be driven about to the extent of a mile or two 

 every day, I would ask no better arrangement. In the 

 latest barn we built in Newton are 92 pens, each 7 by 9 

 feet, in which our cows are kept without tying, thus giving 

 opportunity for a good deal of exercise ; but, even so, I 



