356 THE VILLA GARDENEE. 



may be either an open gutter, or, what is preferable, one covered with an oak 

 board pierced with holes, or with an iron grating, the holes of which are not 

 larger than an inch across. Through this grating, or pierced plank, all the 

 urine and recent dung will easily drop into the gutter, more especially with 

 the occasional assistance of a broom ; and the gutter may be either cleaned 

 out once or twice a day, by lifting up the grating or plank, and applying the 

 broom, or by turning on water at one end ; and both the dung and the water 

 should be conveyed by the gutter to the liquid manure tank. If the cows 

 stand along the house, it should not be less than 18 ft. wide within, which will 

 allow room for a passage at the cows' heads, as well as behind them. There 

 ought to be windows with lufFer-board shutters, that is, with shutters like 

 Venetian blinds, on both sides of the house ; and ventilating tubes from the 

 sides of the walls, or the centre of the ceiling if there be one, to the ridge of 

 the roof. The breadth allowed for each cow should not be less than 5 ft., and 

 the length of the stall 8 ft. ; and there ought to be a boarded or slate partition 

 between every two cows, or so as to include two cows in each stall. The 

 manger should be a trough formed of board, stone, or slate, raised so that the 

 upper edge may be from a foot to 18 in. above the surface of the ground, or 

 about the height of a cow's knees. As this manger is to contain green food, 

 or grains when they can be obtained, as well as roots, hay, &c., it should not 

 be less than 18 in. or 20 in. wide, and a foot deep. Where cows are intended 

 to stand in the cow-house during great part of the year, the manger for each 

 cow should be in three divisions ; a large one in the centre for hay or herbage, 

 a small one on one side for water, and one on the other side for roots, grains, 

 or prepared mashes. A hay-rack for a cow-house is not only unnecessary, 

 but even dangei-ous, unless placed as low as the manger; because it is found 

 that when cows are in calf, raising their heads much above the natural level 

 is apt to make them slip their calves. So strongly are the farmers of Nor- 

 mandy impressed with this idea, that they not only take care to have the 

 floors of their cow-houses perfectly level, and the manger or hay-rack not 

 higher than the cows' knees, but, when they turn the cows out to grass, they 

 always harness them with a bridle and brechin, to prevent them from tossing 

 up their heads. We have, in various works, referred to the Harleian system 

 of dairy management, and we strongly recommend whoever intends building 

 a cow-house, to consult the notices of that system, and of various others, 

 which will be found given at length in our EncycloptscUa of Cottage, Farm, 

 and Villa Architecture, § 757. to § 764. 



434. The dairy, in warm climates, or in such as are extremely cold, 

 requires much more care in its construction, than in the temperate climate of 

 England. A building with thick stone, mud, or turf walls, or with hollow 

 brick walls, with a thatched far-projecting roof, standing east and west, and 

 with its doors and windows in the nqrth side and in the ends, will suffice for 

 a dairy, in the warmest part of our island. The windows should have glass 

 sashes for use in. winter, they should open inside, and they should be covered 

 on the outside with wirecloth, to exclude flies and other insects during summer, 

 when tliey are kept constantly open. There ought also to be outside shutters, 

 to exclude the sun, in the mornings and afternoons, from the east and west 

 windows, and to keep in the heat during the severe weather in winter. A 

 thermometer should be kept in the dairy, and the temperature should never 

 be allowed to rise above 55°, or fall below 48° or 50°. In winter, the tempe- 



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