72 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



will be perfectly comfortable there, and nothing will be lost, 

 on account of the ceinont lioor. 



Mr. H. M. BuET. What about the barn cellar ? Many of 

 us have barns built on side hills, with good cellars underneath, 

 and with cement bottoms, and the manure stays there all 

 Avinter. 



Mr. Hull. In keeping cows and producing milk I should 

 not want the manure under the barn until spring, as some 

 gases must certainly rise, and it cannot make a healthful place 

 for cows to dwell. It is just as cheap to have a covered manure 

 ])it outside, and everything sweet and clean underneath. If 

 you have a good basement to your barn I should advise you 

 to use it for something else, and put your manure somewhere 

 else. 



Secretary Ellswoetii. I would say for the benefit of the 

 speaker that these barns were built a number of years ago, on 

 what was then thought to be the best principle. The manure 

 cellars are almost invariably open on one side, and are used for 

 storage for farm machinery, and for many purposes besides 

 the storage of manure. They are almost all ventilated. It 

 costs a great deal to build here in l^ew England. Lumber and 

 labor are both high. The people who have these barns are 

 keeping healthful herds and making good milk, and should not 

 be compelled to discard their buildings and build anew, even 

 though they are not according to the latest ideas of the doctors 

 and scientists. We cannot be sure just what their ideas will 

 be after we have made the change. 



Mr. Httll. Yes, I have seen that ; I have seen farmers 

 keeping their hogs in such a basement ; and though perhaps 

 they had a right to keep their barns in that way they certainly 

 could not afford to k(^ep hogs in that way. They were losing 

 the interest on their investments. A man who has such a base- 

 ment can do very well by closing it up, putting in windows, a 

 cement floor and the King system of ventilation, and using it 

 for a cow stable. He can then take out the old stable and use 

 all aliove tlie basement for storage. One reason why we do 

 not have more ]"»rogress in these matters is that city boards of 

 health have spasms of inspection, and send men out to inspect 

 who are totnlly unqualified to pass upon what they see. These 



