SHELTER. 311 



and the grain and hay stored above act as a 

 blanket without giving any of the stuffiness of 

 a basement to the stalls below. 



The floors of all the stalls are made of well- 

 trodden clay, which is incomparably the best 

 flooring for any kind of animal to stand on, at 

 least in my judgment. They all slope slightly 

 toward the drive-way and there is a small drain 

 along the edge of the walls. This allows the 

 liquid manure to drain away and be wasted, 

 which is, perhaps, not economical and to be 

 condemned; but in few places in the South and 

 West has farm economy as yet progressed to a 

 point at which manure is properly preserved. 

 The cattle are bedded carefully with clean 

 wheat or rye straw and the manure is removed 

 the first thing each morning, being forked from 

 the stalls to a cart in the drive-way and thence 

 hauled away. 



It is not always convenient to house all the 

 stock in a single place, as some of the pastures 

 may be distant from the barnyard, and then 

 the risk in case of fire is very great when a 

 large number are sheltered in a single stable. 

 I have often, for these reasons, found that a 

 number of box sheds in the different pastures 

 formed very useful adjuncts to the large barns. 

 These may be made of any number of stalls 

 desired, and should always have a small loft 

 above them to store grain and hay and other 



