DAIRY BUILDIKGS. 105 



not too much. This space gives ample room for the 

 cows to be safe from the attacks of the master animals, 

 who are always exceedingly spiteful to the weaker ones. 

 It gives ample room for fodder racks, for a milking shed, 

 for a manure pit, and for watering troughs, which can 

 be used safely by the weak cows. No other animals 

 should be permitted in the yard. 



In the center is the manure pit, to be hereafter de- 

 scribed; at each end of this is a watering trough, to be 

 supplied, if possible, by a pipe from a spring, or from a 

 cistern and a force pump. Around the yard are fodder 

 and straw racks, in which the roughness or coarse feed 

 is given. At one corner is a milking shed, in which the 

 cows are tied for milking, or where they may find shelter 

 from a rain. It will be a great advantage if the yard is 

 shaded by trees planted around it, as shelter from the 

 winds as well as the sun, for the yard will be needed in- 

 the summer as well as in the winter. 



The manure pit should be sunk about two feet below 

 the stirface, and this should be kept filled with litter, as 

 forest leaves, pine straw, swamp muck, etc., and it should 

 be surrounded with a stone wall, or a log fence, four leet 

 high, having a driveway at each end for the purpose of 

 admitting a wagon for the removal of the manure. A 

 drain, covered— without exception— should lead from 

 the gutter in the stable to this pit, to convey the liquid 

 iiianure. The solid manure and litter are wheeled out 

 from tlie stable to the pit at each morning cleaning of 

 the stable. If possible — and it should always be an object 

 to do this — as much litter and waste matter as can be 

 gathered should be spread over the manure, as an absorb- 

 ent of the liquid, and to add to the bulk. . Every week a 

 liberal apphcation of plaster should be scattered over the 

 manure to absorb and combine with the odors of the 

 decomposing mass. This completely prevents all offen- 

 sive odor, and adds much to the value of the manure. 



