180 THE dairyman's MANUAL. 



The liberal use of plaster (finely powdered gypsum), 

 or a solution of two pounds of copperas in a barrel of 

 water, in the stables is at once a cheap, simple, and 

 effective relief. It sweetens the air of the stables, which 

 is equivalent to increased ventilation, and thus permits 

 the windows to be protected with fine wire gauze or 

 mosquito netting, Avhich to some extent obstructs tbe 

 free passage of air. A peck of plaster, at the cost of a 

 few cents — all returned, of course, in the manure after- 

 ward — is sprinkled over a floor fifty by twenty-four feet, 

 and more freely in the manure gutter than elsewhere ; 

 or a pailful of the solntion of copperas is spread from a 

 garden watering-can over the floor, and these applica- 

 tions are made after clearing off the floor and sweeping 

 it. Occasionally the floor is washed off "with a hose at- 

 tached to a force-pump in the yard, or to one on the 

 cistern close by, and the floor is then freely sprinkled 

 with sand brought from the root cellar under a portion 

 of the cow stable. A bushel basket of the sand is suf- 

 ficient for one day's use. This avoids the certain danger 

 of the cows slipping upon the damp floor, dries it, and 

 also absorbs some of the odor. 



To darken the windows is a great relief, and this is 

 done by having green blinds, which afford free ventila- 

 tion while excluding the light. The same result may bo 

 reached by covering the windows with whitewash of 

 Spanish white, in which some indigo or Prussian blue is 

 mixed, or a little lampblack may be used, but the tinge 

 is then dark and somber, and the blue is the best. If 

 the window^s are on the north side of the stable so much 

 the better, as the flies gather mostly upon the south and 

 west sides. The stable may be quite freed from flies in 

 the afternoon, when they are unusually abundant, by 

 stirring a pot of coal-tar Avith a hot poker so as to fill the 

 building with a dense smoke, but the iron should not be 

 80 hot as to cause the tar to take fire. This smoke is 



