THE DAIRY HERD 89 



The feeding alleys, that is, the part of the floor be- 

 tween the mangers and the walls, should be about three 

 inches higher than the platforms on which the cows 

 stand. Moreover they should slope slightly toward the 

 mangers. The platforms and driveway should also slope 

 very slightly toward the gutters. 



Light. Sunlight, because of its disinfectant action, is 

 of prime importance in making a stable sanitary. There 

 should be not less than four square feet of window space 

 per cow. 



Walls. Cheap and reasonably air-tight walls are se- 

 cured by nailing matched lumber over good building 

 paper on both the inside and outside of the studding, 

 except the lower inside six feet. From the floor to a 

 height of six feet, nail cheap one-inch lumber over build- 

 ing paper and put lath and concrete on this as a finish. 

 This makes the lower portion of the wall readily clean- 

 able as it should be. The portion of the wall above the 

 concrete, as well as the entire ceiling, should be fre- 

 quently whitewashed. The air space in the wall should 

 be filled with some good non-conducting material. Dry 

 straw answers this purpose very satisfactorily. 



Ceiling. This should be boarded on the inside with 

 matched lumber. The outside, or hay floor above, may 

 be built of common, cheap lumber. When, however, no 

 hay is stored above, the ceiling should have a dead air 

 space, which is secured by using matched lumber and 

 paper, both inside and outside, and filling the space be- 

 tween with dry straw. 



Stalls and Ties. These should be arranged ana con- 

 structed with the following points in view : ( I ) keep- 

 ing the cows clean; (2) giving them as much comfort 

 as possible; (3) preventing cows from stepping on each 



