STABLES. 9? 



SELF-CLEANING STABLE. 



In the basement, fig. 8, the platforms n n, and the stalls 

 marked //, are made self-cleaning ; and fig. 10 shows how 

 this is accomplished. 



All dairymen and cattle feeders have felt the necessity of 

 some device that should lessen the daily labor of cleaning 

 the stable, and especially that should succeed in really 

 keeping the cow clean a most necessary requisite to clean 

 and wholesome milk. There have been various plans of 

 using a gutter behind cows or other cattle ; but in all of 

 them the cow was liable to get soiled upon the flank, and 

 the tail could fall into the gutter and render the milking 

 most offensive. If, therefore, a platform can be made 

 which requires nothing to aid it in keeping the cow 

 clean, provides for her comfort, is self-acting, durable and 

 cheap, there would seem to be little left to accomplish in 

 this matter. 



The platform (fig. 10), invented by the author, does all 

 this, and has been in use in his stable for the last five years. 

 It occupies both platforms in the octagonal basement, 

 represented by fig. 8. The platform consists partly of 

 wood and partly of iron. The wooden part is situated 

 next the manger (marked 6), 3 feet 6 inches wide, and 

 raised 12 inches. Behind this an iron grating, resting on 

 an angle-iron sill (marked 3), supported on stone posts at 

 the back side and on the wooden platform in front, 4 feet 

 wide. The gutter under this iron platform is 4 feet wide 

 and 18 inches deep and concreted water tight, with a space 

 of 10 inches under the angle-iron sill, through which the 

 manure is removed. This gutter practically holds the 

 droppings of cows for three weeks, except when muck is 

 used to deodorize it, when it is filled in two weeks. The 

 depth of this gutter is quite sufficient to hold all the 

 liquid. 

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