THE SOW 



233 



wliere many pigs are kept seems to' be poisonous to little pigs, 

 when the weather is cold and the doors and windows have to 

 be closed, in spite of ordinarily good methods of ventilation. 

 The writer has had good results from sows farrowing in 

 portable single pens placed in a sheltered yard, even in zero 

 weather. Tarred paper was put on the studding, and the pen 

 tightly boarded outside and inside. A ceiling of slats was put 

 in the pen, and the space above the ceiling stuffed with straw. 



Fig. 52. — Method of fastening guard rail to wall or partition. A, guard rail, 2"x8"; B, 

 three-cornered pieces of two-inch plank spiked, at intervals, to guard rail and wall. 



A window in the side, a small ventilator running from the 

 ceiling out through the roof, and a lighted lantern hung in the 

 pen on the coldest days when the pigs were very small, com- 

 pleted the equipment. The air in this pen always felt dry 

 and comfortable, and the pigs all kept healthy and thrifty. 

 If the ventilating shaft runs up from near the floor, it will be 

 better. 



It pays to treat sows kindly and to have them quiet. If 

 they are on good terms with the attendant and regard him as 



