VENTILATION 61 



dairy shall have 800 cubic feet, but the superficial area is 

 not laid down, and the animals are considered well off if 

 they receive twenty-three square feet per head, this not 

 including the share of the passage. 



As a rule there are two cows in a stall each receiving the 

 above superficial area ; it just affords standing room and 

 but little more. The object of this cramping system is to 

 keep the animals in such a fixed position that none of the 

 excreta shall be lost to the drain which runs behind. Such 

 deprivation of floor space should be regarded as a penal 

 offence. 



For country cow-houses no cubic space is fixed, and 

 obviously none for fattening stock. 



In town cow-houses the superficial area each animal 

 should receive ought to be fixed at thirty-five feet as a 

 minimum, exclusive of its share of passage, while the cubic 

 space must depend upon the number of changes of air in 

 the hour, but ought if possible to be 1,600 cubic feet, 

 which is double the minimum fixed by law. 



The law takes no notice of the country cow, the cubic 

 space allotted her is whatever her owner can afford ; but it 

 must be borne in mind her life is infinitely more natural 

 than that of the town cow, she gets both fresh air and 

 exercise, and it is only at night, or during inclement 

 weather, that she is closed up in a place which is defective 

 and insanitary. 



Cattle fed for the purpose of food have a still more 

 artificial existence, and if possible a more insanitary one, 

 for the farmer has to make some form of profit during the 

 life of the animal, and he does this through the manure. 

 In consequence every effort is directed to saving and storing 

 up this product, the most common method being to keep 

 the cattle on about 90 square feet of space for weeks or 

 months standing on their own excreta, which, with the 

 straw allowed, by acting as a sponge absorbs all the 

 valuable manurial material. 



Under such a filthy system it is not surprising that no 

 attention is given to cubic space, superficial area, or 



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