CHAPTER V 



HABITATIONS 



The question of accommodation for animals is a rather 

 complex one, for the reason that the details which apply to 

 horses are unsuitable for cattle, so that the matter must be 

 considered separately for each animal. The cause of the 

 difference is not far to seek, the horse pays for itself by the 

 work it performs, cattle only pay for themselves by the sale 

 of their milk or their flesh ; during the interval between 

 lactation, or during the time the animal is accumulating 

 flesh for the butcher, it is unproductive. 



This latter statement must be somewhat qualified, cattle 

 are not entirely unproductive either when ' dry ' or fatten- 

 ing, for there is the value of their manure to be taken into 

 consideration, and strange as it may appear, the whole 

 question of their feeding, the disposition of the buildings in 

 which they live, and the sanitary conditions under which 

 they exist, hinges on the question of manure. 



Without this manure the farmer could never afford to 

 feed his animals as he does. He pays £8 a ton for linseed 

 cake because he knows he gets practically half his money 

 back in the manure, so that during the otherwise unpro- 

 ductive life of the animal every effort is made to secure the 

 whole of the liquid and solid excreta, as representing so 

 much floating capital. 



With horses this does not apply. The bulk of their 

 excreta is deposited in the streets, and what may be saved 

 from passing down the stable drains only represents half, 

 or less than half, of the total amount produced. This may 



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