i34 The Construction of Pigsties. [June, 



drainage should run to the right. But when collected there 

 it should not be allowed to lie but should be led away by an 

 open drain to a sump at some distance, far enough off at any 

 rate to keep the sty from stinking of it. 



The outer door must, of course, be strong ; it would be a 

 foolish waste to build good walls and leave a rickety gate. It is 

 only necessary to say that if it is of wood it should have a plate 

 of iron or zinc screwed on to the inside to prevent its de- 

 struction by the pig. Some people advise a door between the 

 inner and the outer court. It is advantageous but not neces- 

 sary. If it is added it should be made in two parts, an upper 

 which can be bolted at pleasure, and a lower part which swings 

 freely without quite touching the ground. 



All the description that has been given so far applies to the 

 building of a single sty, but should the owner wish to keep 

 more pigs, he can put up more sties on the same model, side 

 by side to each other, without any alteration. It should, 

 however, be remembered that each sty must have a separate 

 drain, as described above, and it will not do to make one 

 drain go through all the sties, as is done sometimes from a 

 mistaken notion that it is cheaper. It is really dearer, for the 

 sty. through which the drain passes last is always wet and 

 unhealthy, and if disease breaks out in the top sty, all the 

 swine are likely to catch it. An excellent way is to put the 

 sties back to back, with a small gangway between, down which 

 a man can walk, and from which he can see if the swine are 

 faring well, or climb over the wall to clean out their beds. 

 This plan has also the advantage that it gives more air to the 

 inner courts of the sties. It is perhaps as well to add that 

 if a number of pigs are kept in one sty the trough should be 

 so arranged as to prevent the animals crowding one another. 



If a really large number of swine are kept, it is very advisable 

 that the piggeries should not be all together. Let there be 

 several sties in different parts of the farm, with some sheds 

 for the boars, some for the in-pig or farrowing sows, some for 

 the stores, and some for the fat pigs. Let there also be an 

 isolation shed into which a pig can be put should he be noticed 

 to be amiss or off his feed for more than a single meal. It is a 

 serious matter to get disease into a valuable herd, and precau- 



