536 The Construction of Cow Houses. [ogt., 



very trifling, and from various points of view the planing 

 is of considerable advantage. 



Floor. — The first point which should be considered in con- 

 nection with the floor is its level compared with the existing 

 roadway, or completed surface round the building. In the 

 majority of cases, but more particularly on level land, or 

 where there is a difliculty in getting sufficient fall for the 

 drains, the floors are laid at too low a level. This is a 

 serious mistake, which there are few opportunities of 

 correcting, arrd one which is very common in old 

 buildings. The consequence is that the floor and stalls are 

 often damp, and the roadway outside is invariably covered 

 with mud and slush. In not a few instances the roadway 

 outside is difficult to improve, as it cannot be raised, owing 

 to the risk of running the surface water into the building, 

 instead of away from it. These difficulties should, therefore, 

 be guarded against by fixing the floor at a comparatively 

 high level rather than a low one. 



The main flooring materials should be either cement con- 

 crete, or blue bricks. Both have some faults, each in a 

 direction different from the other. A perfect material for 

 cow-house floors has yet to be introduced, but with all its 

 faults, good cement concrete, properly laid and finished, is 

 probably the best for general purposes, where clean sharp 

 sand and gravel are available. If suitable sand is not easily 

 obtained, and hard blue bricks can be had at a moderate cost, 

 they may be used in preference to cement concrete. In 

 putting down the floor, either for cement concrete or bricks, 

 the bottom should be laid with stones 6 to 8 inches deep. 

 These should be sufficiently large to fill up the whole depth 

 in one layer, each stone being separately placed in position 

 by hand. A layer of ordinary concrete 3 to 4 inches thick 

 should be placed on the top and well beaten down among the 

 bottoming by hand beaters. Before the concrete has set, it 

 should be covered with one inch or so of two parts of crushed 

 granite and one part of cement. Instead of being floated or 

 smoothed on the surface this should be left rough, as when 

 smooth it is always slippery, unless when well washed. It is 

 generally recommended that the passages and hind part of 

 the stalls should be V-grooved, but this has little effect in 



