204 
On  the  Construction  of  Farm-Buildings. 
than  pigsties  in  general.  The  details  will  be  sufficiently  under- 
stood by  the  drawings  and  specifications.  The  door  to  this 
building  may  be  dispensed  with,  or  at  least  most  part  of  the  year 
it  may  be  left  open.  Light  may  be  admitted  from  the  roof. 
The  breeding  sties,  t,  at  the  further  end  of  this  house,  for  sows 
with  litters,  are,  as  proposed  in  the  plans,  to  have  the  yards  roofed 
over,  the  eaves  of  the  roof  being  kept  about  two  feet  above  the 
palings  by  which  the  yards  are  enclosed,  so  as  to  admit  the  air 
and  sun,  particularly  at  the  end  which  is  fully  open  to  the  south. 
By  this  means,  and  by  sloping  the  yards  towards  the  middle, 
keeping  them  well  littered,  or  provided  with  dry  saw-dust,  ashes, 
&c.,  the  rain  being  kept  off,  they  are  dry  and  clean,  and  the 
manure  well  made.  We  have  experience  of  sties  and  yards  on 
this  plan,  which  are  floored  with  a sort  of  asplialte  made  of  sifted 
ashes,  gas-tar,  and  spent  lime- — a composition  which  dries  very 
tough  and  water-tight,  and  makes  a sound  flooring  which  pigs 
cannot  rout  up.  The  feeding-troughs  for  these  yards  may  be 
conveniently  filled  by  means  of  a hinged  flap,  as  shown  in  the 
figure.  The  flap  is  suspended  to  the  iron  bar  a a,  by  iron  straps 
bent  round  the  bar,  and  secured  to  two  of  the  bars  of  the  flap  h h,  so 
that  the  flap  swings  freely,  and  would  naturally  hang  in  a vertical 
position,  as  in  Fig.  II.,  where  it  is  represented  with  the  trough 
exposed  ready  for  being  filled.  The  bolt  c,  being  dropped  on  the 
other  side  of  the  trough,  keeps  the  flap  in  its  place,  and  the  pigs 
cannot  get  at  the  food  till  the  trough  is  full.  As  soon  as  it  is 
filled,  the  bolt  c being  raised,  the  flap  is  pulled  forwards  and  the 
bolt  inserted  into  d,  a hole  in  the  front  of  the  trough,  which 
keeps  it  securely  in  its  place,  as  in  Fig.  I.,  and  allows  the  pigs 
free  access  to  their  food.  The  bolt  c is  secured  to  the  flap  by 
staples  on  the  inside,  and  moved  up  and  down  by  a button  c, 
which  comes  through  a hole  in  the  centre  bar  of  the  flap.  It  is 
also  convenient  to  have  two  or  three  rails  somewhere  in  the  side 
of  the  yard  of  the  sty,  united,  or  a board,  which  may  be  slid  up 
