ii4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 24 
cabbage. On another quarter acre set cabbage again. 
At the latest moment sow turnips broadcast among 
the cabbage. Cut the cabbage and plow in the turnips. 
By such a rotation of green crops the land would re¬ 
ceive a large amount cf humus every other year or 
every third or fourth year as thought best. Only 
one cash crop would be lost to the land. Will the 
profit on that crop be greater than the saving in man¬ 
ure and labor effected by the green crop? This is not 
mere theory; it has been done in actual practice else¬ 
where, and it only remains for some public-spirited 
man at Arlington to carry out the plan and again reduce 
the price of stable manure by showing that green crops 
can provide cheaper humus, just as coal provides 
cheaper heat. 
All this is admitting that such a vast amount of 
humus is necessary in market gardening, which is a 
proposition that has never been proved. Our fathers 
seldom fed grain to cows. Animals were stuffed with 
a large amount of bulky hay and stalks. Scientists 
picked the hay and grain in pieces and showed how 
Timothy hay was fed at a loss because, in order to give 
enough of the muscle-forming food, it was necessary 
to feed more than enough of the fat formers. Reduc¬ 
ing the hay and increasing the grain gave a much 
cheaper ration. Last winter in England, hay cost more 
than grain, and horsemen decreased the hay till they 
found that five pounds of hay and straw well mixed 
with the grain gave all the bulk the horse needed in 
one day. In a similar way I believe these market gar¬ 
deners have been using manure at a loss because of 
the belief that the soil needs all this bulk. When the 
manure on an acre costs $40 to $45 more than the fer¬ 
tilizer that would produce an equal crop, and this 
costly difference goes on year after year, it is evident 
that the farmer is wasting money or else tucking it into 
the soil in such a way that it never can pay him any 
interest. In either case, the thing for the farmer to 
do is to save the cost of this expensive humus or make 
it pay interest. The only form in which he can buy 
plant food alone—without the humus—is in fertilizers, 
and that also is the only thing that will drag interest 
out of the surplus manure. n. w. c. 
PURE AIR FOR THE COW. 
trow TO GET IT NEAK HEK NOSE. 
Ventilating the Ventilator Question. 
What Is th® best practical arrangement for ventilating a stock barn 
i58xl02 feet, with lower story, or wooden basement, eight feet h gh and 
accommodating two rows of cattle with heads outward? The usual 
method of ventilating through feeding chutes from the hay mow ap¬ 
pears to be open to the objection of allowing the warm air to escape 
without removing the carbonic acid gas near tbe floor. The vapor 
also seriously wets the roof in the winter. t. 
Never Wholly Close the Barn. 
The objections to ventilating through the hay 
chutes from above are good, and the condensed mois¬ 
ture from the breaths of the cattle passing up to the 
roof and then dropping back upon the hay would be 
very objectionable. Our own barns were burned in 
December, and we expect to build one in the spring 
166 feet in length and will put in square box ventil¬ 
ators which will extend through the roof. A little 
slatted cupola over the ventilator will keep out the 
storms, and a slide in the bottom will enable it to be 
wholly or partly closed in very cold weather. I think 
four ventilators 12x14 will be sufiicient for your corre¬ 
spondent A. DEVEKEAUX. 
A Foot of Air to the Pound of Live Weight. 
The true principle of ventilation is to let fresh air 
into the building by small apertures in many places 
and to take it out by the same principle. Probably 
no better simple plan could be devised than to build a 
box about one foot square and as long as the building, 
102 feet, with an end extending out of each end of the 
building. This box should be pierced with numerous 
small holes, and placed overhead in the rear of the 
cattle and between the two rows. This will carryout 
the vitiated air which rises to the ceiling. In front of 
the cattle at the floor on each side of the building 
about six openings of one by two feet and connecting 
with the outside air should be made. This should be 
covered with wire netting say of one-quarter to one- 
half inch mesh or with boards pierced with numerous 
holes. In front of each one of these cold air ventila¬ 
tors should be placed a slide so that they may be 
partly or entirely closed as occasion requires. It will 
be seen that by this method the pure air will mingle 
with the heavy carbonic acid gas and as all is warmed 
by the animals, it will rise to the ventilator at tbe 
ceiling and escape. In addition to this numerous 
windows should be placed in the building for light 
and air ; some days the windows should all be thrown 
open, as it is impossible to properly ventilate a build¬ 
ing with so many animals in it on warm muggy days 
without these windows. 
It is extremely difficult to ventilate buildings where 
there are too many animals for the air space. Not 
less than one cubic foot of air space should be allowed 
each pound live weight, and two would be better. It 
is probable that much of the tuberculosis which is 
present in the country is due to the vitiated air of the 
stables which lowers the vitality of the animals so 
greatly that they are unable to resist the germs of 
disease when introduced into the system ; while ani¬ 
mals in the open, properly eared for, have such a 
superabundance of vitality that they are able to lock 
up these germs of disease by encysting them in the 
white corpuscles of the blood. 
Since the number of animals kept in this stable is 
not stated, it is impossible accurately to determine 
how many ceiling ventilators or how many outside 
ventilators are required to keep the air constantly and 
slowly circulating through the entire building. 
[PBOP.] I. P. ROBERTS. 
The Air in a Canadian Barn. 
I ventilate (in cold weather) altogether by windows 
on both sides of the stable. I have little faith In 
chimney ventilators extending vertically up through 
the roof; as the general course of the air in motion is 
horizontal, some power must be provided to make it 
take a vertical direction. This might be done by hav¬ 
ing an open space below the doors where cold air 
would come in, get warmed in the stable, then pass up 
the ventilator. This is just what I try to prevent, 
and therefore ventilate across the stable from the 
windows. 
Let me explain how my windows are fixed. A stop 
is nailed to the top of the frame and also on each side 
as far from the outside as I wish the sash to stand. 
The sash is fitted to the frame so as to move loosely 
and fit tight against these stops. A small hole is 
bored in the top of the frame behind the sash, and so 
close that when a pin is put in, the sash will be held 
firmly against the stops. A triangular piece of board 
is nailed against each side of the frame; one edge of 
this triangle rests flat on the window sill, and one 
corner against the sash so as to keep it in place at the 
bottom. When the pin is taken out, the window falls 
back 'against these blocks and stands at an angle, so 
that any draught would be over the back of the animal 
standing close to it. By using the pin as a wedge 
between these two blocks and the window, the ventil¬ 
ation may be regulated to a nicety, or the window can 
be lifted out altogether. If the wind is strong on one 
side of the stable, close the windows to suit. My 
stable doors are all in two sections, so that the upper 
half may be left open, but that is only for warm 
weather. This we consider to be like the salt water 
the ship’s doctor always recommended ; it is safe and 
easy, and costs little. b, 
Dundas, Ont. 
Give the Cow Room Enough. 
It is just as important that dairy cows have good 
air as that they have suitable food. A roomy stable 
is essential, as it is almost impossible for cows in 
crowded quarters to have pure air. In a plan for a 
barn recently published in an agricultural paper, 24 
feet is given as the right width for a stable for two 
rows of cows to stand, with heads toward the center. 
With stanchions three feet apart as they are usually 
made, this would give 36 square feet of floor space for 
each cow, which is not more than one-half the amount 
that should be provided. With the cows facing each 
other over a narrow manger, as in the plan men¬ 
tioned, breathing the same air over and over again 
could not be avoided unless a strong current of fresh 
air were forced through the building. 
A stable 102x36 feet will give ample room for 50 
cows, and at the same time provide wide feed floors 
and driveway for removing manure. I have had a 
stable of this width and length in use 35 years, and 
would by no.means reduce the width in a new build¬ 
ing. It is not practicable to remove the carbonic aeid 
gas fr om the stable as a separate product. In breath¬ 
ing, four per cent of the exhalation is carbonic acid 
gas, but it is mixed with nearly 96 per cent of air, 
and instead of settling to the floor it becomes more 
diluted and is diffused through the whole stable, and 
can be removed only as the vitiated air passes out and 
is replaced by that which is pure. In a dwelling 
house, in a room warmed by a stove, the temperature 
at tne ceiling may be 80 degrees while at the floor it is 
only 60. Air may be admitted at the ceiling, and by 
the aid of artificial heat may be removed from near 
the floor, which will result in saving fuel. No such 
difference exists between the temperature at the ceil¬ 
ing and floor of the cow stable, and it is immaterial at 
what height the foul air finds an exit. If the tempera¬ 
ture at the ceiling of the stable is 55 degrees, it will 
be about 52 degrees at the floor, if the floor rests on 
the ground or is otherwise well secured from cold. 
In cool weather there is no difficulty in securing a 
current of fresh air in the stable or in the removal of 
that which is impure. In my barn there is a hay 
chute with an opening 3x4 feet. If the door of the 
chute be left open, warm air will pass up at one end 
and cold air come down at the other end in volume 
sufficient to ventilate the whole stable fairly well if 
it could be evenly diffused. For 35 years the stable 
has been ventilated in cold weather through open¬ 
ings to the floors above, and in warm weather by 
opening windows and doors. This method is objec¬ 
tionable, but the cows have remained healthy and, al¬ 
though the roof is souetimes frosty, no damage has 
been done. Shingles are now on the barn that were 
laid 36 years ago. In building a new barn I would 
provide not less than 70 square feet of floor space for 
each cow, and would ventilate a stable 100x36 feet by 
using four or five ventilating registers on each side, 
putting them in at equal distances and near the ceil¬ 
ing ; the registers to be not less than one foot across. 
I do not think it necessary to put in ventilating flues 
running up through the roof. c. s. rice. 
Lowville, N. Y. 
The Whole Thing Figured Out. 
This stable eight feet high gives 31,000 cubic feet of 
space, and, as generally arranged, would accommo¬ 
date 70 head of cows giving to each cow, minus the 
space occupied by her body, 400 cubic feet of air 
space; an amount dangerously small to begin with. 
Such a stable should be at least 10 feet high and 12 
would be better. Prom the best authority I can 
obtain, a cow weighing 1,000 pounds will inhale over 
100 cubic feet of air per hour, and will in that time 
exhale over four cubic feet of carbonic acid gas, which 
would be enough to vitiate 400 cubic feet of air to the 
extent of one part to the hundred, an amount that 
would make it unwholesome for breathing. If the 
stable were but eight feet high and air-tight, the 
supply would be only enough for one hour. Fortun¬ 
ately our stables are not air-tight. 
To obviate the objections to stairways and feeding 
chutes as carrying away the warm and pure air, they 
should be kept closed during cold weather, and ven¬ 
tilators be constructed next to the wall in front of the 
cows, extending down to within a foot of the floor, 
and opening to the outside under the cornice of the 
roof. If I am right in my estimate above, all the air 
in this stable ought to be changed every hour. If air 
will move in the upright shafts one-half mile an hour, 
12 shafts, 6 on each side, one foot square inside, will 
carry away 520 cubic feet of air per minute, or 31,200 
feet per hour, changing the whole air in the stable in 
that time. The velocity with which the air in these 
shafts moves depends somewhat upon the force of the 
wind on the outside; also upon the temperature 
inside, and the amount of fresh air admitted. The 
shaft could be so constructed as to be closed if desir¬ 
able. Fresh air could be supplied by having the stable 
windows extend within two feet of the bottom of the 
stable, and so arranged that air would be brought in 
under them and the current turned upwards to pre¬ 
vent a direct draught upon the cows. It would be 
still better to have fresh air brought in under ground 
after the plan of sub-earth ventilation. 
Walworth County, Wis. cnAS. r. beach. 
A JERSEYMAN AND HIS SILO. 
I have just read The R. N.-Y. of January 27 with 
much interest; it contains an unusual number of help¬ 
ful articles on various subjects. Especially was I 
interested in the article by Henry Talcott on how to 
keep a cow six months for $ 10 . In my opinion, he gets 
more good, souad, practical common sense on dairy¬ 
ing in the same space than any other writer of whom 
I know. I have three silos, and last fall put away 160 
tons of well-eared ensilage made from the Early 
Mastodon corn. I am at present milking 35 cows and 
shipping to New York 320 quarts of milk daily. My 
dairy is being graded up with a cross of Guernseys on 
good native cattle, at the rate of 10 head yearly, which 
I raise. I think the cows are milking pretty well con¬ 
sidering that many of them have been milking six 
months or longer and 10 of them are two-year-olds. 
My purchased feed costs less than five cents a head 
daily. Still I am not satisfied with my ensilage food, 
for, if I could grow larger crops, I would need to buy 
less feed, and could make the milk cheaper. So far, I 
have been using wornout land to grow ensilage, in 
order to get it into condition. Most of the fields are 
in good condition now, and I wish to grow heavier 
crops. It appears from Mr. Talcott’s article that he 
must grow nearly 25 tons to the acre ; most farmers 
do not average over 10 or 12 tons to the acre. I wish 
he would inform the readers of The R. N.-Y. how 
thick he plants his ensilage corn, and the kind of seed 
used ; how far apart the rows are and how much seed 
he uses to the acre. Does he use the Southern Horse 
Tooth corn that comes from the seaboard in the 
neighborhood of Virginia. I have good corn land and 
wish, with many others, to grow the largest amount 
of stalks and ears to the acre possible. 
My farm contains 200 acres ; we make the least milk 
in the summer so as to have more time for diversified 
farming. My peach orchard of 1,900 trees comes in 
bearing this coming summer. I intend to set an apple 
orchard among these trees so that it will come on 
