502 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 11 
PURE AIR FOR THE STOCK. 
WHAT VENTILATOR FOR YOUR BARN? 
Mr. Woodward’s Model System. 
No more important question can engage the atten¬ 
tion oi the builder of a cow stable, than that of venti¬ 
lation. What is needed is just sufficient air for health 
and comfort. That is, enough for health and not 
enough to carry away too much warm air. The close¬ 
ness with which the cows may be put into a stable 
very much depends upon the rapidity with which the 
air is changed. While it is a safe rule to give each 
cow one cubic foot of air space to each pound of live 
weight, no one would claim this to be sufficient were 
the stable air-tight or anywhere near it. A 1,000-pound 
cow in a 1,000 cubic feet of air space would breathe 
that much air in 10 hours, and after four hours the 
air would become so vitiated as to be deadly to breathe. 
On the other hand, cows may be safely housed in 
much less air space if proper facilities be provided for 
changing the air often. 
With any system of side ventilation, by windows or 
registers under the sills, no matter how careful the 
attendant may be, there is constant danger of some 
cow taking cold. On a warm, murky evening, with 
little or no wind, the attendant so arranges the ven¬ 
tilators as to suit the conditions ; but during the night 
the wind changes, or a blizzard sets in, and in the 
morning some cow will be found to have stood in a 
draft and to have a seven’e cold. Roof ventilation is 
much better and safer, and, if properly arranged, is 
much more effectual. The usual trouble with such 
ventilation is that the chutes are not large enough. 
When no more than a foot or 15 inches square inside, 
the ascending currents are too weak to carry off the 
foul air fast enough. Then the ordinary method of 
slatting the cupola above thereof produces no upward 
current. As much air comes in on the windward side 
as can possibly get out on the opposite side, and the 
tendency is to retard rather than assist the upward 
flow. This is the reason why so much moisture is 
often found in the body of the barn where cows 
are stabled below. The breath of the animals in such 
cases greatly injures the hay or other forage stored 
in the barn. 
I have devised the best system of ventilation which 
I have ever seen, and if Mr. T., page 114 of The R. 
N.-Y., February 14, will adopt it, he may safely put 
66 cows into his barn, 38 by 102 feet, which will give 
each cow about 470 cubic feet. Let him put in three 
ventilating trunks or chutes, three or four feet square 
—three feet will secure ample ventilation ; but if they 
are four feet, they may be utilized for throwing down 
hay or fodder from above. Let them be made of planed 
lumber with the smooth surface inside. Let them pro¬ 
ject full size above the roof, fully six feet high, hav¬ 
ing a rcof above, of course. Arrange the sides all 
around, as shown in Fig. 132, which shows a cross sec¬ 
tion through the middle one way. As will be seen, 
there are on each side, three doors as long as the 
cupola is wide, and 18 inches wide, hung at their upper 
side with strap hinges working very loosely. They 
connect in pairs, as shown, by a piece of tough wood 
long enough to hold each door open about one foot, as 
shown in the upper pair. If the wind were to blow 
from the right, the door on the right will be blown 
shut, but in shutting, it will force the opposite one 
fully open, as shown in the middle pair. Or, if the 
wind were from the left, the doors on the left hand 
would shut and thus force the right-hand ones open. 
The connecting pieces, may be of any tough wood 
connected to doors with light strap hinges, or, better, 
by a couple of wooden cleats, one of which with the 
end of the stick, is shown at Fig. 132. The other sides 
or ends, should have doors similarly arranged. Now 
whichever way the wind may blow, the doors on that 
side will be closed and those opposite wide open and 
the vacuum caused by the wind blowing around and 
over the cupola, will produce a strong upward draft. 
Havipg made the top as indicated, a valve should be 
made for each ventilator to just fit inside the bottom. 
If not intended as a hay chute, this valve may be hung 
on a shaft running through the middle of the chute 
one end projecting outside so as to take a handle or 
crank by which to operate it to control ventilation 
just to meet the requirements of fresh air and temper¬ 
ature. If the ventilator is to be used as a hay chute, 
the valve should be hung at one side so as to be drop¬ 
ped out of the way when a/iything is to be thrown 
down. It may be hung to a shaft as before, having 
the shaft at one side projecting through at one end, 
and the lever outside so as to operate the valves as 
before. 
There should now be built directly over the cows> 
manger, on eaeh side, a horizontal trunk one foot 
deep and two feet wide, running from end to end, and 
opening outside the barn, made of planed lumber and 
smooth inside. For 80 feet in the center of the barn, 
each of these trunks should have its bottom bored full 
of three-fourth inch holes, not less than 25 to the 
square foot. With this system of ventilation, no mat¬ 
ter which way the wind may blow, there will be a 
good strong upward current in the chutes, aud the 
outer air will sift gently in through the horizontal 
trunks, creating a constant but slow circulation with 
no drafts, but with perfect purity to the air. If some 
sort of stall be adopted like the Bidwell, which, by 
the way, is the acme of perfection, by which each cow 
is isolated from all others and free to do everything 
but turn around, kept perfectly clean as this stall will 
keep them, and properly fed, no one can make me 
believe they will not be more happy, give more milk 
and have more vitality and power of resisting disease 
than any cows ever kept in the open, no matter how 
properly or abundantly fed. j. s. woodwabp. 
Artificial Heat to Start Ventilation. 
Ventilation means exchange of foul for pure air. 
It is necessitated, both by the confinement of cattle 
in box-like receptacles, and the inability of cattle to 
keep healthy when compelled to breathe over and 
over again poisonous gases breathed out by them¬ 
selves, or volatilizing from their excreta. In this 
latitude where, for securing greatest milk production, 
it is found necessary to secure cattle in sheltered 
places or enclosed stables for protection against in¬ 
clement weather, and to prevent the vital energy 
being devoted to the manufacture of animal heat 
rather than milk, the need of correct ventilation is 
most needed. When cattle remain outdoors all the 
year ’round, there is obviously no need of ventilation. 
So, too, where a few head are confined in a compara¬ 
tively large stable, well proportioned to the require¬ 
ments of breathing, and whose doors are periodically 
opened to permit exchange of air; so, too, in those 
rickety stables in which the siding shows cracks per¬ 
mitting the entrance of outside air. 
The old-fashioned barn, with large bays on either 
Plan for a Barn Ventilator. Fig. 132. 
side, with the cow stable beneath one, but opening 
into the center, could not be improved upon were it 
not that milkmen have found it necessary when stimu¬ 
lating milk secretion, to keep their cattle warmer. 
Unfortunately the milkman has made his stable 
tighter and smaller, and depended upon the animal 
heat to warm the stable. To save this heat, he had 
to make his stable box-tight. He then found when 
he entered the stable, after closing it for any con¬ 
siderable time, that the air was simply foul and un¬ 
bearable to him until purer had entered. He may 
then have taken the cover from his hay chute, or 
made an air shaft leading to the top of the barn. 
If we expect ventilation or change of air, we must 
expect that some energy somewhere sets that air in 
motion. We are told that wind is created by the 
rush of cooler air into heated districts, and is occa¬ 
sioned in some way by differences of temperature. 
In stables, the cattle heat the air by the warmth of 
their bodies ; it rises, and if exit from the top of the 
stable is allowed, escapes. The escaping air pulls 
after it into the stable through cracks, the cool air. 
Now this could not happen if the temperature outside 
were equal to that inside, or if the stable were per¬ 
fectly air-tight. The greater the difference between 
the outside air and the stable, the greater the draft. 
But since cattle can not heat air rapidly by their 
bodies, when there is an exchange at all, the temper¬ 
ature of the stable approaches more nearly that of 
the outside. 
The heated carbonic acid gas rises, and, in some 
stables, may be entirely drawn off ; but if allowed to 
cool, would occupy the space next the floor. To ob¬ 
viate this, the chute could be extended to near the 
floor. This would keep the heated air in the top of 
the stable, which would force the lower air out 
through the chute. But this forcing depends upon 
the difference between external and internal air, and 
as the difference can be but little, is very faulty. The 
fault seems to lie in the endeavor to depend upon the 
animal heat for both heating the air and forcing ven¬ 
tilation. If we depend upon the heated stable air to 
carry off the foulness it contains, we can not expect 
it to keep the incoming air warm. I believe that the 
tendency is to keep our dairy stables rather too warm; 
but that a uniform temperature of, say, from 50 to 60 
degrees in the winter, or some temperature which we 
could learn by experiment, would be better than a 
high stable temperature necessitating sudden changes 
when the doors are opened or the cattle turned out. 
If cattle were to be kept warm in winter in confined 
stables, ventilation must be secured by heat. If the 
present method of heating stables, and securing venti¬ 
lation by animal heat, is unsatisfactory, the milkman 
must resort to other sources of heat, as the stove or 
steam pipe or hot water, just the same as the market 
gardener. 
In England, I believe the amount of air space re¬ 
quired by law in stables being built, is 800 cubic feet 
per cow ; in stables already built, 600. How long the 
air of this space is supposed to last, I cannot say. If 
by some beating device the air slowly circulates 
through a stable, each cow will get her share of pure 
air, and not be compelled to expend so much energy in 
keeping warm. In these days of keeping cattle in 
close confinement all winter, and practically all sum¬ 
mer, the health is paramount. External heat must be 
utilized, the details are to be worked out. Ventila¬ 
tion, even in summer, is important in many herds. 
Dr. Brush, of Mount Vernon, secures ventilation for 
60 head by having air-tight stables and large venti¬ 
lator fans run by a small engine. Dr. Brush claims 
that this secures shade and immunity from flies, and 
pure air even in the hottest days. The engine is used 
in furnishing steam for sterilizing cans, milk pails, 
etc., and for power for corn stalk cutting, for silo 
purposes ar.d other necessary farm work. 
DR. COOPER CURTICE. 
Ventilation That Suits Hens. 
I asked my family physician the other day : “ What 
are the most essential elements of success in treating 
a person suffering from tuberculosis ? ” 
“I would name pure air, nourishing food, and ex¬ 
ercise in the open air as the most important.” 
“You would not send a patient out in the open air 
in cold weather, would you ? ” 
“To be sure I would, unless stormy. He should 
dress according to the weather, and take all the ex¬ 
ercise possible in the open air every day without caus¬ 
ing extreme fatigue.” 
“ What do you think of the modern method of winter¬ 
ing cattle in the stable without allowing any chance 
for exercise in the open air ? ” 
“Bad, bad,” said he. “I want the cow that supplies 
my table with milk to go out during the middle of 
every pleasant day, and have all the windows and 
doors of her stable thrown open while she is out. 
What arrangements are farmers using to secure 
good ventilation in their stables ? ” 
I was forced to admit that they are building al¬ 
most entirely with a view to keep the breath of the 
cattle confined as a source of heat. There is a fine, 
new barn within sight of my window, just completed 
last fall. It is nearly air-tight, and I know that the 
siding is swelling so badly that nearly every board is 
bulging out and drawing the nails right out of the 
timbers. The carpenter who built it says that the 
swelling is caused, not by the moisture of the weather, 
but by the internal moisture from the cows’ breath. 
Not only that, but the animal heat is also expected to 
warm the water which the cows drink. 
“ What about ventilation ?” said the doctor. 
“That is one of the problems which farmers are 
studying, but with rather poor success, as yet. It is 
hard to get heat enough out of the cows’ bodies to 
keep the water pipes from freezing if much fresh air 
is admitted this weather. It is also hard to avoid ex¬ 
posing them to draughts if doors or windows are left 
open. How do you ventilate your sleeping-room ?” 
said I. 
“ The bed stands in the north corner of the room, 
and I raise a window on a crack in the southwest 
corner and drop the one across the corner on the 
southeast a little. In this way I get a constant circula¬ 
tion of pure air in the room.” 
“ That is all right, but suppose the whole floor of 
the room was occupied with beds as our stables are, 
would not the chap who occupied the bed in that cor¬ 
ner, get more than was good for him ?” 
“ I suppose that is true ; you can’t give each cow a 
large room all to herself.” 
“ I like the principle on which I ventilate henhouses, 
doctor, better than yours,” said I. 
“How is that ?” 
“ Each house is built as nearly air-tight as matched 
lumber and building paper will do it, and the door and 
