310 
GEORGE N. KliSNELL. 
a wooden partition is enough to limit the spread of the dis¬ 
ease in a herd. 
Why cannot this system be carried to greater length and 
applied all round ? Why not separate each cow from her 
neighbors by a partition running direct from the floor to 
the ceiling; or, in other words, have an individual stall for 
each animal ? Over each cow’s head let there be a ventila¬ 
ting shaft at least fifteen (15) inches square. These shafts 
could be so arranged that every four or six of them would 
run together into a common shaft to be carried up through 
the roof. 
It may be argued that the isolation thus obtained would 
be very incomplete, that the poison-laden breath from a dis¬ 
eased subject could still pass back from the creature s head 
round the ends of the stall and up into the stalls of the ad¬ 
joining animals. Very true, but the chances of its doing so, 
and the extent to which it would do so are immeasurably 
lessened by the presence of the partitions and the ventila¬ 
tors; and besides, in a stall of ordinary depth, before it 
could reach the next cow’s head it would have to pass a dis¬ 
tance of at least ten feet, and this, as we have seen, is prob¬ 
ably further than the disease germ can be carried free in the 
air and retain its potency. 
My first ideas of this system of construction were ob¬ 
tained from examining a cow-stable on the farm of Mr. John 
Sloane, of Lenox. This stable measured seventy feet in 
length, fourteen in breadth, and was seven feet from floor to 
ceiling. It was divided into fourteen stalls. 1 his gives a 
total capacity of 6,860 cubic feet, and after making allowance 
for partitions, approximately 480 cubic feet per animal not 
a very large allowance surely. The stalls were so arranged 
that each animal was shut off from direct communication 
with those on either side by partitions consisting of double 
thicknesses of matched boards running right up to the ceil¬ 
ing. The stalls were also boarded up in front but running 
the entire length of the row, and on a level with the cows 
heads were folding doors which opened downward into the 
driveway of the main barn, and through these doors the ani- 
