366 
JOHN M. PARKER. 
7.24 per 1,000 in 1862 - 66 , and during- the same period cases of 
non-specific diseases of the lungs fell from 104.7 P er 1,000 to 
3.59 per 1,000. The only condition present to account for this 
remarkable change was increased facility for the ventilation 
and increased cubic space. (Paper read at Vet. Cong, of H. 
and D., 1890.) 
Now we know that the average dairy barn is very imper¬ 
fect in this respect. I have seen barns so close that a lantern 
hung up in the barn in the evening would go out before 
morning for want of air. One can hardly go into any barn in 
the morning without feeling the hot, close smell of the cattle, 
so strong sometimes as to be over-powering, and yet the aver¬ 
age farmer will tell you when he has a barn of this description 
that he has a nice, comfortable, warm barn. The hotter and 
closer it is the more comfortable he seems to think it. 
Drainage is another important matter that is too often en¬ 
tirely neglected ; it is just as important to have the cow-barn 
and yard well drained, as it is to have the house and surround¬ 
ings well drained. The statistics collected by Dr. Buchanan 
on this subject are highly suggestive, and their importance 
must be my excuse for their introduction here. 
In Salisbury, Eng., after the introduction of improved 
drainage, the annual death rate from phthisis fell from 44^- 
per 10,000 to 22 \ per 10,000 between i 837-’64. In Banbury 
the phthisis death rate fell in the same length of time from 
26f to 15-f per 10,000. In the same period of time in the 
towns of Ely, Rugby, Worthing, Macclesfield, Leicester, 
Newport, the death rate fell 47 per cent., 43 per cent., 36 per 
cent., 51 per cent., 52 per cent, and 52 per cent, respectively 
in consequence of improvement in drainage alone. And yet 
this is almost the last thing the farmer thinks of. 
Beneath and around the barns stand piles of rotting 
manure. The urine soaks into and through the wooden floor 
and drips into the cellar beneath, while the yards and sur¬ 
roundings are usually a mass of decaying animal and vegeta¬ 
ble matter. The surface water from this mass of filth olten 
drains into the well, which is usually located in or near the 
barnyard, forming a cesspool for the collection of surface 
drainage. 
