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Bam Building Questions 
Ventilation for Cow Barn 
Will you advise mo how to ventilate a 
cow barn? I have built a new cow barn 
20x24 ft., 6 ft. 0 in. to top of plate. I 
have five half sash which tip in from top 
under the plate and manure window 3 ft. 
by 3 ft. 6 in., covered with muslin in the 
end. Lately I have cut a hole in the gable 
peak 1Sx12 in. The barn stables 15 cows 
and it is warm. Cows are stanchioned, 
tail to tail; cement floor. R. L. n. 
Bloomingdale, N. Y. 
The problem in ventilation here in the 
North is to keep the stable temperature 
up and still have the air fresh and dry 
enough to be comfortable. Two systems 
are in general employed for this purpose, 
the Rutherford system and the King. I 
understand that our Canadian friends use 
the Rutherford system very successfully, 
but the King system seems to be the one 
most used on this side of the line. 
The King system has been quite thor¬ 
oughly described in these columns before, 
but I will go over it briefly again. It con¬ 
sists of an out-take flue or flues, tight and 
well insulated to prevent the cooling of 
the air contained in them, extending from 
a point about IS in. above the floor to 
well above the ridge, permitting the wind 
an unobstructed sweep across the top. 
This suction or siphoning effect of the air 
currents moving across the top of the flue 
is a considerable aid in causing air move¬ 
ment in it. The Hue is made to take air 
from the low point mentioned, because the 
stable odors and foul air are likely to set¬ 
tle too near the floor level, and the warm 
air that we wish to conserve is in the 
upper part of the stable. A register 
should be cut through the flue at the ceil¬ 
ing level, so that it may be opened and 
ventilation hastened at the expense of 
heat when it is desirable during the early 
Fall or Spring mopths. For the size sta¬ 
ble that you mention it is probable that a 
single out-take flue 2x2 ft. in cross sec¬ 
tion would be sufficient to care for the 
foul air. This should be as centrally lo¬ 
cated as the stable arrangement permits. 
Avoid placing it where the cold air from 
a window, door or outside wall will cool 
the air entering it. 
The intakes should be placed around 
the walls of the building, opening on the 
outside at the bottom, passing up through 
the side walls and opening into the sta¬ 
ble at the top. If the wall has not suffi¬ 
cient thickness to permit their being built 
in this way. a box or fresh air flue may 
be constructed either within or outside 
of the building, which will serve the same 
purpose of the flue built in the wall. 
These flues should also be insulated to 
prevent moisture from the stable air con¬ 
densing on them. The combined area of 
these fresh air flue openings should be 
somewhat larger than the area of the out- 
take flue, and they should be well dis¬ 
tributed about the walls of the building. 
They should also be provided with regis¬ 
ters or other means of closing so that 
they may be shut if necessary in the most 
inclement weather. Their arrangement 
with the intake end on the outside lower 
than the discharge end on the inside of the 
stable is to prevent the escape of warm 
air through them ; the heated stable air 
will not descend. 
Summed up. the facts are these : The 
out-take flue acts as a chimney to carry 
the foul air out. It has not the highly 
heated air to make it operative that the 
chimney has. however, and must be very 
carefully built to get every possible advan¬ 
tage of the slightly heated air current 
within it. The intake operates because 
the air without is colder and therefor 
heavier than the inside stable air. the 
heavy air flowing in and forcing the warm 
air up the out-take flue. To insure that 
the King system works properly the build¬ 
ing must be tight and warm and all other 
openings kept closed, as there is very 
little heat to waste. R. H. S. 
A Cold Country Tie-up 
I have a tie-up problem I wish you 
would solve for me. I have just started 
in keeping cows, and find my tie-up is 
colder than it ought to me. For the last 
five years it has been very cold, but I 
have, not had so many cows till this year, 
and now I have 12, filling the tie-up. ex¬ 
cept for one stall. My tie-up is over a 
barn basement, about 0 ft. high. This 
basement is under the whole barn, G0x4S. 
The tie-up is 14 ft. wide and about 40 ft. 
long. I have boarded from the front side 
of the tie-up down to the ground, hoping 
to make a dead-air space. This does not 
seem to make it warmer. Will you tell 
me a way I can make it warmer? 
Lisbon, Me . n. A. n. 
In relation to the questions of II. 
A. B. as to how to make tie-up 
warmer. I would like a little more detailed 
statement as to the location of the barn, 
whether the tie-up is on the south or 
southeast side of the barn ; whether it is 
well lighted; but I will do the best I 
can with the present information. I as¬ 
sume the barn is built after the usual 
New England fashion, with the floor for 
drawing the hay in the middle, the tie-up 
with hay above it on one side, and the 
bays, or ground mows, on the other, llis 
statement would incline me to believe that 
the hay is not allowed to drop to the 
bottom of the basement, but is held at 
the level of the floors. That being the 
case, he has a large basement space un¬ 
derneath the whole barn. The first thing 
to secure to keep the tie-up warm is a 
tight basement wall all around the barn. 
If the basement is well above the ground, 
and not really a cellar, it should be light¬ 
ed with windows on the south and east 
sides. In a barn of that size there should 
be at least three windows 3x5 ft., prefer¬ 
ably placed horizontally in the wall, and 
two windows of the same size in the east 
end. 
Then the basement walls should he 
made tight with double boarding and pa¬ 
per. I have yet to see a warm tie-up 
over a basement through which the wind 
was allowed to circulate freely. I should 
much prefer to have the whole basement 
open ; that is, without partitions, if the 
walls are made tight . The confinement 
of the air under the tie-up in a space no 
larger than the tie-up itself should lead 
to poor ventilation, which might affect the 
air above it. Having secured the tight 
basement, Ave will turn to the tie-up 
itself. 
This should be well lighted with at 
least three windows of the size mentioned 
above, the windows placed horizontally. 
Of course, the outside walls will be 
double-boarded, With paper between the 
boardings, and better results will follow 
it the walls are sheathed on the inside. 
The width of this tie-up is very good. It 
is sufficiently wide that it may be closed 
tightly in front next to the driveway floor, 
opportunity being afforded to allow of 
open spaces at the bottom and top of the 
partition, when weather conditions allow. 
It will be noted that I have left no 
spaces for ventilation. Secretary Gilbert 
once said that ventilation would take care 
of itself when the thermometer stood at 
zero and the winds were sweeping the 
hills and valleys of the State, and while 
this is true, some ventilation should be 
provided for. Experience has taught me 
that the dilution system, so called, is 
preferable to any oilier in this climate, 
with its varying winds and uneven tem¬ 
peratures. This is simply one-half of a 
window covered with strong sheeting 
tightly stretched across it. The sash of 
the window need not be removed, but is 
left so that it can be raised and lowered 
as occasion warrants. The sheeting al¬ 
lows the air to enter and absolutelv pre¬ 
vents. drafts. I have milked the coldest 
of Winter morning near one of these cloth 
windows without any inconvenience, and 
have never detected a draft. These con¬ 
ditions are thus summarized: 
First, a tight basement, one the size 
of this barn will not need ventilation in 
Winter, if no animals are kept in it. and 
the manure which may be kept there is 
uoti allowed to heat. 
Second, a tight double-boarded outside 
wall, well lighted, and with sheathing on 
the inside of the joists. 
Third, a tight fi-ont wall with pro¬ 
visions for opening when weather con¬ 
ditions warrant. 
Fourth, the window ventilation. This 
ventilation will help to keep the tie-up ! 
warm, as it prevents dampness and in¬ 
sures a circulation of air. 
Our own tie-up is a double one. with 
ends toward the driveway, each 15 ft. 
wide, with a 6-ft. feeding floor between, 
with the heads of the cattle together. In 
this tie-up. when it is full of cows, water 
never freezes in zero weather. We are 
not keeping the stock we formerly did. 
and at times we note some freezing. We 
feel that we must make the size of the 
tie-up correspond better with the number 
of animals kept. B. walker M’keen. 
Maine. 
Well Near Cesspool 
I would like your advice regarding a well. 
For some years a water closet was within 
about 20 feet of this well : the well was 
16 feet deep and the vault about eight 
feet deep. I have recently cleaned out 
this vault thoroughly, taken a foot of 
sand and dirt from the bottom of it. I 
can see no trace of any of the contents 
going beyond where I cleaned it. Do you 
think it I should slake a quantity of lime 
on the bottom of the vault it will remedy 
conditions? s 0 
Dover, N. II. 
lour plan of slaking a considerable 
quantity of lime in the bottom, after 
thoroughly cleaning out this old vault, is 
a good one. and I think that you may feel 
perfectly safe in the use of the well. You 
may find later, in the increased hardness 
of the well water, that there was slow 
communication between the vault and 
the well after all. It is almost inconceiv¬ 
able that anyone should place a vault 
within 20 feet of a well and dig it to 
half the depth of the well then. Of course 
contamination from this vault may have 
existed indefinitely without any external 
evidence of it. The filtered fluids seeping 
into the well would not necessarily have 
any perceptible taste or odor and, unless 
they contained typhoid germs, would not 
necessarily cause disease. Even the in¬ 
termittent presence of typhoid germs 
would not inevitably cause disease, but 
they would always be a possible source 
of it. M. B. D. 
Exclusive Advantages 
The De Laval Milker is a distinctly differ¬ 
ent type of machine, positive and uniform 
in action. It is faster, more reliable and 
more sanitary than any other method of 
milking. 
Among the many new and exclusive ad¬ 
vantages in its construction are the following: 
Udder Pulsator, close to cow’s udder—in¬ 
suring uniform, snappy action of teat-cups. 
Pulsation speed cannot be adjusted or 
tampered with—always uniform and pleas¬ 
ing to the cows. 
No pulsator springs, washers or regulating 
screws—pulsator has only one moving part. 
Alternating action at fixed speed—the 
two front and the two rear teats milked 
alternately and uniformly. 
Self-adjusting teat-cups—fit both large 
and small teats. 
Pulso-Pump—especially designed rotary 
machine providing the vacuum and the 
mechanical control of Udder Pulsator. 
Sanitary design—every part is accessible, 
easily cleaned and sterilized. Many farms 
where the De Laval Milker is used market 
certified milk at top prices. 
The name “De Laval” is insurance of 
satisfaction. 
Write to nearest De Laval office for Milker 
Catalog, mentioning number of cows milked 
The De Laval Separator Co. 
165 Broadway 29 East Madison Street 61 Beale Street 
New York Chicago San Francisco 
