convenient, but the best mode of keeping them clean and fresh. The sites of the turnip stores may be seen both in the isometrical view, Plate I. and in the plan, Plate II. They should be made of stone and lime 8 feet by 5 inside, and 6 feet in height, with an opening in front, 2 feet and upwards from the ground, for putting in and taking out the turnips; or they may be of wood, where it is cheap. They may either be covered or straw used to protect the turnips from frost. They should be placed near the cattle, and be easy of access to carts from the roads.

1095. The supply of water to all the courts is of paramount consideration. The troughs may be supplied with water either directly from pump-wells, or by pipes from a fountain at a little distance, the former being the most common plan. As a pump cannot conveniently be placed at each trough, I have found a plan of supplying any number of troughs from one pump, to answer well, provided the surface of the

h

ground will allow the troughs being placed nearly on the same level. One plan is to connect the bottoms of any two or more troughs on the same level, with lead pipes placed under ground; and on the first trough being supplied direct from the pump, the water will flow to the same level throughout all the other troughs. This particular arrangement is subject to this objection, that when any one of the troughs is emptying by drinking, the water is drawn off from the rest of the troughs, to maintain its level throughout the whole.

any

other court to be supplied with water from a, and let it be 3 inches below the level of a. Let a lead pipe, d, be fastened to the bottom of a, the orifice looking upwards, and protected by the hemispherical drainer, c. Let the lead pipe, d, be passed under ground to the trough b, and emerge from the ground by the side of and over the top of b at e. When a is filling with water from the pump, the moment the water rises in a to the level of the end of the end of the pipe at e, it will commence to flow into b, and will continue to do so until is filled, if the pumping be continued. The water in a, below the level of the end of the pipe at e, may be used in a without affecting b, and the water in b may be entirely used without affecting a.

1097. Water-troughs may be made of various materials; a is hewn out of a solid

block of free-stone, which makes the closest, most durable, and best trough.

1998. If of flag stones, as b, the sides are sunk into the edges of the bottom in grooves luted with white lead, and held together with iron clamps, h, at the corners. This makes a good trough, but is apt to leak at the joints.

1099. Trough ƒ is made of wood dovetailed at the corners, which are held together by clamps of iron, i. When made of good timber, and painted, they last many years.

1100. Water-troughs are sometimes supplied from a large cistern, somewhat elevated above their level, and filled from a well with a common or force-pump. In this case a cock, or ball-and-cock, are required at each trough: if a cock, the sup

ply must depend on the cock being turned in due time; and if a ball-and-cock, the supply depends on the cistern always having water in it: but this method is expensive, and liable to go out of order.

1101. In an abundant supply of water from natural springs, accessible without the means of a pump, lead-pipes may be made to emit a constant stream of water into each trough, and the surplus conveyed away in drains to the horse-pond, or to any other useful purpose.

1102. Still another mode may be adopted where the supply of water is plentiful, and it flows constantly into a supply-cistern. Let the supply-cistern be 2 feet in length, 1 foot wide, and 18 inches in depth, provided with a ball-and-cock, and let a pipe proceed from its bottom to a trough of dimensions fit for the use of cattle, into which let the pipe enter by the end or side a little way, say 3 inches, below the mouth of the trough. Let a pipe proceed from this trough, as from the lower bend of the pipe e, at the bottom of the trough b, fig. 70, into the end of another trough, and so on, from trough to trough, into the ends of as many succeeding troughs, on the same level, as are required, and the water will rise in each as high as the mouth of the pipe, and which, when withdrawn by drinking from any one trough, the ball-and-cock will replenish it direct from the supply-cistern; but the objection to the ball-and-cock applies as strongly in this as in the other case, although economy of pipe attends this method.

1103. The sheds attached to large cattle courts are usually provided with more than one opening or door, with the view of allowing a timid animal to escape by one door while chased by another. But, in my opinion, the comfort of the cattle is more secured with only one entrance, inasmuch as every draught of air is prevented; and although the object of two entrances is laudable in affording a means of escape to a beast that may be ill-used by the rest, the advantage to one is dearly bought at the sacrifice of comfort to the others; and, after all, it is doubtful whether the contingency thus dreaded can be avoided in any way, unless from the proba

bility of general agreement after a common use of the same apartment for some time. Cattle bought promiscuously from different quarters, and put together, are much less likely to agree in the same court than those brought up together from calfhood. However brought together, there should not exceed 20 beasts kept together in a court.

1104. Hammels are fitted up with turnip troughs in the same manner as the courts, though the straw-racks are always fastened in the corners or against the walls in the sheds, and never placed in the small courts.

1105. Hammels consist of a shed, and an open court, communicating by a large opening. The shed part need not be so wide as the rest of the apartments in the farmstead, in as far as the comfort of the animals is concerned; and in making it narrower, considerable saving is effected in the cost of the roofing.

1106. There is no definite rule for the size of hammels; but as their advantage consists in assorting the cattle according to their age, temper, size, and condition, and in giving them liberty in the fresh air, they should not only be much smaller than courts, but only contain 2 large oxen, or 3 small ones. Hammels, however, are often made much larger than this. When the dung is proposed to be taken away by horse and cart from the courts, these should not be less than 30 feet in length by 18 feet in breadth, and the entrance gate 9 feet in width; and this size will easily accommodate 4 oxen, which will each attain the dead-weight of 70 stones imperial. But the dung may be taken out with barrows, and a court 15 feet in length by 12 feet in width, free of the turnip trough, will accommodate 2 such oxen as these.

1107. The sheds to both these sizes of courts need not exceed 14 feet in width, and their length is equal to the width of the courts.

1108. To give permanency to hammels, the sheds should be roofed like the other buildings, though to save expense many farmers roof them with small trees placed close together upon the walls of the sheds, and build thereon straw, corn, or beans.

Fig. 71.

1109. The door of the shed, 5 feet in width, should be at one side and not in the middle of the hammel, to afford the more room and warmth to the interior. The corners of the scuncheon should be champered off, to save the cattle being injured against sharp angles.

1110. The divisions betwixt the respective courts should be of stone and lime walls, 1 foot in thickness, and 6 feet in height. Those within the sheds should be carried up quite close to the roof, but more frequently they are only carried up to the first balk of the couples, over which a draught of air is generated from shed to shed, much to the discomfort of the animals.

1111. I prefer hammels to large courts, even for the younger beasts, because the heifers might be separated from the steers, and each class subdivided to suit colour, strength, age, temper, or any other point in which a few agree, and differ from the rest, and it is surprising how much better the sanie animals look when well assorted.

1112. Neither courts nor hammels are

completely furnished for the comfort of their tenants unless provided with wellbuilt drains to convey away the surplus liquid manure, when there happens to be any excess of it. For this purpose a drain should enter into each of the large courts, and one across the middle of each set of hammels. The ground of every court

should be so laid off as to make the lowest part of the court at the place where the drain commences or passes; and such lowest point should be furnished with a strong block of hewn freestone, into which is sunk flush an iron grating, having the bars only an inch asunder, to prevent the passage of straws into the drain. Fig. 71 gives an idea of such a grating, made of malleable iron, to bear rough usage, such as the wheel of a cart passing over it; the

DRAIN GRATING FOR COURTS.

downwards, to keep them clear of obstructions for the water to pass through them. A writer, in speaking of such gratings, recommends "they should be strong, and have the ribs well bent upwards, as in that form they are not so liable to be choked up ;"* a remark quite correct in regard to the form of gratings for the sewers of towns, as with the ribs bent downwards in such a place, the accumulated stuff brought upon them would soon prevent the water getting down into the drains; but the case is quite different in courts where the straw, covering the gratings, lies loosely over the ribs bent downwards, and acts as a drainer; but were it to be pressed against the ribs bent upwards, the water could not percolate through it. Any one who has seen the straw of dunghills pressed hard against a raised stone in the ground below it, will easily understand the effect. The positions of these gratings are indicated in the plan, Plate II.

1113. Liquid manure drains should be built with stone and lime walls, 9 inches high and 6 inches asunder, flagged smoothly in the bottom, and covered with single stones. Fig. 72 shows the form of this sort of drain, and sufficiently explains its strucFig. 72.

LIQUID-MANURE DRAIN.

ture. As liquid manure is sluggish in its motion, the drains require a much greater fall in their course than rain-water drains. They should also run in direct lines, and have as few turnings as possible in their passage to the tank, which should be situate in the lowest part of the ground, not far from the steading, and out of the way. The advantage of these drains being made straight is, that, should they choke up at any time, a large quantity of water poured into them would clear the obstruction away. The direction of these drains may be seen in the plan, Plate II., towards the tank. It might be possible to have a tank to each set of hammels and courts, to collect the liquid manure from each separately; but such a multiplicity of tanks would be attended with much expense at first, and inconvenience at all times. Were the practice adopted of spreading the liquid manure on the field at once, as is done by the Flemish farmers, a tank in every court would be convenient.

1114. The liquid manure tank should be built of stone or brick and lime. Its form may be either round, rectangular, or irregular, and it may be arched, covered with wood, left open, or placed under a slated or thatched roof; the arch forming the most complete roof, the rectangular form should be chosen. I have found a tank of an area of only 100 square feet, and a depth of 4 feet below the bottom of the drains, contain a large proportion of the whole liquid manurecollected during the winter, from courts and hammels well littered with straw, in a steading, for 300 acres, well provided with rain-water spouts. The position of the tank may be seen in the plan, Plate II. It is rectangular, and might be roofed with an arch.

1115. A cast-iron pump should be affixed to one end of the tank, the spout of which should be as elevated as to allow the liquid to run into the bung-hole of a large barrel placed on the framing of a cart, or over a series of compost dunghills. I have lately seen an iron pump which raised water by means of a series of screw-fans, made of metal, such as are used in the screw-propellers of ships, and which, being simple in construction, and not liable to be put out of working order,

would answer well for pumping so thick and viscid liquid as liquid manure.

1116. It is clear that if all the rain that falls upon the roof of the steading gets leave to make its way into the courts and hammels occupied by the cattle, that it will pass through the manure as rapidly, and in as large a quantity, as the rain happens to fall copiously or otherwise; and that, in its way through the manure to the drains which convey it to the liquidmanure tank, it will dissolve a large proportion of the soluble part of the manure, and in so far deteriorate the quality of the dunghill. The liquid manure thus conveyed to the tank will, therefore, largely consist of rain water; and when it is carried from the tank to the fields, or spread over the compost heaps, there will be carried or spread as much of rain-water. Now, of what utility is it to the field or the compost heap in incurring the expense and trouble of moving about so much rainwater? Would it not be a more sensible proceeding to prevent the rain-water entering the courts, and only bestow the trouble of carrying or spreading the pure liquid-manure which shall flow from the dunghills, when the straw is unable to absorb and retain any more of it? No doubt it would; and yet I believe the largest proportion of the liquid manure one hears being collected in the tanks, consists only of rain-water, excepting in the case of dairy farms, where the cows are supplied largely with succulent food in the byres, and with very little litter.

1117. For the purpose of getting rid of the rain water, the eaves of the roofs of the houses which surround the courts should be provided with rain-water spouts, not only to take it from the roofs, but to pour it into drains to be carried to a ditch at a distance from the farmstead.

1118. As to the rain from the other parts of the roofs, drains should be formed along the bottom of every wall not immediately surrounding the courts. The drains should be dug 6 inches below the foundation-stones of the walls, conduited with a main pipe-tile, and the drain filled to the surface of the ground with broken stones. The broken stones will receive the rain dropping from the roofs, and the pipe-tile

conduit will carry it away; and should the stones ever become hardened on the surface, or grown over with grass, the grass might be easily removed, and the stones loosened by the action of the handpick.

1119. Rain water-spouts are made of wood, cast-iron, lead, or zinc, the last being quite durable, very light, and cheapest in the end, and are fastened to the wall by iron holdfasts. The direction of the rain-water drains may be traced along the dotted lines, accompanied by arrows, in the plan Plate II.

1120. The cow-house or byre is occupied by the cows, and in some districts by the fattening oxen also, and is fitted up in a peculiar manner. The cows stand in stalls the stalls, to be easy for the cows to lie down and rise up, in my opinion, for a large kind of cattle should never be less than 5 feet in width. Four feet is a more common width, but is too narrow for a large cow, and even 7 feet is considered in the dairy districts a fairsized double stall for two cows. My opinion is, that every cow should have a stall for her own use, lying, standing, or eating her food, of sufficient length and breadth that she may lie at ease betwixt the manger and the gutter. The width of the byre should be 18 feet; the manger 2 feet in width, the length of a large cow about 8 feet, the gutter 1 foot broad, leaves 7 feet behind the gutter for a passage for containing the different vessels used in milking the cows and feeding the calves. The ceiling should be quite open to the slates, and a ventilator for every four or five cows in the roof, for regulating the temperature and supplying the byre with fresh air. A door, divided into upper and lower halves, should open outwards to the court on a giblet-check, for the easy passage of the cows to and from the court, and each half fastened on the inside with a hand-bar. Two windows with glass panes, with the lower parts furnished with shutters to open, will give sufficient light, as also air, with the half-door. The walls should be plastered for comfort and cleanliness.

1121. The stalls are most comfortably made of wood, though some recommend

stone, which always feels hard and cold. Their height should be 3 feet, and length no farther than to reach the flank of the cow, or about 6 feet from the wall. When of wood, a strong hard-wood bind-post is sunk into the ground, and built in masonry. Between this post and the manger should be laid a curb-stone, grooved on the upper edge to let in the ends of the travis boards. The deals are held in their places at the upper ends by means of a hardwood rail, grooved on the under side, into which the edge of the deals are let; and the rail is fixed to the back of the hindpost at one end. and let into the wall at the other, and there fastened with iron holdfasts. Stone travises are no doubt more durable, and in the end perhaps more economical, where flag-stones are plentiful; but I would in all cases prefer wood, as feeling warmer, being more dry in damp weather, and less liable to injure the cows coming against them, and within doors will last a long time. The plan of the byres may be seen in Plate II.

1122. The mangers of byres are usually placed on a level with the floor, with a curb-stone in front to keep in the food, and paved in the bottom. Such a position I conceive highly objectionable, as, on breaking the turnips, the head of the animal is so depressed that an undue weight is thrown upon the fore-legs, and an injurious strain induced on the muscles of the lower jaw. A better manger is made of flag-stones or wood, resting on a building of stone and mortar, raised about 20 inches from the ground, and a plank set on edge in front to keep in the food. This front should be secured in its position with iron rods batted into the wall at one end, and the other end passed through the plank to a shoulder, which is pressed hard by means of a nut and screw. Out of such a manger the cow will eat with ease any kind of food, whether whole or cut; and all feeding-byres for oxen should be fitted up with mangers of this construction. Mangers are generally made too narrow for cattle with horns, and the consequence is the rubbing away of the points of the horns against the wall.

1123. The supply of green food to cattle in byres may be effected from the outside through holes in the wall at the back of