Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/408

 b B= / s-6x8"3i:: B / Q: 381 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. ventilators, pp. Fig. 798 is a plan of the flooring of the rooms over the sUiblcs, exhibiting the channels or ^ q 3;.., . > grooves in the walls, for ventilation, q q ; and the appearance of these open- ings exteriorly is indicated in the end elevation, fig. 799. Fig. 800, to a scale of two thirds of an inch to a foot, shows the manner jj f 1 ^, -^ I, , JLJ 794 of finishing the eaves of " the roof; in which r is the principal rafter, eight inches by three inches at bottom, and six inches by three inches at top ; s, the wall-plate ; t, the pole- plate ; u, the upper rafter ; v, the eaves board ; w, the slate boardmg ; x, the bracket ; y, a bed-moulding ; and z, the soffit boarding. The stalls in this stable have level floors and gratings similar to those in fig. 776, § 752; ^, ^ '^ 795 the floors of the boxes are also level, and paved with flag-stones, all of which, except about eighteen inches in width round the box, are per- forated with holes about the fourth of an inch in diameter at top, and gradually widening to the under side of the stone, like the holes in the tiles of a malt kiln. The centre stone lifts up, ' for the purpose of cleaning out the drain below. 756. Houses for Horned Cattle. The anatomical structure and physiology of horned cattle are much less intricate than those of the horse ; and 796 the animals are consequently much hardier, and much less liable to disease. They will endure a greater degree of cold in winter, and of heat in summer ; and they require less delicacy of management in their lodging, either in respect to space or ventila- tion, than horses. No horse could be kept in a stall for months, without exercise in the open air, and yet retain iiis health ; but cattle have been so kept till they have been made sufficiently fat for the butcher ; and milch cows have been kept in the neighbourhood of London, standing in the same stall, without having been once taken out, for two years. (^Encyc. of Apr., 2d edit. § 6898.) It does not follow from this, however, that great improvement might not be introduced into cow-houses and cattle-sheds ; and that exercise in the open air would not add to the flavour and wholesomeness both of butcher's meat and dairy produce : on the contrary, the cow-houses in Holland, and the cattle hammcls, or small feeding yards, of Northumberland, may be referred to as proofs that this is actually the case. The principal difference between a house in which cattle are tied up, and one in which horses are cither kept in stalls or in separate rooms, is the open gutter behind, which has hitherto been considered indispensable in cattle-houses, on account of the more fluid nature of the dung of tlie animals. This gutter, or some substitute for it, is