VENTILATION OF BARNS AND STABLES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 5, 28 April 1880, Page 4

VENTILATION OF BARNS AND STABLES.

The moist air of barns, and the foul air of stables, should be carried off in ' the most direct manner. Ventilation i depends upon the fact that warm air rises and will escape from the upper part of a building, if cold air is admitted at the lower part. But if no openings are made below, the air remains stagnant, and cannot escape at the upper openings. In all arrangements for ventilation, these require- | ments must be met, and a neglect of ' them has often prevented the successjf ul operation of costly, but faulty J methods. In barns a want of adequate ventilation encourages mildew, sweating and moulding of the contents, and in some cases over-heating, j and spontaneous combustion of hay that has been stored in too moist a condition. The usual method of ventilating barns by means of one central cupola, or by a window in one or both gables, is dangerous, because it confines the escaping air, which is always I charged with moisture in the summer 1 time, to one considerable stream, and ! moist air, being an excellent conductor of electricity, serves to make the most ; dangerous lightning rod — so to speak — to bring the lightning into the barn, and so set it on fire. This explains j the cause of the frequent destruction of barns by lightning, during the season of harvest or soon after. It is 1 wise therefore to break up the stream ! of air which escapes, both by having j several ventilators, and to arrange these with slatted work on each side, 1 to conduct the escaping air in down- ■' ward or horizontal currents, which i will spread laterally in a short rather ( I than pass upward in a column. A i useful ventilator for a barn is a tube of sufficient capacity, which starts at the ceiling or floor of the lower story, and passes through the upper one. If the upper part passes through hay or j grain mows, it will be advisable to j make several openings in the tube at • that portion, that it may carry off any heat or moisture, which may exist in ! the hay or straw, soon after it is put away in the barn. Where this form of ventilator is not suitable, others may be provided in the eaves ; one consists of a wooden frame, set in the wall near the ceiling or floor, in the manner of a window frame ; the upper half of this frame is furnished with blind slats, so placed as to facilitate an upward and outward current ; the lower half has two sliding windows, or panels, which admit fresh air, while the foul not air flows outward. This fresh, cool air drops down to the floor and makes a circuit, forcing out the foul ah-, and purifying the whole building. This arrangement has the advantage of distributing the fresh air, and more effectively, if the panels are fitted with slats set on end., and each half reversed, so as to force the air in different directions. Another ventilator, set in the eaves of a stable, consists of a falling door, so hinged I that it closes of its own weight, and is opened by a cord. The same kind of a side ventilator door may be held open by a piece of wire spring, and closed by a cord. Another ventilator j may be made by sawing out holes in | the board, and pivoting on a cover \ with similar openings ; this cover j being moved by cords, to open or I close the spaces. This ventilator is one easily made and operated. The j matter of thorough ventilation of barns and stables cannot be too strongly insisted upon, as it determines in great measure, the health and therefore the value, of the stock contained in them. Pure air is as essential as pure food, and can only be secured to confined animals by a proper circulation through ventilators. — American Agriculturist.