MATERIALS FOR WALLS 223 



admitting a free current of air, but not allowing anything large enough to 

 contain corn to pass. At stated intervals the allowance of corn may bo 

 taken out and kept in the other part of the granaiy till wanted. Here 

 also should be fixed a corn-bruiser and chaff-cutter, and also a bin for beans 

 and chaflf. 



In the next chapter on stable management, I shall enter upon the 

 advantages of chaflf-cutters and oat-bruisers ; but at present I must beg 

 my readers to take it for granted that they are essential to every well- 

 conducted stable, and shall here only go into the room they occupy, and 

 their prime cost. It is needless, also, to describe their appearance or mode 

 of acting, as they are so generally used, that they may be seen in every 

 stable, and the real thing is much more easily understood than either an 

 engraving or a written description. Every agricultural implement maker 

 sells both, and most of the chief of these establishments have patterns 

 of their own, but in principle there is not much difference. I have 

 obtained the price list of the St. Pancras Iron Works, where, I believe, 

 these and other stable fittings may be obtained of the best quality, 

 and at as reasonable rates as are consistent with this. The oat-bruisers 

 may either be screwed to wooden pillars, or may stand upon iron frames. 



Improved Oat-Bruiskks. 



H Fiit^IirIs per hour, worked by a boy 3 



4 ,, ,, ,, ,, man 



5 , , , , , , , , man and boy . 

 10 ,, ,, ,, ,, horse or steam 

 20 „ 



iMrROVED ClIAFF-C UTTERS 



IJ Trusses an hour, cuts 2 lengths, worked by a boy 

 ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, stronger . 



2 ,, ,, ,, ,, better details . 



3 ,, ,, ,, ,, worked by a man 



6 ,, ,, cuts any length ,, 2 men 

 24 cwt. an hour, ,, ,, horse or steam . 



BEST MATERIALS FOR WALLS, FLOORS, DOORS, 

 AND WINDOWS 



The walls of stables, if economy is studied, must be built of the 

 material used in the district, whatever that may be. In some parts of 

 England, bricks are plentifvil and cheap ; but in others, where there is no 

 clay to be obtained near at hand, the carriage alone from the brick-kilna 

 amounts to a prohibitory sum. But in all cases, when they can be had, 

 well burnt and free from salt, they should be selected as at once the most 

 conAcnient, the driest, and the least absorbent of all building materials. 

 In some districts, the clay and sand are so bad that they burn into a 

 porous sponge, than which nothing can be worse, if exposed to the rain 

 without and the exhalations from the horse within. Even these, however, 

 will make good walls, if they are cemented inside and out ; but no pre- 

 caution short of this will sufiice. Rough stone seldom makes a dry stable, 

 on account of the quantity of mortar which it takes to fill up the interstices; 



