BEDDING. 241 
a basket, and removed as soon as they are perceived by the groom, by 
which the litter is kept clean, and the hind feet of the horse are prevented 
from contracting foul thrushes, which many are apt to do, if they are 
allowed to be constantly crammed full of moist droppings, as they often 
are by careless grooms. On the average of seasons country straw may be 
bought for about 27. per ton, in which there are about sixty trusses, each 
therefore costing 8d., and, on the calculation of two trusses per week, the 
horse’s bed will cost 1s. 4d. for that period, without estimating the value 
of the manure, which varies greatly. In the neighbourhood of very large 
towns, where the supply of manure is greater than the demand, it is 
almost a drug, and will scarcely pay for the labour of removal, but in 
agricultural districts it is worth 5s. per ton, and then an arrangement is 
often made by the farmer to supply straw on condition of receiving back 
the manure made with it. It may, generally, be calculated that an allow- 
ance of one-third or one-fourth of the cost of the straw may be made for 
manure, and the litter may then be estimated as costing ls. per week. 
SanpD is said to answer very well as bedding, and to have the great 
advantage of keeping the feet cool. I have never seen it used, but I am 
told, on excellent authority, that, excepting in very cold weather, it is a 
very valuable substitute for straw. The fine dry sand of the seashore is 
that which is usually employed for the purpose, but inland sand would do 
just as well if collected and stored in a dry condition. It requires a well 
drained floor, the chief objection being that it clogs the openings to the 
drains ; but if the iron gutters are used which I have described at page 
199, they may be readily swept out, and there being none permanently 
covered, there is no difficulty whatever. Indeed, if the sand is changed 
as soon as it becomes saturated with moisture, which it ought always to 
be, the drains are not wanted at all; but occasionally it will happen that 
the urine falls in or near the gutter, and then it is an advantage to have 
them in working order. The sand is laid about six inches deep, and 
every day the soiled parts are removed, and fresh sand, in proportion, 
spread over all, so that a very neat surface is maintained. The cost in 
sandy districts is very trifling, but of course elsewhere the plan would be: 
prohibited by the charge for carriage. When sand is thus used, the feet 
must be stopped with cowdung more frequently than in the case of straw, 
or they soon become hard and brittle. 
Sawpust is seldom employed as litter, its cost being quite as great as, 
and often more than, straw. It is only in or near saw mills, where there 
is an unusually large supply of sawdust on the premises, that it can be used 
advantageously. During the summer months it answers well enough if 
laid down as I have described under the head of sand, but like that ma- 
terial it is too cold for use in our winters. It has the disadvantage, as 
compared with sand, that it soon heats when wetted with urine, and am- 
monia is then given off profusely, so that great care must be exercised to 
change it as soon as it becomes soiled. 
Reruse Tan is very commonly introduced as a bedding for horses 
while being summered, in the belief that it is much cooler to the feet 
than straw. It has all the disadvantages of sawdust, without the advan- 
tages of sand, and if the latter can readily be obtained, it should by all 
means be substituted for it. JI have often seen a box in which tan had 
deen left for weeks without change, the groom expecting that it would 
retain the urine of the horse without decomposition, although his nose: 
ought to have convinced him to the contrary. It is a capital material if 
it is kept dry, but every one who has seen the beat which is given out by 
R 
