15^ 



some places, drawers are used instead of mangei-s, but any moveable 

 Avooden convenience would answer the end ; and it is an old opinion 

 that Horses ought not to be compelled to lift: their heads much higher 

 than their knees whilst feeding. 



Where saving of room is the chief consideration, a hay-chamber 

 seems indispensible ; where the leading object is not such, as little hay 

 as possible, should be kept subject to the contamination of the pene- 

 trating effluvia of the stable, and of all kinds of dirt from cats and 

 vermin, and spiders, which must be the case in a chamber or loft, where 

 besides, a great portion of the juices and goodness of the haj% are soon 

 dried away. Hay should be kept as long as possible in the stack, to 

 speak of country stables ; and Avhen cut for use, in any considerable 

 quantity, should be trussed and bound, as for the London market, as 

 the only method of preserving its goodness to the last. 



The drain of urine from the stable should always be kept clear and 

 pervious, and the dung cast without doors, every stable time, which 

 will be at least three times in the day. Should it be necessary for the 

 urine to run to the end of the stall, a very gradual descent will suffice, 

 but the drain is now frequently made, with a grating, in the centre of 

 the stall. The gangway of the stable ought not to be encumbered 

 M'ith corn chests, pails, brooms, or any lumber for which an anti-room 

 or passage is the most proper place, where also shelves, closets and presses 

 may be placed. 



As of hay, the less of corn also, which is kept in hot stables the 

 better. Dr. Plot, in his history of Oxfordshire, gives the very ingenious 

 contrivance of a gentleman of that country in his time, for the letting 

 down of oats and split beans from the chamber above, through two 

 hoppers and pipes, observing, that every time any corn is drawn in that 

 mode, the whole heap is moved, and consequentl)'^ aired. The method 

 appears to me convenient, and the hoppers might communicate either 

 with a loose heap in the chamber or the bottom of a chest, which I 

 should prefer. 



Horses are secured in their stalls by two halters, each passing through 

 a ring at the extremity of the manger, a clog of wood being attached 

 to the end of the halters. Level with the Horse's head, in front, is a 



convenience 



