246 THE HORSE BOOK. 



street, is the most prolific of noxious germ life 

 of all known substances. In damp, dark, dirty 

 stables germ life multiplies at a rate altogether 

 incomprehensible to the average human mind. 

 Let in the air and sunlight. Those are the best 

 disinfectants. It should hardly be necessary 

 to enjoin on all horse keepers the absolute neces- 

 sity of cleansing the stalls freely at frequent 

 intervals and of keeping a supply of absorbent 

 bedding to take up the liquids voided by farm 

 animals. Horse manure in summer is the fa- 

 vorite breeding place for flies. At all seasons 

 of the year, when not in the light it fairly teams 

 with noxious microbic life. 



Cleanliness in every department of the stable 

 should be insisted on. Majigers should be kept 

 clean at all times. Notwithstanding this, it is 

 the exception rather than the rule to find them 

 so. Corn on the ear is a very general food for 

 farm horses. The kernels are bitten off the 

 cobs and the latter are left in the feedbox, 

 covered with saliva and therefore most fertile 

 media for the propagation of germs of all sorts. 

 Nevertheless, it is no uncommon sight to see 

 farm help shove the cobs out of the box into 

 the manger, where they lie and sour and take 

 up room until they get to be troublesome when 

 they are thrown down into the stall and finally 

 find their way into the manure pile. Slovenly 

 methods of this variety should have no place in 

 the management of an up-to-date stable on the 



