184 FARM BUILDINGS IN SOUTH AFRICA 



The above remarks will be rendered clearer by reference to Figs. 

 150 and 150a, which illustrate the construction of a " single " stable. 

 A drop-back window is provided at the head of each stall, and in 

 the opposite wall is the door and also another window, of the sliding- 

 sash type. The door is hung 1 inch clear of the floor so as to allow 

 of the ingress of fresh air below it. It will be seen that these 

 arrangements provide for good through ventilation and at the same 

 time admit plenty of light, while the open roof-ridge allows of the 

 easy escape of the heated foul air which naturally rises to the peak 

 of the roof. 



Stable Floors. — Material suitable for a good floor should be water- 

 tight, non-absorbent, easily cleaned, durable, and not slippery. No 

 material is perfectly satisfactory in all these respects. 



Slope of Stall Floors. — Horses stand most comfortably on a level 

 surface, therefore the stall floors should be given no more slope than 

 is absolutely necessary for drainage purposes. 



In high-class stables the stall floor is made to slope from all four 

 sides towards the centre, whence the urine is drained away in a channel 

 covered by perforated wrought-iron plates, which can be removed 

 temporarily in order to allow of the channel being flushed and swept 

 out. In a stall of this type the horse stands practically on the level, 

 but the construction is costly, and, moreover, the covering of the urine 

 channels, even although the cover plates are perforated, is an objectionable 

 feature. 



In ordinary farm stables it is usual to slope the floor in one 

 direction only, viz. from the mangers towards an open channel 

 (at the horses' heels) which runs along the length of the stable. 

 This slope should be as gentle as possible, having regard to the 

 proper run-off of the urine. For blue-brick floors, a slope of 1 

 in 48, or 1 inch in 4 feet, will be sufficient to effect this purpose, 

 while for a granolithic floor considerably less slope will suffice. 



The urine channels, at the horses' heels, need not be very large. 

 They generally take the form of shallow depressions (see cross section 

 of stable, Fig. 150a) in the floor, about 12 inches wide and a few 

 inches deep. They should be given a slope of not less than 1 inch 

 in 7 feet, which, of course, will cause the depth to vary, from very 

 little to a considerable amount at the outlet from the stable. In 

 long stables undue depth of the urine channels may be avoided 



