24 STABLE MANAGEMENT. 



clean water beyond the actual loss in weight, I do 

 not know that it does much harm ; but it is exceed- 

 ingly likely that the water has been obtained from 

 some stagnant dirty puddle, and the bundle has been 

 left standing for some time so that fermentation has 

 set in, giving it an unpleasant smell. It is therefore 

 best to have the bundles at once opened out and 

 spread in the sun to dry as soon as they are brought 

 in, and not allow the " grass-cutters " to take them 

 away to their own houses. In parts of the foot hills 

 of the Himalayas (" hurriarie," or " hurrialie ") grass 

 is obtained. It is not found in the plains, or in the 

 very high mountains where it is cold. It is a long 

 grass, running to about three feet high, and is cut 

 with a curved sickle. When young and green it 

 is a capital fodder grass ; but when the seed is shed, 

 and it gets dry, it is unfit for any other purpose than 

 bedding, as the stalks get very hard and brittle, and 

 so dry that there is little or no nourishment in it. 

 It should not then be allowed into the stable for any 

 other purpose than bedding ; but being much easier 

 to collect than " dhoob " grass, the " grass-cutters " 

 will bring it as long as they are allowed to, even 

 when it resembles nothing more than a bundle of 

 sticks. I have frequently heard owners of horses in 

 the hills complain of their animals getting thin and 



