and the like drains may be dispensed with, as it is possible to so lay 

 the floors as to do without drains ; but in ordinary stall or loose-box 

 stables some kind of drainage is necessary. The usual iron channel- 

 guttering should be avoided if one wishes a healthy and sweet stable. 

 The automatic flushing-tank arrangement to be met with in some 

 large stables is all very well so long as it continues in working order. 

 Unfortunately this contrivance is more frequently in disuse than 

 otherwise. 



For the drainage of stables generally, the simple plan I adopted at 

 Ingestre Hall stables, also at Wandle House stables and elsewhere, 

 can hardly be improved on, which is to have one horse-pot in the 

 centre of each box or stall, with the floor of box or stall falling to the 

 pot each way. The pot should be one of the most approved descrip- 

 tion to check draught and counteract smell. From this pot, in each 

 stall or box, a short piece of drain-pipe should be taken straight 

 through the wall at the head of the box or stall, discharging into a 

 small chamber outside the wall at head of box or stall, open at the 

 top and communicating with what I call the outside drains. By this 

 means the outside and inside drains are thoroughly disconnected, and 

 any chance of effluvia from the outside drains prevented. Of course 

 the drains should fall with the ground to a desirable point, and the 

 urine might be conserved in a tank for farming purposes. 



Water. — In our domestic buildings, as well as the stables, good 

 water is of the greatest importance, and especially so for horses. 

 Oftentimes spring-water is very hard, and impregnated with chalk or 

 other matter injurious to both man and beast. The question of 

 drinking-water is of the utmost importance if one wishes to keep 

 either themselves, their servants, or animals in good health. So far 

 as a stable is concerned, where a well might be sunk or town water 

 obtained, I w^ould arrange that this should be used solely for cleaning 

 purposes ; and for the drinking-water I would conserve every drop of 

 rain-water from the roofs of the building, and convey it to a large 

 underground tank suitable to the size of the edifice, and would cause 

 all the rain-water to first pass through a small filter-tank charged with 

 gravel, fine sand, and charcoal, capable of being easily cleansed and 

 renewed as occasion required. The pump for the drinking-water 

 might be placed either within or without the stable, as might be most 

 convenient. The pump for the water for cleaning purposes might be 

 near the well, in the vicinity of the washing-place. 



