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Ventilation. — Perhaps next to good drainage and drinking-water 

 proper ventilation would come in order of consideration : it is a very- 

 great desideratum in all buildings, and one would expect so import- 

 ant an element of health would receive much more attention than it 

 does. In my opinion, the simpler the principles on which the method 

 of ventilation is arranged, the more likely to be successful. To keep 

 your horses warm, comfortable, and free from draughts, the fresh air 

 must come in above them, whether standing up or lying down ; and 

 the simplest means of arranging this is to have the windows made in 

 two halves, fixed at the necessary height from the floor, the upper 

 part of the window to fall inwards to admit fresh air and exclude 

 draught — this to work in connection with a similarly contrived arrange- 

 ment of a ventilator on the other side of the stable or box, and 

 opposite the window or fanlight over the stable door. A current of 

 fresh air coming from these points, some 8 feet or so above floor- 

 level, would exhaust the vitiated air, and force it upwards through the 

 apertures in the ceiling to the extracting-chamber. By mechanical 

 arrangements, such as used for vineries and the like, the openings for 

 the admission of fresh air could be regulated at pleasure, and by a 

 similar mechanical contrivance the exhaust ventilators in the ceilings 

 might be under control ; and in fact the whole could be so arranged, 

 that any particular temperature might be sustained if necessary. 



Paving. — The paving of the floors in stables is a matter which 

 cannot be passed over without some comment. The best and most 

 durable floor now laid is composed of plain buff adamantine clinkers 

 set on edge in cement on a concrete foundation of some 4 inches 

 thick. The foundation should have a floated bed or smooth face 

 to lay the clinkers on. Sometimes these are made with chamfered 

 edges ; but this is much to be deprecated, as the urine lodges in the 

 grooves which are formed by the joints, and although the clinkers 

 themselves are non-absorbent and impervious to the effects of urine, 

 yet the liquid forms a small pool in every joint, is not easily removed, 

 and soon becomes stagnant, thereby helping to vitiate the air in the 

 stables. Neither is it at all necessary for the horses to be able to 

 secure such a foothold as these chamfered bricks were designed to 

 give. The straw itself is quite sufficient to ensure this when laid on 

 a level surface ; and as horses are usually tied up and stationary, these 

 chamfered grooves are not in any way necessary except under special 

 circumstances. The plain adamantine clinker is, as I have already 



