AIR. 127 



should also be turned out to dry, and a little fresh straw spread 

 for the horses to stale on. A shed placed beside the stable is 

 a great advantage, on two accounts — it admits of the litter 

 being dried, and the horse dressed there in wet and stormy 

 weather. 



A little powdered gypsum, strown upon the stable floor, will 

 also act by absorbing the ammoniacal gas, and thus reraoying 

 its foul smell — a frequent predisposing cause of ophthalmia. 

 If the ammonia, however, accumulates in any considerable 

 quantity, the speediest and most efi&cacious remedy as a disin- 

 fectant is muriatic acid. 



AIR. 



The importance of thorough ventilation has been adverted to 

 under the preceding head, but a few words additional seem 

 necessary. 



A hot stable has in the minds of many been long connected 

 with a glossy coat for the horse. The latter, it is thought, 

 cannot be obtained without the former. To this it may be re- 

 plied that in winter a thin, glossy coat is not desirable. Mature 

 gives to every animal a warmer clothing when the cold weather 

 approaches. The horse — the agricultural horse, especially— 

 acquires a thicker and a lengthened coat, in order to defend 

 him from the surrounding cold. Man puts on additional and 

 a warmer covering, and his comfort is increased and his health 

 preserved by it. He who knows anything of the farmer's horse, 

 or cares about his enjoyment, will not object to a coat a little 

 longer, and a little roughened when the wintry wind blows 

 bleak. The coat, however, does not need to be so long as to 



