CONSTRUCTION OF A FARM-HOUSE AND OFFICES. 19 



ferown of Markle is of opinion, that five feet of room in 

 breadth is required, to give each horse comfortable accom- 

 modation, and that the stable ought not to be less than 



capable of drawing a plough, ought to have divided stalls, at least five 

 feet wide each, that they may lie at ease ; and every horse feed sepa- 

 rately, and, if he choose, that he may feed leisurely, whatever be his 

 provender. The stalls may slope, say one-eighth of an inch to the foot; 

 from the bottom of the wall, below the manger to the gutter, which ma\ 

 be ten feet from that wall, and two feet from the back part of the divi- 

 sion. There ought to be five feet for a thoroughfare between the gutter, 

 and the other side-wall, behind the horses. The length of the stall will 

 admit of a broad-bottomed manger, for holding clover and other greeii 

 herbage for soiling. The racks will not hold enough of this fodder, anil 

 its weight compresses it so much, that the horses cannot, without diffi- 

 culty, draw it out. Green herbage should be divided between the man- 

 ger and rack, when working horses are foddered up for the night. 

 Stables in which horses are soiled, ought to have openings in. the roof, 

 for allowing the heated air to escape in hot weather, and which can be 

 shut in cold. The width will allow of shelves and pins for the furniture 

 of each pair of horses, immediately behind their stalls. 



Cattle in general have by far too little room. Working oxen, large 

 feeding cattle stalled, and milch cows, should have stalls four feet wide, 

 or even more, and as long as those of horses. Were all those animals 

 fed separately, they would no doubt thrive much better than when they 

 are fed in common. Cattle should be foddered at the head, and littered 

 and cleaned from behind. They .should stand single, unless they are of 

 the same age, and have been bred together. Cattle suffer much from 

 being huddled together, and stewed close up in a low-roofed cow-house 

 in winter, particularly milch cows, more especially if sent out to drink 

 cold water in frosty weather, when in a heated state. The urine of both 

 cattle and horses should be carefully collected, by means of retentive 

 gutters, into reservoirs, and carried out and regularly sprinkled over the 

 surface of the dunghill. Much valuable manure is lost, by neglecting to 

 have these accommodations erected along with the buildings in which 

 the stock is to be kept. 



Where economy must be attended to, separate stalls may be objected 

 fo on account of the expence: in that case a pair of work-horses may 



