SINGLE BEDS. 29 



throughout. A foundatiou should be laid of stoues, or flints, 

 or brickbats, well rammed, so as not to sink afterwards. The 

 concrete is then prepared by mixing one part Portland cement 

 with five parts (by measure) small pebbles, about the size of a 

 blackbird's egg, mixed with a little coarse grit, but entirely free 

 from earth or vegetable mould, which would destroy all its 

 strength. "When the five parts of this gravel have been well 

 mixed with the one part Portland cement, on a floor where it can 

 pick up no earth, it must be carefully wetted so as not to 

 wash the cement out of it, and quickly laid in its place. Wet no 

 more at a time than can be put down in ten minutes, and keep 

 it moving until laid in its place, as if it sets at all and is broken 

 up again its great strength is lost. No horse should be admitted 

 on it for a week, and would be better kept off for a month, 



53.— It is very desirable that each horse should have a box 

 to himself, even though it should be only ten feet square, as 

 tying up in one fixed position, even for one whole night, is 

 injurious and unnatural to a horse. Failing this his stall should 

 be six feet wide, and the sides free from any projections liable to 

 injure him when lying down. The plan sometimes adopted in 

 cart stables, of tying all the horses up to a manger without any 

 partitions between them is dangerous, and prevents their proper 

 rest. However quiet and reconciled to each other the horses 

 may be they will be liable to tread on each other's feet, and we 

 have known a most valuable horse killed in that way. The foot 

 mortifying from a wound with the turned down heel of a shoe. 



CLOTHING. 



54. — The horse for fast work should be clothed in the 

 winter ; for very fast work he should be clothed all the year 

 round. It will make him look better, do his work better, and 

 cost less to feed. When it is required that he should do his 

 work in good style, and when he will be thoroughly and regularly 

 cared for, his natural winter coat may be clipped off' at the 

 beginning of winter, and its place supplied with warm movable 

 clothing. No experienced labourer attempts to work hard 

 in the same coat that he wears when at rest, and it is equally 



