THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



53 



not better, for home use as hay. Timothy hears 

 a lii<i:her price in ihe marker than other kinds oC 

 hay, anil ihe reason probably i«^, that lioi'ses eat 

 le.t^s ol it in a given space ol' time, as it is a good 

 deal of work lo chew it; hence, tavern-keeper:? 

 uniformly preleritj being for them more eeononii- 

 cul. P. i). 



DABIP STABLES. 



From the Fainicis' Cabinet. 



vicliona, I should be glad of the opportunity fo 

 present yonr readers wiih what he advances on 

 the subject, if it meets vviih your approbaiion ; 

 and am your constant reader, JM. 



"A damp stable produces more evil than a 

 damp house : it is there we expect to fuid liorses 

 with bad eyes, couglis, greasy heels, swelled legp, 

 mange, and a long, rough, dry, siaring coat, 

 which no grooming can cure. The French attri- 

 bute glanders and the faicy to a hun)id atmo- 

 sphere, and it is a fact that in a damp siluaiinn we 

 find these diseases most prevalent: when horses 



Sir .-—When [ came to the farm which I now i are first lodged in a damp stable, they soon show 

 hold by purchase, I (bond the stables built under how much they ft el the change; they become 

 large trees and near a spring of water, with a LlnH, languid and feeble, the coat stares, they 

 northern aspect; my horses were soon in poor [ refuse to Teed, and at last work they cut their legs 



condition, with long and rough coats, and almost 

 always lax in the bowels, nor could I get them 

 up by extra food or lighter work; but my cows 

 suffered most, for they were always sick ; their 

 milk fell off, and their butter was poor and of a 

 bad color and taste, and four of them slipped their 

 calves before their time : when the spring came, 

 they left their winter quarters in a worse state 

 than I had ever seen them, and two of tiiem died 

 from the scours on going to pasture. On inquir}', 

 I Ibund that the tenant who had left, had always 

 been, what the neighbors termed, unfortunate in 

 his horses and cattle, and from that cause, more 

 than any other, he had not been able to make 

 both ends meet. The truth flashed upon me in 

 an instant, and in a very little time longer than it 

 has taken mo to tell you my story, 1 had com 



m spite of all care to prevent them: tins arises 

 from weakness ; and while some of the horses 

 catch cold, others are attacked by inflammation of 

 the throat, the lungs or the eyes; most of them 

 lose flesh rapidly, and the chantre produces m.ost 

 mischief when it is made in the winter season. 

 Horses in constant and laborious employment 

 must have good lodgings and kind treatment ; but 

 where the stables are bad, the management is 

 seldom good, and it is no exaggeration to say, that 

 hundreds ol' valuable horses are destroyed every 

 year by the coiubined influence of bad stables and 

 bad manacrement. And althouffh excessive toil 

 and bad food have much to do in the work of 

 destruction, every hostile agent operates with most 

 Ibrce where Ihe stables are of the worst kind. 

 Stables should always be erected on dry ground 



menced pulling down the stable, the unhealthi- } or that which will admit of perfect draining, with 

 ness of which had been, I was convinced, the. the surface a little sloping. Stables built in a 

 cause of all the evil and all the loss, and it was hollow or on marshy land are always damp, and 

 not more than two days before there was not left when the (bundaiions are sunk in clay, no drain 



one stone upon another of the whole fabric. I 

 now set to work and erected another on higher 

 ground, removed from water and clear from the 

 shade of trees, with a south-east aspect and dry 

 capacious yard ; and from that day I have had 

 neither sickness nor sorrow in my out door house 



ing can keep the walls dry; the dampness will 

 follow up the walls from the deepest foimda'ion. 

 !t is true that damp stables may be rendered less 

 uncomfortable by strewing the f]oor with sand or 

 sawdust, and, in some cases, a stove-pipe miorht 

 he made to pass through the stable near the floor, 



hold; my horses live on less food, are always hut such stables are liable to frequent and crreai 

 sleek and in good working condition, and my cows alternations of temperature at every chantre^of the 

 are a credit to their keep; our butter brines two j si^te of the atmosphere. Some of the means 

 cents a pound more in the market, and for the last ! usually employed against dampness in dwellin? 

 year our sales are more than doubled from the i houses mi^ht " be adopted in the construction of 

 same number af cows, and the same pasturage ; ' stables, so as fo prevent the walls from absorbing 



and no more premature calves. Instead of water 

 ing my cattle, as heretofore, at the spring under 

 the trees— the water cold, with a deadly taste and 

 bad color — I sunk a well and put in a pump, and 

 at a long trough in the yard for the summer, and 

 another under shelter lor the win'pr, my cattle 

 slake their thirst, without setting vp their coats as 

 they always used to do after drinking at the hole 

 under the trees; even when the weather was 

 warm, they were accustomed lo shake all over as 

 though they were in a fil of the ague, after drink 



the moisture of the soil, such as a foundation of 

 whiristone to the surface of tlie ground, covered 

 with a coat of Roman cement or a sheet of lead ; 

 or the fiiundation may be sunk so low as to admit 

 of its being laid in coal dust or other substance 

 which does not absiirb water; and, although pre- 

 cautions of ihis kind may sometimes prove saluta- 

 rv, they ought not to be trtisted to where a dry, 

 aiiy, healthy situation can be obtained ; frequently 

 whitewashing the walls with lime seems to have 

 an influence in removing moisture and keeping 



mg their fill of this water ; and to this, with the j them drv. The owner of a damp and uncom'forl- 

 bad aspect of the stables, I attribute all the sick- j able stable often wonders why so many of his 



'lorses catch coll; "there are always some of 



ness and misery which I have- experienced 

 amongst my cattle and horses. 



I have been induced to tell you the above, by 

 reading in a valuable English work, called "Sta- 

 ble Economy," some observalions which would 

 go to show that the writer, like myself, had enjoyed 

 the experience of the trutli of what he so well "de- 

 scribes ; and as they fully corroborate all n)y con- 



them coughintT." Now, if he were to make that 

 stable his abode for four-and-tweniy hours, he 

 would have but little to wonder at. Large stables 

 are objectionable, and have nothing lo recommend 

 them but cheapness in the erection, so that when 

 it is more important to have a cheap than a 

 healthy stable, a large one may be indulged in ; 



