463 



of those farms devoted principally, or partially, to the rear- 

 ing of stock, so far as this subject relates to the horse and 

 mule. 



It is a great fault on many farms of this character that 

 there are no suitable buildings, or at least no sufficiency of 

 them, for the shelter of stock, and especially of the young 

 and growing colts. Such negligence is a great mistake, and 

 one for which the farmer has to pay dearly in a pecuniary 

 sense. It is almost as needful that his stock should be af- 

 forded proper shelter from the storm and cold as that the 

 hay and grain they eat should be well secured. The subject 

 of stabling was considered in the last chapter at sufficient 

 length for all the purposes necessary in this volume. 



But, in addition to dry and commodious stables for winter 

 use, shelter should be provided sufficiently large 4;o accom- 

 modate all the young horses and mules during the cold rains 

 and storms of the spring and fall season ; and these should 

 be either in the pasture itself or accessible from it. The 

 size of the shelter should be proportioned, of course, to the 

 number of animals to be accommodated. A shelter of 

 twenty feet square will be large enough for twenty colts, 

 if there be a partition run down the middle, as there al- 

 ways should be. On each side of this ten can stand very 

 comfortably. The construction of such a shelter is very 

 simple, and need not be expensive. All that is required, in 

 addition to a roof, set on posts eight feet high, and resting 

 on large flat stones to keep them from the ground, will be 

 an inclosure of the north and west sides with boards. A 

 cheap substitute for the latter, and one that will last for sev- 

 eral months, is a compact wall of good wheat or rye straw, 

 straight and strong, bound up in long, continuous sheaves or 

 layers, set perpendicularly, and secured within two or three 

 boards placed horizontally and fastened to the posts. The 

 division through the center should consist of a rack to hold 

 hay or straw, and when the grass begins to fail late in the fall, 

 or before it has grown much in early spring, a supply of these 

 articles of fodder should be kept in it, so that the colts may 



