322 



STABLES AS THEY SHOULD BE. 



explosion threaten to demolish the building, without one of these people 

 being moved by the likelihood of such a catastrophe. 



From the boiler proceed pipes which travel into the loose boxes, into 

 the harness-room, into the coach-house, and into the gig-house. "Within 

 these tubes circulates warm water, the fluid being returned again to the 

 boiler when its caloric has been diffused through the interior. Few 

 persons imagine how important warmth is to the welfare of the horse. 

 Cold immediately roughens the coat, and if not speedily counteracted, 

 stiffens the limbs or depresses the spirit. Were gentlemen willing to 

 maintain the temperature of their stables, that lengthy coat, which nature 

 now sends as a needed protection, would not be produced : the follies 

 and the barbarities of clipping and singeing might then be abolished. 

 The animal which is properly lodged can alone attain the limit of pos- 

 sible perfection. 



PLAN OF THE HOT WATER 8BRVI0E. 



Impure heat generates damp : the moisture derived from such a source, 

 being finely divided, is far more penetrating, far more destructive, and 

 altogether more noxious, than a similar amount of water could prove. 

 It destroys clothing, encourages moths, dims plated and painted orna- 

 ments, rusts steel, soils varnish, rots wood and leather, — in short, there 

 is nothing within the stable but suffers more or less ; while in the animal, 

 colds, coughs, and influenzas are but the intimations of its presence, the 

 full effects being shown by the breaking forth of farcy and of glanders. 

 Better be without horse and stable, than to be possessed of both, and 

 be forced to lodge the quadruped where cold and damp prevail. 



Few gentlemen care about, or probably no gentleman has ever se- 

 riously thought about, the coach-house being aired. Yet persons 

 tenderly brought up, nursed in luxury, and frequently in delicate health, 

 have the carriage kept near to a close stable, or housed in a building sadly 

 exposed to the moist atmosphere of this northern climate. The vehicle 

 is pulled out of such a place, is hastily made to wear an outward smarts 

 ness, and is then whisked to the front door of the mansion. Ladies, 



