MATERIAL FOR STABLE. 133 



expense. You will need more room on your farm than 

 would be required if the grain, straw, and hay, had to be 

 purchased, as you will haul directly from the field, and 

 will save re-handling by having storage enough for a 

 season's supply. A very convenient, stable of six or eight 

 stalls can be built on the octagonal plan, and some day 

 I will show you a drawing a friend gave me, which I think 

 is very good. 



I have thought that, on a farm where the material would 

 be convenient, concrete could be used, securing a cheaper 

 building than stone, brick, or wood. The material you 

 would use in the construction of yours, you have said 

 nothing about. I presume it would be a frame. 



PUPIL. I would build the outside walls of the yellow 

 lime-stone, a quarry being opened at only a short distance to 

 obtain the stone the house was built with. A wall eighteen 

 inches thick would require five hundred perch, and can 

 be built there for $1,500. By using the teams and men 

 employed on the farm, and burning the lime on the place, 

 the cost would be greatly reduced. The interior should 

 be after the plan of framing at first termed in derision 

 "balloon," but which has taken the place of the heavy 

 timber once in vogue. By using stone for the exterior, 

 the building will not only be far more permanent, but the 

 expense of paint is done away with, and a more agreeable 

 temperament is secured. The only drawback is that it 

 would interfere with making more room, if required. 



PRECEPTOR. The dampness consequent on the use of 

 stone would be obviated by the walking-space between 

 the walls and the stable proper ; and when it can be built 

 as cheaply as $12 for a hundred cubic feet, I can see no 

 good reason for not using it. As to the want of room, 

 the twenty stalls will probably be all you will need for a 

 long while, unless the proportion of trotters among 

 your thoroughbreds is far greater than I expect. I sup- 



