FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 



were such arrangements, the more they were neg- 

 lected by the men in charge. No traps, drains, 

 or windows, etc., will keep clean, or work them- 

 selves for any length of time, and as this is so 

 absolutely true, it has always seemed the height 

 of folly to expend money upon elaborate sys- 

 tems which would forthwith, through neglect, 

 be reduced to absolute or comparative ineffi- 

 ciency. If the master sees for himself that all 

 such details are properly administered, well and 

 good but he never does. If he did, the same 

 argument would hold good, for then the most 

 crude arrangements would answer perfectly. So 

 far as absolute satisfaction and inexpensiveness 

 goes, the writer has found best results from lead- 

 ing all stall drains into a receptacle built in the 

 floor, and containing a galvanized iron bucket or 

 tub large enough to hold the probable fluids of 

 twenty-four hours ; that is, according to the num- 

 ber of horses. No neglect was possible for this 

 arrangement since it simply ran over, if not regu- 

 larly and daily emptied, either into a sewer, cess- 

 pool, or elsewhere ; and its operation was attended 

 with excellent results, while the cost, as com- 

 pared to the usual systems, was a bagatelle. If this 

 I is not done, then the washstand and harness-room 



38 



