212 How THE FARM PAYS. 



a foot above the ground and three feet high, is the best for hay, and 

 a grain box at one side of the stall serves for grain or cut feed. The 

 grain box should be sixteen inches square at the top and sloping the 

 same as the manger, and at least twelve inches deep. The manger 

 should be eighteen inches in width at the top, narrowing to twelve 

 inches at the bottom. The stall should be five feet wide. A horse 

 cannot rest comfortably in one narrower, and if it is wider the animal 

 may try to roll in it and get fast. The halter should not be any 

 longer than will bring the end of it to a foot from the ground, and 

 the loose end should run through a strong ring bolt and have a- 

 block of hard wood fastened to the end of it, so that the slack of the 

 halter may always be taken up by the weight. 



The floor of the stall is best made of concrete mixed with gas 

 tar and rammed down hard. Such a floor will hold no moisture and 

 always be clean. An excellent floor is made of round stone laid in a 

 pavement, and filled between with cement well rammed, and then 

 saturated with hot gas tar. No vermin will attack such a floor and it 

 will always be cool for the horses' feet. For horses it is well to have 

 a floor of wooden bars laid lengthwise and an inch apart, to 

 provide drainage and keep the horse clean, and a drainage 

 gutter made shallow and running lengthwise of the stable is 

 necessary for cleanliness. Once a week the stall and gutter 

 should be washed down with a pailful of water to cleanse and 

 sweeten it. 



A barn for a horse-breeding farm, where valuable animals are 

 kept, should be made thirty-six feet wide, with an alley way through 

 the middle twelve feet wide, and stalls twelve feet square on each 

 side, opening into the alley way. A small window, protected by iron 

 gratings, and made to swing on pivots, should be made for each stall 

 for light and ventilation, and it should be placed six feet from the 

 floor. A sliding door should be made in the stall into the alley for 

 feeding, and double doors, the upper one of which should open 

 singly, should be made to open into the alley way. It is very con- 

 venient to have feeding shutes from the floor above, to send down 

 hay and grain into the manger and feed box. The hay shute should 

 be a little larger below than above, so that the hay will not pack in. 

 it, and the grain shute should have a spout at the bottom leading 

 into the feed box. The best bedding for horses is sawdust; but 

 the dried peat, now being introduced, is equally good, and so 

 far as its value for manure is concerned, is better than saw- 

 dust. The floor above the stalls should be laid close with matched 

 boards. 



