THE HORSE 93 



curiously enough, too, most commonly in cart-horse 

 stables. An excellent plan, much in vogue in 

 France, and certainly to be recommended for hard- 

 working horses where room is limited, is to have 

 partitions made of wide bales, hung by two chains 

 from a small manger-partition to a heel post, the 

 top being about three feet above the stable floor. 

 Besides economizing floor space, these swinging 

 bales give the horse much more room, and allow 

 of a free circulation of au' and a thorough cleaning 

 of the floor. Of course the objection to them lies 

 in the danger of a restive animal getting a leg 

 over the bale. This danger is not a very real one 

 in the case of regularly worked animals, however, 

 and the plan seems to have answered very well in 

 the cases in which it has been adopted. A width 

 of ^ye feet will be suflicient for stalls divided by 

 bales, although another foot is of course preferable 

 if it can be afforded ; and each bale should be so 

 fixed as to be easily unhooked if necessary. 



Drainage 

 Surface drains are always the best for stables, 

 as undergi'ound drains are liable to get choked 

 with straw and refuse matter. The most objection- 

 able class of drain is the trap gutter in the centre 



