STABLES. 7 



cleaner and darker stables are kept, the freer will they 

 be from flies. 



In many stables in India, covered receptacles for 

 urine, which the syces are supposed to bale out every 

 day, are made in the centre of the stalls. This is, 

 obviously, a most objectionable arrangement. Another 

 common trick of these servants is to teach their horses 

 to stale into an earthen pot, which they hold for them, 

 and thus get rid of the fluid without it soiling the 

 bedding. This is, in my opinion, a bad practice ; for 

 horses that are accustomed to it, will often, if the 

 syce be not ready to hold the vessel, abstain from 

 staling for a long time, and will, thereby, be rendered 

 uncomfortable. The litter should be taken up twice a 

 day ; every soiled particle of it should be removed ; 

 and the floor should be thoroughly cleaned and dried. 

 The less tainted portions of the bedding may be dried 

 in the sun for further use. 



The doorways of the stalls are usually barred across 

 by two poles generally bamboos which are let into 

 the walls at each side, the upper one being fixed about 

 four feet from the ground. These bars are sometimes 

 made to slide through boarded passages in the walls, 

 an arrangement that will save the latter from becoming 

 broken. The best and neatest plan is, I think, to 

 plant two strong upright posts in which are bored 

 holes for the reception of the horizontal poles 10 or 

 11 inches from each side of the walls at the doorway. 

 The walls will then be free from injury, and there will 

 be no occasion to remove the bars, unless, when the 

 horse is taken out or in ; for there will be quite suffi- 

 cient room for a man to pass sideways between the 



