STABLES. 3 



retained their health and condition during the hot 

 weather, quite as well as they did during the cold 

 months. This is in conformity with the fact that the 

 horse is a native of a dry, hot climate. 



In order that the stable should be kept as dry as 

 possible, its walls should be constructed of some 

 material which will not absorb moisture, such as fire- 

 burnt bricks, or stone ; the former being, I think, the 

 better material. Wood, also, might be employed, 

 though stables made of it are not nearly so cool, during 

 the hot weather, as those constructed of either of the 

 other two. Throughout Eastern Bengal, the walls are 

 made of strong bamboo screens, which serve their 

 purpose admirably. In such a stall, a kicker may be 

 saved from injuring himself, by placing matting (Hind. 

 Chitai), say, three feet high, about six inches from 

 the wall, while the interval may be filled up with 

 dry grass, which will give to the blow, and will act as a 

 padding to the wall. 



The floors of the stable should, if possible, be 

 laid down with some material which will not absorb 

 water. The flooring of stables which I prefer to all 

 others, whether in India, England, or elsewhere, is one 

 of thick wooden planks, so arranged that the urine of the 

 horse may drain through the interstices between them, 

 on a waterproof surface. These planks may be about 

 nine inches broad and three inches thick, and should 

 be placed so that they can be readily removed, and the 

 under floor cleansed. I observed in the Durban 

 Tramway Company's stables (Natal) a good arrange- 

 ment by which a waterproof drain the width of which 

 was equal to the length of each stall of slightly curved 



