214 STABLES. 



and are not slippery. They cost about twice as much as 

 the best blue bricks. As they are made more carefully, they 

 can be laid with greater accuracy than ordinary blue bricks. 

 They can be obtained with a longitudinal or transverse 

 groove down their centre, instead of being bevelled at the 

 sides, so as to prevent the fluid, which is to be drained 

 off, from working down between the bricks. We have 

 seen (p. 196) that if the floor of a box or a stall is kept 

 covered with absorbent bedding (such as peat moss or 

 sawdust) while the horse is in the stable, there will be no 

 need for providing means for draining away fluid. 



Blocks of granite (" granite sets ") laid on a 4 to 6 in. 

 concrete bed, are in common use as a flooring for resisting 

 the wear caused by the massive shoes of heavy cart horses. 

 They are practically indestructible, but have the great dis- 

 advantage of being slippery. This objection may be 

 overcome to some extent by grooving them. I have 

 been told that instead of grouting in the sets with 

 cement, it is better to lay them, and then fill up the space 

 between the sets with granite chips, over which hot asphalt 

 should be poured ; for asphalt is not so brittle as cement, 

 and urine has less corrosive effect on it. The cost of 

 this flooring with the necessary concrete will be about 

 93. 6d. a square yard, and it will last ten or twelve years, 

 after which, the sets can be taken up, re-dressed, and used 

 again. 



Asphalt is rather slippery for flooring, and does not wear 

 very well. Bricks, blocks of stone/ and granite will require 

 a foundation of concrete. 



Wood permanently laid down in the form of planks, was 

 largely employed in England many years ago as a flooring 

 for stables, and is at present generally used for the same 

 purpose in Northern Europe. Such a flooring keeps the air 

 of a stable in an unsanitary conditon, chiefly on account 



