272 BEDDING. 



SAWDUST. 



Sawdust is generally obtained in the form of sawdust and 

 chips, from which all hard pieces of wood should be removed. 

 The only sawdust fit to be used for horses, is that which 

 is obtained from dry and well-seasoned (usually foreign) 

 wood ; for the sawdust of green wood has but little absorbent 

 power, and is apt to become decomposed. Good sawdust 

 forms an excellent bedding, and as a rule can be bought very 

 cheaply at saw-mills, which unfortunately do not often exist 

 in the vicinity of stables. 



We may, with more or less exactness, apply to saw- 

 dust everything said in the preceding paragraphs of this 

 chapter about peat moss as regards its applicability to 

 the use of horses that are inclined to eat their bed- 

 ding, noiselessness when trodden on, protection it affords 

 the -coats of grey and white horses from becoming stained by 

 the urine which falls on the litter, usefulness in filling up 

 inequalities on a floor, and tendency to ball in the feet and 

 to block up subsoil drains. It is not so portable, so absorbent, 

 and so easily procurable as a rule as moss litter ; but it 

 looks much better, smells much nicer, is cheaper near saw- 

 mills, and can be usefully employed for sprinkling over 

 passages and places which have become wet, and which can 

 be improved in appearance by being lighted up by this white 

 covering. It requires far less labour for laying down and 

 mucking-out than straw. When made from fir, it gives a 

 pleasant and healthy odour to the stable. Darbot states 

 that oak sawdust is not a good bedding, on account of the 

 large proportion of tannic acid it contains. A combination 

 of sawdust and carbolic acid (p. 259) forms a handy and valu- 

 able antiseptic. 



