FLOWERS AS AN ADJUNCT. 375 



practice as he did himself — an avowal that of itself 

 speaks volumes. It is true that now, as in old days, 

 disease will make its unwelcome appearance, and that 

 horses will and do get incurably lame. But it has 

 not been proved, or even recorded, in any single 

 case in which a serious or fatal end has supervened, 

 that the fault has been that of either the veterinary 

 surgeon or the head-lad. Indeed, it has only been 

 through the knowledge of these gentlemen, on a post- 

 mortem examination, that the true nature of the disease 

 has been traced; that in its incipient state it was fatal, 

 and that there was nothing to be done but to let it 

 take its course, and life ebb gently away. 



In the surroundings of the stable itself, what 

 improvements have been made ! The unhealthy dung- 

 pit in the yard has been done away with, and its 

 place taken by parterres of lovely flowers. We know 

 how dainty horses are in eating and drinking ; how 

 water put into a bucket that has before contained any 

 greasy substance will be rejected. How grateful to 

 the olfactory powers of animals with such an acute 

 sense of smell must be the aroma of these odoriferous 

 plants, tastefully set out in beds of divers colours ! 

 These mellifluous perfumes, taking the place of the 

 deleterious gases, almost entirely do away with the 

 necessity of having choice exotics in the stable itself; 

 for which the late Lord Hastings, before coming to 

 Danebury, once found a charge in his account of £70." 

 Moreover, who can say that the virtue ends here ? 



