334 



IS^EW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



HORSES NEED AIR AND LIGHT. 



If anything can be done to add to the comfort 

 and health of the horse, no animal deserves more 

 to have »uch an effort made. Our stables should 

 be constructed with special reference to his com- 

 fort and health, and to these all other accessories 

 must yield. 



Our fathers' and grandfathers' barns were of 

 the wide, old-fashioned sort, with all manner of 

 loop holes and air holes — between the vertical 

 boarding you could put your whole hand. They 

 were originally tight, but when M-ell seasoned, 

 there was light without windows, and the pure air 

 circulated freely ; here was perfect ventilation, and 

 yet talk M"ith those same men about the necessity 

 of ventilating a stable, and they are ready to prove 

 that they have kept horses all their lives, who did 

 well, worked well, were always in fine health and 

 spirits, and that a ventilator is only a fancy idea 

 — one of the new-fangled notions of the present 

 generation. 



Our stables have been improved in architectu- 

 ral beauty, and in more permanent form of con- 

 struction ; they are pleasing to the eye, tight, 

 proof against the wind and weather, and with sol- 

 id walls of brick and stone, all of which the poor 

 horse would gladly exchange for the pure, fresh 

 air, of wliich he is now deprived. 



In providing for the necessities of a horse, it 

 would be well to ask ourselves, how we should 

 like to be placed in the same situation. If it is 

 healthy for a man to live' day and night in a close, 

 damp cellar or underground apartment, then it is 

 healthy for a horse. If it is healthy for a man 

 to live on the lower floor, in an unventilated 

 apartment, with a manure and root cellar beneath 

 him, whose pestiferous miasmas are penetrating 

 every crack, mingling with the foul air he breathes, 

 and rising still higher, permeating the food he 

 consumes, then it is healthy for a horse. But 

 why argue against barn cellars and ill-ventilated 

 apartments ? The proof is abundant to all who 

 want it, and he that cannot be convinced, must 

 cease to wonder why his horses have diseases of 

 the skin, the lungs, the eye, etc., or the glanders, 

 the grease, the scratches, and other diseases that 

 are directly traceable to the impure atmosphere, 

 in which he compels them to stand and breathe. 



We would, therefore, in the construction of a 

 stable, endeavor to ])rovide against these evils. 

 Build root cellars and other cellars entirely dis- 

 tinct from the barn — at least not directly under 

 the horse stalls ; let there be a free circulation of 

 air under the floor, and particularly so throughout 

 the stable apartments. Ventilate the horse stable 

 through the roof, and entirely independent of the 

 other portions of the barn ; let the connection 

 between the horse stable and the hay-mow be 

 closed tight, except when hay is being delivered. 

 Ventilate the carriage house through the hay-mow 

 and roof. 



Let your horses' heads be towards the side or 

 end of the barn, and provide the head of the stall 

 with a fair sized window ; a horse wants, under 

 all circumstances, whether tired, sick, or well, 

 plenty of light. When there is light and plenty 

 of fresh air, it is a common practice to turn the 

 stalls the other way, and keep the horse some- 

 what in the dark. A good horseman knows that 

 a horse enjoys light and air as much as he does 



himself, and he will thrive better in the coldest 

 winter on the lee side of a hay-stack, than he will 

 in a badly ventilated barn, however comfortable 

 it may be otherwise. It is stated that if the gas- 

 es exhaled from a horse's body were confined 

 around him by a gas-tight bag, they would cause 

 his death in twenty-four hours, allowing him at 

 the same time to have his head out, and to breathe 

 pure air. 



If you want satin-skinned horses, in fiire health 

 and spirits, ready at all times to work, or to drive, 

 a thorough system of ventilation will be one very 

 important step towards it. 



A manure shed should be built outside the sta- 

 ble, and sufficient only to afi"ord protection from 

 wind and rain, with a door connecting with the 

 barn, and running to floor of stable, which should 

 only be open when the stable is being cleaned. 

 The exhalations of the manure heap are then not 

 permitted to return to the stable — nor should any 

 of the gases generated in the stable, be allowed 

 to pass into the carriage-room or hay-mow. 



As a matter of economy, it is just as cheap to 

 build a stable calculated to give a horse the great- 

 est amount of comfort, as to build it in any other 

 way. Cellars are handy arrangements, and in the 

 first cost it may be cheaper to put them under the 

 barn, but a few years' experience will show the 

 heaviest balance on the debit side. — Cor. Ameri- 

 can Agriculturist. 



For the Neto Englsmd Farrser. 



LETTER FROM THE SA]SrD"WICH 

 ISLANDS. 



Makawao, Maui, HEWAnAN Islands, J 

 January, ISOO. ] 



Messrs. Editors : — Gentlemen, — I find myself 

 entering upon a new year ere my communication 

 for you is finished. Let me then say "A Happy 

 New Year," to you who conduct, and to all who 

 read the New England Farmer. May the blessing 

 of God be upon you and the work of your hands. 

 May each of you not only succeed in your temporal 

 aff'airs, but may you, one and all, "sow to the Spir- 

 it, and of the S])irit reap life everlasting." 



In my last, I had conducted you to Waipio 

 valley, on our way to Hilo. Our way lay through 

 the district of Hamakua,on the windward side of 

 the island. In passing through this district we 

 crossed many ravines, at first shallow, but grow- 

 ing deeper as we approached Ililo. We found no 

 water in any of them. The country was covered 

 with grass, and now and then a clump of trees, 

 the kukui, the ohia, guavn, and a small sprink- 

 ling of orange. Hamakua seems well adapted to 

 grazing purposes, though I saw very few cattle. 

 Indeed, the district is but sparsely settled, and 

 there is a great lack of fencing material. On enter- 

 ing the district of Ililo, we found the ravines still 

 more numerous, but through most of them ran 

 a sweet stream of water, some of them quite large. 

 But for these ravines, Hilo would be a very val- 

 uable district, not only for grazing, but for agri- 

 cultural purposes. The land is rich, and that part 

 of it near Byron's Bay especially, will be in much 

 demand. Ten miles ere Ave reached the bay, we 

 found an enterprising American, who has a large 

 tract of excellent land, on which he has a crop of 

 sugar cane, and where he is erecting buildings for 

 the manufacture of sugar. Between his place and 



