1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



589 



STABLE VENTILATION. 



KECENT look into some city 

 stables has turned our 

 thoughts to the subject of 

 the above heading. How 

 horses live over night, even, 

 in such numbers as are 

 rC '" * \ A '^''owded into some places, 

 and closely confined in so 

 impure an atmosphere, is 

 certainly a matter of won- 

 der. 



There was a time, we sup- 

 pose, when mankind very 

 imperfectly understood the 

 nature of air, the manner in which it supports 

 life, and the caus6s which destroy its vitality. 

 But now that science has developed the facts 

 which ought to instruct us in this matter, there 

 is no reasonable excuse for a man to torture 

 his animals by depriving them of a sufficient 

 amount of the breath of life. 



Air is essential to the existence of every 

 living being. Breathing it greatly alters its 

 properties. Breathing it over two or three 

 times exhausts that portion of it called oxy- 

 gen, and then the animal dies. A mouse en- 

 closed in a jar so that no air could get in or 

 out, seemed to feel no inconvenience for a 

 little time ; but as the oxygen diminished, he 

 was obhged to inhale another property of the 

 air, nitrogen, and he grew more and more' 

 oppressed, and soon died of suffocation. The 

 horse would die under similar circumstances. 



The most dreadful example on record of 

 the destructive consequences of a want of at- 

 mospheric air exists in the horrid fate of 146 

 Englishmen who, in 1756, were imprisoned in 

 a small room, only eighteen feet square, called 

 the Black Hole of Calcutta. There were only 

 two very small windows in the room, and as 

 both were en the same side, ventilation was 

 imnossible. Soon after the door was closed 

 thtntien began to experience heat and intense 

 thirst. In a short time many became de- 

 lirious, and at the end of six hours ninety -six 

 were relieved by death from their torments. 

 In the morning only twenty -three were found 

 alive, and of these only a few ultimately sur- 

 vived. 



Some of the stables we have seen, are not 

 Black Holes, but they are quite offensive ones, 

 although ventilated in some measure. If the 

 horse stalls are below the ground, — which is 



frequently the case, — there are openings over 

 the feed racks which permit the air to rise 

 upward, passing the horse's nostrils or over 

 his head, on its way. Where the stalls are 

 above ground, there is sometimes a small hole 

 cut through the boarding of the building, if a 

 wooden one, or left in the work, if a brick one. 



This IS a very common arrangement, both 

 in city and country, and is one of the worst, 

 we think, to which the horse can be doomed. 

 It is true that respiration may proceed and 

 life exist for a time, in places where the air 

 is impure to a considerable degree, yet as 

 pure air is essential to the full enjoyment of 

 health, every degree of impurity must be 

 having an effect upon the animal, although it 

 may not be perceived immediately. 



Ventilation, therefore, as a means of pre- 

 venting disease, is not only important to the 

 comfort of the horse, but as a protection to 

 our property. We paint our buildings to pre- 

 serve the wood work. We house our ma- 

 chines to prevent rust from eating them away. 

 We do both, because it is economical ; we 

 save our property by so doing. But we force 

 our horses to breathe vitiated air, by standing 

 in stables where our clothing becomes satu- 

 rated with impure odors in a very short time. 



Badly ventilated stalls are usually rather 

 dark stalls. No animal loves the pure, clear 

 light better than the horse. It is cruel to de- 

 prive him of what he likes so well, and what 

 never does him harm. His stall, therefore, 

 should not be so placed as to bring his head 

 against the side of the stable ; but if possible, 

 where he can have a free and cheerful "look- 

 out," and where pure air can reach him at all 

 times. 



It will be found greatly to the benefit of 

 the horse if his feed-box is next to the barn 

 floor instead of being against the side of the 

 building. He can be more conveniently fed, 

 his droppings will not be offensive in the floor, 

 and he can always have hght, and pure air, 

 when his surroundings are kept in a cleanly 

 condition. Then there is the great pleasure 

 added, of always looking an old and faithful 

 servant in the face when you approach him ! 



— A San Francisco dispatcli says that 11,000 bar- 

 rels of flour have just been shipped from that port 

 for Hong Kong, that another similar shipment 

 will soon follow, and that a sale of 3000 barrels of 

 flour has just been made for Singapore. 



