CONSTRUCTION OF STABLES. 39 



horses, or indeed for any kind of horses, so long as they re- 

 ceive no manger food, but grain and beans. When bulkier 

 articles are to be eaten from the manger, the usual size is 

 found to be rather inconvenient. It holds the food, but the 

 horse throws it out when turning it over in search of that 

 which be likes best. There is no objection to a manger of 

 greater depth and width. Shallow mangers require two or 

 three spars across them, to prevent the horse from scattering 

 his grain. In general two are sufficient. They should be 

 placed near the ends, and across the top, or just within the 

 manger. Round iron bars, one inch thick, are better than 

 wooden spars. If these have been omitted in the original 

 construction of an iron manger, substitutes of hardwood may 

 be wedged in so firmly, that the horse can not extract them 

 with his teeth. When placed in front of the horse, the man- 

 ger should be provided with a ring for the collar rein. A long 

 manger, whether of wood or iron, may have two rings, each 

 fourteen inches from the travis. The edge of the manger 

 should be thick, that it may be strong, and blunt, not doing 

 much injury when the horse strikes it with his head. Neither 

 a wooden nor an iron manger should be flat at bottom. It 

 should be concave within, convex without. The sharp cor- 

 ner of a flat-bottomed manger injures the horse about the head 

 when rising, and about the legs or knees when he is pawing, 

 and, in proportion to its size and weight, it holds less than the 

 concave manger. 



Some mangers are made to remove. This is particularly 

 desirable with wooden mangers. They can be taken out, 

 cleaned, and exposed to the air. But all the cleaning an iron 

 manger requires can be given without shifting it. It is safest 

 when fixed. Iron mangers are easily secured against a stone 

 wall, by means of cramps and lead ; but they are not so firm on 

 a wall of brick. Care must be taken to have them fast ; they are 

 very weighty, and whe.i the horse is attached to them, it is 

 not a little matter that holds them. They will be broken, and 

 the horse injured should they fall. On a brick wall, an iron 

 bolt passing completely through, and secured by a screw-nut, 

 affords the greatest security. The iron racks are sometimes 

 attached in the same wa}^ They have as much need to be 

 strongly fixed as the mangers, for the horse is often tied to 

 them. 



The manger is always placed too low Professor Cole- 

 man, and some others, direct that it be put upon the ground. 

 Nature, they say, intended the horse to gather his food from 



