CONSTRUCTION OF STABLES. 25 



the above composition, and he informs us that he highly ap- 

 proves of them on his dry soil. Indian-rubber has been used 

 in England for floors and found to answer well. It has been 

 in use at the royal stables at Woolwich for two years past. 

 It is soft to the feet, comfortable to lie on, and from its yield- 

 ing nature never injures the knees, hocks, or pasterns. It 

 is easily cleaned, the urine runs off freely, and suffers no 

 collection underneath the floor to taint the air.] 



Drains. — These are seldom thought of. But, in some 

 situations, to have a dry and sweet stable, they are absolutely 

 necessary. In short stables, having only four or five horses 

 in a row, underground drains are useful only for draining the 

 foundations. On a stable not exceeding twenty-four or thirty 

 feet in length, sufficient declivity can be obtained on the sur- 

 face for removing the urine. But in a stable fifty or sixty 

 feet long, a gutter is not so easily procured. The declivity 

 necessary for canying off the water, raises one end of the 

 stable to an inconvenient height. A drain should be sunk. 

 This may receive the water either from each stall, or from a 

 grating placed near the centre of the stable, which, in the 

 latter case, must slope from each end. Goodwin recom- 

 mends a cast-iron grating near the centre, or rather toward 

 the entrance of each stall, which should incline a little from 

 all sides. The grate is in four pieces, resting upon ridges of 

 stone, and having the bars so close that the calkins of the 

 shoes can not pass between them. They have something like 

 this at the Veterinary College, the only place in Avhich I re- 

 member to have seen anything of the kind. The contrivance 

 answers the purpose very well ; it carries off the urine by 

 sunk drains, and at once, and it saves the litter. The object 

 of this plan is to get rid of the inclination usually given to the 

 floor of the stall. The cost, however, is greater than the 

 mischief it is supposed to prevent. 



When the urine is to be saved, it may be carried to the 

 manure-pit, or to a cess-pool outside the stable, and emptied 

 occasionally by a pump. The end of the drain should never 

 be exposed to the air. It ought to have a trap-door, which 

 will open by the pressure of the water, and shut when the 

 water has passed. When this is neglected, cold air rushes 

 through the gratings and blows upon the horses' heels, or 

 noxious vapors arise from the cess-pool. 



In some stables there is no contrivance for carrying off the 

 water. Part is soaked up by the litter, part sinks into the 

 floor, and the remainder, which is the most acrimonious, 



