44 STABLE ECONOMY. 



to the architect. Few stable-builders think of providing ap- 

 ertures for the express purpose of ventilation. When re- 

 minded that the horse is a breathinj? animal, and that some 

 provision must be made for letting him have fresh air, they 

 display as nmch ignorance as if they had not learned their 

 business. Mr. Lyon's new stables were ventilated from the 

 beginning. Each stable contains sixteen horses, and two 

 apertures were placed at the highest part of the building. 

 They were very well placed, indeed just where they should 

 be, for carrying off the heated and foul air. But their size ? 

 Each pipe was exactly three inches and a half square ! 

 These two holes would hardly ventilate a stage-coach, or an 

 omnibus, and yet they were intended for sixteen horses. 

 There was no other opening whatever ; the windows would 

 not move, and the doors were as closely fitted as they could 

 be. 



The architect may be ignorant, but the owner of the horse 

 ought to know better. The wealthy and well-informed pro- 

 prietors of large coaching and posting studs, are sufficiently 

 alive to the importance of ventilation. Those by whom it is 

 neglected are soon taught, and in a way that is not easily 

 forgotten. But there are many who still oppose ventilation ; 

 some are indifferent about it, and very few know hovi^ it ought 

 to be produced. 



Much of the opposition to ventilation has arisen from an 

 error, very common among those who recommend it. They 

 invariably confound a hot stable with a foul one. The two 

 words, hot and foul, are seldom separated. The stable is 

 spoken of as if it could not be hot without being foul ; and 

 the evils which spring only from foulness are attributed to 

 heat. Hence, those who happen to have a stable warm, or 

 it may be hot, and at the same time clean, are very apt to 

 oppose the practice of ventilation. Their horses do as well 

 as those in colder stables, and, it may be, they do much bet- 

 ter. One will say, I find the practice of airing stables does 

 no good ; it is founded upon theory, it won't stand the test 

 of experience. My horses look as well again as those of 

 my neighbor over the way, and my stable is like an oven 

 compared to his. This may be quite true. To look well a 

 horse must be kept warm ; but to be well, fit to do all the 

 work a horse can be made to do, he must have pure air. We 

 are not contending, or we should not be contending, against 

 a warm, but against a foul stable. In general, it so happens 

 that the air in becoming warm also becomes impure. But 



