RACK-CHAINS. 75 



you may get a good article from a second-rate shop, 

 you will never get a bad one from a really first-rate 

 one, and the ' cut ' is far superior, and being so, the 

 article in question must last longer and look better. 



Rack-chains are chains fixed to the stable-wall 

 above the mangers to staples driven in, and are 

 used to prevent horses from lying down and rolling 

 during the daytime. These are generally reckoned 

 as stable fixtures. They cost about 2s. each. 

 Where they are not fixtures, it is a wise plan to 

 have spring-hooks at each end of the chain ; but 

 such hooks should be, as should all spring-hooks 

 for stable purposes, strong and well made. 



There is a new pattern of double hook which I 

 lately saw, and which was procured from Messrs. 

 Holtzappfel and Co., in Cockspur Street, which 

 struck me as beinsf the best tiling of the kind as 

 yet invented, and which would quite supersede the 

 spring-hook in general use, and which, having no 

 spring, could not get out of order. It is very 

 simple, but requires to be seen to be explained. It 

 is made in all sizes, and in different kinds of metal. 

 I saw one small enough for a watch-chain, made 

 of steel, and some, large enough for any stable 

 purposes, of galvanized iron. I need not add that 

 they were very well finished, but I may remark 

 that they were excessively moderate in price. I 



