FEEDING. 113 



Again, the stables are usually built over a cellar, which is 

 perhaps half filled with water and manure that throws up- 

 ward through the floor a deadly miasma that lays the found- 

 ation of disease. The rack is crammed with hay, the dust 

 and dirt of which is forced against the horse's nose. The 

 manger is half filled with filth and trash. The bedding, 

 thoroughly impregnated with ammonia, is rolled under 

 the manger in the morning, to saturate and poison the hay 

 above it in the rack, or such other food as may be given the 

 animal. The usual bad ventilation and high temperature 

 of cellar stables make too great and violent a change in the 

 temperature when taken in or out, and the consequence will 

 be cold cough, with great disposition to attacks of pneu- 

 monia, or lung fever. Humanity and true self interest 

 should prompt to looking to these errors being corrected in 

 the construction of the horse's places of living, and as these 

 ends can be attained without any extra expense worthy of 

 consideration that is necessary for the construction of a 

 poor one, it is a duty which is a really suicidal policy to 

 neglect. 



I would suggest, in conclusion, that the flooring of stalls 

 or a stable should never be made of hard wood, such as 

 oak, ash, chestnut, etc., as it wears smooth and endangers 

 slipping and injury of the horse in getting up. The best 

 wood for flooring is elm, spruce, hard pine, hemlock, or 

 any wood that will wear rough and prevent slipping. 



FEEDING. 



Hay, corn fodder, oats and corn, constitute the principal 

 food of horses in this country. Hay and oats in the North- 

 ern States, fodder and corn in the South. The food should 

 be in quality and quantity to impart strength, vitality and 

 elasticity, and this requires some discrimination and care, 

 as the food should be harmonized both to the condition, 

 and the severity of the labor to which the horse is sub- 

 jected. As a rule, the stomach should not be distended 

 with food .when prolonged, energetic effort is desired, as the 

 heart and lungs would thereby be much impeded in their 

 action, and congestion and rupturing of or enlarging of the 

 air cells of the lungs may result. This is to be especially 

 guarded against in the feeding of hay. Greedy eaters can 



