248 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
single box stall and several straight stalls, but the 
health of the horses is looked after so carefully that 
these accommodations are sufficient. When I visited 
the place it contained but two patients. One was a 
fine gray engine horse, who, while running to a fire, 
came in collision with a “tow” horse, and was thrown 
down. His knees and hind legs were badly cut, but 
none of these injuries proved serious, and he was 
soon on the road to recovery. The other patient, also 
an engine horse, was suffering from a bad leg, caused , 
partly by improper shoeing, and partly by the state 
of his blood. With the exception of these two, all 
the horses. in the department, numbering about two 
hundred, were in working order,—an excellent 
showing. 
Fire horses, as a rule, give out first and chiefly in 
their feet. Standing so much as they do on wooden 
floors, their feet have a tendency to become dry and 
hard, but this is counteracted by a permanent stuffing 
of tar and oakum, held in place by a leather pad. 
Almost all the fire horses of Boston wear these pads, 
and usually on the hind as well as on the fore feet, 
In other cities, the same result is accomplished by 
periodical stuffing of the feet with some one of the 
many materials which horsemen use for this purpose. 
The worst trouble, however, arises from the con- 
cussion produced in the foot by the hard paving-stones 
of the city. This is bad enough for any horse, but 
especially bad for the fire horse, because, owing to his 
great weight, his galloping speed, and his heavy load, 
he pounds his feet with tremendous force. Often a 
pair of engine horses whose feet have begun to give 
out are transferred to a suburban station, where, the 
