8 Stable Management and the Prevention of Disease 



Flooks of Clay Alone. 



When kankar is not obtainable, a floor of clay alone, made 

 as described in the remarks upon unsheltered lines, is very 

 good. The flooring was of this kind at the Government 

 stallion depots in the Punjab, containing as many as 150 

 horses and 40 donkeys. During the three years that I was 

 in charge of them, there was not a single case of disease which 

 could be ascribed in any way to the effect of impure emana- 

 tions from the ground. 



When sheltered from rain such floors ought to be made 

 perfectly level, for any slope is to some extent uncomfortable 

 to the horses ; and unless the fall is considerable, the urine 

 does not readily run off, but partly dries and partly sinks a 

 little into the clay. 



Keeping Clay Flooes Clean. 



The best plan for keeping clay floors sweet and clean, is to 

 have a small heap of finely-powdered dry clay always ready 

 behind every two horses. Some of this shotild be sprinkled 

 over any spots wet with urine, which is thus absorbed, and 

 can be carried away to the manure-heap. All the places 

 stained by urine during the night should be scraped clean 

 with a small kind of iron spud called a kurpa, which is in 

 general use among grass-cutters. 



The slight hollows formed by the scraping should be at 

 once filled in with the powdered clay, which should be patted 

 down smooth and hard with a heavy flat-sided piece of wood, 

 similar to that used by native masons for smoothing the 

 floors of dwelling-houses. 



The stains from urine on concrete floors should be sprinkled 

 with dry clay and brushed clean, not scraped with a kurpa, 

 as that would soon form holes which could not be instantly 

 repaired, as they can in clay-floors. 



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