958 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



meshed hay nets, are as essential for horses on service as 

 ammunition is for the men. 



In the standing camps of Field Veterinary Hospitals, 

 mangers of either canvas, galvanized iron, or wood may be 

 erected. Canvas mangers are not very successful, but are 

 easily carried, and are the next best thing to wood or iron 

 mangers. Their defect is they 'sag' at the centre, and the 

 food naturally gravitates to that part, so that the ration is 

 not equally distributed among all the horses. 



Sheets of corrugated iron placed on a low wall made of 

 mud and stone form a very fair manger, and keep the 

 food clean. The corrugations save loss. Each sheet of 

 iron has to be firmly pegged down to the wall, or accident 

 will occur. 



The saving in food by the use of mangers can only be 

 believed by those whose duty brings them in contact with 

 this class of work. Mangers pay the cost of their con- 

 struction in a month by the saving of forage and prevention 

 of disease. They may be made of plain or corrugated 

 iron — the latter is stronger — bent into half a circle, and 

 secured to a frame with good trestles. They should be 

 kept ready-made in store, as part of the equipment of an 

 army, for use at the base and on the lines of communica- 

 tion. 



In the same way water-troughs should be kept ready for 

 issue. Wooden troughs are very wasteful ; they leak at 

 the joints, and also at the tubes where they are coupled up 

 with the other troughs so as to form a long line. Metal 

 troughs are the best in every way. But whatever method 

 is used, whether of canvas (which is more wasteful than 

 wood), wood, or iron, the supports must be strong and 

 substantial, owing to the great weight they have to 

 withstand. 



In the absense of nose-bags horses may receive their 

 grain ration off the saddle blanket — in fact, the care taken 

 to keep the grain from getting mixed with dirt on the 

 ground cannot be too rigidly exercised. 



Animal Losses in War. — The loss of horses and other 



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