STABLES.-FENCES. 
173 
who would never feel the giving of $25 each for this 
purpose; and if a purse of $1,000 could be made up, 
we would undertake to get out a small flock, and 
breed them here for the benefit of the country. Will 
any of those who are so richly favored by fortune 
respond to this proposition ? 
STABLES. 
As all farmers keep horses, they should know how 
to lodge them, and do it well. We propose to give 
our views /illustrated) of what should be a good 
stable. To do this in one number would occupy too 
much space. We will therefore do it in detail. 
Light and ventilation are of the first importance. In 
the present number we will speak of the proper 
fighting of stables. If they are not lighted at all, the 
horse’s eyes are weakened, so that he cannot endure 
light when exposed to it, and the longer the confine¬ 
ment the greater the inability; but it is equally im¬ 
portant to light properly. Many a horse has been 
blinded by the improper admission of light or its ex¬ 
clusion. The window admitting it should not be 
placed before the horse. A stream of light coming in 
through a small aperture, and especially if from the 
direction of the sun, tries the eye most severely—the 
smaller the window and the larger the stable, the 
worse the effect. If the light come in directly in 
Lighting Stables.—Fig. 50. 
front, then by contrast the space before the horse on 
which the light does not fall is dark, and the eye is 
rendered incapable of adapting itself to the faint light 
on the places where the light does not directly fall, 
by reason of the contraction of the pupil. In the 
dark or twilight, the pupil is dilated ; in the light, 
contracted ; and the more intense the light, the great¬ 
er the contraction. For these reasons, the light 
should not strike the eye in front when the horse is 
in the stable. If the window be in front of the horse, 
he is constantly gazing out at it, and thus prevented 
taking his rest properly. Again, the light should 
not come in from one side, as one eye is dilated and 
the other contracted. This in the end leads to differ¬ 
ent capacities of the two eyes. 
The light should enter the stable at the rear of the 
horse. In single rowed stables this is very easily ar¬ 
ranged where the stable will admit it, by bringing in 
the light from the opposite side from the stalls ; but 
this cannot be done in double rowed stables. In such 
there is but one way to light them properly, and that 
is from the roof. But the admission of light in this 
manner is the best in all stables. The light is dif-* 
fused and subdued ; it reaches every part of the 
stable. The horse cannot look out. The eyes are 
dilated and contracted alike. The cut below illus¬ 
trates our views. The aperture above not only lights 
the stables, but assists greatly in their ventilation. 
Horses have eyes defective and liable to 
derangement as well as man. Hence shying 
and various defects in horses growing out of 
their visions. Then care should be taken 
not to increase the difficulty. It is said that 
horses thrive best in the dark ! When a 
horse is brought from a dark stable to the 
open air he sees indistinctly; he stares; 
carries his head high and steps high. Well 
if he fats more rapidly, he glows blind at the 
same time. Dark stables are always dirty; 
for lazy men will not clean out what is not 
seen. Dark stables are the resort of the dis¬ 
honest dealer to cover defects. A stable at 
best is a bad restraint upon a horse; then 
make it as good as possible. Let not the 
horse be blinded as well as injured otherwise. 
The window should be large, and be made to open and shut, and so arranged as to light the whole stable 
equally. Such windows serve a double purpose—they give light and sweeten and purify the air. 
FENCES.—No. 3. 
As the first settlers of the United States came prin¬ 
cipally from Holland, the south of England, and 
France, where few fences exist, it is obvious that 
they would never have fastened thisburthensome and 
oppressive system upon themselves, except from the 
necessity of the case ; or could they have first settled 
prairie instead of woodlands. The range for cattle 
in the forest was unlimited; and as this was the only 
means to support them at first, they were allowed to 
run at large. Necessity, then, compelled them to 
fence in their little patches of cleared land, where 
they cultivated their crops for family sustenance. 
These patches, hard won from the forest, gradually 
enlarged with the increase of population; till at last, 
in the old States, no more forest was left than just 
sufficient for wood and timber for the inhabitants. 
When it came to this, or even before, it is plain that 
the fencing system should have been abolished; but 
now law and custom had so long maintained them, 
that scarce the thought of such a thing would enter 
into the heads of the occupiers of the soil. They 
were born under the system of fences, educated under 
them, and the probability is, that ninety nine farmers 
out of a hundred in America would not believe that 
a country could exist without them. Yet this out¬ 
rageous tyranny and tax is just like any other to 
which people are born and bred, and to which they 
naturally and patiently submit, with the exception of 
a few solitary murmurs, till they are enlightened 
as to their true interests; they then arise in their 
might, and shake off the intolerable burthen which 
presses upon them. Fencing is like the press-gangs 
of England—the conscription of France—the feudal¬ 
ism of some parts of Germany—and the slavery of 
Russia—or the right of property and life which ar 
Eastern despot holds over his subjects. Tyranny anc 
its effects are the same, no matter whether it is exer- 
