236 
STABLES, NO. ill. —GUANO—A RAMBLE IN ALBANY. 
Fig. 59. 
STABLES.—NO. 3. 
Houses should be well separate 1 
from each other, in stables. This is 
important and indispensible for horses in 
work. They must rest, that they may 
labor. If put into the same stall, they 
will neither lie down if it be small, 
and only one will lie at a time if it 
be large. They should then be sepa¬ 
rated always. This is best done by an 
ordinary partition, sufficiently high to 
prevent communication. Even tired 
horses will play with each other, if they 
can, and all the time devoted to amuse¬ 
ment is taken from rest, and with ala¬ 
boring horse this is a loss; partitions 
are therefore necessary. When they 
are to be made, the cut of last month 
will gi/eagood plan. But there are 
cases where partitions cannot be made. 
Then division poles or bales should be 
used. The cut (fig. 59) will show 
their manner of construction. These 
poles or bales should be of oak wood, eight feet long 
and three inches in diameter. Each pole should be 
suspended from the head and heel post, by a chain 
one foot in length. If the horses are disposed to 
bite the pole, cover it with tin, or sheet iron, near the 
(head. The pole should be three feet to three and a 
half high above the floor. The attaching chains al¬ 
low the pole to move when the horse turns. 
The cut (fig. 60) shows an improved method of 
attaching the pole. It will prevent accidents which 
sometimes arise from the ordinary pole, if the end 
next the head is attached by a hinge, so that the pole 
may be moved up and down at the heel end. If the 
horse gets under the pole, it moves up; and if he 
gets his leg over, it can be lowered. This is effected 
by b, a curved bolt, by Which the pole is attached to 
the heel post. It turns round on the post. It is re¬ 
gained in its upright position by the ring c, which 
slides on the bracket d. When the pole is to be let 
down the ring is raised and the holt turns and frees 
the pole. 
The objections to poles are, that the horses do not 
rest perfectly; play with each other; and communi¬ 
cate readily contagious diseases. They should never 
be used if avoidable. 
Guano. —The excessive dry weather the present 
season, has been very adverse to the experiments 
made with guano. It requires lying in compost 
• nearly three months, or moist weather immediately 
{Sifter applying it, to fully test its powers. We hope, 
therefore, the partial failures this year, will not deter 
our farmers in this vicinity from making experiments 
with it during a more auspicious season. Its value 
is unquestionable, and the application easy; be¬ 
sides, it is entirely free from the seeds of weeds. 
A RAMBLE 7n ALBANY. 
After Mr. Prentice’s sale of stock was over, we 
spent a day rambling among the breeders in Albany 
and its vicinity. 
Farm of Mr. Sotham. —The first we called upon 
was Mr. Sotham, of Hereford Hall, so famous for 
his superb flock of Cotswold sheep and Hereford 
cattle. We had not been there for upwards of two 
years, and found that his stock had increased rapidly, 
and been bred with much attention to its fineness of 
points, and general good qualities. The farm like¬ 
wise had been judiciously looked after, and the land 
is improving rapidly under a renovating system of 
cropping. Among other things, we were much in¬ 
terested by an experiment of paring and burning a 
field of about sixteen acres, for a crop of turnips. 
This is a method of ameliorating the condition of 
soils, especially those of a heavy texture, that is little 
understood and less practised in our country. We 
hope to have full particulars of it hereafter, from Mr 
Sotham. Mr. Ambrose Stevens has promised us a 
series of articles on this farm, its management, and 
the stock; and as he will do so much better justice to 
the subject than we are able to, we shall forbear 
saying anything more on this head at present. But 
what a pleasure to us would it be to ramble over the 
country could we always meet with such good stock 
and excellent management as pervades Hereford 
Hall. How people—and those too who are wealthy 
—can keep and propagate such animals as they do is 
a mj T stery to us. We would have some sort of breed 
around us that looked alike, even if it were nothing 
superior to black Galloway cattle. 
Farm of Mr. Prentice.- This,, too, has been 
brought up to a high state of fertility since we last 
saw it, much of which has been accomplished by 
waste manures—skin and fur trimmings, &c — 
which were formerly thrown into the streets in Al¬ 
bany, and there left a disgusting nuisance, to gradu¬ 
ally decay and perish. Mount Hope, the residence of 
