336 
THE STABLE. 
22S? 
A Good Cow. —Doctor W oodward informed us 
that he thought the grade Durham cows of the 
country, as a general rule, were the best milkers. 
He has one which gave 1,050 gallons last year. 
She was milked ten months, then went dry two 
months and produced a calf, and was in high milk¬ 
ing condition when we saw her. He had several 
others nearly as good on the hospital farm. They 
are turned out to pasture by day, and yarded and 
soiled night and morning. The herd was under 
the care of another crazy man—a homicide—who, 
to use his own expressions, owned them all, and 
the land and buildings around him to a great extent. 
Indeed he was another Crcesus, in his own happy 
estimation, and a prince to boot, with a magnifi¬ 
cent principality for his domain. His factotum in 
assisting to drive the cows, and catch all the rats 
on the premises, was a rough, honest looking tei - 
rier, and time would fail to tell qf the comic doings 
and sayings of these twain. W e also saw here a 
superb pair of twin steers of the Durham cross. 
They were almost exactly alike in appearance, and 
were inferior to no others in Worcester county as 
workers. The breed of swine here is most excel¬ 
lent. They are a cross of the Berkshire on the 
large English white hog, and generally preserve 
the color of the latter, with the fine shape, hardi¬ 
ness, and quick feeding properties of the former. 
THE STABLE.—No. & 
Ventilation. —Of all the arrangements of the stable, 
with a view to the comfort and health of the horse, 
none are so important as those which have in view 
i proper ventilation. On the purity of the air of the 
stable depends the health of the horse and his power 
to do his work ; and the object of ventilation is to 
secure a full supply of pure air to answer the demand 
arising from consumption. 
Our space does not permit the full discussion of 
this subject; a whole number would not be sufficient. 
Deeming it conceded that stables should be well venti¬ 
lated, we shall merely state that in a physiological 
point of view, the use of air in the animal economy, 
is to purify the blood. The composition of pure air 
is as follows: in one hundred parts of air, 79 are 
nitrogen, 21 are oxygen, with an indefinitely small 
amount of carbonic acid. When the air passes into 
the lungs it meets there the blood, which has passed 
into them from the heart. When it comes from the 
heart it is dark in color, a deep purple. It is made 
dark by the presence of a large amount of carbon. 
When in the lungs it meets the air and the oxygen 
of the air combines with the carbon of the blood, and 
carbonic acid takes the place of the oxygen in the 
air, and together with the nitrogen is expelled from 
the lungs. By this process heat is evolved and the 
animal supplied with its animal warmth. When the 
air is confined in the stable and there is no admission 
from without, and no escape from within, the air is 
constantly losing its oxygen under the process of 
breathing, and carbonic acid taking its place. The 
blood which was dark when it came into, the lungs to 
Btteet the air, goes back to the heart of a bright Ver¬ 
million color, to be sent thence as arterial blood, to 
again take up the effete carbon of the system and 
bring it to the lungs, to be there consumed in the 
process of purification and the production of animal 
beat. The air, the-n, to perform its proper function 
in sustaining the animal system, must be pure, tha 
is, must have 79 parts of nitrogen, and 21 parts of 
oxygen, and be free of all things else. After being 
breathed it is charged with carbonic acid. This 
acid is fatal to life if breathed in suffi dent quanti¬ 
ties for a very short time. 
The air of the stable may be, and is almost al¬ 
ways impure from another cause than the presence 
of carbonic acid. The urine and dung of the horse 
in putrifaction furnish a large amount of ammoni- 
acal gas. This mingles with the air, and takes the 
place of a certain amount qf it. When the mix¬ 
ture is inhaled into the lungs, there is not present 
a sufficient quantity of oxygen to consume the 
carbon of the blood, and change it to carbonic acid 
that it may be expelled. It is then returned to the 
system again, and at each successive return to the 
lungs, passes thence more impure than before. 
Now purity of atmosphere is to be effected by two 
means, viz : the perfect cleanliness of the stable ; and 
by the admission of fresh air from without, and the 
expulsion of the carbonic acid from within. To se¬ 
cure the stables against ammoniacal gases, remove 
most scrupulously all dung and urine, and strew the 
stables and drains with chloride of lime, gypsum 
(plaster of Paris) or charcoal dust. To insure the 
absence of the carbonic acid, construct outlets at the 
top of the stable and inlets at the bottom, to admit 
fresh air. The air, when expelled from the lungs 
charged with the acid, is warm and of course lighter 
than the unbreathed air. It ascends, and if permitted, 
will escape from the building. If it be prevented, it 
soon cools to the temperature of the air of the stable, 
and descends, to be breathed instead of pure air. II 
carbonic acid will destroy life when inhaled in suffi¬ 
cient quantities, it will, obviously, in small quantities, 
affect health. The truth of this is shown by the 
amount and variety of disease in close stables, filled 
with large numbers of horses. 
Beside the action of the carbonic acid and ammo¬ 
niacal gas on the system through the lungs, there is 
yet another. Where the gas exists largely, and the 
horse is subjected to it for some length of time, his 
eyes are affected, and eventually blindness is brought 
on. With this exception, the other diseases induced 
by the foul air of stables, all come through the lungs. 
Their number is frightful. Inflammation of the lungs, 
of the brain, of the liver, of the heart, of the arteries, 
of the kidneys, among the rapid diseases, are often 
the result of impure air in stables, and are owing oft- 
ener to this cause than any other. These diseases 
are seldom found among farm horses, but are very 
frequent in large stables of staging and livery horses. 
Glanders, farcy, heaves, most of tire chronic diseases 
of the lungs, the virulence of influenzas and of all 
epidemic diseases taking a chronic form, grease, en¬ 
larged glands, continually swelled legs, &c., are dis¬ 
eases which most commonly arise from the continued 
action of foul air. 
Warmth and impurity are two things: and a 
stable may he warm and pure, or may be cold and 
impure. It is more apt to be impure when warm, 
than otherwise, for the warmth springs ordinarily 
from the exclusion of the outward air, as stables 
that are aired well, generally so admit the air as to 
make the stable cold. The point in ventilation is 
to so admit the air as to secure both purity and 
warmth. 
