RAILROAD HORSES. 
209 
breeding districts and watch their work, setting a good model in 
their way. 
Management.- —This would include the cleanliness of the 
animal, the stable and surroundings, and general hygiene, feed¬ 
ing, breaking to work, and amount of labor daily. Cleanliness 
of the animal would be accomplished by good grooming: and of 
the stable by water-tight floors, slats on the back half of the stall, 
with enough incline to drain off well; moisture taken up by the 
use of lime sprinkled on the floor daily; the walls, stalls and ceil¬ 
ing whitewashed often. A weak solution of sulphate of iron run 
down the gutter once a week will act as a good disinfectant and 
keep away rats. We have many deodorizers and disinfectants; 
the above is to be preferred, using one pound to eight gallons of 
water. It undergoes oxidation or decomposition, and converted 
into sulphurous acid solution, it is the cheapest, is odorless, and 
easiest managed of our disinfectants. Lime is also valuable. It is 
a caustic alkali and destroys the acid odors that arise from fer¬ 
mentation of such prepared food as the animals has left in the 
feed box or scattered in the stall. Its action as a disinfectant is 
by hydration, being capable of taking up sixteen hundred times 
its own volume of watery vapor. By this combination it gives off 
'heat, causes currents of dry air, and thus destroys any fungi that 
may be floating in the atmosphere, as well as rendering better 
ventilation by their currents. Overcrowding should be guarded 
against, not more than fifty head in one apartment. Will be 
good to build the stables on each side of a square, leaving a 
court-yard in the centre for exercising animals that are conval 
escinsr from sickness or not able to work. If the extent of 
o 
ground surface is small, it is better to have two stories than 
crowd so manv on one floor. A double row, with walk down the 
centre and windows in front of the animal, will gjve good venti¬ 
lation ; sun blinds outside will add to their comfort in summer. 
The stock should be divided into four sections: 1st—Those 
fitted for work; 2d—Those laid up by lameness or internal dis¬ 
eases, accidents, etc.; 3d—A reception stable for green horses 
to remain till broken in, and then transferred to the working 
stock; 4th—A stable for quarantine of animals with suspected 
