424 
STABLE MANAGEMENT. 
ration, it is an established custom now in the Army to mix a proportion 
of chaff with the grain, and to put each horse’s feed separately in a small 
basket or measure, so that every horse may get his proper allowance. In 
some corps a small quantity of salt is mixed with each feed. I do not 
advocate this plan, for the reason that although salt is an excellent 
thing in its way and the majority of horses like it, yet some do not, 
and therefore I prefer the method of placing a lump of rock salt in 
each horse’s manger, which he can lick or not at his pleasure. If rock 
cannot be procured, then ordinary salt may be given two or three 
times a week, which is quite enough. 
Green food is an excellent article of diet, especially in the spring of 
the year, but it should be given with discrimination and sparingly at 
first, or it may be productive of intestinal irritation. Green forage 
should be well mixed with the hay ration before it is given. It is 
essential that green forage should be perfectly fresh, and all stale or 
withered samples should be at once rejected. Bran is an excellent 
article of diet. It is slightly laxative, and may be given in the form 
of warm or cold mashes once or twice a week. During the winter 
months carrots may be given with advantage. They should be well 
washed, and sliced lengthwise in order to prevent the possibility of 
choking. 
The rack-chains should be removed from the head-collars as soon as 
possible after the horses have finished their feeds. This is especially 
necessary if the system of bedding down at mid-day is adopted. 
Before proceeding to deal with the various points connected with the 
subject of grooming, it will be well to briefly describe the structure 
and functions of the skin. Besides serving as a protecting medium to 
the internal parts, the skin, being extremely sensitive, is the chief 
organ of the sense of touch. Also, as we shall presently see, it plays 
an important part in the function of excretion and secretion ; it is 
largely concerned in regulating the temperature of the body by the 
amount of evaporation from its surface, and it also performs other 
functions. The skin consists of two layers, an external one, which is 
called the epidermis, cuticle, or scarf-skin, and an inner one called the 
dermis, corium, or true skin. The epidermis is the non-sensitive por¬ 
tion and merely consists of a number of cells, which are being continually 
multiplied and pushed to the surface, where they become flattened and 
hard, and are ultimately shed as scurf or dandriff which is, or should 
be, removed from the skin, together with the dust and dried perspira¬ 
tion, by the process of grooming. The epidermis protects the highly 
sensitive true skin beneath, and by its varying thickness modifies the 
sense of touch. The dermis or true skin consists of a dense network 
of connective tissue which is largely supplied with blood vessels, nerves, 
and absorbents. It rests upon a layer of fatty and cellular tissue in 
which are imbedded two important sets of glands. I want particularly 
to impress upon you the presence of these two sets of glands, because 
they play an important part in the animal economy ; first of all we 
have the sweat glands, and, secondly, the sebaceous or oil glands. A 
gland is any organ of the body which extracts from the blood a special 
material for the purpose of secretion or excretion; for instance, the 
