1405. The harness should all be hung against the wall behind the horses, and none on the posts of the stalls, against which it is too frequently placed, to its great injury, in being constantly kept in a damp state by the horses' breath and perspiration, and apt to be knocked down among their feet. A good way is to suspend harness upon stout hardwood pins driven into a strong narrow board, fastened to the wall with iron holdfasts; but perhaps the most substantial way is to build the pins into the wall, when a new stable is building. The harness belonging to each pair of horses should just cover a space of the wall equal to the breadth of the two stalls which they occupy, and when windows and doors intervene, and which of course must be left free, this arrangement requires some consideration. I have found this a convenient one: A spar of hardwood nailed firmly across the upper edge of the batten d, fig. 105, that supports both posts of the stall, will suspend a collar on each end, high enough above a person's head, inmediately over the passage. One pin is sufficient for each of the cart-saddles, one will support both the bridles, while a fourth will suffice for the plough, and a fifth for the trace harness. Thus 5 pins or 6 spaces will be required for each pair of stalls; and in a stable of 12 stalls-deducting a space of 13 feet for 2 doors and 2 windows in such a stable-there will still be left, according to this arrangement, a space for the harness of about 18 inches between the pins. Iron hooks driven into the board betwixt the pins will keep the cart-ropes and plough-reins by themselves. The currycomb, hair-brush, and foot-picker, may be conveniently enough hung up high on the hind-post, betwixt the pair of horses to which they belong, and the mane-comb is usually carried in the ploughman's pocket. When the hind-posts are of cast-iron, as recommended already, these small articles cannot be hung upon them; and in such a

VOL. I.

case, there being no batten to suspend the collars from, hooks must be suspended from the couple legs to hang the collars upon.

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1406. Each horse should be bound to his stall with a leather stall-collar, having an iron-chain collar-shank to play through the ring i of the hay-rack, fig. 105, with a turned wooden sinker at its end, to weigh it to the ground. Iron chains make the strongest stall collarshanks, though certainly noisy when in use; yet work-horses are not to be trusted with the best hempen cords, which often become affected with dry rot, and are, at all events, soon apt to wear out in running through the smoothest stall-rings. simple stall-collar with a nose-band, and strap over the head, is sufficient to secure most horses; but as some acquire the trick of slipping the strap over their ears, it is necessary to have either a throat-lash in addition, or a simple belt around the neck. Others are apt, when scratching their neck with the hind-foot, to pass the fetlock joint over the stall collar-shank, and, finding themselves entangled, to throw themselves down in the stalls, bound neck and heel-there to remain unreleased until the morning, when the men come to the stable. By this accident I have seen horses get injured in the head and leg for some time. A short stall collar-shank is the only preventive against such an accident, and the low rack admits of its being constantly in use.

1407. Besides the ordinary stalls, a loose-box will be found a useful adjunct to a work-horse stable. A space equal to two stalls should be railed off at one end of the stable, as represented in the plan, Plate II. It is a convenient place into which to put a work-mare when expected to foal. Some mares indicate so very faint symptoms of foaling, that they frequently are known to drop their foals under night in the stable-to the great risk of the foal's life-where requisite attention is not directed to the state of the mare, or where there is no spare apartment to put her in. It is also suitable for a young stallion, when first taken up and preparing for travelling the road; as also for any young draughthorse, taken up to be broke for work,

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until he become accustomed to the stable. It might also be, when unfortunately so required, converted into a temporary hospital for a horse, which, when seized with complaint, might be put into it until it is ascertained whether or not the disease is infectious, and if so, removed

to the proper hospital. Some people object to having a loose-box in the stable, and would rather have it out of it; but the social disposition of the horse renders such a place useful on such occasions. It is, besides, an excellent place to rest a fatigued horse for a few days. It is also a good place for a foal when its mother is obliged to be absent at work in the fields, until both are turned out to grass.

1408. The hay-house should be adjoining the work-horse stable, as at H, Plate II. It is 18 feet in length, 17 feet in width, and its roof is formed of the floor of the granary above. Its floor should be flagged with a considerable quantity of sand to keep it dry, or with asphaltum. It should have a giblet-checked outer door to open outwards, with a hand-bar to fasten it on the inside; it should also have a partly glazed window, with shutters, to afford light, when taking out the hay to the horses, and air to keep it sweet. As the hay-house communicates immediately with the work-horse stable by a door, it may find room for the work-horse cornchest, which may there be conveniently supplied with corn from the granary above, by means of a spout let into the fixed part of the lid. For facilitating the taking out of the corn, the end of the chest should be placed against the wall at the side of the door which opens into the stable, and its back part boarded with thin deals up to the granary floor, to prevent the hay coming upon the lid of the chest. The walls of the hay-house should be plastered.

1409. The form of the corn-chest is more convenient, and takes up less room on the floor when high and narrow than when low and broad, as in fig. 108, which is 5 feet long and 4 feet high at the back above the feet. A part of the front b folds down with hinges, to give easier access to the corn as it gets low in the chest. Part of the lid is made fast, to receive the spout

THE CORN-CHEST FOR THE WORK-HORSES.

constantly in the custody of the farmsteward, or of the person who gives out the corn to the ploughmen, where no farmsteward is kept: c is the corner of the doorway into the work-horse stable, and e is the boarding behind to prevent the hay falling on the lid. A fourth part of a peck measure is always kept in the chest for measuring out the corn to the horses. You must not imagine that because the spout supplies corn from the granary when required, that it supplies it without measure. The corn appropriated for the horses is previously measured off on the granary floor, in any convenient quantity, and then shovelled down the spout at times to fill the chest. A way to ascertain the quantity of corn at any time in the chest is to mark lines on the inside of the chest indicative of every quarter of corn which it contains. In some parts of the country the corn for the horses is put into small corn chests, one of which is given in charge to every ploughman, who keeps the key, and supplies his horses with corn at stated times. The small chests are generally placed at hand in the stable within the bays of the windows, and in recesses made on purpose in the wall. A certain quantity of corn is put into each chest at the same time, which is to last the pair of horses a certain number of days. This

plan may save the steward or some other person the trouble of giving out corn to the horses every day, but it places it too much in the power of the ploughmen to defraud the horses of their corn, and appropriate it for their own purposes; and it is an inconvenient plan when at any time it is proper to give a particular horse, or pair of horses, a little more corn than usual, for some extra work performed by them. There cannot be a safer measure in conducting any farm, than to confine every class of work-people to the performance of their own proper duties.

ON THE TREATMENT OF FARM-HORSES IN WINTER.

1410. Farm-horses are under the immediate charge of the ploughmen, one of whom works a pair, and keeps possession of them generally during the whole period of his engagement. This is a favourable arrangement for the horses, working more steadily under the guidance of the same driver than when changed into different hands; and it is also better for the ploughman himself, as he performs his work most satisfactorily to himself, as well as his employer, with horses familiarised to him. In fact, the man and his horses must become acquainted before they can understand each other; and when the peculiar tempers of each party are mutually understood, work becomes more easy to both, and more attention is bestowed upon it. Some horses show great attachment to their driver, and will do whatever he desires without hesitation; others show no particular regard: and great differences may be remarked of ploughmen towards their horses. Upon the whole, there exists a good understanding in this country between the ploughman and his horses; and, independently of this, few masters are disposed to allow their horses to be ill treated, and there is no occasion for it; as horses which have been brought up on a farm, in going through the same routine of work every year, become so well acquainted with what they have to do, that, when a misunderstanding arises between them and their driver, you may safely conclude that the driver is in the wrong.

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usually receive in winter is this:-' ploughmen, when single, get up and breakfast before day-break, and then go to the stable, where the first thing they do is to take out the horses to the water. The usual place at which horses drink is at the horse-pond; and should ice prevent them, it must be broken. To horses out of a warm stable, water at the freezing point cannot be palatable; and yet it is not easy to devise a better plan-for though the purest water were provided in a trough, it would be as liable to freeze as in a pond; and to have two pailfuls of water thawing all night in the stable, for each pair of horses, is an expense which no farmer will incur, and which, besides, would limit the drink to the horses. The only other plan is to have a cistern within the stable, from which the water could be drawn in pailfuls in the morning; but still the giving every pair of horses water from a cistern from the same pails would cause some loss of time, and the cistern would become useless in mild weather. As matters are arranged at present, the horses are taken to the pond to drink, and brought back to the stable to receive their morning allowance of corn. From habit, however, the horses do not require to be led to and from the pond, one of the men only seeing they do not wander or loiter away their time; and while the horses are out of the stable, the rest of the men take the opportunity of removing the dung and soiled litter made during the night into the nearest courtyard, with their shovels, fig. 83, wheelbarrow, fig. 87, and besom.

and it is scarcely worth while binding them with the stall-collars, if the men remain in the stable, and go to work whenever the horses have finished their corn; but this seems the best time for the men to take their breakfast, and which married men usually do-and in quitting the stable, they put the stall-collars on the horses, and leave them in quietness to eat their corn. It is not an unusual practice to curry and wisp the horses, and to put the harness on them while engaged with their corn; but this should never be allowed. Let the horses eat their food in peace, and many of them, from sanguine temperament or greed, cannot divest themselves of the feeling that they are about to be taken from their corn when handled during the time of feeding. The harness can be quickly enough put on after the feed is eaten, as well as the curry-comb and brush used, and the mane and tail combed. An allowance of a little time between eating their corn and going to work is of advantage to the horses, as work, especially when severe, undertaken with a distended stomach, is apt to bring on an attack of batts or colic.

1413. Men and horses continue at work until 12 noon, when they come home-the horses to get a drink of water and a feed of corn, and the men their dinner. Some keep the harness on the horses during this short interval, but it should be taken off, to allow both horses and harness to cooland at any rate the horses will be much more comfortable without it and it can be taken off and put on again in a few seconds, and the oftener the men exercised in this way they will become the more expert in putting it on and taking it off.

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1414. When the work is in a distant field, rather than come home between yokings, it is the practice of some farmers to feed the horses in the field out of the noso-bags, and the men to take their dinners with them, or be carried to them in the field by their own people. This plan may do for a day or two in good weather, on a particular occasion; but it is by no means a good one for the horses, as no mode gives them a chill more readily than to cause them to stand on a head-ridge for even half an hour in a winter day, after

working some hours. A smart walk home can do them no harm; and if time really presses for the work to be done, let the horses remain a shorter time in the stable. The men themselves will be infinitely more comfortable to have dinner at home.

1415. A practice exists in England, connected with this subject, which I think highly objectionable-that of doing a day's work in one yoking. For a certain time, horses, like men, will work with spirit; but if the work endures beyond that time, they not only lose strength, but spirit, and in the latter part of the yoking work in a careless manner. Horses kept for 7 or 8 hours at work must be injured in their constitution, or execute work in the latter part of the yoking badly, or receive extraordinary feeding, any of which consequences is symptomatic of bad management. Common sense tells a man that it is much better for a horse to be worked a few hours smartly, and have his hunger satisfied before feeling fatigue, when he will again be able to work with spirit, than to be worked the entire number of hours of the day without feeding. I see no possible objection to horses receiving a little rest and food in the middle of a long day's work, but I perceive many and serious ones to their working all day long without rest and food.

1416. The men and horses come home at mid-day, the usual dinner hour of agricultural labourers, and the first thing done is to give the horses a drink at the pond on the way to the stable, and no washing of legs should be allowed. From the water the horses proceed to the stable, where the harness is taken off; and as the men have nothing else to do, every one gets the corn for his horses from the steward, at the corn-chest, in nose-bags or a small box. Of these two modes of carrying horse corn in the stable, I prefer the trough, as being most easily filled and emptied. The horses are bound up, the stable door shut, and the men go to their dinner, which should be ready for them. After dinner they return to the stable, when the horses will have finished their feed, and a small quantity of fresh straw-for at this time farm-horses get no hay-will be well relished. The men have a few minutes to

spare until 1 P.M., when they should wisp down the horses, put on the harness, comb out the tails and manes, and be ready to put on the bridles the moment 1 o'clock strikes, which is announced by the steward.

1417. The afternoon yoking is short, not lasting longer than sunset, which at this season is before 4 P.M., when the horses are brought home. After drinking again at the pond, they are gently passed through it below the knee, to wash off any mud from their legs and feet, which they can hardly escape collecting in winter. In thus washing the horses, the men should be prohibited wetting them above the knees, which they are ready to do when mud reaches the thighs and belly; and to render the prohibition effectual, the horsepond should not be deeper than to take a horse to the knee. In wetting the belly at this season, there is danger of contracting inflammation of the bowels or colic ; and to treat mares in foal in such a way is highly imprudent. If the feet and shanks are cleared of mud, it is all that is requisite for washing in winter. On the horses entering the stable, and having their harness taken off, they should be well strapped down by the men with a wisp of straw. Usually two wisps are used, one in each hand; but the work is better done with one, shifting the hand as occasion requires. A couple of wisps may be used to rub down the legs and clean the pasterns, rendering them as dry as a moderate length of time will admit. The work usually done at this time in the stable is nearly in the dark, and farmers either think there is no occasion for light in a stable at this hour, or grudge the expense; but either excuse is no justification for doing any work in the stable in the dark. In fact the steward ought to have a light ready when the horses enter the stable, and then every thing would be seen to be done in a more satisfactory manner than they generally are.

1418. After the horses are rubbed down, the men go to the straw-barn, and bundle each 4 windlings of fodder-straw, one to be given to each horse just now, and the other two to be put across the small fillets p, fig. 105, in the stable, when the stable is fitted up as in this figure; but if con

structed as in fig 106, the windlings may remain in the straw-barn till wanted. This preparation is made for the same reason that the cattle-man stowed away his windlings for the cows in the byrethat the straw-barn may not be entered with a light; but the steward may enter it safely with such a lantern as fig 89, to let the men see to get the straw required just now, both for fodder and litter The stable has been without litter all day, since its cleansing out in the morning, and the horses have stood on the stones at mid-day. This is a good plan for purifying the stable during the day, and is not so much attended to as it deserves. Sufficient litterstraw is now brought in by the men from the straw-barn, and shaken up to make the stalls comfortable for the horses to lie down. Leaving the horses with their fodder, and shutting the stable doors, the men retire to their homes, to whatever occupation they please, until 8 P.M., the hour at which horses receive their suppers.

1419. When 8 P.M. arrives, the steward, provided with light in the lantern, summons the men to the stable to give the horses a grooming for the night, and their suppers. The sound of a horn, or ringing of a bell, are the usual calls on the occasion, which the men are ready to obey. I

nay remark, in passing, that the sound of a horn is pleasing to the ear in a calm winter night-recalling to my mind the goatherd's horn in Switzerland, pouring out its mellow and impressive strains at sunset-the time for gathering the flock and herd together from the mountain sides to their folds in the neighbouring village. Lights are placed at convenient distances in the stable, to let the men see to groom the horses. The grooming consists first in currying the horse with the curry-comb b, fig. 109, to free him of the dirt adhering to his skin, and which, being now dry, is easily removed. A wisping of straw removes the roughest of the dirt loosened by the curry-comb. legs ought to be thoroughly wisped-not only to make them clean, but dry of any moisture that may have been left in the evening; and at this time the feet should be picked clear, by the foot-picker a, of any dirt adhering between the shoe and the foot. The brush c is then used, to remove

The