They are seldom too large in proportion to the number of stalls; but they are often made to hold too many horses. Those employed in public conveyances in coaches and boats, are frequently crowded into an apart ment containing twenty or thirty. It is not right to have so many horses, particularly hard-working horses, in one place. Such stables are liable to frequent and great alterations of temperature. When several of the horses are out, those which remain are rendered uncomfortably cold, and when full, the whole are fevered or excited by excess of heat. These transitions are very pernicious, and generally neglected. The owner wonders why so many of his horses catch cold; there are always some of them coughing. If he were to make the stable his abode for twenty-four hours, and mark the number and degree of alterations which occur in its temperature, he would have little to wonder at.

Besides these transitions, so unavoidable in large stables, where are other evils. A very large stable is not easily ven tilated; it requires a lofty roof to give any degree of purity; it is not easily kept in order; contagious diseases once introduced, spread rapidly, and do extensive mischief before they can be checked; and a large stable seldom affords a hard-working horse all the repose he requires. His rest is disturbed by the entrance and exit of other horses, or of the persons employed in stable operations. It sometimes happens that one mischievous or restless horse disturbs all his fellows. He would do so in a small stable; but there he can not annoy so many. All these objections are not applicable to every large stable. In some the horses go out and return all together. In that case, they are not exposed to such vicissitudes of temperature, nor so liable to have their rest broken. But the other evils are not insignificant. A very large stable has nothing to recommend it that I know of. The expense of erection may be something less, and one or two additional stalls may be obtained by lodging the horses all in one large stable, rather than in several small stables. When it is more important to have a cheap than a healthy stable, the large one may be preferred.

The saving, however, may ultimately be a great loss, if the builder of the stable be the owner of the horses.

For hunters and other valuable horses, the stables should not have more than four stalls. These should be on only one side. Nimrod recommends that only three horses be kept in these four-stalled stables, and that the inner partition be moveable, in order that two of the stalls may be converted into a loose box, whenever such an appendage is required. For a pair of carriage-horses, the stable should have three stalls. The odd one is often useful. Should a horse fall sick or lame, another can be taken in to do his work till he get better; or, the inner partition being made to move, two of the stalls can be thrown into one.

Hunters, carriage-horses, and others of equal size and value, require a good deal of room. In width, the stable may vary from sixteen to eighteen feet; and in length it must have six feet for every stall. Some are not above fourteen or fifteen feet wide, but these are too narrow. Others are twenty feet, which I think is rather wide. There is no need for so much room; when too wide, the stable is too cold. It is sufficiently wide at sixteen feet, and roomy at eighteen. Coach-horses, and others employed at similar work, usually stand in a double row. The number of stalls should never exceed sixteen. It would be better if there were only eight, or a separate stable for each team. For these stables the width may be from twenty-two to twenty-four feet. If the horses do not exceed the average height, the stalls may be only five and a half feet wide; but they are better to be the full width, six feet. Single-headed stables for coach-horses may be sixteen and a half feet wide, and seventeen is quite sufficient.

Large cart-horses require a little more room, both in the length and breadth of the stable.