POPULAR MISCELLANY 



119 



tilated by unskillful shoeing, the concave 

 and plane surfaces have to be reversed. 

 Whatever form is adopted, the shoe must 

 fit the foot, its outline corresponding exact- 

 ly to its ground -surface. The shoe must be 

 of the same thickness throughout ; where 

 calks are required, they should be of equal 

 height, at heel and toe. The number of 

 nails to each shoe, for a saddle or light- 

 draught horse, need not be more than five 

 or six in the fore and seven in the hind, but 

 more widely distributed than they usually 

 are. Tlie hold of the nails should be short. 

 The slight scorching of the horn-fibres by 

 the application of a hot shoe has rather the 

 effect of preserving them against untoward 

 influences than of inflicting injury. 



Disease often produces changes which 

 require a modification of the system advo- 

 cated above. In caring for the feet all that 

 is needed is strict attention to cleanliness. 

 They should be daily sponged with clear 

 water, and afterward the parts above the 

 hoof rubbed dry. Tlie unmutilated sole 

 forms in itself the best defense against the 

 extremes of dryness or moisture, and 

 "stuffing" and other artificial measures are 

 worse than useless if the natural sole has 

 been preserved. Placing the animal on a 

 perfectly level floor will promote a sound 

 condition of the feet, and conduce to the 

 general health of the horse. 



A PJiigne of Rabbits ia New Zea- 

 land. Some years ago rabbits were intro- 

 duced into South Australia from England; 

 later, a like importation was made into New 

 Zealand. Now these rodents are a formi- 

 dable pest in those countries, and it has be- 

 come a question of extreme urgency how 

 they can be exterminated. In New Zea- 

 land a commission has been instituted by 

 the Government to inquire into the subject, 

 and devise a remedy. Already, though only 

 a few years have passed since the introduc- 

 tion of the rabbits, large tracts of rich past- 

 ure-land have been converted into wilder- 

 ness, and sheep-farming and cattle-raising 

 are becoming impossible. Farmers that 

 used to keep 15,000 or 16,000 sheep can 

 now hardly keep as many hundred. Land- 

 owners employ men and dogs to destroy 

 the rabbits, but, though the number killed 

 is enormous, the evil continues without se- 



rious abatement. One land-owner inclosed 

 with a stone-wall an area of 10,000 acres, 

 the work taking seven years to complete, 

 and involving an expenditure of 35,000. 

 About 500,000 rabbit-skins were exported 

 from Hobart Town in 1874. It is proposed 

 to introduce from England, if possible, sev- 

 eral natural enemies of the rabbit, such as 

 stoats, weasels, ferrets, and hawks. 



Metric Weiglits and Measures in Massa- 

 chusetts. Below we give the main provi- 

 sions of a law recently enacted by the Le- 

 gislature of Massachusetts, legalizing the 

 metric system of weights and n'leasures, in 

 conformity with the laws of the United 

 States. Other States, in legislating upon 

 this subject, will doubtless frame their laws 

 according to the model here set before them 

 by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts : 



Section 1. From and after the passage of 

 this act, it shall be lawful, throughout the Com- 

 monwealth of Massachusetts, to employ the 

 weights and measures of the metric system, and 

 no contract or dealing or pleading in any court 

 shall be deemed invalid or liable to objection 

 because the weights or measures expressed or 

 referred to therein are weights or measures of 

 the metric system; and the metric weights and 

 measures received from the United States, and 

 now in the Treasury of the Commonwealth, may 

 be used and taken as authorized public stand- 

 ards of weights and measures; and these au- 

 thorized standards shall in no case be removed 

 from the Treasury, except under necessity for 

 their preservation or repair. 



Sec 3. The following tables shall be recog- 

 nized in the construction of contracts, and in all 

 legal proceedings, as establishing, in terms of 

 the weights and measures now in use in the 

 State of Massachusetts, the equivalents of the 

 weights and measures expressed therein in 

 terms of the metric system ; and said tables 

 may be lawfully used for computing, determin- 

 ing, and expressing, in customary weights and 

 measures, the weights and measures of the met- 

 ric system. (Here follow the tables.) 



Sec. 3. The Treasurer is hereby authorized 

 and directed to procure duplicate sets of the 

 metric weights and measures, conformable to 

 the standards now in the Treasury ; of which two 

 sets shall be retained for the use of the Treas- 

 urer and his deputy, and from which there shall 

 be furnished one set to the treasurer of each 

 shire town in the several counties of the Com- 

 monwealth, and each city not a shire town. 



Sec. 4. The duties of the Treasurer of the 

 Commonwealth and his deputy, and the duties 

 and responsibilities of the treasurer of each 

 town, with respect to the keeping, care, verifi- 

 cation, and use of the standard weights and 

 measures so furnished, shall be the same with 



