MONEY'S WORTH OF IRON. 105 



Mr. BowDiTCH. It will benefit him, if that method of 

 shoeing is kept up : I know that by experience. I very often 

 have cripples come to my forge ; and, when they get to going 

 well, they go back to their own blacksmith : their owners do 

 not think it worth while to bring them to me. When the 

 little " corpse " that I drive came to me, her heel was about 

 an inch and three-quarters wide, and her frog was the size 

 of my little finger. Now she has a frog that fills up almost 

 the whole of her foot. 



Dr. Wakefield. Tliis gentleman says that he shoes his 

 " cripples." I would like to ask him whether, in his experi- 

 ence in shoeing gentlemen's horses, they travel any better 

 than when they are shod in the ordinary way. 



Mr. BowDiTCH. I have had some little experience in that, 

 because I started a little forge on my own farm for my own 

 protection. I could not get a blacksmith to do as I wanted 

 him to do. The great trouble is, that men want to get the 

 most for their money ; that is, the most weight of iron you 

 can possibly put on for the money. There is hardly a person 

 who owns a driving-horse, who, if you put four inches of 

 iron on the toe, would feel that he could go more than half 

 a mile from home without the horse breaking down. But I 

 do not think I could go quite as far as my friend Mr. Russell. 

 I generally like to have a three-quarter pound shoe for my 

 own horse. But the whole secret is, if you have a horse 

 whose feet have been abused for a series of years, all that is 

 required is a little piece on the toe. I generally leave the 

 heel entirely bare. 



Dr. Wakefield. Have you had any experience in shoe- 

 ing gentlemen's horses, so that you can compare your man- 

 ner with shoeing with the ordinary way ? I am aware that gen- 

 tlemen like to have a great amount of iron put on, and I am 

 aware that they like to have the blacksmith shoe their horses 

 just as they order. I do myself. But what I want to find 

 out is, what is the best manner of shoeing. Can you show 

 that horses shod in your method will travel well, and that 

 they are not subject to those diseases which come, as many 

 think, from exposure to cold, as has been represented here by 

 Dr. Hunt? We all know that there are diseases of horses' 

 feet ; and if we can ascertain the cause, and, knowing the 

 cause, avoid it, and save all tliis trouble to horses' feet, we 

 shall have gained a great point. 



