THE GOODENOUGH SHOE. 107 



Question. Have you ever tried the experiment with 

 heavy draught-horses ? 



Mr. BowDiTCH. I have some heavy horses, and they go 

 with seven or eight ounces on their feet. 



Mr. Flint. I would like to inquire whether there are 

 any patent elastic shoes which Mr. Bowditch has examined, 

 which he has any confidence in. 



Mr. Bowditch. The shoe that I use is the Goodenough 

 Horse-shoe, which is made on the theory that the proper 

 way to shoe a horse is to put his frog on the ground. The 

 easiest and cheapest way to accomplish this is to use the 

 Goodenough Horse-shoe. The little forge I sjjeak of I run 

 on that principle. I am not liked by a good many who 

 come there, because I have a rule, and I will not shoe as any 

 one wants me to. Therefore I do not make so much money 

 as I otherwise might ; but I think I have fewer lame horses. 



Question. Will you draw that shoe for us ? 



Mr. Bowditch. I do not tliink I can. I would rather 

 try to hammer one out than draw it. 



Mr. Russell. I learned the theory of horse-shoeing 

 which I have practised, from the man who promulgated the 

 true theory both in this country and in France, — Mr. Good- 

 enough. Mr. Bowditch has been kind enough to say that he 

 is my pupil, and he has carried it into practice a great deal 

 more than I have. Mr. Goodenough's idea was always to 

 shoe a horse so as to get the frog-pressure, as he called it ; 

 that is, so that the frog of the horse invariably came upon 

 the ground. I do not want to advocate the use of any shoe, 

 or any man's patent, before this audience. I only speak of 

 it, because Mr. Bowditch has referred to the Goodenough 

 Horse-shoe as a convenience in that method of horse-shoe- 

 ing. In France it is carried on under the name of the Char- 

 lier s5-stem. The Charlier Shoe is just a little rim of iron 

 put about the hoof, set in a groove, so that the whole bottom 

 of the horse's foot comes directly upon the ground when he 

 is travelling, — the frog, bar, sole, and the whole of the bot- 

 tom of the foot, just like a barefooted horse. It is only the 

 rim of the hoof that is protected. That is an expensive way 

 of shoeing, and is only adapted to a country where the 

 mechanics work with great nicety and slowly, as in France, 

 where one man holds the foot, and another places the shoe, 



