108 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



and makes a job of it that we could not afford to do in this 

 country. The reason for using the Goodenough Shoe in Mr. 

 Bowditch's forge was because it kept the principle continu- 

 ally before the man who was shoeing, and enabled him to 

 shoe his horse with frog-pressure. The heel of the Good- 

 enough Shoe is drawn thin. It is a rolled shoe, and it is 

 rolled thin. The shoe is also bevelled on each side. It is 

 bevelled on the foot-surface, the part of the shoe that goes 

 against the foot ; so that the bearing of the horse comes upon 

 the outer wall of the hoof entirely. It is bevelled on the 

 inside, which prevents the balling of snow, or suction in 

 mud ; which is a very important matter. And then, in roll- 

 ing up, it is corrugated. There are three depressions in which 

 the nails are counter-sunk, so that the heads of the nails do 

 not strike the ground until the shoe is very well worn down. 

 Mr. Bowditch and myself have found it for our convenience 

 to use that shoe ; and, as I say, it keeps the principle before 

 the horse-shoer : but any man who will take the pains can 

 shoe his horse in the same way without the use of any 

 special shoe for that purpose. 



Mr. Brooks of . I have heard a great deal of 



talk on this subject ; and what was said seemed very reasona- 

 ble, and I did not know enough to contradict it. Last 

 spring I bought a horse that I had always fancied very much, 

 ■with unsound fore-feet. He had been shod in Boston, and 

 brought into the country, because the city smiths said he 

 would do very well on soft roads, but would not do very 

 well on the pavements. I tried to get them to have the 

 horse shod in this way, as a matter of experiment ; but they 

 did not dare to. I bought the horse more for the purpose of 

 trying it than any thing else, and took him down to Mr. 

 Bowditch's forge. He took the round shoes off, pared the 

 hoofs down, put him in a box-stall on sawdust during the 

 day, and let him run out on the damp grass at night. I went 

 up and saw the horse after his shoes had been off two or 

 three days, and he was a perfect cripple. After two or three 

 weeks more, I went up again, and he had some light shoes 

 on, and was jogging about a little. He had a crack in his 

 hoof, which is now nearly gone, and I have driven him 

 around in Boston and Cambridge, and he has not taken a 

 lame step. The heat has entirely disappeared which was in 



