■388 STATE BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



year. It is so pleasing to see a good piece of road constructed over a bad piece 

 of ground. By this way of special working it is much easier to create an inter- 

 est with tiiose who have the work to do. A want of interest seems to be the 

 great trouble in road-making. "We all want good roads, but the want of sys- 

 tem and an aimless way of applying our road tax are the bottom reasons for the 

 wretched condition of many of our common roads. 



EVENING SESSION. 

 Mr. Ira Carpenter read the following paper on the 



''horse's foot and how to keep it sound." 



In describing the various parts which compose the horse's foot it shall be 

 my endeavor to avoid, as mucii as possible, all minute anatomical details and 

 scientific technical terms, and to confine myself to a plain description of those 

 parts only a general knowledge of which is essential to the full understanding 

 of what is right and wrong in the formation and application of the horse's shoe. 



The hoof is divided into a horny crust or wall, sole, and frog. 



The horny crust is secreted by numerous blood-vessels of that soft, protruding 

 band which encircles the upper edge of the hoof immediately beneath the termi- 

 nation of the hair, and is divided into toe, quarters, heels, and bar. Its texture 

 is insensible, but elastic throughout its whole extent, and yielding to the weight 

 of the horse, allows the horny soul to descend, whereby much inconvenient con- 

 cussion to the internal parts of the foot is avoided. But if a large portion of 

 the circumference of the foot be fettered by iron and nails it is obvious that that 

 portion at least cannot expand as before, and the beautiful and efficient apparatus 

 for etfecting this necessary elasticity, being no longer allowed to act by reason 

 of these restraints, because altered in structure, and the continued operation of 

 the same causes, in the end, circumscribes the elasticity to those parts alone 

 where no nails have been driven, giving rise to a train of consequences destruc- 

 tive to the soundness of the foot, and fatal to the usefulness of the horse. 



The toe of the fore foot is the thickest and strongest portion of the hoof, and 

 is in consequence less expansive than any other part, and therefore better calcu- 

 lated to resist the effect of the nails and shoe. The thickness of the horn grad- 

 ually diminishes towards the quarters and heel, particularly on the inner side of 

 the foot, whereby the power of yielding and expanding to the weight of the horse 

 is proportion ably increased, clearly indicating that those parts cannot be nailed 

 to an unyielding bar of iron without a most mischievous interference with the 

 natural functions of the foot. In the hind foot the greatest thickness of horn 

 will be found at the quarters and heels, and not, as in the fore foot, at the toe. 



This diflierence in the thickness of horn is beautifully adapted to the inequal- 

 ity of the weight which each has to sustain, the force with which it is applied, 

 and the portions of the hoof upon which it falls. The toe of the fore foot 

 encounters the combined force and weight of the fore hand and body, and con- 

 sequently in a state of nature is exposed to considerable wear and tear, and calls 

 for greater strength and substance of horn than is needed by any portion of the 



