ART OF SHOEING. 563 



from those we found in Mr John Scott's forge ; and the 

 companion, B, is after the spike or wedge form of Coleman, 

 the specimen was obtained at another training establishment, 

 where the narrow, thick tapering nail is preferred to the old 

 sort. The counter-sink or wedge form, from which drawings 

 were taken to compare with the French and Scottish cart- 

 horse nails, were obtained from one of the great London 

 brewery firms, which employs its farriers on the premises, 

 and where the most approved material in vogue is used, and 

 the best workmen are supposed to be employed. 



By reference to the figures, it will appear, as examination 

 of the different nails will show, that the French and those in 

 general use throughout Scotland, viz., the old rose-headed 

 nail, bear resemblance, and possess the most essential qualities 

 in common ; in breadth of shank they are about equal, the 

 French being somewhat thinner and the more pliable. The 

 essential difference of the two kinds, however, when equally 

 well made, resolves itself into the form of the head, that of 

 the French being solid, filling up a quadrilateral cavity in the 

 shoe, somewhat in the same way as the nail head is let into 

 the tire of a well-made carriage wheel, in which the head of 

 the nail is made to supply the place of the iron removed by 

 the stamp in the case of the shoe, and by the drill in that of 

 the tire. The old English or Scottish nail is made with a 

 flattened head, to adapt it to the crease or fullering, at the 

 same time a fair shoulder is given to these nails by which 

 they are little if at all inferior to the French for holding 

 the shoe, even when the latter is worn thin. 



On the counter, or wedge-formed nails, we shall make only 

 a few remarks; as these nails were first extemporised with 

 the English mode of stamping the shoe, and formed a 

 part of that plan; the worth of the nail depends on the 

 merits of the particular shoe, the two forming, as they do 



