HOUSES AND EOADS; 



OR, 



HOW TO KEEP A HORSE SOUND ON HIS LEGS. 

 CHAPTER I. 



SPRINGS AND BRAKES TO VEHICLES. 



IN the crisis through which agriculturists are at pre- 

 sent passing, economical improvements of all kinds 

 are being sought after. Much has been written about 

 the horse ; but the field he affords for writing is so 

 extensive and fertile, that much still remains to be 

 said ; indeed, he will afford a theme for a very long 

 time to come, to say the least. 



To begin with, let us consider the vehicles 

 he is often obliged to draw. Mayhew, an emi- 

 nent veterinary surgeon, formerly demonstrator at 

 the Royal Veterinary College, states, in one of the 

 various works he has written upon the horse, that 

 ' it is a disgrace to the intelligence of the pre- 

 sent age that any cart should be built without 

 springs ; the real question being whether living 



