should, In most cases, be seduced by cheap- 

 ness. 



The plain truth is, that a seated shoe cannot 

 be made, in the way shoes are usually manufac- 

 tured, at such a rate as to afford a reasonable 

 profit at the common price of shoeing; whilea 

 sloping shoe requiring much less labour, can be 

 sold to advantage at that price. 



This circumstance, therefore, which no man 

 conversant with the subject will venture to deny, 

 explains sufficiently why farriers have adopted 

 this shoe in general practice, in preference to all 

 others, althouo-h it has never been recommended 

 as the best.* 



The use, therefore, of the flat shoe, with the 

 practice of hollowing the sole, must be considered 



* It has become a kind of fashion lately to declaim against 

 the ignorance of farriers, and in no instance more than in 

 v.'hat regards shoeing ; yet, perhaps, more is urged against 

 them in this respect than there is just cause for. It is not here 

 meant to enter into a defence of many practices, relative to 

 shoeing, which a more scientific inquiry, in latter times, has 

 proved to be erroneous, nor to contend that there has not been 

 much to censure in general ; but justice impels the Author to 

 remark, that he has sometimes met with farriers, who have 

 possessed more real information than is to be found in the 

 writings of those v/ho have been so severe against them ; 

 and it must be remembered, that long continued practice and 

 accumulated experience, furnish us with facts which no spe- 

 culative disquisition or scientific research can afford. 

 C2 



