V 



128 HOW TO EDUCATE HORSES. 



possible for the blacksmith to prepare the foot with 

 a knife. 



How do we get these ignoramuses into the busi- 

 ness ? Well, young men will go into a blacksmith- 

 shop to learn the trade. They stay there six months. 

 At the end of that time they have perhaps learned how 

 to sharpen the point of a horseshoe-nail and drive on 

 an old horseshoe. It always requires at least ten 

 years to do it, as well as intelligence and common 

 sense, combined with a strong inclination to study the 

 different kinds of animals. I hope I may live to see a 

 law passed in the various States prohibiting all per- 

 sons practising the art of blacksmithing unless they 

 hold a certificate of examination signed by proper ex- 

 aminers, and obliging the applicant to spend a cer- 

 tain number of years learning the profession before 

 being allowed to receive the diploma. Thus these 

 "sprouters" will be weeded out, and, at the same time, 

 as the diseases they cause cease, the number of quack 

 doctors will in proportion grow less. 



Few people realize the importance of this question. 

 There are in the United States 12,523.488 horses and 

 2,162,808 mules, and for information's sake I will say 

 here there are 45,675,533 cattle and 18,443,120 milch- 

 cows, averaging one cow to every three inhabitants; 

 there are 172,726 blacksmiths, and the value of live- 

 stock in the United States is $1,500,464,609 conse- 

 quently, the preservation of this enormous quantity of 

 usefulness is indeed important. This information was 

 furnished me direct from Washington last year. 



The apprentices think they know as much as their 

 "boss" does, and so they say to themselves, "What 

 in the world is the use of my staying here another 

 year, when I might be in business for myself and 

 thereby make much more money ?" So they hire a 



