1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



205 



On the lllh Oct., by leaves, 756 lbs. 



5th Nov. ditto, at time of bc- 



curiiii; the roots, 272 



J)ilto, weight of roots, 4472 



Total, 5500 



The other portion of tiie field yielded, at the time 

 of securing the roots 



5th of Nov., by leaves, S94 lbs. 



Ditto, weight of roots, 494S 



5842 



On that moity of tl)e field where the roots had 

 been untouched, there was a diminution in the 

 produce of leaves of 134 lbs., but an increase of 

 476 lbs. in the roots; and even supposipg that the 

 leaves have equally nutritious properties with that 

 of the roots, yet there is a superiority in favor of 

 the system of permitting the root to come to matu- 

 rity before depriving it of leaves of 342 lbs., or 

 about 6 per cent. 



1 From the Fai'mer's Magazine. 



SQUIRRELS — THE r>UKE OF BEAUFORt's FOR- 

 ESTERS. 



It is a curious circumstance, and not generally 

 known, that most of those oaks vvhich are called 

 spontaneous are planted by the squirrel. 'I'his 

 little animal has peribrmed the most essential ser- 

 vice to the British navy. A gentleman walking 

 one day in the woods belonging to the Duke of 

 Beaufort, near Troy House, in the county of Mon- 

 mouth, his attention was diverted by a squirrel, 

 vvhich sat very composedly on the ground. He 

 stopped to observe his motions ; in a lew minutes 

 the squirrel darted to the top of the tree, beneath 

 which he had been sitting. In an instant he was 

 down with an acorn in his mouth, and after dig- 

 ging a small hole, he stooped down and deposited 

 the acorn ; then covering it, he darted up the tree 

 again. In a moment he was down again with 

 another, which he buried in the same manner. 

 This he continued to do as long as the observer 

 thought proper to watch him. This industry of 

 the little animal is directed to the purpose of se- 

 curing him against want in the wmter ; and it is 

 probable his memory is not sufficiently retentive to 

 enable him to remember the spot in which he de- 

 posited every acorn. The industrious little fellow, 

 no doubt, loses a i'ew every year; these i'ew spring 

 up, and are destined to supply the place of the 

 parent tree. Thus is Britain in some measure in- 

 debted to the industry and bad memory of a 

 squirrel, for her pride, her glory, and her very ex- 

 istence. 



From the Veterinarian. 



ON THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF 

 SHOEING HORSES. 



*' Horses shod on the most approved principles.^'' — 

 " Horses shod on the expansion principle.^'' 



1 have noticed this over many forges in and 

 about the metropolis, and allude to (hem now, not 

 with the intention of inquiring into the principles 

 of either, for the very plain reason that I have 

 never yet known of horses liaving been sliod upon 



principle, i.e. agreeable to the laws of nature, and 

 admitting of no deviation. The perlection of this 

 art, like others, would of necessity be that which 

 came nearest to nature, or, strictly speaking, it 

 would not be art. 



I long ago discovered, for myself at least, the so- 

 phism thariias' misled the veterinary profession 

 upon the subject of shoeing, to be the making 

 principles out of their practice ; and, if we only go 

 back to the period of the foundation of the college, 

 we have had systems of shoeing enough, every 

 one knows, but not one ujion principle ; and, we 

 believe, no one will attempt lo deny the definition 

 of a principle ; the result has been, that these sys- 

 tems, or, more properly speaking, modifications, 

 have never come into general use. The ordinary 

 method of shoeing is stilf practised throughout the 

 country: the only difierence I have observed, is 

 rnore or less superiority of workmanship, lor which, 

 difference in price is charged. It is not, therefore, 

 altogether true, that the low price paid for shoeing 

 IS the cause that these modifications have not come 

 into use. Do the smiths of Newmarket never get 

 £20 for plating a winner ? And is this not sufficient 

 stimulus to produce something practically useful, 

 to save the leet and legs of racers over the hard 

 heath in summer, and frost, from the efiects of 

 percussion 1 



Do not sportsmen pay high prices for shoeing 

 hunters '? Are coach-proprietors, and others, so 

 blind to their own interests, that, if any of these 

 modifications had been as advantageous as their 

 proposers thought, they would not have used them 

 also? The style in which some of them do busi- 

 ness is a sufficient answer that price would not be 

 studied by them. I will not say it is a disfjrace to 

 the veterinary profession ; lor many of its members 

 have shown an ardent desire, and this too, at some 

 sacrifice of time and money, to bring what they 

 individually thought advantageous into general 

 use. All liave, however, more or less failed. I 

 will endeavor to explain the causes of failure upon 

 the ground o^ principle, or, rather the want of 

 principle, upon which the whole profession, with 

 few exceptions, seem to have been influenced. 

 Most of them have made principles matter of in- 

 ference from their practice, few fi'om direct inquiry; 

 and these have always been bewildered by prac- 

 tice also: having no principle to go upon, they 

 could never fairly emancipate themselves; they 

 were slaves of the forge — with ideas tied down by 

 so much per set of shoes, leather soles, stopping, 

 and all. 



Mr- Moorcroft was well aware of the cause of 

 the degradation of this art, and, with the intention 

 of striking at the root of the evil, I had construct- 

 ed by machinery his modification, with which I 

 have nothing to do at present ; but had he been 

 able to make shoes, ol any form, at fourpence each, 

 instead of eight pence, he would have succeeded : 

 but, confining himself to modification, he failed, 

 and, 1 once heard him say, at the sacrifice of a 

 greater sum than would now, in the present state 

 of machinery, flilly accomplish the object. Who 

 will attempt any thing in the present state of the 

 trade] — art it cannot be called. 



The next attempt was accidental, originating in 

 Mr. Goodwin having pattern shoes cast by Mr. 

 Dudley ; but he would not listen lo the profession 

 which applied to him lor the shoes in ordinary use, 

 and fullered. I though at the time how it would 



