HOR 



HUR 



209 



either with one or two mould 

 boards. It answers in extensive 

 culture, all the purposes of the 

 hoe, though it may be well to have 

 it followed with the hand hoe in 

 every species of culture. In the 

 cultivation of potatoes and Indian 

 corn it seems to be indispensable 

 that it should be so followed. But 

 in drill husbandry, with potatoes 

 planted in rows, or drills, with In- 

 dian corn planted in the same man- 

 ner, and with carrots, Swedish 

 turnips, and grains of all sorts, it 

 need not be followed with the hand 

 hoe, but a man must follow to pull 

 up the weeds, which the horse hoe 

 had not fully destroyed. 



HORSE SHOEING. The fol 

 lowing directions for shoeing hor- 

 ses are taken from an English pub 

 lication. " Let nothing be cut 

 from the sole-bmder, or frog, ex- 

 cept tlie loose rotten scale. No 

 opening of heels on any occa- 

 sion, — it infallibly causes in time 

 the disease called hoof-bound. — 

 No shoes to be fitted on red hot. 

 Shoes always to be made of the 

 best hard and well wrought iron, 

 with not a convex, but a flat and 

 eveii surface next to the ground. 

 So that the horse may stand in a 

 natural and easy position. No 

 caulks for either heel or toe of fore 

 or hind feet. The web of the 

 shoe not so wide as usual, nor so 

 thick nor strong at the heel, and 

 never to project beyond it, in or- 

 der that the foot may stand per- 

 fectly level, and the frog be not 

 prevented from touching the 

 ground. It is as absurd to pare 

 down the frog as is usually done, 

 as it would be to pare away the 

 27 



thick skin, which nature has placed 

 over the human heel ! All the hor- 

 ses in England are now shod ac- 

 cording to the above directions." 



" When a horse is well shod, if 

 water is poured upon the bottom 

 of his foot, it will not pass between 

 the hoof and the shoe. Shoes for 

 draft horses, that have seldom oc- 

 casion to go out of a walk, should 

 be heavy, strong, and with high 

 heels, and pointed at the toe with 

 steel." See Mason'' s Farrier j pub- 

 lished by Peter Cottom, Richmond.^ 

 Virginia, 1821. 



HURDLE. The hurdles used 

 in husbandry, for fences, and 

 frames of wood, consist of two 

 poles, four feet apart, connected 

 with small sticks across from the 

 one to the other. Spruce poles 

 are good for this use, being light 

 and tough. The sticks may be of 

 split timber, such as does not rot 

 too soon ; or round sticks of natur- 

 al growth, such as thrifty suckers 

 from the stumps of oak trees. If 

 they are wattled, or have twigs 

 wove into them, the sticks may be 

 a foot, or eighteen inches apart; 

 and they will resemble the hurdles 

 on which fish are dried. If they are 

 not wattled, the sticks must be so 

 near together, that neither sheep 

 nor hogs can pass between them. 

 Cheap gates may be conveniently 

 made in this way. A hurdle is of- 

 ten wanted, to make a good fence 

 across a run of water, being most 

 suitable for this purpose, as it may 

 be fastened by strong stakes at the 

 ends, and as it resists the current 

 of water but little. They are 

 useful to fence small pens and 

 yards on any sudden occasion. 



