1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



23 



plying as it does the great facts and principles of! bears. The principal use of the fuller is to receive 

 chemistry to matters connected with even-day ex- the heads of the nails that secure the shoc_, and pre- 

 perience'," illustrating the one bv the other, it' will vent their benchng or breaking off:— it is further 

 find readers in every class of society, and all will be usefid in increasing the hold of the shoe upon the 

 benefited. His loss will be felt by Agriculturists ground, and with this view I always have it carried 



every where. 



HORSE SHOES, AND HOW TO PUT 

 THEM ON. 



back to the heels. 



The danger ai)prehended from the shoe being 

 applied to the foot so hot as to burn the crust, and 

 cause it to smoke, is utterly groundless. I would 

 not have it made to burn itself into its place upon 



The shoe must possess substance enough to pre- 'the foot, witliout the assistance ot rasp or drawing- 

 vent its bending, and Avidth of web enough to ensure knife- but I would have It tnedto the foot sufh- 

 protection to the foot; the thickness, like the width "entlv hot to scorch every part that bears unevenly 

 of web, should continue precisely the same from toe "pon it; because the advantage of detecting such 

 to heel, and not, as is generally the case, increase as projectin- portions is very great, and this mode of 

 it proceeds backwards, until at the heel it becomes! accomplishing it is positively harmless. Indeed it 

 fully doubled. This is a great evil for many reasons, is the only one by which the even beann 



rv to a perfect fitting of the shoe can be insured. 



No shoe should ever be nailed to the foot until 

 it has been ascertained that the pressure of the 

 hands is sufficient to keep it steadily in its place, 

 and preclude any appearance of daylight between it 

 and the foot ; for, if the shoe does not accurately 

 correspond to the surface of the foot, but is disposed 

 to shift about upon it, the nails will be exposed to 

 a constant strain in order to keej) it in its place ; 



and among others, that it throws the horse forwards 

 upon the toe, and causes him to strike it against 

 every projection that comes in its way. Now, as 

 horses are sufficiently prone to do this, without the 

 assistance of high-heeled shoes, it should be our 

 business to obviate it as much as possiljle. 



In doing this we only carry out in the shoe what 

 nature has already done in the foot ; she has arched 



the toe of the coffin-bone, to cUminish the effect of a , , , , , , - i 1 1 • - i 



jar at the toe; and we do the same to the shoe to ^hereas they should merely have to hold it to the 

 lessen the cause -of the jar. The common practice i ^ot, and not, as it were, to keep it there by force. 

 is just the reverse of this; it welds a lump of steel! The shoes should not be permitted to remain on 

 into the toe, which only increases its thickness, and 'the horse's icet more than two or three weeks Anth- 

 the number of obstacles that it necessarily encoun-iO"t removal ; for m that time the heads of the nails 

 ters, but, being of a harder texture, is longer wear-p^H have become worn, and, from fitting the holes 

 ing down, and consequently exposes the loot to the! less perfect y than before, will admit of a trifling 

 greatest amount of concussion. Supposing a horse | motion ol the shoe upon the nails ; whereby the 

 to wear his shoes so hard, that they will not last a holes in the hoof will be enlarged, and the security 

 month— much beyond which, as the foot will out- of the shoe endangered. Another reason for remo- 

 grow them, they had better not last— then steel the ^'ing the shoes, is the opportunity which it aflords 

 toe; but still let it be turned up as much out ofjofpanng away those portions of horn which m a 

 the hne of wear as possible. A small cHp at the! state «/ nature would have been worn down by con- 

 point of the toe is very desiral^le as preventing dis- ' tact with the gi-ouno. . , , . 

 placement of the shoe backwards; it need not be Ihe next circumstance to be considered is one of 

 driven up hard, it is merely required as a check or ^ital importance to our subject, as upon it depends 

 stay. The shoe should be sufficiently long, fully to the amount of disturbance that the natural fmic- 

 support the angles at the heels, and not, as is too of- tions of the foot are destined to sustain from the 

 ten the case, so short, that a Httle wear imbeds the! shoe; A-i7.,the number and situation of the nads 

 edge of it in the horn at these parts. The foot sur- '^^'hich are to secure it tothe foot. If they be nu- 

 face of the shoe should always have a good flat even! serous, and placed back m the quarters and heels, 

 space left all around for tlie crust to bear upon;!"^ ^1'™ ot shoe, be it ever so perfect, can save the 



for it must be remembered, that the cust sustains 

 the whole weight of the horse, and needs to have a 

 perfectly even bearing everywhere around the shoe. 

 In this space the nail-holes should be punched, and 

 not, as is too often the case, partly in it, and partly 

 in the seating. In what is technically called "black- 

 holing the shoe," which means comjileting the open- 

 ing of the nail-holes on the foot surface, great care 

 should be taken to give them an outward direction, 

 so as to allow the points of the nails to l)e brought 

 out low down in the crust. The remainder of the 

 foot surface should be carefully seated out, ])articu- 

 larly around the elevated toe, where it miglil other- 

 wise press inconveniently upon the sole ; and I 

 would have the seating carried on fairly to the jjoint 

 where the crust and the bars meet, in order that 

 there may be no pressure in the seat of corns ; the 

 chance of pressure in this situation will be further 

 diminished by bevelling off the inner edge of the 

 heels with a rasp. 



The ground surface should be jierfectly flat, with 



foot from contraction and navicular disease. If on 

 the contrary they be few, and placed in the outside 

 quarter and toe, leaving the inside quarter and 

 heels quite free to expand, no form of shoe is so 

 bad that it can, from defective form alone, produce 

 contraction of the foot. 



Three years ago I commenced a series of experi- 

 ments uj)on shoeing, with a view, among other 

 things, of ascertaining how few nails are absolutely 

 necessary, under ordinary circumstances, for retain- 

 intr a shoe securely in its ijlace. The subjects of 

 my experiments were six horses of my own, and 

 three l)elonging to friends ; the nine among them 

 rejjresenting very f\iirly the different classes of plea- 

 sure liorses ; not indeed inchuliiig Iiunters or race- 

 horses, each of Avhich require a sej)arate and totally 

 dirt'erent treatment, but carriage horses, laches' 

 horses and roadsters ; and tliey also included the 

 common \ ariations. in form and texture of the gen- 

 erality of horses' feet. 



"Wiien my attention was first directed to the sub- 



a fullering or groove running round the outer edge,!je 't of nailing, I was cmpKning seven nails in each 

 just under the plain sui-face, whereon the crust fibre, and eight in each liind bhoe. I then with- 



