Our Anny Shoeing Smiths. 149 



vexatious shoes." The writer's experience has 

 led him to the conclusion that if you wanted your 

 horses well shod, and thought of taking them to 

 these large shops, and asked his advice upon 

 them, he would give you the same advice that 

 Punch gave to persons about to marry, '^ Don't." 

 As a general rule, these large firms turn out the 

 worst work ; they do not take time enough to fit 

 the shoes, but cut and rasp the foot to fit the shoe. 

 In justice to the village smith, he, as a rule, will 

 shoe the gentleman's horse better than at the 

 large shops in town. If he has my lord's or 

 the squire's horses to shoe, he is looked upon by 

 the villagers as a man of great skill, and he 

 devotes much time and labour to shoeing them, 

 knowing that if they are not shod well he will 

 in all probability lose most of the work in the 

 village, as where the squire's horse goes the 

 farmer follows ; and, radical though it may ap- 

 pear, yet the writer can positively assert that the 

 best shoeing-smiths he has met with in England 

 have been in the village smithy, and men who 

 could not boast of a military training, but brought 

 sound common sense to bear upon their work.. 



Now we come to the much-vexed question of 

 what is the best system of shoeing our horses. 

 The writer does not advocate one system more 

 than another, but will try and point out the faults 

 in most of them, and, contrary to most writers, 

 will begin with the cart horse first, because he is 

 the worst shod, unless it is indeed the black- 

 smith's own horse. What class of shoe is best 

 adapted for the ordinary use of the farm horse ? 



