CHAPTEE I. 



INTRODUCTOEY. 



IT is very remarkable that in this country so large a 

 proportion of very badly arranged teams and horses in 

 single draught should be found working on the same 

 roads with others and we think the majority whose 

 whole trim is unexceptionable, and, in very many cases, 

 perfectly artistic. If the horses and vehicles of the rich 

 all belonged to the latter class and those of the poor to 

 the former, we should feel disposed to lay down the pen 

 at once in despair ; but this is by no means the case, 

 the proofs being patent enough that sore shoulders and 

 galled withers are occasioned much more frequently by 

 want of detail-knowledge, and attention to simple 

 mechanical principles, than to a deficiency of means. 

 On the continent of Europe, generally speaking, there 

 is much less difference observable in this matter. One 

 seldom sees a very good arrangement of draught and 

 harness, and equally seldom a totally absurd one ; 

 perhaps the question of expense has a greater influence 

 in most countries than in our own, and people are 

 therefore driven to make the most of the simple means 

 at their disposal, and let ingenuity supply the lack of 

 hard cash. 



The state of the roads, too, varies very considerably 



