THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. n^ 



the change was an important benefit ; and the lesson 

 thus taught was not thrown away. The shoe was 

 reduced by a man at Melton from the full to the 

 three-quarter size, and in this form it weighs five 

 ounces. Seeley's patent horseshoe, adopted by the 

 North Metropolitan Tramways Company, weighs 

 one pound and a quarter, this being a reduction of 

 one-half on the weight of the ordinary shoe ; and we 

 have to remember that each additional ounce on the 

 horse's foot makes a most sensible difference in the 

 amount of work performed by him during the day. 

 Shoeing their horses on the principle of the modified 

 Charlier shoe, Messrs. Smither & Son, of Upper East 

 Smithfield, have found the result marvelously to 

 their advantage in the measure of comfort and safety 

 with which their animals do their work, whether in 

 the London streets, on pavement, or on country 

 roads. So far as their experience has gone, there are 

 no horses which it does not suit, and it is of special 

 service for young horses running on the London 

 stones, and for horses with tender feet or corns, and 

 to prevent slipping. In other words, the absence of 

 metal confers benefits which can not be bestowed by 

 its presence. Facts in America teach the same lesson. 

 At a meeting of the Massachusetts Board of Agricult- 

 ure in 1878, Mr. Bowditch, a practical farmer, de- 

 clared that '' nine hundred and ninety-nine thou- 

 sandths of all the trouble in horses' feet come from 

 shoeing," that he was in the habit of driving very 

 hard down hill, that he had galloped on ice on a 

 horse whose feet had merely a small bit of iron four 



