APPENDIX TO SECOND EDITION. 169 



leaving off the little tips and give him the use of his 

 feet utterly unembarrassed, than for the opponents 

 of reform to adopt the tips instead of the old shoe. 



A LOWELL, MASS., JEHU'S EXPERIENCE. 



Mr. Sam Chapin, of Lowell, writes as follows to Cotton, Wool 

 and Iron on the subject of shoeing horses : — 



" I have a horse I have owned over seven years that I think 

 a great deal of, and which I have kept for my own driving. I 

 came to the conclusion four years ago that shoeing was 

 ag'ainst nature. I talked the same to horsemen here in Low- 

 ell, and they said it might do in some cases, but for a man 

 who drove as I did over the pavements, it would ruin a horse's 

 feet in one month's time. I did not believe it, although I did 

 not get my courage up to pull off my horse's shoes until 

 April, 1882. Since that time those shoes have hung up in 

 the stable, and I would not put them on her feet again for 

 any consideration. She had good feet when I took them off, 

 and she has better feet to-day, and you know, Mr. Editor, and 

 all of my acquaintance in Lowell, that I am not a slow driver, 

 no matter whether I am on pavements or a soft road. I 

 would not advise parties to take off their horses' shoes at t"his 

 time of the year, but take them off in the spring, when the 

 frost is coming out of the ground, and by the time the ground 

 gets hard the frog of the foot gets grown down so as to be- 

 come a cushion for the hard ground and pavements to protect 

 the nerves of the feet from injury. I now drive my horse up 

 hill and down, over pavements, crossings, etc. I never ex- 

 pect to see a harder winter for ice than we had here in Lowell 

 last year. While some of my nei,f,^hbors sharpened their 

 horses' shoes twice a week, I drove all winter without a shoe, 

 and no slipping, either." 



Old prejudices and superstitions die hard ; but they 

 are dying every year. The time will come when iron 

 shoes, such as are now put upon hx)rses' feet, will be re- 

 garded as we now regard the armors of warriors of ye 

 olden time— with this distinction : the latter were really 

 appropriate for the purpose for which they were 

 designed. 



