70 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



put to the same uses as hemp. At the present day, the 

 people of Lower Languedoc, towards Lodeve, manufac- 

 ture it into various household textures, such as table- 

 cloths, shirts, and other things, employing the bark as 

 fuel. It is the species called by Pliny (Book xxxix. cap. 9) 

 genista, but which he seems, though wrongly, to consider 

 as another variety — the Stipa {macrochloa) tenacissima. 

 This last variety certainly grows in Spain and Africa, and 

 is there designated sparto or esparto. As described by 

 him (Book xix. cap. 2), it is still in great request for the 

 manufacture of baskets, mattresses, ship-cables and cord- 

 age, and when treated as hemp, is converted into more 

 delicate articles. The Spaniards make of it a kind of 

 shoes called alpergates, which form a large export com- 

 modity, being in popular demand in the Indies, where 

 these sandals are more suitable than anything else. It is 

 also an essential material for the fabrication of coverings 

 for rooms, balconies, and chairs ; and makes, besides, ex- 

 cellent panniers for mules. It is most likely that the 

 Greeks employed the spartium and the Romans the stipa, 

 in making shoes for their beasts of burthen. 



In more modern times, however, sandals for horses 

 have been made from spartum, as appears from J, Leonis.' 

 It is also now largely employed in the manufacture of 

 paper. 



We have already examined what Vegetius had to say 

 about horses' feet, and their injuries from non-shoeing. 

 We will now consider what he relates with regard to 

 some portions of their treatment, as a supplement to his 

 mention of ' detritus pedibus,' ' subtritus pedibus.' etc. He 



' Africae Descriptio. Lib. iii. p. 120. 



