468 



THE H0E8B, 



make both the foot and the shoe as level as you could ; but 

 when Tou have done that, the small quantity of burning that is 



necessary to make them come close together 



do no harm. 



I have said before that a weak, thin crust will not bear as much 

 heat as a strong one, and that the shoe should be applied less 

 hot to it ; nevertheless, it must be scorched, that you may be 

 sure the shoe fits properly. 



When you have cooled the shoe, you should " back-hole " 

 it, — that is, make a free opening on the foot-surface for the nails 

 to pass through ; but mind that in doing so you do not make 

 the holes incline inwards, by breaking down the inner edge of 

 the holes more than the outer edge. 



Before you " file 

 up the shoe, hold 

 it firmly in its 

 place on the foot 

 with both hands, 

 and examine care- 

 fully whether any 

 light appears be- 

 tween the foot and 

 the shoe, and if 

 you should per- 

 ceive any, alter the 

 shoe at once ; for 

 the crust must bear 

 upon the shoe all 

 round before you 

 can say that the 

 shoe fits the foot as 

 it ought to do. 

 FiLixG UP THE Shoe. — Much time is often wasted in pol- 

 ishing the shoe with the file before it is nailed on ; but all that 

 is really needed is to get rid of the burs about the nail-holes, 

 remove the sharp edges of the shoe, and round off the heels ; 

 taking care to apply the file hard to that part of both heels 

 which comes next to the frog, so as to slant it from the ground 

 U|3ward and away from the frog ; but you must not narrow the 

 ground-sm-fsice of the web at the heels in doing so. The ac- 



