THE BLACKSMITH 181 



lumpy, heavy, graceless, iron-bound hoof emancipated from 

 the hand of the country shoer, as there is between the Bartley 

 turned out boot, and the shapeless, baggy, half-tanned leather 

 looking things of John Crookedlast, of the village of Clotting- 

 ton. There is as much difference in iron as there is in leather. 

 A set of shoes from one man will last half as long again as a 

 set of shoes from another man, just as a pair of boots from one 

 man will outwear two pair from another. We have seen stuff 

 put on for iron that was almost as soft as gingerbread, driven 

 in by great tenpenny-nail-looking things, whose fat unburied 

 heads looked as if they were meant to act the part of one of 

 Crosskill's clod crushers ; regular tear-up-the-land and soil- 

 looking things. 



It is not our intention to discuss the merits of the different 

 forms of shoes, but there is one point connected with hunting 

 shoes that merits a word or two, and that is " calkins," or 

 turnings up of the heels, to prevent slipping. These are very 

 useful in downy, hilly countries, and if the calkins could be 

 added on arriving at that sort of country, they would be very 

 good, especially in frosty weather, where, as all Sussex sports- 

 men know, one side of a hill is often soft and the other side 

 hard, according as they lie to the sun. Some turn up the 

 outer heel only, and on soft greasy surfaces, perhaps, the 

 outer heel is sufficient, but as that causes uneven treading, it 

 must be prejudicial to the foot on roads and hard surfaces. 

 If calkins, therefore, are used, they should be used to both 

 sides of the heel, or the foot either raised up or pared down, so 

 as to preserve an equalit}'. 



There is another very important point connected with 

 shoeing, particularly hunter shoeing, that even our friend 

 Lord Brougham and the whole " Useful Knowledge Society" 

 seem to have overlooked, and that is nails. The best and 

 neatest of shoes are useless without good nails, just as the 

 best and neatest of biped ones are useless without strings or 



