13 



part fully prepared to follow a good lead ; but it is very 

 disheartening to take great pains for an employer, who 

 neither knows, cares for, nor appreciates the difference be- 

 tween good wor-k and bad : it is not in human nature to 

 continue exertions against such a depressing drawback : and 

 here let me mention, that a smith, unaccustomed to accurate 

 fitting of a shoe, will at first find it to be a task requiring 

 some pains ; his head, hands, and hammer, will all endea- 

 vour to go in the old direction ; but very little practice 

 will enable him to shoe a horse in the same time, that 

 he occupies about it now, or mdeed in less ; for he will 

 have fewer holes to make, and fewer nails to ^Joint, drive, 

 and clench down. 



At fii'st I experienced gi'eat difficulty in persuading many 

 of those, who consulted me, that six nails were fully sufficient 

 for all their purposes ; but, when they at last consented to 

 try them, each experiment made it more and more evident, 

 that it was so ; and the fact became established beyond 

 dispute. I then pressed hard for five ; and those, who 

 gave in to me, were astonished to find, that leaving out 

 a nail had made no difference whatever in the security of 

 the shoe. Thus matters went on, until the arrival of the 

 hunting season, I having in the mean time superintended 

 the shoeing of as many horses, as a veterinary surgeon in 

 full practice. I now determined, if any friend would lend 

 himself to my project, to set at rest the much disputed 

 question of the capability of six naUs to hold a shoe through 

 a long day m a heavy country : unhappily for me an old 

 weakness in the back prevented my doing it for myself; it 



