THE MULE. 99 



understand, also, what sort of shoe is needed for the 

 feet of different animals. Latterly a number of shoes 

 have been invented and patented, all professing to be 

 exactly what is wanted to relieve and cure diseased feet 

 of all kinds. One man has a shoe he calls " concave^'' 

 and says it will cure contraction, corns, thrush, quarter- 

 crack, toe-crack, &c., &c. But when you come to ex- 

 amine it closely, you will find it nothing more than a 

 nicely dressed piece of iron, made almost in the shape of 

 a half moon. After a fair trial, however, it will be 

 found of no more virtue in curing diseases or relieving 

 the animal than the ordinary shoe used by a country 

 smithy. Another inventive genius springs up and 

 asserts that he has discovered a shoe that will cure all 

 sorts of diseased feet; and brings at least a bushel 

 basket full of letters from persons he declares to be in- 

 terested in the horse, confirming what he has said of 

 the virtues of his shoe. But a short trial of this won- 

 derful shoe only goes to show how little these persons 

 understand the whole subject, and how easy a matter it 

 is to procure letters ' recommending what they have 

 invented. 



Another has a " specific method " for shoeing, which 

 is to cut away the toe right in the center of the foot, 

 cut away the bars on the inside of the foot, cut and 

 clean away all around on the inside of the hoof, then to 

 let the animal stand on a board floor, so that his feet 

 would be in the position a saucer would represent with 

 one piece broken out at the front and two at the back. 

 This I consider the most inhuman method in the art 

 of shoeing. Turn this saucer upside down and see 



