98 
HOUSE SHOEING. 
selves inclined to commence the attack, they 
are liable to be led off by mischievous associ¬ 
ates, so that the question must be determined, 
which of these animals are the most valuable 
to the public. The comparison cannot be 
made upon any individual estimate; for one dog 
will, in a short time, maim and destroy a score 
of sheep. Your petitioners do not propose to 
make the same war upon dogs, that the dogs do 
upon the sheep; but they desire that, by the 
most stringent enactments, the dogs may be 
kept always at home, or under the immediate 
control of their masters. They do, therefore, re¬ 
spectfully ask that a law may be passed charg¬ 
ing upon the several counties within the state, 
all losses that may arise within the same, from 
the injury or destruction, of sheep by dogs, 
without restriction as to the funds that may be 
in the treasury from the dog tax, and giving to 
the several boards of supervisors, throughout 
the state, the most ample powers to make such 
laws and regulations with regard to the keeping 
of dogs, and the tax to be paid for them as will 
protect the county from loss; and especially 
providing that the owner of every dog, found at 
large, in the public highway, or upon any prem¬ 
ises other than that belonging to his owner, un¬ 
less under the immediate control of his owner, 
or some one of his family or servants, shall be 
subject to a penalty of $50 for every offence; 
and that any person shall have full right to kill 
any such dogs, found at large, within the town 
in which he may reside. Your petitioners pre¬ 
sent herewith the draft of a law to which they 
respectfully ask the consideration of the legis¬ 
lature. 
HORSE SHOEING. 
The following exceedingly sensible remarks 
are from the pen of Mr. Miles, Veterinary Sur¬ 
geon to the Queen of England’s Life Guards, 
and author of several valuable veterinary works. 
We commend them most particularly to the 
notice of every person who has that valuable, 
and almost indispensable animal, the horse, in 
his charge. That class of persons very justly 
characterised by Surgeon Miles, as ‘-asinine 
smiths,” are invited to give their attention. 
The shoes of the horse should be of equal 
thickness throughout, with a flat ground sur¬ 
face, as those with high heels, which asinine 
smiths make in imitation of their own, are dan¬ 
gerously absurd. The toe, which ought to be 
raised, is thus lowered, and nature’s plan rever¬ 
sed, which elevates the point in order to avoid 
obstructions. The web should be wide, and of 
the same width throughout, instead of being 
pinched in, because the Vulcan operator likes 
to see the shoe well set off at the heels. This 
is both unphilosophical and detrimental; it de¬ 
ceives the eye of man, and injures the foot of 
the horse. The outer edge of the foot rests on 
the inner edge of the shoe, and the remaining 
width of the web projects beyond the hoof; so 
that the master who thinks his horse has a good 
open foot, only has to be proud of a bad open 
shoe, which both conceals deformities under¬ 
neath, and invites with open arms a bad road 
to come and do its worst. The heels are made 
bare just where the navicular joint is most ex¬ 
posed ; and if that be inflamed, what must the 
agony be when the unprotected foot treads on a 
sharp flint ? The horse falls suddenly lame, or 
drops as if he had been shot—phrases in much 
too common use to require explanation; and 
small is the pity which the suffering animal 
meets with from man, who, having first de¬ 
stroyed the use of his victim’s feet, abuses him 
because he cannot go; and imputes “groggi¬ 
ness” to him as a crime, as if he were in liquor 
like a groom, and not in agony. 
BEST TIME FOR CUTTING HICKORY TIMBER. 
Permit me to mention a fact in relation to 
cutting hickory timber for farm or other uses. 
Three or four years ago, I was told by a very 
old man, (who is famous for his forks, rakes, 
&c., made of hickory,) that if I would cut the 
wood upon the 4th, 5th, and 6th days after the 
new moon, in August, that he would warrant it 
not to be destroyed by the worm nor borers. 
The result for several years has verified the 
old man’s prediction, whilst that cut through the 
winter and at all other times through the sum¬ 
mer, and* not barked, (as a trial,) has been eat¬ 
en throughout. Not being a lunarian, I endeav¬ 
ored to account for its preservation to the old 
man, by stating that the hickory, at that partic¬ 
ular time, was in the chrysalis state, and there¬ 
fore incapable of depositing the egg, &c.; but 
this he looks upon as rank heresy, 
A Virginia Farmer, 
Winchester, Va., Jan., 1851, 
Writers for the Agriculturist, are request¬ 
ed to make their communications brief and ex¬ 
plicit. Goethe says: “The design of language 
is to give expression to thought; that style of 
writing, therefore, must necessarily be the best 
which most rapidly, clearly, and perfectly con¬ 
veys to the reader’s mind what the writer in¬ 
tended he should understand. 
