ON SHOEING HORSES. 
613 
The curiosity of the subject is, the blowing of hot and cold from 
the same bellows: pages 501, “ignorant shoeing smith;” 502, 
“ intelligent farrier.” 
What do you say, Larry! I just want to know what the gen¬ 
tleman means ; if you say that the latter does not qualify the for¬ 
mer, only let me catch him in Cork. 
You have told him you could, years gone by, “ discriminate 
between the wel \-fitted shoe and mere well -finished shoebut 
why did you hit us town firemen so hard in replying to him 1 
Because you richly deserved it. This fine shoeing of yours, mates, 
has for many, many years lamed more horses in England than the 
pace. 
But, you see, we have been “ at a premium,” and you—look ! 
look again!—have been at a discount! 
Out, you rogues; I’ll drop you before 1 get to the terminus; 
I find you are my rivals, powerful opponents. 
“ No, Jack, good Jack, sweet Jack,” don’t break our necks on 
the rail. 
Get out, I say; you shall not be “ akin to the better man.” 
You understand you have the si?ie qua non. You have the “ ca¬ 
pability of marchinggo, or I’ll send my foot where your apron 
is not. 
No, Jack; what did the great Caliph do when you said he was 
suiting his principles to the state of the trade 1 
Do 1 He sent me the offer of an appointment. 
Why should he have been offended; he could not help you 
while you persisted in shoeing with the long shoe having bearing 
on the heels when the foot was raised from the ground. 
Budge: “the authorities are keenly alive.” We don’t know 
who they are. Nor I; but I will give you a specimen of the 
liveliness of some :—In 1836, I happened to have a brother in a 
certain office, and he informed me that Caliph C. Percivall had 
been there, and asked his governor to order the contract horseshoe 
boxes to be opened, which was done—some shoes taken out by the 
shoeing smiths, who tried the sizes on the troop horses. The 
shoeing smiths said they could alter these; but where did the heel 
nail-holes of the larger shoes appear on the smaller horses’ feet, 
&c., and could these be altered and fitted without a forge cart, or 
Cherry’s patent forge I The shoes were only of four sizes. 
No. 1 being 6| inches diameter; No. 2, 6 inches; No. 3,5| inches; 
No. 4, 5 inches: the intermediate sizes were, in most of the boxes, 
not to be found. Now I do not know what the Caliph was after; 
but as he had been in India, I can guess, as twenty-five years ago 
I alluded to this when I wrote, “ This system affords immediate 
