November 1, 1908 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
23 
ment of these two extremities of a hoof is 
the most difficult and most frequently 
neglected part of the preparation of a 
foot. The great cause of difficulty is the 
fact that horses’ feet are not of definite 
form, and that much harm may be done 
in attempting to carve a foot to some 
ideal standard. 
Some feet have naturally high heels, 
which can only be reduced to a shapely 
pattern by weakening their structure. 
Some feet have naturally low heels, and 
some have long toes, which must not be in 
terfered with. Asa rule; when the over- 
grown wall is reduced ,to the level of the 
sole, very little more horn need be re- 
moved.. The effects of lowering the heels 
are to lengthen the bearing surface back- 
~wards, and to increase the slope of the 
wall in front. 
Too much horn at the heels tends to 
straighten the foot and lift the frog from 
-contact with the ground. It is always 
desirable that the frog should touch the 
ground ; but when it is wasted to attempt 
+40 let it down by overlowering the heels 
should be made! Whena hoof is exces- 
sively sloped in front, and the toe long, it 
would be injurious to shorten the'toe by 
rasping the under surface of the foot 
Such a hoof is properly;treated by direct- 
ly shortening the toe with a rasp applied 
to its border. 
When a hoof presents broken horn on 
the lower border of the wall it is neces- 
sary not to allow a shoe to rest on it, 
Broken horn cannot support weight, and 
when it yields may cause injury to the 
sensitive parts and always cause shoes to 
become loose. Broken horn should be 
removed, unless it can be left in a position 
offering no bearing to theshoe. When a 
foot, is insufliciently covered with horn, 
either asa result of excessive wear from 
‘The Horse: 
‘fork of a peculiar shape. 
work without shoes, or as the effect o 
previous removal by a farrier, great care 
is necessary to produce the best bearing 
surface, As arule, the quarters of a foot 
are most broken, and the heels may be 
trusted to take most bearing. — 
Given briefly, the rules for preparing a 
foot for shoes are as follows:—With a 
rasp form a leyel bearing surface for the 
shoe from heel to toe ; keep both sides of 
the hoof the same height ; see that the 
length of the too and the height of the 
heels are proportionate ; let the frog and 
bars alone; remove from the sole only 
such portions as are loose or may receive 
undue pressure from a level shoe; finally 
run the rasp lightly round the cireum- 
ference of the hoof, so that no sharp edge 
be left, t> support 
weight and might be broken. 
which is useless 
The above is from an instructive chapter 
‘Preparation of Feet for Sheing,’ in 
Its Lreatment in Health 
and Disease,’ edited by Professor Wortley 
Axe, M.R. C. VS. 
An Odd ge eee imple. 
ment. 
What is apparently one of the most 
primitive methods known of cultivating 
the land is to be found in common usage 
in a European country—in Biscay, 
Northern Spain, where the plough is 
The implement 
‘in this cultivation and the 
apparently unknown. 
employed 
method of’ its application are described 
by M. Main in a late number of the 
‘ Journal d’Agriculture Pratique,’ as he 
saw it in work during a tour through 
Spain. The implement is a two-pronged 
Altogether the 
implement is about three feet long, the 
prongs of the fork being six inches apart, 
and a little over 30 inches jong. The 
implement is bent at an angle of 30deg. 
to the direction of the prongs, and is 
furnished with a rough wooden handle, 
In using the fork the angle of the handle : 
is away from the worker. The work is 
usually done by from two to six persons 
—usually women, They stand in a line, 
and each using {two forks raise them 
above their head, and drive with some 
force into the soil, the operation being 
repeated twice till a depth of about seven 
jnches is reached. Care is taken that the 
forks are driven into the soil about six 
inches apart. On the proper depth 
being reached the forks are worked back- 
wards and forward, till a long strip of 
soilis loosened, and it is then turned 
completely over. The operators then 
step back and attack another 
) strip 
of soil which 
is treated in the same 
way, and so on, till the end of the field is 
reached. They then return to the point 
of commencement, and attack another 
strip of soil in the same way till the 
whole field is completed. The work is 
done quickly and so evenly chat it is 
difficult to see any break in the continuity 
of the strips of over-turned soil. Though 
M. Main is an agricultural engineer, he 
does not give any notion of the yield of 
crops obtained by this method of culti. 
vation, nor does he say if harrows are 
used on it. | 
_ Bones are bones, thought a farmer at 
Montpellier, France, so he ransacked a 
deserted cemetery to get bones for his 
farm. He was caught in the act, and his 
own bones were nearly broken by his 
neighbours. 
That farmer prospers only who feeds 
his soil. Are you prosperous ? 
Oy TE A 
YWYou Rischt. 
