Year: 1876

Farm and Garden.


! Horse Shoe and Shoeing.


The following excellent advice or


the above subject lately appeared in


Forest and Stream.


On an average horses require shoe


ing once month. The length of time


shoe will wear depends much on the


KIND OF service a horse is doing, and on


the Kind OF road he is daily travelling.


A team horse in heavy draught does
not wear out as many shoes as one used
IN hack !; quick motion grinds shoes
down more rapidly than slow use.
Some pavement is harder ON shoes
than an ordinary road, while the fric.
tion Of gravelly road wears them
away rapidly. Wooden pavement is
but little saving to tho wear and tear
of shoes, for the grit and dust which
become impacted in the interstices of
the wooden block grind away shoes like
the friction of an emery wheel.


The hind shoes wear out first, and
there is more strain and friction on
them than on the fere-shoes. 1t is i'm
possible and improper for horse to
wear shoes more than six weeks, for
the growth of the foot shortens the
shoe, as wellas changes the shape 9TH
erwise. The neglect will cause the
shoe to encroach upon the soft text
ures of the foot and produce lameness.


The greatest amount of custom to
the blacksmith comes from the team.
sters, expressmen and livery men
Omnib:s and railroad companies have
their own forges and do their own
shoeing.


The process of making horseshoe
is familiar to every school-l,oy, who
has often fingered at the smithy door.
and listened to the wheeling of the
asthmatic bellows, and when the foot
is paired wondered why it did not
bleed. Again he has seen the strong
armed workman pluck the piece of
glowing metal from the bright fire,
and with the hammer give it repeated
blows, and give it shape by curling
over the anvil point. Heating again
and again, the iron he pounds mali.
ciously. causing the Kissing sparks to
fly in all directions, until at length
shoe is formed complete.


This tedious process is superseded
by machinery, and now, like dough.
nut, Il shoe is cut out of piece
of steel. shaped, creased and
punched, precisely as if done by hand.
More shoes can be made by machinery
in one day than blacksmith can make
by forge in week, and equally as
good, too, in all respects.


The matter of horse shoeing is of
great interest to owners of horse flesh.
for everyone has an idea how the shoe
should be shaped and fitted to enable
the beast to travel to his notion. 1t
he overreaches, interferes, or STUN.
bles, the blacksmith is held response
bic. 1t is true, a skillful mechanic
can do much to remedy these evils.
There are but few practical mechan-
les who have sufficiently studied the
foot of the horse. 1t is not enough to
know tho anatomy of the foot, and
where to insert nail not to cause pain,
but the foot should be studied in the
state of nature before the mechanism
of man has by artificial appliances dis
torted it.


The shape of the hcof of the wild
horse, or of. one who has never been
shod, should be taken as a model. The
foot is then properly balanced, neither
too long nor too broad, but it has ad:
justed itself to nature, and the mus.
cles or tendons are not strained by
travel. Confinement and unskillful
shoeing changes the anatomical rela.
tions of the foot, and the best judg.
ment of the mechanic is often taxed
to correct the growing deformity-
from unskillful shoeing. When a rea-
soning, skillful mechanic is found, the
horse is safe in his hands, for he only
preserves the normal shape of the
hoof, and adjusts the shoe to protect it.


The frog in the hoof Of the horse is
placed there for particular purpose,
and should not be cut by the shoer. Ii
this is allowed. contraction and lame
ness will follow. The shape and weight
of the shoe should be accommodated
to the purpose to which they are de-
signed. The track horse requires a
shoe lighter and without corks, while
the draft horse must have a heavy,
broad shoe. with corks. to enable him
to obtain foothold and travel with the
least possible strain. The sporting
horse should be shod lightly, with a
swell. at tho heel and toe; the best
nails should be selected, and care used
in clinching, for the casting of the
shoes during the chase is Of great incon-
venience, and might throw the horse
and jeopardize the limbs and life Of
the rider.


Carbolic Acid.-A small quantity of
carbolic acid is 1ecoml ended to be
used in whitewash and in paste for
laying paper hangings. 1t will repel