much of his
time. Stone or brick is the next best, as the foot of the animal will
absorb moisture from either of these. Dry pine planks are the very
worst, because they attract moisture from the horse's foot. Where
animals have to stand idle much of the time, keep their feet well
stuffed with cow manure at night. That is the best and cheapest
preservative of the feet that you can use.

ADVICE TO BLACKSMITHS.

Let me enjoin you, for humanity's sake, that when you first undertake to
shoe a young animal, you will not forget the value of kind treatment.
Keep its head turned away from the glaring fire, the clinking anvil,
&c., &c. Let the man whom he has been accustomed to, the groom or owner,
stand at his head, and talk to him kindly. When you approach him for the
first time, let it be without those implements you are to use in his
shoeing. Speak to him gently, then take up his foot. If he refuse to let
you do this, let the person having him in charge do it. A young animal
will allow this with a person he is accustomed to, when he will repel a
stranger. By treating him kindly you can make him understand what is
wanted; by abusing him you will only frighten him into obstinacy. When
you have got the animal under perfect subjection, examine the foot
carefully, and you will find the heels, at the back part of the frog,
entirely free from that member, which is soft and spongy. When the foot
is down, resting on the ground, grasp the heels in your strong hand,
press them inwards towards the frog, and you will immediately find that
they will yield. You will then see that what yields so easily to the
mere pressure of the hand will expand and spread out when the weight of
the body is thrown on it. This should give you an idea of what you have
to do in shoeing that foot, and your practical knowledge should stand
you well in an argument with any of those "learned professors," who
declare the foot of the mule does not expand or contract. In truth it is
one of its necessary conditions. After being a long time badly shod,
nearly or all of this necessary principle of the foot will be lost. You
should therefore study to preserve it. And here let me give you what
little aid experience has enabled me to do. You will observe the ground
surface of the foot, no matter how high the arch may be, to be at least
half an inch wide, and sometimes more than an inch, with the heels
spread out at the outside quarter. Do not cut away this important brac