Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1885 — The Bean. [ARTICLE]

The Bean.

The bean is one of the most ancient articles of human food. It was cultivated in Egypt in the earliest ages, and formed the common dish known among the Hebrews as pottage. It is supposed to be a native of Persia. The bean was introduced into Britain by the Bomans.

What a Blacksmith Says about Horses* . “Horse-shoeing seems an easy trade to master by any one strong enough to beat a red-hot iron on an anvil," remarked a workman blacksmith, while conversing about the size, weight and shape of the shoes for hard-pavements and soft-road work; “but not one in three of so-called horse-shoers should be allowed to handle a horse’s hoof. There is a knack in it that cannot be taught. Unless a man has an intuitive impression of the animal’s disposition that he is working on, and a pretty fair knowledge of the anatomy of and the diseases incidental to the foot, he is unfit to clean a, foot or fit a shoe. There are workers in our line of business that can never, be regarded as firstclass in it, although they may have toiled years at the anvil, while again there are others who, almost without instruction, will, in a week tor a month after they enter a shop and put on a leather apron, do work that is admirable. A horse’s foot is like unto a man’s in many respects. It may be large and clumsy, or it may be small and shapely; it may be troubled'with corns, and the frog of the foot, which is a horny, elastic substance, may be as sensitive to the touch as a lady’s finger. It is often diseased. There are a hundred things that will interfere with the usefulness of a horse —'that may be developed by carelessness or cruelty—in the foot alone. If you would have an animal worth the trouble of caring for, see to it that his feet are kept in good condition. There are people who will keep shoes on their horses two or three months at a time and wonder why it is they walk as if their feet were sore—as if they were treading on the points of needles that ran deep into the flesh at every step. No quadruped on which shoes are put to protect the hoof from unduly cracking or festering should be permitted to wear them longer than four weeks without removal and reseting. I have had horses in here the hoofs of which had grown quite two inches over the edges of the iron! There are horses that should have their feet looked to every two weeks, but it’s troublesome to bring them so often to us, and their owners take the risk while the poor animals suffer. Often fever sets in, the frog and the coffinbone become diseased, abscesses are formed and the sores breed worms. Remember, the whole weight of the body rests on all below the pasterns. To rempve these troubles what would seem to one who knows nothing of the horse rough treatment is often adopted. The fever must be reduced. To do this the inner parts of the’ foot are cleansed, tar and oakum applied, leather placed between the sole and the shoe, and other methods pursued. A ihorse’s shoe, I repeat, should be removed, if for no other purpose than to cleanse the foot, twice or thrice a month. And further, in my opinion, every shoe put on the foot shold be made to conform to it. It is a little curious, too, how horses use their feet In this they are much like human beings. Some will wear the shoe on the jleft, others on the right side. Again, some will strike the ground with their toes first, and many will wear away the palks down smooth and leave the toe bit quite perfect. Horses that strike the ground with the heel of the foot rather than with the toe are rarely exceptionally fast. To overcome this idifficulty in trotters,the toe is weighted —that is,a piece of metalis inserted between the sole and the shoe—just slipped in and readily removed—which greatly helps the horse. Corns ? Oh, yes; there are many horses troubled with corns. It arises from, I might say, the same causes which give growth to them in men and women, namely, ill-fitting shoes. Corns imply toes, do they not? Well, horses are provided with toes. But they are hidden by the hoof. Remove that and you will see the bony joints that constitute their toes as perfectly developed as those that are seen in men. Originally horses were digitigraded, but, doubtless from some unknown necessity, the digits gradually disappeared, because clothed with a hornlike protection as we see them toiday.—Brooklyn Union.