cut it away.  Put two nails in the shoe on each side, and both forward of the quarters, and one in the toe, directly in front of the foot.  Let those on the sides be an inch apart, then you will be sure not to cut and tear the foot.  Let the nails and nail-holes be small, for they will then aid in saving the foot.  It will still further aid in saving it by letting the nails run well up into the hoof, for that keeps the shoe steadier on the foot.  The hoof is just as thick to within an inch of the top, and is generally sounder, and of a better substance, than it is at the bottom.  Keep the first reason for shoeing apparent in your mind always—­that you only shoe your mule because his feet will not stand the roads without it.  And whenever you can, shoe him with a shoe exactly the shape of his foot.  Some blacksmiths will insist on a shoe, and then cutting and shaping the foot to it.  The first or central surface of the hoof, made hard by the animal’s own peculiar way of traveling, indicates the manner in which he should be shod.  All the art in the world cannot improve this, for it is the model prepared by nature.  Let the shoes be as light as possible, and without calks if it can be afforded, as the mule always travels unsteady on them.  The Goodenough shoe is far superior to the old calked shoe, and will answer every purpose where holding is necessary.  It is also good in mountainous countries, and there is no danger of the animal calking himself with it.  I have carefully observed the different effect of shoes, while with troops on the march.  I accompanied the Seventh Infantry, in 1858, in its march to Cedar Valley, in Utah, a distance of fourteen hundred miles, and noticed that scarcely a man who wore regulation shoes had a blister on his feet, while the civilians, who did not, were continually falling out, and dropping to the rear, from the effects of narrow and improper shoes and boots.  The same is the case with the animal.  The foot must have something flat and broad to bear on.  The first care of those having charge of mules, should be to see that their feet are kept in as near a natural state as possible.  Then, if all the laws of nature be observed, and strictly obeyed, the animal’s feet will last as long, and be as sound in his domestic state as he would be in a state of nature.

The most ordinary observer will soon find that the outer portion or covering of the mule’s foot possesses very little animal life, and has no sensibility, like the hair or covering of the body.  Indeed, the foot of the horse and mule is a dense block of horn, and must therefore be influenced and governed by certain chemical laws, which control the elements that come in contact with it.  Hence it was that the feet of these animals was made to bear on the hard ground, and to be wet naturally every time the horse drank.  Drought and heat will contract and make hard and brittle the substance of which the feet is composed; while on the other hand cooling and moisture will expand it, and render it pliable and soft.  Nature has provided everything necessary to preserve and protect this foot, while the animal is in a natural state; but when brought into domestic use, it requires the good sense of man, whose servant he is, to artificially employ those means which nature has provided, to keep it perfectly healthy.