Among grooms and coachmen it is a common practice to apply oil or some greasy mixture to the wall, or, as it is sometimes termed, the crust, all that portion of the hoof which is visible when the horse is standing upon it. They suppose that the ointment penetrates the horn and softens it. But in this there is some error. The depth to which any unctuous application penetrates is very insignificant. The only mode in which an ointment can contribute to the elasticity of the hoof, is by preventing its moisture from flying off. It operates like a varnish, protecting the horn from the desiccating effects of an arid atmosphere. A hoof ointment will exclude moisture as well as retain it; and there are some feet which require an ointment to keep the moisture in, and others to keep the moisture out. Water alone enters the pores of horn very readily, and it never does so without rendering the horn soft and yielding. There are many horses, particularly heavy horses, that have weak feet, the crust thin, the sole flat, and the heels low. The crust is hardly strong enough to support the horse's weight. When softened it yields, the sole sinks lower, and the whole foot becomes worse than it was before. Such a foot should seldom be purposely softened by the application of water.

It should have sufficient moisture to prevent brit-tleness, but. no more. When the horse has to work long and often in deep, wet ground, an ointment will prevent it from absorbing too much water. Should this or any other foot become brittle, it may be soaked in water, and then immediately after covered with an ointment to retain the water. I have observed the effects of long-continued application of water to the hoofs of horses that were employed for several days in carting sand from the bed of a river. The horn became excessively soft, the nails lost their hold; the sole, especially of weak hoofs, sunk a little, and the crust became oblique. Subsequently, when these horses came to their ordinary work on the stones, the horn became brittle, so brittle that it would hardly hold a nail. The surface of the hoof is naturally covered by a varnish which protects it from the air. But after this varnish is rubbed off by working in wet sand, by standing in sponge boots, or by the smith's rasp in shoeing, water enters the hoof very quickly, and leaves it as quickly, taking with it the moisture which the varnish had previously retained.

Then, to make a rigid, strong foot elastic, the horn should be saturated with water, and to keep it elastic, the ointment should be applied before the water evaporates. To keep a thin weak foot as hard and unyielding as possible without making it brittle, an ointment should be applied to prevent the absorption of water.

The times of anointing must vary with the state of the foot, and the state of the road. During wet weather the thin foot should be oiled before the horse goes out, and the strong thick foot after the horse comes in. When the air is hot and dry, or the road deep and sandy, the ointment will generally require to be renewed every second day.

Fish oil is in general use for anointing the hoof; tar, lard, oil, and bees'-wax, melted together in equal proportions, form a better and more durable application. Pitch, applied warm, lasts still longer, but it does not look well. It may be useful when the horse is going to grass. The hind feet are often anointed, but they seldom need it. The hoofs of cart-horses are usually coated with tar when they are shod, and, if they need such an application at all, this is the time to make it. [We have great doubts as to the utility of oiling the horse's hoof, and in any event, it should be done with great caution. Youatt says, that oils and ointments close the pores of the feet, and ultimately increase the dryness and brittleness which they were designed to remedy.]

Moisture to the Wall, besides softening the horn, has considerable influence upon its growth. In some horses the horn grows very slowly, in others very quickly. A deficiency is common among heavy draught-horses, and is often a serious evil. There are only two ways of increasing the growth : the one is to blister once or twice around the coronet, the other is to keep the foot constantly saturated with water. In both cases the horse must be thrown off work. Moisture might be applied to any extent in the stable, and the horse still kept on duty. But then the horn yields so much that this remedy creates as great an evil as it removes. The horn grows in more abundance, but the sole sinks till the foot is almost or totally ruined. This happens, however, only to horses of great weight, it is necessary, therefore, in applying much moisture to their feet, to turn such horses into a marsh for two or three months with grass plates. There the foot will receive moisture to increase its growth, and the sole will receive sufficient support to prevent its descent. These two, moisture and support, can not be fully obtained while the horse continues in work.

The clay-box is a tolerable substitute for a marsh.

When the secretion of horn is deficient in horses of less weight, with soles less flattened, moisture may be applied to the wall without materially interfering with the horse's duty Sponge boots, leather boots lined with sponge, and shod with iron, are too expensive, for they are soon destroyed. A boot of any kind will do if filled with cold bran-marsh, changed every time the boot is applied. The moisture must never be applied so long as to render the foot extremely soft yet the horn must never be allowed to become very dry. The boot should never be on more than three or four hours in the twenty-four, and the foot should be anointed, both sole and crust, whenever the boot is removed. An ordinary and simple way of applying moisture to the wall, is by means of what is termed a swab, that is, a double or treble fold of woollen cloth, shaped like a crescent, and tied loosely around the top of the hoof, so that it may lie upon and cover all the crust. This is kept constantly wet. It soon dries, and requires more attention than a boot; but many horses stand in the swab that tear off a boot; and by means of a swab, moisture can be applied to the wall without softening the sole or the frog.