PAPERSPAST

PAPER HORSE SHOES.

A trial of paper shoes for horses is shortly to be made in London. Enthusiasts think it will have a great effect upon the business of farriers and horse-dealers.

Snugly reposing in a glass show case at Mr J. A. W. Dollar's veterinary establishment, in New Bond street, is a horse shoe, which looks strangely out of place in the glittering collection of shoes of all sorts, strongly nailed on to models of hoofs. The new horse shoe is made of compressed paper ; it requires no nails to secure it to the hoofs, and while lighter than the most fragile of racing plates, it is claimed to be nearly as durable as the solid iron shoes which have hitherto secured to horses immunity from the effect of constant travelling over rough surfaces. Mr Dollar, who proposes to shoe a large number of horses experimentally shortly with the new shoe, which is a German invention, says that in Berlin, where cab and carriage horses have been shod with paper shoes for some time, good success has resulted. One of the first advantages of paper shoes for horses is the decreased cost. It is believed that a saving of 20 per cent, in the actual cost of keeping horses shod can be effected by the use of the new shoe.

But the cost of keeping horses shod is the most inconsiderably burden of the old method, with iron shoes, with which all the world is familiar. The real tax of iron shoes is the danger of their use, from the necessity of their being nailed in place. The new paper shoes are secured with a very strong glue. It is no exaggeration to say that almost all hoof troubles are caused by careless and improper shoeing. By far the largest part of the evils of improper shoeing come from injury, to ttys fpqt through/ bent ' or.- misdriven nails. Thousarias of valuable horses have thus been injured for life. Tke facts that the new paper horse-shoes can be applied by anyone, that they are slightly elastic, thus accommodating themselves to the natural contractions and expansions of the hoof, and are not oapable of producing hoof galls, or cuts, should one horse be kicked by another, are considered as among the other advantages which . make horse-owners — if not farriers — hope for the success of the coming experiments.

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