_How to Sharpen a Hoe._--It is quicker and more satisfactory to file a hoe sharp than to grind it on the grindstone. The shank of the hoe must be held firmly in the vise and there should be a solid block of wood under the blade of the hoe, a little back from the edge; to keep the file from chattering. A single cut flat file is the best to use. It should be long enough to be easily held in one position to make a smooth, even bevel at the same angle to the face of the blade all the way across. To make sure not to file a feather edge it is better to joint the hoe to begin with, then to stop filing just before reaching the edge. If the edge be left 1/64" thick it will wear longer and work more easily after having been used an hour or two than it will if the edge be filed thin. This is especially noticeable when the ground contains small stones. Hoes are sharpened from the under side only. The inside of a hoe blade should be straight clear to the edge. Hoes should always have sharp corners. When working around valuable plants you want to know exactly where the corner of the hoe is when the blade is buried out of sight in the ground. _Shoeing Farm Horses._--Farmers have no time or inclination to make a business of shoeing horses, but there are occasions when it is necessary to pull a shoe or set a shoe and to do it quickly. Shoeing tools are not numerous or expensive. They consist first of a tool box, with a stiff iron handle made in the shape of a bale. The box contains a shoeing hammer, hoof rasp, hoof knife, or paring-knife, as it is usually called, and two sizes of horseshoe-nails. Sometimes a foot pedestal is used to set the horse's front foot on when the horse wants to bear down too hard, but this pedestal is not necessary in the farm shop. There are flat-footed horses that cannot work even in summer without shoes. Common sense and shoeing tools are the only requirements necessary to tack on a plate without calks. Shoes to fit any foot may be purchased at so much a pound. A paring-knife is used to level the bottom of the hoof so that it will have an even bearing on the shoe all the way round. It is not desirable to pare the frog or the braces in the bottom of a horse's foot. If the foot is well cupped, a little of the horny rim may be taken off near the edges. Generally it is necessary to shorten the toe. This is done partly with the hoof chisel and rasp after the shoe is nailed fast. Sometimes one-fourth of an inch is sufficient; at other times a horse's hoof is very much improved by taking off one-half inch or more of the toe growth either from the bottom or the front or both. Like all other mechanical work the shoeing of a horse's foot should be studied and planned before starting. A long toe is a bad leverage to overcome when pulling a heavy load. At the same time, nature intended that a horse should have considerable toe length as a protection to the more tender parts of the foot. And the pastern bone should play at the proper angle.