The vast importance of the horse in the movement of business, was never so fully understood and deeply felt as during the year past, when the epizootic swept over the continent, paralyzing all movement and every form of human industry. Even the ships that whiten the seas would furl their sails and steamers quench their fires but for the labors of the horse. During the epidemic the canal-boats waited idly for their patient tow-horses and railroads carried little freight; the crops of the West lay in the farmers' granaries and the fabrics of the Eastern loom and varied products of mechanical industry crowded the warehouses; even the ragpicker in the streets suspended his humble occupation, for the merchant, unable to transport rags, refused to buy them of the gatherer. The investment of national wealth in horses being so enormous, any means that adds to the efficiency of the horse greatly enhances the general prosperity. [Illustration: PERFECT SHOE AND HOOF.] [Illustration: IMPERFECT SHOE AND HOOF.] It is an old English saying, that "a good horse will wear out two sets of feet." The meaning of this adage is obvious: a good horse's feet are useless at the time when his other powers are in the prime. Mr. Edward Cottam, of London, in his "Observations upon the Goodenough System," states that London omnibus-owners use up a young horse in four years; that is, a horse of seven years of age goes to the knackers at eleven, _pabulum Acherontis_; and the only noticeable cause of their failure is from diseases of the feet. A horse properly shod and cared for should endure five times as long. In this country horses fail in the feet, and are called old at an age when they should be in the fullest activity. This is a double loss, for every horseman of experience knows that if an old horse is sound and vigorous he has some great advantages over a young one. He is safer in every respect, "way-wise," seasoned, steady, and reliable. He and his owner are old friends and companions and can not part but with a pang of regret. A good horse, well cared for, should work cheerfully until he is thirty years of age; yet how few are able to perform genteel service after fifteen! It is a sad sight that of the high-mettled, noble animal, once the petted darling of wealth, caressed by ladies and children, and guarded so that even the winds of heaven might not visit him too roughly, fallen through the successive grades of equine degradation, until at last he hobbles before a clam-wagon or a swill-cart--a sorry relic of better days.