116 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



growing disuse of ox-labor in favor of horse-labor on farms 

 is an error. Many of the arguments brought against the use 

 of ordinary' oxen on the farm have no force against the 

 trained ox. We were surprised and delighted, as every per- 

 son must have been who witnessed the exhibition of Mr. 

 Morgan's trained oxen and steers, at the capabilities qf the 

 stupid ox. The proper sphere of labor for the ox is on the 

 farm ; and we should have been better pleased to have seen 

 these oxen perform in the yoke, and with the cart. The two 

 most difficult practical feats to thoroughly educate into a 

 pair of oxen are backing, and moving sideways to the right 

 or left. These cattle executed both manoeuvres tvithout a yoke 

 perfectly. The question was, what they would have done 

 in practical life, with a yoke and reasonable load. In our 

 exhibitions of trained cattle we think our committees and 

 exhibiters mistake in overloading their teams. It should not 

 be a question so much of drawing or backing a hundred 

 pounds, more or less, as carrying themselves evenly and uni- 

 formly to the best advantage. It is not enough that a pair 

 of oxen are capable of forcing a given load backward or for- 

 ward a certain distance : they must be able to do it within 

 certain limits of space and time ; and as rapid motion is of 

 quite as much importance as great strength in the ox, for 

 ordinary farm-purposes, we should like to see a trial of walk- 

 ing for the steers as well as trotting for the colts. 



The United States, soil and climate considered, is the best 

 cattle country in the world. Franklin County has some of 

 the best grazing-lands, and is not behind the average of this 

 great country in its capabilities for cattle products. We 

 have shown that the number of cattle in the entire county 

 is not sufficient to supply the natural and usual wants and 

 demands of our own people ; at the same time a new enter- 

 prise has been entered upon by which immense numbers of 

 our neat-stock and other animals are to be exported to Eng- 

 land, and eventually to other countries deficient in meat prod- 

 uct. This extraordinary demand, in addition to our home 

 consumption, must enhance the price of beef and mutton, 

 and make neat-stock and sheep-husbandry profitable above 

 that of any other employment on our farms for many years 

 to come. Let the farmers of Franklin County be wise to 

 improve this their opportunity to increase their flocks and 



