^g6 On Working Oxen. Aiig* 



lieve, in reading his EflTay, was, that the damper the mofs, the 

 fermentation would come the fooner ; though this really hap* 

 pened. The mofs was equally as good for fuel as any mofs in 

 the kingdom, being a very hard, black peat, when dried. If 

 the compound anfwers as well in the end as at the beginning, 

 I mean, for a good return of crop, it will be the mofl: valuable 

 fubflirute for manure tliat has ytt been difcovcred in our illand, 

 as mofs every where abounds. I am yours, Sec. 



A LANARKbHIRE FaRMER. 



TO THE CONDUCTOR OF THE FARMER's MAGAZINE. 



On the TVorklng of Oxen. 



Sir, 



Ox-draughts for ploughing and other branches of hufbandry, 

 were univerfal in Northumberland about fixty years ago. Two 

 oxen were yoked behind a pair of horfes, and thefe oxen were 

 changed every yoking •, fo that four oxen were, at intervals, 

 attached to one plough with a pair of horfes. Thefe ploughs 

 were driven by a boy. Since that period, ploughs of a lighter 

 conftru6lion, fimilar to thofe now in ufe, were introduced into 

 this county, to be worked with a pair of horfes only, and 

 without a driver. In a fhort time they entirely fuperfeded the 

 horfe and ox-ploughs, as, without a driver, they performed 

 more work in general than the other draught. A few, and but 

 a very few farmers have of late adopted the ox as an animal 

 of labour by himfclf. They are chiefly ufed, I believe, in cart- 

 ing at home. 



Your noble correfpondent. Lord Somerville, has, in the 15th 

 Number of your Magazine, favoured us with an account of 

 Lis ox-ploughs, which furpafs in aftivity any thing I have (ccn 

 or heard of. Five acres, v.'e/I ploughed, it mult be fuppofed by 

 ihe/ame pair of oxen, in a week, is certainly a great perform- 

 ance. His Lordfliip, however, does not notice the kind of foil 

 on which they are employed, vvliether ftony, clayey, or hilly. 

 The nature of the fubfoil is alfo material. Of the former kind 

 of foil, the degree of labour in the working animal is deeply 

 afT"c6led by the pofition and fize of the ftones, and by the kind 

 of llufF, as miners term it, in which they are placed. If this 

 be a hard binding clay, the ftrength of the labouring creature to 

 force forward the plough, mud be proportionally greater. A 

 ftiff clay to work in, and ftill more if placed on Iteep acclivities, 

 and on a hard or ilony fubfoil, will form weighty confidera- 



tions 



