VI.] CULTIVATION. 



an ox. He would fatten on them if he did no 

 work ; but he will work on them constantly, 

 without losing flesh. You know how manv 

 oxen you have ; and you know that each will 

 require about two bushels a day, just topped and 

 tossed into a crib ; and therefore you know how 

 much of your Swedishy turnip crop you ought to 

 reserve for this purpose. The grass, and even 

 the lucerne, does not come into use, generally 

 speaking, until the middle of May. You ought, 

 therefore, according to the good English fashion of 

 providing rather too much than too little, make a 

 provision of Swedish turnips, so as to begin 

 feeding upon them on the 1st of March, and 

 ending the last week of May. Your oxen, fed 

 upon these, will trip along as quickly as almost 

 any horses, and will keep up their flesh during 

 the whole of the sowing season ; and, if circum- 

 stances should render it advisable, will be fat for 

 the butcher, by the next Christmas. Sixth : the 

 first cost of an ox or steer, three years old, 

 would at this time, if of the North Devon or 

 Sussex breed, be, perhaps, if in good condition, 

 and ready broken in to his work, from four- 

 teen to seventeen pounds. You cannot have a 

 horse of the same age under double the sum, if 

 in good condition, and fit to do the work that an 

 ox will perform. Every day of his life, until he 

 be seven years old, the ox gets better and better ; 

 F 5 



