VI.] CULTIVATION. 



man in the labours of the field. So he was in 

 the days of Moses, and throughout the whole 

 of the periods of the transactions of which the 

 Bible is a history. We read in the Bible of war- 

 horses ; of horses drawing chariots ; but we 

 never find an allusion to horses employed in the 

 tillage of the land ; for which, by their gentle- 

 ness, by the nature of the food which they require, 

 by their great docility, oxen seem to have been 

 formed by nature. When I was in Long Island, 

 I had a pair of large oxen and a pair of small 

 ones ; and, from that time I have been astonished 

 at their not being more in use in England. If 

 you want to do a very long day's work in summer 

 time, it is necessary to rest in the middle of the 

 day, and particularly if the weather be hot. 

 What a qlutter there is with horses in this case. 

 They must be brought into the stable, rubbed 

 down, fed at manger, and taken out again to the 

 field, be the distance what it may ; an ox is un- 

 collared or unyoked, turned into the nearest field 

 which has no crop in it ; and, perhaps you may 

 let him loose in the field where you are at 

 plough, and he there, either on the unploughed 

 ground, or round the hedges, gets him a luncheon, 

 and is ready for you when you come back. The 

 docility of oxen is beyond belief to those who 

 have not been in the habit of using them. My 

 man in Long Island, used, in summer time, 



