88 RuTA Baga culture. [PartL 



if they are strong enough, are not so steady as oxen, 

 which are more patient also, and with which you may 

 send the plough-share doion without any of the fretting 

 and unequal pulling, or jerking, that you have to en- 

 counter with horses. And, as to the sloiv pace of the 

 ox, it is the old story of the tortoise and the hare. If 

 I had known, in England, of the use of oxen, what I 

 have been taught upon Long Island, I might have 

 saved myself some hundreds of pounds a year. I 

 ought to have followed Tull in this as in all other part* 

 of his manner of cultivating land. But, in our country, 

 it is difficult to get a ploughman to look at an ox. In 

 this Island the thing is done so completely and so ea- 

 sily, that it was, to me, quite wonderful to behold. To 

 see one of these Long-Islanders going into the field, or 

 orchard, at sun-rise, with his yoke in his hand, call 

 his oxen by name to come and put their necks under 

 the yoke, drive them before him to the plough, just 

 hitch a hook on to the ring of the yoke, and then, with- 

 out any thing except a single chain and the yoke, with 

 no reins, no halter, no traces, no bridle, no driver, set 

 to plough, and plough a good acre and a half in the day. 

 To see this would make an English farmer stare ; and 

 well it might, when he looked back to the ceremonious 

 and expensive business of keeping and managing a 

 plough-team in England. 



125. These are the means, which I would, and which 

 I shall, use, to protect my crops against the effects of a 

 dry season. So that, as every one has the same means 

 at his command, no one need to be afraid of drought. 

 It is a bright plough-share that is always wanted much 

 more than the showers. With this culture there is no 

 fear of a crop ; and though it amount to only five hun- 

 dred bushels on an acre, what crop is half so valuable ? 



126. The bulk of crop, however, in the broad-cast, 

 or random method, may be materially affected by 



When the corn (Indian) and turnips get to a size, suflncient 

 to attract the appetite of the ox, yoii have only to put on a 

 muzzle. This is what Mr. Tull did ; for, though we ought 

 not to muzzle the ox " as he treadeth out the com," we may do 

 it, even for his own sake, amongst other considerations, when 

 iie is assisting iis tp bring the crop to perfection. 



