170 AN AGRICULTURAL FAGGOT. 



like a horse, a dead loss, but can be at once turned into 

 profit, and at the end of his life he has a value which is 

 considerably greater than that of a horse. The agent of 

 another estate which I visited mentioned, in discussing 

 this question, that he reckoned the cost of a day's work 

 of a team of three horses at nearly 50 per cent, more than 

 that of a team of four oxen. It seems to be generally 

 reckoned that three horses are equal to four oxen in 

 haulage-power. Of course, it is recognised that oxen 

 move more slowly, and, consequently, where speed is 

 required, as in road work, for instance, horses have the 

 preference. But in operations such as ploughing — though 

 I have no data available on a point which no doubt has 

 been carefully worked out — it is possible that the loss by 

 reason of lower speed may be easily exaggerated. Some 

 of our ploughing with horses is not done very rapidly, and 

 it is to be remembered that it is not the possible speed of 

 the horse, but the actual rate of walking of the man, which 

 sets the pace. We have, of course, no breed of cattle in 

 this country comparable, for draught purposes, with the 

 Charolais or Charolais-Nivernais cattle of France. Most 

 picturesque they look — big, upstanding, strong, with 

 heavy fore-ends, massive heads and widespread horns, 

 in colour either a pure white, or what a French writer terms 

 "cafe au lait clair," placid, patient, and well trained, 

 but with a deliberate, dignified gait, which, it must be 

 admitted, gives such an impression of slowness that even 

 the heaviest shire horse appears active by comparison. 



But where oxen are kept in France the working horses 

 are not slow. The favourite breed is the Percheron, 

 and it may fairly be said that we have none better. On 

 the well-known estate of M. Thome, at Pinceloup, Seine- 

 et-Oise, where the stock of all kinds — horses, cattle, 

 sheep, pigs, and dogs — are of the very highest excellence, 

 I saw some fine specimens of the Percheron breed of 

 horses. They are lighter and more active-looking than 

 our Shires and Clydesdales. Those I saw here were 



