OX VERSUS HORSE 19 



brook in which were submerged the cans, kept milk sweet in warmest 

 weather. Later it was pasteurized, subduing the elusive coli. 



We also pioneered the milk bottling plan in our section and 

 lost some good farm hands because of the additional labor entailed. 

 Careless help not only decreased the milk yield, but incurred 

 bad debts, due to poor judgment in the matter of credit, 

 so before the business proved a loss we sold out the herd, with the 

 exception of a prize trio, to a fellow enthusiast in Worcester, 

 Massachusetts. As the beautiful, white blanketed creatures started 

 down the road for their new home, another of our pet hobbies was 

 unseated. 



With what enthusiasm I took up the theory of the late Donald 

 G. Mitchell (Ike Marvel) in regard to keeping cows under open 

 field sheds in summer and feeding them daily with freshly-cut fodder. 

 But experience taught that it was more economical to make them 

 work their own passage for six months at least, in which opinion later 

 correspondence with Mr. Mitchell fortified me. Dobbin (i. e. Victor) 

 harnessed to a tread mill ran the Ross cutter which inched corn 

 for the silo. Later a gasoline engine not only cut up corn but 

 sawed wood, whipped cream into butter, and ran the washing machine, 

 until electricity flashed to the fore and banished many limitations. 



Ox Versus Horse. 



Among the animals was a prize yoke of steers, able to move a 

 small house. But oxen were soon supplanted, as I fancied that 

 their slow gait counteracted the enthusiasm of the most strenuous man 

 I could hire. This theory of mine was somewhat shaken by a farmer 

 who argued that a pair of steers cost $125 to $200, live on hay 

 in winter and grass in summer, and do not necessarily require grain nor 

 roots, while horses that cost in the beginning fully three times as 

 much are far more expensive to keep. In ten years the steers 

 will bring more than their cost for beef, while the horses are 

 practically used up. The steer cultivates as many acres as the horse, 

 and if trained to it can be used in a mowing machine, and will 

 tire the most enthusiastic plodding ploughman in a day's work. 

 Evidently the horse has his innings with the farmer because of the 

 necessity of getting to market quickly and the pleasure and con- 

 venience of driving, but gauged by economics the,.,ox is not the "has- 

 been" the horse votary would make him out. Style is one main factor 

 in his banishment. Losses from horse diseases often deplete the 

 income of that farmer who neglects to insure his stock.* 



The Farm Lawn Versus Hayfield. 



No, my "would-be" farmer; cows on the lawn are not such a 

 calamity as cows in the corn. This photograph was taken in June 



^'Indiscriminate salting causing immoderate thirst sponsored the death by colic of Alice 

 our prize brood mare. 



