714 Live Slock. Horfes. Different forts of Teams compared. 



months, and various ether operations praelifcd upon them in order to render them 

 more faleable.* 



it is aqueftion that has been much agitated,\vhether horfes or oxen are the moil 

 economical and advantageous for the purpofes of the farmer in performing his 

 work, and which is not yet fully decided. The circumftances in which the latter 

 have been chiefly fuppofed to be more advantageous than the former, are in their 

 being kept at lefs expenfe,and their not declining in value. But thefe when examin 

 ed, are probably not fo decifive of their fuperiority as they may at firft fight appear ; 

 for where the work of the farm is done by the younger fort of horfes, which is per 

 haps the belt method, the decline in value cannot be of any material confequence, 

 while the fuperiority in point of the difpatch of work is very great. And in re 

 gard to the keep, as oxen cannot perform their labour well in continuance without 

 oats or fome other fuftenance of a fimilar kind, it would feem not improbable 

 but that young horfes may pay nearly as well as oxen, and be kept with little dif 

 ference in the expenfe. The principal difference appears to be in the oxen being 

 fupported at lefs expenfe when not employed. But horfe-teams under proper- 

 management fliould never be unemployed. 



The common opinion, that oxen are fuperior to horfes in the tillage of heavy 

 lands does not appear to be well founded, efpecially where drawn in yokes, as the 

 poaching muft be greater than by horfes working at length. But when in harnefs 

 they may, from their greater fieadinefs, be preferable. Under different manage 

 ment they are confequently capable of being employed in both ways. 



Horfes are however greatly fuperior to oxen, where quick motion is of more 

 importance than the Heady drawing of heavy weights ; and alfo in carting, where 

 great fpecd is required in the unloaded ihte j and wherever the roads or lands are 

 rough, fharp, and ftoney, as they cannot be mod fo well as horfes to ftand fuch 

 roads. In harrowing with light harrows, where a jumping irregular motion is 

 neceflary, horfes are likewife faid to be the moil proper, -j- 



Mr. Young, in his valuable Calendar of Hufbandry, has however well remarked, 

 that &quot; there are two cafes in which oxen are certainly more beneficial than horfes : 

 Firft, when a farmer lives in a diftricl: where there is a breed of cattle well adapted 



* ComAed Agricultural Report of the North Riding of Yoikffeire, 

 f Annals of Agriculture, ?ol. XXXVI, 



