THE ASS. 409 



good pasture, and if followed with proper stall feeding, he 

 will in the latter part of the winter or spring, yield a tender, 

 better flavored and more profitable carcass, than can be pro- 

 cured by any other mode of fattening. 



The first cost of oxen is less than that of horses, and they 

 arc at all times cheaply reared on the coarser herbage of the 

 farm. The expense of working-gear, tackle and shoeing, is 

 much less than with horses. They are subject to fewer dis- 

 eases, and these are more within the reach of ordinary medi- 

 cines. The cost of food is also less, and while the horse 

 is depreciating, the ox is increasing in value till eight or nine 

 years old. Accidents are less frequent with oxen, from their 

 slower movements ; and when they occur, the ox may be 

 turned out to fatten, and still be worth as much for this pur- 

 pose as for the yoke. A permanent injury to the horse, is 

 perhaps a total loss of the beast, with a large farrier's bill in 

 adddition, for which there is nothing to liquidate it but the 

 hide. The small farmer can make out a most serviceable 

 team, by putting a single horse before a yoke of cattle. If 

 well trained, they will soon accommodate themselves to each 

 others pace, and work as advantageously together, as an 

 entire team of either animals would do alone. Bulls are fre- 

 quently put to the draught, and when they have not other 

 services that fully test their powers, they cannot be better 

 employed. Heifers and cows are sometimes worked, but 

 hitherto they have not been used to any extent in this country. 

 In the absence of other animals, they might perform light 

 work to advantage, but severe labor would stint their growth 

 or impair their milk beyond the benefit derived from it. The 

 spayed heifer is an exception to the foregoing remark, and by 

 many, is esteemed even more useful than an ox of equal 

 weight. We have no definite statements of the comparative 

 money value of the labor of oxen and horses. But in England, 

 repeated trials have been made, and while some have found 

 no advantage in the employment of oxen over horses, others 

 have proved them decidedly superior. One Anglesey farmer, 

 found in an experience of three years, with 12 horses and 20 

 oxen, which accomplished an equal amount of work, that he 

 had saved by the latter 236 pounds, or nearly $1180. This 

 result proves the subject to be one of sufficient importance, to 

 justify the closest investigation of every farmer to deter- 

 mine'for himself, the comparative value of ox, horse or mule 

 labor. 



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