FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 3T5 



A yoke of Oxen, at four years old, are worth, say, sixty 

 dollars; and allowing them not to depreciate in value, till 

 turned off for fating, they rtquire an expenditure of four 

 dollars and twenty cents a yeu, as the interest of the capital 

 laid out for them. 



Say that the Horses will cost fifteen dollars a year more 

 than the Oxen to keep them, and provide harness for them; 

 say also, that they do an hundred day's work in a year, 

 and that the Oxen, working a third slower, require one 

 hundred and thirty-three days to perform the same labor: 

 Then, if one Hand only is employed with the Oxen, his 

 wages and board, during the extra thirty-three days, at fifty 

 cents per day, would still leave a balance in favor of the 

 Oxen of four dollnrs and eighty cents for the year's work ; 

 but if they should require a Boy to drive, while another 

 Hand holds the plough, then the balance would be very 

 considerably in, favor of the Horses. 



On the whole, it is believed, that Oxen may be found the 

 most profitable team in some situations, particularly in new 

 countries, and in rough lands; and in other situations again, 

 such as in smooth lands, and where the best cultivation is 

 required, probably, Horses ought, for most uses, to have 

 the preference. 



Lord KaimS) however, expresses an opinion very different 

 from this. He says that Oxen are preferable for husbandry, 

 in many respects. They are cheaper than Horses, as it re- 

 gards their food, the method of keeping them, the superior- 

 ity of their dung, their being subject to fewer diseases, and 

 their suffering no deterioration by age. He says, that a 

 couple of Oxen in a plough require not a Driver more than 

 a couple of Horses; that the Dutch, at the Cape of Goo|J- 

 hope, plough with Oxen without a Driver, and exercise 

 them early to a quick pace, so as to equal Horses both in 

 the plough and in the wagon ; that the People of Malabar 

 use no other animal for the plough, nor for burdens; and 

 that, about Pondicherry, no beasts of burden are to be seen 

 but Oxen. He further justly remarks, that, if Oxen were 

 more generally used, the articles of beef, candles, and 

 leather, three essential necessaries of life, would become 

 much cheaper. 



The Compilers of { The Comfilete Grazier* also say, that 

 Messrs. Culley< of Northumberland, Greatbritain, employ 

 one hundred and fifty Oxen in the draft; that they are used 

 singly in carts, and two in a plough, with cords or lines, 

 without a Driver; but that they do not perform their work 

 with the same dispatch as Horses. They further observe, 

 that, * in the north of England, it is not an unfrequent oc- 

 curence to see a light Ox saddled, and briskly troting along 

 the road, obedient to his Rider's voice;' and that 'Sussex 





