972 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



the age'of eight or ten years, it is, he thinks, a real injury to the public, and an unprofitable practice to 

 the farmer. 



6223. Bakewell used to work moderately his heifers whilst carrying their first calves; an unobjection- 

 able practice, provided they be well fed. Bulls are generally allowed to be good laborers, and capable, if 

 high fed, of vast exertions. 



6224. The length of time, per dai/, ivhich an ox is kept in the yoke, varies according to 

 the kind of labor, and the age and keep of the ox. If an ox is fed on hay, oats, and 

 some roots, he will plough four days a week ; but if on straw and roots only, not above 

 three days. In the former case he is worked two whole days, and two half days, and 

 in the latter case six half days. The latter is the best plan, for which reason, where 

 oxen are regularly worked, two pairs should be kept for each ploughman. 



6225. The most desirable breeds of oxen to work are the Devonshire and Herefordshire 

 varieties, which are long-legged, quick-stepping animals. Lord Somerville, who has 

 carried the working of oxen to greater perfection than any one else, prefers the Devon 

 breed, which most cultivators consider the quickest walkers in England. When horned 

 cattle are only worked occasionally, whatever sort of animals are on the farm, whether 

 bulls, cows, or oxen, of good or bad breeds, will necessarily be employed. 



6226. The food of horned cattle employed in labor must be substantial. It is a great 

 mistake to suppose they can work on straw alone. Unless they have roots added to 

 straw in winter, and green food in summer, it will be an idle attempt to harness animals 

 so nourished. The best and indeed the only way is to feed them well with straw, coarse 

 hay, roots, green herbage, or pasturage, as the season and other circumstances may 

 indicate. 



SuBSECT 9. Of the Anatomy and Physiology of the Bull and Cow. 



6227. The general structure of the bull and cow presents some peculiarities when com- 

 pared with the horse, whose anatomy having been fully explained, will be taken as the sub- 

 ject of comparison. The ox, as an animal machine, displays less complexity of structure 

 than the horse ; but the principal differences between the two will be found to arise from 

 the evident intention of nature to bound the locomotion of horned cattle ; the limbs of 

 the ox are therefore not found favorable to speed ; nor does his general mass betray that 

 symmetrical proportion and mechanical composition that would fit it to be acted on 

 to advantage, as regards quick motion, by the powerful muscles he evidently possesses. 

 For strength alone will not produce speed. 



6228. The skeleton of the ox is formed under the above view ; and though the number of his bones differs 

 little from that of the horse, the general form differs materially ; the frontal, the occipital, and indeed 

 most of the bones composing the skull are broad and extended, while to the former are appended the liorns. 

 These, as we have seen (1822.), partake of the nature of true bone, placed within a membranous enve- 

 lopment, of a mixed nature between cuticle and cartilage. The ox has no upper nippers ; the grass being 

 cropped into a tuft by means of the tongue, is cut off by the under nipi)ers ; whereas in the horse it is 

 nipped off by the approximation of both incisive teeth. 



6229. The vertebra; or neck bones are the same in number and form as in the horse, but from the dimin- 

 ished elevation of the head, and the peculiarity of attachment of the great suspensory ligament, the ox has 

 no cervical crest. The dorsal vertebra are thirteen, with spinous processes, or withers less high. The 

 lumbar vertebrae are six, and the sacral four ; the coccyx or bones of the tail are indefinite in number, 

 from eighteen to twenty-five. The pelvic bones in the ox are very large, and the rugged outline of the 

 rump in cattle, arises from the great rising of the spine of the ilium, and tuberosity of the ischium : the 

 ribs are thirteen, eight of them true, and five false j and upon the former rest the scapulae, which do not 

 materially differ from those of the horse. 



6230. The f we limb bones are, the arm, and the fore-arm,which, as in the horse, is composed of the radius 

 and nlna, and bears a general resemblance to that of the horse. The knee is composed of four bones in 

 the first row, and two in the .second, which renders that joint inferior to that of the horse in complexity 

 and elasticity : the same holds good with regard to the hock, where the bones entering its composition 

 are also less numerous than in the horse. The canon or shank has no splint bones attached to it, but it is 

 lower, and enlarges into two articular portions corresponding with the metacarpal before, and metatarsal 

 bones behind : thus from the pastern downwards, the limb is double, and ends in two separate hoofs, which 

 present, individually, a similarity of structure and design to the single hoof of the horse, but less deve- 

 loped ; to the posterior part of each, are appended two imperfect phalanges or claws, thus keeping a con- 

 nection with the digiti. 



6231. The hinder limbs present nothing remarkable, but preserve the same increased simplicity of struc- 

 ture with the fore. 



6232. The viscera of the chest offer no peculiarities from those of the horse to deserve notice ; neither is 

 the economy of the organs concerned, different. 



6233. The viscera of the belly of the ox have some specialities, the principal of which consist in the 

 digestive organs, which differ in form, structure, and economy, in some essential particulars, from the 

 same system in the horse. 



6234. The ox has four stomachs, in which formation, the goat, sheep, camel, and deer, participate. As 

 it is necessary that these animals should collect much herbage for their support ; and as it would fatigue 

 and keep them too long in motion to gather and masticate such a quantity at the same time, so a peculiar 

 provision has been made for them, by which, they first hastily collect their food, pass it into a reservoir, 

 and afterwards commence the mastication of it at their leisure. 



6235. The first stomach, rumen, or paunch, is a very large membranous and muscular bag, principally 

 occupying the left side, and extending, when full, from the middle of the ribs to the haunch, into which 

 the unruminated food is received ; consequently, it is the over-distention of this which occasions the 

 malady called hoven : it is in this stomach also that the concretions called hair balls are found. It presents 

 numerous processes to assist in the retention of the food. 



6236. The second stomach, called also reticulum, bonnet, or kingshood, would appear as a globular ap- 

 pendage to the paunch merely, were it not for its peculiarity of structure, which resembles the cells of 

 the honey-comb, and which is well known to the eaters of tripe. The oesophagus, or gullet, enters at the 

 junction of this with the first stomach, and is continued in the form of a muscular ridge, or segmental 

 tube along the line of junction between these two stomachs, and which is from thence continued into the 



