258 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



the high price of beef, and partly because of the high cost of 

 horses. But in spite of this apparent renewal of interest, the 

 ox is a relatively small factor in the agricultural economy of 

 the nation as a whole. As a source of animal power the horse 

 stands preeminent among domestic animals in this country, and 

 the mule comes second, but even he is not a close second. 

 According to the census of 1900 there were, on farms in the 

 United States, about 20,000,000 horses and 2,000,000 mules 

 and asses. That census did not take the number of working 

 oxen, but according to that of 1890 there were about 500,000 

 in the country. In some parts of Europe, however, particularly 

 in central and southern France, in Spain and Italy, and in 

 some parts of Germany, the ox is still a factor of great impor- 

 tance. In parts of France and Italy, in particular, cattle have 

 been bred for work and not exclusively for beef and milk. 

 Hence the oxen of these countries are probably more efficient 

 as working animals than any of the breeds with which we are 

 familiar in this country, except perhaps the Devons, which used 

 to be noted for their excellence as working cattle. When one 

 sees the huge white oxen of Tuscany, with their relatively rapid 

 gait and their prodigious strength, one is prepared to believe 

 that they may be quite as efficient as horses for heavy farm 

 work. As a matter of fact, the author was told by a large Italian 

 landowner, who was also a scientific agriculturist, that he had 

 made careful trials of both horses and oxen and that he had 

 found the latter to be much more profitable. There are reasons, 

 however, as will be shown later, why this might be true in Italy 

 and not true in America, quite irrespective of the difference in 

 the breeds of cattle. 



Comparative advantages of horses and oxen. In general the 

 advantages of using oxen are : (i) Their lower cost as compared 

 with horses ; (2) their lower liability to disease or unsoundness 

 and their greater ability to stand exposure; (3) the lower cost, 



