MANAGEMENT 259 



both for purchase and maintenance, of yokes and chains as 

 compared with harness ; (4) the fact that when they become 

 unft for work, either through age or injury, they can be fat- 

 tened and turned into beef. 



Stated more favorably, the ox may be worked from the age 

 of three years up to seven or eight, during which time he is 

 gaining in weight, and then sold for beef, his gain in weight 

 and value paying in part the cost of keeping him. There are 

 also certain minor advantages, such as the slight saving of time 

 in hitching and unhitching oxen as compared with horses ; the 

 fact that oxen are less nervous and excitable and less inclined 

 to worry when at rough work, such as plowing in stony or 

 stumpy ground; the fact that they may be turned out to pas- 

 ture, when not in use, with slightly less care and attention 

 than horses usually demand ; and the fact that oxen can sub- 

 sist on slightly coarser feed than horses require. 



Over. against these advantages are these disadvantages: 



1 . The slowness of movement of the ox unfits him for any 

 except such heavy work as needs to be done at a slow gait. 

 A horse is more adaptable to a variety of purposes, being able 

 to trot when necessary, to walk rapidly when the nature of the 

 work demands it, or slowly when that gait is required. 



2. Most of our farm machinery requires the rapid gait of the 

 horse rather than the slow gait of the ox. This, however, could 

 be remedied by the manufacturers of machinery by the simple 

 expedient of gearing the machinery higher if oxen were in 

 general use. But the fact that this is not done tends to pre- 

 vent their coming into general use. Therefore there is a con- 

 siderable social inertia in favor of the horse, even if it could 

 be shown that oxen were more economical. 



3. It is probable, though not definitely proved, that the 

 horse is a better machine than the ox for transforming feed 

 into mechanical energy, though the latter may be the better 



