146 ESSAY ON THE 



»* Cumberland, Maryland, Nov. 17, 1843 : — The general result, (for 

 they differ widely in their opinions), obtained by conversation with 

 the oldest teamsters on the national road, is this — A five-horse team 

 with a load of sixty cwt. (the average) will make daily, throughout 

 the year, fifteen miles per day ; the weight of the empty wagon be- 

 tween one and a half and two tons. At this work horses will not 

 last as long as at farm-work by one-third, certainly. Tiiey average one 

 set of shoes monthly, each horse; cost of shoes, one dollar each per 

 month ; feed, four bushels of oats per day, or four-fifths of a bushel per 

 day to each horse ; the same of corn in the ear ,- hay, twenty-five 

 pounds. On this subject they are uniform in their statements. This 

 amount of food is enough, and not more than will be consumed." 



But the comparison in point of expense will be extended in an- 

 other part of this essay. 



In answer to the argument against oxen now under consideration, 

 and the one which has had most influence in restricting the use of 

 them, we now offer the views urged by the illustrious iMadison, 

 whose pen simplified and enlightened ever}' subject it touched, as 

 could not but happen with a mind so pure and so bright. 



The objections generally made to the ox are — 1st, that he is less 

 tractable than the horse; '2d, that he does not bear heat as well ; 3d, 

 that he does not answer for the single plough used in our corn-fields ; 

 4th, that he is slower in his movements ; 5th, that he is less fit for 

 carrying the produce of the farm to market. 



The first objection is certainly founded in mistake. Of the two 

 animals the ox is the most docile. In all countries where the ox is 

 the ordinary draught animal, his docility is proverbial. His intracta- 

 bility, where it exists, has arisen from an occasional use of him only, 

 with long and irregular intervals; during which, the habit of disci- 

 pline being broken, a new one is to be formed. 



The second objection has as little foundation. The constitution of 

 the ox accommodates itself as readily as that of the horse to different 

 climates. Not only in ancient Greece and Italy, but throughout Asia, 

 as presented to us in ancient history, the ox and the plough are asso- 

 ciated. At this day, in the warm parts of India and China, the ox, 

 not the horse, is in the draught service. In every part of India the 

 ox always appears, even in the train of her armies. And in the hottest 

 parts of the West Indies, the ox is employed in hauling the weighty 

 produce to the seaports. The mistake here, as in the former case, 

 has arisen from the effect of an occasional employment only, with no 

 other than green food. The fermentation of this in the animal, heated 

 by the weather, and fretted by the discipline, will readily account for 

 his sinking under his exertions ; when green food CA'en, much less 

 dry, with a sober habit of labour, w^ould have no such tendency. 



The third objection also is not a solid one. The ox can, by a pro- 

 per harness, be used singly, as well as the horse, between the rows 

 of Indian com; and equally so used for other purposes. Experience 

 may be safely appealed to on this point. 



