148 ESSAY ON THE 



old countries, this is much more the case than in new ; and in new, 

 much more the case near towns than at a distance from them. In 

 this, as in most other parts of our country, a change of circumstances 

 is taking place which renders everything raised on a farm more con- 

 vertible into money than formerly ; and as the change proceeds, it 

 will be more and more a point for consideration how far the labour in 

 doing what might be bought, could earn more in another way than 

 the amount of the purchase. Still, it will always be prudent, for 

 reasons which every experienced farmer will understand, to lean to 

 the side of doing rather than hiring or buying what may be wanted." 



The next most serious charge against the ox is constitutional slow- 

 ness of motion^ which, as many suppose, no course of education can 

 overcome, but which may be set otf in comparison with the greater 

 speed of the horse, as ^Esop illustrated the difference in the long run 

 between the pace of the ' tortoise and the hare /' — " The greater haste 

 the less speed," is a proverb suited to this case as to that. It has 

 already been seen that ox-teams travel over the ever-verdant pampas 

 of Buenos Ayres, at the rate of thirty miles a day, for a month toge- 

 ther. Twenty years ago, the writer of this held correspondence with 

 Commodore Jacob Jones, himself a practical farmer, and an habitually 

 close and judicious observer, and then commanding our squadron in 

 the Mediterranean, on the subject of Andalusian horses, cattle, and 

 other animals, with a view to the importation, under authority from 

 the Albemarle Agricultural Society, of such as might be deemed 

 essentially superior to animals of the same species in America ; and 

 we now quote from his letter as applicable to the questions both of 

 speed and susceptibility to heat : — " The cattle that I have seen in 

 Spain appear to be nothing superior to ours, nor have I seen anywhere 

 on the coasts of the Mediterranean any that appear better than those 

 in America, except a race of white cattle at Naples used for the 

 draft. I was informed by a gentleman who, in supply^ing the govern- 

 ment with timber, had used thirty yoke of them for two years, that 

 during that time they had constantly travelled from twenty to twenty- 

 five miles a day. They are generally fifteen hands high ; their bodies 

 long, thin, and deep; legs long; small light head; sharp muzzle re- 

 sembling deer; colour entirely white, except black nose, ears, and 

 tuft of the tail. They are most frequently worked in the thills of the 

 cart, and are as spirited and walk as quick as a horse, and appeared 

 not to suffer from heat more than a horse." 



To show, however, that we are not dependent on any foreign stock, 

 it may be stated that the small, pale-red old field ox about Salisbury 

 in Maryland will travel twenty-five miles in a day, with heavy loads 

 of lumber going, and returning empty, over the sandy roads of that 

 region; while it may be affirmed, after particular inquiry, that the 

 distance made by the heavy-bodied, grain-devouring, Oonestoga 

 horses on the national road between Cumberland and Wheeling 

 averages not over sixteen miles, six horses with loads of from six to 

 eight thousand pounds. 



