106 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



WORKING OXEN. 



WORCESTER NORTH-WEST. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



The rapid decrease in the number of oxeu employed upon 

 the farms and elsewhere, within the limits of this society, 

 during the last decade, is too well known to need to be proved 

 by any argument or figures. That this decrease has been 

 beneficial to farmers as a class, or to communities, or has 

 been the result of sound judgment, when economy and ulti- 

 mate profits are taken into account, is not easily demon- 

 strated. The horse is not a solitary example of "getting fast" 

 withiu the time above mentioned, and " 2.14 " is by no means 

 the measure of the speed which the extravagant habits and 

 proclivities of the people have attained during the last ten 

 years. The general complaint of hard times, the compara- 

 tive "stand still" in most kinds of business, and the universal 

 distrust and forebodings for the immediate future, compel the 

 thoughtful to pause and consider the causes that have pro- 

 duced this condition of affairs, and if possible to devise some 

 means of escape. 



Unquestionably, the horse is more pleasant to handle, and 

 able to perform more of many kinds of farm-work, than the 

 ox. Besides, there is a peculiar fascination about a good 

 horse, that attracts one's friendship and secures one's admira- 

 tion, that the ox does not possess. Nevertheless, when true 

 economy and actual profit are used as the measure of their 

 comparative value for farm labor, it will be found that the ox 

 is worthy of greater attention than he has lately received. 

 A good, well-trained pair of oxen will plough two acres of 

 ground in a day, and that is a good day's work for a pair of 

 horses. The keeping of oxen is usually hay, with little if 

 any meal. The harness consists only of the yoke, costing 

 about $6, and requiring no oiling nor cleaning, and will 



