82 INSTRUMENTS OF HUSBANDRY. 



adds, that wherever there is a necessity for using animal 

 power, he would recommend oxen, as they are more steady 

 in the machine than horses. His oxen, when employed in 

 the threshing-mill, were fed in the usual way : only from 

 being so near the sheu, or court, they were unyoked in the 

 middle of the day in winter, and got a few turnips, in lieu 

 of the hay they were accustomed to get at mid-day, when 

 employed in the field. A piece of wood was fixed to the 

 beam, or what is commonly called the start of the mill, and 

 the oxen were yoked to it by chains, in the same way as in 

 the plough. For six or seven years, he never had a horse 

 in the mill, and each ox was employed nearly three years, 

 one out of three being annually selected for feeding, and a 

 young one trained in its place. When not employed in the 

 threshing-mill, the oxen ploughed or harrowed as usual, 

 and sometimes were employed in carting dung, turnips, &c. 



The advantages of using oxen in threshing-mills, are re- 

 presented in the strongest point of view by Mr Wood, late 

 of Mill- Rig in Linlithgowshire. 



In a communication to a useful institution, the Salton 

 Agricultural Society, he observes, that threshing-machines 

 are so much connected with the farming business, that it 

 cannot be carried on without them. They are in general 

 drawn by horses, and are found to be very injurious to that 

 valuable animal ; for which reason, he advertised some time 

 ago, to have one made, to*be driven by oxen, so as to suit 

 their natural step. This he happily effected. For two sea- 

 sons he threshed with oxen, and found, upon trial, both 

 the mill and oxen to answer particularly well. It was thus 

 in his power to have his threshing carried on, without in- 

 terrupting any work wherein his horses are engaged, be- 

 eides exempting them from the severe labour of threshing 

 about 100 acres of wheat annually, which proved destruc- 



