V 

 AG^SICIILTURAL W^UiVU^ 201 



a iiave never found his Majesty's oxen otherwise than in 

 t;ood working condition ; an instance rarely to be found, 

 icxccpt in countries long habituated to their use ; not a 

 single liorse bcin^ employed in so great a concern, thfc 

 road work and labour must be systematic, often severe ; 

 where lil'ty three-year old steers are every year brought 

 into labour,, at the age of four and five work-ng hard> 

 and at the age of six years fatted off; if expence is to be 

 saved in tillage husbandry, it must here be found. 



'•If any additional infornia!ion can be derived frorii 

 the long continued, and, it cannot be denied, successful 

 practice of a private individual, I may add, that, whh ex- 

 tjeption to one teanl of cart horses, at the rate of one 

 horse to every hundred acres of land, our whole labour 

 is done by four teams, four oxen, or steers, in each ; 

 three of which teams, with great ease, work ten acres 

 each team Jier week, resting two days in it, and would 

 do more when occasion presses §; a rate of labour which 

 inust induce those who work horse-teams to give this 

 matter most serious consideration, bCcalise it can carry 

 on, with regularity and profit, a very great extent of bu- 

 siness; for it must be remembered, that the wheat-sow- 

 ing of the autumn, the oat and barley sowing of the 

 spring, the turnip fallowing until midsummer, and the 

 harvest, not only do not interfere with each other, but 

 frequently admit of leisure days, whicii cattle no; over- 

 worked, seldom fail of turning to excellent account. 

 When they are in labour, they pay ; when they lye by^ 

 their growth is a certain source of profit. 



"As to the question, whether oxen are liable to be 

 lamed as ho"'ses ; we trust the following is a satisfactory 

 and decisive answer. In the eighteen years I have 

 worked them, I can hardly remember where any one ox 

 has been laid by, from lameness, for forty-eight hours to- 



§ The three year-old steers, which are yoked up, when the sii-year old oxen are turned oT tt> 

 te jrased, cannot be suppoaed to work equally with those seasoned to labour ; yet, from the scar- 

 city of itorcoxcn, "ijr labour S5U' \eea doao ni thrt rate, liy ttoexs ct this r^' t'n sevt-nt seasons. 



20 



