No. 10. 



On Yoking Oxen. 



153 



ever desirable, in the choice of oxen under 

 this yoke, that their horns should point up- 

 wards so as not to interfere with the trace: 



in England the shape of the horn is some- 

 times set by art, but it is a severe and cruel 

 operation. 



Fig. 25. 



It will be observed that the draught from 

 this yoke is solely from the neck, and not at 

 all from the horns, to which the board is only 

 strapped to prevent it from fallingf off; so that 

 in this manner the ox rather pushes than 

 pulls. The intelligent reporter of the King's 

 County, from whom this description is taken, 

 eays, " that the cattle are very easily broken 

 to this method ; that they step out very light 

 and free, and though severely pressed, to prove 

 the experiment, on a broiling summer's day, 

 in a very heavy fallow, and up-hill for a long 

 pull with the coulter buried to the beam, they 

 worked quite easy vvithout puffing or lolling 

 out the tongue, which would have severely 

 distressed the best trained and strongest bul- 

 locks if harnessed in the usual way from the 

 shoulder." The plan has, in fact, been ad 

 mitted to be an improvement on the common 

 mode, but such is the force of prejudice, that' 

 it has not been adopted by the neighboring 

 farmers. 



When worked in collars, they are general- 

 ly driven two abreast, and often without 

 winkers; and in most places throughout Ire- 

 land, instead of collars, a twisted rope is used 

 with straw back-band, called suggans and 

 gads, which, though rather offensive to the 

 eye, is nevertheless as safe and easy to the 

 beast as the collar, and much less expensive. 

 In harness, a horse-collar turned upside down 

 answers the pui-pose. Woollen collars have 

 teen tried for oxen, and two kinds, different- 

 ly formed, have been used ; but there is great 



difficulty in fitting the shoulders of an ox, 



and the hardness of the material employed, 

 when they are not nicely fitted and closely 

 made, hurts the blades. A drawing is added, 

 in case of any one choosing to try them, as 

 there certainly would be a considerable dif- 

 ference in expense; but the old plan would' 

 probably be found the most advisable, though! 

 those here represented have been recommend- 



Fig. 26. 

 ed by Marshall " as incomparably preferable 



to any other ox-collar that he had made use 

 of" He is, however, of opinion that fig. 27 

 — vvhicli is convex, and is, in the fullest parts, 

 from 1 to 3 inches thick, according to the size 

 md shape of the ox's shoulder — deserves the 

 preference, as being firmer than fig. 28, — 

 which is made in the form of ninepins, — as 

 the iron bov,' by which they are connected is 

 apt to become twisted. 



Fig. 27. Fig. 28. 



No. 27 appears to bite on the fleshy part of 

 the shoulder, and leaves the bones full room 

 to play. The fault in No. 28 arises, however, 

 merely through some defect in the workman- 

 ship. The idea of their construction arose 

 not alone from their being more cheap than 

 stuffed collars, but also from the observation 

 that, when a horse galls, it generally pro- 

 ceeds from some knot or lump in the stuffing; 

 but let the straw collars be ever so hard, yet, 

 if they are quite smooth, they seldom gall; 

 and the truth of that remark is said to have 

 been fully proved on the shoulders of his own 

 oxen, "for they became as fine and polished 

 as the wood itself" 



The world is an echo which returns us our 

 own words ; for which reason, if one would 

 be well spoken of in the world, he must 

 speak well of the world. 



