and on the Dairy Husbandry. 125 



ject to be attended to in the management of a dairy. If that be even 

 in the slightest degree neglected, its produce will not prove either 

 wholesome or palatable, nor can it turn out a profitable concern. 



Conclusion. 



I cannot conclude these cursory hints, without adverting to a most 

 important subject, namely, the diseases of cattle, and the means of 

 their prevention or cure, inquiries regarding which, are so well entitled 

 to public attention and encouragement, instead of being left, as hither- 

 to has been too much the case, to the desultory exertions of private 

 individuals. The stock of domestic animals in a country, is one of 

 the principal sources of its wealth, and every circumstance that mate- 

 rially, tends to diminish their number, or to decrease their value, must 

 be attended with much public loss. Animals are in general subject- 

 ed to much fewer disorders than men, and as their diseases are of a 

 much less complicated nature, they are consequently much more easily 

 relieved. There can be little doubt therefore, that very moderate 

 public encouragement, would be the means of discovering those re- 

 medies, that would be found the most effectual for their removal, 

 Is it possible for the public money to be better bestowed ? It is said, 

 that a very effectual remedy for the rot in sheep, has been discovered 

 in Holland, yet no pains are taken to procure a knowledge of it in 

 this country, though that disease has, within these fifty years past, 

 occasioned the loss of many millions of property, to the subjects of 

 Great Britain. If that loss had not been sustained, would not the 

 wealth of the country have been considerably augmented, its public 

 revenue consequently increased, and of course, would not great quan- 

 tities of human food have heeii preserved from destruction, which 

 have perished, to the manifest injury of the nation ? 



No. XII. 



COMPARISON BETWEEN HORSES AND OXEN, AS BEASTS OF 

 DRAUGHT. BY SIR JOHN ^SINCLAIR. 



THERE is no point that has been more keenly controverted, among 

 both practical and speculative agriculturists, than whether horses, or 

 oxen, are best calculated for the operations of husbandry. Bold aver- 

 ments have been made, and much acuteness displayed, on both sides 

 of the question, without its merits being as yet finally decided upon. 

 We shall endeavour to state the arguments on both sides, and the re- 

 sults which may be drawn from the information we have collected. 



Those who approve of employing oxen in the draught argue, that 

 they are purchased at from a half to a third part of the price usually 

 paid for horses ; that they are subject to fewer diseases ; that while 

 horses are liable to a number of accidents, and sudden disorders, by 

 which great numbers are annually lost, oxen rarely suffer so as to pre- 



