TEAM. 



is brought to any degree of perfec- 

 tion, there oxen are never seen at 

 work, but have been invariably su- 

 perseded by active horses. 



" In Switzerland, which is tolera- 

 bly advanced in its agriculture, oxen 

 are very generally used for the work 

 of the farm ; but there the system of 

 stall-feeding is universal, and having 

 a considerable portion of grass land, 

 which can be irrigated by the streams 

 from the mountains, they cut the 

 coarse, long grass produced there for 

 their cows and oxen ; and this food 

 is more congenial to their nature than 

 to horses, which do not thrive on 

 coarse watery grass, and require hay 

 and corn nearly all the year round. 

 But where there is less grass land 

 and more artificial grass, such as lu- 

 cern, sainfoin, and clover, which is 

 the case in all extensive farms, there 

 horses are chiefly used, this food being 

 suited to their constitution. Not to 

 enter farther into the comparative ad- 

 vantage of oxen and horses, we shall 

 turn our attention to the most profit- 

 able management of the latter, which \ 

 now almost universally compose the 

 farmer's team. 



" The choice of the horses for a 

 farm is of great importance. It may 

 be very satisfactory to a rich farmer 

 to see fine, large, well-fed horses in 

 his wagon, moving along as if they 

 followed a procession, with bright har- 

 ness ornamented with shining brass. 

 This is a luxury like that of the rich 

 man's coach-horses, and as such is 

 very natural and innocent. It is the 

 pride of many a wealthy farmer, and 

 we would not curtail his pleasure or 

 despise his taste ; but as a matter of 

 profit or loss, the case is very differ- 

 ent : a fat horse does little work, no 

 more than a fat coachman. Horses 

 to be in working condition should be 

 muscular and active. The great, 

 heavy cart-liorse may, for a moment, 

 be capable of greater exertion at a 

 dead pull, his weight assisting him ; ' 

 but in a long day the thin, active horse 

 will do witli ease what would sicken, 

 if not kill, his heavy companion. Ilor- : 

 ses al)out fifteen hands high, with 

 short legs and broad chests, such as 

 786 



the Canadian horse, which walk as 

 fast as an ordinary man, are the most 

 economical for farm work. A pair of 

 such horses \\'ill draw a load in a cart 

 sixteen miles and return, or plough 

 one acre and a quarter in ten working 

 hours, having a rest of two hours ; 

 while the heavy, slow cart-horses 

 could not walk the distance in the time 

 without being overdriven. This is 

 more than the average work ; but in 

 the busy time of the year it is a great 

 advantage to have horses which can, 

 with good feeding, work longer and 

 faster without suffering in their health. 

 The carriers on the roads, who live 

 entirely by the work of their horses, 

 know how to choose them and how 

 to feed them to the greatest advan- 

 tage, and, without overworking them, 

 to make them do as much as is con- 

 sistent with their health. If hard 

 work is the cause of some diseases in 

 horses, comparative indolence causes 

 many more. Where horses are slug- 

 gish, the men soon become so like- 

 wise. To see a wagon with four 

 strong horses returning empty, at the 

 rate of two miles in the hour, with 

 two men, or at least a man and a boy, 

 lying lazily in it, is a sure sign that 

 the work on the farm to which they 

 belong is done at the same rate. A 

 single horse-cart, or a light spring 

 wagon with two horses, driven by a 

 man or boy with reins and a whip, 

 and trotting at the rate of five miles 

 an hour, is a perfect contrast to this, 

 and no doubt the owner has his work 

 done much more expeditiously, and 

 consequently at a cheaper rate. The 

 stage-coach proprietors have gener- 

 ally very light, four-wheeled carriages 

 to carry their corn from their chief 

 stations to places where they keep 

 horses, and they often carry as heavy 

 loads as a farmer's wagon does when 

 carrying corn to market ; yet the two 

 horses in the light carriage trot with 

 their load, and the three or four heavy 

 horses of the farmer move at the rate 

 of two miles and a half in the hour at 

 most, both going and returning. It 

 : is evident that there is a waste of 

 time and power here, which is so 

 ; much lost. Horses half-bred between 



