158 ESSAY ON THE 



long. Then get a toug-h sapling, twenty -five feet long; measure off 

 at the small end of it the usual length of a yoke, and bore the holes 

 for your bows. Then bore three holes, or more if you choose, four, 

 eight, and twelve feet from the other end of the sapling, of the size 

 of the pin in the top of the post, giving the shortest lever first, draw 

 your steers up, let them be young or old, gentle or wild, it makes no 

 ditlerence; yoke them to the end of the pole; but instead of tying 

 their tails together, if you wish to avoid bob-tailed oxen, tie their 

 loins together with a good rope, wrap up their head halters, clear the 

 front, and let them go ; round and round they will go with a rush; 

 drunk — drunker still they grow, until groaning, down they drop. 

 For a while they lie panting and looking wild ; at length they leap 

 as if suddenly frightened, rush round and round again, grow drunk 

 and drop again. Leave them, they will repeat the experiment, until 

 reeling, they will stop or stand. In a few hours you may lead them 

 around by their halters. Uncouple them from the pole, or yoke them 

 to your cart, and drive them where you please with safety. The 

 preceding method is recommended with confidence from personal 

 knowledge by Mr. William P. Hart, of Kentucky. 



There is no point in the comparison between oxen and horses which 

 more strongly illustrates the economy of ox-power than the diiference 

 in the expense (f gearing;. 



For each horse employed on public roads, where it is in constant 

 iise, the harness costs, according to the best information, as has been 

 seen, twenty dollars ; being one hundred and twenty dollars for a 

 team of six, leaving the svvingle or whifile-trees, as they constitute a 

 part of the wagon, out of the question; and this harness is not ex- 

 pected to last more than six years ; while for six oxen, the wholo 

 gearing, consisting of three yokes and two chains, would not cost 

 more than twenty dollars, and would probably last twenty years. 



A singular method of accustoming young animals to draw is prac- 

 tised in i'^rance ; and, although it must be admitted that few nations 

 have been more the slaves of routine and of old habits, or slower in 

 the progress of improvement in agricultural implements, yet the 

 system they pursue in this instance, as here illustrated, looks and 

 reads so plausibly as to appear worthy of trial, and to bespeak confi- 

 dence in its efficacy. It is well known that nothing is more iiumbling 

 to the wildest and most indomitable animal than the sufferings of 

 extreme hunger,- and among the French, in the very act of satisfying 

 its cravings, they habituate young animals to the yoke and harness. 

 For this purpose they attach them to the manger by means of a cord 

 which runs through a ring, at the extremity of which a weight is at- 

 tached, as represented at A, in the annexed Plate, so that tlie animal 

 may, at pleasure, approach or recede from the manger. A collar is 

 put on the animal with two cords fixed to a bar or swingle-tree, to 

 A'hich another cord is attached at B, which passes through the pulley 

 ai C, and to which is suspended a weight as at D, to be increased or 

 diminished at pleasure. Things being thus arranged, fodder is put 



