16 AMERICAN infSBANDRY. 



other way could the benefits of improvement in cat- 

 tle or sheep have been so rapidly or certainly spread ; 

 and the benefits of a division of labour in cattle- 

 breeding, as well as in other pursuits, became at 

 once manifest. The improved Durhams, or Short 

 Horns of Colling and Berry, have, along with the 

 Leicesters, spread wherever a suitable climate and 

 rich pastures render the introduction of such ani- 

 mals proper. A decided improvement, though not, 

 perhaps, to the same extent, has taken place with 

 the other breeds of cattle and sheep cultivated in 

 England, such as the Devon and Hereford cattle, 

 and the South Down and other short-wooled sheep. 

 The substitution of the horse for the ox in those 

 districts where, in consequence of an improved sys- 

 tem of agriculture, the turnip-culture, and a rotation 

 of crops, much grain is raised and much ploughing 

 necessarily required, has been among the means to 

 advance agriculture materially. Although, on all 

 small farms, or where the attention is principally 

 directed to the raising of animals or the making of 

 hay, oxen are to be preferred to horses, as less 

 costly, less expensive in keeping, less subject to 

 disease or injury, and, when unfit for labour, still of 

 value for fattening ; still, on large farms, or where 

 much ploughing is to be done in a limited time, as 

 it always must be where a skilful course of cropping 

 is practised, horses are indispensable. The mode 

 of managing the horse-team had been most barba- 

 rous and awkward, as, where two or more were 

 worked together, it was the practice to place one 

 before the other ; and when men of sense and cor- 

 rect theory became convinced that a different mode 

 of working was preferable, and that two horses 

 abreast would manage a plough better than three or 

 four driven tandem, it required all the authority of 

 the landliolder, and the influence and example of the 

 nobleman, to overcome the prejudice with which the 

 labourer regarded the innovation. 



