40 MASSi?LCHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



omy to be able to change cattle off and on to this vehicle easily 

 and rapidly. In busy seasons, what is the advantage of smart- 

 ness and dexterity in a hired man, if the farmer cannot make it 

 available through his team, with which the man is so con- 

 stantly required to operate ? Among all the varied positions in 

 which wagons and carts require to be placed, there- often exists 

 the necessity of " backing ; " and none but the best trained 

 cattle are able to execute this manceiwre with facility. Indeed, 

 an acquaintance with working cattle extending over a period of 

 twenty years, has failed to furnish a single instance of a pair 

 perfect in this, respect, who were not the subjects of constant 

 and persistent training and use, from calves upioard to four 

 years old. Almost every farm barn thirty years ago was con- 

 structed so that " backing in " was often necessary, and yet few 

 oxen of that day were capable of doing it. 



In the majority of cases where such a manmivre became 

 necessary, the oxen were taken off the " spear " or tongue, and 

 brought "right abou.t face," to push or shove the load in. This 

 is always a difficult operation, requiring considerable time, 

 and one can readily perceive the economy of discipline, which 

 enables the farmer to back any load his cattle are able to draw. 

 But the advantages of discipline in draft are not less apparent, 

 whether in cases where " a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull 

 together " is • requisite; or where an ox's entire strength is 

 needed for a single spring or lift, (as in turning a large stone,) 

 the superiority of the trained ox is so marked as to impress 

 every impartial and unprejudiced witness. With such there is 

 no " baulking," the common causes of it being removed. 



Cattle, properly mated, will generally pull together, and 

 generally all they can, if their driver so signifies ; and though 

 his judgment may be at fault, it is very seldom, indeed, that 

 they would get abused, or be required to pull a third time. 

 With mis-mated cattle, it often happens that one is spirited 

 and ambitious, while the other is "slow-moulded," and easily 

 discouraged in a bad place. Such a pair, in the hands of a 

 hasty-tempered, injudicious man, soon becomes worthless for 

 most kinds of labor. 



The energetic, " high-strung " ox after a time gets discour- 

 aged from liaving to receive much of the whipping which his 

 mate deserves, and much ill-treatment which neither of them 



