172 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Anotlier very citoiicous practice of breeders in this country 

 is tliG use of ])opular stallions, at exorl)itant prices, without 

 any regard to the number of mares which they are allowed to 

 cover. In England, the best stallions serve only twenty mares 

 a season, while here they are rarely limited except by the 

 number of mares offered. Ethan Allen has covered 110 mares 

 at $100 each, in a single season, and the North horse as many 

 as 150, at ioO each, for several successive years. The natural 

 consequence of this excess is that the colts resemljle their sire 

 less than they otherwise would, and inherit less soundness and 

 vigor of constitution. 



In the best agricultural districts of France and Great Britain, 

 horses, or mules, are almost exclusively employed in the labor 

 of the farm, instead of oxen, while neat cattle are bred prin- 

 cipally for beef and milk. In some parts of the latter country, 

 the farmers work breeding mares and stallions and sell their 

 colts when from six to. eighteen months of age ; and in other 

 districts, they buy colts and use them carefully from the time 

 they are two years old until they are fit for market. 



There are unquestionably many farmers in this State, who 

 from the peculiar location and character of their land can raise 

 and employ oxen more advantageously than horses, or perhaps 

 even than mules, and the object of discussing their respective 

 merits is simply to induce those, who work oxen because their 

 fathers did, or because they always have, to give the subject the 

 consideration which its importance demands. 



It is believed to be more economical to work horses, or mules, 

 instead of oxen, upon farms which require the constant use of 

 a team, for the following reasons: — 



First, it has been estimated in England that it costs more on 

 a higldy cultivated farm to keep an ox team, than a horse team 

 ca])al)lc of doing the same amount of labor. In other words, 

 three working oxen will consume the produce of more acres 

 than two horses. It has been recently stated that it costs $100 

 per annum to keep a farm horse in England ; that the average 

 expense of cultivation upon good farms was $10 per acre, and 

 the net profit $60 per acre. 



Secondly, the man Avho drives good horses imbibes their 

 spirit, and labors with more activity and courage than lie 

 would, if accustomed to wait for the slower motions of the 



