AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 65 



with the narrow and open end downward. They draw in. 

 harness abreast in pairs, single, or in a line, and loalk as fast 

 as horses. Mr. Bordley said he ' saw a wagon in Pennsylva- 

 nia drawn by two bulls and two oxen, bridled and geered in 

 harness and collars.' 



It appears by a work entitled ' Letters from Cuba' by Dr. 

 Abiel Abbot, that in managing the oxen of that island, the 

 yoke is made fast to the horns, ' near the root, behind, so 

 that it does not play backward and forward, and gives to the 

 oxen a similar but better chance of backing, (as, in teamster's 

 phrase, it is called.) I have been astonished at the power 

 of those oxen in holding back. There is a short hill in one 

 of the streets of this city, at an angle nearly of forty-five de- 

 grees. Standing at the foot of it, I saw a cart and oxen ap- 

 proaching at the top, with three hogsheads of molasses, and 

 the driver sitting on the forward cask. The driver did not so 

 much as leave his perch ; the oxen went straight and fear- 

 less over the pitch of the hill, and it seemed as if they must 

 be crushed to death. The animals squatted like a dog, and 

 rather slid than walked to the bottom of the hill. Have we 

 any animals that could have done it ? And if they could, 

 have we any docile enough to have done it with the driver 

 in the cart ? Thus superior is this mode of yoking in hold- 

 ing back the load in difficult places. 



' It gives them still more decisive advantage in drawing. 

 A fillet of canvas is laid on the front below the horns ; and 

 over this fillet the cords pass, and the animal presses against 

 the most invulnerable part of his frame ; his head, his neck, 

 his whole frame are exerted in the very manner in which he 

 exerts his mighty strength in combat. It is the natural way, 

 therefore, of availing yourself of this powerful and patient 

 animal to the best advantage.' 



A writer for the Genessee Farmer observes, that ' the fre- 

 quent abuse of our laboring animals by those who receive 

 the benefits of their labors, and who ought in return to treat 

 them mercifully, has often given me great pain. I have em- 

 ployed in the course of my business a great many men and 

 teams, both with oxen and horses, and I never yet knew a 

 bawling, noisy, whipping teamster who did a great day's 

 work ; nor have I scarcely known such a one who kept a 

 fat team. The best man who ever did me any labor was a 

 good substantial farmer ; his oxen were always fat, and spry 

 as colts; he would never hitch Inem to any thing which he 

 knew they could not draw ; of course they were not discou- 

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