FRANKLIN SOCIETY. 69 



cessive days, at the rate of thirty and forty miles a day. In 

 England, they formerly had ox races, and it is said that some 

 years ago an ox ran four miles over the course at Lewis, for a 

 hundred guineas, at the rate of fifteen miles the hour ! 



With these facts before us, we must come to the conclusion 

 that the ox is by nature not so slow after all ; and whatever 

 may be his reputation in this respect, we believe our New Eng- 

 land farmers are so well satisfied with his utility and economy, 

 that no argument would induce them to change the ox for the 

 horse in the ordinary service of husbandry. 



Another objection has been raised against the hero of this re- 

 port; — "the ox does not accommodate himself as readily as the 

 horse, to the warmer climates." To this objection, it need only 

 be said, that his service is as valuable to the farmer in summer 

 as in winter ; that he endures alike the heat of India and the 

 cold of Russia. For a long time, it was believed that the ox 

 was the native of Europe, and that in the Aurock, running wild 

 in the forests of Poland, his original type was to be found. But 

 Baron Cuvier's researches in Comparative Anatomy have es- 

 tablished the fact that the cow is a native of southern Asia ; 

 and he reasons from this fact, that there is nothing in the consti- 

 tution of the ox, which forbids his manifesting his entire capa- 

 bilities in southern climes. Add to this the testimony of ancient 

 history, that not only in Greece and Italy, but also throughout 

 Asia, the ox and the plough are associated. At this day in the 

 warm parts of India and China, the ox, and not the horse, are 

 in the draught service. In Hindostan, the ox always appears 

 even in the train of armies. In Spain, the cattle appear in 

 no way inferior to those of the same species in America ; and 

 on the coast of the Mediterranean, there is a race of white cat- 

 tle, at Naples, which are said not only to be as spirited and 

 quick as the horse, but also to endure the heat much better. 

 They are generally fifteen hands high ; their bodies long, thin, 

 and deep; legs long; head small and light; color entirely 

 white ; and in the yoke or harness, travel twenty-five or thirty 

 milps a day. If we add upon the testimony of Chancellor 

 Bland, one of the commissioners to South America, whose re- 

 port Mr. Adams pronounced one of the ablest State papers ever 



