26 



ful farmer, therefore, expects where he gains one 

 pound in the fattening of his animal, to gain an equal 

 amount in the growth. The early maturity of stock 

 is consequently a point of much importance. 



Oxen are rarely reared in England for the yoke. 

 In Devonshire and Cornwall, ox teams are employ- 

 ed ; but in travelling one thousand miles in England, 

 Mr. Webster saw only one ox team, and here they 

 were driven one before the other, and in harnesses 

 similar to the harnesses of horses. Bullocks are raised 

 for the market. It is highly desirable, therefore, both 

 in respect to neat cattle and sheep, that their growth 

 should be rapid and their fattening properties favora- 

 ble, that they may be early disposed of, and conse- 

 quently the expense of production lessened. 



Is it practicable on the soil and in the climate of 

 Massachusetts to pursue a succession of crops ? He 

 could not question it ; and he had entire confidence 

 in the improvements to our husbandry and the great 

 advantages which would accrue from judicious rota- 

 tion of products. The capacities of the soil of Mas- 

 sachusetts were undoubted. One hundred bushels of 

 corn to an acre had been repeatedly produced, and 

 other crops in like abundance. But this would not 

 effect the proper ends of a judicious and profitable 

 agriculture, unless we could so manage our husband- 

 ry that by a judicious and proper succession of crops, 

 the land would not only be restored after an exhaust- 

 ing crop, but gradually enriched by cultivation. It 

 is of the highest importance that our farmers should 

 increase their power of sustaining live stock, that they 

 may therefrom obtain the means of improving their 

 farms. 



