148 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK I. 



oxen is that, when first put to work, whether at the plough or in 

 teams for draught, they should not be fatigued or over-heated. Until 

 they are thoroughly trained, therefore, it will be advisable to employ 

 them in labour only at short . intervals, to indulge them with rest 

 during the noon-day heats of summer, and to feed them with good hay, 

 which, in the present case, will be preferable to grass. In fact, while 

 oxen are worked, they must be kept in good condition and spirit. 



On their return from labour it will greatly contribute to the pre- 

 servation of health if their feet are well washed previously to leading 

 them into their stalls, otherwise diseases may be generated by the 

 filth adhering to them, while their hoofs, becoming soft and tender, 

 will necessarily disable them from working on a hard or stony soil. 

 The extremes of heat and cold ought also to be carefully guarded 

 against, as disorders not unfrequently arise from either excess, and 

 oxen are peculiarly susceptible to fevers and to the flux, if chased or 

 hurried, especially in hot weather. 



The following mode of training and working oxen, which has been 

 successfully adopted in North Britain, we give in the words of the 

 farmer by whom it was practised : 



" Out of my stock of cattle," says he, " I select, when two years old 

 (that is, after harvest, when they are rising three), four of my stoutest, 

 best-shaped stots from the field. These, to accustom with harness, I 

 bind up in my oxen byre every night for a week or two ; and they are 

 then taken out in pairs, and put into the plough with a pair of older- 

 trained oxen yoked before them. This keeps them steady, and prevents 

 their running off. After being yoked in this manner two or three 

 times, I turn them again amongst the cattle in the straw-yard, where 

 they remain until spring. They are then three years old. I yoke 

 them all four, after training them as above stated, in a plough by 

 themselves, which requires a little boy to drive ; and in that way they 

 are used until four years old, when they are worked in pairs as horses, 

 by one man only, and do the same work at ploughing ; 'for at carting, 

 &c., I never use them, having as many horses as do that part of my 

 work. When used in pairs, one man works two yokings, and the cattle 

 only one each. If, however, I had occasion for two cattle-ploughs, 

 each pair might work well two yokings, the same as horses." 



The same correspondent also remarks : " If, when three years old, 

 eight stots were worked four and four alternately, it would be a great 

 relief; and I have uniformly found that cattle moderately worked 

 thrive better than those that are idle or unemployed." * 



The following system of a succession of breeding and working cattle 

 was recommended by that eminent agriculturist Mr. Ellman, of Glynde, 

 in Sussex the numbers depending on the means or inclination of the 

 breeder : 



14 calves ; of which nine were males : eight were kept for oxen, and one allowed 

 for accident, or not taking to work. 



14 two-year olds ; of which eight are worked a little at two years and a-halt. 



1 "Farmer's Magazine," vol. iii. p. 450. 



