150 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK I. 



be advisable to keep him until he is hungry ; and, when he has fasted 

 long enough, he should be made to feed out of the hand. On his 

 return to labour he should be tied with a rope. If" he at any time 

 becomes refractory, gentle measures should always be attempted in 

 order to bring him to work readily and quietly. 



In working oxen to advantage, much depends on the mode of 

 harnessing them, and the question as to whether it is most advantageous 

 to yoke oxen by the head or the collar, has occasioned much dis- 

 cussion, and is even yet undetermined. The opinion throughout Great 

 Britain is, almost universally, in favour of the collar ; but throughout 

 Spain and Portugal where oxen are the only animals employed in 

 agricultural labour, whether of road or field, they are invariably yoked 

 by the head. The strength of the animal lies in his neck, of the power 

 of which the head-yoke affords him all the advantage, while the collar 



Fig. 46. Yoke for Draught Oxen Used Abroad. 



deprives him of it, as he does not draw by the shoulders. The greater 

 cost and trouble of harness, of yo*kes and bows, are also considerations 

 of importance. In summer, harness has been found an incumbrance, 

 the ox requiring all the relief and liberty that can be afforded in hot 

 weather. 



In Portugal these animals are harnessed in the following manner. 

 A long leather strap is wrapped round the yoke, whence it passes to 

 the lower part of the horns, and is again fastened to the yoke. By 

 this contrivance the heads of the oxen become more steady while per- 

 forming their work, and the animals are rendered more tractable. 

 In France, and in the Peninsula, oxen are yoked in a manner better 

 expressed by the aid of figures than by description. Fig. 46 represents 

 a view of the hinder part of the head and neck of these animals in the 

 yoke, as they appear to a spectator. Fig. 47 exhibits a front view of 

 the upper part of their heads, in order to convey a more accurate idea 

 of the mode in which the French oxen are fastened to the bow. We 

 understand that the Earl of Shannon introduced this method of yoking 

 oxen into Ireland, and that two oxen thus harnessed were enabled with 

 great ease to draw the enormous weight of three tons. 



The advocates for the collar insist upon the advantages of single-ox 

 carts; and of ploughing with the team at length, by which, as they 

 walk in the furrow, the land is not so much poached as when they are 



