ESSAY. 



ON THE EDUCATION OF THE OX. 



BY A. B. DAVIS, OF SHIRLEY. 



"Their strength, or speed, or vigilance, were given 

 In aid of our defects." — [Cowpeb. 



Tie employment of the term " Education," I am 

 aware, implies Mentality and a certain capability of 

 moral progression ; but it might as well be at once un- 

 derstood that while taking issue with this position I 

 recognize and accept the implication of truth, in the 

 remark attributed to Sidney Smith, that " there is no 

 other animal but man to whom mind appears to be given 

 for any other purpose than the preservation of the body." 

 Twenty years' experience with beasts of burden, has 

 put me in possession of facts which prove them sus- 

 ceptible of education and moral improvement to a 

 degree considerably outrunning the popular apprehen- 

 sion. To elucidate these facts and call attention to a 

 new source of good and pecuniary wealth to the Agri- 

 culturist, is the object of this paper. Of course it is 

 not practicable to give the full modus operandi of training 

 upon the basis of the positions assumed, but I hope by 

 originality of treatment to awaken interest in a science 

 which must, I am persuaded, form no unimportant 

 branch of the practically progressive farmer's education. 



