THE SUSSEX BREED. 355 



thus shewing, by their practice, that, even under circum- 

 stances the most favourable to the employment of this kind 

 of draught, the Horse possesses certain qualities in which 

 the Ox is deficient, and that at best the use of oxen can only 

 be subsidiary to that of horses on ordinary farms. The use 

 of oxen has invariably declined in those parts of the country 

 where impravements are the most extended, and where the 

 most active system of farm-labour has been established ; and 

 now it may be said, that the general use of oxen is confined to 

 those parts of the country where the peculiar races of cattle 

 suited for labour are reared. In all the districts where the 

 Short-horned Breed of cattle is established, the employment 

 of oxen in labour is almost unknown ; and, in all the districts 

 where the active labour of the turnip -culture is largely prac- 

 tised, the Horse is almost exclusively made use of. Indeed, * 

 it may be said, that this is an arrangement indicating an 

 advanced state of agriculture. By means of it, the two kinds 

 of animals are employed for the purposes to which they are, 

 respectively, the best adapted the Horse for active labour ; 

 the Ox for being reared the most quickly to that maturity 

 which fits him for human food. It is with the especial view 

 of directing attention to this result that these remarks are 

 made. The principle of breeding, when applied to an animal 

 to be fattened, is to develope those properties which have 

 relation to the earliest maturity of muscle and fat ; and the 

 principle of fattening is to apply to the animal the largest 

 quantity of nutriment, from his birth to maturity, which con- 

 sists with the preservation of his health, or which the means 

 of feeding at our command may allow. But these principles 

 cannot be fully applied when the oxen of the farm are to be 

 employed for labour. The external form which indicates the 

 fitness of an animal for the exertion of its physical powers 

 is different from that which indicates its adaptation to the 

 purpose of early fattening ; and hence, the general employ- 

 ment of oxen in tillage is unfavourable to due attention to 

 another class of properties, while it does not admit of that 



