No. 151.] • 349 



In the third place, they prevent the soil from drying rapidly in 

 their vicinity after showers, consequently detering the plowman, 

 when the rest of the field requires his labors. 



In the fourth place, the snow in winter drifts against them in large 

 quantities, where it remains piled up very late in the spring, to the 

 annoyance of the farmer. 



In the fifth place, they furnish a capital and secure cover for foul 

 weeds, which are rarely eradicated, owing to the labor required, and 

 which spread contagion over the whole field. 



In the sixth place, they are resorted to by mice, insects of all kinds, 

 birds, &c., which sally out when the husbandmen are absent, and do 

 inconceivable damage to the growing crop. 



In the seventh place, they are excessively in the way of the plow. 

 The headlands of cultivated fields generally, are always rough, full 

 of weeds, and covered with briars. 



In the eighth place, if made of ditches, they take up a vast deal 

 of room, are continually filled with partially stagnant water, produce 

 malaria, induce fevers, and not unfrequently render a whole family 

 incompetent to labor. 



Soiling the Ox. 



The (^ is one of the mammalia class; order ruminantia; tribe 

 bovidae, and genus bos. The sub-genus of <vhich I intend to speak 

 is bos taurus, or the domestic ox, whose native country is supposed 

 to have been the fertile plains at the foot of Mount Ararat. When 

 driv'en from the ark he was a domesticated animal, at least such is 

 the inference naturally drawn from the fact, that mention is made of 

 the ox as being the servant of man in the antediluvian age, soon 

 after Adam was expelled from the Garden of Eden. It is recorded, 

 that Jubal, the son of Lamech, and who was probably born during 

 the life time of Adam, was the father of such as dwell in tents, and 

 of such as have cattle. If then the ox was domesticated before the 

 flood, it is natural to suppose he was so when he left the ark, and 

 since that he has been found in every country inhabited by Noah's 

 descendants, and has always been indispensable to mankind. Among 

 the ancients he was considered the most valuable portion of their 

 wealth. When Abraham was in Egypt, one hundred and eighty years 

 before the horse was mentioned, Pharaoh presented him with oxen> 



