424 Anniversary Address. 



in general are very indifferent ; and how can it be 

 otherwise, considering our instruments of husbandry, 

 which are sadly imperfect ? What can be expected from 

 them in a poor soil, when they perform so little even in 

 the richest ? Our crops accordingly correspond to our 

 instruments." Of draught horses, he says " the breed is 

 so much neglected, that they are commonly miserable 

 creatures without strength or mettle." " With respect to 

 oxen, there is no care taken, either in the breeding or 

 feeding: from the little care of providing food for 

 draught oxen, one would suspect it to be a general 

 opinion, that they require no food. In summer they are 

 turned out into bare pasture, scarce sufficient for sheep. 

 In winter, a small bottle of straw, not above a stone 

 weight, is all that is allowed them in the twenty-four 

 hours. What can animals so fed do in a plough ? And 

 yet such is the stupidity of many farmers, that instead 

 of adding to the food, they add to the number : as if it 

 would mend the matter to add cattle that can scarce 

 support their own weight. One unaccustomed to see ten 

 oxen in a plough, led on by two horses, cannot avoid 

 smiling. Our farmers, led entirely by custom — not by 

 reflection — seldom think of proportioning the number of 

 their working cattle to the uses they have for them. 

 Hence in different counties, from six to twelve oxen in 

 a plough, without any regard to the soil." " The 

 division of a farm into infield and outfield is execrable 

 husbandry. Hence extensive farms, a small part of 

 which next the dwelling, termed infield cultivated for 

 corn : the remainder termed ouijield abandoned to the 

 cattle, in appearance for pasture, but in reality for 

 starving." " Custom is nowhere more prevalent than in 

 the form of ridges. No less high than broad, they are 

 enormous masses of accumulated earth, that admit not 

 cross-plowing nor any plowing, but gathering and cleav- 

 ing. Custom and imitation so powerful that our ridges 

 are no less high in the steepest bank, than in the 

 flattest field. Balks between ridges are equally frequent, 



