TEAM. 



for the dray, and every fort of fimilar heavy work, where a 

 How, fteady, ftrong draught is required, they are atfo uii- 

 queftionably the molt proper and fuitable, as long experi- 

 ence has fully proved. But a confiderable alteration has 

 lately taken place in the kinds which are made ufe of as 

 teams for carrying on the lighter forts of road-work, whether 

 by means of carriages or other vehicles. 



It has been foraid that the ftouter fort of horfea, pof- 

 feffing a little blood, are by much the beft adapted to this 

 kind of labour of any, being much more adtive and expe- 

 ditious, as well as more durable, and lefs liable to fatigue 

 and to become tired out on the road. On this account they 

 form the teams for moft. forts of coach and other carriage 

 labour, and in many, inftances for various heavier defcrip- 

 tions of it ; and it is not improbable but that, in fomc cafes, 

 they might be fubftituted as teams for farming work with 

 great propriety and advantage, in confequence of their 

 quicker pace, and having what is commonly called more 

 bottom. 



Among farmers it has long been a difputed point, whether 

 horfes or oxen form the moft economical and advantageous 

 team for the purpofe of the cultivator in performing his 

 work, and it remains ftill undecided, though many intelli- 

 gent agriculturalifts now incline to the fide of horfe -teams, 

 except in particular circumftances and fituations. And a 

 late writer has remarked, that the circumftances in which 

 the latter have been chiefly fuppofed to be more advantage- 

 ous than the former, are in their being kept at lefs expence, 

 and their not declining in value. But that thefe, when ex- 

 amined, are perhaps not fo decifive of their fuperiority, as 

 they may at firft light appear ; for where the work of the 

 farm is done by the younger fort of horfes, which is per- 

 haps the beft method, the decline in value cannot be of any 

 material confequence, while the fuperiority in point of the 

 difpatch of work is very great. And in regard to the 

 keep, as oxen cannot perform their labour well in con- 

 tinuance without oats, or fome other fuftenance of a fimilar 

 kind, it would feem not improbable but that young horfes 

 may pay nearly as well as oxen, and be kept with little dif- 

 ference in the expence. Indeed the common opinion, that 

 oxen are fuperior to horfes in the tillage of heavy fends, 

 does not at all appear to be well founded, efpecially when 

 drawn in yokes and boius, as the poaching muft be greater 

 than by horfes working at length. But when in harnefs, 

 they may, from their greater fteadinefs, be preferable ; of 

 courfe, under different management, they are capable of be- 

 ing employed in both ways. But in all fuch cafes, as where 

 quick motion is of more importance than the fteady drawing 

 of heavy weights, the horfe is much fuperior to the ox, as 

 well as in carting, where great fpeed is required in the un- 

 loaded ftate, and wherever the roads or lands are rough, 

 ftiarp, and ftony, as oxen cannot be ftiod fo well as horfes 

 to ftand fuch roads. And in harrowing with light harrows, 

 where a jumping irregular motion is neceflary, it has been 

 ftiewn in the Annals of Agriculture, that horfes are the 

 moft proper, and to be conftantly preferred. In ihort, that 

 teams of the ox-kind may be made ufe of with benefit in 

 many cafes in bufmeffes about the farm, but they are incom- 

 patible with aU forts of diftant work, and efpecially on the 

 road, and in ftony fituations. 



It has been remarked, in a late Calendar of huftiandry, 

 that there are two cafes in which oxen are certainly more 

 beneficial than horfes : firft, when a farmer lives in a diftrift 

 where there is a breed of cattle well adapted to work ; and, 

 fecondly, when his farm is fo large, that he can buy in a 

 lot of cattle annually, at a fmall expence per head, and feel 

 jio inconvenience in turning out fuch beafts from the teams 



Vol. XXXV. 



to fatten as do not work well. In both ihcfe tafcs, tl|c 

 writer has little doubt of the fuperiority of ox»ri to horfes. 

 But ill countries thiit do not poffefs a breed of cattle well 

 adapted for work in the ftate of oxen ; and on fmall farms, 

 whence fairs muft be attended at the diftance of a hundred 

 miles to purchale a few, and confequently at a great ex- 

 pence per head, and poiTibly without land for fattening any, 

 the benefit will be very queftionable. 



It has been fuggefted by the writers of the Agricultural 

 Survey of the Weft Riding of Yorkfhire, that from the 

 circumllances of ox-teams being almoft univerfally given up 

 in thofe places wliere they were formerly in i-epute, a fut- 

 picion arifes, that working them is not attended with profit. 



In regard to the national advantages to be derived from a 

 change from horfes to oxen, there does not appear to be 

 any great benefit, as it has been fliewn by Mr. Pitt in an ejt- 

 cellent paper in the fifth volume of Communications to the 

 Board of Agriculture, that as thole ufed in agriculture art 

 in a great meafure a nurfer)' for thofe wanted tor other pur- 

 pofes ; the extent of fuch change can take place no farther 

 than about the work of 100,000 horfes. 



To afcertain what general eftcft fuch a change might pro- 

 duce in increafing food for mankind, as what he calls the 

 higher kept farm-horfes are generally, or at leaft a part of 

 them in preparation for fale, for the road, or harnefs ; he 

 muft fuppofe the deduction made, from what he has caHed 

 moderately kept farm-horfes ; now fupported at four acres 

 and a half per head ; then the deduftion of 



Acre*. 

 100,000 of thofe would fave the landed pro-1 



duceof - - - - } 450,000 



And the dedudlion of young ftock, in the J 



fame proportion, one-ninth of the whole, ( 



would fave one-ninth of 250,000 acres, to C 



preferve even numbers, fuppofe - J 



In all faved - - - - - 



30,000 



480,000 



The idea in all the midland counties is, it is obferved, 

 that two oxen will be required to do the work of each horfe ; 

 200,000 working oxen will therefore be wanted inftead of 

 the horfes thus dedufted. To give the oxen a fair chance 

 in this calculation, he will fuppofe them fit to work at three 

 years old, and the workers to be of the ages of three, four, 

 five, and fix refpeftively, 50,000 of each ; the fame number 

 coming one, two, and three years old, wU be wanted for 

 fucceffion ftock ; and 50,000 annually fatted off ; the land 

 neceflary for their fupport may be nearly as follows : 



Acres. 

 Keep of 50,000 fteers, of the ages of coming "J 

 one, two, and three years old refpeftively, | 

 150,000 acres in all, at one acre each per j 

 head per annum - - - J 



200,000 working oxen, 

 five, and fix years old, 

 at two and a half 



ti, of full three, four,! 

 old, 50,000 of each, ( 

 " acres per head per f 



150,000 



500,000 



annum 



Lefs land cannot, it is bcheved, be poffibly" 

 allowed to keep them in working condi- 

 tion ; they muft have hay and fometimes 

 com when clofely worked, 50,000 fatting, 

 at three acres per head 



Land neceflary for the oxen 



Deduft for the horfes - - - 



Difference 



Aa 



150,000 



800,000 

 480,000 



310,000 



Thcfc 



