Horse and Ox Teams. 
57 
In the above table, I have calculated the oats given to the horses 
at the market price ; but the cleanings and inferior grain, which 
cannot be otherwise disposed of, constitute a considerable portion 
of their food, and thus the cost on this item can be reduced ; other- 
wise the figures above so nearly correspond, that it rests with the 
partiality of parties whether they shall employ horses or oxen, or 
partly both. For my own part, after duly considering the matter, 
and after the experience of a number of years, I should give the 
preference to employing horses exclusively. They are ready at all 
times for all kinds of work ; in wet or frosty weather they can be 
employed in carting, and in leading the crop in harvest they are 
invaluable and indispensable, while at all these times the oxen are 
" eating the bread of idleness." 
Havinsr formerly employed both horses and oxen rather largely in farm 
labour when residing in Germany, my experience would lead me to use 
the former solely on road work, and the latter in the field, but coupled 
with the observation that it must be clay land; for, on light soils, 1 am 
convinced that horses will do the work more satisfactorily than oxen, and 
quite as cheaply, unless the farm contains a large portion of rough 
pasture. 
J. French Burke. 
V. — The Farming of Cheshire. By William Palin. 
Prize Report. 
In offering a Report on the agriculture of the county of Chester, 
it may be necessary to observe that cheese being generally consi- 
dered the staple commodity of the county, and the plough being 
regarded only as an accompaniment to the pail, the attention of 
the farmer is principally directed to that article, on the proceeds 
of which the payment of his rent chiefly depends ; the course 
of cropping, and the general management, will therefore be found 
to differ materially from those of other districts, where the dairy, 
if of any interest at all, is merely a matter of secondary im- 
portance. Having been practically engaged on a large dairy 
farm in the interior of the county for nearly thirty years, I have 
had opportunities of witnessing the different modes pursued, and 
the progress made during that period ; I therefore presume to 
offer the present statement of its agriculture. In addition to the 
knowledge derived from my own experience and observation, I 
have endeavoured to elicit information upon every point proposed 
in your important inquiry from the most intelligent and the 
