176 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
June 
The inducements for farmers to take stock in plank 
roads, are summed up as follows: 
“ Now in view of these facts and suggestions, it 
must readily occur to every farmer, within a reasona¬ 
ble distance of the line of a plank road, that he can bet¬ 
ter afford to take stock in such a company than any 
other of our industrial classes, because he can more 
cheaply pay for his shares,—by working them out on 
the road. Every head of a family, with his teams, 
scrapers, shovels, and other implements which are al¬ 
ways at hand in the cultivation, &c. of his farm, could 
during those leisure times which every one occasional¬ 
ly enjoys, work out from one to a dozen shares, accor¬ 
ding to his force and proximity to the road, without 
any serious diversion of his attention from his regular 
vocation, or perceptive detriment to his crops. In fine, 
to all classes of farmers, no scheme was evgr devised 
that afforded so rich an assurance of immediate and 
positive benefits to them , as the construction of plank 
roads in the neighborhood of their farms.” 
OXEI FOE FAE1 TEAffl§» 
Out of New England, a difference of opinion exists 
relative to the comparative value of oxen and horses 
for the business of the farmer, the great majority of 
agriculturists, by their practice at least, declaring 
their preference for horses. I say out of New England 
because there I think the great majority of farmers 
maintain the opinion that oxen are preferable to horses 
for all kinds of farm labor. New England farmers are 
better acquainted with the real value of oxen, than 
farmers less accustomed to use them, and their opinion 
is entitled to consideration. In a communication made 
by the Hon. Levi Lincoln, of Massachusetts, to the 
Agricultural Society of Pennsylvania, he says: “So de¬ 
cided is the preference for oxen (here,) that I do not 
believe a single farmer can be found in this agricultural 
county, who performs his labor by horses without oxen; 
while there are hundreds , I had almost said thousands , 
who make noother’use of horses in husbandry, than to 
furrow for planting, and plow among their corn for 
hoeing.” This question of the comparative value of 
horse and ox teams, becomes an important one to the 
farmer, when it is recollected that the expense of his 
team, is a chief item in his yearly expenses. If ox 
teams are really more economical for the farmer, then 
a wide spread error exists, since in this, and in most 
of the states, horses are generally used, while oxen 
are either entirely unused, or but partially employed. 
A common, and perhaps the prominent objection urged 
against the use of oxen, is that they are constitution¬ 
ally slow of motion, and not to be depended upon in 
the oftentimes hurrying operations of the farm. As 
oxen are usually handled, there is something in the 
objection; it is believed, however, the fault is not a 
constitutional one, but the effect of injudicious training. 
The common method of breaking steers, tends to 
make their ; movements '^slow. They are usually 
put into the yoke when two or three years old, and fast¬ 
ened at once to an old yoke of cattle, rendered sloth¬ 
ful by labor or habit,—where they are worked until 
“ broken,” and forced to accommodate their movements 
to the tardy motion of the team that controls them. 
After having been tamed, and rendered obedient in this 
way, they are usually put to labor quite too severe for 
their age and strength,—and soon become “broken” in 
spirit. ° It is not strange that under such treatment, 
oxen are sluggish in their movements. By judicious 
training, oxen, as well as horses, can be taught to tra¬ 
vel in any gait desirable for farm-labor; and any one 
unacquainted with the effects of careful training, with 
reference to rapidity of movement, will be astonished 
to see the difference produced. 
The Devon breed of cattle has ever been esteemed 
for its working qualities, being excelled in speed at the 
plow, or even upon the road, by but few horses; and in 
their native country, it is said they are not unfrequent- 
ly trotted, with an empty wagon, at the rate of six 
miles per hour. From this valuable stock, many of 
the working oxen of New England are believed to have 
sprung,-—their color, form and action betraying their 
origin. Although the bulls of this breed are general¬ 
ly light, and the cows rather small, the oxen are large, 
furnishing all the size necessary and profitable for the 
yoke, and falling little, if any, behind their more pre¬ 
tending rivals, at the shambles. 
Well directed experiments have demonstrated, that 
with proper treatment and training, the difference in 
speed between horses and oxen, in farm labor, is very 
little. Sir John Sinclair, in his account of Systems 
of Husbandry in the improved districts of Scotland, 
when giving the experience of practical farmers on this 
subject, says that the ox teams upon the farms in 
Wooden and Mellendean, when along with the horse 
plows, never lose a turn. The issue of plowing match¬ 
es throughout the country, has it is believed, establish¬ 
ed the fact that oxen can plow a given space of ground 
as quick and as well as horses. While oxen are more 
or less used in farming operations in the vicinity where 
I reside, custom has entirely driven them from employ¬ 
ment in transportiug goods upon the public roads. I 
suppose the alleged slowness of motion of the ox, has 
led to his disuse in this particular. In the early history 
of this county, when the roads hence to the Hudson 
river were new—passing through forests and surmount¬ 
ing many of the steepest hill, my father, in his busi¬ 
ness, employed heavy ox teams as well upon the roads, 
as in his farming and lumbering operations. I find, 
upon examination of his papers, that his ox-teams, 
heavily loaded going and returning, made their trips to 
Cat skill, a distance of 66 miles, in six days, frequent¬ 
ly in five days, or traveling twenty-two miles per day. 
Horse teams consume, on an average , the same length 
of time now,—traveling over roads for the most part 
carefully graded and well-worked—roads ten miles a 
day easier for a team, than those in use from 1800 to 
1812. The heavy six-horse teams traveling upon the 
National road make but fifteen miles a day. Ex-Gov¬ 
ernor Hill, of New Hampshire, in a letter upon the 
use of oxen in the lumbering business of Maine, (as 
the same is quoted by Mr. Skinner,) says: “ I have at 
this time cattle of my own raising, which have been 
taught to step quick, and having worked in the same 
team with horses, will, side by side, travel as fast, and 
plow as much in a day as the same number of horses. 
A pair of these oxen, will turn over with a plow that 
carries twelve inches, of the last year’s corn or pota¬ 
to ground, or easy stubble land, from one and a-half 
to two acres in a day, working eight hours, four in 
the forenoon and four in the afternoon. Oxen well-fed 
with hay, and a portion of Indian corn or meal, will in 
the heat of summer stand it to work daily from eight 
to ten hours.” 
Another objection urged against the use of ox- 
tearns, is their inability to withstand the heat. 
So far as my knowledge or experience goes, this 
