1309.] Critical Cátalogue. 281

do what the horſes might very well perform witthout them, the oxen ſeem to be little better than an uſeleſs incumbrance. What a pity, that thoſe uſeful animals ſhould be either abandoned, or ſo unprofitably em- ployed!

‘“ Some gentlemen have again begun to uſe oxen for all the pur- poses of draught.""The Right Honourable Lord DoucLAas alw 1yS works a few z and, at his Lordſhip?’s deſire; his manager commauni- cated the following comparative ſtatement of the importance of rhe horſe and the 0x in labour, at the time the former report was printed; and though the money value of both animals is different from whar it then was, it ſhall here be ſtated in the fame terms.

““ An 0x at the price of 71. 10s. is equally Îtrong in draught with a horſe at 2ol., and egaually fit for the plough, carc, or harrow.

<«c‘The ox requires one-fourth leſs fodder than the horſe, and only a little unthraſhed oats, from an eighth toa ſixth of whar is requiûte to ſupport the horſe; and if fourteen pounds of raw potatoes be given tothe ox in a day, he will need no oats, and not conſame more chan half the fodder ate by a horſe.

“ The ox may be wrought from four to ten years of age, and fill increase in ſize, and be capable of carrying more flesh, when he is turned to fatten 5 whereas the horfe, in that time will loſe one-fifth oS his price.

« The ox may be turned to paſture in ſummer, as ſoon as he is taken from the yoke; and will gather his own food, without needing any corn or attendance.

““ The ox is as much fatigued with seven hours work in the day, as the horſe is with eight; and the execution of the ox 1s ſcarcely more than four-fifths ot that cf the horſe, in the ſame time.

““ After the ox has filled his belly, he muſt'have time to ruminate, and therefore cannot be baited, and put to work a ſecond time the ſame day, like the horſe, without being greatly injured.”

We ſhall conclude our long extracts from this valuable article, with a very Juſt view of a great public grievance, the farrago of uſeleſs and miſcheivous ſtatutes, for the regulation of that which never can be well regulated, but by commercial diſcretioa, the commerce of corn.

“ Land people have beheld, with ſome degree of envy, numbers riſing into conſequence by the effeds of induſtry, and have wiſhed to Hy that induſtry under contribution, by reſtraining laws, intended to raiſe the price of proviſion. Manufauring people, on the other hand, have been making perpetual ſtruggles to countera& this; and, by loud clamours of the danger of the poor being ſtarved, have obtained certain relaxations of thoſe laws. Hence has ariſen that contradictory jumble of ſtatutes and regulations, known by the name of the corn laws, and the officious interference of the executive governmeni, in all pretended emergencies. T'he part which land-holders bave taken in forming theſe laws, was, probably, with-a view to increaſe their own revenue, rather than to improve the condition of huſbandmen, or promote agriculture. It would seem, however, to have been without effet. Rents, indeed, have greatly riſen; bu; the reûraining laws have not been the cauſe,

Second Series; Fol. 1. Oo