M E18

AGRICULTURAL MAGAZINE.

No. XLIX.] AUGUST, 1803.[Vos 136

THE PREFERENCE THE INTELLIGENT FARMER SHOULD GIVE TV. OXEN FOR. THE LABOUR OF THE PLOUGH, AND THE METHOD OF YOKING EMPLOYED BY THE FRENCH PEA- SANTRY, STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.

WITH A PLATE ANNEXED. HE principal design of.the patriotic traveller is;to trans» fer the improvements of otber countries into his./own.

The avidity of the public has been Sufficiently. directed t0,com-

Parative politics, we Shall be glad to See It as attentive to com-

Parative agriculture;; ton the introduction of the valuable sys-

tem of culüvation adopted'by. Chateauvieux, will; be more

beneficial to this country;c--thän/of the twelve parliaments„of the French monarchy.!

Our immediate object in. this paper, is to recommend..the Substitution of tbe Ox fortbe Horze in tillage, and.the mode ,of yoking the former adopted.by.tbe peasantry in France.

The advantages of the ox»nay be brießy stated. A powerful handsome Six year old ox may be purchazed at a much cheaper Price than a horse of the Same description; and after. the animal has been worked for five or Six years, and has. been kept at.two thirds the expence, of the horse, he will obtain more than his first cost in the public market.

An intelligent writer on this Subject observes,“ Oxen,.after they have fed the hungry, will rhemselves become the first.of human food. HNorses atter they have eat the food of;the fatherless, become a nuisance to the animal world; or, buried in a corner, lie a total loss to agriculture and to the com» anunity."

"The criterion of agricultural talent is not the beauty of the team, the variety of unplements, or, even the abundance of the harvest, but that man is the best farmer, who, availing himszelfof the exuberance of nature, obtains the higbest balance in the comparison ot expence and produce.

Oxen are equally nactable with the borse, their strength, like his, depends upon their age and breed, and their activity on their make and proportions. A large deep-chested ox at SIX years of age, 1s equal in power to a Strong cart horse.=- b.ven on the road the ox is Sometimes Superior. In stif puls (vs in acchvities) oxen are the great Support. It they are unable to proceed, they will always Stand their ground: whereas horses Soon lose their feet in a Steep or Slippery 10ad,.

Ag. Mag. Yol. 9.