.

1803.] 237

A COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF THE EXPENCE,&c. oF * QXEN AND HORSES FOR DRAUGUHT.

To the Editor of the Agricultural Magazine.

SIR, 4 Oct. 1, 1803.

N your- Magazine for August last,(page 77) mueh is as- Serted in favour of the ox, as preferab]2 to the horse in farm labour, and particularly, that a powerful six years old 0x may be purchased at a much cheaper price than a horse of the Same description; that after the ox has, been“ worked for five or 51x years, and Supported. at.two thirds of the expence of the horse, he will obtain more than his first cost in the public market; that horses, when they become unfit for work, are a nuigäance to the animal world, and that obtaining he highest balance in the comparison of expence and produce, is the criterion of agricultural talents,&&. This Subject is of vast consequence to the 0ccupiers and proprietors of the goil, and the community at large; and having already(in your number for the month above mentioned) advanced opinions very different from those just Stated, I now beg leave to offer Some remarks and calculations in their Support. In this dis- trict, and I believe in most other parts of the kingdom, those wbo were engaged in stoeking farms last spring, found that good Six year old oxen, brought almost as high a price as four year old horses, whose mettle and Strength rendered them fit for draught. 1 am not inclined to dispute that when six or eight oxen are used for one team, they will generally, after being worked a few years,(but five or Six years is too long a ume) bring more than prime cost; but that when two to four oxen only are employed for one team, and laboured against a pair of good horses, five to ten hours per day for 313 days in the year, they can be kept in proper condition for two thirds ofthe expence ofthe horse, I positively deny. It is believed by Some, that ruminant animals, oxen for instance, consume much less tood than horses, but that this theory will not tand the test of experience may be easily proved in most Parts of the country. To overthrow it, however, I Shall only adduce what is Stated in the Northumberland Survey, the accuracy of which Statement(as[ am well'acquainted with the gentlemen by whom the experiments were couducted, I can fully depend npon. By these experiments it appears, in the words of Messrs. Bailey and Culley--two deservedly distinguished agri- cgulturists-=“ That three working horses, about fifteen hands and a half high, cat, in fourteen days, nNinety-5ix Stones of hay; which is, for each horse, at the rate of Sixteen Stones Per week, with an allowance of oats, twelve gallons a week. zr. TD'S-eighteen horses in twelve days eat430 tones of hay; which is fourteen Stones per week each hor1se, allowance

Ag. Mag, Vol. 9.