1804.] On Animal Labour. 13

that part of my estimates; does it proceed from the balance being 80 greatly in favour of horses? He descants on the great power of the ox, and increazes it by particular attention to breeding for the team; till he produces him Such“ glgan- vc" Strength, as(0 induce a SupposSition that three oxen may perform the work of four horses. Here again we have his “< Supposition," instead of facts: Admitting, however, that our oxen are not generally 80 well adapted to tillage as they would be, were that, instead of grazing, the chief exitement tv our breeders; will A. M. deny that great Improvement may be introduced Into the general breed of our draught hoises? Will he contend that those of Suffolk and Lanerk- Shire, cannot perform much more work in the space of a year, and on less food, than the more heavy breeds of many other dietriets? It is-well understood, that the Horses in tbe two counties I have mentioned are the most profitable in the kingdom; and this fact Seems to lessen the force of his << Supposition," relative to ihe labouring powers of the ox being inereased by the hugeness of his Size.--From all the remarks[ have mäde on labouring animals, I am inclined to think, that either oxen or horses oft about ihe middling Size, are best calculated to bear fatigue and perform.the most work.

Perbaps when your correspondent contrasts the great Size of his Majesty's oxen with those pygmies called ky/oes, which Me druide 70 vat numbers from Scotland to the Southern counties of England(and which 1 believe are excellent feed- ers, and produce wiie most valuable beef) he may conclude, because 1 live near the former county, that the oxen 1 have Calculated upon are Small, and that this is the reason of em- Joying SIX against two horses: But in Durham, Northum- berland, the northern parts of Yorkshire, and Southern parts of Scotland, the cattle are generally as large as in any other distriet in the kinodom; and the preference given to SIX OXeNn to a team, is founded on experienced utility. Thus employed, without corn, they brought an incereased price, while four to a team, with a full allowance of corn, were depreciated in value. Here, however, as in most other pärts of the kingdom, they are How nearly all Sct aside for tlie grazier; two horse teams having been feund much more profitable than thove with oven, under any SyStem of management; and 1 cannot ink the mode of yoking by the horns, calculated to produce any change in favour of the old exploded and barbarous Cus- tom vf labouring, heating, and training an animal, which 1y for human food.

evi s Intended ot

X For a co-3ble number of years in ſucceſlion:

S5 conlid Ag. Mag. Vol.-10.[(