The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1873-04-19
Orleans vs.. Horses.

In this go-ahead age it is dismal sight
to see an able bodied man toiling along
the road at the slow pace of pair of oxen,
and we have probably had as much to
say as any one in favor of the faster horse
or mule team.
We are bound 10 confess, however, that
he picture has another. side which is
worthy of careful consideration. Ox-team,
are slow, it is true, but they are effective
cheap and convenient. Horses are u
necessity for regular road work and for
many operations on the farm, but it is
almost Indispensable to have for occa-
eions considerably more team force than is
needed regularly. If the extra work of
blowing, harvesting and hauling manure
is to be done by horses, we may make up
our minds to have them more than half
the year eating off their heads in idleness,
and to be in constant danger OF loss from
the thousand i'll that horse flesh is heir to.
10 state the case in nut she'll, an idle
horse is idle capital, invested in an extra
hazardous risk, without insurance, and
consuming itself month after month.
Oxen, on the other hand, if properly
treated, are a tolerably safe storehouse of
working power. When not at work, they
are laying on flesh which is worth so
much per pound in a ready market if we
choose to sell, or which may be taken out
again in the form Of hard work whenever
we may call upon it. In case of accident
we may realize the full amount of our in
vestment at the hands OF the nearest
butcher. An idle OK is active capital,
the investment Is safe and well insured,
and his fodder is pretty certain to get paid
for, either in flesh or In work.
The difference in returns In the two cases
is very important one, and the extra
cost of teamsters In the use of the slower
animals is probably well compensated for
by the savirg in saddlery bills. Aud after
all, the question of speed is of less con-
sequence than we often imagine it to be.
We have lately had an opportunity to
watch two teams in use In our neigbbor-
hood, one of horses and one OF oxen,
both engaged In similar work (mainl y on
the road), and we have come to the con-
clusion, against our precconcelved notions,
that "slow and steady wins the race
The oxen seemed to do more work in a
week than the horses They are three
paiio VI So'ehS, .
and so paying profit on their keeping
when not notwithstanding less 10 buy
and less to feed than the single pair of
horses. When they are needed for work,
they are taken up and fed enough grain
to keep them hearty. When their work
is fnished, they are turned out to "eat,
sleep, and grow fat" When each pair
have got their growth, they are sold to
the butcher, and ID part of their price re-
places them with the younger ones.
Starting our farming lite with preju-
dice against the use of OK teams, we have
been induced gradually to substitute
them for horses, until now we have only
enough of the latter for our regular road
work, and depend on oxen for all emer
gencles in work and in flesh We get a
full equivalent for.-,all the food they.con-
sumo, and we save the heavy cost of
keeping idle horses, the risk of a total
loss of value by accident or death, and
the certainty of depreciation by reason of
old age.-American Agrlculturia.