Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-08-20

The following article from the Maine Farm
er is equally applicable to this part of New
England, where there are fewer working oxen
than formerly.
The census returns disclose the fact that
while there is no diminnton in the number
of domestic animals kept in the State, during
the last ten years there is great falling of
in the number of working oxen and this ac-
counts in part, for the continued high price
of beef while the prices of almost everything
else have declined. Why, the nearly three
hundred farmers of Augusta own less than
twenty five yoke of working oxen, and while
this does not represent the ratio of working
oxen to farmers in the State, it comes much
nearer to it than it ought to. We believe
that without exception, every farmer in this
city owns n horse, and from that TO three or
four, while only on an average, one in twelve
owns a pair of oxen. The argument put
forth in favor of this condition of things and
We admit that there is force in it, is that
horses perform the work better and quicker
than oxen; that they are more fit for use on
roads or to encounter bad weather that thcy
suffer less from extraordinary exertion and
from heat than oxen, and that they are adapt
cd to many purposes for which oxen are un-
fit.
But is not the argument in favor OF oxen
equally forcble Oxen cost less at first, and
the annual expense for harness, farriery and
food is much less for oxen than for the horse
they perform more labor for their annual cost
of keeping they increase in value from the
beginning of working are worth more at
last than at the first, going at last TO the
butcher At price varying from one to two
hundred dollars per yoke, while the skin of
the dead horse is all that is worth anything.
There are some ox-teams that will do as much
work on the farm as horses team for team,
but we are aware that such instances are rare.
On the contrary, rs general rule, horses will
perform about twice as much work on the
farm as oxen. English farmers, after care
fully experimenting, have arrived at the con-
clusion that while it takes eight oxen to do
the work of five horses, the balance of cost
would be from twelve to fifteen dollars per
annum in favor of ox-teams. In Scotland,
on a large farm, where several teams of both
kinds were used, three oxen were found to
be equal to two horses for all kinds of farm
work, and the balance in the cost of keeping,
ETC., for twelve years ut the rate of three OK
en- to two horses, in four teams, amounted to
two hundred and thirty dollars in favor of the
oxen.
All this goes to prove that for actual labor
on the farm, there is a decided advantage in
using oxen we are speaking now more par
ticularly of the farmers of New England, for
III llo CultlNhbiOu VI tub ithHltuho ueluh Oh lne
South and West, horse labor is indispensable,
aud on all farms situated remote from the
markets. The horse will withstand the heat
much better than the OK, but in our mixed
husbandry, there is no occasion for using
either horses or oxen constantly during the
heated term. The low and even temperature
of England does not interfere with working
oxen during the whole season, except in rare
cases. We have not the least doubt that il
the small farmer with from fifty 10 one hun
bred acres of land, who finds 1t necessary to
keep more than one horse TO do his work,
would keep a yoke of oxen, the business OF
the farm would go on fully as well as though
he kept two horses, while the profit would be
much more satisfactory We recognize the
fact that the horse is the noblest and most
useful of all our domestic animals, but We
must speak word in behalf of the patient
OK which, with less danger from disease OIL
accident, with less expense of food and har
ness and with the certainty that his value il
increasing with age, should in our Judgment