TEAM. Nothing is of greater importance in the management of a farm than the cattle which perform the necessary work in ploughing and other operations on the soil, in drawing manure to the land and carrying the produce to market. It is evident that the smaller the expense of the telltn which does the requisite work in proper time, the greater the profit of the farmer, and every saving in this part of the expense of cultivation is so much added to the clear gain. Wherever the land is only partially cultivated, and a portion of it remains in coarse pasture, which costs little or nothing to the occupier, or where extensive open commons afford cheap food for oxen, these last are naturally employed in farm labour. If four oxen do only the work of two horses, they are maintained at a much smaller expense, and, after working for two or three years, their value is improved for the purpose of fatting for the butcher. The necessary gear is much less expen sive, especially where the old yoke is still in use, whether across the neck or the horns. In fact, for a poor man who has only a few acres of land, and who is situated near a waste or common, oxen are the most economical team. Many, who in general have more theoretical than practical knowledge of husbandry, have maintained the general superiority of an ox team over that composed of horses, and have given calculations which appear clearly to establish their point. But on the other side, it may be olvierved, that wherever arable land is the chief object of the farmer's attention, and the tillage of the Boil is brought to any degree of perfection, there oxen are never seen at work, but have been invariably auperseded by active horses. Oxen as draught animals are almost Invariably part of • sluggish agriculture ; and though •lese costly themselves, yet teaching slow and dilatory movement to everything about them, their use for tillage operations in everywhere diminishing.
As to the cost of horses per annum, the following may suffice. En the oil mode of feeding, with as much hay as they would eat, and two bushels of oats for each horse per week, during at least nine months in the year, and giving them tares or artificial grasses between spring sowing and harvest, when there was less to be done, the expense of a horse was touch greater than most farmers could now afford ; and more land was devoted to the keep of the team than was necessary. The following is the calculation of the cost of the keep of a horse in this way :— s.
The hay and oats are at high prices, but at all events a horse cannot be kept in this way under 10s. per week. They are then, however, in excellent condition, and able to work ten hours per day in Rummer and eight in winter.
The use of bruised corn and carrots, and mangold-wurzel and chaff of hay and straw, secures a considerable economy ; and taking smith, farrier, harness, and depreciation of value 13/. per annum) into account, the cost per horse should not he more than 30/. a year. In fact, on 21 farms, the details of which have been given by Mr. Morton in the
Agricultural Society's 'Journal,' 282 horses working SS51 arable and 2549 pasture acres, cost 7513/. 8s. per annum, or about 26/. 12s. apiece. In this, the wages of team-men had to be added, nearly 13,000/., In order to find the cost of horse-labour per annum.
It is of great importance to a person about to hire a farm to know exactly what number of horses will be required for its proper cultiva tion, and this depends upon many circumstances, which must all be taken into consideration, and which will make a very material differ ence, often MI much as half the rent of the land. Fie is to consider the situation of the farm-buildings, especially the stalls and cattle yards, where the manure is to be made, with respect to their distance from the fields ; the state of the roads and the access to the fields ; the distance of a good market-town, and whether the fields lie in a ring fence or are scattered. A farm of good light loam will require one nurse for every thirty-five acres for its cultivation. The larger the farm, or rather the fields, the fewer horses are required in proportion to its size, because much time is lost in tinning the plough where the furrow is abort; and ploughing is always the principal work of the team. If more titan two horses are required to plough the ground, the soil must be very compact and heavy, and if this is not compen sated by greater fertility, the expense of the horses will much reduce the profit of the farmer. The work in the field when the days are long should be divided so as to giro the horses at least two hours' rest, during which they should be fed with corn. AS'hen the fields are near the stables the horses may be brought home, but a portable manger is easily carried into the field, snch as is used at the inns on the roads where carriers stop to belt. In winter it may be as well to finish the day's work with only an interval of half an hour. The time in summer should be from 5 In the morning till 10, and from 2 till 7 if the weather is very warm, resting four hours; or from 6 till 11 and from 1 till 6, resting two hours. In winter the time is from 7 till 3, mating half an hour or an hour between 11 and 12. With good feeding and grooming this is by no mama too hard work when the work requires to be carried on briskly. The heavier and l'ghter kind of work should be so arranged that when horses have eerked hard for • day or two, they may hare oar or two days of lighter work. In most parts of England the pace In the horses and their daily work are much lose than in Scotland ; two horses should plough an acre • deyy or more, on an averAge, but few farmers can get mulch more sexomplialied than three-quarters of MI acre, if they plough a goxl depth or break up clover or grass lays. In the light Rands of Norfolk and Livoolnahire they go over much ground ; hut there the farrows are wile and shallow, and the homes might easily tot with the plough if the ploughmen could keep up with them.