Animals which have incisive teeth, such as the horse and the ass, in both jaws, bite short grass more easily than those which want these teeth in the superior jaw; and if the sheep and goat bite the closest, it is because they are small, and their lips are thin. But _oxen_, whose lips are thick, can only bite long grass; and it is for this reason that they do no harm to the pasture on which they live; as they only bite off the tops of the young herbage, they do not stir the roots, and the growth is scarcely checked; instead of which, the sheep and the goat bite so close, that they destroy the stalk and spoil the root. Besides, the horse chuses the shortest and most delicate grass, leaving the largest to grow for seed; but the _ox_ eats these thick stalks, and by little and little destroys the coarser grass; so that in a few years, the field in which the horse has lived becomes poor, and that on which the ox has broused, becomes an improved pasture. Our oxen, which we must not confound with the buffalo, bison, &c. seem to be originally of this temperate climate, great heat, or excessive cold, being equally injurious to them. Besides this species, which is so abundant in Europe, is not found in the southern countries, and is not extended beyond Armenia and Persia; nor beyond Egypt and Barbary in Africa. For in India, the rest of Africa, and even in America, the cattle have a bunch on the back, or are animals of a different species, which travellers have called oxen. Those found at the Cape of Good Hope, and in many parts of America, were carried from Europe by the Dutch and Spaniards. In general, countries which are rather cold agree better with our oxen than hot climates; they are larger and fatter in proportion as the climate is humid, and as it abounds in goodness of pasture. The oxen of Denmark, Padolia, Ukraine, and Calmuck Tartary, are the largest; those of England, Ireland, Holland, and Hungary, are larger than those of Persia, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, and Spain; and those of Barbary are the smallest. The Dutch every year bring from Denmark a vast number of large thin cows, which give more milk than those of France; and it is possible they are of the breed of cows which has been carried into Poitou, Aunis, and Charente, for those cows are larger and much thinner than common cows, and produce double the quantity of milk and butter. They have milk at all times, and may be milked all the year, excepting four or five days before they calve. Though they eat no more than common cows, their pasture, however, must be excellent; and as they are always lean it is certain that all the superabundance of their food turns into milk; instead of which, common cows become fat, and cease to give milk when they have lived some time in rich pastures. With a bull of this breed, and common cows, a bastard kind is produced, which is more fruitful, and abounds more in milk than the common race. These bastard cows have frequently two calves at a