The first cost of oxen is less than that of horses, and they are at all times cheaply reared on the coarser herbage of the farm. The expense of working-gear, tackle, and shoeing, is much less than with horses. They are subject to fewer diseases, and these are more within the reach of ordinary medicines. The cost of food is also less, and while the horse is depreciating, the ox is increasing in value till eight or nine years old. Accidents are less frequent with oxen, from their slower movements; and when they occur, the ox may be turned out to fatten, and still be worth as much for this purpose as for the yoke. A permanent injury to the horse is perhaps a total loss of the beast, with a large farrier's bill in addition, for which there is nothing to liquidate it but the hide. The small farmer can make out a most serviceable team, by putting a single horse before a yoke of cattle. If well trained, they will soon accommodate themselves to each other's pace, and work as advantageously together as an entire team of either class would do alone. Bulls are frequently put to the draught, and when they have not other services that fully test their powers, they cannot be better employed. Heifers and cows are sometimes worked, but hitherto they have not been used to any extent in this country. In the absence of other animals, they might perform light work to advantage, but severe labor would stint their growth or impair their milk beyond the benefit derived from it. The _spayed heifer_ is an exception to the foregoing remark, and by many is esteemed even more useful than an ox of equal weight. We have no definite statements of the comparative money value of the labor of oxen and horses. But in England repeated trials have been made, and while some have discovered no advantage in the employment of oxen over horses, others have proved them decidedly superior. One Anglesey farmer found in an experience of three years, with 12 horses and 20 oxen, which accomplished an equal amount of work, that he had saved by the latter, $1150. The foregoing facts prove the subject to be one of sufficient importance, to justify the closest investigation of every farmer to determine for himself the comparative value of ox, horse, or mule labor. CHAPTER VII. SWINE. The hog is a cosmopolite of almost every zone, though his natural haunts, like those of the hippopotamus, the elephant, the rhinoceros, and most of the thick-skinned animals, are in warm climates. They are most abundant in China, the East Indies, and the immense range of islands which extends over the whole Southern and Pacific Oceans; but they are also numerous throughout Europe, from its southern coast to the Russian dominions within the Arctic. [Illustration: Fig. 32. The Wild Boar.]