Clayter - The Farmers' Barn Book -- Skinner: Essay on the Use ofOxen

[Guest guest]

In case anyone is interested, I made a PDF of Skinner's Essay on the Use

of Oxen, from Clayter's Barn book.

 

You can also read excerpts on the ISCOWP newsletter Vol 10, Issue 3 (go

to the bottom of the page)

 

http://www.iscowp.org/10-3/Volume%2010%20Issue%203.htm

 

A very interesting piece.

 

ys

 

hkdd

 

Noma Petroff wrote:

 

> Hare Krsna!!

>

> On the auspicious day of Lord Nrsimhadeva's Appearance, I just

> received a note that my interlibrary loan had come in from University

> of Illinois at Springfield.

>

> It's Clayter's publication: The Farmers' Barn Book (9th edition, 1860)

>

> I went and picked it up just now. A twenty-page chapter by one J.S.

> Skinner, Esq, is titled

>

> "Essay on the Advantages to be Derived from a More Extended Use of

> Oxen In the Husbandry of the United States"

>

> I can't remember who originally mentioned Clayter's book on this Cow

> conference, but it looks very promising.

>

> Here's just one morsel, written in 1860 (or earlier):

>

> ******************

>

> We are told that in India bullocks are used for the saddle and coach,

> and that there travelling oxen are curried, clothed and attended, with

> as much solicitude, and much greater kindness, than we bestow on our

> best horses. The Indian cattle are extremely docile, and quick of

> perception, patient and kind; like horses, their chief travelling pace

> is the trot; and they are reported by those who have ridden them

> often, to perform journeys of sixty successive days at the rate of

> thirty to forty-five miles a day.

>

> *******************

>

> Hmmm... Has anyone heard of riding on bullocks using a riding saddle

> in India? I think this book may be a great mixture of legend and

> useful tips!

> Here's another excerpt:

>

> *******************

>

> [how to yoke a team of oxen:]

> I have often called the ox I wanted from a drove of all sorts of

> cattle. Stand the yoke on one end; take out the off-ox's bow; steady

> the yoke with the left hand, and with the right hold up the bow

> towards the ox, and beckoning with it, call him by name to you; slip

> the bow under his neck; turn the yoke down upon it; enter it in the

> bow-holes, and put in the bow-pin; then take out the other bow, and

> lifting up the near end of the yoke with the left hand, with the bow

> in the right call the near-ox also by name, who will come and "bow his

> neck to the yoke," and is harnessed the same as his companion.

>

> *******************

>

> I hope to xerox and scan some of the pages for future reference, in

> case anyone is interested.

>

> your servant,

>

> Hare Krsna dasi

>