OX OR HORSE?
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Professor Rolleston's theory that the ox was supersede& as a beast of draught and burden by the horse is ingenious, but is it true ? Up to this hour, the ox is the beast of draught throughout Europe, except in a limited area of the North,. Flanders, and Holland, and a small section of France. The- greater part of France, of Southern Germany, all Hungary, all Italy, all Spain and Portugal, all India, is cultivated by yoked oxen or cows. It is only in an advanced condition of agriculture, when time and pace are an object, that horses supersede oxen as- beasts of draught.
In Oriental countries, pure-blood horses are reserved for war or parade, and camels, if not oxen, are the beasts of burden, and do. the ploughing.—I am, Sir, &c.,
THE AUTHOR OF THE "BOOK OF THE HORSE." [Where did our correspondent find evidence of a camel drawing the plough ?—En. Spectator.]
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