All agricultural labours are performedbyoxen, except that of threshing, which is generally done by horses. From the rude and barbarous form in which their ploughs are constructed, seven pairs of oxen are often required in breaking up old grass land. In ploughing a second or third time, they use two, three, or four pairs of oxen. They work these animals until they are upwards of twenty years old, aijd consider it wasteful to kill them while they are still able to labour. In order that they may earn as soon as possible the cost of their sustenance, they are broken into the plough as early as at two years old. The Tatar oxen are small and ugly, and those more remarkable for size and beauty which are often seen in the Crimea, are brought from the southern provinces of Russia, particularly from the Poltava government. The cows give but a small quantity of milk, which is perhaps attributable to the dryness of the soil. The best are those of theGerman breed.
Meat in the Crimea, as in other warm climates, is eaten as soon as killed. The butcher having slain the ox, does not wait until it be cold before he divides it, but immediately skins and cuts it into quarters, throwing it in heaps upon a bench or table, where I have absolutely seen the whole mass still heaving with muscular motion. When it is afterwards cut into smaller portions to be sold, it is not neatly divided into joints, as with us, but every customer has a piece cut off according to his own fancy, so that it is hacked in all directions before the whole is disposed of, which is commonly the case in the course of the first day.
There are some few camels in the Crimea, and many buffaloes. These latter are, ofall domestic animals, the most disagreeable and difficult to use, being totally unable to bear extremes of temperature. In hot weather they become altogether unmanageable, and towards noon will desert their work, running furiously into the first water, to refresh themselves by rolling in the mud. When this fit takes them, they will frequently run with a loaded waggon into the sea.
In winter they are almost equally troublesome, since they require to be kept so warm, that huts must be made for them below the surface of the ground. They are extremely destructive among trees, constantly breaking off all the lower branches. The female gives a profusion of milk, which is said to contain a large proportion of cream ; but the butter is white, and not so well flavoured as that of the cow. The skin of the buffalo is very valuable, and the Tatars make traces of it wherewith to draw their ploughs and waggons. The strength of these may be estimated, from their power ofsustaining the draught of seven pairs of oxen, in ploughing a stiff clay.
The Tatars pride themselves more upon their management of sheep (which are of the broadtailed breed commonly met with in the East) than ofany other cattle ; and the listless life of a shepherd seems better adapted than any other kind of employment to the taste and habits of the nation. Boys intended for this occupation are initiated very early; and by the system of receiving their wages in sheep, which they always keep with their master's flock, very soon acquire a flock of their own. I have known a shepherd receive ten sheep, for taking care of five hundred from the 23d of March to the 26th of October.
It is their custom to give salt in great quantities to their flocks, taking them in the spring to hiils where the vegetable food is of a saline nature, and after their return, giving them salt to eat, twice or thrice a week, throughout the summer. In winter, those which are driven out upon the open Stepp, are in great danger of being lost by the drifting of the snow. On this account it is usual to mix a number of goats with the sheep, since the latter, during the violent snow storms, always run before the wind, and would be lost in the pits and holes of the Stepp, but the goats are said to head them, and turn them from the danger. All flocks for which pasturage can be obtained among the mountains, are driven thither during the winter months. Here, though to the eye there appears little or no grass for them to eat, they commonly do well, being protected from the cold winds. During the seasons which they pass in the mountains, they are twice a week driven to salt water ; and as the herbage is not so succulent as that of England, and in its greenest state of a drying nature, it is found necessary to drive, the flocks to fresh water twice a day throughout the year. The wool which the common Tatar sheep produce, after all this trouble and expence, is worth from thirty to thirty-five kopeeks per oka, or about a penny per pound. A sheep commonly yields from two and a half to three and a half pounds, much of which is in quality little better than goat's hair.