The Yokes of Morvan

by Phillippe Berte-Langereau of Morvan, France

We recently had to move the Miller archive of old books and magazines, and we had to do it in a relative hurry. Fifty years worth of accumulated reference materials, with many, many boxes of items long thought lost. Four of us packing, loading and unpacking – our urgency challenged by the discovery of hundreds of forgotten goodies. Two such items were large format, catalog-type magazines covering a certain region’s ox heritage. These were sent to us decades ago by Philippe Berte-Langereau of France (see his letter below). When we learned we would be able to print Rob Collin’s excellent MODA report in this SFJ, I immediately thought it would be a grand opportunity to share just a little bit from Philippe’s magnificent work. We do not know if these magazines are still generally available anywhere. If any of you know please share that information with us all. I selected the unique head yoking variations as a starting point for oxen discussions. In North America it would seem that the neckyoking systems of Ox hitching are far more common. I have only seen a handful of headyokes and those in New England and the Pacific Maritime provinces. LRM

Chers Amis,

Je m’excuse de ni fas vous ecrire en anglais. Un ami m’a donné votre adresse, il cof abonné a votre journal (J.F. Roubeyrie). Je vous envoie deux publications pus j’ai failes et susceptibles de vous intérester.

Pourriez-vous m’envoyes un epauflaire de votre journal? Je souhaiterais m’y abonnes.

Dans l’attente de votre réponse, veuillez croire eu mes sentiments distingués.

Philippe Berte-Langereau
St. André en Morvan
France

translation:

Dear friends,

I apologize for not writing to you in English. A friend gave me your address, he subscribed to your journal (J.F. Roubeyrie). I send you two publications which I have made and which may be of interest to you.

Could you send me an episode of your journal? I would like to subscribe.

Looking forward to your response, please believe in my distinguished feelings. Philippe Berte-Langereau