RfULE RAISING. 187 



dry, and not liable to become too muddy. They assert that the mules are less 

 likely to suffer from colds and coughs, which run into distemper, than when 

 confined to stables or sheds. 



At all times their food should be given in such proportions and of such 

 nature as to insure a free passage from the bowels ; for constipation brings on 

 fever, as well as colds and distempers, which is a very prevalent disorder 

 among colts during the first winter ; hence the importance of taking care to 

 work it oif with loosening food. Corn is the great food for all kinds of stock 

 in the west ; but young colts require a portion of their food to be of a more 

 digestible character, producing more growth of muscle and less fat ; therefore, 

 after the grain has become hard and the stalks have dried, the colts should be 

 provided with wheat bran, mixed with corn meal, or the richer kind of ofifal 

 from wheat generally sold by the millers as " middlings ;" and for the " rough- 

 ness," as we term it, give them all the clean wheat straw or corn fodder they 

 will eat, with an occasional change to clover liay. Colts will consume an 

 average of about six or seven pounds of the middle feed each day through the 

 first winter. If there be a tendency to constipation, unthreshed Hungarian 

 grass, cut when the seed was nearly ripe, is the best food to relieve the diiS- 

 culty. A portion of this hay placed where the colts can have easy access to 

 it, insures a good state of the system, and many feeders find it to be invaluable. 



Salt mixed with ashes in equal proportions, should be placed under shelter, 

 where it can be at all times accessible to the colts, for nature will direct them 

 as to the quantity and periods when it should be consumed, and if given in this 

 way, it will never be taken in excess. 



If colts be stabled, care must be taken to provide clean dry bedding, and if 

 their feet become diseased, as is frequently the case, where they are exposed to 

 wet, a strong solution of sulphate of copper in vinegai*, applied after a thorough 

 washing with soapsuds, will almost always effect a speedy cure. This disease 

 mihst not be neglected, for it it be allowed to continue, the general health of 

 the animal will suffer, and its hoof becoming deformed, the value of the mule 

 will be very greatly depreciated. 



Castration is done by many breeders during the first summer, while the colt 

 is still with the mare, but it is more commonly postponed until the animals are 

 approaching one year old and before they are turned out to pasture. The 

 operation is performed in the same manner as with horses ; some using clamps, 

 ethers searing with a hot iron. Castration should be done before the flies are 

 troublesome, and the colts should not be allowed to roll iu the dust for fear of 

 obstructing the free discharge of the suppuration. 



During the summer, the care of the stock consists in regular salting, and the 

 occasional trimming a hoof that may have assumed an unnatural proportion of 

 length or shape, which by a little care may be rendered straight and perfect. 

 A month of feeding on gi-ass alone through May, purifies the system from the 

 humors that may have arisen from colds and distempers, and have been con- 

 tinued in the blood iu consequence of high feeding with grain. After this 

 change of diet has produced its effects, a regular feeding of grain with the grass, 

 has the advantage of a tendency toward early maturity* for in mule raising it 

 is a maxim, that what is gained in time is saved in the amount of food con- 

 sumed. Besides, this grain fed during the fly season insures a constant and 

 regular growth, which is so desirable that it should always be obtained if pos- 

 sible. 



By the Ist of September, yearling colts are very apt to be restless, and if 

 the enclosures are not very good, they will become breachy ; it is therefore 

 best at that period to put them up for their regular fall and winter feeding. 

 The stock should be placed in a small lot or open shed and fed with whole 

 corn in deep wide • ti'oughs, which should be four feet across and eighteen or 

 twenty inches deep, and raised from the ground so that the sides shall be three 

 16 



