80 FARM ANIMALS 



Africa, and France, and from these experiments 

 a number of reliable and valuable data have been 

 secured. It appears, for example, that mules 

 may be kept through the winter when not at hard 

 work on an exclusive cotton seed ration, four or 

 five pounds of cotton seed meal and all the cotton 

 seed hulls the animal will eat. If the above 

 ration is adopted the mules should receive salt and 

 water in the same quantities as required by horses. 

 In the southern states it has been found par- 

 ticularly desirable for the ration to be always 

 slightly laxative or, at least, not constipating since 

 under such circumstances an irritation may appear 

 on the skin leading to a disease called jack sores. 



Mature mules can be kept at work on an almost 

 exclusive ration of corn. During growth only 

 small amounts of corn should be fed in the nitrog- 

 enous ration. Bran and clover hay may be con- 

 sidered a suitable part of the ration in order to 

 prevent it from becoming constipating. Hay may 

 be given in self feeders or otherwise given ad libi- 

 tum. Throughout the South and in South Africa, 

 molasses is a common mule food as well as an im- 

 portant ration for horses. It is fed to mules in 

 rations of six to twenty pounds per day. In some 

 cases it has been found to bring an excellent finish 

 to the coat and to prevent colic in mules to an 

 extent which has not been secured by other methods. 

 Cassava, sweet potatoes, wheat hay, cowpea, 

 silage, clover hay, corn stover, oats, gluten meal, 

 bran, pumpkins, roots of all kinds and various 

 other grain and forage crops are as readily digested 

 and utilized by mules as by horses. The danger 

 from colic should always be borne in mind. Thus 

 with feeding cotton seed meal it is well to begin 

 with a ration of one to two pounds per day, grad- 



