258 IROQUOIS COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



tlie mares a grade Clydesdale, and sire a thorough-bred four- 

 mile running horse. They are large, active colts with clean 

 limbs. They suit me better than any I ever raised before. 

 The coming Spring, I expect, if there is no accident, to raise 

 six or seven more from the same horse. I think it is the right 

 cross for a horse for all work, but the mares must be low and 

 heavy. 



MULES. 

 I have found, after raising thirty or forty mules, that if a 

 man does not want to breed from his work teams, the mule is 

 the team. Mules will work in the dust and heat, where it 

 would kill a horse ; they are not nearly as liable to accident or 

 disease, and the grain one horse eats will keep two mules. 

 But the mule will get away with as much hay as a horse, and 

 is not particular if it is musty or has been damaged by rain. 

 My mule teams do more work than my horse teams ; they are 

 used as well, thought as much of, and will not eat over one- 

 half as much grain as the horses. 



* Some have a mistaken idea that a mule colt is harder for 

 the mare to raise than a colt. I always let my colts follow the 

 mares on the farm. The horse colt is with the mare all the 

 time ; if the corn rows are a half-mile long, they want to suck 

 at each end, and when weaned, the first year they have to be 

 kept in a shelter with plenty of oats to keep them growing. 

 The mule colt will stay at the barn one or two hours after the 

 mare has gone into the field ; then he will take a walk down 

 to the field, take a suck and lie down, or pick grass. When 

 he is weaned, I turn him out with big colts and cattle, and let 

 him rough it till he is three years old ; then take him up and 

 break him with the same kindness I Avould a horse, and he will 

 sell for more money than a five-year old colt. I always was 

 prejudiced against the mule, until I raised a nice span, and 

 drove them awhile. Now I will not drive anything else, and 

 if any of you ever meet " Reub." you will see him driving the 

 yellow mules. 



DRAINAGE. 



We drain our land mostly by open ditches, using the plow 



