IIG 



DOMESTIC A^ilMALS. 



[Chap. T. 



Knight of Malta aiul lioyal Gift to be found in Virginia, and the great ben- 

 efits arising from their introduction to the country are to be seen upon almost 

 every cullivated acre in the Southern States. Notwithstanding the enor- 

 mous increase of late years, arising from a systematic course of breeding in 

 tiie Northern States for the Southern market, mules were never more valua- 

 ble than at present, or more ready of sale at high prices. 



l(j.5. Lonstevity of Mules. — We have numerous reports of mules attaining 

 the age of ibrty, fifty, or si.xty years, and Col. Middleton, of South Carolina, 

 stated some years ago that he had one at work on his jdantation eighty ycti's 

 old ; and wo have seen an account of a mule in Ireland certified to have been 

 at Avork since 1707, making him over 150 years old. Tiiis is, of course, a 

 very uncommon age, but we are satisfied that, with proper usage, mules 

 ■would commonly attain to about forty years, being serviceable to the last, 

 and this should be counted as one of their elements of value. 



cor- 

 ^\'e 



ICG. The Largest Mule iu tlie World.— If the following statement is 



rectly given, it tells of tiie largest mule, probably, ever i^roduccd 

 found it in the Commercial, of Cincinnati, in 18G0. It says : 



'• The largest mule ever produced in the world is now in this city. It is a 

 marc mule, nineteen and a half hands high, and weighs eighteen hundred 

 rnd thirt'/'tioopounds. Tills extraordinary aninuil is the property of Charles 

 Frost, of Wayne County, Ind., recently purchased near Lexington, Ky." 



167. Males, Horses, Oxen. — We read in almost every agricultural paper, 

 we hear in most agricultural addresses, and we often liear in conversation, 

 that one or tho" otlier of these animals is the one, and the only one, that 

 farmers should use, yet we have never seen a farmer who could say, " I 

 know." One who has always done his farm- work with oxen is sure that 

 they are the best in all res])ects ; while lif'ty miles away he would search a 

 hundred farms to find as many yoke of oxen, and where he did find them he 

 woidd ])robably be told they were only fit for drudgery — that horses only 

 are suitable for farm-work, and their owners are ready with loads of reasons 

 to substantiate their theory. But take another day's journey, and the theory 

 is upset with mules — mules here, there, everywhere ; nothing but mules, 

 and nothing fit for a farm but mules, because they are so strong and hardy 

 they never tire, and live upon almost nothing for their daily rations, and are 

 the very personification of life everlasting. 



Now, while the advocates of each class of animals disagree so widely, how 

 are the seekers after truth to satisfy themselves ? Do they look to us for an 

 opinion ? Wo can give it ; here it is. All are best, and upon a large farm 

 all would be found economical to keep for different classes of work ; and it 

 is our opinion that no man who farms a hundred acres can afibrd to do with- 

 out oxen, mules, and at least one horse. If his oxen are well trained, they 

 will travel as fast before the plow and wagon as mules ; but the latter are so 

 much more enduring in hot weather, at all sorts of hard work, that their 

 services are then particularly valuable. They are better, too, to go otl' upon 

 the road, or to carry produce to market, because they may be, though nat- 



