FARMERS^ REGISTER— MULES AND ASSES. 



73 



chief requisite in horses intended to be used on 

 tenacious soils. 



It' is this which deprives mules of the power of 

 hea\y drauQ'ht. They carry 20 stone of horse- 

 man's wcioht, and travel daily upwards of thirty 

 miles throup;h the mountainous cross-roads of the 

 Spanish peninsula. Horses are incapable of such 

 exertions under the pack ;_ but their weiirht tells 

 v.-hen opp(ised to a c;irriagc with little muscular 

 exertion, when the mule is forced to put forth his 

 whole strength. . 



Mules are. sometimes produced by horses upon 

 ehe-asses, but are more frequently the progeny of 

 the jack-ass and the mare. The race is, however, 

 in any shape, incapable of reproduction; for^ al- 

 thougli some rare exceptions to this rule are upon 

 record, it yet seems to. be a principle in nature, 

 that all hybrid animals — as those are termed which 

 are the offspring of distinct brqeds — should be 

 sterile. Mules are highly esteerned in most parts 

 of the south as beasts of burden for either the pack 

 or the saddle; but in this country they are chiefly 

 used for draught. They are more hardy in con- 

 stitution, more patient, and more muscular in pro- 

 portion to their weight, than horses; they are also 

 less subject to disease, and fl\r longer lived, for 

 they are commonly able to work during full tliirt}- 

 or evqn forty years. They are, fed, too, at less ex- 

 .pense; and, when in the hands of good masters, 

 and treated with gentleness and humanity, the 

 complaints commonly made of their restiveness 

 are wliolly destitute of foundation.* They answer 

 Avell for hard roads, and for harrowing, because 

 the land is then generally ^y, and their feet, which 

 are small, neither sink iiifo the ground, nor are 

 they met by the dead pnll which they have to 

 oppose in the iilouirh. The cattle, as well as the 

 implement with which they are worked, should be 

 in fact, suited to the soil;' and it would be £f[ua!ly 

 incongruous to attempt ihe use of bulloclvs upon 

 flinty land, as it woidd be to employ mules for the 

 ploughing of wet and .heav)^ clay. They have' 

 been long introduced into'treland,t a,nd- the breed 

 has "been much improved in the north by the im- 



length of life, which extends to that of double the 

 length of the horse, and no deficiency of.theistock 

 is observable in those countries where they are 

 commonly used in kibor. It may not either be 

 genenillr known that, when a mare has not stood 

 her siinting when covered by a slallion, she will, 

 notwithstanding, probably prove in foul if after- 

 wards covei'ed by an ass.* 



The appearance and manners of \hc domestic ass 

 are so well known as to render any description 

 unnecessary. : The domesticated race is, however, 

 of comparatively recent adojjtion in Europe, for 

 we are told by IlpUinshed that 'our lande did jicid 

 no asses in the tune of Queene Elizabeth;' a)id, 

 although in that lie is wrong, — for they are men- 

 tioned as having been used in this country at a 

 much earUer period, — j'et they iver.e jirobably 

 scarce, and they are even still but rarely seen 

 throughout the north. . 



Those known in England are an inferior kind, 

 to wdoich no attention has been- ever ])aid; but 

 there are various breeds of a superior species, 

 which might be gready improved by crossing. 

 The wild ass of Persia, and of Africa,— of which 

 a foal has been recently irajiorted to London, and 

 is now at the Suirey Zoological Gardens, — is 

 known to be an animal of great speed and power. 

 There is also a raec of xirabian origin, which is 

 chiefly used for the saddle; and those reared at the 

 island of Goz.o, in the Mediterranean, — a few of 

 vvhicli have been brought to this country, as stal- 

 lions for the production of mules, — have reached 

 the height of tburteen hands, and have been sold 

 for the sum of 100 guineas. 



xVsses are surprisingly little employed l)y far- 

 mers, considering their use and economy, for they 

 are supported by th§ worthless jjickings of lanes 

 and bye^ways, or the scanty refase of other cattle; 

 and yet they carry •hca\y loads, and m'ight be 

 made.ver\" scr\-iceable in the supply of green fiiod 

 to stall-fed beasts and working stock, as well as in 

 carrying off ttie weeds from fields when under the 

 hoe; all which might be done with children as 

 drivers, and panniers made to let the load down at 



portation of a Maltese ass, which is described. as bottom. The saving ol" food by weeding may not 



having been an animal of a very superior descrip- 

 tion. Wherever they .have- been .reo^ularly em- 

 ploye*! in this country their utiUty has been also- 

 admitted; but there is a prejudice against rearing 

 them: farmers generally imagining that they are 

 to obtain some notable animal out of any wretched 

 mare, provided she be only covered by a sighth^ 

 horse, and thence arise expectations we need not 

 say how disappointed; -whereas, had they the 

 good sense to serve them -u'lth powerihl stallion- 

 asses, something useful tnight be produced: In 

 Snain, where great attention is paid to the breed 

 of mules, there is a royal stud of staHion-asses 

 maintained at Reynosa, in the Asturias. .We're 

 farmers thus touse the small class of mares com- 

 monly found upon the moors and mountains in 

 many extensive districts, they v/ould breed a far 

 more valuable stock for their own immediate use, 

 tlie intrinsic worth of Avhich, for all the common 

 purposes of labor, would soon increase its price. 

 As to the objection arising out of the impassibility 

 of continiiing the breed from, the same animals, 

 the remark may be met by that of their greater 



* Survey of Leicester, p. 294. 

 ■ t Survey of the County of Antriin, p. S.37. Young's 

 Tour in Ireland, vol. i. p. 297. 



amount to much in a money "calculation, though 

 mai^y. herbs thus thrown away would be found 

 palatable if gather-ed for cattle; but w«re these ani- 

 moJs only employed to remove the weeds fromjjie 

 ground when .hoed, it would be of great ser-vice, 

 for at l6a.st one half of them strike root again after 

 the first shower, and the remainder, if not • eaten, 

 is lost to the dung-heap, whereas that doss would 

 be prevented were they raked iip and collected. 

 Their drivers also would be kept employedj .which 

 Avou?d be found very serviceable to the poor, not 

 alone as an addition, however trifling, to their 

 earnings, hut as bringing tliem up in habits of in- 

 dus.tiy, and as eaiTy. initiating them into the care 

 of" domestic animals,' hy which their kindness and 

 attention to brutes is fqund to he very much im- 

 proved. This is so remarkahle in France, Spam, 

 and Switzerland, that sheep and oxen regularly 

 fbll&W their keepers to the field, instead . oi beijig 

 driven; and the peasantry,' being more accustomed 

 in their childhood to attendance upon animals, in 

 consequence of the general want of inclosures, 

 soon learn to treat them with tenderness and fa- 

 miliarity, which is returned by the increased do- 

 cility and the improved condition of their charge. 



Complete Grazier, 5tii edit., p. 192. 



