682 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



to act on this principle, we shall hear less concerning the vicious- 

 ness and stubbornness of the patient, useful mule. 



Economy of Mule Power. The first cost of the mule 

 is less than that of the horse. He is able to earn his living at 

 two years old, and has eaten less than the colt of same age. 

 But, as the horse is not put to work until three or four years 

 old, the odds are largely in favor of his half-brother, whose an- 

 cestors, on the sire's side, have always lived on simple fare, 

 and could make a meal on thistles, while the horse could not 

 labor without his grain and fodder. 



The ass family has been noted for centuries for longevity 

 and hardiness. The mule will not eat as much as the horse; is 

 not so liable to disease. His frugal living, and that of his an- 

 cestors, may have something to do with that, and also with the 

 other fact that the mule is not so nervous as the horse, and 

 not so liable to run away and damage himself and smash up 

 things generally. The mule can not do as many kinds of work 

 as well as the horse. It never can be as pleasant a roadster or 

 saddle-nag. For drudgery and heavy work, the hardiness and 

 patient power of the mule has no equal, in the hands of the 

 average teamster. 



Judge Hinckley, of Massachusetts, once a breeder of mules, 

 and for fifty years an owner of mules and horses, gives his 

 preference to the mules for the drudgery of farm work. One 

 pair, thirty years old, were particularly serviceable, having out- 

 lived three generations of work-horses, and while the latter 

 were often lame, or out of condition, and sick, these mules 

 never were. 



Another gentleman, who used mules thirty years, testifies 

 that a large-sized mule will not consume more than three-fifths 

 to two-thirds as much food to keep him in good order as will 

 be necessary for a horse performing the same labor. The ex- 

 pense of shoeing a mule, the year round, does not exceed one- 

 third that of the horse his hoofs being harder and more horny, 

 and so slow in growth, the shoes do not require so frequent re- 

 moval, and from the lightness of the animal, the wear is much less. 

 He thinks it probable that a farmer may work his team of mules 



