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ANIMAL MANAGEMENT. 



Feeding. 



The first pair of permanent incisors appear between two and three years, 

 and are in wear at three ; at four years four permanent teeth are in wear 

 and at five the whole six are present. The corner tooth may not be 

 fully in wear over its whole surface till six years, and subsequent to this 

 age the changes are similar to those seen in the horse's mouth. 



The age at which mules are fit for transport work, is four years for 

 light work, five years for hard work. They are better at six, and work 

 satisfactorily till eighteen or twenty, sometimes even longer. In the 

 hurried buying that often precedes a campaign, the age will, sometimes, 

 depend upon the number which must be obtained in a given time, but 

 those of full age should be bought first, and the immature ones under 

 pressure of necessity only. For campaign purposes a comparatively oH 

 animal in working condition is more serviceable than a fresh, fat, 

 young one. 



Feeding. — The rules for feeding horses are applicable in every 

 particular to mules, and the quantities required are, size for size, about 

 the same, but mules are generally able to keep condition on a somewhat 

 less generous diet, and are not, as a rule, at all fastidious as to the 

 quality of the forage offered to them. 



The scale of mule rations adopted in India is as follows :— 



