BREEDS OF HORSES 71 



trail too difficult for one of them with its burden. The mule en- 

 joys comparative immunity from disease, and lives to a compara- 

 tively great age. Pliny gives an account, taken from Grecian his- 

 tory, of one that was 80 years old, and, though past labor, followed 

 those that were carrying material to build a temple. Dr. Reese 

 mentions two that w r ere 70 years old, in England. 



Rome and Greece had their mules, which were used for car- 

 riages, the saddle, and carrying burdens. At this day they are used 

 extensively in nearly all parts of the world where agricultural pur- 

 suits are carried on, as well as in the mining regions, the cotton belt, 

 and all sugar-growing countries, where they have largely supplanted 

 the horse. Mules are much used in Europe ; Spain, Portugal, Italy, 

 and France, being the countries where they are most used, and are 

 prized highly for their gentleness and faithfulness. (Dep. Agr. 

 Bu. An. Ind. 8th and 9th Annual Rpt.) 



Endurance. There is no kind of labor to which a horse can be 

 put for which a mule may not be made to answer, while there are 

 mjany for which mules are more peculiarly adapted than horses; 

 among the rest, that of mining, where the mule is used, and many 

 of them need no drivers. They can endure more hardships than 

 the horse, can live on less, and do more work on the same feed than 

 any other beast of burden we use in America. 



A cotton-planter in the South would feel unwilling to raise his 

 crop with horses for motive power. The horse and the labor of the 

 cotton belt could not harmonize, while the negro is at home with the 

 mule. A mule may be worked until completely fagged, when a 

 good feed and a night's rest will enable it to go ; but it is not so with 

 a horse. 



The mule being better adapted for carrying burdens, for the 

 plow, the wagon, building of railroads, and in fact all classes of 

 heavy labor, let us see how it compares with that noble animal, the 

 horse, in cost of maintenance. 



From repeated experiments that have come under my observa- 

 tion in the past twenty-five years, it has been found that three mules 

 15 hands high, that were constantly worked, consumed about as 

 much forage as two ordinary-sized horses worked in the same 

 way, and while the mules were fat the horses were only in good 

 working order. Although a mule will live and work on very low 

 fare, he also responds as quickly as any animal to good feed and 

 kind treatment. True, it is charged that the mule is vicious, stub- 

 born, arid slow, but an experience in handling many mules on the 

 farm has failed to sustain the charge, save in few instances, and in 

 these the propensities were brought about by bad handling. They 

 are truer pullers than the horse, and move more quickly under the 

 load. Their hearing and vision are better than the horse. A farmer 

 has used them in all the different branches of farming, from the 

 plow to the carriage and buggy, and thinks they are liable to become 

 frightened and start suddenly; and if they do start, they usually 

 stop before damage is done, while the horse seldom stops until com- 

 pletely freed. A farmer once had a runaway of six teams in a corn- 

 field, five of them being mules and the sixth a horse. The mules 



