76 DOMESTIC ANIMALS, DAIRYING, ETC. 



on this, all they will eat, taking care that no feed is permitted to get 

 sour. We usually have about this time some early varieties of corn, 

 planted for the purpose of making early roasting ears; this is now 

 cut in the field, and carried to the manger in the lot, and the ears 

 pulled off, carefully husked and placed in the troughs in the barn, 

 the stalks put in the manger. At no time must the feed be mixed, 

 but the shelled corn, oats, bran, and roasting ears kept at all times 

 in separate parts of the trough. By this time the mule is something 

 of an epicure, and no more wants its feed mixed than a gentleman 

 does his bread, meat, and potatoes. 



From this time the mule should be pressed with all the richest 

 of feed, if it is desired to make it what is termed in mule parlance 

 "hog fat." All the roasting ears, ground barley, shelled oats, bran, 

 and shelled corn, should be fed, not forgetting to salt regularly all 

 the while, nor omitting the hay and green-corn blades. While all 

 those are essential, shelled oats and bran, although at some places 

 expensive, are regarded as the ne plus ultra for fattening a mule, 

 and giving a fine suit of hair. Be sure to keep the barn well bedded, 

 for if the hair becomes soiled from rolling it lowers the value, as the 

 mule is much estimated for its fine coat. 



The grain makes the flesh, the green stuff keeps the system of 

 the mule cool, and balances the excess of carbonaceous elements in 

 the grain fed. This manner of feeding, if properly carried out, with 

 the proper foundation to start with, will make sugar mules, 2 years 

 old past, weigh from 1,150 to 1,350 pounds by September 1, at 

 which time the market opens. 



A feeder of eighteen years' experience claims that shelled oats 

 and bran will nut on more fine flesh in a given time, coupled with a 

 smoother, glossier coat of hair, than any other known feed. The ex- 

 perienced feeder follows this method from weaning till 2 years old. 



The same care and attention requisite in feeding the sugar 

 mule must be observed in the cotton mule, only the cotton mule is 

 taken up about the 1st of August after it is 2 years old, and fed on 

 green corn, shelled corn, plenty of good hay, and any kind of good 

 green stuff at hand. Having fed it in the barn with door open into 

 the lot until about November 1, when the weather will begin to be 

 bad, the mule should be kept up in the barn and well bedded. If 

 the hair does not appear as well as it ought to by the 1st of Novem- 

 ber some shelled oats and bran might be fed, to put on the fine fin- 

 ished, glossy coat and fat. This feeding until the 1st of January will 

 make the mule ready for the market. 



How to Sell the Mule. New Orleans is the center of the sugar 

 mule distributing region, while St. Louis, Mo., Louisville, Ky., 

 Nashville, Tenn., and Columbia, Tenn., and other cities contribute 

 largely in sending their products to the Southern markets of both 

 classes of mules. All of the cities of the Western and Southern 

 States demand large mules for their drays and heavy hauling. 



If the seller has properly colored, well shaped, fine haired, fat 

 mare mules in car-load lots, he should let the buyers know he has 

 them ? and there need be no trouble in selling. If one owner has not 



