460 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 



will make the aggregate difference between the, horse's keep- 

 ing and that of the mule hardly ever less than one-half. 



The cost of wintering a mule in 1860 was computed to be 

 ten dollars less than that of a horse. In 1866 this must cer- 

 tainly be increased to not less than fifteen dollars. In the 

 former year there were about half a million of mules in the 

 United States, whose employment, instead of horses, thus 

 formed an aggregate saving to the country of five millions 

 of dollars in the cost of wintering alone. This greatly su- 

 perior economy attending the use of the mule, taken in con- 

 nection with his readiness to labor, his comparative freedom 

 from disease, and his double longevity, makes the calcula- 

 tion largely in his favor as a trusty and valuable servant. 



There is also more certainty in breeding mules than horses. 

 The mare is more likely to become with foal by a jack than 

 by a horse, and the same proportion of 

 accidents do not occur in her foaling. 

 Every breeder knows how much less 

 trouble it is to raise a mule colt than a 

 horse. Another consideration of some 

 weight is, that almost any scrub of a 

 mare will bring nearly as good a mule 

 colt as will one with the very best blood. The offspring 

 may be small and compact, but he is none the less valuable 

 on that account; and, in fact, some reasons really make him 

 more desirable than many a larger animal — especially his 

 greater hardiness and less expensiveness in keeping, from 

 the fact that he eats so much less. 



A mare that has once brought a mule colt, should never 

 afterward breed to the horse, as her progeny in the latter 

 case will be noticeably inferior. By precisely what physiolo- 

 gical laws this matter is governed can not be easily ex- 

 plained, but the fact is indisputable. Fine blooded mares, of 

 superior size and form, should always be bred to the horse, 

 and all others that are bred from at all should be reserved 

 for the purposes of mule-raising. 



Not only is the mule much better adapted than the horse 



