64 



Review of the Premiums. 



Vol. VII. 



understand aright, the first cost of the erec- 

 tion of a fence after this manner, will be 

 little, if any thing more expensive than the 

 common mode — that part of the length of 

 the post which enters the earth being saved; 

 while the durability will be increased, per- 

 haps four fold. Would Mr. Webb be pleased 

 to give a description of his new and valuable 

 improvement, with the amount of its com- 

 parative cost of erection, for insertion in the 

 pages of the Cabinet ? It is likewise his in- 

 tention to form Poudrette for his own use ; 

 ingeniously contriving that his lime-kiln 

 shall do the business of drying the material, 

 by placing it in contact with the outer wall 

 of the kiln. A communication on this sub- 

 ject would be also very acceptable to your 

 readers, and we therefore, respectfully ask 

 of Mr. Webb not to hide his light under a 

 bushel, — your subscriber, 



John Johnson. 



Chester co., August 24, 1842. 



The following, cut from a Prince George's paper, 

 on the comparative value and economy of the horse 

 and the mule, has been kindly forwarded to us, for the 

 Cabinet, by the writer, J. S. Skinner. 



RevieAV of the Premiums 



Offered by the Agricultural Society of 

 Prince George's county, JWd. For the 

 best Jack $5 — For the best Jenny $5 — 

 For the best pair of mules S 5. 



The prejudice against the mule, seems to 

 be as inveterate as that which impels the 

 heel of every son of Adam to " bruise the 

 serpent's head ;"' whether it be the head of 

 the innocent water, or the harmless black 

 snake, or the viper or copper head, bloated 

 with poison. 



Instead of this invidious distinction by the 

 Committee, in favour of the horse, offering 

 the highest premiums for that very expen- 

 sive animal, in all his ages, forms and sexes, 

 young and old, quick and slow, male and 

 female, it were better, we should think, to 

 have held up the highest premium to him 

 whose mule power should bear the greatest, 

 and horse power the least proportion, the 

 one to the other, in use on his plantation ! 

 As for rewarding the mere exhibition of the 

 "best pair of mules," what length of merit 

 can be discerned in that, unless it be that it 

 implies length of purse to give the highest 

 price ? If driven to the ground in the own- 

 er's own carriage, in lieu of a pair of S500 

 Vermont horses, that would he quite a differ- 

 ent matter. The mode of taking the last 

 census was very defective in many rrspects. 

 For example, it only gives us the number of 

 horses and mules in the aggregate; while 

 here, at once, is an agricultural problem, 



which requires for its investigation, that wei 

 should have accurately and separately stated i 

 the number of each. 



Twenty years ago it was estimated, thatj 

 the horses in England consumed the product) 

 of twenty millions of highly cultivated acres; ( 

 and Sir John Sinclair calculated the keep of 

 one horse to be equal to the product of five' 

 acres. Let us suppose constant work to be I 

 provided, as it should be, for every horse i 

 that is kept on a plantation ; does not true ! 

 economy as well as humanity and justice] 

 demand, that each horse so worked should ! 

 be well fed ? And if so, may not each horse j 

 be estimated to consume, at 2|- gallons a day, 

 8 56 of corn. Add to this $ 14 for other 

 provender and shoeing and physicking; and 

 you have an outlay of not less than % 70 a! 

 year for every work horse, to say nothing of{ 

 idle brood mares, colts, carriage horses, and i 

 other non-producers ; a sum for each horse ! 

 equal to the purchase of a first-rate mule, 

 while the average life of the former will not 

 more than half equal that of the latter. 



Among planters in the South, whose posi- J 

 tion and circumstances are so identical with 

 those of Maryland, the economy and advan- j 

 tages of the mule, over the horse, are uni- 

 versally admitted. The report of an Agri- ' 

 cultural Society of South Carolina, in relation 

 to this subject, may here be quoted where it 

 asserts: "The mule is more easily raised' 

 than the horse, more able to bear heavy bur- 

 dens, equally strong for the draft, more pa- ' 

 tient, equally docile, will live twice or thrice 

 as long, capable of enduring much more 

 labour, will do as much work in the same 

 time, and will not be more than one half the 

 expense, as they will not eat more than one : 

 half the grain, will make use of long forage, 

 which the delicacy of the horse will reject, 

 and will bear the heat full as well, perhaps 

 better." 



Should not these considerations induce 

 planters to ponder and reflect how far it is 

 expedient to aggravate, by their highest 

 honours and rewards, that natural and costly 

 predilection of our countrymen for horses, 

 which may be said already to amount to a 

 passion — one which had its origin in deeds 

 and days long past of 



Christian service and true chivalry; 



but no more congenial with this utilitarian, 

 money-saving age of ours, than would be the 

 vagaries of the Knight of la Mancha himself. 



The last census gives for Prince George's 

 county, Md., 4,648 horses and mules. This 

 we believe to be much short of the real num- 

 ber. The aggregate °^ both ^ or * ne s ^ a ^ e IS 

 returned at 92,220. 



It is not extravagant to assume that 60,000 

 horses in Maryland might be well superseded 



