BEST SIZE FOR A MULE. 89 



California route, they are and will be used as pack animals, 

 and in a minor degree as beasts for the saddle, both for 

 travellers and for the trappers of those wild solitudes ; but 

 this is the exception and not the rule. 



jN'ow, any person who has travelled on the continent of 

 Europe, in those countries where mules are in use, espec- 

 ially Spain and Portugal — for the mules of Italy and 

 Switzerland are of an inferior kind — cannot have failed to 

 observe that it is the medium and even the small-sized 

 mules, which are the most highly esteemed ; that the great 

 majority of the race do not exceed fourteen hands in 

 height, so that one of fifteen is a rarity ; and that those 

 nearest to the standard first named, are most prized for 

 their hardiness, while they consume far less provender, in 

 proportion to the amount of labor which they ''are capable 

 of performing, than the loftier animals of the same breed. 

 In the United States, the ratio of value in the mule is 

 exactly the reverse of the above in general estimation — 

 the largest mules being the most highl}^ prized ; and, as a 

 matter of course, all pains are taken to raise the standard, 

 and to breed them of the greatest possible height. In this 

 aim the breeders in the United States have been eminently 

 successful, — if that can properly be called a success, the 

 effect of which is to produce what one aims at producing, 

 though in fact he had done better to produce something 

 else. And it may be said that the average size of the mule 

 of the United States is not inferior to that of the ordinary 

 working horse, while that of many is vastly superior. 



"We have at present within our own knowledge many 

 teams of working mules, employed in drawing iron from 

 the New Jersey foundries and in carting coal and ore, 

 which vary from sixteen to seventeen hands in height, 

 while some exceed by half a hand the latter standard, 

 which, it may be said, is never attained by any horse, 



