SECRETARY'S REPORT. 239 



winded. They have small, hard feet, which require but little 

 shoeing, and though they sink in soft land deeper tlian horses, 

 they extricate themselves much better, scarcely ever throwing 

 themselves down, and never stumbling. They carry their feet 

 close together and work admirably between rows of corn, car- 

 rots, and other crops, and are very tractable, obeying the voice 

 so as to render the use of reins or driver quite unnecessary. 

 Even upon the heavy wagons drawn by four or six mules among 

 the mountains of Pennsylvania, the teamsters manage them 

 entirely with the voice and the whip. 



Mules are fit for hard work from the age of three years until 

 thirty or forty years old, and they have repeatedly been known 

 to live more than seventy years. Indeed, it is not common to 

 keep any account of their age, as, if in good condition, they arc 

 sure to last long enough. It may be safely estimated that a 

 good mule team will survive at the same work three times as 

 long as a horse team. In mountainous countries mules are 

 almost indispensable, being able to subsist on scanty fare, to 

 carry heavy loads, and to go where no other beast of burden 

 would venture — even sliding swiftly down steep declivities 

 with perfect security. They are also the only animals which 

 can endure the treatment of the stupid, careless plantation 

 negro, or labor with him under the burning sun of the sugar, 

 rice, and cotton regions of the South. 



When well bred these animals are often good-looking and 

 excellent travellers. In Spain and Portugal they are preferred 

 to horses for the carriages of the kings and nobles. In Lisbon 

 a pair of fine carriage mules will command fl,500. 



It has been objected to the employment of mules for farm 

 work that they are less handsome, and cannot therefore be used 

 for driving so well as horses. With the care usually bestowed 

 upon them, farmers' horses are certainly not remarkable for 

 beauty, and it may be safely affirraed that with the same treat- 

 ment good mules would look better than one-half the horses. 



Again, they are said to be vicious. This is strenuously de- 

 nied by many intelligent men who have used them, and it 

 appears probable that this bad reputation results principally 

 from the fact that they are very badly treated by the ignorant 

 and brutal persons, who commonly have charge of them. Tiiey 

 have, however, a peculiar temper, and are more easily coaxed 



