240 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



than driven. They arc also very revengeful, and never forget 

 the man who aliases them, but at the same time never fail to 

 appreciate kind treatment. 



The celebrated naturalist, Mr. Darwin, speaking of the mules 

 of South America, says: " In a troop each animal carries, on a 

 level road, a cargo weighing four hundred and sixteen pounds ; 

 but in a mountainous country, a hundred pounds less. Yet 

 with what delicate, slim limbs, without any proportionate bulk 

 of muscle these animals support so great a burden ! The mule 

 always appears to me a most surprising creature. That a 

 hybrid should possess more intelligence, memory, obstinacy, 

 social affection and power of muscular endurance than cither 

 of its parents, seems to indicate that art has here outmastered 

 nature." 



Formerly great numbers of mules of very inferior quality 

 were bred in New England, and sliippcd principally from New 

 Haven for the Southern States and the West Indies. But the 

 low price of such poor animals, together with the competition 

 which sprang up in the Western States, caused the stock-growers 

 to turn their attention to the raising of horses, until now a 

 mule has come to be a rare animal. 



In Kentucky and Ohio, many excellent mules are now 

 bred, and with very great profit. The finest jacks only are used, 

 and these are often crossed with splendid Thoroughbred mares. 

 Abundantly fed upon nutritious blue grass and corn, the young 

 mules grow rapidly to a great size, some of them equalling in 

 stature the tallest horses, being more than eighteen hands high. 



In November, 1859, in Kentucky, mules six months old were 

 sold by the hundred for 880 a-piece ; yearlings for $120 ; and 

 two year olds for from $160 to $180. Hon. A, G. Talbot, of 

 Boyle County, Kentucky, sold in December, 1859, two hundred 

 yearling mules for $30,000, or $150 each. In St. Louis, the 

 best truck mules arc worth $500 each. 



After the death of Washington, eight mules bred by him at 

 Mount Ycrnon, were sold for more than $200 a-piece. 



In France more than one million of the one million five 

 hundred thousand mares in the country are kept for breeding 

 ■mules, which clearly shows how highly they are esteemed for 

 farm labor. 



