ASSES AND MULES. 157 



patience, robustness, and endurance of hardship and fatigue 

 rendering him particularly well-adapted for the exigencies 

 of field service. It is claimed that he is much stronger 

 than the ass, more capable of bearing fatigue than the 

 horse, less restive under the pressure of heavy weights on 

 his back, and his skin being harder and less sensitive, 

 renders him capable of resisting better the sun and rain. 

 He lives as long as the horse, costs less, is more suitable 

 as a beast of burden, and far superior in surefootedness. 

 Mares, 14 to 145 hands high, put to the largest donkeys, pro- 

 duce good mules for draught or saddle ; for pack, the best size 

 for mares is between 13 and 14 hands. The most convenient 

 height for mules is from 13 to 15! hands, the average being 

 14 to 15 hands. A mule is scarcely full grown at five years 

 old, and is fit for full work at six to seven. Mr. John 

 Thompson, agent to the Duke of Beaufort, at Badminton, 

 wrote as follows to the author of the " Book of the Horse": 

 " Mules were first introduced to Badminton about seventy 

 years since. The first Spanish jack was imported during the 

 Peninsular War, and the first mules by him were out of a 

 large active cart mare. Three or four which she bred were 

 upwards of 17^ hands high. Mule teams have been kept up 

 ever since, chiefly home bred ; and, in consequence of the 

 difficulty in procuring first-class jacks, imported animals have 

 latterly been introduced. We have bred them from both cart 

 and half-bred mares, and find that the stock from these are 

 more powerful than the imported animals, being larger in the 

 bone and of greater substance. We have had jacks from 

 Malta and Spain, but those from the latter country are 

 generally superior. The mule foals are very hardy, there being 

 no difficulty in rearing them, and, when grown up, they are 

 less expensive to keep than horses. Ordinary carters drive the 

 teams, which are composed of four mules each driven double, 

 and they will each with ease draw a load of 50 cwt., in addi- 

 tion to the waggon, at the rate of four miles an hour on a 

 good road. They are especially useful in carrying hay or corn 



