CHAP. vn. HORSE-POWER ON FARMS. 461 



The distance travelled in each instance was, at the slow pace, within 

 a fraction of twelve miles, and at the quicker, sixteen miles ; and it 

 thus appears that the additional quantity of land ploughed was about 

 one-third, or in nearly equal proportion to the increase of pace. For 

 a mass of " facts and figures " connected with the horse-power of a 

 farm, we refer the reader to the useful work of Mr. John Chalmers 

 Morton, entitled " The Labour of the Farm." 



CHAPTER VIII. 



OF ASSES AND MULES. 



A LTHOUGH so little employed in this country as scarcely to be 

 j\_ enumerated among agricultural stock, yet when reared with care 

 and properly treated, Asses and Mules may be rendered extremely 

 serviceable, and are therefore deserving the farmer's attention, if not 

 at home at least in the Colonies. 



I. ASSES (see fig. 99), when domesticated and well used, are tract- 

 able and patient, and far more attached to their master than the horse 

 generally is ; although it cannot be denied that, under the brutal 

 treatment to which they are too often subjected, they become slow, 

 and stubborn, and headstrong. No animals, perhaps, are capable of 

 supporting greater burthens or drawing heavier weights, in proportion 

 to their size, than asses, on which account they are principally worked 

 in conveying hucksters' goods. They have been employed, to great 

 advantage, in drawing waggons and other carriages. 



A gentleman, Mr. Worthington, worked four asses at plough, yoked 

 two abreast, driven in hand with reins by the ploughman, and found 

 that they were more than masters of the work required from two 

 common farmer's horses of a slight kind. Mr. Worthington esteemed 

 an acre a good day's work ; but in cross-ploughing they would do 

 more. At such work two asses were sometimes enough, and two were 

 also sufficient in turning the furrow at potato-planting. The soil on 

 which these animals were employed was a loamy stone brash of medium 

 but varying depth, and tenacious rather than light. 



" In respect of consumption," concludes Mr. Worthington, " I can 

 only add, that the ass is a temperate eater ; and that he appears to 

 thrive best when left at large to his bramble-leaves (which flourish 

 almost through the whole winter), with a little corn at his breakfast, 

 and at the close of work ; and a bite of hay at noon at his gears ; and 

 he may also be safely trusted abroad with his associates, as, unless in 

 his rutting season, he scarcely ever strays. He loves grains, and will 

 eat them freely ; and is fond, beyond any other food, of the culinary 

 roots, and in particular of potatoes and carrots." 



