404 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



miles, and manifests no diminution of her powers. A neigh- 

 bor has one 28 years old, which he would not exchange for 

 any horse in the country. One in Maryland, 35 years old, 

 is now as capable of labor as at any former period." 



Mr. Hood of Maryland, in the American Farmer, esti- 

 mates the annual expense of a horse for 12 months, at $44, 

 and that of a mule at $22, just half price, and his working 

 age at more than twice that of the horse, and that too after 

 30 years' experience in keeping both. A correspondent of 

 the Baltimore Patriot, asserts that " Col. John E. Howard 

 had a pair of mules that worked 30 years, after which they 

 were sold to a carter in the city, and performed hard service 

 for several years longer. Many mules 25 years old, and 

 now in this country, perform well. Many have been at hard 

 work for 12 or 15 years, and would now sell for $100 each. 

 They are not subject to the colt's ailments, the glanders, 

 heaves, yellow-water, and colic, like horses ; and seldom are 

 afflicted with spavin, ring-bones, or bots, and they will not 

 founder." General Shelby says " he has known mules to 

 travel 10 miles within the hour in light harness, and has 

 himself driven a pair 40 miles in six hours, stopping an hour 

 by the way." Major Shelby of Lexington, sold to Mr. 

 Preston four match mules, for $1,000. They were of course 

 very superior animals, and made elegant coach-horses. Mr. 

 Preston has driven these mules 80 miles in a single day 

 without injury ; and they proved a first-rate team for many 

 years. Mr. Ellicott of the Patuxent Furnaces, says : " Out 

 of about 100 mules at the works, we have not lost on an 

 average one in two years. Bleeding at the mouth will cure 

 them of nearly every disease, and by being turned out on 

 pasture, they will recover from almost every accident. I do 

 not recollect we have ever had a wind-broken one. They 

 are scarcely ever defective in the hoof, and though kept 

 shod, it is not as important as with the horse. Their skin is 

 tougher than that of a horse, consequently, they are not as 

 much worried by flies, nor do they suffer so much with the 

 heat of summer." 



To the foregoing testimony may be added that of the late 

 Judge Hinckley of Northampton, Massachusetts; a shrewd 

 and close observer through a long life, reaching to 84 years. 

 He bred mules at an early day, and always kept a team of 

 them for his farm work, much preferring them to horses for 

 this purpose, after an experience of 50 years. He had a pair 

 nearly 30 years old, which, in light pasturage in summer, 



