344 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



speed, good temper, great endurance and 

 more style than the ordinary mule 

 shows. The best of hinnies for mining 

 are obtained by putting burro mares to 

 small, blocky stallions. If it is desir- 

 able in such cases, artificial insemina- 

 tion may be practiced by means of the 

 syringe or capsule. 



Mule industry — The following states 

 are leaders in the mule industry: Texas, 

 Missouri, Mississippi, Georgia, Ken- 

 tucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, 

 North Carolina, etc. In recent years 



horses when frightened throw the head 

 up, thus bruising it and causing poll 

 evil. Mules, on the other hand, lower 

 the head at such times and avoid dan- 

 ger in that way. Moreover, mules excel 

 horses in their capacity for hard work, 

 in endurance, in length of life and in 

 economy of feeding. It is often as- 

 serted that mules live twice as long as 

 horses, but the truth is they live con- 

 siderably longer than horses. Then.too, 

 mules are not immune to ordinary horse 

 diseases, as sometimes asserted. On the 



Pig. 230 — TWO-YEAR-OLD MULE FROM KENTUCKY JACK AND COMMON FARM MARE 



the industry has become widely extended 

 and there are at present large mule 

 ranches in Iowa, Montana, Colorado and 

 Utah. The number of jacks including 

 burros in the United States is about 

 125,000, a large percentage of them be- 

 ing used in the production of mules. 



Mules may be used for all purposes 

 for which horses are adapted, except fast 

 driving, and in addition are well suited 

 to several lines of work where horses 

 cannot be profitably employed. Thus in 

 mines mules excel horses for several 

 reasons, notably for the reason that 



contrary, they are just as susceptible to 

 glanders, influenza, distemper, colic, 

 etc, as are horses. The English govern- 

 ment suffered great losses from glanders 

 among mules in the Boer war. 



For military purposes, the mule has 

 long been considered superior to the 

 horse, and the army mule has been a 

 conspicuous feature in all our Indian 

 fighting and more serious wars. The 

 mule is less easily frightened then the 

 horse and withstands hardships better, 

 such as going without water for 24 hours 

 and without feed for two or three days.; 



