AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 62 NORTH M.4.RKET STOEET, (Agrichltubal Wabehoose.) 



(I.. x\n.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 7, 1844. 



[NO. 38. 



N. E. FARMER. 



horse was ecpial to his value ; thut a linrse at four 

 years old, would not often brini; more than his cost ; 

 thai two mules could be raised at less expense than 

 one horse ; is fit for service earlier, and if of suffi- 

 cient size, will perform as much labor; and if at- 

 tended to when first put to work, his gait and hab- 

 its may be formed to suit the owner." 



Mr Pomeroy, wlio used them near Boston for .30 

 years, and to such an extent as to have had more 

 labor performed by them probably ihnn any person 

 in New Kn.'lnnd, says : 



" I am convinced the email breed of mules will 

 consume less in proportion to the labor they are 

 capable of performincr, than the larger race, but I 



From the AmericaD Agriculturist. 



ULES FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES. 

 The great value of mules, for agricultural and 

 onomisal purposes, has long been known and 

 nerally acknowledged. By those who have giv. 

 them a thorough trial, their decided superiority 

 horses is universally conceded. 

 In his best estate, this despised hybrid has not 

 3 finene.ss, symmetry, elegance, and commanding 

 tion and appearance of the well-bred horse; and 

 the New England States, whore they were first 



.reduced, to any extent, they were the offspring '\ shall confine myself to the latter in my comparison, 

 such worthless progenitors on both sides, that it ,such as stand 14 12 to 16 hands, and are capable 

 48 no wonder they never became general favor- of perlbrming any work a horse is usually put to. 



(8. They were first bred almost exclusively as 

 article of comnicrcf. Ttie market for them was 

 und in the West India islands, where a just 

 3te or discrimination did not exist. * * They 

 ;re tolerated only as an article of profit, and 

 len the markets, first in the West Indies, and 

 terward in the Southern States, were cut off, 

 ey were at once unceremoniously struck from the 

 It of northern stock. 



It is from a desire for the more general introduo- 

 )n of of this valuable animal on the farms through- 

 it our Northern States, that I shall submit the 

 ■liowing brief summary of facts in their favor, 

 ot having much personal experience of their good 

 jalities, I must draw somewhat from the experi- 

 ice of others. S. W. Pomeroy, Esq., of Massa- 



Froin repeated experiments, I found that three 

 mules of this description, which were constantly 

 at work, consumed about the same quantity of hay, 

 and only one-fourth the provender which was given 

 to two middling size coach-horses, only moderately 

 worked. I am satisfied a large sized mule will not 

 consume more than three-filths to two-thirds the 

 food to keep him in good order, that will be nec- 

 essary for a horse performing the same labor. 



"The expense of shoeing a mule the year 

 round, does not exceed one-third that of the horse, 

 his hoofs being harder, more horny, and so slow m 

 their growth, that shoes require no removal, and 

 hold on till worn out; and the wear, from the 

 lightness of the animal, is much less. 



" Mules have been lost by feeding on cut straw 

 and corn menl ; in no other instance have 1 known 



lusetts, wrote a prize essay on mules, in 1825, 

 hic-h is altogether the most comprehensive, yet disease in them, except by inflammation of the in- 

 Dndensed an^d practical article on the subject I ' lestines, caused by the grossest exposure to cold 

 ave seen, and from this I shall take the liberty of and wet, and excessive drinking of cold water, af. 



laking some extracts. 



There is no doulit that the value of the mule, 

 ke that of every other animal, depends almost ex- 

 lusively on that of his sire and dain. No good 

 jal can be relied on, except from choice parents. 



Gen. Washington had a Maltese jack sent him 

 rom Marseilles, by La Fayette, in 1787, which 

 reduced for him a valuable race of mules ; and 

 rom him and a Spanish jennet, a present from the 

 ing of Spain, he bred Compound, a famous stock- 

 ;etter. From these two jacks, were bred some of 

 he best mules the country at that time afforded. 

 Jeneral Washington used his best coach-mares for 

 his purpose, and his judgment in this practice was 

 hown by the result. After his decease, eight of 

 lis mules sold for upward of .$1000. G. W. P. 

 3ustis, Esq., who inherited some of this stock, 

 lays: " As to my opinion of the value of mules, I 

 ihall always appear extravagant. I have scarce a 



ter severe labor, and while in a state of perspira- 

 tion. 



"The mule is more steady in his draught, and 

 less likely to waste his strength than the horse, 

 hence more suitable to work with oxen, and as he 

 walks faster, will habituate tliom to a faster gait. 

 In plowing among crops, his feet being small, and 

 following each other so much more in a line, he 

 seldom treads down the ridges or crops. The fa- 

 cility of instructing him to obey implicitly the 

 voice of the driver, is astonishing. The best plow, 

 ed tillage land I ever saw, I have had performed 

 by two mules tandem, without reins or driver. 



"The longevity of a mule is so proverbial, that 

 a purchaser seldom inquires his age. Pliny men- 

 tions one 80 years old ; and Dr. Rees, two in Eng- 

 land that reached the age of 70. I saw one per- 

 forming his labor in a cane-mill in the West In- 

 des, which the owner assured me was forty 



y estate for agricultural purposes, nor l years old. I have now a mare-mule 2.') years old, 



lorse on m 



i»ould I accept of one as a gift. Mules live longer 

 uid eat less; and by their strength, patient endu- 

 rance of slender pasturage, privation, and hardship, 

 ire better suited to our use than any other animal 

 :ould possibly be." This opinion is strongly cor- 

 roborated by the report of a highly intelligent ag- 

 ricultural committee in South Carolina, in 1624; 

 which said, "the annual expense of keeping a 



mules that worked liO years, after which they were 

 sold to a carter in the city, and performed hard 

 service for several years longer. Mules are not 

 subject to the glanders, heaves, yellow water, and 

 colic, like horses ; and seldom are afflicted with 

 spavin, ring-bone, or liota, and they will not foun- 

 der." 



Mr Skinner mentions riding with General Shel. 

 by, of Kentucky, with a pair of mules in harness, 

 eight miles within the hour, without the use of 

 the whip. Gen. 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." 



To the foregoing testimony, I may add that of 

 the late Judge Hinckley, of Northampton, Mass.; 

 a shrewd and close observer throuffh 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 pur- 

 pose, after an experience of 50 years. He had a 

 pair nearly 30 years old, which, on light pasturage 

 in summer, and with a moderate supply of hay and 

 very little grain in winter, performed all the drudg- 

 ery, though he kept his stable full of horses besides. 

 They outlived several successive generations of 

 horses, and though the latter were often sick and 

 out of condition, the mules never were. This pair 

 once took two of us on a fancy drive of some 40 

 miles, which they easily performed in half a day, 

 although attuched to a heavy clumsy vehicle. One 

 from the stock of Judge Hinckley, 45 years old, 

 was sold for the same price paid for a lot of young 

 mules, he being, at that mature age, perfectly able 

 to perforin his full share of labor. 



To sum up the advantages of working mules 

 over horses, we shall have as advantage — 



1. '1 hey are more easily, surely, and cheaply 

 raised. 



2 They are kept, after commencing work, for 

 about half the cost of keeping horses. 



3. They arc not subject to many of the diseases 

 of the horse, and to others only in a mitigated de- 

 gree, and even these are easily cured in the mnle. 



4. They attain an age twice as great, and his 

 average working age Is probably three times that 

 of the horse. 



We shall not hero go into the estimate of the 

 value of oxen as compared either with horses or 

 mules, but content ourselves with saying, that the 

 strictest economy requires that a spirited, intelli- 

 gent, vigorous, muscular animal, like the pure 

 North Devon, or Hereford, or native New England 

 ox, ought to be substituted for both the mule and 

 horse, wherever the latitude and labor will admit 

 of their employment to advantage. 



Buffalo, Dec. Vith, 1843. R. L. Allen. 



that I have had in constant work for 21 years. She 

 has often within a year taken a ton weight in a 

 wagon to Boston, 5 milef, and manifests no iliininu- 

 tion of her powers. A neighbor has one 28 years 

 old, which he would not exchange for any horse in 

 the country." 



A correspondent of the Baltimore Patriot, as- 

 serts that " Col. John E. Howard had a pair of 



The most aggravated wounds of domestic ani- 

 mals, it is said, are easily cured with a portion of 

 the yolk of eggs mixed with spirits of turpentine. 



There ore 260 lawyers, 180 physicians, and 

 clergymen in the city of Boston. 



