AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



349 



pearance, for after full growth the caterpillars did not return to 

 their nests at nightfall. 



MULES VERSUS HORSES. 



Dr. Waterbury introduced a paper giving the experience of the 

 Sixth avenue Railroad Company, as given by Mr.William Ebbits, 

 the superintendent of the stables, which leads to the conclusion 

 that for labor furnished rates of speed, mules are preferable to 

 horses. These hybrids may be put to labor younger than horses, 

 being as fit for service at three years' old as horses are at five. 

 They are less liable to the accidents of disease, so that on an av- 

 erage they wear one and a half times as long. The amount of 

 feed they require is at least one-third less than that of horses of 

 the same weight, performing the same work. 



The horses and mules of the Company do an equal daily labor, 

 the average travel being 16^ miles. Of hay they receive the 

 same daily allowance — eight pounds— but in the additional feed 

 of meal, the mules receive but half as much as the horses, and 

 yet, as any one may observe, keep in better order. For this rea- 

 son the Company are substituting mules for horses as fiist as may 

 be. They pay, on an average, $300 per pair for mules, while the 

 average for horses is not over $225. The expense of raising 

 mules is no greater than that of other costs. 



To offset economy in feed, mules cannot compete with horses 

 in point of speed. This is due in part to their smaller size, but 

 mostly to difference in composition. The material of which a 

 mule is made seems to be tougher, and less given to motion, so 

 that with the effort a horse uses in making four miles an hour, a 

 mules makes not more than three. Over-sized mules, as over- 

 sized horses, do not wear well. The most economical weight for 

 either animal is about eight or nine hundred pounds. A mule 

 will draw a heavier load than a horse of the same weight. 



The meal fed is composed of equal parts, by the bushel, of 

 maize and oats ground together. Of this, a horse gets one hun- 

 dred pounds a week, and a mule, fifty pounds. The drivers pre- 

 fer the horse teams on account of their more stylish action. 



Mr. Mapes spoke very strongly in favor of mules for farm 

 work, alluding especially to their long lived qualities, their hardi- 

 ness, docility, &c. 



Mr. Bergen had found that though mules were good and profit- 

 able while they did live, yet tliey were in hi? hands rather sliort 

 lived. When sick, little benefit resulted from " doctoring." It 



