250 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



country where we may suppose a horse can be maintained 

 cheaper than in Maryland, or any State farther North. 



I am convinced that the small breed of Mules will con- 

 sume less in proportion to the labour they are capable of 

 performing, than the large race, but I shall confine the com- 

 parison to the latter — those that stand from fourteen and a 

 half, to rising of fifteen hands, and equal to any labour that 

 a horse is usually put to. From repeated experiments in 

 the course of two winters, I found, that three Mules of this 

 description, that were constantly at work, consumed about 

 the same quantity of hay, and only one-fourth the provender 

 that was given to two middling sized coach horses mode- 

 rately worked. And from many years attentive observa- 

 tion, I am led to believe that a large sized Mule will not 

 require more than three-fifths to two-thirds the food, to 

 keep him in good order, that will be necessary for a horse 

 performing the same extent of labour. Although a Mule 

 will work and endure on such mean and hard fare, that a 

 horse would soon give out upon, he has an equal relish for 

 that which is good; and it is strict economy to indulge him, 

 for no animal will pay better for extra keep, by extra work. 

 But if, by hard fare, or hard work, he is reduced to a skele- 

 ton, two or three weeks rest and good keeping will put him 

 in flesh and high condition for labour. I have witnessed 

 several such examples with subjects twenty j^ears old ; so 

 much cannot be said of a horse at that age. The expense 

 of shoeing a Mule the year round, does not amount to more 

 than one-third that of a horse, his hoofs being harder, more 

 horny, and so slow in their growth, the shoes require no 

 removal, and hold on till worn out — and the wear, from the 

 lightness of the animal, is much less. 



In answer to the charge generally prevalent against the 

 Mule, that he is "vicious, stubborn, and slow," I can assert, 

 that out of about twenty that have been employed on my 

 estate, at different periods during a course of thirty years, 

 and those picked up chiefly on account of their size and 

 spirit, wherever they could be found, one only had any 

 vicious propensities, and those might have been subdued by 

 proper management when young. I have always found 

 them truer pullers, and quicker travellers with a load, than 

 horses. Their vision and hearing is much more accurate. 

 I have used them in my family carriage, in a gig, and under 

 the saddle: and have never known one to start or run from 

 any object or noise: a fault in the horse that continually 

 causes the maiming and death of numbers of human beings. 

 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 them 

 to a quicker gait. But for none of the purposes of agricul- 

 ture does his superiority appear more conspicuous than 

 ploughing among crops, his feet being smaller and follow 



each other so much more in a line, that he seldom treads 

 down the ridges or crops. The facility of instructing him 

 to obey implicitly the voice of his driver or the ploughman, 

 is astonishing. The best ploughed tillage land I ever saw, 

 I have had performed by two Mules, tandem, without lines 

 or driver. 



There is one plausible objection often urged against the 

 Mule, that "on deep soils and deep roads, his feet being so 

 much smaller than those of the horse, sink farther in;" but 

 it should be considered that he can extricate them with as 

 much greater facility. 



Few can be ignorant of the capacity of the Mule to en- 

 dure labour in a temperature of heat that would be destruc- 

 tive to the horse, who have any knowledge of the preference 

 for him merely on that account, in the West Indies, and io 

 the Southern States. 



It is full time to bring our comparison to a close, which 

 I shall do by assuming the position, that the farmer who 

 substitutes Mules for horses, will have this portion of his 

 animal labour performed, with the expense of one spire of 

 grass instead of two; vvliich may be equal, so far, to making 

 "two spires grow where one grew before." For although 

 a large sized ]Mule will consume somewhat more than half 

 the food necessary for a horse, as has been observed, yet if 

 we take into account the saving in expense of shoeing, far- 

 riery, and insurance against diseases and accidents, we may 

 safely affirm, that a clear saving of one half can be fully sub- 

 stantiated. But in addition to this, the Mule farmer may 

 calculate, with tolerable certainty, upon the continuation of 

 his capital for thirty years: whereas the horse farmer, at 

 the expiration of fifteen years, must look to his crops, to 

 his acres, or a bank, for the renewal of his — or perhaps, 

 what is worse, he must commence horse jockey at an early 

 period. 



The intense interest with which the public mind is at pre- 

 sent occupied on the subject of canals now in operation and 

 progress, encourages me to offer the Mule as an important 

 auxiliary in the economy of their management; as I trust, it 

 will not be denied, that on the cheapness of transportation 

 on them, depends their utility as well as profit to the stock- 

 holders. The Mule seems so peculiarly adapted for the 

 labour on canals, that compared with the horse, he may be 

 considered almost equal to a locomotive power engine. 

 Among the advantages we have enumerated respecting his 

 use in husbandry, the most of which are applicable to canal 

 labour, that of the much greater security from diseases and 

 casualities, which must necessarily require a great number 

 of supernumerary horses, to prevent interruption in the line 

 of passage, is not the least important, nor is the very trifling 

 expense at which the Mule can be supported during the 

 winter months, as he will bear being taken off his feed till 



