THE MULE 165 



their favor. Cases are recorded of mules living to seventy 

 years of age, and Mr. J. L. Jones refers to one in Tennessee 

 that at thirty years of age was doing effective service attached 

 to a reaper. 



The resistance of the mule to disease has been a frequent sub- 

 ject of discussion. It is commonly claimed that the mule is not 

 so generally subject to disease as the horse. Pomeroy in an essay 

 on the mule credits this animal with freedom from any kind of 

 disorder or complaint. In an investigation of "blind staggers" 

 among horses in Virginia and North Carolina, conducted under 

 the direction of United States Secretary of Agriculture Coleman, 

 mules were found quite exempt from this disease, although they 

 are credited with other maladies. In regions in the lower Missis- 

 sippi Valley infested with buffalo gnats. Professor F. M. Webster 

 reports the mule as the animal most subject to fatality from 

 attacks of this insect. Southern-bred mules, however, are far 

 less susceptible to the bites of the gnats than those imported 

 from more northern localities. While the mule is not so subject 

 to leg and foot diseases as is the horse, cases of spavin, ringbone, 

 sidebone, and other troubles do occur. Corns are rarely found 

 on the feet of the mule. Even when affected with foot or leg 

 disease, this animal, as a rule, without doubt, is less disabled 

 from work than is the horse. The resistance of the mule to dis- 

 ease, its activity, sureness of foot, docility, and easiness of keep, 

 have resulted in its finding much favor in the army service. 



The mule as a carriage or saddle animal is important in certain 

 sections. In the Southern states he is thus used very commonly 

 by negroes and the poorer classes of whites. In the central West, 

 in states bordering the Ohio river, one occasionally sees gentle- 

 men driving mules, either singly or in pairs, in harness, attached 

 to carriages, the animals trotting with commendable speed. 



The Poitou mule is a famous French mule, the result of using 

 the Poitou ass on a large type of French mares. There are two 

 types of these mules bred in the Poitou region, a large and a small, 

 but the larger type is in greater demand. The finest and largest 

 cart mares are used for this production, the French farmers 

 making a business of producing this grade of mule. Besides size, 

 Poitou mules are celebrated for the shortness and stoutness of 



