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matters for intelligent consideration. For supplying the army he 

 cannot be replaced ; for towing canal boats he answers admirably; 

 for hauling cars inside of coal mines, he is indispensable; for the 

 general knock-about work of a farm he is good in all temperate 

 climates ; and in a cotton and sugar country, where it is warm 

 and sandy, he is most especially valuable. Though he cannot 

 endure everything and still meet every requirement of a heartless 

 task-master, he is yet gifted with a hardihood that is admirable, 

 and recuperative powers that are astonishing. Seemingly half 

 dead, utterly broken down and worthless, he will, with a little 

 rest and care, soon be again ready for service. 



In breeding for mules no less attention should be paid to the 

 selection of suitable mares and a suitable jack than in the case 

 of horses. It is folly to use old, worn-out, diseased, ill-formed, 

 ill-conditioned mares, and yet hope to obtain a good foal. Asa 

 general thing, a great, overgrown, long-legged mule is next to 

 worthless. He is expensive to keep and unreliable as a worker — 

 lacking wind, strength and nimbleness. The medium-sized, clean, 

 compact mule is by all odds the best, unless a team can be found 

 to combine more than the ordinary height with round bodies, not 

 disposed to fleshiness, and larger, stronger legs than usual, with 

 feet above the common size — which is seldom the case. The 

 Spanish or Mexican mule — the offspring of stout, close-built, 

 active Mustang or Mexican mares is superior in endurance to 

 any known in the United States. He requires less food, takes it 

 quicker, and is always in better fix for travel. If it is more 

 profitable to raise good animals than poor ones, (and no man of 

 ordinary intelligence can doubt this proposition), select mares for 

 mule bearing that are sound, compactly built, and yet without 

 any contractedness of body — active, strong, every way serviceable. 

 Then, the choice of a suitable jack is important— doubly so from 

 the fact that the great majority of mares breed after the jack in 

 the matter of legs and feet, and, if it is a good and powerful jack, 

 the foal will generally bear his marks, which is a matter of some 

 importance, since mules so marked are always regarded by ex- 

 perienced stock men as being most hardy and valuable. The jack 

 should be large — ^the larger the better, other things being equal, 



