118 MULES AND MULE BREEDING. 



for which mules are more peculiarly adapted than horses ; and 

 among the rest, that of mining, where the mule is used, and 

 many of them need no drivers. They can endure more hard- 

 ships than the horse, can live on less, and do more work on 

 the same feed than any other beast of burden we use in 

 America. 



" A cotton-planter in the South would feel unwilling to raise 

 his crop with horses for motive power. The horse and the 

 labour of the cotton belt could not harmonise, while the negro 

 is at home with the mule. 



" A mule may be worked until completely fagged, when a good 

 feed and a night's rest will enable it to go ; but it is not so with 

 a horse. 



" The mule being better adapted for carrying burdens, for the 

 plough, the waggon, building of railroads, and in fact all classes 

 of heavy labour, let us see how it compares with that noble 

 animal, the horse, in cost of maintenance. 



"Prom repeated experiments that have come under my 

 observation in the past twenty-five years, I have found that 

 three mules, 15 hands high, that were constantly worked, 

 consumed about as much forage as two ordinary-sized horses 

 worked in the same way, and while the mules were fat the 

 horses were only in good working order. Although a mule will 

 live and work on very low fare, he also responds as quickly as 

 any animal to good feed and kind treatment. True, it is 

 charged that the mule is vicious, stubborn, and slow, but an 

 experience in handling many mules on the farm has failed to 

 sustain the charge, save in few instances, and in these the 

 propensities were brought about by bad handling. They are 

 truer pullers than the horse, and move more quickly under the 

 load. Their hearing and vision are better than the horse. The 

 writer has used them in all the different branches of farming, 

 from the plough to the carriage and buggy, and thinks they are 

 less liable to become frightened and start suddenly ; and if they 

 do start, they usually stop before damage is done, while the 

 horse seldom stops until completely freed. The mule is more 

 steady while at work than the horse, and is not so liable to 



