60 THE MULE. 



cut and chafe the animal so as to wear the hair off, or 

 injure the skin. If you get this too tight, it is impos- 

 sible for the animal to stretch out and walk free. 

 Besides obstructing the animal's gait, however, the 

 straps will hold the collar and hames so tight to his 

 shoulder as to make him sore on the top of his neck. 

 These straps should always be slack enough to allow 

 the mule perfect freedom when at his best walk. 



And now I have a few words to say on Government 

 wagons. Government wagons, as now made, can be 

 used for other purposes besides the army. The large- 

 sized Government wagon is, it has been proved, too 

 heavy for four horses. The smaller sized one is nearer 

 right ; but whenever you take an ordinary load on it 

 (the smaller one), and have a rough country to move 

 through, it will give out. It is too heavy for two 

 horses and a light load, and yet not heavy" enough to 

 carry twenty-five hundred or three thousand pounds, a 

 four-horse load, when the roads are in any way bad. 

 They do tolerably well about cities, established posts, 

 and indeed anywhere where the roads are good, and 

 they are not subject to much strain. Improvements on 

 the Government wagon have been attempted, but the 

 result has been failure. The more simple you can get 

 such wagons, the better, and this is why the original 

 yet stands as the best. There is, however, great differ- 

 ence in tlie material used, and some makers make 

 better wagons than others. The six and eight-mule 

 wagon, the largest size used for road and field pur- 

 poses, is, in my humble opinion, the very best adapted 

 to the uses of our American army. 



