34 THE MULE. 



spavined, ringboned, or in some way injured by tlic 

 above-named diseases. The mule may not be so liable 

 to spavin as the horse, but he has ringbone just the 

 same. I cannot, for the life of me, see how the com- 

 mittee could have fallen into this error. There is this, 

 however, to be taken into consideration : the mule is not 

 of so sensitive a natni-e as the horse, and will bear pain 

 without showing it in lameness. The close observer, 

 however, can easily detect it. One reason why they do 

 not show spavin and i-ingbone so much as the horse, is 

 because our blacksmiths do not cut their heels as low as 

 they do a horse's, and consequently that part of the foot 

 is not made to work so hard. If you believe a mule 

 has a ringbone, and yet is not lame, just cut his heel 

 down low, and give him a few good pulls in a muddy 

 place, and he will soon develop to j'ou both lameness 

 and ringbone. Cut his toes down and leave his heels 

 high, and he will not be apt to go lame with it. 



The committee also say that a Mr. Elliott, of the 

 Patuxent Furnaces, says they hardly ever had a mule 

 die of disease. This is a strange statement ; for the 

 poorest teams I ever saw, and the very worst bred 

 stock, were on the Patuxent River, through the southern 

 part of Maryland, and at the markets in Washington 

 City. It is pitiable to see, as you can on market days, 

 the shabby teams driven by the farmers of eastern and 

 southern Maryland. A more broken-hearted, poverty- 

 stricken, and dejected-looking set of teams can be seen 

 nowhere else. The people of Maryland have raised 

 good horses ; it is high time they waked up to the neces- 

 sity, and even profit, of raising a better kind of mule. 



