80 BRBKDING AND REARING OF 



popular ignorance above referred to, and because of a 

 general lack of literature upon the subject. 



Upon the question of the breeds that have been in- 

 troduced into this country, and of their value as 

 adapted to it, I can perhaps do no better than quote 

 an address read before the East Tennessee Farmers' 

 Convention, with such corrections and additions as 

 may be thought necessary: 



We find the jack the first animal domesticated by 

 man for the puroose of bearing his burdens and trans- 

 porting him in his tedious marches and travels. We 

 find him mentioned with respect in Genesis ; that he 

 was carefully bred and reared by King David; that 

 he is the only one of the lower animals of which we 

 have record to whom was given the divine power of 

 speech, which he seems to have used with moderation 

 and discretion in a short conversation with Balaam; 

 that on him alone was conferred the undying honor 

 of conveying our Savior into the proud city of Jeru- 

 salem. That wayward son, too, of David — Absalom, 

 the Boulanger of the Jews — rode upon a mule beneath 

 the ill-fated branch that caught his flowing locks. 



Beside these distinguished honors, I find that in 

 other countries, climes, and times they possessed dis- 

 tinguished characteristics unknown to our own do- 

 mestic ass. That in the mountain fastnesses of Arabia 

 they are said to be so fleet of foot that no horse can 

 overtake them, even in that country in which the horse 

 is described as being as fleet as the wind; that in 

 certain parts of Africa their meat is of the most de- 

 licious flavor, and was greatly sought after and ap- 

 preciated by Roman epicures. He was used, too, in 

 ancient times for the same purpose that he is to-day, 



