206 THE HORSE IN AMERICA 



"How to fatten the mule is one of the most 

 important parts of mule - raising, for when the 

 mule is oflFered to a buyer, he will at once 

 ask : ' Is he fat ? ' and fat goes far in effecting 

 a sale. A rough, poor mule could hardly be 

 sold, while if it is fat, the buyer will take it 

 because it is fat. 



" The mule should be placed in the bam with 

 plenty of room, and not much light, about the 1st 

 of November, before it is two years old, and fed 

 about twelve ears of (Indian) corn per day, and 

 all the nice, well-cured clover hay it will eat, and 

 there kept until about the 1st of April. Then, in 

 the climate of Middle Tennessee, the clover is 

 good, and the mule may be turned out on it, and 

 the corn increased to about twenty ears or more 

 per day. They will eat more grain, without fear of 

 'firing;' that is, heating so as to cause scratches, 

 as the green clover removes all danger from this 

 source. During the time they run on the clover 

 they eat less hay, but this should always be kept 

 by them. About the 1st of May the clover blooms, 

 and is large enough to cut, in the latitude of Ten- 

 nessee. The mules should be placed, then, in the 



