THE MULE 



193 



mules tells the author that horse mules in pasture with other 

 stock will worry them, when mares would not. 



The mule in history has been known for centuries. No doubt 

 it has been used extensively in Europe since long before the 

 Christian Era. In the days of ancient Rome and Greece mules 

 served various purposes. Homer, who wrote more than eight 

 hundred years B.C., and Varro, the best authority on ancient 



Fig. 75. A mule and foal. From a photograph sent the author by the late 

 George A. Brown, Australia 



agriculture, the author of " De Re Rustica," who wrote in the 

 first century e.g., both refer to the mule in their writings. 



The geographical distribution of the mule is world-wide. It is 

 bred in the best degree in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, and the 

 United States and South America. Great Britain has never 

 looked with favor on the mule. Sessions has written as follows in 

 The Live Stock Journal (London) : 



The mule line extends north from the equator, and includes Africa and 

 Europe up to 45 degrees of latitude and Asia and North America as far as 

 35 degrees. On the south side of the equator we can include most of Africa, 

 the northern half of Australia, and South America as far south as 35 degrees. 

 Within this vast area hundreds of thousands [he might better have said millions] 

 of mules are bred each year^.^,.^^^^ ^^ ^..-^^^^ 



