124 
American Implements, and 
ances are made, I believe it will be found that with equal strength 
they get through more work and raise a far larger amount of pro- 
duce than we do in England. And here let me observe that 
mules are fast superseding horses on the large farms ; it is a 
rare thing to see a horse on any of the great cotton, rice, or sugar 
plantations. There can be no doubt of the greater econoniv of 
mules: they require considerably less food for accomplisliing an 
equal amount of work, and this food may be of a coarser kind, 
so that on the whole their keep is considered to cost one-third less 
than that of a horse of equal weight ; they are much hardier than 
horses, and their longevity is surprising. It seems probable that 
in course of time they will take the place of liorses as the com- 
mon drudges of the farm. By careful breeding their size has 
been much increased ; some of them indeed are truly noble 
animals, and command in the Southern States higher prices than 
liorses of equal size. The original introduction of them into 
America is attributed to the great father of the country, VVash- 
ington ; and the best blood claims descent from a pair of jacks 
presented to him by the King of Spain. 
Having mentioned the lightness of the vehicles, let ine add a 
few words more on this subject. I have said that the northern 
farmer, reckoning as he may with confidence on a smooth suriace 
of Irozen snow during several months in the year, over which to 
sledge his crops to the nearest railway, river, or canal, pays but 
little attention to the condition of the roads, and these are 
accordingly left in such a state tliat they would be impassable to 
our heavy carts and 25 cvvt. waggons. To meet the difficulties 
of the case for summer travelling, the American pays the utmost 
attention to lightness in the construction of his conveyances. 
(Jarts are seldom seen, but the waggons — very unlike the pon- 
derous machines used in England — hardly exceed the weight of 
our carts, and the advantage gained on soft ground by the distri- 
bution of the weight on four points, instead of two, is sufficiently 
obvious. The essentials of an American waggon are two pair ot 
wheels of almost equal height, with scarcely more material in 
them tlian in our carriage-wheels ; but this material is most judi- 
ciously distributed, and put together with great regard to sta- 
bility ; the felloes, instead of being composed of six or more 
pieces cut out of the solid log, and therefore partly cut across the 
grain, are of two pieces of their light tough hickory, bent by 
steaming, and firmly clamped and mortised togetlu^r ; a frame is 
set on the iron axles, into which boards are slipped as occasion 
requires for forming the "box;" it is provided with a pole or 
" tongue '' instead of sliafts (for two horses abreast is the almost 
invariable rule), and a perch, which, in the lumber districts, is 
made to admit of extension as in our drays ; the body is generally 
