MULES FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES. 
21 
this purpose, after an experience of 50 years. He 
had a pair nearly 30 years old, which, in light pas¬ 
turage in summer, and with a moderate supply of 
hay and very little grain in winter, and no groom¬ 
ing, performed all the drudgery, though he kept 
his stable full of horses besides. They outlived 
several successive generations of horses, and though 
the latter were often sick and out of condition, the 
mules never were. This pair once took two of us 
in a fancy' drive of some 40 miles, which they 
easily performed in half a day, although attached 
to a heavy, clumsy vehicle. One from the stock 
of Judge Hinckley, 45 years old, was sold for the 
same price paid for a lot of young mules, he being 
at that mature age, perfectly able to perform his 
full share of labor. 
For the caravans that pass over the almost in¬ 
accessible ranges which form the continuation of 
the Rocky mountains, and the extensive arid 
plains that lie between and west of them, on the 
route from Sante Fe to California, mules are the 
only beasts of burden used in these exhausting and 
perilous adventures. Their value may be estima¬ 
ted from the comparative prices of mules and 
horses; for while a good horse may be bought for 
$10 to $20, a good mule is worth $50 to $75. 
My friend. Dr. J. H. Lyman, who recently passed 
through those regions, informs me that their cara¬ 
van left Santa Fe with about 150 mules, 15 or 20 
horses, all beasts of burden, and two choice blood 
horses, belonging to an English gentleman, which 
were led and treated with peculiar care. On the 
route, all the working-horses died from exhaustion 
and suffering; the two bloods that had been so 
carefully attended, but just survived ; yet of the 
whole lot of mules, but 8 or 10 gave out. When 
thirst compelled them to resort for successive days 
to the saline waters, which are the only ones fur¬ 
nished by those dry and sterile plains, the horses 
were at once severely, and not unfrequently, fatal¬ 
ly affected; while the mules, though suffering 
greatly from the change, yet seldom were so much 
injured as to require any remission of their labor. 
The mules sent to the Mexican possessions from 
our western states, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, 
and Kentucky, are considered of much more value 
than such as are bred from the native (usually 
wild) mares. The difference probably arises, in 
part, from the Mexicans u$ing inferior jacks to 
those so highly improved of late years by our 
western citizens. 
Mare mules are estimated in those regions at 
one third more than horse mules. The reason 
assigned for this is, that after a day’s journey of 
excessive fatigue, there is a large quantity of blood 
secreted in the bladder, which the female, owing 
to her larger passage, voids at once and without 
much apparent suffering, while the male does not 
get rid of it, frequently, till after an hour of con¬ 
siderable pain. The effect of this difference is 
seen in the loss of flesh and strength in the male 
to an extent far beyond that of the female. Dr. 
L. says the universal method of reducing refractory 
mules in the northern Mexican possessions, is for 
the person to grasp them firmly by the ears, 
while another whips them severely on the fore¬ 
legs and belly. He says a mule 36 years of age 
was as hardy, strong, enduring, and performed as 
hard labor, as any one in the caravan. 
To sum up the advantages of working mules 
over horses, we shall have as advantage :— 
1. They are more easily, surely, and cheaply 
raised. 
2. They are kept, after commencing work, for 
about half the cost of keeping horses. 
3. They are not subject to many of the diseases 
of the horse, and to others, only in a mitigated de¬ 
gree, and even these are easily cured in the mule. 
4. They attain an age twice as great, and his 
average working age is probably three times that 
of the horse. 
Let us see what the annual saving would be by 
substituting mules for three fourths of the horses 
now used in the United States; one fourth sup¬ 
posed to be required for the purposes of breed, 
fancy horses, &c., &c. 
In 1840, there were reported to be 4,335,669 
horses and mules in the Union, no discrimination 
having been made between them. Suppose the 
total number at the present time is 4,650,000, and 
that of these 650,000 are mules, we shall then 
have 3,000,000 horses, whose places may be equal¬ 
ly well supplied by the same number of mules. 
We have seen that Mr. Hood of Maryland esti¬ 
mates the expense of a working horse at $44 per 
annum, (not an over estimate for the Atlantic 
states,) while that of mules is $22. The differ¬ 
ence is $22, which it is proper to reduce to meet 
the much lower rate of keeping at the west. 
If we put the difference at $10, we shall find the 
saving in the keep, shoeing, farriery, &c., by sub¬ 
stituting mules for the 3,000,000 horses that can 
be dispensed with, will be $30,000,000 per annum. 
But this is not all. The working age of the horse 
will not exceed an average of eight years, while 
that of the mule is probably over 24. To the dif¬ 
ference of keep then, must be added the annual 
waste of the capital invested in the animal. A 
mule is more cheaply raised to working age than 
a horse, but allowing them to cost equally, we 
shall have the horse exhausting one eighth or three 
twenty-fourths of his capital annually for his decay, 
when the mule is using up but one twenty-fourth; 
and if we allow $48 as the first cost of both ani¬ 
mals, we shall find the horse wasting $6 annually 
for this item, while the mule deteriorates but $2, 
making an additional item of $12,000,000 more; 
and an aggregate of $42,000,000 as the annual sa¬ 
ving to the United States by substituting good 
mules for three fourths of the horses now used in 
this country. When will our farmers have the 
good sense to make this change ? It may be fair¬ 
ly answered, when they shall prefer utility, and 
interest, and a just taste, to a diseased fancy; for 
though we admit the superiority in appearance of 
the race of horses over mules, we deny that a bad 
horse looks better or even as well as a good mule ; 
and with the same keep and attention, a good 
mule will outwork and outlook any horse of any 
breed. 
We shall not here go into the estimate of the 
value of oxen as compared either with horses or 
mules, but content ourselves with saying, that the 
strictest economy requires that a spirited, intelli- 
