AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
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AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHY, THE MOST USEFUL , AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN. — WASHINGTON. 
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ORANGE JUDD, A. M., 
CONDUCTING EDITOR. 
Published Weekly by Allen &t!o., No. 189 Water-si 
j UNDER THE JOINT EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF 
1 A. B. ALLEN & ORANGE JUDD. 
VOL. XIII.—NO. 12.] 
NEW-YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 29, 1854. 
[NEW SERIES.—NO. 64. 
JFor prospectus, Serins, Ut., 
®*SEE LAST PAGE. .£3 
MULES—THEIR BREEDING—RE ARING—USES, 
NUMBER I. 
Sixty years ago, as we learn from tra¬ 
dition, and forty years ago, as we saw in our 
boyhood, great numbers of mules were bred 
in New-England for the Carolina and West 
India markets. They went in droves to the 
Carolinas, and to the West Indies they were 
shipped in the trading brigs and schooners of 
that day, and sold to the planters ; in return 
for which the vessels brought back rum, 
sugar, molasses, and coffee. The southern 
States paid chiefly cash for their mules ; and 
out of the mule-trade those who followed it 
extensively, generally got rich ; while the 
farmer who bred them considered himself 
well paid for the use of his mare or mares, 
which, beside doing up the horse-work of his 
farm, usually produced him a young mule, 
which, at the age of four months, brought 
him from twenty-five to forty dollars—jack- 
service thrown in. 
The mules of that day were small, com¬ 
pared to the standard which is now demand¬ 
ed. Fourteen hands was about an average 
height; fourteen and a half hands was prime; 
fifteen hands was extraordinary; and one 
exceeding that height was a wonder in New- 
England. The jacks used at that day were 
snug, compact animals, such as would be 
discarded at once by the mule breeders at 
present. The best jacks were Spanish, 
which were frequently imported. They 
were best of medium size ; yet, as now, pos¬ 
sessed fine points, and proved excellent 
mule-getters. 
The mares to which these jacks were bred 
were of moderate size, commonly from four¬ 
teen and a half to fifteen and a half hands 
high, compact, muscular, hardy animals, of 
the common Yankee breed of horses, accus¬ 
tomed to every-day work on the farm and 
on the road; a creature literally “ of all 
work,” but moderately fed, and most com¬ 
monly in low condition compared with the 
generality of western horses; still, suffi¬ 
ciently well in flesh to do their work satis¬ 
factorily, on grass in summer, and ha f in 
winter, with now and then a feed of oats for 
extraordinaries. 
The mules bred from these mares, with 
such keep, were small, hardy, and, compared 
with the mules of the present day, inferior 
in style and quality; yet of great endurance 
and wonderful longevity, performing remark 
able feats of labor, and as full of all sorts of 
assinine vices when released from their 
drudgery as their nature could permit. So 
untractable were they for the labors of New- 
England farms, or for the road, (probably 
more from the want of proper management 
than any thing else,) that a mule-team in 
Massachusetts, or Connecticut, was as rare 
to be seen as a jackass is now in either of 
those States. 
About the time of our last war with Eng¬ 
land the mule trade of the northern States 
began to decline, and down to as late a pe¬ 
riod as 1825, few mules were bred at all; 
while, for several years past, scarcely such 
a thing as a native mule is known in a single 
State east of Ohio. The principal cause of 
the decline in mule breeding at the North 
probably was, the interruption of the West 
India markets by the war, and the conse¬ 
quent decline in the cotton culture of the 
South, while, when the demand revived, the 
western States had commenced mule rear¬ 
ing in earnest; where, in the abundance of 
their food, by which they gained an earlier 
maturity and an increased size, these wes¬ 
tern beasts—particularly those of Kentucky 
—were so generally preferred at the South, 
that the northern mules ceased to hold a 
successful competition with them. The 
Yankee mule was, after taken from the 
mare, usually fed on little else but grass and 
hay, with occasionally a few oats, which, 
while it gave them more muscle and hardi¬ 
hood, they were later in arriving at maturi¬ 
ty, and were not marketable before three 
years old, and unfit for severe labor till 
four. This was a further objection to them 
in comparison with the western mules, in 
which the western breeder had the great 
advantage of getting an apparently better 
beast to market a year in advance, and at a 
much lessened outlay of capital and keeping. 
Thus the mule-trade of the North declined 
in favor of the West, where it must for all 
future time probably continue, and in the 
loss of which our northern farmers need 
ever feel any regret. 
So large and so fine a race of animals 
have the western mules become, that they 
are not only the universal laboring draught- 
animal of the planting States, but through¬ 
out the middle States they are rapidly sup¬ 
planting the horse for the labors of the road 
the heavy hauling for the factories, and the 
mines, the lumber-yards, the stone and lime 
quarries, the brick yards, the canals, and oc¬ 
casionally the heavy drudgery of the farm. 
The mule is now—instead of the little ruf¬ 
fian-looking beast of thirty to fifty years ago, 
fourteen to fourteen and a half hands high— 
fifteen and a half to sixteen hands high, and 
many even sixteen and a half to seventeen, 
at three and four years old ; while those of 
the old-fashioned stock would be considered 
utterly contemptible in comparison—in fact 
they are scarcely bred at all, so far beneath 
the standard size and style are they con¬ 
sidered. 
An approved jack, for mule-breeding at 
the West, muse now be fifteen and a half to 
sixteen hands high, stout-limbed, and-good 
in his points. The larger and finer the mare 
bred to him, the better is the young mule 
considered, and the higher price will he 
bring. Indeed many mule breeders prefer a 
thorough-bred mare for mule-breeding, if she 
posses fair size, so much finer and more val¬ 
uable are her produce among the mule deal¬ 
ers and fanciers. Thus a jack of great size 
and fine quality will command an enormous 
price, not only as a mule-getter, but many 
of the best are confined solely to jenny ser¬ 
vice, when proved superior sires of their 
own distinct race. Jenny’s are bred of pro¬ 
portionate size, and of equal quality; and 
when found to be producers of superior 
stock, are exceedingly valuable for jack 
breeding. 
Of the improvement made in ass and mule 
breeding within the last thirty years, in Ken¬ 
tucky and Ohio, we shall speak in a future 
number. 
MR. HOLCOMB’S ADDRESS. 
CORN STALKS FOR FODDER—ORNAMENTAL SHADE 
TREES. 
Many of our friends, in different parts of 
the country, have kindly favored us with a 
copy of an address, delivered before their 
several County, or State Agricultural Socie¬ 
ties. We have not yet been able to read 
every one thus sent, and all who have re¬ 
membered us in this way will please accept 
the general expression of our thanks. Some 
of these speeches are by men engaged in 
other professions than farming, and while 
interesting as literary essays, they are often 
deficient in practical information. Others 
are of a more useful character, and convey 
sound instruction. 
Of the latter class we have read few better 
essays than the one delivered before the 
Montgomery County (Md.) Agricultural So¬ 
ciety, by Chauncy P. Holcomb, of New 
Castle, Del. Mr. H. goes at once into 
practical details. We give two extracts 
from the first pages of the printed address. 
