1Y 
THE HOESE. 
HISTORY. 
Ass, sagacious and sure-footed as lie is, though he will bear the rider through the dizzy pass, cannot support those weighty loads 
which the Mule can carry with ease. Even when human life is at stake, the sagacity and sure-footedness of the Mule may be 
equally trusted as the parent Ass. Like him, he moves along the slippery edge of the precipice, climbs the barrier of rocks, and 
slides down the deep descent. In the Alps and Pyrenees his services are in continued requisition, and the danger of transporting 
the traveller and his baggage would be extreme without his assistance. In the tropical settlements of Europeans, where the sugar¬ 
cane is cultivated, the Mule is greatly superior to the Horse for the labours of the mill and other works. 
The Mule was known in the earliest ages. The Jews made use of him, though their law prohibited the coupling of different 
kinds of animals together. He was well known to the Persians and other Asiatics, to the Greeks, who employed him in rural 
labour, as we learn from Hesiod and others, and to the Romans, who made use of him in their equipages and in various ways. 
The race cannot be propagated by breeding from the individuals, though instances exist of the fertility of mules with a horse or ass. 
The Mule may be the produce either of a male-ass and a mare, or of a she-ass and a horse; but it is remarkable that, in all 
cases, the former is the larger, finer, and more spirited animal. The progeny always most resembles the dam. The Mule in 
which the Ass is the mother has longer ears, and is of a duller temperament and less beautiful form. The mare receives the 
male Ass with a species of aversion, though, when the union takes place, conception seems to be as certain as when the animals 
are of the same species. 
The breeds of the Mule are greatly varied, for the progeny is affected by the difference of character of both parents. The 
Spaniards use the tallest and finest asses for breeding, but the progeny varies according as the mare shall be of the lighter and 
more delicate breeds, as the Andalusian, or the heavier and larger breed, suited to the labour of draught. By employing large 
mares, as those of Friesland and Normandy, mules can be produced nearly equal in stature to the tallest horses : these are suited 
to the plough and the draught of any kind : when the mare is finer bred, the mule is best fitted for the saddle. Not only in Spain, 
but in other parts of the south of Europe, we meet with fine and graceful mules whenever due attention has been paid to the 
qualities of the parents. The Mule differs in this from the parent Ass, that he can be reared in the colder countries equally well 
as in the warmer; nay, he seems to be more robust when the climate is not too warm. The Mule is greatly less nice with respect 
to the choice of food than the Horse, is more easily maintained, more free from diseases, and less subject to accidents. He is soon 
fit for labour, but is long at arriving at maturity. He is very long-lived, and preserves his vigour to the last. 
The expedience of extending the cultivation of the Mule in Great Britain is in a high degree worthy of consideration. Our 
means of doing so are equal to those of any country • for, though we must have recourse to other countries for the male asses, 
our intercourse with the countries of the Mediterranean would now render this peculiarly easy j and in the variety of our 
fine mares, we should have the readiest means of producing mules adapted to any kind of work. The Cleveland Bays, the 
Suffolk Punches, and other breeds of the larger horses, would afford us materials for producing mules of a size which would fit 
them for the dray, or for any kind of work to which the largest horses of the country are applied ; while, should we require lighter 
mules for the road, our thoroughbred mares and hunters would give us the finest that any country has produced. It is the larger 
class of mules, however, that would probably be the most calculated to produce national benefit and private profit. The advan¬ 
tages to be derived from the use of the Mule in labour might be more considerable than many who have never seen the animal in 
his state of improvement could believe. We should have an animal with speed superior to the draught-horse, hardy, free from 
innumerable maladies to which the Horse is subject, easily maintained, and as docile to the yoke as any animal used in labour. 
It is an error to believe that the Mule is vicious and intractable: this is the result of defective education and improper usage, 
and will rarely occur when the animal is trained up with care, as he should always be, in the manner of the saddle-horse. 
When a number of horses is used in carriers’ waggons, as in England, we should derive this advantage from the substitution of 
the Mule, that an equal number of mules would do the same work as the larger horses,—would be fed at considerable less cost,— 
would be less liable to accidents and diseases, especially of the feet and limbs, from which the Mule is remarkably exempt,— 
would continue to work longer without fatigue,—and would last longer. The farmer, too, might derive considerable advantages 
from a partial use of the Mule. He would certainly find him able to maintain an equal pace in the field with his other working 
cattle, and as fit for every labour of the farm. As an animal of all work upon a farm, many individuals have found the advan¬ 
tage of possessing a single mule. Although made the common drudge, subjected to irregular labour, harnessed or ridden as the 
case may require, this, the worst-used animal on the farm, has been found to maintain his condition with the best, and at les3 
expense of feeding. In the few cases in this country where mules have been used for the humbler classes of carriages, as taxed 
carts, common gigs, &c., they have been found to endure fatigue and careless usage to an extent which no horse could sustain ; 
and these trials, it is to be observed, have been usually made with an inferior breed of mules, destitute of size, strength, and good 
breeding. 
