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ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 
While it is agreed that mules will stand more rough 
abuse than horses, it is best to care for them properly. 
The quarters should be kept sanitary, and the mules 
should be fed properly and regularly. Some authorities 
claim that it is best to break young mules to do light 
work when they are two years old. 
Young mules should not be confined in a barbed wire 
inclosure, because they are likely to be injured. 
Fig. 75.—A light mule and a general purpose mule. 
Feeding Work Mules.—It is advisable to fatten 
young mules before marketing them as they bring better 
prices. Mules are fed about the same as horses. The 
most common feeds used in the South are corn, oats, and 
hay. Such feeds as cottonseed meal, molasses, cowpea 
hay, oat straw, and corn and cob meal are fed with 
good results in some districts. Mules may be fed in 
lots together while it is not advisable to feed work horses 
this way, because they overeat. 
QUESTIONS 
1. Name the principal breeds of work horses. 
2. Explain the following terms: breed, type, conformation, 
roughage, quality, action, and purebred. 
