American Live Stock. 
453 
ranee, and longevity; but the western mule has far exceeded him 
in size, weight, and adaptation to the heavier work demanded of 
him. It is now not uncommon to find him sixteen, even seventeen 
hands high, with a body in proportion, and frequently a comeliness 
in form exciting the admiration of those who are partial to his em¬ 
ployment. His uses in the various labors demanded of him are so 
well known that it is unnecessary to name them; and in comparing 
him with the mules of other countries, it may be truthfully said 
that the i^merican mule has no superior, and few equals, and thus 
constitutes an important staple of our agricultural wealth. A pro¬ 
per history of the progress *and present condition of either the 
American ass or mule has never yet been written for publication, 
other than in detached scraps or pamphlets, yet they are subjects 
well worthy the employment of an able pen, and it is hoped that 
such a labor will be undertaken by some one fully competent to its 
execution. 
a:merican cattle. 
To give a history of the rise, progress, and present condition of 
this important department of our industry, would be to write an 
elaborate book, the like of which was written some four years ago; 
but it has fallen, I fear, too seldom under the notice of those whose 
interests would be promoted by its perusal, even under its short¬ 
comings and imperfections. However that may be, I shall briefly, 
yet as accurately as my observation may allow, give some notes and 
suggestions on their very wide importance. Neat cattle, in the 
sense usually understood with us, or, more strictly, animals of the 
bovine n ee, were introduced into our Atlantic states soon after the 
first settlers came over from Europe. Those settlers brought with 
them animals reared in the vicinities from which they themselves 
came, of various nationalities. Their cattle were of no particular 
breeds or distinctive names, that we have learned, but such as served 
the wants of the settlers in the production of milk, the propagation 
of their kind, their meat for food, and their labor for agriculture 
animals of a common order only, as improved breeds in those days 
had not received much attention in the countries from which the 
immigrants came. Anterior, however, to the colonial settlements 
in what are now the United States, the Spaniards had introduced 
many cattle from their own country into the territories of Mexico, 
and further south, and in the broad, luxuriant pastures of those 
