Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1869-08-27
farm, Garden & a5onsshOld.
From the Germantown Telegraph.
MULES OR HORSES.


they prefer utility, interest aud just taste to
diseased fancy. know many farmers who
would be asbamed1o be caught riding in
carriage behind pair Of mules and why ?
Is it because mule has longer ears or small
er feet than horse / think it itproeeeds from
a species of false pride. For although / ad-
NIT that a good horse looks better than nine
tsntbs-of the mules VIC see, yet deny that a
had horse looks better than good mule
And wby il it that our horses look so much
better than most of our mules ? The rerson IS
tbis-our farmers have false notion that 1t
is not necessary that mule should be kept
clean, therefore they always look rough and
dirty. Ny belief is that if mule has the
same attention in every respect that is usually
bestowed on horse, he will look as well and
in fact will OUTLOOK and out work most horses
Of any breed.
But there are several other items beside ap'
pearance to be taken into consideration.
From the report OF an agricultural commit.
tee in South Carolina, in the year 1924,
quote the following: "The annual expense
of keeping horse is equal to his value. A
horse at four years old will not bring much
more than his cost Two mules can be raised
at a less expense than one horse.(0 The
mule is fit for labor earlier, and if of sufficient
size will perform as much labor as a horse
and if attended to when first put to work, his
gait and his habits may be formed to suit his
owner
l am convinced that pair OF mules may be
kept in good condition, and do all the work
usually required of a pair Of horses on a farm,
on three.fourths the hay and onehalf the
grain that would usually be fed to a pair Of
horses doing the same work.
The expense of sboeing q male the year
round is not more than onethird that of the
horse his hoofs being harder and more horny
and so slow of growth, that the shoes require
no removal, but hold till worn out and the
wear, from the Hgh!ness of the animal, is
much less.
They are always found to be true pullers
and quicker travellers with load than horses;
tbev are more steady in their draught than
horses, and are less likely to waste their
strength, ard therefore are more suitable to
work before oxen. In hoe narrowing, his
feet being smaller and following each other
more nearly in line, he is not SO likely to
tread on the corn.
The longevity of the mule is proverbial
Pliny mentions one eighty years old De Rus
saw two in England which were seventy years
old. Therefore the owner Of the mule may
reasonable look for the continuance of his
mule capital for thirty years, while at the end
of fifteen years the owner of the horse must
look to his crops or his bank for renewing his
A correspondent of the Baltimore Patriot
asserts that ''Col. John f. Howard had pair
of mules that worked thirty years, after which
they were sold to a carter in the city, and
performed hard service for several years
longer" :"
After so much said about mules, it viii be
deemed folly, by some, to ask the question,
what is mule The answer will, niue times
out of ten, be, "a hybrid between the horse
and the ass. Yet this is not exactly correct.
tor hybrid between the horse and ass will
produce two distinct races of animals, as
different from one another as a horse is
different from mule. One of these, the
offspring of the male horse or stallion and the
female ass, is the hinny, from the Latin
HiHHHs the deriYative of the word hinHire,
TO neigh This animal is characteristic of
the horse, which he closely resembles in many
qualities; but be also inherits the hardy con-
stitutiou and activity of his mother, the ass
One distinguishing feature of the hinny is that
he neighs like q horse, aud his ears are
smaller and his feet larger than the mule
proper. In every respect he partakes more
of the character of the horse than the ass
The second hybrid between the male ass OF
jack, and the female horse or mare, is the
mule, from the Latin hemioHus, or halfass.
This hybrid takes after his sire, as in the case
of the former hybrid. have never had any
experience with the hiuny, but have heard it
said they were preferable to the mule for
pleasure travelling, but not for heavy draught.
Can any Of the many readers of the Telegraph
give US light upon this subject? I should be
glad to have it.
My belief is, that if pair Of mule colts
were taken at weaving and brought up similar
in every way to pair of horses, they (the
mules) would be much preferable for com
mon farm work, and quite as good for road
travelling. But we often see farmers keeping
six or eight horses; why not change them for
as many mules? Or if too proud to ride be.
hind pair of mules, why not exchange six
of the eight for as many mules? Why cannot
our farmers raise mules more than they do?
But if we are to take the opinion of De
Denyon the celebrated French Psychologist,
as a guide, we must be careful what mares we
use for one thing. No amount of blood on
the part of the dam viii improve the mule;
for whether the mare be common dunghill
breed, or as thorough bred as Spie;ta,
the mother of Eclipse, the offspring is still
mule of the same ass type. De Denyon tells
US that a mare which has once borne a hybrid
becomes herself hybrid, and can never bear
perfect animal of her own race afterward.
Imagine our faces then if we stint such mares
as Gray Eagle, Wagner, Lilly Dale or SalHe
Grey, to common Jacks and afterward breed
them to Revenue, a Lexington, Monarch.
or Sweeper, and find the progeny on its ap.
pearance to be a longeared mule with stripe
along its back aud bar across its shoulders!
Have any of the readers of the Telegraph,
or can the Editor give us any reliable data on
this point? De Denyou's comes from too far
of. After all the greatest part Of our
valuable knowledge comes from the ex.
perience of others. This is at least the case
with me- AMOS Y. RIGGS
Lancaster County, Pa, July 8, 1869.
LATE SOWING.