St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-09-21
A PROFITABLE INDUSTRY.
The Breeding and Rearing Of Driving
Horses and Heavy Mules.

Inc BreedinS ana hearing Oh DSuvlu8
Horses and Heavy Mules.
Farmers who are interested in the
breeding OF horses can scarcely have
failed to take note OF the present pop
ular desire for useful horse that is
equally well fitted for the saddle or for
harness. Fast driving will always
have its votaries, but the breeding Of
fast trotting horses has probably
reached its climax, and no one except
.sportsmen" will care to own horse
that can trot faster on a road or track
than the horses OF the present day.
Comfort in driving is more generally
desirable than rushing through the
air with the dangerous speed of a loco
motive. and the healthful and pleasing
use of the saddle is as appropriate for
women as for men. This growth OF
the public taste is in a legitimate di-
rection and will consequently prove
permanent. 1t is in accord with
human nature and as near as We in
America can get to the popular En-
glish recreation of hunting, which is
not possible under our different land
system. A jog at the rate of ten or
twelve miles an hour on an excellent
country road is pleasure that is un-
surpassed by any other of the many
rural delights that are to be enjoyed
in the country" and it is good
thing that the popular good sense has
turned in this direction.
The wealthy residents OF cities
are not the only persons to whom
horse breeders may look for custom
ers rs soon as they have the animals
ready for sale. Thousands OF business
men in moderately comfortable cir
cumstances, and even employees who
are better paid than the average run
of them. can easily afford to keep a
horse, and the pleasure will be found
actually less costly than that of haunt
ing the thcaters, saloons and billiard
rooms OF the cities. and infinitely more
conducive to health, moral and phys
ical. Thus the market for horses of
the kind referred to will undoubtedly
be far wider and more profitable than
that for the faster trotting roadsters.
although there will be no grand prizes
TO be picked up. A wholesome. steady
and sufficiently profitable business
will grow up. in which any farmer
who has the opportunities and the
skill TO rear the right horses and train
them in the way they should go will
make satisfactory investment OF
money and labor.
Another profitable industry is the
breeding and rearing of mules. These
hardy animals will come into more ex-
tended use in the North as the breed
ing of road and park horses increases.
Mules for work and horses for profit
and pleasure will be the outgrowth OF
the destined increase in the rearing Of
pleasure horses. The plow and the
wagon are not conducive to the figure
or spirit of a pleasure horse. but the
mule is essentially made for labor.
Probably there is no more favorable
opportunity for young farmers with
small capital to engage in pleasing
and profitable business than the breed
ing and rearing Of mules in Southern
localities where land is still very cheap
and where the climate permits outdoor
feeding for nine or ten months in the
year. A Athree-year-old mule can there
be reared as cheaply as a steer of the
same age and will sell for twenty cents
a pound. live weight. when the steer
will bring no more than two cents
n. Y. Times.