The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1906-04-21
STRIPED MULE IN PROSPECT
Department of Agriculture Plans Elk
periments with Zebra with
This End in View.

-
The United States department
OF agriculture has obtained a re.
bra. There have been trying days
Tor the department lately, what
with the Keep commission inyes-
hgating its bureaus and skepticn
criticising crop estimates, so that
the acquisition of An animal as un-
familiar as the zebra is something
OF a consolation especially when
coming after a long quest. The ex-
pectatiOn Of the department Of
agriculture is that the zebraiza-
uon OF American draft animals
Will add greatly to the economic
resources Of the nation. Zebras
are known to be swift of foot and
strong of sinew. Their wild blood
will impart to that of the horse
and its cOngeners just the desira.
BILE qualities that will enable the
draft animal to be a trOtter at its
owners will.
The zebra has done we'll in har.
ness. There was once n of the
London ROthschilds who aston
ished the natives by driving a
Zebra in a light buggy. Once your
zebra is broken he is a tractable
beast save when memories of his
home rise in him to trouble his
driver and they are said to rise
quite frequently. The zebra's pc
culiarities and the difficulty at.
tending upon Arst catching your
zebra have heretofore prevented
his employment, economically,
but the department of agriculture
is sanguine that, proper conditions
being secured, its experiment will
be successful. If these hopes are
justified by the event shall we
witness strangely transmoIrified
ANIMALS in our streets? Will our
eyes be gladdened, for instance,
by striped mules? The striped
pig lives in song and story, but the
striped mule may come or even the
checked or arabesque mule to add
to the gayety of transportation.
A striped mule will be a noble
sight, far more e%ye-arresting than
the calico horse. Everything, OF
course, depends upon acclimation
The zebra may not have the nerv.
Gus versatility required to catch
our climate as it flies and keep W
with its changes. Much has been
expected of other strange animals
We have imported, only to suffer
disappointment. Fifty years ago
when Jefferson Davis was secre
tary of war and people believed il
the existence of the "Great Ameri
can Desert" our government got
the notion into its head that cam
els would solve the problem OF
transportation of army supplies
a ship load of camels was import
ed and were employed in Texas
but they did not take kindly t.
the change and never became in
iuential factors of progress. They
did not increase and probably long
ago mingled their bones with the
Texas soil. Once in a while 8
southwestern paper tells us thai
some one has seen a camel, be
lieyed to be the last of that bright
band, but there is a lack of speci
icatiOn in these narratives that
prevents confidence.
One of the yarns that had iii
origin in the presence of the here
of government camels is tina.
some Of the animals went north
ward and crossed with the elk. A
strange animal, the camelko, wal
said to have been seen by soldier,
returning from the suffers anC
this report received so much ere
dence in the east that a New YorI
paper sent out a commissioner t,
End the haunts of the creature
He wal passed from post to post
only to learn that the camelko dis
appeared the night before he ar
rived.