The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1906-06-16
STRIPED MULE M PROSPECT
Dspartmsnt Of Agriculture Plans xx-
perIments with Zebra vita
This End in View.

A1C OAAAN0 hSlAN~a 1O E'~A S@A-~~~~I
Of agriculture has obtained q re
bra There have been trying days
tOs the department lately, what
With the Keep commission nves-
tiggting its bureaus and skeptics
sFitieising crop estimates, so that
the acquisition Of an animal as unr
familiar as the zebra is something
Of a consolation especially when
eOming after long quest. Theex-
peotation Of the department Of
agriculture is that the zebFaisa-
tion 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
viii impart to that Of the hOrss
and its oongeners just the desira-
Bile qualities that viii enable the
draft animal to be a trotter at its
owners will.
The zebra has done well in har-
ness. There was once one of the
London Rothschilds who aston.
ished the natives by driving a
Sebra 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 sebra's pc
euharities and the difficulty at
tending upon first catching your
zebra have heretofore prevented
his employment, economically,
but the department Of agriculture
Is sanguine that, proper conditions
being secured, it's experiment will
be successful. If these hopes are
justified by the event shall we
witness strangely transmogrifed
animals in our streets? VIII 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 eye-arresting than
the calico horse. Everything, Of
course, depends upon acclimation.
The zebra may not have the nerv.
ous versatility required to catch
our climate as il flies and keep up
with its changes. Much Las 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 in
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 to
the change and never became in
huential factors of progress. They
did not increase and probably long
ago mingled their bones with the
Texas soil. Once in while a
southwestern paper tells us that
some one has seen camel, be-
lieved TO be the last of that bright
u I'D, but there is a lack of speci-
fcation in these narratives that
prevents confidence.
One Of the yarns that had its
origin in the presence of the herd
Of government camels is that
some of the animals went north.
ward and crossed with the elk. A
strange animal, the camelko, was
said to have been seen by soldiers
returning from the suffers and
this report received so much Gre
dence in the east that New York
paper sent out a commissioner to
and the haunts Of the creature.
he was passed from post to post,
only to learn that the camelko dis
appeared the night before be ar
rived.
David Callard, IS years old, has
successfully completed a walk of
$50 miles within "a hours, walk. |
ing % miles in seven hours eachl
day for u days. The walk wae
done over the road between Bury.
st. Edmunds and Newmarket.