ts a sore mouth, he
cannot eat well, and becomes fretful; then he cannot drink well, and as
his mouth keeps splitting up on the sides, he soon gets so that he
cannot keep water in it, and every swallow he attempts to take, the
water will spirt out of the sides, just above the bit. As soon as the
mule finds that he cannot drink without this trouble, he very naturally
pushes his nose into the water above where his mouth is split, and
drinks until the want of breath forces him to stop, although he has not
had sufficient water. The animal, of course, throws up its head, and the
stupid teamster, as a general thing, drives the mule away from the water
with his thirst about half satisfied.

Mules with their mouths split in this way are not fit to be used in the
teams, and the sooner they are taken out and cured the better for the
army and the Government. I have frequently seen Government trains
detained several minutes, block the road, and throw the train into
disorder, in order to give a mule with a split mouth time to drink. In
making up teams for a train, I invariably leave out all mules whose
mouths are not in a sound state, and this I do without regard to the
kind or quality of the animal. But the mule's mouth can be saved from
the condition I have referred to, if the bit be made in a proper manner.

The bit should be one inch and seven-eighths round, and five inches in
the draw, or between the rings. It should also have a sweep of one
quarter of an inch to the five inches long. I refer now to the bit for
the blind bridle. With a bit of this kind it is almost impossible to
injure the mule's mouth, unless he is very young, and it cannot be done
then if the animal is handled with proper care.

There is another matter in regard to harnessing the mule which I deem
worthy of notice here. Government teamsters, as a general thing, like to
see a mule's head reined tightly up. I confess that, with all my
experience, I have never seen the benefit there was to be derived from
this. I always found that the mule worked better when allowed to carry
his head and neck in a natural position. When not reined up at all, he
will do more work, out-pull, and wear out the one that is. At present,
nearly all the Government mule-teams are reined up, and worked with a
single rein. This is the old Virginia way of driving mules. It used to
be said that any negro knew enough to drive mules. I fear the Government
has too long acted on that idea.