say that a Mr. Elliott, of the Patuxent Furnaces,
says they hardly ever had a mule die of disease. This is a strange
statement; for the poorest teams I ever saw, and the very worst bred
stock, were on the Patuxent River, through the southern part of
Maryland, and at the markets on Washington City. It is pitiable to see,
as you can on market days, the shabby teams driven by the farmers of
eastern and southern Maryland. A more broken-hearted, poverty-stricken,
and dejected-looking set of teams can be seen nowhere else. The people
of Maryland have raised good horses; it is high time they waked up to
the necessity, and even profit, of raising a better kind of mule.

In regard to the draft power of mules, in comparison with horses, there
are various opinions; and yet it is one which ought to be easily
settled. I have tested mules to the very utmost of their strength, and
it was very rare to find a pair that could draw thirty hundred weight a
single year, without being used up completely. Now, it is well known
that in the northern and western States you can find any number of pairs
of horses that will draw thirty-five and forty hundred weight anywhere.
And they will keep doing it, day after day, and retain their condition.

There was one great difficulty the Agricultural Committee of South
Carolina had to contend with, and it was this. At the time it had the
subject of the mule under consideration, he was not used generally
throughout the United States. I can easily understand, therefore, that
the committee obtained its knowledge from the very few persons who had
them, and made the best report it could under the circumstances. Indeed,
I firmly believe the report was written with the intention of giving
correct information, but it failed entirely. In recommending any thing
of this kind, great care should be taken not to lead the inexperienced
astray, and to give only such facts as are obtained from thorough
knowledge; and no man should be accepted as authority in the care and
treatment of animals, unless he has had long experience with them, and
has made them a subject of study.

A few words more on breaking the mule. Don't fight or abuse him. After
you have harnessed him, and he proves to be refractory, keep your own
temper, slack your reins, push him round, backward and forward, not
roughly; and if he will not go, and do what you want, tie him to a post
and let him stand there a day or so without food or water. Take care,