Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1878 — Give the Male a Trial. [ARTICLE]

Give the Male a Trial.

It is at the South that the muchabused, yet useful, hardy mules have won most favor in this country, though of late years they have been largely introduced in the Middle States with satisfactory results. Comparatively few farmers living at the North have" suffi- 1 ciently overcome ,tber prejudices existing against thflser animals to add them' to their stock, notwithstanding .eyidonce gained wherever they haVe been futhfuflu triefcl—wfiqtjiSr North, South, East or West—repeats the more extended experience of the -Seutit in the mat- r ter, that mil leSj-in differently fed, hardworked, and ilL.treated and neglected by drivers, sustain themselves for years' ill defiance' of ill usage that would annihilate at least two generations of horsee. The breeding, rearing and management of males is not only similar to that of colts, but It has beeir proved, over and over again, that, like horses, they repay generous care and attention by their increased arid rapid growth. This does not mean that they require high feed; on the contrary, it is not wise to pamper them, or form habits of fastidiousness .which tends to lessen the economical feeding undflr ■ which they naturally thrive,'and which forms one of the strongest arguments in favor of their employment. . : . > It is also. generally .conceded that mules are not only more easily, surely and cheaply raised, but that they are maintained, after beginning to work, for much less than theoost olkeeping horses. Mr. Pomeroy, of Boston, after repeated trials, found that one mule, which was constantly at work, consumed about the same quantity of hay and only one-fourth the provender which Was given to tWo oVdinary-sized coach horses only moderately worked. His experiments, carried on a number of years, convinced him that a largosized mule will not consume more than three-fourths or two-thirds the food, to keep in order, that is necessary for a horse performing the same labor. Mr. Hood, of Maryland, goes farther; he estimates the annual expense of his mules at just hqif the price of that of his horses, with the additional advantage on the mule's side of more than twice thtf working age of the horse. Robert Stewart, with upward of twenty years’ experience in the cotton States, adds his testimony with that of a host of other equally trustworthy authorities to Mr. Pomeroy’s statements, and gives the period oi service of the mule at from twenty-five to thirty years. In summing up the advantages of working-mules over horses, the fact that they are not liable to many of the diseases of the horse, |nd to others only in a mitigated degree—and oven these are eAmly cured—is called to the attention of unthinking farmers, as is the fact that mules mature one year eartler than oolts. Farmers desirous of practicing rigid economy, whether North or South, iflm hardly fall to make a VCrv noticeable decrease in their expenses hy the introduction on their farms-of mules. While there is riot a shadow of « doubt but that, when eoononty is the governing object, in slow, steady labor, the male is the cheapest and moAt serviceable beast, it oannotbe de/iied that its tricky and obstinate nature, exhibited mostlv when in constant use, calls for a large stock of patience rnn the part of the farmer arid renders the hSiWf Mort d«irable for many varieties of farm and road work. Not a little of the mule’s riotousness is

due, however,, to a lack iff knowledge ol the animal'e disposition, and judicious training will, In most oases, greatly modify, U not entirely overcome It An advocate for the male, writing from Maoon, Mo., in the Practical Farmer, claims that moles are safer and more easily broken and handled than horses, and, after breaking, the mule Ij the safer of the two, as he is less liable to scare or run away- He advises that mules be handled from the time they are sucking oolts. They should be halter-broken and broken, to the saddle and treated with uniform kindness while yopng. When old enough, hitch by the side of a steady horde or mule, and in one day the mnle will be as WeH broken as a horse will be in two weeks. —N. Y. World. r ■ ■ -~u- —, m» m (T >/ -i-While a farmer pf .Monroe, N, Y„ was prying upon a large flat stone in a quarry, recently, his hand touched somethingcold arid clammy. He raised the stone, and found a ball made up of fortydLve large black makes.