On the first day of January, 1905, we had in the United States 2,888,710 mules with a taxable value of $251,840,378. This shows how extensive an industry mule-breeding is, and also what an important place the mule occupies in the economy of the country. The mule is an ideal farm animal. They would find it hard to get along without him on the plantations in the South. The negro is the poorest horseman in the world. As a groom he is careless and neglectful. A horse must be attended to or he will get ill and die. The mule seems, if not to thrive on neglect, at least not seriously to deteriorate. On many of the Southern plantations mules never know either currycomb or brush during all their long lives. And they live to a great age. I have never seen any statement based on carefully ascertained statistics at to the comparative length life of the horse and mule, but I am persuaded, from my own observation that on an average a mule lives twenty-five per cent longer. And there is pretty nearly as much work in an old mule as in a young one. They can also be put to hard work sooner than a horse. So the working life of a mule is lengthened at both ends. Moreover, they can subsist on what would be starvation for a horse.

If mules were bred at all in America in the Colonial era it was to a very limited extent. But after the Revolution they were bred a little, and George Washington was the man who encouraged this new industry. In 1786, before his election to the Presidency, Washington accepted from the King of Spain the present of a large Spanish Jack. He called the jack Royal Gift, and thus advertised his services in a Philadelphia paper:

“Royal Gift—A Jack Ass of the first race in the Kingdom of Spain will cover mares and jennies (she asses) at Mount Vernon the ensuing spring. The first for ten, the latter for fifteen pounds the season. Royal Gift is four years old, is between 14½ and 15 hands high, and will grow, it is said, until he is twenty or twenty-five years of age. He is very bony and stout made, of a dark colour with light belly and legs. The advantages, which are many, to be derived from the propagation of asses from this animal (the first of the kind that was ever in North America), and the usefulness of mules bred from a Jack of his size, either for the road or team, are well known to those who are acquainted with this mongrel race. For the information of those who are not, it may be enough to add, that their great strength, longevity, hardiness, and cheap support, give them a preference of horses that is scarcely to be imagined. As the Jack is young, and the General has many mares of his own to put to him, a limited number only will be received from others, and these entered in the order they are offered. Letters directed to the subscriber, by Post or otherwise, under cover to the General, will be entered on the day they are received, till the number is completed, of which the writers shall be informed to prevent trouble or expense to them.

Washington believed in mules and in the inventory of live stock in his will made in 1799, mention is made of two covering jacks, three young ones, ten she asses, forty-two working mules, and fifteen younger ones. It was a much later period, however, before mules were extensively bred in the United States. With the exception of Royal Gift, it is likely that the jacks brought from Europe were rather inferior. But in 1832, Henry Clay imported two pure-blood Catalan asses, a jack and a jenny. They were landed in Maryland, and there the jenny had a foal. This foal was called Warrior. This jack was fifteen hands high, and he became a great ass progenitor in Kentucky. The jennies there at that time were not well bred, but mongrels, mostly a light shade of blue, with gray, buff and grizzly hair, nearly as stiff as hog bristles, generally with a colored stripe across the shoulders and down the back, ewe-necked, flat in the rib, low carriage, and heavy headed, entirely destitute of any good quality except hardihood and ability to get a living where any other animal, save a goat, would have starved to death. With such jennies began the first effort to improve the race in Kentucky, and they flocked to Warrior in droves. He seemed to cross advantageously with them, just as the Cashmere goat crosses on the common hairy goat. His progeny seemed rapidly to lose the leading traits of their dams, and to inherit in a remarkable degree the color and outward characteristics of their sire. Four years later Dr. Davis imported in South Carolina another Catalan jack. He was 16 hands high and of great weight. This jack, Mammoth, was mated to the young Warrior jennies then just maturing, thus making the second cross of pure blood, and upon these two crosses rest to-day the breeding of the race of jacks known throughout the United States as the Kentucky Jack. These Kentucky jacks are still popular, and last year the British Government bought a number of them to take to India.

Mr. J. L. Jones, of Columbia, Tennessee, is a recognized authority on mule breeding, and I prefer to give my readers his counsel in a matter with which he is better acquainted than I am.

He says:

“There are two kinds or classes of the mule, viz., one the produce of the male ass or jack and the mare; and the other, the offspring of the stallion and female ass. The cross between the jack and the mare is properly called the mule, while the other, the produce of the stallion and female ass, is designated a hinny. The mule is the more valuable animal of the two, having more size, finish, bone, and, in fact, all the requisites which make that animal so much prized as a useful burden-bearing animal. The hinny is small in size, and is wanting in the qualities requisite to a great draught animal. This hybrid is supposed not to breed, as no instance is known to us in which a stallion mule has been prolific, although he seems to be physically perfect, and shows great fondness for the female, and serves readily. There are instances on record where the female has produced a foal, but these are rare.

“The mule partakes of the several characteristics of both its parents, having the head, ear, foot, and bone of the jack, while in height and body it follows the mare. It has the voice of neither, but is between the two, and more nearly resembles the jack. It possesses the patience, endurance, and sure-footedness of the jack, and the vigor, strength, and courage of the horse. It is easily kept, very hardy, and no path is too precipitous or mountain trail too difficult for one of them with its burden. The mule enjoys comparative immunity from disease, and lives to a comparatively great age. The writer knows of a mule in Middle Tennessee that, when young, was a beautiful dapple gray, but is now thirty years old, and is as white as snow. This mule is so faithful and true, and has broken so many young things to work by his side, that he bears the name of ‘Counsellor.’ The last time he was seen by the writer he was in a team attached to a reaper, drawing at a rate sufficient to cut fifteen acres of grain per day.

“Kentucky mules are showy, up-headed, fine-haired animals, their extra qualities being attributable to the strong, Thoroughbred blood in the greater part of their dams. The same may be said of Tennessee, where it is thought the climactic influences produce a little better, smoother, and finer hair, coupled with early maturity, which qualities are much prized by an expert buyer.

“The mules in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and some of the so-called Northwestern states, have large bone, foot, body, and substance, and possess great strength, but they are wanting in that high style, finish, and fine hair that characterize the produce of some of the states further south, and are longer in maturing. Mule-breeding in these states is one of the most important branches of industry, and is supposed to date back prior to 1787.

“There is no kind of labor to which a horse can be put for which a mule may not be made to answer, while there are many for which mules are more peculiarly adapted than horses; and among the rest, that of mining, where the mule is used, and many of them need no drivers. They can endure more hardships than the horse, can live on less, and do more work on the same feed than any other beast of burden we use in America.

“A cotton-planter in the South would feel unwilling to raise his crop with horses for motive power. The horse and the labor of the cotton belt could not harmonize, while the negro is at home with the mule.

“A mule may be worked until completely fagged, when a good feed and a night’s rest will enable it to go; but it is not so with a horse.

“The mule being better adapted for carrying burdens, for the plough, the wagon, building of railroads, and, in fact, all classes of heavy labor, let us see how it compares with the noble animal, the horse, in cost of maintenance.

“From repeated experiments that have come under my observation in the past twenty-five years, I have found that three mules, 15 hands high, that were constantly worked, consumed about as much forage as two ordinary-sized horses worked in the same way, and while the mules were fat the horses were only in good working order. Although a mule will live and work on very low fare, he also responds as quickly as any animal to good feed and kind treatment. True, it is charged that the mule is vicious, stubborn, and slow, but an experience in handling many mules on the farm has failed to sustain the charge, save in few instances, and in these the propensities were brought about by bad handling. They are truer pullers than the horse, and move more quickly under the load. Their hearing and vision are better than the horse. The writer has used them in all the different branches of farming, from the plough to the carriage and buggy, and thinks they are less liable to become frightened and start suddenly; and if they do start, they usually stop before damage is done, while the horse seldom stops until completely freed. The mule is more steady while at work than the horse, and is not so liable to become exhausted, and often becomes so well instructed as to need neither driver nor lines.

“In the town in which the writer lives, a cotton merchant, who is also in the grocery trade, owned a large sorrel mule, 16 hands high, that he worked to a dray to haul goods and cotton to the depot, half a mile from his business house. This mule often went the route alone, and was never known to strike anything, and what was more remarkable, would back up at the proper place with the load, there being one place to unload groceries and another for cotton.

“They are also good for light harness, many of them being very useful buggy animals, traveling a day’s journey equal to some horses. The writer obtained one from a firm of jack breeders in his vicinity, that was bred by them, as an experiment, being out of a Thoroughbred mare by a royally bred jack. She is 16 hands high, as courageous as most any horse. In traveling a distance of thirty-two miles, this mule, with two men and the baggage, made it, as the saying goes, ‘under a pull,’ in four hours, and when arrived at the journey’s end seemed willing to go on.

“We do not wish to be understood as underrating the horse, for it is a noble animal, well suited for man’s wants, but for burden-bearing and drudgery is more than equaled by the patient, faithful, hardy mule.

“There are two kinds of jacks—the mule-breeding and the ass-breeding jack, the latter being used chiefly in breeding jacks for stock purposes. It is only with the mule-breeding jack that we will deal.

“A good mule-jack ought to be not less than 15 hands high, and have all of the weight, head, ear, foot, bone, and length that can be obtained, coupled with a broad chest, wide hips, and with all the style attainable with these qualities. Smaller jacks are often fine breeders, and produce some of our best mules, and when bred to the heavier, larger class of mares show good results, but as ‘like produces like,’ the larger jacks are preferable.

“Black, with light points, is the favorite color for a jack, but many of our gray, blue, and even white jacks have produced good mules. In fact, some of the nicest, smoothest, red-sorrel mules have been the product of these off-colored jacks; but the black jacks get the largest proportion of good-colored colts from all colored mares.

“The breed of the jack is also to be looked into. There are now so many varieties of jacks in the United States, all of which have merits, that it will be well to examine and see what jack has shown the best results. We have the Catalonian, the Andalusian, the Maltese, the Majorca, the Italian, and the Poitou—all of which are imported—and the native jack. Of all the imported, the Catalonian is the finest type of animal, being a good black, with white points, of fine style and action, and from 14½ to 15 hands high, rarely 16 hands, with a clean bone. The Andalusian is about the same type of jack as the Catalonian having, perhaps, a little more weight and bone, but are all off-colors. The Maltese is smaller than the Catalonian, rarely being over 14½ hands high, but is nice and smooth. The Majorca is the largest of the imported jacks, the heaviest in weight, bone, head, and ear, and frequently grows to 16 hands. These are raised in the rich island of Majorca, in the Mediterranean Sea. While they excel in weight and size, they lack in style, finish and action. The Italian is the smallest of all the imported jacks, being usually from 13 to 14 hands high, but having good foot, bone, and weight, and some of them make good breeders. The Poitou is the latest importation of the jack, and is little known in the United States. He is imported from France, and is reported to be the sire of some of the finest mules in his native land. These jacks have long hair about the neck, ears, and legs, and are, in some respects, to the jack race what the Clydesdale is to other horses. He is heavy set, has good foot and bone, fine head and ear, and of good size, being about 15 hands high.

“The native jack, as a class, is heavier in body, having a larger bone and foot than the imported, and shows in his entire make-up the result of the limestone soil and the grasses common in this country. He is of all colors, having descended from all the breeds of imported jacks. But the breeders of this country, seeing the fancy of their customers for the black jack with light points, have discarded all other colors in selecting their jacks, and the consequence is that a large proportion of the jacks in the stud now, for mares, are of this color.

“The native jack, being acclimated, seems to give better satisfaction to breeders of mules than any other kind. From observation and experience it is believed that our native jacks, with good imported crosses behind them, will sire the mules best suited to the wants of those who use them in this country, and will supply the market with what is desired by the dealers. The colts by this class of jacks are stronger in make-up, having better body, with more length, larger head and ear, more foot and bone, combined with style equal to the colts of the imported jacks.

“While many fine mules are sired by imported jacks, this is not to be understood as meaning that imported jacks do not get good foals, yet, taken as a class, we think that the mule by the native jack is superior to any other class. This conclusion is borne out by an experience and observation of some years, and by many of the best breeders and dealers in the United States.

“As the mule partakes very largely in its body and shape of its mother, it is necessary that care should be taken in selecting the dam. Many suppose that when a mare becomes diseased and unfit for breeding to the horse, then she is fit to breed to mules. This is a sad mistake, for a good, growing, sound colt must have good, sound sire and dam.

“The jack may be ever so good, yet the result will be a disappointment unless the mare is good, sound, and properly built for breeding. First, she should be sound and of good color; black, bay, brown, or chestnut is preferred. Her good color is needed to help to give the foals proper color, and this is a matter of no small importance.

“This should not be understood as ignoring the other colors, for some of the best mules ever seen were the produce of gray or light-colored mares, as many dealers and breeders will attest. The mare should be well bred; that is, she would give better results by having some good crosses. By all means let her have a cross of Thoroughbred, say one-quarter, supplemented with strong crosses of some of the larger breeds, and the balance of the breeding may be made up of the better class of the native stock. The mare should have good length, large, well-rounded barrel, good head, long neck, good, broad, flat bone, broad chest, wide between the hips, and good style.

“Having selected the sire and the dam, the next thing is to produce the colt. The sire, if well kept and in good condition, is ready for business, but not so with the mare. The dam is to be in season; that is, in heat. Before being bred, to prevent accidents, the mare should be hobbled or pitted. Having taken this precaution, the jack may be brought out, and both will be ready for service. Care should be taken not to over-serve the jack, as he should not be allowed to serve over two mares a day.

“The mare, after being served, may be put to light work, or put upon some quiet pasture by herself for several days until she passes out of season, when she may be turned out with other stock to run until the eighteenth day, when she should be taken up to be teased by a horse, to ascertain if she be in season, and if so, she should be bred again. Some breeders think the ninth, some the twelfth, and some the fifteenth day after service is the proper day to tease, but observation has taught me that the best results come from the eighteenth-day plan. After she becomes impregnated she should have good treatment; light work will not hurt her, but care should be taken not to over-exert. She should have good, nutritious grass if she runs out and is not worked, but if worked she should be well fed on good feed. The foal will be due in about 333 days. As the time approaches for foaling, the mare should be put in a quiet place, away from other stock, until the foal is dropped. She will not need any extra attention, as a rule, but should be looked after to see that everything goes right.

“After the foal comes, it will not hurt the mare or colt for the dam to do light work, provided she is well fed on good, nutritious food. Should she not be worked and is on good grass, and fed lightly on grain, the colt will grow finely, if the mare gives plenty of milk; if she does not the foal should be taught to eat such feed as is most suitable.

“The colt should be well cared for at all times, and particularly while following its mother, for the owner may want to sell at weaning time, which is four months old, and its inches then will fix the price. Good mules, at weaning time, usually bring from $75 to $90, and sometimes as high as $100.

“Feeders, dealers, and buyers prefer the mare mule to the horse, and they sell more readily. The females mature earlier, are plumper and rounder of body, and fatten more readily than the male.

“In weaning the colt, much is accomplished by proper treatment preparatory to this trying event in the mule’s life. It should be taught to eat while following its mother, so that when weaned it will at once know how to subsist on that which is fed to it. The best way to wean is to take several colts and place them in a close barn, with plenty of good, soft feed, such as bran and oats mixed, plenty of sound, sweet hay, and, in season, cutgrass, remembering at all times that nothing can make up for want of pure water in the stable. Many may be weaned together properly. After they have remained in the stable for several days they may be turned on good, rich pasture. Do not forget to feed, as this is a trying time. The change from a milk to a dry diet is severe on the colt. They may all be huddled in a barn together, as they seldom hurt each other. Good, rich clover pastures are fine for mules at this age, but if they are to be extra fine, feed them a little grain all the while.

“There is little variety in the feed until the mules are two years old, at which time they are very easily broken. If halter-broken as they grow up, all there is to do in breaking one is to put on a harness, and place the young animal beside a broken mule, and go to work. When it is thoroughly used to the harness, the mule is already broken. Light work in the spring, when the mule is two years old, will do no hurt, but, in the opinion of many breeders and dealers, make it better, provided it is carefully handled and fed.

“How to fatten the mule is one of the most important parts of mule-raising, for when the mule is offered to a buyer, he will at once ask: ‘Is he fat?’ and fat goes far in effecting a sale. A rough, poor mule could hardly be sold, while if it is fat, the buyer will take it because it is fat.

“The mule should be placed in the barn with plenty of room, and not much light, about the 1st of November, before it is two years old, and fed about twelve ears of (Indian) corn per day, and all the nice, well-cured clover hay it will eat, and there kept until about the 1st of April. Then, in the climate of Middle Tennessee, the clover is good, and the mule may be turned out on it, and the corn increased to about twenty ears or more per day. They will eat more grain, without fear of ‘firing;’ that is, heating so as to cause scratches, as the green clover removes all danger from this source. During the time they run on the clover they eat less hay, but this should always be kept by them. About the 1st of May the clover blooms, and is large enough to cut, in the latitude of Tennessee. The mules should be placed, then, in the barn, with a nice smooth lot attached, and plenty of pure water. A manger should be built in the lot, four feet wide by four feet high, and long enough to accommodate the number of mules it is desired to feed. This should be covered over by a shed high enough for the mule to stand under, to prevent the clover from wilting. The clover should be cut while the dew is on, as this preserves the aroma, and they like it better. While this is going on in the lot, the troughs and racks in the barns should be supplied with all the shelled corn (maize) the mules will eat. ‘Why shell it?’ some one will ask. Because they eat more of it, and relish it. A valuable addition at all times consists of either short-cut sheaf oats, or shelled oats, and bran, if not too expensive.

“From this time the mule should be pressed with all the richest of feed, if it is desired to make it what is termed in mule parlance, ‘hog fat.’ Ground barley, shelled oats, bran, and shelled corn, should be given, not forgetting to salt regularly all the while, nor omitting the hay and green corn blades. While all those are essential, oats and bran, although at some places expensive, are regarded as the ne plus ultra for fattening a mule, and giving a fine suit of hair. Be sure to keep the barn well bedded, for if the hair becomes soiled from rolling it lowers the value, as the mule is much estimated for its fine coat.

“The grain makes the flesh, and the green stuff keeps the system of the mule cool, and balances the excess of carbonaceous elements in the grain fed.

“The manner of feeding, if properly carried out, with the proper foundation to start with, will make mules, two years old past, weigh from 1150 pounds to 1350 pounds by the 1st of September, at which time the market opens.

“A feeder of eighteen years’ experience claims that oats and bran will put on more fine flesh in a given time, coupled with a smoother, glossier coat of hair, than any other known feed. The experienced feeder follows this method from weaning till two years old.”

In war the mule is invaluable both as a pack animal and for army trains. He can stand the hard usage of army life much better than horses. In our great Civil War they were used very extensively. In his book General Grant told of a certain army chaplain who always took an active part in the battles. On one occasion the roads were blocked up with mule-drawn trains, and it was most desirable for them to get out of the way. The chaplain lent a hand to the teamsters. Now mule-drivers use language more forceful and picturesque than pure or elegant. Well, the parson “cussed and swore,” with the rest of them, and helped straighten out the tangle. That evening the General thanked the chaplain, but said: “How do you reconcile the language you used with your conscience?” “Oh,” answered the chaplain, “do mules understand any other language?”