MULES AND THEIR MERITS.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 329, 29 December 1888, Page 4

MULES AND THEIR MERITS.

Mtji,es, as mo&t of our readers know, are very largely bred in the United States for fanning 1 and other f ur poses. It has' often occurred to us that under certain conditions of colonial farm life, mules would be i found very useful animals. A correspon- j dent of an American paper thus sings their j praises :— "A mule is always worth 25 per cent, more than a horse, because 50 per cent, better. Close acquaintance with mules for about) five years has taught me this fact. They are really more docile than horses ; are hardier ; do more work ; eat less, and thrive upon coarser fare ; are never sick unless shamefully ill-used or ill-fed ; live longer and are more useful while they live. I never saw a mule team run away. Mules rarely stumble on the roughest roads ; are scarcely ever balky and will pull heavy loads as eteadily as oxen, hanging on in the traces with all their weight, without any jerks or giving back. Con?equently the harness lasts longer than with horses. They may be made as kind in disposition *is horses by the same kind treatment. A pair of young mules, coming three years old, which 1 have raised, will come when 1 whistle for them trom the far end of a 100-acre pasture lot j will eat corn or take salt from my hand ; will enjoy petting as much as the horse colts, and have never yet lifted a foot to kick. The mule is made vicious by vicious treatment, it has the patience, hardiness, abstemiousness and docility of the ass, w,ith the strength and intelligence of 'tjhe ' horse. , There is money in rearing mules ' and economy in using them any- / where."

Wellington is competing with Auckland in flax export. Flax to the value of £2,000 ,was sent away from that port in two months, * , Auckland railway^revenue last month, , £6,886 ; expenditure,- £4,992 ; percentage 6b revenue, 1 71 '52*. *