258 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1890. 



I would here call attention to the most significant fact that the 

 best places for mules arc those which are not renowned for good horses. 

 This must be taken as a note of warning for those who are most 

 anxious to expand mule-breeding operations in Beloochistan and 

 the Punjab, where the best Indian horses come from. Mule-breeding 

 pays probably better than horse-breeding, for [although it is consid- 

 ered less certain (2:3)] the (mule) progeny require less trouble in 

 rearing, and are bought at high price. Every mare suitable for horse- 

 breeding but told off to produce a mule, is a loss to the country, per- 

 manently for the former purpose, but only temporarily a gain for the 

 latter. The mule is a working animal and nothing more, the foal is a 

 possible progenitor of future horses. And, moreover, we have seen that 

 the offspring is liable to be influenced by the step sire, so that the mare's 

 value for horse-breeding is permanently damaged. We infer, then, 

 that the use of sound brood mares for mule production is to be 

 greatly discountenanced and not encouraged, and that the best horse- 

 breeding districts are the last which should be encouraged to breed 

 mules. The latter industry is altogether secondary to the former, 

 and should occupy only rejected mares. And yet a careful perusal 

 of the official returns on the subject clearly manifests that, finding 

 mule-breeding more profitable, owners who used to breed horses or 

 ponies are now breeding mules, and possibly in the near future it 

 will be necessary to draw a leaf out of the records of the French Stud 

 Department, which had to adopt measures to repress mule-breeding. 

 I contend that mules should be obtained, when possible, by import- 

 ation and that there is no objection whatever to State stud operations 

 for this industry, if it can be made worth while ; but, far from it 

 being promoted in the best horse and pony-breeding countries, it 

 ought to be discouraged there as much as possible, and only mares 

 rejected absolutely for horse sires should be put to Government ass 

 stallions. Experience shows that there is ample field for mule pur- 

 chasing abroad, and it is probable this would be found less expensive 

 than mule production in this country, but even here there are large 

 tracts of country which might be exploited for mule-breeding. Almost 

 all the Madras Presidency, Low^er Bengal; and Burma, which supply 

 no horses and tew ponies, might, i! judged worth while, be exploited 

 for mules, bu< the Punjab, Kathiawar, Beloochistan, and the Shan 



