Mule Breeding in France. 179 



tlie Gardens. He was, although a very powerful man, thoroughly beaten and exhausted, and 

 \\'ould never have succeeded had not an Indian officer he met accidentally recognised the wild ass, 

 and volunteered his assistance. 



In iS_78 this onager had grown at least an inch, and "furnished" into a very powerful 

 thoroughbred creature. It had bred a foal to the Syrian wild ass, but would give it no milk, 

 and killed it with bites and kicks before it could be rescued. 



MULES AND MULE-BREEDING. 



Mules are invaluable as beasts of draught and beasts of burden in the south of Europe, and 

 in certain parts of northern and southern America. They were known, and in common use, as 

 appears frjm Assyrian bas-reliefs, in the earliest historical times. Layard's great folios of 

 coloured illustrations of his work on Nineveh contain pictures of mules, both ridden and driven 

 in chariots, and in one instance of a mule ridden by a woman. 



In France mule-breeding has gradually grown into an important branch of rural industry, 

 in spite of discouragement from the officials charged with improving the breeds of horses. There 

 are two kinds of mules : a light kind used for light carriages, and in Spain and Africa for 

 saddle, and a strong kind used for heavy draught ; the character and quality depending on the 

 selection of the donkey sire and the horse mare. 



In 1870 there were eighty-six mule-breeding farms in the department of Deux-Sevres, in 

 Poitou, the real mule-breeding district of France, which maintained 432 of the largest kind of 

 stallion asses (baudet etalon esphe viulassiti-e). The little male donkeys used in the Midi of 

 France are for the most part imported from Lombardy and Sardinia ; small and slight-limbed, 

 their produce from the mares of the country are undersized and light of bone, and can in no 

 way be compared with the powerful magnificent animals which dealers from Languedoc, Beam, 

 and Spain come annually to purchase in Poitou. 



Afiica breeds the best riding mules, and France the best ^or pack-saddle or heavy draught. 



The male mule is stronger, has more bone than the female, and more courage, but is less 

 docile. Nevertheless, the female is worth twenty-five per cent, more than the male, because in 

 very hot climates she is not subject to several diseases which affect the male, and she does not 

 require so much care. 



Poitou breeds and the Llidi rears the mule. About 12,000 are bred every year; two-thirds 

 of which are sold at one year old, at from 90 to 180 francs each. As soon as brought home 

 they are turned out on the mountains to graze, and remain there until the frosts set in. At 

 the commencement of winter they are stabled for a couple of months. In the spring a good 

 many are sold for exportation to Italy. The remainder are sold by the breeders at two, four, 

 and five years old ; never at three, {ii\N remain at six years. 



Spain imports annually six or eight hundred saddle and carriage mules of the very finest 

 class direct from Poitou. Spain also imports lighter mules from the Midi — the value 

 altogether, with the Italian importations, amounting to upwards of ;^ 120,000 sterling annually. 

 The total exportation from France in 1871 exceeded 17,000 head. 



The mule begins to work at eighteen months or two years old. It is more hardy than the 

 horse, but more delicate in its food than the ass. The mnle-foal in Poitou is born much stronger 

 than the horse-foal, and is said to be more difficult to rear ; but this is not surprising, for the 

 ignorant peasants will not allow them to suck freely the first milk, dose them with white 

 wine and oil, and sometimes bleed them ! 



