102 MULES AND MULE BREEDING. 



haudet, great form and ceremony are attached to the 

 transaction. 



The female asses are sometimes_, though rarely, employed 

 in the agricultural labours of the farm. As a general rule, 

 they are kept solely for breeding purposes, as there is an 

 idea in Poitou that pregnant animals should not be worked. 

 Possibly the breeders have at some time discovered to 

 their cost that starvation, pregnancy, and hard work taken 

 in combination are disposed to have a deleterious effect 

 upon the animal system generally. 



The number of ateliers, or mule-breeding establishments, 

 in Poitou amounts to nearly two hundred^ the majority 

 being in the department of the Deux- Sevres. These estab- 

 lishments are tenanted by many hundred male asses, female 

 asses, and entire draught horses, the latter called etaloii.s 

 mulassierSy and used for keeping up the mule-breeding 

 race of horses and mares. The mares from which the 

 mules are bred belong to farmers and peasants in the 

 neighbourhood, and are brought to the ateliers when 

 necessary. Each atelier contains from three to eight male 

 asses, one or two females, and two entire draught horses, 

 one of which is technically called a houte-en-train. 



The following are the measurements of a Poitou jenny 

 ass brought over to Eugland for breeding purposes by 

 Mr. C. L. Sutherland: 



Height, 14 hands ^in. Below hock, lOin. 



Forearm, 19in. Greatest girth, 77in. 



Knee, 13in. Girth behind shoulder, 66in. 



Below knee, 8 Jin. Length of head, 28in. 



Foot, 18m. Length of ear, 15in. 



Hock, 16in. Ears, tip to tip across, 34in. 



The engraving of a Poitou female is from the photograph 

 of a jenny of fourteen hands, which obtained the first prize 



