106 MULES AND MULE BREEDING. 



so far as bone in tlie leg, large feet, and weight of barrel 

 are concerned, but the present animal, like her dam, may 

 be taken as a fair specimen of the race. Her exact future 

 it would be difficult to foretell ; but one thing is quite 

 certain, and that is that, like all her fellows, she will not 

 end her days in Poitou. She will probably be sold so soon 

 as she is weaned to some peasant in a part of Poitou where 

 mules are not much bred, but only reared as yearlings ; 

 possibly again, at two years old, to another peasant, in a 

 district where only two-year-old mules are reared ; and 

 certainly again, at three, four, or five, she will be finally 

 sold to one of the numerous mule merchants from the 

 South of France, Spain, or Italy. The Spaniards buy 

 the light-trotting mules with style and good action to run 

 in their carriages ; and the lyiarcliands du Midi, buy the 

 heavy draught mules. An experienced breeder on the 

 birth of a mule foal can, and often does, foretell its future 

 destination to an absolute certainty, according to its make 

 and shape, i.e., whether it will go to Spain or Le Midi. 



