THE AMERICAN MULE. 109 



bones of Royal Gift, wliicli are points that are looked at 

 by all experienced mule breeders ; and he descants, 

 rightly enough, on the "great strength of mules, on 

 their longevity, hardiness, and cheap support, which 

 gives them a preference of horses that is scarcely to be 

 imagined/' 



At the present time numbers of Spanish and other 

 Jacks are annually imported into the United States for 

 the purpose of mule breeding, as was made evident by 

 an account of the escape of nearly one hundred Spanish 

 Jacks recently brought to the port of Liverpool from Spain 

 for the purpose of being exported to America. The 

 Liverpool Courier of Jan. 1 8, 1 894, informs us that they 

 were finely made, powerful looking animals. They were 

 brought to Liverpool to be trans-shipped to America 

 in one of the White Star steamers. Pending the trans- 

 shipment they escaped from their quarters during the 

 night, and in the morning it was found that nearly the 

 whole of them were missing, but they were apprehended 

 by the police in Prescot-street, and placed in safety. 

 This occurrence shows the extreme care that the Ameri- 

 cans take in the breeding of their mules for farm and city 

 work. At the present time, in the States a large amount 

 of the agricultural labour is performed by these animals. 

 To so great an extent is this the case, that in one of the 

 illustrated posters showing the utilization of a reaping 

 machine, no less than sixteen machines are delineated 

 cutting a wheat field of some thousand acres, the whole 

 of the machines being drawn by mules. 



The draught mule of America is somewhat lighter than 

 those that have already been described as being bred in 

 France from the Poitou jacks. This depends on the facts 

 that lighter jacks are used in breeding them, and that they 



