110 MULES AND MULE BREEDING. 



ar-e not bred from mares as heavy as those that are 

 employed in France. Small jacks are not regarded in 

 America as desirable, although mere size is not considered 

 as a criterion of the intrinsic value for breeding purposes, 

 greater reliance being placed on pedigree and breed. 

 The mule is so important an animal in the States, and is 

 bred there so carefully, that it is desirable to record the 

 system which is adopted in its production by the best 

 breeders. An account published by Mr. Killgore, of 

 Plattsburg, is so instructive that it is most advantageous 

 to reproduce the following details of mule breeding 

 from it : — 



*' In the province of Catalonia, in old Spain, there exists a race 

 of asses, bred with great care for many centuries, having been 

 introduced into that country by the Moors at the time of their 

 conquest of that kingdom. They are black in colour, with white 

 or mealy muzzles, and whitish or greyish bellies, varying but 

 little in form, but greatly in size, running from fourteen 

 to sixteen and a half hands high. They are remarkable 

 for their high carriage, fine hair, great muscular develop- 

 ment, and superior action, in strong contrast with the common 

 scrub donkey of the States. 



" Before the late civil war these jacks were imported into 

 Charleston, South Carohna, and were thence distributed 

 throughout ihv mule-growing region of the United States. They 

 made their mark wherever tested, showing as much improvement 

 in mules as in any other department of live stock. 



" They developed one very marked peculiarity, and that was 

 the uniform, strong colour, good shape, fine, thrifty growing, and 

 feeding qualities and docile temper of the mules produced from 

 every quality and colour of dam ; and, notwithstanding their 

 variation in size from fourteen to sixteen hands high, any given 

 mare would produce as large and fine fiiiished and valuable a 

 mule from the fourteen hand jack as from the sixteen hand one, 

 thus proving the uniformity of their breeding, and showing the 



