120 MULES AND MULE BREEDING. 



all the style attainable with these qualities. Smaller jacks are 

 often fine breeders, and produce some of our best mules, and 

 when bred to the heavier, larger class of mares show good 

 results, but as ' like produces like,' the larger jacks are pre- 

 ferable. 



" Black, with light points, is the favourite colour for a jack, 

 but many of our grey, blue, and even white jacks have produced 

 good mules. In fact, some of the nicest, smoothest, red-sorrel 

 mules have been the product of these off -coloured jacks ; but 

 the black jacks get the largest proportion of good- coloured colts 

 from all coloured mares. 



** The breed of the jack is also to be looked into. There are 

 now so many varieties of jacks in the United States, all of which 

 have merits, that it will be well to examine and see what jack 

 has shown the best results. We have the Catalonian, the 

 Andalusian, the Maltese, the Majorca, the Italian, and the 

 Poitou — all of which are imported — and the native jack. Of all 

 the imported, the Catalonian is the finest type of animal, being 

 a good black, with white points, of fine style and action, and 

 from 14i to 15 hands high, rarely 16 hands, with a clean 

 bone. The Andalusian is about the same type of jack as the 

 Catalonian, having perhaps a little more weight and bone, but 

 are all off colours. The Maltese is smaller than the Catalonian, 

 rarely being over 14f hands high, but is nice and smooth. The 

 Majorca is the largest of the imported jacks, the heaviest in 

 weight, bone, head, and ear, and frequently grows to 16 hands. 

 These are raised in the rich island of Majorca, in the Mediter- 

 ranean Sea. While they excel in weight and size, they lack in 

 style, finish, and action. The Italian is the smallest of all the 

 imported jacks, being usually from 13 to 14 hands high, but 

 having good foot, bone, and weight, and some of them make 

 good breeders. The Poitou is the latest importation of the 

 jack, and is little known in the United States. He is imported 

 from France, and is reported to be the sire of some of the finest 

 mules in his native land. These jacks have long hair about the 

 neck, ears, and legs, and are in some respects to the jack race 

 what the Clydesdale is to other horses. He is heavy set, has 



