146 MULES AND MULE BREEDING. 



States. Thus a mule dealer at Philadelphia will telegraph 

 to perhaps the proprietor of the '^ Mammoth '^ Mule Yards 

 at St. Louis, the headquarters of the mule trade, to send 

 him a car-load (generally eighteen) of ^^ smooth mules," 

 averaging, say, 10001b. weight each. 



Instances are on record in which mares have given birth 

 to twins, a mule and a horse. These were clearly cases of 

 superfoetation. 



The longevity of the mule is one of its chief recom- 

 mendations. The writer, having made a study of the 

 mule during forty years at home and in various parts of the 

 world, as well as having bred and worked them regularly, 

 is able to affirm that he has never in his experience seen a 

 dead mule, and that he has never gone out of his way to 

 avoid seeing one. 



A remark or two on the difference between mules and 

 jennets would not perhaps be out of place. The jennet 

 favours the mare in about the same degree that the mule 

 favours the jack. It is generally supposed that in crossing 

 tlie donkey is ^^ prepotent '^ over the horse. In the case of 

 the mule the jack is very prepotent, but it is not so in the 

 case of the jennet, which may be said to be more '''half and 

 half." An expert has no difficulty in distinguishing mules 

 from jennets. For trotting work the jennet is the better 

 animal, and he has great power of endurance as well as 

 longevity. The jennet is much bred in Ireland, especially 

 in Limerick, Cork, and parts of Tipperary. In the 

 congested districts, the chief place for breeding jennets is 

 in the neighbourhood of Swinford, in co. Mayo, and in 

 1894 a very good Welsh pony was stationed there by 

 the Congested Districts Board for the purpose. It is 

 thought, however, that the breeding of jennets is carried 

 on in a very haphazard way in Ireland — with no care. 



