APPENDIX. 



MEMORANDUM ON MULE BREEDING. 



PREPARED FOR THE USE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF 

 INDIA BY MR. C. L. SUTHERLAND. 



General Treatment of Jacks. — In mule-breeding opera- 

 tions it is desirable tbatj as a rule_, the jacks be retained at 

 the haras and not sent round the country (although the 

 latter system is undoubtedly more conducive to their health 

 and well being) ^ for the following reasons : 



(1) Jacks will often refuse a mare until they have been 



^^ prepared'^ by the presence of a jenny. Another 

 jack, or even a mule, will often produce the desired 

 effect. 



(2) Mares will often refuse the jack owing to fear, and 

 require to be teased by a horse and blindfolded. 



Some jacks will cover a mare as readily as they will a 

 jenny, and such jacks can be allowed to '^^ travel'^ as horses 

 do in England ; but it will be found that they are the 

 exception. 



System, in Poitou. — In Poitou, the great mule -breeding 

 district in France, a haras is composed of from four to ten 

 jacks, a stallion horse which covers mares in cases in which 

 it is considered desirable to breed horses and not mules, 

 one or two jennies to excite the unwilling jacks, and one or 

 two horse teasers. One of the latter is ridden daily in the 

 season all round the neighbourhood of the haras to ^* try " 

 the mares. Those that are found to be in season are, as 

 soon as possible, brought to the haras, where the other 



