MULES ARE PROFITABLE 207 



BREEDING TYPE OF MARE 



The mule is an unnatural animal, being a hybrid, 

 and the product of crossing the jack with the mare. 

 It is incapable of producing young, and for this rea- 

 son it is impossible to improve the animal through 

 the ordinary means of selection by which other 

 types of animals are improved. It has been pos- 

 sible, as explained before, to improve and develop 

 the jack by selection and intelligent crossing. The 

 method by which the production of good mules is 

 made possible is by the mating of the best type of 

 jack with an approved type of mare. In order to 

 select this stock intelligently, the breeder must 

 have a knowledge, first, of what the market recog- 

 nizes as the most approved type of mule, and, 

 second, just what characteristics the mule is likely 

 to inherit from his sire and what characteristics 

 from his dam. Formerly, the requirements of the 

 South, which was the principal mule market, were 

 for rather small animals of a good deal of quality 

 and life, and the lightness of bone and smallness 

 of hoof belonging to this type of mule was not con- 

 sidered a handicap. Breeders used small or medium- 

 sized mares, often with a large proportion of coach- 

 ing or standard blood, possessing plenty of life and 

 spirit. The mules resulting from crosses of this 

 kind are tough, wiry, capable of great endurance 

 and altogether a very serviceable type of animal. 

 The market requirements of the present day de- 

 mand a quite different type of animal, although in 

 the cotton fields of the South there is still a large 

 demand for animals of the type just described. 

 These are known in the markets as cotton mules. 

 The draft mule, which now commands the highest 

 price of any type, must be heavier, larger and 



