86 HOW TO BREED MULES. 



Spiletra, the mother of Eclipse. But not cnlj la it very 

 certain that the Grey Eagle and Wagner blood is wasted 

 to no purpose bj this prostitution to vile uses, in giving 

 the i^aalities of blood to the mules, but it is even question- 

 able whether two stout, sound, active Canadians, or Nor- 

 mans, would not have thrown better foals tothe same jack 

 »ban these noble mares, thus sadly misapplied. 



On the other hand, if we are breeding hinnies, we war I 

 the very best stallion we can find, in blood and bone, so 

 that he be not disproportionably large ; while in the female 

 ass, we only require soundness, and sufficient size to render 

 her roomy enough to contain a foetus so much larger than 

 her own natural progeny, as the hinny foal is like to be. 

 But as no one breeds hinnies or is likely to do so, this side 

 of the question is worthy of no farther consideration, and 

 with a few words more we quit it altogether. It is gene- 

 rally asserted that the hinny has been tried and found nearly 

 a worthless animal, though admitted to be a beautiful one. 

 He has only been bred occasionally in Spain, since the 

 great decline in the number and quality of the male asses, 

 and of mules, generall}^, from the want of male asses, — 

 arising from the frightful consumption of those animals 

 during the Peninsular w^ar, — and the subsequent incessant 

 civil wars which have convulsed that unhappy country, 

 has rendered it necessary to supply their want. We are 

 not inclined to adopt this assertion. We believe that the 

 linny, so far from being a worthless animal, is as good 

 ^s he is handsome, and superior to the mule for tho 

 ascK for which he is fitted, — that is, for a saddle animal. 

 But being inferior to the horse as a saddle animal, and in- 

 ferior to the mule as a beast of draft or burden, in which 

 respect alone the latter can compete with the horse, he has 

 no special place of his own ; and, therefore, it having been 

 worth no one's while to cultivate hinnies, they have fallen 



