136 MULES AND MULE BREEDING. 



saleable horse stock, wiU, -when mated -with a good donkey, 

 produce a mule of size and worth. Thus mule breeding has 

 been a most useful adjunct to horse breeding, as worthless 

 mares, totally unfit to produce horse stock, have been employed 

 as mule breeders, and not only have given fair mules, but have 

 started the industry in North-Western Provinces and Eajputana, 

 and these unfit mares for horse breeding have been prevented 

 producing bad horse stock, and so the breeding districts have 

 been relieved of the evil influence these mares had in producing 

 worthless horse stock, and of course their malformation and 

 hereditary defects and diseases have been for ever got rid of, as 

 their mule produce is infertile. 



" Further it has to be explained that a good horse mare when 

 mated with a good donkey yields, as a rule, a superior mule of 

 great value, indeed, often of greater value in the Indian market 

 than an ordinary horse ; so in the Punjab, where mule breeding 

 is better understood and appreciated than in other parts of 

 India, a better class of pony and horse mare is made a mule 

 breeder. 



" At the Eawalpindi Fair of 1888 a mule realised the highest 

 price of any stock sold at the fair. Again, as regards mule 

 breeding being a safer investment than ordinary horse breeding, 

 it is found that the mule is a hardier animal and able to 

 browse young bushes, &c., so that in seasons of drought he 

 maintains his condition and develops when horse stock become 

 impoverished and prove starvelings." 



In some of the other parts of India mule breeding had 

 made less progress, inasmuch as it was not properly 

 fostered by the Government and good donkey sires intro- 

 duced. Colonel Hallen regards the Italian breed known 

 as the " Razza " as the best jack for mule breeding for the 

 Indian service, as the produce of the Poitou jack carries 

 too much hair, and suffers in the summer months. The 

 Catalan jacks are not as suitable as the Italian, and the 

 Cyprians are too small and wanting in bone. The Arab 



