156 MULES AND MULE BREEDING. 



first service should be on a mare if possible, and the jack 

 should not be allowed to serve a jenny until the end of the 

 season, after having served all the mares required. By the 

 beginning of the following season he will have forgotten to 

 a great extent the jennies, and will begin with the mares 

 again. It is only natural that he should prefer his own 

 species. There is a very marked difference in his behaviour 

 and general demeanour when covering mares or jennies. 

 In certain cases it may be desirable to reserve a certain 

 proportion of the jacks for breeding what is called in the 

 United States " jack stock," as it is quite possible to spoil 

 a good mare-server by allowing him to have connection 

 with his own species. These jacks are called ''jennet 

 jacks " in the United States, and are specially reserved 

 for the production of jack stock. 



In the United States stallion donkeys are called " jacks," 

 mare donkeys " jennets " or " jennies," and . the two 

 together are spoken of as "jack stock." 



Mode of Exciting a Jack. — The presence of a jenny is 

 >the best and simplest, but, failing that, the presence of 

 anything with which the animal has been brought up when 

 young. The means vary with each animal, and it is often 

 a tedious and slow process. Thus a jack brought up with 

 cows, as sometimes happens, will require a horned beast to 

 be present as a dernier ressort. A jack I knew in Poitou 

 had been hand-reared by a little girl owing to his dam 

 having been burnt to death the night he was born. This 

 jack always required a maqxdgnon or groom to clothe him- 

 self with a horse-rug round his legs before he would 

 prepare himself. He was a most excellent mule-getter, 

 but under ordinary circumstances, if transported far away, 

 would have been at once condemned as useless in the 

 absence^ of the above information. Some jacks are very 



