AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
173 
1874.] 
_ 
The Wild Ass. 
Although we rarely find an ass engaged in 
farm labor, yet indirectly this much ma¬ 
ligned animal is of agricultural interest and 
value. As the sire of the mule he renders an 
invaluable service, and anything 
new pertaining to his history is 
worthy of record. By reason of 
many sorrows and misfortunes 
and much ill-usage the ordinary 
ass has lost much of its original 
spirit and beauty, and it is dif¬ 
ficult to recognize in the graceful 
animal depicted in the annexed 
engraving (for which and that of 
the Poitou Mare we are indebted 
to the London Field) a creature 
which we might designate as a 
pure-bred donkey, a true descend¬ 
ant of the original race. The en¬ 
graving is a portrait taken from 
a photograph of a young wild ass, 
a female, which was recently cap¬ 
tured after a chase of forty miles, 
which was made in 3 hours and 
5 minutes, upon the Runn of Kutch 
by an English army officer and a 
party of fifty native hunters. The 
-district in which it was captured is 
a vast grassy plain, much resem¬ 
bling our own Western plains, in 
Tartary, and is the native home of 
the wild ass. These animals are very shy and 
fleet, and being possessed of great endurance are 
rarely captured. This is the second instance 
only of a capture, the first being that of a mare 
heavy with foal, which was taken after having 
been wounded, and this, being a young animal 
only six months old, was only taken after having 
been disabled by a wound from a spear. A 
remount of horses also was necessary to make 
the capture. This proves the native endurance 
of the race and tends to explain also the fact 
that our domestic ass so 
well survives the great¬ 
est ill-usage, the most 
severe labor, the poorest 
and most scanty fare, 
that his longevity and 
freedom from disease 
have become proverbial. 
It is a fact worthy of 
notice that the wild ass 
(Equus onager ) is col¬ 
ored differently from its 
domesticated relative. 
The animal here shown 
is white and fawn; the 
under parts of the body, 
the neck, chest, and 
nose, part of the face, 
the rump, channel, and 
inside of the legs are 
white; the mane i3 
short, thick, and dark 
brown. A dark dun 
streak of long hair runs 
along the back, widen¬ 
ing towards the rear, 
and continues down the 
tail to the end. The 
rest of the body is of 
a fawn color; the coat 
is smooth and glossy, and the tail has a tuft of 
long dark-brown hair at the end. The legs are 
clean and flat, the sinews prominent, the feet 
are small, hard, and well formed, and the pas¬ 
terns long. The ears are smaller than those of 
the tame ass, and are constantly pricked, and 
the eye is of unusual brightness and quite 
black. The muzzle is small and black, with 
large open nostrils. This animal does not have 
the cross upon the shoulders, which is borne by 
the domestic ass, and is 12 hands high, although 
now only a year old. As this wild ass is 
probably the original of our domestic one, it 
is a curious problem to trace out the causes 
which have led to the variation between it 
and the races that have descended from it. 
The Poitou Mare and Mule Foal. 
—•— i 
We have previously described and illustrated 
the Poitou Mule, and now complete its history 
A POITOU MAKE AND MULE FOAL. 
by describing the typical dam from which it is 
bred. Indeed this part of its history is of con¬ 
siderable importance in a national sense. As a 
large number of these animals are annually 
imported into this country, it becomes a mat¬ 
ter of interest to know if we can not just as 
well raise the animals we need ourselves, as 
pay the foreign breeders for doing us this ser¬ 
vice, and so have this industry added to those 
we already possess. As in a family everything 
made at home, in leisure hours, saves expendi¬ 
ture and adds to the wealth of the 
household, so in a nation every¬ 
thing that is produced, if it does 
not interfere with other productive 
labor, also adds to the general 
wealth. It is quite plain to us 
that we need not go to France for 
such mares as this, and equally 
so that thousands of mules may 
be raised in several of our States 
without hindering any profitable 
work. If, then, we use the mares 
we have and devote attention to 
this business, all we need is to im¬ 
port the necessary animals to start 
with, and set this industry to work 
for ourselves. It is questionable, 
indeed, if we do not already pos¬ 
sess equally good animals with the 
French breeders, and if we could 
not by using the same care as they 
do in selecting sires and dams pro¬ 
duce equally good mules. We have 
little doubt of it, and knowing 
what has been done by our breed¬ 
ers in other respects, and the great 
success they have attained, it 
would be strange indeed if they could not 
produce exactly the kind of mule needed for 
every purpose, and render importation un¬ 
necessary. It will be seen from the engrav¬ 
ing and the following description of the 
Poitou mares that we have already the ma¬ 
terial for a home supply. The engraving re¬ 
presents a prize Poitou mare, and a mule foal 
three months old. The mare is 16 hands high, 
coarse in bone and heavy in build, and very 
much resembles the horses common in Nor¬ 
mandy, some of which 
have been brought to 
this country under the 
misapplied name of 
Pereheron. Indeed, 
many mares have been 
taken directly from 
Normandy for mule 
breeders ( mulassieres ), 
although both stallions 
and mares are now 
brought from England 
to supply a stock of 
dams. These dams are 
rarely used to labor, but 
are kept almost alto¬ 
gether for breeding. 
Generally they have 
colts when three years 
old, and the idea of the 
French breeders that 
very low keep upon 
straw and similar innu¬ 
tritions food is favora¬ 
ble to the process of 
gestation, and the safe 
production of the colt 
does not tend to im¬ 
prove their appearance, 
although it may be 
effective for the purpose designed. Certainly 
the pampering of breeding animals is neither 
productive of prolificacy or hardiness in the 
dam, nor hardiness in the offspring; but on 
the other hand there is a judicious mean 
A WILD TARTARIAN ASS. 
