The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-01-16
The Mule.


Poitou, one of the oldest provinces o
France, for centuries has devoted
much attention to the breeding o
mules, and, therefore, great pains are
taken in that section to give as mucf
character as possible in that hybrid
Two types of mules are bred in Poitor
the light and the heavy; and to pro
duce the latter the finest and largest
cart mares are selected for the harem
A correspondent of the London Field
describes the Poitou mule, and, as the
hybrid is largely bred in this country,
we transfer the main portion of his
description to our columns:
1.-THE peculiarities of the Potion
mule, as distinguished from the Span
ish and other mules, are as follows
The Poitou mule is eminently qualified
for service as beast of heavy draught,
and as such is capable of taking the
place of any ordinary farm horse. His
head and ears are large and decidedly
coarse, according to our notions, but
the Poitou breeders maintain that they
get the necessary weight of barrel with
out correspondingly large head and
ears. His neck is short, and very ofte n
he carries a good crest. His chest is
broad, his shoulders rather upright and
muscular. He is often little longer
in the back than we may fancy for a
draught animal, and is apt to stand
over too much ground. His barrel is
capacious and well let down, though
sometimes he is apt to be a lit
tie fat-sided. His quarters and thighs,
while strong and muscular, present on
the whole narrow aud lighter appear
ance than those of draught horse,
and it is in these points particularly
that the Poitou mules require improve
ment. His hooks are large, and, while
a large proportion of mules are cow
hooked, I have failed to observe that
this confirmation renders them more
than ordinarily liable to throw out bony
groWths, or to suffer from strains of ten
dons or ligaments. While on the sub
iect of bony growths, it may be as well
to correct a very prevalent idea that
mules do not throw out bony growths
like horses. It is quite true that they
are not apt to do so to the same extent as
horses, but I have seen frst-rate speci-
mems of spavins, ring bones, side-bones,
and occasionally of splints Gas well as
curbs), in mules. The popularity is
IudG buO SAOSJOSCS are Ill ulduJ
cases we'll developed, the animals, owing
rarely go lame with them.
We now come to the distinguishing
characteristics of the Poitou mule, viz
limbs and feet. The legs are short and
stout, with plenty of bone, and the
pasterns short, as becomes a draught
animal, and there is sometimes a good
deal of hair about the legs. By the
limbs being stout I do not wish to be
understood that thay are round and
gummy on the contrary, they are fiat
and hard, whilst the feet are larger and
more expanded than those of any breed
of mules I am acquainted with. The
heels are in many cases somewhat con-
tracted; but in breeding this can be OBJ
waited to great extent by exercising
care in selecting a good opon-footed
jack as a sire.
It is in the matter of the feet and
limbs that the Poitou differs essentially
from the Spanish mule. It is well
known to mule breeders that, cross
jacks and mares as you will, the result
ing mule will take after the ass his sire
in all extremities-that is, in ears, legs,
feet and tail. Thus in Spain, where the
asses are much finer in their limbs than
they are in Potion, it is no uncommon
sight to see mules which may be aptly
described as animals having a horses
body on donkey's legs and feet. The
result is that animals of this conforma-
ton are utterly incapable of steadying
q heavy load on bad road when placed
in the shafts, and, by being swayed
about by their load on account of the
barrels being too large for their limbs,
their legs and feet ''give out" as the
Americans term it. The value of a
good sized foot for travelling over deep
and heavy land must also be taken into
consideration.
Poitou mules are of all colors-bay,
brown, black, gray, white, and some
times chestnut and skewbald; but
about four-fftbs of them take after the
baudet, their sire in color, and he is al.
ways black or dark brown. The height
of the draguht mule ranges from Is to
Is hands, rarely more. Spanish mules
reach II hands, but the. e is
generally too much daylight under these
very large animals. The females al
ways realize higher prices than the
males, chiefly on account of less risk be-
ing supposed to attach to them during
the sea voyage. The price of COOL
draught mule of three or four years of
age, ranges from 940 to EGO, sometimes
reaching as high as ESQ; while draught
horse or mare of corresponding quality
and capability can be purchased for
from ESQ to 940.