The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-01-15
The Mule.

Says the Turf, Field and Farm
Poitou, one of the Oldest provinces
France, for centuries has devote
much attention to the breeding {
mules, and, therefore, great pains ar
taken i'll that section to give as muc
character as possible in that hybrid
Two types of mules are bred in Poito
the light and the heavy and to pre-
duce the latter the finest and larges
cart mares are selected for the harem
A correspondent of the London Fiel
describes the Poitou mule, and, as tn
hybrid is largely bred in this country
we transfer the main portion of hi
description to our colums
1.-The. peculiarities of the Poito,
mule, as distinguished from the Span
ish and other mules, are as follows
The Poitou mule is eminently qualified
for service as a beast of heavy draught
and as such is capable of taking tn,
place of any ordinary farm horse. Hi
head and ears are large and decidedly
coarse, according to our notions, bn
the Poitou breeders maintain that they
get the necessary weight of barrel with
out correspondingly large head ant
ears. His neck is short, and very Otter
he carries 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 @
draught animal, and is apt to stand
over toe much ground. His barrel is
capacious and well let down, though
sometimes he is apt to be lit
tie fiat.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 Potou mules require improve
ment. His hooks are large, and, while
a large proportion of mules are cow
hooked, [ 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
ject of bony growths, it may be as well
to correct very prevalent idea that
mules do not throw ont bony growths
like horses 1t is quite true that they
are not apt to do so to the same extent as
horses, but | have seen tirst-rate speci-
mems of spavins, ring bones, side e-bones,
and occasionally of splints Gas well as
curbs), in mules. The peculiarity is
that although the exostoses are in many
cases well developed, the animals, owing
to singular want of sensitiveness,
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 draught
animal, and there is sometimes a good
deal of hair about the legs. BY the
limbs being stout | do not wish to be
understood that thay are round and
gummy on the contrary, they are flat
and hard, whilst the feet are larger and
more expanded than those of any breed
of mules am acquainted with. The
heels are in many cases somewhat con-
tracted; but in breeding this can be OBJ
waited to q great extent by exercising
care in selecting good opon-footed
jack as sire.
1t is in the matter of the feet and
limbs that the Poitou differs essentially
from the Spanish mule. 1t is we'll
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 extremitios-tha is, in ears, legs,
feet and tail. Thus in Spain, where the
asses are much finer in their limbs than
they are in Poitou, it is no uncommon
sight to see mules which may be aptly
described as animals having horses
body on donkey's legs and feet. The
result is that animals of this conforma-
ton are utterly incapable of steadying
a 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
good-sized foot for travelling over deep
and heavy land must also be taken into
consideration.
Potion 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
Ii hands, rarely more. Spanish mules
reach II hands, but the 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 goo
drnught mule of three or four years of
age, ranges from Gao TO EGO, sometimes
reaching as high as ESQ; while Il draught
horse or mare Of corresponding quality
and capability can be purchased for
from ESQ to E40.