Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-01-01

TIE MULE
Saws the Turf Field and Farm:
Potion, one of the Oldest provinces of
France. for centuries has devoted much
attention to the breeding of mules, and,
therefore, great pains are taken In that
section to give as much character as
possible in that hybrid. Two types of
mules are bred in Potion the light and
the heavy; and to produce the latter the
finest and largest cart mares are Sc
lected for the harem A correspondent
of the London Field describes the
Potion mule, and, as the hybrid is
largely bred in this country, we trans
fer the main portion of his description
to our columns:
1.-The peculiarities of the Potion mule,
as distinguished from the Spanish and
other mules. are as follows: The Potion
mule is emirently 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
Potion breeders maintain that they get
the necessary weight of barrel without
correspOndingly large head and ears.
His neck is short, and very often
he carries a good crest. His chest is
broad, his shoulders rather up
right and muscular. He is often aGttle
longer in the back than we may fancy
for draught animal, and is apt to
stand over too much ground. His bar
rel is capacious and well let down,
though sometimes he is apt to be lit
tie fia5-sided. His quarters and thighs,
while strong and muscular, present on
the whole narrow and lighter appear
ance than thoseoo of a 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, / have failed to observe that
this confirmation renders them more
than ordinarily liable to throw out bony
growths, or to suffer from strains of
tendons or hgaments. While on the
subject of bony groyths, it may be as
well to correct 4 very prevalent idea
that mules do not throw out bony
growths ike horses. 1t is quite true
that they are not apt to do so TO the
same extent as horses, but have seen
first-rate specimens of spavins, ring
bones, side-bones, and occasionally of
splints (as well as curbs,) in mules.
The popularity is that although the
exostoses are In many cases well de-
veloped, the animals, owing to a singu-
lar want of sensitiveness, rarely go
lame with them
We now come to the distinguishing
characteristics of the Potion 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 it to be
understood that they 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 l am acquainted with. The
heels are in many cases somewhat con-
tracted; but in breeding this can be OBJ
waited to a great extent by exercising
care in selecting a good Open-foOted
jack as a sire.
1t is IN the matter of feet and limbs
that the Poitou differs essentially from
the Spanish mule. 1t is well known to-.
mule breeders that, cross jacks and
mares as you will, the resulting mule
viii take after the ass his sire IN all ex-
tremities-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, 1t is no uncommon sight
to see mules which may be aptly de-
scribeda as animals havinga horses body
on donkey alleys and feet. The result
is, that animals Of this conformation
are utterly incapable of steadying a
heavy load on a 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-fifths Of them take after the
baudet their sire in color, and he is
always black or dark brown. The
height of the draught mule ranges
from i to 10 hands, rarely more.
Spanish mules sometimes reach IL
hands. but there is generally too much
daylight under these very large ami
mails. The females always realize
higher prices than the males, chiefly
on account IF less risk being supposed
to attach to them during the sea voy-
age. The price of good draught
mule of three or four years of age,
ranges from $40 to $50, sometimes
reaching as high as $50; while a
draught horse or mare of correspond
ing quality and'eapability can be Pur-
chased for from ESQ to Gao.