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DR. L. W. KNIGHT.
The Breeding and Rearing
Jacks, Jennets and Mules.
BY
L. W. KNIGHT, M.D.
NASHViiiLE, Tenn.:
The Cumberland Press,
1902.
Copyright in name of J. M. Knight, Murfreesboro, Tenn.,
1902.
PREFACE.
Realizing the constantly growing demand for mules
in the United States, as well as other countries, I have
been induced to write a book in my old and declining
years on the subject of breeding and rearing jacks
and jennets as well as mules. I know of no literature
on the subject of breeding jacks and jennets, and
very little on the mule, which I regard as the best
animal for the Southern and tropical climates. I have
written this book without notes, and entirely from
memory, for the benefit of the young stock farmers,
who are, or will be hereafter engaged in this line of;
business. I am aware there are many imperfections;
in the book, which I trust a generous public willj
excuse under the circumstances. The Author,
St3fcl
y S0497
1
^^^C^J
Breeding and Rearing of Jacks,
Jennets and Mutes*
SECTION FIRST.
God in his infinite wisdom and goodness has given
unto us three great kingdoms, viz. : the Animal, Vege-
table and Mineral. He has given us dominion over
them and if we expect to make them profitable we
have to study them and cultivate them to make them
valuable so that we may get our revenue from them.
Having had long experience in the developing of the
animal kingdom, especially the jack and jennet stock
and valuable mule, I thought perhaps I could make
some suggestions and give my experience for over
three-fourths of a century in handling this stock.
Having been favorably impressed, especially since
the termination of the Spanish-American war, with
the great importance of opening up a trade with the
many tropical islands, viz. : Cuba, Porto Rico, Philip-
pine and Caroline and Hawaii Islands, the question
presents itself to my mind, How are those fertile coun-
tries to be supplied with suitable stock to cultivate
them? They are coming under the jurisdiction of the
government of the United States. May we not in-
clude Africa, which in a few years may be open as a
market for our mules? Where can they get their
supply from? Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas,
and, perhaps, a few other states. Now, to supply this
great demand we have to make the preliminary ar-
6 BREEDING AND REARING OP
rangements, hence we will have to increase our jack
and jennet stock. We cannot have mules without
jacks, neither can we have jacks without jennets. So,
they are the basis or foundation for mules. The
United States has scarcely enough mules to supply her
own demands. The English government has within
recent date, shipped from New Orleans and other
places thousands of mules to Africa for army pur-
poses, and is still shipping them.
The demand is growing every year in the United
States for mules, as the railroads are being developed
in all parts of our country, opening the great forests
and the lumber trade as well as the various minerals,
as gold, silver, iron, lead, coal and phosphate; and
oil is being found in various parts of our country.
As the great internal resources are developed so will
the demand for stock be increased. It may be stated
as a fixed fact that as long as sugar, cotton and rice
will grow in the South, there will be a demand for
mules. No animal can supersede the mule for the
tropical climate.
SECTION SECOND.
Having been appointed by the Executive Committee
of the "Jack Stock Stud Book of America," I have
given a brief history of the early breeders of jacks
and jennets in the United States as far as could be
ascertained, and have also given a history of all the
late importations as far as could be learned, from one
of the largest importers, who has made eight trips to
Europe and has had more experience than any im-
porter of jacks and jennets in America. I allude to
Mr. Wm. H. Goodpasture, who was also Secretary
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 7
of the ''American Jack Stock Stud Book Associa-
tion." He and his lamented father, Judge Good-
pasture, together made more and larger importations
than any other parties with whom I am acquainted.
Their eight importations have been worth millions
of dollars to the United States. Mr. Wm. H. Good-
pasture has written a very accurate description of
the different breeds of jacks that are used in Spain,
Italy and France, and the different islands of the
Mediterranean Sea, particularly Malta and Majorca.
His description of each species is so full and accurate,
that it would be superfluous for me to repeat, or try
to improve on them. I have had through the courtesy
of both the original secretary, Mr. Wm. H. Good-
pasture, and the present secretary, Mr. J. L. Jones,
Jr., of Columbia, Tenn., the privilege of using such
articles in the "American Jack Stock Stud Book" as
would be of special interest in furthering the cause
and development of the jack breeders of the United
States. We find but Httle literature on the subject of
breeding and rearing jacks and jennets in our country.
Hence, we think some one who has had varied experi-
ence in breeding and rearing this stock in the United
States should give additional information.
I was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, in
1816, and when about four years of age I remember
that my father, the late Captain James Knight, owned a
Diomeed stallion and a jack. He placed me on the
jack's back and led him into a wheat field to graze
him. This was about the year 1820. Early in the
twenties my father moved to Middle Tennessee and
settled in the Southern part of Rutherford County,
where I was reared.
8 BREEDING AND REARING OF
He was born in Sussex County, Virginia, about
the year 1793. My grandfather, Captain Doak, was
an officer in the Revolutionary War. When the war
ended the government of the United States did not
have money to pay the officers for their services and
many were paid in scrip. My grandfather and a cousin
of his, named Doak Hanna, brought their scrips to
Rutherford County, in Middle Tennessee, and each
one of them entered a thousand acres of land in the
beautiful valley lying between Marshall's and Lee's
knobs. The Murfreesboro and Shelbyville pike runs
through this valley eight miles south of Murfreesboro.
My mother was a daughter of Captain James Doak, and
inherited a part of the one thousand acre tract of land.
I remember the first sucking mule I ever saw was
foaled on my father's farm and he sold it at weaning
and it brought a better price than horse colts did at
the same age. This made a lasting impression on my
mind, and I have often observed since that those who
would buy young mules at weaning or at an early
age and grow them properly and have a good lot to
sell every year were generally prosperous stock farm-
ers and would, from time to time, be able to buy their
neighbor's land and perhaps sow it down in grass
and make the fences mule proof; and in the course of
a short time the growth of their mules and enhance-
ment in value would make the owner a handsome
capital.
Some time in the thirties I remember my father
visited General Andrew Jackson (Old Hickory) who
was noted for his love of fine horses and had won a
wagon load of negroes from ex-Governor Cannon at
Clover Bottom race track. The General, in speaking
JACKS, JENNETS AND MUI.ES 9
to my father in regard to raising mules, said to him,
the finer the mare the finer the mule. The same will
also apply to the jack.
Some time in the thirties my father went to Bruns-
wick County, Virginia, and purchased a very fine black
jack with white nose and belly. He was said to have
been the third descendant of the Royal Gift to Gen.
George Washington after the Revolutionary War. I
have made reference to the Royal Gift in my essay on
''Reminiscences," written in the American Jack Stock
Stud Book, giving a history of the early breeders of
jacks and jennets as well as all of the importations
made in the United States except the last, which was
made by my son, James M. Knight (who lives at
Murfreesboro, Tenn., and made the last importation
in 1893). I have requested him and my son, William
E. Knight, who resides at Nashville, Tenn., and who
has made three trips to Europe to purchase jacks and
jennets, to write a history of their travels and pur-
chases for this book. They are both engaged in
handling that stock at their respective homes, Mur-
freesboro and Nashville. Their sale stables are easy
of access at their places of abode. They both made
a trip to Europe with Mr. Roth, who was a native
of Hungary, and who could speak a number of lan-
guages. When he was with either of them no inter-
preter was needed. I heard J. M. Knight say he
never knew Mr. Roth to meet a man on land or sea
with whom he could not converse. I think he told
me he had crossed the Atlantic Ocean about thirty-
five times and had traveled over various parts of
Europe. It has been the custom of most of the Ameri-
cans that have gone to Spain, France or Italy to pur-
lO BREEDING AND REARING OF
chase jacks and jennets to get an interpreter who
could speak Spanish, French or Italian, and they also
had to have a man that was acquainted with the coun-
try where the stock could be found ; besides, it was
necessary to procure a vehicle and team to hunt up
this stock. Hence, you see what an amount of money
it requires for a stock dealer to visit those countries
and have so much expense attached to his finding and
purchasing stock, paying hotel bills and traveling.
After the stock has been found and purchased, per-
haps it is scattered over a great extent of territory,
and has to be concentrated and gotten to a shipping
point. And even then, the interpreter must be kept
until the stock is put on board of ship. Now, after
the stock is put on board of ship, they require vigilant
attention. Sometimes when placed in the hull, where
they cannot get sufficient pure air, they are liable to
suffer and die for the want of it ; or if they are placed
on upper deck, and the sea is rough and tempestuous,
as is the case in a severe storm, and the ship nearly
covered with the raging waves, the stock, in that case,
is in great danger of being washed overboard; but
when the sea is calm, the deck passage is more favor-
able.
About the year of 1853 or 1854 I owned a very
superior jack called Monarch. He was a gray, about
fifteen hands high, horse measure ; was sired by my
jennet jack Maringo Mammoth. His dam was by
Hon. Henry Clay's imported Don Callous, of Ken-
tucky. He proved to be a superior breeder for both
mares and jennets. I was able to stand him at $10
for mares and $20 for jennets. He was considered
then the best and most valuable jack in Rutherford
JACKS, JENNETS AND MUI.ES 11
County, Tennessee. I was doing- a large business with
"him when the Civil War commenced in 1861, and con-
tinued to do business with him until the fall of 1862,
when the Federal and Confederate armies were fight-
ing at Richmond and Perryville, Ky. I had a public
stock sale and sold some jacks, horses, mule colts, hogs
and other stock, believing that either army was liable
to take my stock if they needed them. I lived in the
southern part of Rutherford County, Middle Ten-
nessee, where both armies concentrated at Murfrees-
boro and where was fought one of the heavy battles
of the war (Stone's River or the battle of Murfrees-
boro). This jack. Monarch, was sold at my sale
at $900. I was offered by Esq. Lane, of Walker
County, Georgia, $1,000 in gold for this jack a few
■days before he was two years old. I had bought a
farm and had commenced preparing for stock farming ;
was satisfied that I could make a good jack pay me
better to keep him and buy up his mule colts at wean-
ing or yearlings. I bought good bone fillies and bred
them to my jack. When they got with foal they would
grow and spread and enhance in value when I could
sell them for good profits or swap them for good
young mules and sell the mules. So you perceive I
was making the jack's services pay me as well as en-
hancing the value of my young brood mares by getting
them with foal, and by buying the young mules he
would produce in the neighborhood. All of which
were fruitful sources of revenue. Besides I was im-
proving my soil and enhancing the value of my farm.
I have long since learned that it is the growth and
enhancement of a man's property that makes him his
capital. How rarely we see a man who works for
12 BREEDING AND REARING OF
Standing wages and doing hard, muscular labor that
ever makes more than a scant living. But for a man
to prosper, he must generally have something growing,,
something enhancing in value, or increasing in num-
bers, when he is asleep or resting. His muscle alone
will not do to depend on. It will fail him in a few
years. If he does not prepare something for his old
and declining years he is apt to be brought to want
or thrown on the cold charities of the world.
I do not know of a better plan for a young man.
who expects to make stock farming his occupation
than to get him a farm with good running water that
lasts the year round. Then put his land in such
grasses that suit his soil. He should study his soil
and be sure that his grasses are well adapted to the
land he is using it on. For instance : Blue grass and
clover require a great deal of lime in the soil for them
to flourish. They will not do well in sandy land, but
orchard grass and herd's grass will grow on sandy
soil. Herd's grass does very well on low or damp soil.
A man to stock farm properly should be a good judge
of land as well as a good judge of stock. If he is not,
he should advise with some one who has had experi-
ence on the subject. Most men of experience will
take pleasure in advising with a young man wanting
information. The soil is a compound like a man's
blood, has a variety of ingredients and can be changed
or modified as circumstances may require, and it be-
hooves the farmer to study the nature both of his
stock and soil. It should be remembered that a stock
farmer has an opportunity of improving his lands
while he is growing his stock; what they eat is put
back on the soil. So, it seems that God intended that
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES I3
the animal kingdom and the vegetable kingdom should
go together.
SECTION THIRD.
Some years before the Civil War I visited the blue
grass regions of Kentucky and found the farmers had
nearly all of their lands down in grass. They kept,
perhaps, two fields — one for corn and another for
wheat — and a garden; the balance all in blue grass.
I thought they, as a people, had more time for social
enjoyment than any farmers I had ever seen. When
we would call at a man's house to look at stock, after
showing his own he would propose taking us to see
his neighbors'. We found the Kentuckians very hos-
pitable and generous. They did not appear to be en-
vious or jealous of each other like some people en-
gaged in the same business. If they had animals that
had blemishes that were not perceptible they would
point them out to you. A stock breeder cannot afford
to sell blemished stock without making it known ; he
will be more damaged by it than the purchaser.
Our lands during the days of slavery had been cul-
tivated in cotton, until the soil was very much ex-
hausted, and was needing a change to small grain
and grass, with more and better stock, in order to re-
suscitate them and make them more remunerative.
During one of my visits to Kentucky with my
brother, the late Gen. J. M. Knight, for the purpose
of attending the fairs and looking at the different kinds
of stock, with a view of making purchases for the
benefit of our own section of country, Middle Ten-
nessee (Murfreesboro was our home at that time),
after visiting the best blue grass regions of Ken-
tucky, and seeing the most improved stock of that
14 BREEDING AND REARING OF
state, we were more impressed with the importance
of changing our mode of farming in our own state,
especially in Middle Tennessee. So after consulting
quite a number of the most enterprising farmers, we
agreed that the best plan to bring about a change in
our mode of farming would be to get up an agri-
cultural fair in our own county (Rutherford). The
day was appointed to have a mass meeting and or-
ganize for the purpose of establishing a permanent
county fair.
The citizens of my old county did me the honor of
electing me president by acclamation. All the other
officers were elected. The secretary, Capt. Darragh,
who was originally from Kentucky, and I were ap-
pointed by the Board of Directors to visit the north-
ern part of Tennessee and Kentucky and select the
most approved, modern models for an amphitheater
and pagoda. In our travels we procured a gentleman
who had built five or six amphitheaters in his own state
(Kentucky), who came over and built ours, which is
now standing on the IMurfreesboro and Shelbyville
turnpike about one and one-half miles from the public
square of Murfreesboro, and one hundred and fifty
yards from the station on the Nashville and Chatta-
nooga Railroad. We have had a number of successful
fairs at this place, and believe it has been the means
of encouraging the farmers of our county and the
adjoining ones to improve their stock of different
kinds, as well as improving their lands. Thus the
great object of our fairs is to improve our domestic
animals, as well as the products of the field and
garden ; also the handiwork of the ladies in the fine
arts and their culinary department, as well as the
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 15
improvement in agricultural implements, etc. As the
citizens of my county did me the honor of placing me
at the head of the executive department of the Agri-
cultural Association, I felt I was under obligations to
them to exert myself to the utmost of my ability in
doing all I could to introduce such stock as would
promote the best interests of the association. I made
it a point to visit Kentucky and attend the most popu-
lar fairs of that state and make myself familiar with
their best modes of conducting their fairs. I also
visited some of the largest annual stock sales, such
as R. A. Alexander's, Suddith's, Grooms', and Van-
meter's. I also examined the renowned shorthorn
herd of Mr. Abram Reneck. I succeeded in purchas-
ing some fine stock that was quite an accession to my
county. More than one generation has passed since
this stock was introduced, but its effects can be seen
now.
These agricultural fairs when properly conducted
are calculated to improve the country in many re-
spects. We have thought that there was too much
partiality shown the speed rings. Instead of giving
them such large premiums we should give them less,
and increase the premiums to those who are engaged
in raising the best specimens of corn, wheat, oats, rye,
barley, cotton and such products of the farm as are
of the greatest interest to the general farmer. We are
in favor of giving liberal premiums to the animal king-
dom, such as horses, mules, jacks and jennets, swine,
sheep, cattle and fowls. The ladies' department in
the floral hall should, too, receive proper encourage-
ment. Those who generally take the premiums in the
speed rings are not usually farmers, but make a
l6 BREEDING AND REARING OF
Specialty of training for speed alone, and should go to
organized race courses.
SECTION FOURTH.
The different breeds of jacks have been given by my*
friend, W. H. Goodpasture, with a good deal of care.
He is the most competent gentleman with whom I am
acquainted to perform that task, having seen and
handled nearly all classes of that stock.
Now it will be my purpose to give instruction as
to the proper care of jacks and jennets while they
are engaged in business. I am satisfied that the ma-
jority of grooms allow their jacks and stallions to
do too much business in a day. My rule is to limit
them to two services a day, that is, in twenty-four
hours, and the time should be properly divided, one
service in the morning and the other, in the evening.
I never allow my stock to do business on the Sabbath
day.
A great deal of an animal's service is wasted by
allowing a jack or stallion to serve a mare or jennet
when not in proper season or heat ; and when they are
served they should not be allowed to remain about
the stable, but carried away where they will not see
or hear a jack bray. I would prefer breeding to an
animal that was limited in his service. I think if one
of those peddling stud horse men that travels on a
circuit and allows his horse or jack to serve a number
of times in a day, going from one stand to another,
should succeed in foaling, the progeny will be so weak
and feeble that they will have to be held up to let
them suck. I do not think colts produced under such
circumstances ever make strong, serviceable animals.
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 1 7
I have observed where boars or rams that have been
allowed to run at large, and are overworked that a
boar will produce a number of small and runty pigs,
and rams will produce the same kind of lambs. Many
of them will die where they are lambed. Hence, I
think male animals should be properly limited in their
services.
I remember a conversation with Major Bacon, of
South Carolina, while attending state fairs at Macon,
Ga., in 1873, and at Atlanta in 1874, at which places
he won the two mile races with the celebrated race
horse Granger, which was also known as Wade Hamp-
ton. (I will state I also took premiums with my jacks
and jennets, Berkshire hogs and Devon bull at Macon,
Ga., in 1873 ; and at Atlanta in 1874 with my jacks and
jennets, Berkshire hogs and Durham bull.) Major
Bacon was a very successful sportsman. He remarked
to me that the reason why the famous race horses did
not produce more racers like themselves was that they
were allowed to serve too many mares during the
season, and stated he did not want his retired horses
he had to farm out to serve more than twenty-five
mares in one season to produce race horses. Some
horses are allowed to go to over one hundred mares
in one season. I think the same rule or principle will
apply to all male animals.
I am writing this book in my eighty-sixth year of
age, and for the benefit of the young and inexperi-
enced stock farmers and breeders, and I am sure they
will excuse my plain, practical, unpretending style.
My object is to give my experience and observation.
I am aware that I am making many digressions from
my main subject, but my apology is to illustrate some
l8 BREEDING AND REARING OP
practical truth that I hope may be of interest to my
young readers.
I remember a very noted trotting stallion that stood
at Nashville, Tenn., at $ioo per mare. He did a very
large business and I think he served the best class of
trotting mares, and if he ever produced over a very
few extra winners I never knew them. Blackwood
ranked among the first-class trotting stallions of his
day. I think he was over-taxed with business.
I think it best to have a stallion to tease for a jack
that is used for mares. Some mares are afraid of
jacks and will not show sign of being in heat. Hence
it is best to have a stallion as a teaser. Now from
experience and observation I think that after a mare
has been bred she ought not to be taken back until
the tenth day to try her. Should she appear to be
ill do not have her teased much, but after she has
refused once, she may be coaxed more the second or
third time. While I am writing more for the interest
of the breeders of jacks and jennets, I wish to state
just here that I have found that plowing mares in
rocky or rooty ground while breeding is injurious.
Would advise, that if the mares are to be plowed, let
them be used in old land, clear of roots and rocks,
and use mules or geldings in their stead until you
have them safely in foal. Mares when breeding and
having to be worked in rough, rooty or rocky ground,
cast off a great deal when jerked by the hitching of
the plow, etc., and have known men fail to get colts
under such circumstances. Neither should they be
allowed to run on white or red clover in bloom or
rye at this time. Another important point I wish to
call the attention to is, after a mare or jennet foals,
JACKS, JENNBTS AND MULKS IQ
the mares are apt to come in heat about the seventh
or eighth day ; should you fail to breed them then, and
they go out of heat, they sometimes do not come in
while nursing or suckling their colt. Jennets usually
come in heat later, about the twelfth or fourteenth
day, and if you fail to breed them then you may not
have an opportunity of breeding while she is nursing
her colt. So you see how important it is to keep a
record of the breeding of your mares and jennets.
After the colts are weaned and the mare or jennet
becomes entirely dry, if they are well cared for and
put in a thriving condition they are apt to come in
heat in a few days. Hence how important it is to
breed at the right time and not lose several months of
the proper breeding season.
You will remember that a mare goes eleven months,
and if she is a very old mare and has had a number
of colts, will often go over her regular time. I have
known a jennet to exceed their twelve months, espe-
cially if it is advanced in age and has brought a num-
ber of colts. I want to call the attention of owners
of jennets to the great importance of keeping a close
watch over them at the time they are due to foal.
They should be kept away from other stock, and if
the weather is unfavorable, they ought to be placed in
a foaling stable of good size, say from twelve by
fifteen feet, and sawdust or short straw for the jennet
to lie on. If the straw should be long the colt may
get tangled in it.
When the time is due for the jennet to foal she
should be noticed, and if at night and she is found
restless and showing signs of labor, the groom should
go to the stable with a lantern and stay with the jennet
20 BREEDING AND REARING OF
until her labor is over and the colt is able to get up
and suck. Then the groom may retire. Sometimes
jennets have inflamed udders and are sore and tender.
When that is the case they will not allow the colt to
suck, but kick and bite the colt, and it will starve if
not looked after properly. When this is the case the
jennet will have to be milked carefully and the udder
bathed in warm salt water to keep the bag from rising.
I have known jennets to bite off the tails of their colts.
I think when the jennet has an undue amount of
milk in her bag, and it threatens to rise, she should
be milked some before she foals. Some jennets give
great quantities of milk. It is a good plan not to
give much stimulating food before she is due to foal,
and not have her too fat. When the colt is born, it
sometimes has the membrane over its head and nos-
trils, and if it is not torn and removed, it will smother
the colt. How important it is then that a competent
groom should be present and remove the trouble.
Then again there may be a malformation or a wrong
presentation of the colt; the feet may be presented
instead of the head. In this instance the feet must
be reduced, that is pushed back, and the head brought
forward. If you have a fine and valuable jennet, and
you have such complications, would advise you to have
a veterinary surgeon called in. It is now and then
that the navel cord is tough and does not give way
or break. If it is pulsating after the colt is born, it
should be tied with a silk or flax thread, and then
cut three or four inches from the navel. Jack colts are
liable to have trouble with the navel, same as a child
— a disease called trismus, a species of lockjaw, which
I never saw in a child (and practiced medicine from
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 21
thirty-five to forty years), but have seen it in a jack
colt, and never knew one to recover. The colt will
throw its ears on his neck and appear to have little
or no use of himself, and will linger from three to
seven days and die. My opinion is the navel cord has
been the principal cause of the trouble; i. e., the pull-
ing or irritating of the nerves connected with the
navel.
The jack stock is very tender when young, and
should have vigilant attention. I know of no stock
that pays a man better than the first-class stock of
this character. I have known of some jennets that
have brought their owners as high as ten thousand
dollars worth of stock.
I trust I will be pardoned for another digression.
I want to relate a circumstance that occurred in Ken-
tucky to a gentleman by the name of Knox, who
lived in Boyle County, near Danville, Ky. His
father gave him fifty acres of land to start him in
business; he commenced raising corn and hogs, and
succeeded in that business very well, for that kind
of occupation. He said some years he had cholera
among his hogs and they would die. Then when they
had drouth, the corn crop failed, so then he had hogs
and no corn, and when the cholera killed his hogs, he
had corn and no hogs. He became discouraged. He
had a neighbor who had two jennets over medium
size and quality; he bred them to the best jennet jacks
in the country, and was lucky to get jack colts. They
were well nursed. The owner had two small blue
grass lots where he kept his jennets and colts and
would change them from one to the other as was neces-
sary. When the jack colts became able to consume
22 BREEDING AND REARING OF
all of their dams' milk, he would give them warm
milk from a cow, and at weaning time they were of
fine size, looking well. He succeeded in selling them
for $500, each, making $1,000 a year. Major Knox
saw what his old neighbor was doing, and went to
consult his father, and he told his son that he was
doing very well, and he thought it was well enough to
let well enough alone. But Major Knox said that
the old man who owned the jennets was doing nothing
but smoke his pipe and feed the jennets and caress
the colts, while he (Knox) and a negro man he had
hired to help him make corn and raise hogs, were
beaten so badly in making money that he would act
contrary to his father's advice. So he bought two
jennets that he thought a little superior to his neigh-
bor's. He also bred them to the best jennet jack he
could find. The Major was succeeding finely when
the Civil War came on in 1861. He had succeeded in
selling $10,000 worth of jack and jennet stock in one
year, and had increased his farm from fifty to one
hundred and fifty acres, and his land then worth $150
per acre. He made the jack and jennet stock a
specialty, taking premiums wherever he showed his
stock. Never overstocking himself, he did not have
more stock than he could keep in first-class order.
So when a customer would call to see his stock he
could show to the best advantage. I remember visit-
ing his farm on one occasion when the Major was
absent, but his interest was well represented by his
most excellent wife. She had the groom to lead the
stock up to the yard and had them shown to the best
advantage. She was familiar with the merits of the
stock and nothing was lost by the owner's being
absent.
JACKS, JKNNETS AND MULES 23
I think it wisdom for a man not to keep more stock
than he can keep well. Stock farmers often lose by
having more animals than they can do justice to. He
may have fine, well-bred animals, but if he has neg-
lected them and a customer calls to see them an un-
favorable impression is made on his mind and he goes
home without making a purchase. Now you see the
fault is in the owner and not in the stock.
If my memory serves me correctly, I was shown
one of Major Knox's premium jennets that he rated
at $2,000. The year that he sold $10,000 worth of
jacks and jennets, one of the animals was a three-year-
old jack he called Black Mammoth that my old friend,
Robert Rains, of Nashville, Tenn., bought especially
for a jennet jack. He was a very superior animal and
made his mark in Middle Tennessee. Black Mam-
moth was a half-brother to my jennet jack, Maringo
Mammoth. I think Mr. Rains stood his jack at $40
per jennet. That was what I stood my jack at. I am
sure I could get competent stockmen who would testify
to the best of their belief that Maringo Mammoth and
his progeny have been worth to Tennessee $100,000.
It is hard to estimate the value of a No. i jennet jack
that is producing jacks selling from $1,000 to $3,000,
and his jennets $500, frequently, and upwards. One
of my neighbors owned a jennet not exceeding four-
teen hands high that brought him $10,000 worth of
jacks and jennets. I believe the jennet is still living.
She was the property of the late H. C. Ezell, of
Davidson County, Tennessee (Old Ann is the name).
When I first knew Mr. H. C. Ezell, which was fifteen
or sixteen years ago, he was engaged in farming on a
small scale. He farmed jacks on the shares from
24 BREEDING AND REARING OF
Mr. Robert Rains, to stand for mares. Soon after he
purchased the jennet just alluded to and bred her to
a jack that he afterwards owned, called Starlight, Sr.
It was from this stock that he had such wonderful suc-
cess. The Starlights became a very popular breed
of jacks, and justly so. At the deceased sale of Mr.
H. C. Ezell there were a large number of jacks and
jennets sold which brought to the estate many thou-
sands of dollars — all produced through the jack stock
with his great energy, his vigilance and his good man-
agement. I think any young man can meet with the
same success with the same amount of energy and
good judgment. This great success was accomplished
on a small farm. We think one of the secrets of his
success was to keep the best of his stock at home
where his customers could see them, and he would buy
up his jacks' best colts and was able to sell them for
a prospective value. Mr. Ezell kept a few of his best
jacks and jennets and would show them at the stock
fairs and was very successful in his exhibition.
We think it a good rule where a stock breeder is
able, to keep a number of good animals at his stable
so that his customers can be accommodated in breed-
ing their mares and jennets at one stand. Where there
is only one jack and one stallion, perhaps they may
be crowded and they will turn off their customers for
two or three days, and by that time perhaps the mare
or jennet may have gone out of heat. Should they be
nursing a colt they may not come in heat again while
they are nursing, and the owner of the mare or jennet
may lose the best of the breeding season. One groom
can care for several jacks and a stallion. The French
keep several animals at one stand, so they can always
supply the demands of their patrons.
JACKS, JKNNKTS AND MUIvES 25
SECTION FIFTH.
When a jennet has nursed her colt six months, and
is in foal, the colt ought to be weaned. If a jennet is
allowed to suckle her colt unduly long and she is in
foal, the one she is carrying is liable to be made a
dwarf. I have known this to be done. Where a man
has a very promising jack colt that is growing fast,
and he has every reason to believe he will make a fine
show animal, and he wants to take him to the fairs,
it is a great inducement to have the colt suck until the
fairs are over, hoping to take premiums with him. I
want the young reader to remember when this is done
he is damaging the fetus the jennet is carrying. When
we wish to prepare a colt for the fair, and want to
give it every advantage, it is best not to breed the
jennet that year, and let the jack colt nurse until he
is a year old or over. When a jack colt is allowed
to run with a herd until he is a year old and has be-
come well developed he is liable to become spoiled by
being with jennets coming in heat, and may become
so much enamored with them that he will have a
strong partiality for his own species over mares. I
have heard of jack colts running with their dams until
they would get them with foal. This inbreeding of
stock will bring about malformation and impair the
constitution.
I cannot impress too strongly on young stock breed-
ers the great importance of vigilant care in rearing
young jacks. They must be kept where they cannot
see or smell jennets until they are well broken or
trained to serve mares properly. I allude to mule
jacks. I once owned a jack that was partial to mares,
and would not serve jennets without a mare was
26 BREEDING AND REARING OP
brought before him, and let him get ready to serve
a mare before he would serve a jennet. I well remem-
ber one of our imported Catalonia three-year-old jacks
that I had broken to serve mares and by accident a
jennet that was in heat broke out of her lot and came
to the lot where this jack (Tennessee Giant, for that
was his name) was. She stood by the gate with open
slats where the jack could smell her all night. The
jack did not get to serve her, but he became so much
enamored with her that it was some time before we
could get him to serve mares again. He was sixteen
hands high, black and with white points. He was
strictly a jennet jack. We rated him at $2,000. It
has been our custom to first train our jennet jacks to
serve mares before they are broken to serve jennets.
Some times we want our jennet jack to serve a few
mares when he is not engaged with jennets. So we
think it best to break them to serve both mares and
jennets, even where you expect to make jennets almost
a specialty.
As long as I have been in the jack and jennet busi-
ness I have known but few breeders who have not
reared some jacks that were spoiled in their raising by
allowing them to associate with their own species too
long when colts. When this is the case the value of
the jack is reduced to about one-half of a mule jack.
So you will readily see how important it is for a
breeder to keep his jack colts away from jennets or
even mules, and let them be put with fillies about their
own age and continue with them until the jack colt
becomes too rough for the filly colt. When the jack
colt is associated with a filly he becomes attached to
her and when he becomes about twenty or twenty-
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 2^
four months old, and is well matured for that age,
he might be permitted to serve a mare. In breaking
the jack colt you should be very careful and not allow
him to be kicked or bitten, or go about a mare that is
ill and will switch her tail and back her ears. Such
action on the part of the mare is calculated to in-
timidate a young jack, but on the other hand it is best
to have a low mare that the jack will not have to
strain himself in getting up on, and it is best
to have her served by another jack or stallion so
that she will be in good heat and make no resistance.
I used to break my young jacks by using an Indian
pony mare.
I am not writing this book for the Ladies' Home
Journal, nor for the general public, but for the young
jack and jennet breeders that want information on
that subject. Having known so many fine jacks
spoiled by carelessness or for the want of experience
or information is my apology for writing on the sub-
ject with so much plainness and precision.
I have often been consulted in regard to young
jacks springing in their fore legs. While the colt is
very young the animal matter predominates over the
bony or calcareous matter. Hence, they are liable to
spring or give way, especially when the colt com-
mences to graze and the grass is short. He is re-
quired to put too much weight on one of his fore legs
to enable him to reach the grass, hence there is a
giving way in the joints. It is usually the knee that
springs in, or out, but some time the ankle gives way
or I have known the arm joint to fail. Then again
where the jack colt has a very low dam, and he is
tall and has to stoop to suck, compelling him to put
28 BREEDING AND REARING OF
undue weight on one of his limbs, springing is likely
to result.
Now when the short grazing is the cause of the
trouble the colt can be put in the stable and fed with
suitable food. Green food can be cut and carried to
him so he will not have to expose the limbs by grazing.
Should the springing be caused by the dam being so
low, it may be obviated by the colt being put in a
stable and fed on cow's milk, or milk from his dam;
some jennets give large quantities of milk. I am
aware that this course of treatment would give the
owner much trouble and worry. But after the colt
is from one to two years old, he is not so liable to
spring. When the bony matter predominates over the
animal matter the trouble subsides. A fine, well-bred
jack colt, that promises to make an extra good animal,
will pay his owner to give him some attention when
young. From my long experience in handling this
stock, I do not know of any animal that is more
remunerative than the growth of a fine jack colt.
From what has been written as regards rearing
jacks and jennets, you will perceive how careful we
should be in the selection of our stock to commence
rearing a herd. In selecting a jennet jack we should
bear in mind that as a general rule in breeding
stock like begets like ; hence we should select a model
jack as near as possible in every respect — form, size,
color, constitution and a good general make-up. In
judging of the constitution the animal should have a
well developed chest, plenty of room for the heart and
lungs to play. Bear in mind that they are the principal
vital organs in all domestic animals. Length is an
essential point in the make-up of a jennet jack. I re-
JACKS, JENNKTS AND MUI.KS 29
gard it of more importance than height, yet the height
has its bearing in the selling of a jack as well as a
mule. Mules are generally classified by their height,
and more importance is attached to it than I think
should be. A jennet jack ought to have a long, thin,
bony head, with long, well-tapered ears, sitting grace-
fully on his head; large, flat, clean limbs, big foot,
deeply cupped. As to color, it should be a good black
with distinct white points. The pelvis, or breadth of
hips, is very essential, either in jack or jennet. I have
known jennets so deficient or narrow in the pelvis that
they had great difficulty in giving birth to their off-
spring.
30 BREEDING AND REARING OF
TREATMENT OF BREEDING JACKS.
SECTION SIXTH.
A breeding jack to keep him healthy and vigorous,
should not be confined unduly to his stable. He should
run out in his lot twelve hours in twenty-four if the
weather is favorable. Feed him principally on shelled
oats and wheat bran — sheaf oats cut fine and mixed
wheat bran and occasionally shorts ; put enough water
to make the bran stick to the oats, add a little salt to
give the food a good relish. The bran acts as a
laxative. Jacks are inclined to be costive. When this
is the trouble give a mash and increase his green food.
Green wheat and barley are good grazing for jacks.
Never give more than two to four ears of corn at a
feed. Should you notice the jack inclined to rub his
body or bite his limbs you had better stop giving him
corn. Jacks are subject to sores in hot weather, espe-
cially if they are kept in the stable too much, and fed
on corn unduly. I have known them ruined by letting
them have chronic sores, which caused their death.
You will please bear this in mind, not to keep your
jacks too much confined, or to feed unduly on corn.
I do not remember ever seeing jennets have sores
that were allowed to run in the open air and graze.
I am sure that jacks would live much longer and be
more prolific if they were allowed more freedom in
the open air and allowed to follow their instincts.
They are great animals to wallow. I think it a good
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 3I
rule to have a suitable place In his lot dug up, and if
there are clods, have them mashed and let him have
a soft place to wallow. Where an animal is accus-
tomed to roll or wallow every day the place becomes
very hard, and if it is not dug up occasionally it may
bruise his withers and produce fistula.
In building a jack stable it should be large and
roomy so that he can exercise some in bad weather.
There should be no cracks in the stable that an animal
can get his feet through. Some log stables have cracks
large enough to let an animal get his foot in them and
break his leg. Have known such instances. In build-
ing a stable let the door be roomy and on the south
side.
The lot should be at least one acre and sowed down
in blue grass, herd's grass, orchard grass and timothy,
provided the soil is suitable for such grasses. By hav-
ing different kinds of grass it gives the animal a
variety of grazing and some one of them will afford
good grazing all seasons of the year. Now I would
suggest that you, if convenient, have a small lot of a
quarter of an acre and let the jack exercise in it and
roll, or wallow, then he can be let in his grazing lot
and when he has filled himself put him in his exer-
cising pound. By so doing you can economize in
saving your grass. Stock do not like to eat grass
where it has been walked over by other stock. It is
important to give plenty of good, sweet timothy or
herd's grass, well-cured fodder or such roughness as
the animal is fond of.
The stable should be kept dry.
If the jack is kept shod during the breeding season,
Ills shoes should be taken off to let his hoofs toughen,
32 BREEDING AND REARING OF
When the flies are very bad and the jack stamps his
feet he is liable to break them and make himself lame.
When this is the case the animals had better be shod
until the flies quit fretting the stock. Some times
you may use train oil or some remedy that will keep
the flies away from the stock by applying occasionally
while they are so annoying. A dark stable will usually
keep them away in the day and the stock can run out
at night when there are no flies to worry them.
SECTION SEVENTH.
As I am writing this book for the interest of my
young countrymen and wishing to give them my ex-
perience, I have concluded to give them a brief history
of one of my trips after the Civil War of i86i to 1865,
inclusive. Previous to the war I was extensively en-
gaged in breeding stock, especially the jack and jennet.
I had procured a first-class jennet jack, Maringo
Mammoth, at the cost of $2,160, and used him ex-
clusively as a jennet jack at $40 per jennet.
I had at that time about seventy-five jacks and jen-
nets and was compelled to farm many of them out
to stockmen on the shares. I tried to select good,
steady, sober, upright men, that had farms of their
own and men that would take care of them, those who
had grass and were fond of this class of stock. I had
selected men from my own county (Rutherford), Bed-
ford, Cannon, Coffee, Wilson, and Marshall counties.
They had given me their obligations to take special
good care of my jennets and be at all expense in breed-
ing and rearing of said stock for a period of some
three years, and some five years. They also agreed
and bound themselves to consult me in the breeding
JACKS, JENNETS AND MUI.ES 33
of the jennets; they were not to breed to jacks that
stood for mares, but were to breed to the best jacks
that were standing for jennets alone. My object was
to improve my stock, and make it better all the time.
I was sure that all of the jennets I owned or had
farmed out, if bred to such jacks as Maringo Mam-
moth, and should bring jack colts, and were properly
cared for, could be readily sold for remunerative
prices, say from $500 to $1,000 or more at maturity.
At the expiration of the time for which the stock was
farmed out, the original jennets were to be returned
to me in as good condition as when they were taken
away. Of some of the premium jennets, I was to
have two-thirds of the produce, and of the others one-
half.
But when the four years' war ended, many of the
farms in my section (Middle Tennessee) were torn to
pieces, both armies having been about there for a
number of months, and finally met at our city, Mur-
freesboro, and fought one of the heavy battles of the
war, called the Battle of Stone's River, or Battle of
Murfreesboro. Many of the parties came to me and
said that they were not able to carry out the contract
that they had made with me before the war; that
they were left in destitute circumstances. They could
scarcely get bread for their children. They stated
that the mares were nearly all taken out of the coun-
try by the soldiers, and if they had jacks they would
be of no value to them then. So they insisted posi-
tively that I must take the stock and release them of
any further obligation and give up the breeding bills
and that I should have all the proceeds up to that
date. I told my patrons it was a liberal proposition
34 BREEDING AND REARING OF
on their part, but I stated it was like putting five
wheels to a wagon. I thought I might be able to care
for the stock through the spring, summer and fall
months, by grazing them on my farm of several hun-
dred acres, nearly all well set in grasses adapted to
the different qualities of the soil, but knew I could
not possibly care for them during the winter under
existing circumstances.
This stock could not be disposed of in my country,
owing to the ravages of the war, but must be taken
off where the people had not suffered so much, and
where such stock was needed, and also where there
was money. I was engaged in the practice of medicine
at the time, but gave that up in order to take my sur-
plus stock off and try to dispose of them before winter.
I began making my preliminary arrangements for a
trip : procured a suitable two-horse wagon and a camp-
ing equipage, making arrangements for a camp life.
I procured a very good salesman to aid me in dispos-
ing of my stock in the event I should get sick or
unable to attend to business. I also procured a hand
for every four or five jacks. I had the animals
coupled together with a check stick so as to prevent
them from biting or rearing on each other. I taught
them to stand beside each other a short time before
coupling them together for the road. The jacks soon
learned to walk side by side after a little training.
I had the jacks to travel in front of the wagon and
the jennets behind the wagon, to prevent the jacks
from fretting after the jennets. I had small boxes
made to feed the jacks in, one made a little larger than
the other so as to let them fit in each other that they
could be handled in the wagon without taking up
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 35
much room. We usually got suitable pastures for our
jennets, but the jacks were kept haltered to trees if
we were camping in the woods, or to fences, as the case
required. Our wagon cover was waterproof, which
kept our bed clothing and wearing apparel dry.
We were now ready to start on our campaign.
About the 15th of September, 1865, we were on our
route to southern Illinois. Had some of my kind
neighbors to go with me for a day or two so as to get
my stock accustomed to the road. We started with
fifty head — twenty-five jacks and twenty-five jennets.
We traveled by way of Clarksville, Tenn., and crossed
the Cumberland river above the city a few miles.
There we had some trouble with our jennets. We
could not take all of our jennets at one time, owing
to the size of the ferryboat, which was small and had
no banisters to it. After we got the second load of
jennets in the boat and had left the shore a short dis-
tance the jennets became frightened and commenced
jumping overboard into the river and swam ashore.
I came very near being run over by the stock as they
left the boat. We should have had a better boat for
ferrying loose stock! This stock is afraid of water
and we have trouble frequently in getting them to
cross water on a bridge. Have had to put a rope
around the under jaw and tie it to my horse's tail and
have two strong men to take a plank or pole and put
it behind the jack's rump and have the men to push
while the horse pulled by his tail. This has been done
frequently in getting the stock to cross branches and
creeks where there is no bridge. H you are handling
this stock and have to travel much with them you will
soon become acquainted with some of their peculiar
36 BREEDING AND REARING OF
characteristics. After crossing the Cumberland river
we moved on to the neighborhood of Hopkinsville,
Ky., where we spent the Sabbath.
On Monday morning we made our first sale. We
made it a rule not to travel or trade on the Lord's day.
We sold a very fine four-year-old jack that I had
raised, called Beauregard, to a company of four nice
gentlemen who paid me nine hundred dollars cash.
He was a good jennet jack and was sired by an im-
ported jack called Prince Napoleon, that was imported
by General Edney, of North Carolina, while consul,
during President Polk's administration. The dam of
this jack was a premium jennet for a half interest in
which I gave my brother. General J. M. Knight, $250.
She was sired by my jennet jack Maringo Mammoth.
Beauregard made quite a character as a fine breeder,
for both mares and jennets, around Hopkinsville, Ky.
My next sale was between Hopkinsville and Prince-
ton, Ky. I sold a half-interest in a four-year-old jack,
fifteen hands high, a dapple gray, to Mr. Clardy, who
formerly lived in Bedford County, Tennessee, and
had made quite a reputation for handling good stock,
especially the saddle stallions. He reared the noted
horse. Blue John, that was so famous for producing
that class of stock. This horse was taken by the Fed-
eral soldiers during the Civil War into Indiana and
was subsequently brought back to Tennessee, where
he made his mark. Mr. Clardy gave me $400 for one-
half interest in this jack and was to keep him five years
and be at all expenses for that period, except that I
was to pay one-half of the United States government
tax ($10), and for half of a ten-dollar show bridle.
I also fatmed Mr. Clardy one of my fine jennets,
JACKS, JKNNKTS AND MULES 37
with a sucking jennet colt, which he was to keep and
breed for five years and return the jennets. At the
expiration of that time this sucking colt had a fine
sucking jack colt worth $200. I bought Mr. Clardy's
interest in all the stock and shipped them home to
Middle Tennessee — Murfreesboro.
We crossed the Ohio river at a place called Cave
in the Rock. Here one of the young men came to me
and told me he could not swim and was afraid to cross
the river; that he had a cousin living in the Ken-
tucky purchase and he preferred staying with him
until I returned from Illinois. After crossing the
river I sold one of my young jacks to an aged Irishr
man whose name I have forgotten. There was an
agricultural fair going on near the river and we con-
cluded to stop over and show our stock. We took
some premiums. I remember there was a premium
offered for the best and fastest saddle stallion one
mile and repeat. I owned old Brown Pilott and was
riding and driving my jennets that trip on him. I did
not have any time to prepare him for the race, but he
had been trained and raced before with some success.
I think he was sired by Brown Pilott, of Kentucky.
My horse, Brown Pilott, was the sire of the noted
pacing horse Bone Setter, Brooks and other good ones.
I had a young man with me, a good rider, and had
my horse ridden around the track several times in
a brisk pace so as to make him familiar with it, but
not strain or make him track-sore. So when the day of
the race came there were six entries and there had
been a heavy rain. The track was muddy and there
was a swag in the track for about fifty yards wide, the
water six or eight inches deep, so that the horse had
3S BREEDING AND REARING OF
to pace through. Brown Pilott won the race in good
style in two heats. The riders were so wet and muddy-
it was hard to tell one from the other. Mr. Ephraim
Nesbitt was my jockey and my neighbor, and went
the round trip with me and was a most excellent as-
sistant. I mention this trip and circumstance not to
encourage sporting, but on the contrary would advise
all of my readers to abstain from all manner of evil
and to keep from forming any bad habits. It is much
easier to contract bad habits than it is to abandon
them.
I have great partiality for all kinds of fine domestic
animals, and have raised some animals that have dis-
tinguished themselves on the turf as pacers, viz. :
Tom Hal, the sire of Snow Heels; and he sired the
famous brood mare, Sweepstakes, that was the dam of
Hal Pointer, 2.43^ ; Star Pointer, i.59j^ ; and eight
others that all had good records. She certainly was
the most famous brood mare for producing pacers on
the American continent.
I feel it due to give a brief history of the sire and
grandsire of this famous old brood mare, which lived
to be twenty-nine years old : Snow Heels was her
sire and was bred and reared by me in Rutherford
County, Tennessee, and he was sired by my Tom Hal,
he by Major Kitrell's Tom Hal, and he by Tom Hal,
of Kentucky. My Tom Hal had four thoroughbred
blood crosses on his dam's side, and looked more like
a thoroughbred blood horse than a saddle stallion.
Snow Heels' first dam was sired by Puckett's Glencoe,
and he was sired by imported Glencoe. Puckett's
Glencoe's first dam was the noted four-mile mare,
Frances Terral, by Bertran, he by Sir Archie, and he
JACKS, JENNETS ANt> MtJI.ES 39
by imported Diomeed. So you will perceive that
Snow Heels and Tom Hal's dams had a great deal
of fine, thoroughbred crosses which gave such speed
and endurance to their descendants. Mr. Edmond
Geers stated to me that Hal Pointer was the best
campaign horse that he had ever pulled a line over.
The late Major Campbell Brown in writing me for
the pedigree of Snow Heels stated that his mares
were greatly sought after. Snow Heels' second dam
was sired by Mr. Wm. Thomas' noted stock horse,
Brown Solomon, and his pedigree ran back to the
old Sir Archie and Diomeed crosses. This noted brood
mare was exhibited at Shelbyville, Bedford County,
Tennessee, when a sucking colt in a large lot of colts
and was awarded the first premium. I purchased
her from Dr. Daniel Johnson when a filly at a large
price. He told me that the dam of this filly was the
best saddle mare he ever saw or owned. The doctor
was an old man and had practiced medicine for many
years at Liberty, in Rutherford County. I bred this
mare to my jack, Monarch. She brought me a mare
mule that I sold at weaning for one hundred dollars.
This was the first and last sucking mule colt I ever
saw sold for that price.
Tom Hal and Snow Heels were both fine, com-
manding saddle stallions and very popular. I owned
them when the Civil War was going on and the officers
of both armies wanted them. The Federal army got
Tom Hal three times and we succeeded in getting
him back twice, but the third time he was taken I
never was able to recover him. Was ofifered twelve
hundred dollars for him before the commencement of
the war.
40 BREEDING AND REARING OF
I sold half interest in Snow Heels to my brother,
General J. M. Knight, and he was taken by the Con-
federate soldiers and was carried to Canton, Miss.,
where my brother got him and brought him back to
Marshall County, Tennessee. There is quite a history
connected with those two saddle stallions and their
descendants. Sweepstakes as a breeder of pacing
horses sired by Snow Heels has never been equaled
in America. Her dam, I think, was sired by Mc-
Minn's Traveler, another well bred saddle stallion with
good thoroughbred blood crosses. You will perceive
that the crosses of the thoroughbred blood stock are
essentially necessary to give bottom or stamina to the
pacer, trotter or running horse.
But with all that is so fascinating and alluring
about the fine speed horses in every line I want my
friends to understand that I do not advise them to
get in that line of business. In my younger days I
was associated with race horses and was very fond
of seeing them run. My father was engaged in breed-
ing fine stock and he gave me an interest in a fine
colt that was sired by Thornton's Old Ratler, by Sir
Archer, by imported Diomeed. I rubbed this colt
and imagined that we had in him a world beater.
Jeffrey Beck was our trainer. He was an uncle of
General Bedford Forrest, and esteemed as a trainer of
horses in his day, that is, about 1837. While we
were campaigning with our horses I witnessed so
much gambling with cards and heard so much pro-
fane language, that I had such a disgust for cards
that I did not want to learn anything about them.
Now in my eighty-sixth year of age could not tell the
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 4I
name of each card. So you may know what I think
of them!
I have made quite a digression from my trip to
IlHnois. I think I left off at a fair ground where I
put Brown Pilott in a race. It has been about thirty-
six years since and I have forgotten the name of the
place. We won the race and made some sales and
went to a place called Salem. There I found a farmer
that offered me ten two-year-old mules for a four-
year-old jack I had raised, fifteen hands high, and
was one of the best that I had in my drove when I
started from home with twenty-five head of jacks and
the same number of jennets. I had bred a number
of my jennets to this jack (Harry of the West). I
did not want to dispose of him until I had sold my
jennets, for I wanted those who would buy the jennets
to know what a fine jack they had been bred to. I
made a trade with the farmer at Salem with this
proviso: That if, when I had disposed of all of my
jennets, I did not have an opportunity of selling him
for money, or swapping him for better matured stock,
I would make the trade with the first offer of ten
two-year-old mules.
We then traveled west and located in Bond County,
Illinois, where we pretty well closed out all of our
jennets; had sold and bartered until we were about
ready to start home. We sold to a firm in Mulberry
Grove three thousand dollars' worth of jacks and jen-
nets. We left the grove for Vandalia and stopped
to lay in our supplies to last us home, and while there
saw two gentlemen who wanted our jack, Harry of
the West. They stated they had one hundred and
fifty mules and would give me nine three-year-olds
43 BREEDING AND REARING OF
as good as a three-year-old iron-gray mare mule I had
bartered for, and she should be the sample. She was
fifteen hands high and smooth. Thinking I could sell
nine three-year-olds for more than I could ten two-
year-olds, I agreed to go and see the mules. We had
to travel nine miles obliquely from our main route
home. We took the jack and the sample mule and
spent the night. We had no special trouble in agree-
ing about the selection of the mules. The company
that wanted my jack, wished to exhibit him at the
state fair in Illinois. The party assisted me in getting
the stock to my camp.
We then went the direct route to Hopkinsville, Ky.
Here we sold out our surplus stock to the party who
had bought Beauregard, as we were going to Illinois.
In bartering the jack, Harry of the West, we got
about twelve hundred and fifty dollars for him. I now
desire to refer very kindly to my venerable friend,
the late Rev. Mr. Woolard, of Mulberry Grove, Bond
County, Illinois. He was originally from Maury
County, Tennessee, and had settled in Illinois at an
early date. He rendered me valuable service while
there.
I was nine weeks making this trip, and bartered
and sold together about ten thousand dollars' worth of
jacks and jennets that I could not have sold at home
for one thousand dollars cash, owing to the ravages
of war. I had left on my farm quite a number of
jacks and jennets for which there was no demand
in my section of country, consequently after having
made that long and tedious journey to Illinois, I had
necessarily to hunt other localities that had not suf-
fered so much from the destruction of the armies.
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 43
I made several other trips into different states —
Alabama, Georgia, East Tennessee, West Tennessee,
Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Texas. I traded in
Texas before any railroad depot was established at
Fort Worth. When trading in any adjoining states,
I usually had a light two-horse wagon and a tent,
and bought our feed by the wholesale for our stock,
and when the weather was favorable, we camped out,
and avoided heavy hotel and stable bills.
I made it a point when I found a man that wanted
any of my stock, and could not pay me all cash, to
barter with him, he to pay me some money, and I would
take young mules, good fillies, young cattle, or take
cotton in the bale, or anything that I could soon con-
vert into money. Have traded for fat hogs and shipped
them home on the cars. The cotton I could place
in the hands of a merchant at nearest depot, and let
him sell it for me. After disposing of my jacks I
would concentrate the cattle, fillies and mules, and
ship on the cars, provided the distance was too great
to drive through by land to my home. I want to
state right here, that cattle shipped from the Southern
states, north several degrees, appear to do well them-
selves, but the native cattle that graze on the same
pasture with the Southern cattle frequently die of a
disease similar to murrain. On the other hand, when
matured cattle are shipped from Tennessee, several
degrees south, they are apt to die soon. It is much
safer to select calves to ship to a southern climate, to
avoid cattle fever, and the best season to ship is late
in the fall, when the weather becomes cool. I have
had a good deal of experience in this line of business.
I remember when trading in Arkansas, camping out
44 BREEDING AND REARING OF
in the canebrake section, and preparing our meals at
night, the broiling of our meat would attract the
wolves, and we could hear them howl. At that date,
deer, bear, turkeys, and all kinds of wild game were
plentiful, and are yet in some places.
While traveling through the rich bottom lands of
Arkansas we saw great • quantities of mast, such as
pecans, acorns of different kinds, switch cane, that
would keep stock in good order through the winter
and spring seasons. An old native living in the neigh-
borhood came to our camp and was regretting his mis-
fortunes, saying he had lost a great deal of money
while living there. I asked him how it occurred. He
said it was because he did not have money to buy
hogs to eat the mast that rotted in the swamps. I
have seen pretty good pork taken to St. Louis, that
had been fattened on mast.
While trading in Arkansas I met with a Kentuckian
who had a herd of improved Durham cattle of one
hundred and fifty head, and proposed giving me fifty
head of cows that would be fresh to give milk the
following spring, for a young stallion and a large
sixteen-hand jack I had, and agreed to keep the cattle
on the switch cane until April or May following. His
rancho was on White river at a place called Peach
Orchard Bluff. There were about one hundred acres
not subject to overflow. When I went after the cattle
there had been a considerable freshet, and we had to
take a canoe and go through the woods nine miles to
reach the cattle. We built a lot on the bank of the
river, collected and assorted the cattle. We had to
lariat mine, and draw them on the steamboat by a
windlass, which was no small undertakmg. They
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 45
were taken to Williamsport on White river, and there
put on the cars, shipped to St. Louis and sold. I will
state here, that while in the bottom lands in Arkansas
I saw in the fork of a cypress tree an eagle's nest,
the first and last I have ever seen. When I traded
for the cattle, I expected to take them to New Orleans
or Memphis, but learned that an ordinance had been
passed in both of those cities forbidding cattle to run
on the streets, because they were expecting an epi-
demic of cholera, consequently had to go to St. Louis
and closed out. I made this trip alone, and would not
be willing to make a similar one, with plenty of good
help, at my advanced age.
I will not tax my readers with an account of my
trips in Texas, Missouri, Kansas and other states.
Before closing this part of my book let me advise that
when the country is in a prosperous condition, as a
general rule, the stock farmer had better keep good
stock, keep them in fine, saleable order, stay at home,
and advertise well, and he will generally meet with
success in selling his stock.
I hope my friends will pardon me for a little egotism
in stating that I put up the first sale stable in Nash-
ville, Tenn., to sell jacks and jennets. I have sold
them in fourteen different states, and some that were
carried out of the Uinted States, and have frequently
sold jacks at different times to the same customers,
but up to date have never had a lawsuit or litigation
with one of my customers. He would take the jack
home, and do business with him, perhaps two or three
seasons, and get the growth and development of the
animal, and his services, and sell him for a good profit,
and come back, and buy another one or two. I have
sold several in that way.
46 BREEDING AND REARING OF
Before leaving this part of my book, I wish to refer
my readers to the Hfe of Judge J. D. Goodpasture as
written and published by his sons, A. V. and W. H.
Goodpasture, containing also sketches of their visits
to Europe in search of stock, especially the jack and
jennet stock, which they imported eight different times
to this market, Nashville, Tenn. This book will be
found very interesting to all parties engaged in stock
raising and selling, as there is a great deal of infor-
mation to be had from reading it. Messrs. A. V. and
W. H. Goodpasture have a large book store on Church
Street, Nashville, where this book can be found. I
will also state that Judge Goodpasture and son had a
sale stable of jacks and jennets very near mine for
several years ; when they had a customer to whom they
did not sell, they would either bring or send him to
my stable to see my stock, and we did the same by
them, which made everything between us work very
pleasantly and harmoniously, although in the same line
of business.
THE MULE.
I have been for some time writing about the jacks
and jennets, of the different species of them that have
been imported from Europe, especially those that have
been brought from Spain, France and Italy. I think
that from the year 1885 to 1893 Tennessee imported
from those three above named countries and the
islands of the Mediterranean Sea. Durmg those eight
years about eight hundred to one thousand jacks and
jennets were landed in and around Nashville. I think
it can be truthfully stated that Tennessee imported
more jacks and jennets than all the other states in the
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 47
United States put together in the eight years. Hence,
we have had the pick of the best stock of Europe to
select our jacks and jennets and from them we ought
to rear the finest class of mules out of our fine brood
mares. Tennessee ought to stand at the head of the
list with her advantages now if she will only do her
duty in breeding to the best jacks and jennets and
best class of brood mares.
The mule is a hybrid, the product of a jack and
a mare. The hinny is also a mongrel, the produce
of a stallion and jennet. The latter is seldom seen
in our country, but resembles the mule very much.
It is claimed that they partake more of the nature of
the horse in form and disposition than the jennet.
They have a neater head and heavier mane and tail
than a mule, and a larger foot, but it is thought that
they have not the endurance of a mule. I do not
remember ever seeing but two hinnies ; one of them
I saw in Texas on the Brazos river, the other was in
Bedford County, Tennessee. The hinny is said to
make a noise more like a horse, while the mule brays
more like a jack. I think one reason that we have so
few hinnies in our country is, that stallions have an
aversion to jennets, and will not serve them unless
they have been reared with jennets, as jack colts are
reared with filly colts, when they are first weaned.
I have tried to impress upon jack breeders the great
importance of taking their jack colts away from their
own species and put them with filly colts as soon as
they are weaned and let them continue to remain with
them until the jack colt becomes too rough for the
fillies. By this time the jack colt becomes attached
to the filly and then you will not have trouble to
4$ BREEDING AND REARING OF
break him to business at a proper time. I will also
repeat what I have written when speaking of training
jacks, that they should be away from mules as well
as jennets. Some jacks are partial to mules and I
have known mare mules used to get jacks ready to
serve mares.
At an early day mules were used for riding. In
the patriarchal ages the ass, ox and camel were the
principal beasts of burden, but in our day we use the
horse, ox and mule, the latter especially for the South
and tropical climate. Since the Spanish-American
War there has been so much tropical territory added
to the United States, that the demand for mules has
increased and will continue to increase until those
tropical islands of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are
suppHed with mules. Of all the beasts of burden and
for agricultural purposes, especially for the South,
there are none equal to the long-lived and hardy mule.
He lives much longer than the horse, perhaps more
than twice as long, and is not so subject to disease.
He consumes much less food, pulls under a cold collar
and is not so liable to balk. His hoof is more deeply
cupped and is tougher, consequently he will hold a
shoe much longer than a horse. He is considered
more sure-footed than a horse, and I have known
physicians who preferred riding a mule to using a
horse.
Will give you a description of the different classes
of mules by Messrs. Shryer & McConnell, of Nash-
ville, Tenn., who are perhaps the largest mule dealers
in Tennessee, and are reliable business men.
The sugar mules run in age from three to five years
old and from fifteen and a half to sixteen and one-
JACKS, JKNNETS AND MUI.ES 49
fourth hands high; they are fed from the time they
are colts until they are shipped to Louisiana.
The mine mules are from fifteen to sixteen hands
high, from five to ten years old, and must have bone
and good foot and good body.
The dray mules are from five to eight years old,
fifteen and three-fourths to sixteen and one-half hands
high, from 1,200 to 1,400 pounds.
The cotton mules are from three to five years old,
thirteen and three-fourths to fifteen and one-fourth
hands.
The mules sold to the British government must be
from five to twelve years old, but must be sound and
free from blemishes.
Mules from fifteen and one-half to sixteen and one-
fourth hands high sell better in spring, summer and
fall for work in Tennessee.
The dealers begin to buy cotton mules in the fall
and fatten them for the Southern market, which com-
mences in October and continues until March.
There are several advantages in handling mules
over horses. You can sell them readily at any age.
They sell at weaning, one year old, or at two, three
or four, or at any age you have him in market order
you can get his cash value. You do not have to curry
and rub and educate to the different saddle gaits and
break him to harness before he is ready for market.
You can often sell them in carload lots instead of
selling by retail, and by so doing you get your money
in a bulk and can invest it to much better advantage.
50 BREEDING AND REARING OF
REMINISCENCES OF JACKS AND
JACK BREEDERS.
At a called meeting of the American Breeders' As-
sociation of Jacks and Jennets, held at Nashville,
Tenn., June 25, 1890, the executive committee ap-
pointed me to write an essay or history of our old
original jack stock and pioneer breeders of the United
States. In undertaking this somewhat difficult task
we have to be governed in a great measure by memory,
as we have but little literature on the subject of jacks.
History informs us that soon after the close of the
Revolutionary War the king of Spain presented to
General George Washington a Spanish jack and jen-
net. General Lafayette, after his return to France,
also presented him with a fine jack, which was bred
to the Spanish jennet, and produced the famous jack.
Compound, which sired some mules that were sold
after the General's death for upwards of two hundred
dollars each. This gave rise to considerable interest
in the breeding of mules, not only in Virginia, but
Kentucky, Tennessee and other states soon fell into
the same line.
Perhaps the credit is due the Hon. Henry Clay, of
Kentucky, for introducing the fine Spanish jacks into
that state. If our memory serves us correctly, he
introduced the noted imported jacks, Don Carlos,
Ulysses, Black Hawk, etc. These fine imported jacks
soon made the blue grass region famous for their
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 51
superior mules, sired by these imported jacks and
out of finely bred mares. Mules were one of the great
staples of Kentucky before the war.
Messrs. Aquilla Young and Everette, of Mt. Ster-
ling, Ky., owned Mammoth (imported). He was
considered the largest jack that had ever been im*
ported into the United States up to that time. They
were able to stand him alone for jennets at $100 per
jennet.
Mammoth made nine seasons before he died, and
his owners realized a handsome income from his
services by buying his jack colts and growing them
until they were two and three years old. Many of
his jack colts sold readily for $500 before weaning.
Perhaps no jack that was ever introduced into the
United States improved the jack and jennet stock in
bone and size equal to him. He was about sixteen
hands high, standard measure, and heavy like a horse.
The late Mr. Miller, of Millersburg, Ky., owned
some fine jacks.
In 1856 Lear Brothers owned the large jack, Buena
Vista, by Mammoth (imported).
The late Major Knox, of Danville, Ky., was con-
sidered one of the foremost breeders of jacks and
jennets before the war. He made quite a success in
rearing this stock, and captured more premiums with
his jacks and jennets than any breeder in the state.
Major Tarkington (the son-in-law of Major Knox)
is occupying the old, noted stock farm, and is rearing
some of the best stock in the same line. He has re-
cently purchased the noted jack. Paragon (imported),
of Dr. Curd and Wm. and R. Davis, all of Lebanon,
Tenn., at a cost of $2,000, and is using him for jennets
52 BREEDING AND REARING OF
exclusively. The major has, perhaps, the finest jennet
in the state, sired by Abran (imported). She is
fifteen and one-half hands high, very heavy and
stylish ; is a successful breeder and a fine show animal.
She is registered.
Messrs. W. L. Caldwell & Son, of Danville, Ky.,
are spirited breeders. They are the owners of Giant
32, who took the first premium at the State Fair at
St. Louis, Mo.
Mr. Hubble, of Danville, Ky., reared some most
excellent jacks and jennets. He bred Brignoli and
Luke Blackburn, that were recently sold at his dis-
persion sale at fabulous prices.
The earliest pioneer breeder in Tennessee, as nearly
as we can learn, was Colonel James Ridley, of David-
son County. He visited Virginia about 1820 and pur-
chased a jack called Compromise. He was the sire of
Colonel Ridley's Old Wonder, that was considered the
largest and best jack of his day in Tennessee. He
was to Tennessee what Mammoth was to Kentucky
as a pioneer breeder.
The late Jonathan Curran, of Murfreesboro, Tenn.,
was a breeder of jacks and jennets about the year
1830.
In 1835 or 1836 my father, the late Captain James
Knight, visited Virginia and purchased a very fine
black jack, with white points, called John Bull. He
did business in Rutherford County, Tennessee, and
gave satisfaction as a popular breeder. He was said
to be the third descendant from the Royal Gift of
General Washington. My father also owned a jack
in North Carolina about the year 1820. I have an
imperfect recollection of this jack, as I was only four
or five years old.
JACKS, JENNETS AND MUI^KS 53
General A. Wilson, my father and my brother, Gen-
eral J. M. Knight, purchased in Kentucky the cele-
brated premium jennet jack, Maringo Mammoth. He
did business for a number of years in Marshall Coun-
ty, Tennessee, after which I purchased him as a nine-
year-old, and at a cost of $2,160, and used him ex-
clusively for jennets at $40 per jennet. The jack
was about sixteen hands high, standard, with unusual
weight and substance. We regarded him as the
largest and best adapted to improve the small-boned
jack stock that was ever introduced into Tennessee.
He was the recipient of every premium for which he
contended in the State of Kentucky, of his own age,
and captured every premium contended for in Ten-
nessee, and was shown at all the important fairs in
the middle division. He was black, with white points,
was sired by Maringo Mammoth, of Kentucky, and he
by Mammoth (imported). A number of his jennets
sold for $500 before the war.
I also owned the celebrated premium jack, Ben
Franklin, he being a purely bred Spanish jack. He
proved to be a most excellent breeder, both for mares
and jennets. He was the recipient of more premiums
than any jack of his day. I exhibited him at a great
many fairs in Middle Tennessee, at Chattanooga, and
at two state fairs in Georgia — one at Macon in 1873,
and at Atlanta in 1874. He was also exhibited in
Illinois'. In all of these places he met with success.
I think one of the first imported jacks ever brought
to Tennessee was taken to Maury County, and was
owned by a Mr. Thomas. He was afterwards sold to
General Gideon J. Pillow and brother. This was
Knight Errant (imported). I think he was imported
54 BREEDING AND REARING OF
about 1840. He proved quite an accession to Maury
and adjoining counties.
Dr. Boyd also owned a fine jack, called Philip — I
think by Mammoth.
The late Benjamin Harlan also owned a fine jack,
called Harlan's Mammoth. He made considerable
reputation.
The late J. J. Williamson, of Marshall County,
Tennessee, was an early and successful breeder of
jacks and jennets. He paid $500 at a very early day
for a jennet called Matilda. She was sired by Maringo
Mammoth, and was the dam of several remarkably
fine jennet jacks, among others being Black Prince,
sire of J. D. Reed's Longfellow, for which he paid
$2,250. Longfellow was a fine breeder and a success-
ful premium winner. His dam was also by Maringo
Mammoth.
The late Thos. Dean, of Bedford County, Tennessee,
was perhaps the earliest breeder of that county. He
owned the distinguished jack, Black-and-All-Black,
which sired Goliath, owned by Rev. T. B. Marks, and
was sold to a company in Alabama for $1,600. This
was regarded as a large price in that day for a native
jack. Rev. T. B. Marks is and has been regarded as
one of the very best stock breeders in Middle Ten-
nessee.
Messrs. Steel & Bro., Esquire Williams, Dr. Thomas
Lipscomb, Samuel Wood, J. D. Hutton, Cotner, and
others, of Bedford County, were all interprising jack
and jennet breeders.
Messrs. Goodrum, Chairs & Bellanfant owned the
jennet jack, Lord of the Isle. He was very large, and
was sired by Knight Errant (imported).
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 55
The late Pleasant Akin, of Maury County, owned
some very superior jacks, among others King PhiHp,
that took the $500 premium at the State Fair at Nash-
ville. In this exhibition he contended against some
of the best jacks in the state, among others the noted
Barcelona (imported), then owned by C. Oldham,
Major Sam and Colonel J. R. Davis, of Wilson
County, Tennessee. There was difficulty in determin-
ing this premium. The contention was between King
Philip and Barcelona (imported). Several extra
judges were called in before the decision was made.
They finally resorted to the tape line and measured
the jacks carefully, the native jack, King Philip, being
at last awarded the premium.
The late William Younger, of Santa Fe, Maury
County, was a pioneer and successful breeder, as was
also the late M. H. Mays, of the same county, and
who owned the following imported jacks, that were
used exclusively for jennets, viz. : Moro Castle, pur-
chased in Kentucky from the late Anthony Kilgore at
a fabulous price ; Napoleon the Third, an exceptionally
fine looking animal, and considered one of the finest
show jacks in the state. Mr. Mays stood each of these
jacks at $50, perhaps the highest figure that any jack
had ever commanded up to that date, this being about
1858. He also owned the two imported jacks. Mid-
night and Starlight. These were very fine jacks, and
were imported by the late A. C. Franklin and Major
Tul. Craig. Mr. Mays also owned the native jack,
Mohawk, by Mammoth (imported). All the above
jacks made their mark in Tennessee.
The late Wyatt Lane, of Coffee County, introduced
into his section some good Maringo Mammoth jacks
56 BRKKDING AND REARING OF
before the war that improved the stock of that county
gfreatly.
Major AUman, Colonel McClellan and others, of
Marshall County, purchased the fine jennet jack
Bourbon from parties in Bourbon County, Kentucky.
He was a Mammoth-bred jack, and proved to be a
superior breeder.
The late Dr. Hocket, Dan Young, Mark Cockrill,
Sr., Colonel John Overton, Dr. Shelby, Colonel D. H.
McGavock, J. McRidley and Robert Rains, all of
Davidson County, were jack breeders. Colonel Rains
owned Black Prince (imported), used him awhile
as a jennet jack and sold him to Colonel Blythe, of
Wilson County. He purchased Black Mammoth of
Major Knox, Danville, Ky., just before the war, pay-
ing $2,500 for him as a three-year-old. He was sired
by Maringo Mammoth, of Kentucky. He proved
to be a superior jennet jack. He sired Black Prince
of Fair View. This jack was reared by Colonel R.
Rains, and was sold to Dr. W. A. Cheatham at an
early age for $1,000. This jack was a premium win-
ner in both Tennessee and Kentucky. I used him as
a jennet jack (soon after the war), and regarded him
as one of the best of his day.
I purchased the renowned sweepstakes premium
jennet jack. Black Satin, of Sampson Liggett, of Mar-
shall County, Tennessee. He was sired by Dr. Boyd's
Philip, a jack fifteen hands, standard, and a silky
black with light points. He captured a great many
sweepstake premiums in Middle Tennessee. I used
him as a jennet jack. He sired a great many fine
jacks; among others was J. J. Williams' Black Prince,
afterwards sold to Sam Wood. He was the sire of
JACKS, JENNKTS AND MUI^ES 57
J. D. Reed's Longfellow, and others. It was said the
dam of Black Satin was the dam of $10,000 worth
of jacks.
If time and space would allow, I could mention
quite a number of jennets that were the dams of
several thousand dollars' worth of jacks. I will men-
tion anyway two that were owned by my father and
brother before the war. They sold from one jennet,
called Jenny Harlan, $4,000 worth. She was sired
by Benjamin Harlan's Mammoth. The other jennet
was sired by M. H. Mays' Mohawk. From this
jennet was sold $6,000 worth. They were both good
and regular breeders at my father's death, and I did
not keep up with their subsequent breeding.
I have mentioned these examples that they may
stimulate and encourage the young jack and jennet
breeders of our country. If they will select good,
well-bred jennets, breed with proper discretion, and
give vigilant attention to their rearing, I do not know
of any kind of stock farming that will excel it finan-
cially.
In about 1868 I purchased an imported Maltese
jack called Malta. He was bred and reared on the
Island of Malta, was landed at Charleston, S. C,
and brought to Cartersville, Ga., where I purchased
him. He, though rather small, made a good cross on
my large Mammoth jennets. While the Maltese jacks
are generally undersized, they are remarkable for their
vitality and longevity.
General J. M. Knight, of Caney Springs, Marshall
County, Tenn., did a jennet business with a jack called
Prince Napoleon that was imported by General Edney,
of North Carolina, while consul to Spain under Presi-
58 BREEDING AND REARING OF
dent Polk's administration. He was a very high-
styled jack, but was rather light of bone and body.
I think I have given a general, though imperfect,
history of the jack stock from soon after the Revolu-
tionary War down to the late Civil War. Now it is
my purpose to give a history of all the importations
since that war. The first importation was made by
the late A. C. Franklin and Major Tul. Craig, of Sum-
ner County, Tennessee, in about 1867 or 1868. They
brought over a very handsome lot of Catalonian jacks.
Among some of the most noted were Rifle and Laber-
dale. They were taken to West Tennessee and greatly
improved the jack stock of that section. Midnight
and Starlight were sold to M. H. Mays, of Maury
County. They were individually good ones.
The jack Mr. Franklin reserved from the importa-
tion for his own breeding was Black Forrest. He
proved to be a very popular breeder. Among the
many fine jacks that he sired was Ben Franklin, of
which I have already given an account.
Mr. Lyle, of Kentucky, about the year 1882 im-
ported Andalusians from about Seville. One of his
most noted animals, Abran, sold to W. L. Caldwell,
of Danville, Ky., sired Major George Tarkington's
premium jennet, that is about fifteen and one-half
hands high, Abran being only about fourteen hands.
Messrs. Leonard Bros., of Mt. Leonard, Mo. (Hon-
orable Chas. E. was a member of the firm), imported
in 1882 a lot of Andalusians, purchased in and around
Cordova and Seville. Some of these jacks were large,
over fifteen hands high. A jennet by one of them, at
the dispersion sale of our late lamented treasurer,
Major Gentry, sold for $750. Other jennets, at the
JACKS, JENNETS AND MUI.ES 59
same sale and by these jacks, also brought good
prices.
Mr. Graham, of Kentucky, about the year 1883
or 1884, brought over some Andalusians. We know
but little or nothing about them. Some three or four
years afterwards the same firm imported a few jacks,
some jennets and colts from Catalonia.
Messrs. Hoy Bros., of Nebraska, imported five jacks
from Catalonia in the summer of 1884. They were
excellent animals, but did badly after landing, mainly
on account of bad management and a lack of infor-
mation as to how they should be treated.
Luke M. Emerson, of Bowling Green, Mo., im-
ported about fifteen or twenty Catalonians in 1889.
Most of these were young jacks and colts, and among
the number a few excellent animals. In the same
year the Hon. Harkreader, of Okolona, Miss., im-
ported. He shipped his stock with Mr. Emerson, and
brought over the same kind and about the same
quality of stock.
Messrs. Kniffin & White, of Danville, 111., also im-
ported in 1889. They brought over only ten head —
all from the island of Majorca, and sold them mostly
in and around Higginsville, Mo. They were of ex-
cellent color and of good head and ears. Most of
them are registered.
D. Munroe, of Danville, La., made an importation
from Andalusia, Spain, in 1889. Most of his jacks
were purchased in the provinces of Cordova and Leon.
Many of them were black, but never having seen the
importation we cannot say what proportion, nor do
we know the exact number imported. Some of them,
however, have been registered, and judging from these
6o BREEDING AND REARING OP
pedigrees suppose the jacks are large and of good
quality.
In 1889 a firm from Arkansas made an importation
from the kingdom of Andalusia. This was regarded
as one among the best lot of jacks ever brought from
that part of Spain. The majority of them were grays,
but they were heavy and of large bone. They were
on exhibition for the purpose of sale at the St. Louis
fair in the fall of 1889. Most of them were sold there,
and the balance were taken back to Arkansas. This
importation numbered about twenty-five head.
J. D. and W. H. Goodpasture and R. H. Hill landed
an importation at Nashville, Tenn., in March, 1886.
They were Andalusians from about the city of Cor-
dova, Spain, and were about twenty-five in number,
including both jacks and jennets. Some of them
were above fifteen hands high. In the fall of 1886
this firm brought over one of the best importations
ever made of Catalonian jacks. Included in the num-
ber was Jumbo, sold to a company for $2,000 ; Peacock
for $1,500; Boyd's Monarch, $1,500; the Douglas
jack, $1,500, at an auction, etc. The following year,
the firm being composed of J. D. & W. H. Good-
pasture alone, imported from the Cerdan (the frontier
of France and Spain, in the Pyrenees). In this im-
portation was purchased the jack Great Eastern, whose
likeness appears in this volume. Later in the fall
they made a second importation from the same place.
The next year they made an importation in connection
with Messrs. Lyles & Parmer of thirty head of Cata-
lonians and Majorcas. This was the largest importa-
tion ever made to America up to that time. The fol-
lowing year the firm again became J. D. & W. H.
JACKS, JENNKTS AND MUI<ES 6l
Goodpasture, when they imported Majorcas, Catalo-
nians and Poitous to the number of fifty-seven head.
This stands as the largest individual importation ever
made to the United States. The present year, 1890,
they imported twenty head of jacks and jennets — all
Catalonians.
In the fall of 1886 Whitworth, Perry, Lester and
C. C. H. Burton imported twenty head of Catalonians.
This was an extra good lot. It included Paragon,
recently sold to George Tarkington, of Danville, Ky.,
for $2,000. The following year Perry & Lester, Bur-
ton and Frank Lester, Jr., made a most excellent selec-
tion of Majorcas and Catalonians. There was scarcely
an inferior jack in the lot. Some of them were large
and superior jennet jacks.
The following year the firm became Perry, Lester,
Knight & Son, the selections being made in Spain by
William E. Knight and Frank Lester, Jr. This im-
portation included a colt two years and sixteen days
old that was sold to Smith Bros., of Murfreesboro,
Tenn., for $2,000, which, considering age, is the highest
price ever paid for an imported jack in the United
States. This jack (King James) is full sixteen hands,
and has proven to be an extra breeder for jennets.
There was a number of other good ones in the lot,
many of them being colts that afterwards developed
into magnificent jacks.
The same firm imported again the following year,
bringing good stock. They sold three half-brothers,
one yearling and two two-year-olds for $4,500. The
yearling colt (Spanish King) was sold to Dr. Kird,
Wm. and R. Davis, all of Wilson County, Tennessee,
for $1,500. He is developing into a first-class jennet
jack.
62 BREEDING AND REARING OF
Frank Lester, Jr., individually imported a lot of
Catalonian jacks in 1889. They were a good, even
lot.
In 1886 Dr. B. Stone Plumlee purchased two Anda-
lusian jacks and one jennet, and shipped to the United
States with the importation of J. D. & W. H. Good-
pasture. One of these proved to be a great breeder,
and is in Jackson County, Tennessee.
Dr. Plumlee imported the following year from
Malta, the year afterwards from Italy, and in 1889
from Catalonia. In the last lot was a colt that ranked
with the best imported.
In the spring of 1889 Messrs. Lyles & Parmer im-
ported about twenty jacks and jennets, mostly jennets,
which they sold at auction at Lexington, Ky.
In 1889 also Pierce, Burford, Lyles, Parmer and
others imported a large number of Catalonian jacks.
In 1890 the same firm, with A. B. Harlan, of Maury
County, imported from the same place.
Messrs. Berry & Murray, of Hendersonville, Tenn.,
made importations of Catalonians and Majorcas in
1 887- '88- '89- '90, including King of Inca, and other
good ones.
In 1887 a firm of Hebrews in Nashville, Tenn.,
imported a lot of Italian jacks. I think that they made
two importations that year, and the following year
imported from Catalonia.
Messrs. Roth & McClain, in 1889, imported a few
Italian jacks also.
In 1887 Messrs. Ezell, Fannin and Burnett made
an importation of Catalonian jacks.
In 1889 a gentleman from Putnam County, Ten-
nessee, a Mr. Young, imported eight or ten Catalo-
nians.
JACKS, JENNETS AND MUI.ES 63
In i889-'90 Moseley, Whitaker & Co., Bellbuckle,
Tenn., made two importations of Catalonian jacks.
They were a good average lot.
There may be, and doubtless are, a few whose im-
portation is either unknown or has been unintention-
ally omitted, but there cannot be many such, and we
feel certain that there have been no very large impor-
tations omitted. We suppose there have been about
eight hundred or one thousand imported jacks and
jennets brought into and around Nashville in the last
five years.
If all those who import would confine their pur-
chases to such stock only as is calculated to improve
our own native jacks and jennets, Middle Tennessee
would soon be to the United States what Spain is to
Europe. The introduction of the inferior Mexican
and Texan jennets has been a great drawback to the
progress of elevating the standard of our jacks and
jennets.
Before closing this history, we wish to mention the
efficient services rendered by John Terry (colored),
who has made several trips to Europe as groom —
three with J. D. & W. H. Goodpasture, one with
W. E. Knight & Co., and two with Moseley & Whit-
aker. John is justly regarded as the champion groom
on a ship, and has had few accidents to occur to stock
while in his charge.
We wish to acknowledge our obligations to our
efficient secretary, W. H. Goodpasture, for services
rendered in getting up the history of the late impor-
tations^ etc. L. W. Knight, M.D.
64 BREEDING AND REARING OF
MARINGO MAMMOTH.
About the year 1850 the late General A. Wilson
and my father, the late Captain James Knight, both
of Marshall County, Tennessee, visited Kentucky, and
purchased a very superior jennet jack, Maringo Mam-
moth, in Boyle County. He was taken to Caney
Spring, in Marshall County, Tennessee, and did busi-
ness as a strictly jennet jack for a number of years
at $40 per jennet. My brother, the late General J. M.
Knight, then of Murfreesboro, Tenn., also had an
interest in him. I afterwards purchased him at a
cost of $2,160, and took him to my home, then in
Rutherford County, Tennessee, and kept him until he
died. This jack was about four years of age when
purchased in Kentucky. If my memory serves me
correctly, he was exhibited at Lexington and Danville,
Ky., and took premiums over his own class. He was
also shown at Columbia, Lewisburg, Shelbyville,
Nashville and Lebanon, Tenn., at all of which places
he was awarded the first premium. I regarded him
as the most suitable jack that had ever been intro-
duced into Tennessee to improve the small-bone stock
of our state, up to that date. He was about sixteen
hands high, black, but not a jet black, with white
points. He had a remarkably large bone, large head,
large foot and body, heavy like a draft horse, stood
on and carried his limbs well under him, had good
action for an animal of his size. He was sired by
Maringo Mammoth, of Kentucky, and he by imported
Mammoth that was owned by Messrs. Aquila Young,
and Everett, of Mt. Sterling, Ky. One of Maringo
Mammoth's dams was called Cleopatra, the others I
have forgotten. Imported Mammoth did business
JACKS, JKNNKTS AND MULKS 65
nine years. He was shipped to the United States on
a saiHng vessel, there being no large ocean steamers
at that time. As was the custom then in shipping
jacks, he was placed on a swing, and was so heavy
that he was cut under the arms by the swing and the
continual rocking of the vessel, which caused a run-
ning sore perhaps as long as he lived. I am glad
to say the facilities for shipping stock have greatly
improved since that day. Imported Mammoth did
business at $100 per jennet, and his services were re-
munerative to his owners.
I have had a most excellent artist. Professor A. C.
Webb, of Nashville, Tenn., to make a drawing of
Maringo Mammoth from memory. I wanted my
stock friends to see a model of a native jack, that had
been worth perhaps $100,000 to Tennessee— he and
his descendants. I have succeeded in procuring cuts
of a number of imported jacks of different species,
from several countries, and thought it would be well
to have a cut of an extra good native jack to show
in my book, and hope I have succeeded in it. Several
half-brothers of Maringo Mammoth were introduced
into this state, at a later date, which were great acces-
sions to the jack and jennet stock of this part of the
country. L. W. Knight, M.D.
Dr. L. W. Knight, Nashville, Tenn.:
My Dear Father: At your request I cheerfully
submit a very brief sketch of my trip to Europe in
search of jacks and jennets of such quality as to
improve our native stock. My brother, W. E. Knight,
having been three times for the same purpose, was
somewhat satiated with travel or intimidated by storms
and floods, having encountered both, and insisted that
66 BREEDING AND REARING OF
it was my turn. So securing identification papers and
all necessary articles I started, in company with the
late Mr. Herman Roth, who was to be guide, inter-
preter and companion. He had crossed the Atlantic
thirty-five times, and could speak twelve languages ;
was familiar with all points of interest, and seemed
never to tire of showing them to me.
I bought New York exchange in Nashville, Tenn.,
and carried same to Brown Bros.' banking house on
Wall Street and bought with it a letter of credit, which
enabled me to draw money at any city in Europe, so
numerous were the branch houses. We then looked
for ship, but found none would leave for Spain within
ten days, so to save time concluded to take passage
next day on a French mail ship bound for Havre,
France. After eight days and nine hours we were
landed at the beautiful city, some of whose streets
are paved with water.
While the object of our trip was jacks and jennets
we could not miss the opportunity of seeing the many
sights, so after taking in Havre, we started for Paris.
In a visit to the zoological garden there I saw the
skeleton of a whale ninety-two feet long, whose jaw-
bone was nineteen feet long; and the largest boa-
constrictors I ever saw — the diameter was not less
than six inches. The art gallery with its beauties
charmed by the hour, but time was precious so on
we went, only to stop and stand in awe at the grandeur
of Eiffel Tower. Here we were disappointed at not
being able to ascend, as it was being painted and
closed to visitors.
The next point of special interest was Switzerland
with its most beautiful lake Lucerne, encircled by lofty
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 67
mountains and romantic scenery. Here we took the
tourists' boat and rode the entire length, sixteen miles,
enjoying the whole immensely. Then by lake Como
on railroad. Then went to Magna Grotto, which is
3,327 feet above sea level, but the summit of moun-
tain above this grotto is 10,800 feet above the sea.
This tunnel is said to be nine miles in length and I
do not doubt it, for it took the cars considerable time
to pass through it. The descent makes two circles
into the side of the mountain to lessen the grade.
We then turned to the Adriatic seashore in northern
Italy, and traveled almost parallel with the shore into
the heel of Italy. Several times we left the cars and
went into the interior searching for stock, finding
some good ones. And here let me say it may surprise
some to know how these people care for their donkeys.
Very many of the houses are built of stone, and the
donkey is kept on the first or ground floor, which is
also of stone. The family occupies the rooms above.
Barri and Forga are the principal cities visited on the
Adriatic sea. We spent two weeks at Martino Franka,
and visited many villages that were used during the
feudal system, whose watch towers and belfries still
stand well preserved. Portions of the walls around
some of these villages are in a good state of preserva-
tion, whilst other portions have yielded to time. Then
on to Toranto on the great sea. Thence an all day's
ride on cars to Naples where we remained one month,
daily viewing the noted Mount Vesuvius, from the
city and several times passed by its base, through
Pompeii. During our stay in Naples we visited all
the places of interest in the city; the Royal Palace,
the castle which was built by the Romans, whose base-
^ BREEDING AND REARING OF
ment is solid stone and now used for a penitentiary.
We frequented the beautiful parks on the beautiful
bay of Naples, where bands spent hours discoursing
sweet music each afternoon. One day the city was
awakened into new life by a visit from the king and
queen of Italy in company with their friends, the
emperor and empress of Germany, and the crown
prince of Greece. The ovation tendered them must
have satisfied their vanity, if not enough to turn their
heads. The city that once ruled the world (Rome)
next claimed our attention. The Vatican, the Col-
losseum. Royal Palace, St. Peter's and St. Paul's
cathedrals, the Pyramid, the Portal, and the Cata-
combs each was visited by us and excited wonder
and admiration.
Upon going back to Naples we discovered that
we could get transportation for the twenty-seven jacks
and jennets that we had purchased, on a Scotch
steamer bound for New York. So, without delay, we
began to make ready. Lumber and work on each stall
cost $10, and was only about thirty-eight inches wide.
Our stock was taken on board May i6, after paying
export duty on each animal, and $20 for litter to con-
vey stock and feed from shore to ship, and happy were
we at prospect of starting to America. We stopped
six hours at Gibraltar, taking cattle aboard for slaugh-
ter. A rope was fastened around their horns and they
were drawn upon the ship by machinery. They would
fight the air wildly with their feet, but were landed
safely on board. In midocean one of our jennets
foaled, and we named the dark-haired beauty Ocean
Wave, and he proved to be as restless and energetic
as the ocean itself. So instead of losing any we gained
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 69
one and took delight in nursing the baby colt while
the ship did the rocking. They, of course, had to be
watched day and night, but we felt amply rewarded
for our diligence when arrived at home without the
loss of one, and all in good condition. They were
much admired and brought fairly good prices.
This letter has been very hurriedly written and is
somewhat disconnected, and many places merely men-
tioned, that are quite noted, so there may occur some
errors, for my notes are quite limited, and a lapse of
almost eight years may cause some little variance in
memory. Trusting this may in some manner interest
some who may chance to read it,
I am your affectionate son,
James M. Knight.
December 3, 1901, Miirfreeshoro, Tenn.
STARLIGHT PARAGON
Is black with white points, was twenty-five months
old when this picture was taken, and is fully fifteen
hands high, horse measure. He has more length, size
and bone than most colts of his age. He is heavily
muscled, is strong and quite active, in fact, he has
unusual merit. He was shown at the Texas State
Fair, October, 1901, and took first premium in his
two-year-old ring, and took second premium in the
sweepstakes, where there were more than a dozen
entries from three different states. He is the best colt
in our knowledge to produce large smooth stock from
the average jennets of the country, he being large and
smooth and so well-bred that he cannot breed other-
wise than well. He is by Lell Jenkins' Starlight, he
70 BREEDING AND REARING OF
by old Starlight, he by Bellknap, etc. The late H. C.
Ezell refused $4,200 for old Starlight.
Starlight Paragon's dam was by imported Paragon,
that sold for $2,600. Hence, it will be seen that this colt
has descended from two of the best families in Ten-
nessee. Both have taken their share of prizes in show-
ings. He is the property of Knight & Jetton, Mur-
freesboro, Tenn.
Dr. L. W. Knight, Nashville, Tenn.:
My Dear Father : At your request I write you of
my three trips to Europe. In March, 1888, I left
Nashville, Tenn., accompanied by Mr. Frank Lester,
Jr., and John Terry, colored. Going direct to Wash-
ington, D. C, we procured our transports in case of
trouble abroad. Thence to New York, where I con-
verted the New York exchange into a letter of credit
with Messrs. Brown Bros, on Wall Street. This
letter of credit enabled us to draw money at any of
the leading banks in any city of note. We next went
to the office of the Cunard line to engage berths on
the Umbria, a very large and fine vessel, five hundred
feet in length. This ship was to sail in twenty-four
hours. In the meantime we took in some of the sights
in New York, which proved to be quite interesting.
At the appointed time we went to the ship to take
passage and bid adieu to the finest country in the
world, America. In taking, the step from the pier to
the ship I never had such peculiar feelings before
nor since. It occurred to me that I might be taking
the fatal step, leaving terra Urma to go out on the dark
blue sea, but as I was representing a strong company
and all arrangements were made, there was no back-
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 71
ing out, SO on I went. Many had come to bid fare-
well to friends and relatives. As the great ship started,
tears and handkerchiefs were in great evidence. All
this made me feel quite sad. I more fully realized
that I was leaving a bride of three months at home.
In a few hours everything assumed its normal con-
dition. Two days out the waves were roUing high;
the ladies who had almost lived on deck began to dis-
appear and did not come out again until the gales,
lasting three days, had passed. They looked as if they
had lost their best friend. In the meantime the writer
was getting considerable experience, often giving vent
to his feelings feeding the fish. Queenstown, Ireland,
was our first stop, discharging a few passengers, some
cargo and mail. This was Friday night, eleven p. m.
The next day we arrived at Liverpool, at eleven a.m.
On landing our baggage was examined, which re-
quired but a few minutes. We left Liverpool imme-
diately for London, stopping at Charing Cross Hotel,
too late for supper. We ate at a restaurant across
the street. Having satisfied our appetite we prome-
naded, taking in some of the sights of the great city.
The streets were crowded with people and the cops
were very conspicuous.- Charing Cross is quite a
large hotel, using stone for floors. Next morning
we took train for Dover, crossing English channel, a
distance of twenty-eight miles, to Calais, France. On
arriving at Dover we were informed that a vessel was
lost the night before, which is nothing unusual on
the channel. We consider this the most dangerous
body of water we ever crossed. From Calais we
went directly to Paris, the prettiest city we ever saw,
waiting here a few hours for our train. In Paris we
72 BREEDING AND REARING OF
had quite a little experience trying to instruct a
French cabman where to take us, as he could not
understand English nor we French. Finally an Eng-
lishman, taking in the situation, came to our rescue
and instructed the Frenchman where to take us.
Leaving Paris we arrived in Bordeaux the next
morning where our interpreter, Mr. P. Carles, met us
as instructed. He proved to be quite a pleasant gen-
tleman. I assure you it was quite a pleasant reUef to
meet him, as we could not speak any language except
English, therefore, it was difficult for us to get along.
I asked Mr. Carles where we could buy some good
jacks. He did not know, but referred us to Mr.
Ribo Saster, who lived in the Pyrenees Mountains in
France, near the Spanish line.
We met Mr. Saster in Toulouse, France. We ex-
plained our business to him, and asked him if he
could render the desired assistance to us. He seemed
to think he was the man we were looking for. His
services were at once engaged and off we put for
Barcelona, thence to Vick, which is situated in the
province of Catalonia. We found a few jacks in the
town ; after looking at them we hired a cart and driver
so we could visit the farmers and see their stock. We
found that in buying the more matured animals there
was considerable competition, besides they were not
plentiful, and we began to purchase colts from ten
months old up. The jacks in Spain are often kept in
the basement of the dwellings on stone floors. They
get but little to eat and not much exercise. Their chief
food is a large, coarse bean, a few shelled oats and
hay. Owing to this style of treatment we found three
decided advantages in selecting colts. One was no
JACKS, JENNETS AND MUI.ES 73
competition ; the second, we got picking choice ; and
the third was, after we got the colts home with proper
feed and exercise these colts would develop to a much
higher degree of perfection, and our expectations were
fully realized. For example, we sold three half-broth-
ers.; two were yearlings past and one two-year-old,
for $4,500. We purchased nineteen head. Most of
them were quite poor. We had led them over the Pyr-
enees Mountains into France, stopping at Axe, which
is about half way down the mountain and a very
popular watering resort. We remained here twenty-
four days getting our stock in condition for the long
voyage. They improved rapidly. At this place Mr.
Ribo Saster left us, as we were through buying. He
proved to be an excellent gentleman ; his judgment
was good and he impressed us as a man of unusual
energy. He lives at Porta, France. He invited us to
dine with him, which was a most excellent affair,
serving twelve courses. It is useless to say how much
we appreciated this act of kindness from a man that
we had known but a few weeks. Mr. Saster seemed to
take a great interest in me. Often at meals he would
say in broken English, "You no eat, are you seak?"
Mr. Saster came back to Axe to assist us in loading
our stock to ship to our sailing point, Bordeaux. As
we parted tears rolled down his cheeks and he kissed
me good-bye. We remained in Bordeaux but a few
days, sailing on the Chateau Lafite, of the Bordeaux
shipping line. We had a nice smooth voyage, losing
but one animal, in Jersey City. At this place we rested
our stock some thirty-six hours. We also made a short
stop at Covington, Ky., some eighteen hours, thence
home. Mr. Frank Lester is a big-hearted fellow,
74 BREEDING AND REARING OF
always in good spirits. John Terry proved to be a
most excellent man with stock on board ship. We
were gone about three months on this trip.
My second trip was in 1889. I was accompanied
by Mr. Walter Murray, of Mt. Juliet, Tenn. We left
Nashville in March, going direct to New York. There
we were met by Dr. B. S. Plumlee, who made the
entire trip with us. This time we sailed on the
Etruria, a handsome vessel of the Cunard line. She
has made quite a reputation for speed. The Etruria
is a twin ship to the Umbria. We landed at Liverpool
and went practically over the same territory as stated
in former trip. After buying some forty head we
heard of some jacks seventy miles away up in the
mountain where it was much colder and very deep
snow. Dr. Plumlee was complaining of being unwell,
so Mr. Murray and I made the trip, buying nine
head of good stock. In the meantime Dr. Plumlee
bought a few individual animals. Having purchased
in all fifty-six head, Mr. Murray returned to our
former field of business to assist in collecting, and
paying for that which we had already purchased and I
took the nine head to Toulouse, where we met and
reshipped to Bordeaux, our sailing point. We were
quite unfortunate this trip, losing twelve head in the
Atlantic and eight head from New York to Nashville,
twenty head in all. This time we shipped on second
deck and did not have sufficient ventilation, which
produced pneumonia. We used my former inter-
preter, Mr. P. Carles, and our genial commissioner,
Mr. Ribo Saster. Had our train been on time we
would have reached Johnstown at ten a.m., just in
time for the great flood, but fortunately for us our
JACKS, JENNETS AND MUI<ES 75
train was delayed some six hours. We were detained
at Altoona, Pa., thirty-five miles east of Johnstown,
some eight days on account of the many washouts on
railroad. We crossed a number of bridges just before
reaching Altoona ; several of them were washed away,
so we made a narrow escape after all. Our home
people were quite uneasy for some days, as they could
not hear from us. All communications were cut off
both by wire and postal, but after all we got in, in
good shape, minus several jacks. We had a good
many ups and downs mixed with pleasure. While at
Altoona we did not go to bed; some of our stock
were sick and greatly scattered and required attention
every few hours, consequently there was not much
rest for the weary.
My third and last trip was in 189 1. In company
with Mr. Herman Roth, an Austrian, we left Nash-
ville, August 19, and sailed on the Saala, of the German
Lloyd line, direct to Southampton, England, where
we were to take another vessel for Havre, France.
But this was twenty-four hours behind time, so we
took a special for London, where we spent a few
hours, going direct to Paris. While there we visited
the Eiffel Tower. It is a wonderful structure, tower-
ing about 1,000 feet. It required three different eleva-
tors to ascend to the top. It cost some three or four
francs to make the trip. We started to go up. After
reaching the second elevator my friend, Mr. Roth, said
he had gone far enough. I insisted on his going on
with me, but to no effect. He said he would remain
where he was until my return. On reaching the top
I had a bird's-eye view of the city and surrounding
country. People looked like children and horses like
76 BREEDING AND REARING OF
ponies on the streets. There is a house on this tower ;
in it is a restaurant and some small stores, and one
could buy most anything except a horse and buggy.
Leaving Paris we crossed the Alps into Italy. In
these mountains we saw a beautiful lake. Descending
we passed through a tunnel that required thirty-three
minutes to pass through. I suppose this is the long-
est tunnel in the world. The first city we came to of
importance was Turin, then to Genoa, reaching there
at night. This is a city of considerable importance,
situated on the Mediterranean. It was the birthplace
of Columbus. We spent a few hours in Rome, where
we visited St. Peter's Cathedral, which is an immense
structure, the largest in the world. Joining it is the
Vatican, where Pope Leo the Thirteenth lives. His
guards are gaudily dressed. We went to see St. Paul's
Cathedral, which is two miles out and quite handsome
and of more modern style. It is considered by many
the handsomer of the two. On our return to the city
we saw the Colosseum, which is practically destroyed.
In the center of the ring is a small stone structure
where wild animals were kept to kill the worst
criminals in years gone by. The next city we came
to was Naples, a city of large proportions ; from here
we went up into the mountain to buy our stock. We
purchased seventeen in all. There is some prejudice
against the Italian jacks, owing to some very inferior
ones having been imported, but this was pronounced
by competent judges one of the best all-round impor-
tations ever brought over. As a rule the Italian jack
is superior to the Spanish jack in color, bone, foot,
and constitution, but not altogether so stylish. We
kept our stock in Naples about two weeks waiting for
JACKS, JKNNKTS AND MULES ^^
our ship, the steamship CaUfornia. We sailed from
Naples through the Mediterranean Sea into the Straits
of Gibraltar. While stopping at Malaga to coal I went
ashore to see a bull fight given in behalf of the flood
sufferers. It was largely attended by both men and
women, and children. Would estimate the crowd at
20,000. Six bulls were killed and some twenty horses.
Bull fighting is the chief sport of Spain. It is anything
but elevating. Arriving at Gibraltar I went ashore
with the steward to get some green stuff for our
stock, but did not succeed in getting much. We
walked through the city. It is by far the best fortified
city we have seen. Leaving Gibraltar we encountered'
a storm, going around the Azores Islands, which
lasted for eighteen days. The question was often
asked by the passengers who was the Jonah on the
ship. This storm was something fearful. It seemed as
if every day would be the last. I have no desire to be
in another one like this. The Atlantic was said to be
rougher in October, 1891, than had been known in
thirty years. We were out in all twenty-four days, los-
ing one animal. Our ship was reported lost ten days
before we reached New York. The evening we sailed
from Naples Mr. Roth was cabled the news of the death
of his wife, but he failed to get it, which I suppose
was fortunate for him. He did not learn of her death
until he reached his home at Lexington, Ky. While
waiting for our ship at Naples I visited Mt. Vesuvius,
which is seven miles out. It is plainly seen from
Naples. It is constantly throwing out great volumes
of smoke. The crater or mouth of the volcano is
something Hke 150 feet square. I went right to the
crater and heard a fearful roaring noise. The lava had
78 BREEDING AND REARING OF
spread out over thousands of acres, often as high as
fifteen feet. I saw the spot where Pompeii once stood.
This was the roughest trip we ever experienced. We
lost but one animal, the others reaching home in good
condition. There were many places of interest that
I would like to have visited, but the opportunity did
not present itself.
Your affectionate son,
W. E. Knight.
December 30, 1901, Nashville, Tenn,
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 79
BREEDS OF JACKS.
Less is perhaps known of the different breeds of
jacks and jennets than of any other character of live
stock. This may be said to be true even in those
sections in which they are best known, while in many
sections of our country absolutely nothing is known
of them. They simply know that a donkey is a don-
key, and that's the end of it. Now, we conceive it
to be of the utmost importance that breeders especially
should make themselves familiar with all the different
breeds, because there is a vast difference between
them, not only in appearance and color, but also in
their value as adapted to our country. If a man
wants a buggy horse he will hardly buy a Percheron,
and if he wants to raise the best animal for beef he
will scarcely invest in the Jersey. He knows of these,
and need not hesitate as to what breed to buy after
he has determined upon the purposes for which it is
to be used. Now, if a man has a herd of jennets,
too small of bone or too light of body, he ought to
know what breed is most likely to remedy these de-
fects in the progeny. If his herd is *'off in color," as
the saying is, then he ought to know what breed is
most likely to overcome such a defect.
Although such a thing properly has no place in a
stud book, it was, nevertheless, thought best to give
a short but succinct description of all the different
breeds of jacks in use in this country, because of the
8o BREEDING AND REARING OF
popular ignorance above referred to, and because of a
general lack of literature upon the subject.
Upon the question of the breeds that have been in-
troduced into this country, and of their value as
adapted to it, I can perhaps do no better than quote
an address read before the East Tennessee Farmers'
Convention, with such corrections and additions as
may be thought necessary:
We find the jack the first animal domesticated by
man for the puroose of bearing his burdens and trans-
porting him in his tedious marches and travels. We
find him mentioned with respect in Genesis; that he
was carefully bred and reared by King David; that
he is the only one of the lower animals of which we
have record to whom was given the divine power of
speech, which he seems to have used with moderation
and discretion in a short conversation with Balaam;
that on him alone was conferred the undying honor
of conveying our Savior into the proud city of Jeru-
salem. That wayward son, too, of David — Absalom,
the Boulanger of the Jews — rode upon a mule beneath
the ill-fated branch that caught his flowing locks.
Beside these distinguished honors, I find that in
other countries, climes, and times they possessed dis-
tinguished characteristics unknown to our own do-
mestic ass. That in the mountain fastnesses of Arabia
they are said to be so fleet of foot that no horse can
overtake them, even in that country in which the horse
is described as being as fleet as the wind ; that in
certain parts of Africa their meat is of the most de-
licious flavor, and was gready sought after and ap-
predated by Roman epicures. He was used, too, in
ancient times for the same purpose that he is to-day,
JACKS, JENNETS AND MUIvKS 8 1
viz. : the propagation of mules ; and, during the Roman
occupation of Spain, the value of the males for this
purpose was placed at above $13,000. And this brings
me to the practical part of my subject — the profit in
breeding them.
I think the breeding of all kinds of jacks can be
made to a certain degree profitable, and I apprehend
that it would be of more interest to my hearers to en-
deavor to show in what breed there is the most profit,
rather than an abstract discussion of the subject of
jacks in general. And, therefore, I shall, as briefly
as possible, notice the diflferent races of jacks that
have been brought to this country, not in the order of
their importance, but in the order of their importa-
tion. And I shall endeavor to give a just and fair
estimate of their value as adapted to our country.
The first to be imported were from the Cape de
Verde Islands, and without doubt traced back to the
Portuguese. They were introduced into Connecticut
principally, and were used to raise a small and in-
ferior mule for export to the West Indies. At that
time jacks could not be imported from Spain on ac-
count of the Peninsular wars, and, therefore, the
specimens introduced were of such an inferior kind
that, as soon as the West India trade died out from
competition with better animals, the people ceased to
raise them, and because of their bad start they have
never commenced again. The same may be said of
Massachusetts. It is not because of climate, as many
erroneously suppose. They were, while in the busi-
ness, just as successful as any other part of the coun-
try, considering their material. Besides the jack does
not necessarily come from a warm country; indeed,
4
82 BREEDING AND REARING OF
the reverse may be said to hold good so far as the
best jacks of Spain are concerned. We have imported
some of our best jacks, Great Eastern among the
number, from a point in full view of the eternal snows
of the Pyrenees, and in bringing them home marched
them over snow in June. And let those who are en-
gaged in breeding jacks only think of the enormous
unoccupied field yet to be supplied with them. The
demand for them North has already commenced.
Some of our best sales last year were made to Indiana
and Illinois, to which points we had never sold before.
We are constantly in receipt of letters of inquiry from
Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, California,
and even far off Vermont. Some two or three weeks
ago I received a letter from a gentleman in one of the
Sandwich Islands, Hawaii, who was anxious to in-
troduce the jack on these rich and fertile islands. The
possibilities for the trade are beyond computation, and
a significant fact is that not above two or three states
now raise a surplus.
THE ANDALUSIAN.
Here in Tennessee we have experimented more or
less — but under the most unfavorable circumstances,
on account of a lack of organization and a stud book
— with all the prominent breeds. Those first intro-
duced were the Andalusians, and reached either
through Virginia or Kentucky. The king of Spain,
in 1787, presented to General Washington a jack and
jennet of this breed. The former was called the
Royal Gift. About the same time he was presented
with a Maltese jack by the Marquis Lafayette. The
Maltese jack was crossed on the Andalusian jennet,
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 83
the result of which was a very famous jack called
Compound, that proved to be much more popular as
a breeder than the Royal Gift, which was said to have
been selected from the royal stud, and was near six-
teen hands high, but ill-shapen and ungainly.
Not many years after this, the great orator and
statesman, Henry Clay, who always had an unbounded
love for agriculture and live stock, imported into Ken-
tucky a few Andalusians. No two men of that day
could have added greater popularity to a particular
breed — the one, the idol of the whole country, the
other, the leader of a great party and the nation's
most distinguished orator; and hence, every man who
wanted to experiment with jacks wanted to try this
particular breed. And the color especially has held
on so tenaciously that gray jacks are still extremely
common with us.
This is one of the most distinctive breeds of jacks
in existence. They are found in the southern part
of Spain, embracing the whole of the ancient kingdom
of Andalusia, and are evidently of an ancient race, for
we read of them and the profits arising from their
use in propagating mules during the Roman occupa-
tion and before the time of Christ. Columella, who,
in the reign of the Emperor Claudius, published a
treatise which has been handed down to us on the
husbandry and economy of the Romans, gives very
particular directions for breeding jacks and mules.
He was a native of Cadiz, Spain, owned large estates
there, and tells us that the best mules were raised in
that part of the country.
They are distinctively gray in color, sometimes in-
deed practically white, but in rare instances black, and
84 BREEDING AND REARING OF
even blue ones are to be found. To find one black,
however, is little in his favor, as he is just as apt to
breed gray as his brother, who is entirely white. The
blood is there and will show itself. In height they
are about the same as the Catalonian ; fourteen and
one-half to fifteen hands. They have a most excel-
lent leg; the bone is large and firm, and freer than
are the other breeds from what is commonly known
as "jack sores," viz. : a running sore that appears on
the inside of the knee and hock, and which sometimes
gives a great deal of trouble. They have a fairly
good head and ear, and are really a good jack. While
many of them have been imported into this country,
they have never been popular, chiefly on account of
their color. In this we believe the people to be right.
There are other races just as good, and some that we
think are better, that have the desired color, and the
progressive breeder should seek the ideal in all things.
We have heard at least one importer complain of
their not breeding regularly, but we do not think
this has been our observation of them. So far as
we have seen, they are as much to be depended upon
in this respect as any others.
The breed is now pretty thoroughly scattered over
this country, as in addition to those brought over be-
fore the war, they have been imported in the last few
years by Mr. Lyles, of Kentucky; Messrs. Good-
pasture, of Tennessee; the Messrs. Leonard, of Mis-
souri ; and in 1889 quite a large importation by a
firm in Arkansas.
Their hereditary tendency to gray can only be elimi-
nated by carefully breeding to one of the distinctively
black races. We do not think a gray or blue jennet
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 85
ought ever to be bred to a native jack if a black im-
ported one can be reached, unless, as is sometimes
the case, the pedigree of the native can be traced in
one unbroken line of black stock to the imported black
breed. I feel safe in saying that a majority of our
natives at some point in their ancestry, immediate or
remote, are tainted with an off color.
THE MALTESE.
About the best known imported jack in America is
the Maltese. The older jack men of to-day will re-
member that as boys they heard a great deal about
the Maltese jacks. They are at least contemporary
with, if they do not actually antedate, the Andalusian
in their introduction into this country.
Mr. Pomeroy, one of our earliest authorities, how-
ever, on jackology, says that the Knight of Malta pre-
sented to General Washington was unquestionably the
first of his breed to be introduced into this country;
that the second came in the frigate Constitution, from
her first cruise in the Mediterranean, and was sold in
the District of Columbia ; and that not long afterwards
a number were introduced by officers of the navy,
from Malta, and that a few very valuable ones were
brought over in merchant ships. Certain it is that
they became comparatively well known in this country
at a very early day, and, until a few years ago, the
people seemed to know only two breeds — the broad
term of Spanish and Maltese.
Mr. Pomeroy says that there is no question but
that the race is of Arabian origin, more or less degen-
erated. They are found on an island in the Mediter-
ranean, very far to the south, and belonging, I be-
86 BREEDING AND REARING OF
lieve, to England. The island of Malta is small in
circumference and exceedingly sterile in soil. Dr.
Plumlee, who imported from there recently, tells me
that the soil in no part is more than a few inches in
depth, and that what there is, is a made soil. A few
inches below the surface it is a solid rock. Dr. Plum-
lee says that the supply of pure-bred jacks there is
exceedingly limited; in fact, when he was there and
bought eight or ten, and as many more jennets, he did
not leave more than one jack on the island that was
worth his transportation home.
They are by nature a smaller jack than any of the
Spanish breeds, seldom, if ever, going over fourteen
and one-half hands. The average height of those im-
ported would not go over fourteen hands, and of
course they average smaller on the island.
Dr. Plumlee has his kind of theory as to their size.
It is that as they are found on an island entirely
sterile, with little vegetation and inferior grain crops,
they naturally grew small, but with proper treatment
in this country, plenty of feed and an abundance of
pasturage, they will in a few generations attain the
desired size.
They are either black or brown in color, the pure-
bred generally inclined to the latter, have good heads
and piercing, upright ears, and a great deal of vitality,
showing an immense amount of vigor during the
breeding season. They are about the gamest and most
fiery little jacks that we have, and while some of them
have good bone and feet, their limbs have always too
much resembled the thoroughbred horse.
If we rode jacks to war as the ancients were said
to have done under Marius, or drove mules to our
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 87
carriages, as was the custom of the late Queen Isabella
of Spain, or in chariot races, as was the custom in the
Olympic games five or six hundred years before
Christ, then I think the Maltese would be the best,
perhaps, of any of the breeds. But none of these
things is what the farmer is after.
We want a powerful draft animal fitted for either
the city dray or the cotton or sugar plantation. We
have now experimented with the breed for over a
hundred years, and he is found to be wanting. He is
too small for our purposes. And here I want to men-
tion a very important question now facing the breeders
of the country, and especially certain portions of it,
and which has been made to assume its deserved im-
portance by the organization of the American Breed-
ers' Association of Jacks and Jennets, and that is.
What is the proper or ideal size of the breeding jack
or jennet?
There is a small coterie of breeders in Tennessee, I
hope confined to the middle division, who maintain
that jennets under fourteen are better breeders than
jennets over fourteen hands high, and estimate as
worthless the jennet fifteen hands high or over. I
am happy to note that the history of the show ring,
especially in the great breeding districts of Kentucky,
shows that their ideas have never traveled very far
away from home, and it is only mentioned because of
its effects in the particular section, and because it
was intended as an attack on our rules of entry.
They say they want no overgrown animals. Now,
the trouble is that our jennets in Tennessee have at
no time been big enough. I agree with the man who
says he wants no overgrown animal. What we want
88 BREEDING AND REARING OF
is a big race of jacks. The jack fifteen hands high
out of the twelve and one-half hand jennet is over-
grown to a greater extent than is the sixteen hand
jack from the fourteen and one-half or fifteen hand
jennet. The experience of these men has been this:
They own no large jennets, and never did. They
sometimes, however, get a large jack in spite of the
smallness of their jennets. This jack is overgrown
and does not breed up to himself, but reproduces
the size of his ancestor. And hence they cry aloud
from the housetops and from the public prints,
"Don't breed to a big jack." And they are in a
measure correct, so far as the big jacks which
they raised are concerned. But breed a big jack
to a big jennet, and the issue will have as much
hardness, style and action, as well as size and the
power to transmit all these desirable qualities, as will
the small jack to transmit the qualities of himself. In
other words, the issue will then be in almost exact
proportion. When you meet one of these antiquated
fossils, he thinks he has forever silenced you when
he asks if you ever saw a sixteen hand jack over ten
years old. He might just as well ask you if you ever
saw a jaybird on Friday. Their theory is utterly un-
tenable. As a race, the big will not produce little,
nor will the little produce big, and if established as a
race and not as a phenomenon, the big jack will live
to just as green an old age as wall the little one. The
Percheron is quite as long-lived as is the Shetland
pony. Length of life is not measured by the number
of inches or of pounds.
Another important consideration that will apply
with double significance to registration in the stud
JACKS, JENNETS AND MUI.ES 89
book is this : It has been the experience and observa-
tion of mankind for all ages that the offspring in the
whole of animal life will, to a greater or less extent,
reproduce the characteristics of one, and sometimes
of both, their immediate ancestors, and they may even
have them in a high degree, though the ancestor pos-
sessing them be generations back. It is likewise the
observation of the thoughtful that they are quite as
likely to inherit them from the dam as they are from
the sire, and some even maintain they are more so.
Now, may not the colt of the small jennet thirteen
hands high which produces a jack fifteen and one-half
hands reproduce in turn the size of his dam? Under
the rules he is eligible to registry, and pray tell me
what credit it would be to him to have his thirteen
hand dam registered. And suppose they are small
for generations back, would not such registration
actually detract from his pedigree when the size would
not otherwise appear? The great army of scientific
breeders would know at once what to expect of his
progeny.
Still another important question in this connection
is that of money. No one raises jacks for the pure
and unadulterated love for the business, nor for the
fun that is in it, nor yet for the glory and honor, but
for that all-important factor, the amount of money
they will bring as a reward for the toil, care and labor
involved. Now, for the benefit of those just starting
in the business, and for those who believe the world
reached perfection about the time of their boyhood,
and that there is now no such thing as progress, I
will affirm what I can easily prove — that the big jack
brings the big price, and the Httle jack the little price.
90 BREEDING AND REARING OE
This state of affairs has not only existed for some-
time, but it promises to grow a great deal worse in
the future. In handling from one or two importations
each year, this, without exception, has been our uni-
form experience. Give a man a list of our sales, and
he can almost grade the size of the animal by the
price. I never knew a jack to bring a large price if
under fifteen hands high, and I never knew one to
bring a very large price if under fifteen and one-half
hands. This is not only our own experience, but our
observation in sales of above 200 head each year.
The best and most profitable trade is in what are
termed jennet jacks, and these must in all cases be
large. There is a large demand for such animals.
THE CATALONIAN.
The next breed to make its appearance in this coun-
try was the Spanish Catalonian.
After Henry Clay's importation of Andalusians, his
son was, I believe, made consul-general to Spain. In
any event, he was sent there in the consular or diplo-
matic service, and while there sent to his father's
Kentucky home an excellent specimen of this breed.
So much pleased was Mr. Clay with the jack that a
year or two later he imported from the same place
a number of others. A picture of one of these orna-
ments one of the rooms in the old homestead at Ash-
land.
A few were also imported at this early day into
Virginia. Mr. Franklin and others imported to Mid-
dle Tennessee long before the war, and purchased
another importation that had been landed at Charles-
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 91
Ion, S. C. This breed has always been popular, and
justly so. For the propagation of mules of a certain
quality they are unsurpassed, and those who are en-
gaged in rearing them need never fear but that the
demand for them will be active and the prices remun-
erative. They have many valuable qualities, and among
these is that of color. Browns, or rather, sunburned
blacks, are frequently seen, but the majority have a
very glossy, jet-black coat of short hair that is greatly
sought after. Besides they are a jack of good height,
varying from fourteen and one-half to fifteen hands,
in rare instances reaching sixteen hands. While they
have not a large bone, it is a very flat, clean one. Our
Kentucky brethren object to them chiefly on the
ground that their bone is not large enough; but, I
think, this objection would disappear after a few gen-
erations on our rich blue grass soil.
There are few gray jacks in Catalonia. During nu-
merous trips there I have never seen more than two
or three, and these had doubtless strayed in with
their owners from some province farther south. They
have been thus bred for ages, and this fixedness of
color constitutes a point of much merit in the breed,
and is one of the chief reasons why I should prefer
breeding a jennet to them than to our native stock.
Our jennets in this country are very diverse in color.
Grays, blues and mouse-colored are quite numerous.
There is no way of so quickly eradicating these off-
colors as by the cross indicated.
It is a law of nature that a color that has been true
for ages in an animal will reproduce itself in a cross
with stock lacking in pure breeding. The Cleveland
bay horse that is stood to a neighbor's mares of varied
92 BREEDING AND REARING OF
hues will show about ninety per cent of bay foals.
It is not uncommon to see grade Holsteins so per-
fectly marked as to be undistinguishable from the
pure breed. Even though the native jack be black, he
may not transmit that color — they are quite as apt to
transmit the color of their ancestry, though it be for
generations back.
The Catalonian is a jack of great style and beauty
and of superb action, and many are being used in our
best jennet herds. I think they are chiefly responsible
for the black cross in our native stock. A great num-
ber of them are being imported, and I think they will
continue the history of their successful past. They
derive their name from the section of country in
which they are found, this being the northern part of
Spain, embracing all the departments known as Cata-
lonia. It covers some hundreds of miles in area, ex-
tending from the Mediterranean coast to the French
side of the Pyrenees, taking in what is known as the
Cerdan, which lies both in France and Spain. Al-
though they are found in both countries, they are still
found only in the mountains of the Pyrenees. They
are scattered all over the south of France, bordering
the mountains about Toulouse, Tarbes, Pau and else-
where. These were, nevertheless, born in their moun-
tain fastnesses of the Pyrenees, and were imported as
colts to take their places in the stud when they be-
came sufficiently old. Many of our best Catalonian
jacks that have been imported from France were thus
introduced.
The supply of good jacks in this territory — the
Pyrenees — is limited and almost exhausted by the
large and increasing importations to America. When
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 93
they were being imported before the war it was at-
tended by great difficulty and danger, public con-
veyances and modes of travel difficult, railroads un-
known, and society in a rather unsettled condition.
Spain was the last of the countries to become safe
and pleasant to travel in, and her mountains, extend-
ing all over the country, north and south, east and
west, afforded admirable places for sheltering brig-
ands and robbers. It is a large country, but one can
hardly find any part of it that is not in full view of
a tall mountain peak, covered by eternal snow.
The jack had to be brought home in sailing vessels,
steamers not then being in use. These were slow and
unfitted for the transportation of live stock, unlike
our splendid modern steamers, brought about by the
immense importations and exports of horses, cattle,
etc. When old Mammoth was imported he had to be
swung most of the way, which cut into his flesh, I
am told, until it was feared his wounds would prove
fatal.
Smce the war, with improved facilities, a great
many have been imported to this country, and espe-
cially to Tennessee, from which point they have been
scattered all over the jack territory of the Union.
Those imported are usually from fourteen and one-
half to fifteen hands high, though smaller ones have
been imported, and some that were considerably
larger, in a few rare instances going above sixteen
hands.
The large bone of the Kentucky jack is well known,
and is perhaps given by their unsurpassed limestone,
blue grass soil. But the Catalonian jack in his bone,
we think, is more devoid of flesh, and it is perhaps of
94 BREEDING AND REARING OP
a finer texture than our native stock, as is the case
of the thoroughbred compared to the other breed of
horses. They make, therefore, an admirable cross
for our native jennets. The imported jennets of this
breed may Hkevvise be profitably crossed with the
native of proper color and pedigree, avoiding in the
selection those in any w^ay related to an off-color.
For style and action they are possibly unequaled,
certainly not surpassed, by any other race. This is
noticed with great force, too, in the case of jennets.
Our native jennet stock are proverbially dull and
lazy; they move about in the most composed manner,
with an entire lack of appreciation of modern ideas of
''get up and go." Such a thing as playing in pasture
or paddock is far beneath their sense of dignity and
decorum, yea, even childlike. Age fastens upon their
feelings and spirits long before they reach the re-
sponsibilities of being matrons or mistresses. But
the imported will play and run about their lot like
a colt, and some of them can trot like an embryo
Sunol or Maud S. We remember one occasion, when
we were driving in a carriage on a government road
in France. Our team was a spirited pair of Tarbes
horses, with a great deal of the Oriental Arabian
blood coursing through their veins. Our driver was
no less spirited — a defeated son of France in their late
clash with Germany, but who had still enough spirit
left to try to pass everything on the road. We saw
ahead of us, driving at a smart gait, a man in a two-
wheeled vehicle with a fine looking jennet hitched
to it. We were at that time buying a few jennets,
and ordered our driver to overtake what promised
to be a valuable acquisition to our purchase. The
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 95
man, however, refused to be overtaken, and we drove
a full half mile at the limit of our speed before we
could come alongside of him. It is needless to say
that we purchased the jennet, but the amusing feature
of it was that we had purchased the same animal the
day before. When rigged up and at full speed in a
race there was enough difference to cause us to fail
lo recognize her, though my father said he thought
she favored one a good deal that he bought the day
before.
One rarely sees a droop-eared one among them,
and when one does, it generally has some physical
ciuse, such as a hurt in shipping, disease, or some-
thing of the kind.
This race are most excellent breeders, as they have
proven in all the jack producing states. Their mules
are handsome, quick, active and good sellers, and we
have heard it said, though we do not know how this
is, that they mature very early.
All those breeders whose stock run back in their
pedigree to the imported ought to state of what breed
they were imported. A man with a jennet would
not want to breed to a jack running back to the
Andalusian, because if she had any disposition that
way anyhow she would be pretty apt to throw a gray
colt, whereas, if bred to one running back to the Cata-
lonian, he would most likely overcome such disposi-
tion toward gray.
THE MAJORCA.
One of the popular breeds of jacks that have been
imported in the last few years is the Majorca. They
ar^ imdotibtedly the largest jacks that have been im-
96 BREEDING AND REARING OF
ported, and have been much sought after for jennet
purposes. Their bone is exceedingly large, with a
body to correspond. They are black and rarely have
that glossy color so admired in the Catalonians, but
those I have seen brought to this country will average
almost, if not quite, a hand taller than the latter. In
Europe they rank about the same, both being re-
garded as superior to the Andalusian. We have im-
ported all three, and I judge of their rank by their
price in Spain.
Majorca, the largest of the Balearic group of
islands, and the one on which these jacks are prit-
cipally found, is the richest and most productive pa't
of Spain. Although it is an island, I class it with
its continental mother, because of its proximity and
close communication, and because the jacks there
have fallen into the general category of Spanish. It
is necessary to irrigate the greater part of the island,
but the rich luxuriance of its grass and grain crops
gladdens the eye and cheers the heart. I think this
is a full explanation of the size of their jacks. This
leads me to believe that here in America, by means
of our generous system of feeding and unexcelled
pastures, and with careful and scientific breeding, we
can succeed in a few years in propagating a race of
jacks of whatever size and form desired, provided al-
ways that we commence with the proper foundation.
Majorca, Kentucky, and even Tennessee, illustrate
the fact that we can give them an increased size. The
poor and sterile plains of Algiers, Africa, have ex-
actly the opposite effect of our own rich and alluvial
soil. We imported a jennet from there a few years
ago, fully mature, and she was little above nine hands
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 97
high. It has doubtless taken generations to produce
an animal in such miniature, but the final effect is
none the less inevitable. Nothing will aid the en-
deavor to create the best jacks in the world here so
much as the late organization of the American
Breeders' Association of Jacks and Jennets. By-
means of it we need not necessarily breed our stock
to the overgrown jack. A careful perusal of the
stud book will reveal to us jacks that are large be-
cause their size is inherited, and if our jennets should
be materially deficient in any especial point, then from
this list or race of big jacks let the breeders select
the one strongest and most perfect in such deficient
point. And when such an animal is found do not
hesitate to breed to him regardless of distance or sea-
son fee. By such breeding we can raise up a race
such as the French have done, in which there are no
really cheap or inferior animals. They will be good
breeders because they have good breeding.
The Majorca is not destined to cut any great figure
in this country. Their numbers are too limited, and
there is no way in which to greatly augment it. The
island from which they are imported is small and has
been Hterally stripped of its meritorious animals.
What few have been brought to this country are now
scattered to the four winds of heaven. No jennets
have been imported, and in a few years there will not
be a pure-bred Majorca in this country, and except
for the stud book their name would be only one of
history. They have not been in this country long
enough to fully demonstrate their worth, but I am of
the opinion that they will rank fully up to the Cata-
lonian for mules, and, for a large class of our jennets,
9^ BREEDING AND REARING OF
surpass them. Their power of reproduction is
strongly illustrated by the fact that the Spanish gov-
ernment obtains the greater part of her artillery
mules from Majorca. And some of these were also
obtained a few years ago by the English government
for transport service in Egypt and elsewhere.
As to height, those brought to this country will
average about fifteen and one-half hands. They are
more uniform in size than the Catalonian, and we
believe them to be, all things considered, the largest
jacks in existence.
A good many of the breed have been imported into
South America, and at prices that astonished me
when I first learned them. Two sold there a few
years ago are reported to have gone at the price of
$900 each, which, if all expenses are added, makes a
pretty good figure for a country considered by us so
far in the rear of North American civilization.
Their heads and ears are enormous and inclined to
a bulky appearance. While they have the longest
and largest ears of any other race they are not so erect
and piercing as the Catalonian, nor have they the
style and action of this breed ; in fact, they may be
said to incline to sluggishness.
If the Catalonian be likened to the French coach
horse or the Cleveland bay, the Majorca would be a
Percheron or a Shire.
There is certainly no purer race of jacks in Spain
than the Majorca. As far back as 1825 Mr. Pome-
roy, in an essay before the Maryland Agricultural
Society, said : ''So much have been the ravages of
war and anarchy in Spain for a long time past that
the fine race of jacks that country once possessed has
JACKS, JENNKTS AND MUI.ES 99
become almost extinct. In Majorca, however, and
probably some parts of the coast of Spain opposite,
the large breed may yet be obtained in its purity."
It is easily understood why the race should be the
purest of any of the Spanish breeds. The line divid-
ing Andalusia and Catalonia is an imaginary one,
and along the border there is necessarily a more or
less commingling of the breeds among the people,
who at no time have given their time and attention
to scientific or even very careful breeding; and of
course a large part of both countries must be effected
by the kind of stock bred by the other. This is all
the more probable, too, as no value whatever is placed
upon color. They like a white just as well as a black,
and would not reduce a dollar on a jack if he should
happen to be green. But Majorca is an isolated island
two or three hundred miles from the coast of Spain,
and is inhabited by a people satisfied to do as their
fathers did before them, and who likewise, as is often
the case, think that what they have is better than what
anyone else has. It is hardly likely, therefore, that
they would go to the expense of bringing across the
seas any foreign blood. As a rule the jack breeders
of Spain are not a class who have the means to im-
port, or the information that would lead to it.
To our people — I mean those engaged in the stock
breeding business — their lack of information is as-
tonishing to the last degree. Go to a progressive
breeder in this country, of whatever kind of stock,
and he can give with a fair degree of accuracy the
location and, perhaps, the ownership, of the larger
half of his kind of stock in the state. But in Spain
one section is as profoundly ignorant of what is in
lOO BREEDING AND REARING OF
another section as he is of the Fiji Islands or Stan-
ley's ''Darkest Africa."
THE ITALIAN.
It is not necessary to say very much about the jacks
of Italy, but a good many have been imported lately,
and it seems proper that the people should know
enough of them not to be led away by the seductive
term, imported, and who at the same time will not
discredit all jacks because they are imported.
They are found almost everywhere in Italy, where
little or no attention is paid to the breed. They are
principally used for packing purposes, and are the
smallest of any of the breeds imported. The moving
cause of their importation was their cheapness. They
were bought for a song, and in most cases had to
be sold for another song, with little or no profit to
the dealer. For this reason we have perhaps seen the
last of them.
Occasionally they may be found to reach fourteen
hands, but they rarely, if ever, get to be taller than
this. Those brought to this country, and they were
the pick of Italy, ranged from about thirteen to four-
teen hands, were generally black (though grays are
not uncommon), and had rather large bones and good
weight of body. Many of them were practically use-
less as mule jacks, having doubtless been raised up
with jennets. We saw a five-year-old that was im-
ported into Tennessee that positively refused under
any circumstances to fall in love with a mare, and
that ran out in the pasture with a herd of jennets
without harm either to him or them. I saw another
lot of four or five, only one of which could be in-
£1
O w
J! «
I s
> H
:5 -c
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES lOI
duced to fulfill the end for which nature seems to
have adapted them, and that only after a long and
tedious use of a jennet. For the mare herself he
cared no more than he did for the negro groom who
held her. This is all the more unfortunate, because
they are entirely too small to use with jennets.
We have heard it said, though we are not willing
to vouch for its accuracy, that they have not proven
themselves in this country to be satisfactory breeders.
We are rather inclined to think that with a mare of
merit they would sire a fairly good but small mule.
We have seen a few carloads of handsome little mules
from Italy, ranging from fourteen to fourteen and
one - half hands, and of good form and color. We
know nothing of the class of mares producing them.
I believe them to be inferior to, but at the same
time descended from, the Maltese. They have many
points of resemblance, and are sufficiently close to-
gether for such to be the case; or else the Maltese
may be descended from the Italian.
I will add, in conclusion, that sometimes they are
quite vicious (this is one of the points of resem-
blance), and in one instance, to our personal knowl-
edge, a groom was hurt by one of them by being so
severely bitten on the arm as to confine him to his
bed for some weeks. It is our observation that small
jacks are more apt to develop vicious propensities
than large ones, but it will do to keep one's eyes open
on any of them.
THE POITOU.
The last of the distinctive breeds of jacks to be
imported to this country were the Poitou. Their
I02 BREEDING AND REARING OF
early history is most entertaining. They are to be
found in what is known as the granary of France —
in the richest and most fertile part of that most fertile
of all countries. They are found throughout the
province of Poitou, but more especially in the de-
partments of La Vendee and Deux-Sevres. In olden
times (they are mentioned in French literature as
early as 1016) France was not divided up as now
into small farms and plantations, but was owned in
large bodies by rich lords and noblemen. These had
their tenants by the hundreds, and most of them kept
a number of live stock, especially a few mares for
farm work, etc. On account of the price of good
jacks and the cost of labor, etc., in standing them,
it became the custom of the proprietors to provide
this for their tenants. Europe was at that time in
continual war, and this required vast armies in the
field; consumption of agricultural products was enor-
mous, the profits of the farm great, but tenants to
till it scarce. The tenant, therefore, having a choice,
naturally selected the place offering the greatest in-
ducements. An important one of these was the
breeding animals, and hence among these rich land-
lords there was much rivalry as to the merits of their
different studs ; and being in command of large
wealth and abundant leisure, their breeding estab-
lishments, even at an early day, reached the highest
degree of perfection attainable by the lavish expendi-
ture of money and the most careful and scientific
breeding. Perhaps this may account for the univer-
sally high esteem in which the French Poitou jack is
held all over the southern part of the continent of
Europe. No jacks are used in the north. This was
JACKS, JENNETS AND MTJI^ES IO3
their start, and for all these years the constant and
unabated care of their breeders has been to maintain
their distinctive characteristics, the purity of their
blood, and to augment their merits. Only think of
what may be accomplished by man in the course of
a few centuries with the proper effort!
In 1866 Mr. Eugene Ayrault, of Niort, France,
published a volume on the Poitou jack. I am sorry
that it has never been translated. It is a book of
high order of merit, and was awarded a gold medal
by the Society of Agriculture in France. I would
prefer giving his to my own description of these
jacks, because he is the best obtainable authority on
this subject. He says:
"His head is enormous in size, and is very much
larger than that of any other race in existence. His
mouth is smaller than that of the horse; teeth small,
but the enamel exceedingly hard. The opening of
the nostril is narrow, the ear very long, and adorned
with long, curly hair, called cadanette, which is much
esteemed by breeders.
*'It is said that animals with the longest bodies pro-
duce the best mules, and this is greatly looked to.
The tail is rather short, and furnished with long hair
at its extremity only. The chest is very broad, and
the belly voluminous. The shoulders are short; the
muscles of the forearm long, but not very thick.
The knees are exceedingly large, as are all the joints.
The chestnuts, or horny places near the knees, are
large and well developed. The abundance of hair
which covers the jack constitutes one of the most
sought-for qualities. The animals are called well-
taloned and well-moustached when they have these
qualities in a high degree.
I04 BREEDING AND REARING OF
"The mane is long and fine, the skin smooth, the
hair fine and silky in texture. We give great pref-
erence to large feet, for which this breed is noted.
The skin is almost universally black or dark brown.
The gray jack, though seldom met, is rejected by
good mule breeders. The animals which have the
end of the nose black and whose bodies are wholly
of this color are said to be lacking in breeding. The
skin and coating of the jack is very important, and
it is thought that the mules from a jack superior in
this respect mature earlier."
Such is Mr. Ayrault's description of them. I will
add that these jacks are physically the most power-
ful of any race in existence ; they have greater weight
and more bone and substance generally. They are
not exceedingly tall, their legs being extremely short,
but in a cross with a mare of fair size the mule will
be found to have all the height desired. The first
impression one gains of a Poitou is not a favorable
one. They are never trimmed or groomed in Poitou,
and we are not accustomed to their long hair and
bulky appearance. It gives them the appearance of
being too short in the neck and ear; but this is a
matter of education.
The demand for these jacks is such that it cannot
be supplied, and even French breeders in certain parts
of the country are forced to use the Catalonian and
Majorca, though they acknowledge the superiority
of the Poitou. Their price is enough to stagger one.
Mr. Ayrault says that $i,ooo to $1,200 is ordinary,
while $2,000 for a single animal is not uncommon.
I am in receipt of a letter from a friend of mine in
France, who writes me that a three-year-old Poitou
JACKS, JKNNETS AND MUI,ES 105
that was exhibited at the late Paris Exposition was
sold to a South American gentleman for the sum of
$3,200. In our own limited experience there we have
been made to pay as high as $1,500 for a two-year-old
colt.
Without disparaging the merits of any other breed,
for we have the sincerest admiration for some of
them, the fact remains that the mules from the Poitou
are the largest, heaviest and best to be seen in Europe.
I may add, too, that this is accepted as a fact in all
mule breeding countries of the continent.
A very large number of Poitou mules are imported
each year to Spain, notably to their chief city, Bar-
celona, where they outsell their own native stock.
The large firm of San Marti & Sons have been thus
importing to that city for years. They supply mules
both to the government and to individuals. The
senior member of the firm has assisted in the purchase
of some of the best jacks that have been imported to
this country from Catalonia. For heavy work he
has expressed the opinion to the writer that the Poitou
mules were unequaled by any race of horses or any
other breed of mules. It is true that the mares found
in Catalonia are not everything that could be desired.
They are, perhaps, better in the south of Spain, but
hardly the thing yet for mule breeding, being Spanish
barbs, perhaps introduced by the Moors when in pos-
session of the country, and continental importations
from the Orient. Hence the mules, while they are
handsome and active, lack the weight and body re-
quired.
The mares to be found in Poitou are neither the
Norman draft nor the Percheron, but are a large,
I06 BREEDING AND REARING OF
broad-backed, heavy-bodied, powerful race that seem
especially adapted to mule breeding. The test of the
jack breeds, therefore, is in France. The Poitou, as
has been before mentioned, are not sufficient in num-
ber to fulfill the demand in their own country, and
hence there are hundreds of the Spanish jacks im-
ported there for use in the stud. We have seen the
Poitou and the Catalonian in the same establishment —
the owner possessing the very best specimens of the
latter. The Poitou here fairly maintains his ascen-
dancy, and his mules outsell the Spanish breed.
The Count of Exea, who maintains at Tournay the
most magnificent breeding establishment that we have
ever visited, keeps two very remarkable specimens
of this breed for use solely on his own mares. One
of them is fifteen and one-half hands, and the other,
a three-year-old past, is fifteen and three-quarters
hands. This is a remarkable height for the breed,
as they usually range from fourteen and one-half to
fifteen hands, rarely growing taller. The fifteen and
one-half hand jack was so immense in all his pro-
portions that we measured his knee, hind hock, belt,
length of ears, etc., in order to see if our vision was
deceived by appearances, and after we had left and
applied the measure to other animals we concluded
that both our eyes and tape were wrong, so huge did
his measure appear. The count says he gave $2,000
for this jack, and upon our inquiring of him how
he could afford to keep so valuable an animal for
mares only, he carried us into his barn — a grand
structure that has cost a mint of money — and there
showed us about one hundred and fifty mule colts,
one and two years of age. When I saw the mules
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES 107
I could readily see how he could afford to use the
jack. Owning all the mules, twenty-five or thirty
dollars on the head, is an easy demonstration of how
a man can afford to use the best jack obtainable, re-
gardless of the money he costs. An easier query
would be how could he afford to use an inferior or
even an ordinary one, his capital enabling him to
obtain the best.
The count also had some jennets, but because they
were of kin, or because he was afraid of their effect
on the jack, or because he thought he knew of one
that would nick better with them, he did not breed
to his own jacks but shipped them to M. Sago's, near
Niort, France, a distance of at least one hundred and
fifty miles.
I mention these things only because I hope they
may be of value in teaching two important truths
and eliminate at least one popular error. One is,
that you cannot get a jack too good for mule breed-
ing. For this purpose many think that one jack, if
he is a fair looker, will do about as well as another
or a better one. But the true theory is, get the best
if you can, and in breeding mares the difference in
the value of the colt, between a good and a bad sire,
will be perhaps three or four times the difference in
price of service fees.
Another lesson is, that in this country, where is
raised the finest and best jack stock on earth, or if
that is contradicted, it can be said without fear of
successful contradiction, the highest priced jack stock
on earth, the people do not hesitate to ship hundreds
of miles to breed their jennets to that animal that
suits them best, even though they may have good
I08 BREEDING AND REARING OP
ones at home. The general rule in America is to
breed to the one most convenient.
It may be of interest in this connection to note the
value of the mule business in Poitou. I have no
statistics later than 1866, since which time the coun-
try has prospered, and this business has increased
in equal or greater proportion to others. This prov-
ince is hardly larger than one of our American coun-
ties, and we do not mean a Texas county, either, and
yet in the year 1866, fifty thousand mares were bred
to jacks, and the yearly export of young mules
amounted to between two and three millions of dol-
lars. This industry there, for profit, is without an
equal in agriculture.
I will add, that the French were the first in the
field to establish a jack stock stud book, and the
Poitou are the only breed having their own distinctive
stud book, in which no other breed is eligible to enter.
It has been established some years, and the rules
governing entries are stricter than those of our
American organization. Like ours, gray animals are
not eligible. A thing that is superior to the Amer-
ican book is this: No test is made of height, but a
complete committee examines each animal sought
to be registered ; this committee passes upon the jack
and recommends or condemns, upon his merit and
pedigree alone. He might be sixteen hands high
and yet reflect no credit upon the organization, not-
withstanding a good pedigree and color; or he might
be lower than the average good jack and yet be so
superior in weight, bone, form and style as to place
him in the first rank of breeding jacks. But to fol-
low this plan requires money, a thing with which a
JACKS, JENNKTS AND MUI,KS IO9
new society is never burdened. This committee re-
gards many other things of equal importance to
height, and pedigree is made to play a much more
important part than with us.
As confirmatory of what I have said of this breed,
I note the following from A. B. Allen, in the New
York Tribune, and copied in the Farmer's Home Jour-
nal, of Louisville. After speaking of other breeds,
and their introduction into this country, he says:
'The Poitou is the most perfectly formed of all
American jacks imported; not so tall as the Majorca,
but more powerful for his inches, with greater weight,
more bone and superior muscle. The ordinary stock
is held in France at $1,000 to $1,500 each, and the
choicer ones command $2,000 to $3,000. The prices
are so high as to almost forbid importation. His
mules are unequaled, and sell on an average from
fifty to one hundred per cent higher than the get of
any other jack. This makes it profitable to breed
from him, even at the high price he costs. The breed-
ers of Poitou have a stud book for the record of their
stock, so there can be no mistake as to purity. Their
mules which I saw in Switzerland were the finest
and most powerful of any class that has come under
my observation. I was informed that their French
dams were of the Percheron or common farm stock
or their grades, which helped to give to their off-
spring greater size and power, together with superior
form. There are large numbers of mares now in the
United States, half and three-quarter grades of the
French, Scotch and English breeds of draft stallions.
These mares, in size and quality, are equal to the
French, and may be bred to jacks with great advan-'
no BREEDING AND REARING OF
tage. Their mules would be heavy enough for the
heaviest farm and road work, and some few single
ones would be able to pull alone in a city dray, or a
pair of them the heavy four-wheeled city trucks. I
am confident that as soon as such mules could be
placed in market they would be of quicker sale, and
at higher prices than horses, for they are less liable
to disease, hardier, longer-lived, and, it is contended,
consume less food for the work done. Our breeders
should not hesitate to go into this business to the full
extent of their ability, for they could not probably
be able to produce mules enough to meet the demand
even at high prices for fifty years."
PERFECTION.
Perfection was foaled May 2'j, 1891. He has the
finest bone, head and ear of any colt we known — Roman
head, finest of style ; and took all the premiums in her
class at the many Middle Tennessee fairs, to wit : Mur-
freesboro, Columbia, Lewisburg, Fayetteville, and
Pulaski ; and a number of other fairs in Kentucky. She
has never entered a ring without a ribbon. She has
been exhibited twenty-five times and took twenty-five
blue ribbons. She took the premium at the World's
Fair, Chicago, in 1893, also at the State Fair, at Nash-
ville, 1893. Is in foal to Day Star (22). She is pro-
nounced by jack men to be the best colt ever seen in
Middle Tennessee. Sired by Long Tom, fifteen hands,
three inches ; he by Ezell's Big Tom, Jr. ; he by F. R.
Rains' Big Tom, Sr. ; he by McGavock Bossy ; he by
Imp. Black Forrest, Long Tom's first dam by F. R.
Rains' Black Mammoth, and she out of an imported
JACKS, JENNETS AND MULES III
jennet. Lecona dam the dam of Old Starlight by
Ezell's Big Tom, Jr., his dam Ezell's Old Ann. Per-
fection's first dam is a fourteen hand jennet, sired by
Free Dave, known as the Snell jack ; her dam by Dr.
Knight's Knight Errant, and her dam was Mammoth.
Price $1,250.
The above jennet. Perfection, is owned by Messrs.
I. W. and J. L. Jones, proprietors of Daisy Stock
Farm, and registered jacks and jennets, Maury
County, Tennessee. Persons wishing to exhibit stock
at the World's Fair at St. Louis, Mo., in 1903, can con-
fer with Hon. J. L. Jones, Sr., Columbia, Tenn., who
is one of the executive committee, and will represent
the interests of the South in jacks, jennets and mules.
[The author regrets his inability to procure photo-
graphs of the Andalusian, Maltese and Italian jacks
for this book.]
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4Cc
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