The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1880-04-07
.s,s MULES AT ATLANTA q
Extent or the Trade Whence GIle supply
Comes and Where They 60.

| Extent or the Trade-YFheHce GIle supply
/ Comes and Where They Go.
| Eta ATLANTA (ea.3 Consultation 900 d it
The backwards in Atlanta are fun of
mules. There never has been such a
supply of these useful animals on the
market. Few people have anyidea how
/ great the mule tradeof Atlantais. Since
| 1868 it has been enormous La spite of
the fact that the year before last about
$4,000 mules were distributed from this
point, the demand has not decreased.
| and thg preseiit eeasCn has been one of
Unusual activity. II From the rich blue
grass valleys of Kentucky, and the great
stock farms of Tennessee thousands of
the finest mules in the world come to
Atlanta. Hundreds of farmers come to
Atlanta Just to buy mules At any
hour in the day the stO6k-yards, of
which there are four or five in the city,
are being inspected by purchasers.
Many of the jolly drOvers who come
here bring as many as three or four car
loads of mules. None of them come
without one car load. Freight charges
are heavy, and it would not pay to bring
fewer. The mules are always in splan-
did condition when they reach Atlanta;
they are fat sleek and so active that
they throw their heels around with
a native carelessness thatinsures respect.
Good mules are always In demand, and
bring good prices. They are now worth
from 800 to $3.50 each, according TO
size and condition. They are taken
from Atlanta to all parts Of Georgia and
Alabama, South Carolina and Florida.
Many of the large drOyers will not re-
tail their mules but sell them by lots to
traders and spectators. Some of these
hardy Kentuckians and Tennesseans
have made fortunes raising mules since
the war. They conduct huge stock farms,
where the young mules are made fat and
strong on the richest grass, and grow up
to their majority in q climate
which is the best in the world for all
kinds of hOrse-fesh. There are other
mule-traders who do not own a foot Of
land, and never bother themselves with
raising mules, They buy them from the
farms at advantageous prices, ship them
to market and pocket few thousands
every month of the season. The mule
trader is a character, and individually
not exactly like anybody else. He has
liberal views, genuine Kentucky joyi-
atty, q love of fun that carries him TO
see all the sights when he comes to the
city. 1t is remarkable what respect
these men have for the mule. The re-
porter heard one CT them say the other
day that he saw a child fall in the
streets just ahead of a drove of mules
rushing at full tilt down the street.
Everybody expected in the next instant
to see the hoofs of the rushing mules
crush the little one to death. But the
gocd-natured mules comprehended the
danger. Every cue of them skipped
over the little child and left it as safe
as if. it had been in its mothers lap all
the while. That the mule has been
slandered is quite probable. The mule
trade of Atlanta brings hundreds of
thousands of dollars here every winter
and spring. The drovers spend thou
sands here. The farmers who come here
to purchase mules spend thousands
more. In Georgia and the South sue
cessful agriculture depends largely on
the mule. Some one has said that two
things in creation have fully demon |
strated their eternal fitness for each |
negro and the mule, A ne
gro never works so well as with stout |
mule; a mule never rises to its highest |
possibilities except under the guiding
hand of & darkey. With darkies and |
mules our fields will continue to yield |
their rich increase.