The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1897-05-22
FARMER AND PLANTER
ABOUT JACKS.


|
The Outlook In the Important industry Of
Mule Raising.
In times of imitation and depression
the best of judges are often at fault in
their predictions, when everything il
down everybody is hunting for REM
edy, while quite number are able to
assign causes very few are able to point
out line for relief. As certain as
cause and effect exist there are many
causes natural and approximate, which
are not acceptable to us and carry
down many well-laid. and SEEM
ingly prosperous plans in an avalanche
of hard times. Natures laws are such,
that one extreme, as rule, follows an
other, and whether this rule holds
god in business circles is matter
about which political economists diff
fer However, in many instances, in
many special departments of business,
the rule seems to hold good. In the
history of jacks and jack stock, in q
period of SO years, instances are to
be found in which the highest has
been reached, as well as the low
est In the movements of this
class of stock the mule has at all
times been an index to the jack,
often times pointing to what would be
some time before the event came. As
the mule in the United States is an &C.
knowledged necessity. SO follows as q
natural consequence the jack. When
mules go up the jack must and will af-
ter awhile follow him, If not inter
rupted by some controlling cause.
just after the war jack stock was very
low and mules were high, and re-
NAMED thus for several years. But
after awhile the jack came up and
enjoyed prosperity as a property
and remained in close touch
with his burden-bearing progeny
until recent years. when both as
class travelled the downward path of
low prices, with everything that was
produced by the stock raiser and farm
er. And it stands to-day, as every
stock farmer realizes to his sorrow.
We are now on the beams end, SO to
speak of the downward extreme, and
so soon as the supply of mules be-
comes sufficiently small that they are
sought after and in demand, then the
price of the mule will go up. and will
command the price that he is richly
worth as a understanding animal, and
in touch with the price of the mule.
Jackswill go up and good ones will again
command good prices. Though it is
the opinion of many that the little
mule and little jack has seen his best
day, and that the sympathetic touch of
the upward price of the mule can never
again bring the little jack up to his
former standard. The 15-hand blocky,
wellbred jack will come around again
and be chief factor in stock farming.
Mules of the proper class are now get
ting scarce. In many of the mule-pro-
ducing states, or, more properly, the
mule-breeding states, where they are
bought as weanlings and punched for
the buyers, proper stock is getting |
veay scarce, and buyers are compelled |
to cover great deal Of territory and |
then not get what is wanted. 1t takes |
about four years to breed, raise and |
prepare mule for use and active work. |
1t they be scarce now and the demand |
remaining the same, it will be but a
short time until the supply will be
short indeed. Illinois, Indiana, Mis- |
souri,, Kentucky and Tennessee,
breed large proportion of the
best mules, while in Illinois and |
Indiana few are matured for
the breeders prefering |
to sell to Tennessee and Kentucky and |
other raisers to be developed. These
states of Illinois and Indiana are well |
fitted for the breeding of mules, as
they have the large-boned, heavy |
mares SO well adapted to raising the |
class of mules desired. The signs of |
the times point to the fact that mules
this present year will be better price |
than of late years, and next years
prices will partake something of the
pristine glory ofsthe mule price in the
better days. The raiser looks to the
breeder for his supply, the dealer looks
10 the raiser; the consumer looks to
1ealer. So breeders of mules, you are
the starting point, and unless you
breed there can be no supply. But in
'rder to get mules you must have
Jacks. So the signs of the times say
get the best jacks and breed your best
mares to them, and you will, by tn
lime you get the colts, be ready to
cap . rich -harvest-Cor. Farmers
home Journal.
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