The new South-news., 1908-10-10
The OK a Neglected Resource.

Ia our sugar region. fyr the imni
grant mule that comes TO us in his I'm.
suspecfing youth from the pastures OF
Missouri or his old Kentucky home
Ne pay price ranging from $3.50 t6
@ys5. A four mule plow team OF this
imported animal costs the Louisians
planters from 1900 TO Silo0. A foui
mule wagon team to haul cane to The
mill In winter the same poor mans
fortune. three mule cart team IN
proportion. and 10 pull the patant cuI
tNstors that tickle the ground in the
spiing to nourish The starting cane
shoots they hav. outlald for The
double team concerned $500 TO $500 in
cold cash or interest bearing pfomis
sofy notes. Then - feed this ami
mated adjunct or, cahe culture they
have 10 use about half bushei OF So
cents corn day. or aooii the same
amount OF C0cenis oats for a daily
diet with liberal filing Of hay and
gallon Of molasses thrown IN for dcs-
sert al meals wlich long swoetenlns
should be worth about 20 cents gall
Ion, but as a by-product. commands
about 10 cents or less In our leading
mercantile exchanges.
Since the Boer British war In South
Africa the market price for American
mules has advanced SO much as to
make investments in their purchase
one of the heaviest items in the ex-
pense account OF our Louisiana sugar
planting industry. and TO threaten the
possibility OF a movement toward gen
eral mule-emancipat.on from a previ-
GUS condition OF seryitude by any mum
ber OF fanatical asinopholists who
have recently had their attention call
ed, by the enormous increase in the
money value OF mules, to their labori-
Gus performance In adding to the agri-
cultural productiveness of the coun-
try in general and of the Sor.h in par
ticular.
Now while our sugar planters can
not afford at present 10 dispense with
the mule and his most intimate part.
ner In our local agricultural pursuits
they might diminish his labors and
mitigate his cost to q certain extent in
conducting their important industry
In few more years they may hope
20 see the muleless plow turning its
deep and straight loamy burrows, pro-
PEELED by denatured alcohol. manu-
AcIured from Louisiana moasses. or
gasoline extracted from Louisiana Pc
tloleum fields. and trains the horseless
wagons loaded with harvested cane
rolling along up to the carriers OF our
central sugar factories, pushed or
drawn by the same marvellous cxplo-
siye power controlled to economical
employment by inventive men. But
IN the mean time the growers of cane
and the manufacturers of sugar in our
Pelican state must for few years.
or. may BE-. decade more pay their
big money and depend upon the hybrid
animal power Of distant Missouri and
kentucky to piow tncir fields culti-
Nate their crops and haul their cane
to the mills. although they may have
recently risen to the progressive emf
ence of getting it loaded on their wag.
ons by gasoline machine power.
In these times where practical econ
omy counts for so much in the cost
OF cane culture and sugar manufacture
something might be saved in several
lines By the substitution OF the cheap
er work of oxen for expensive mule
power on the Louisiana sugar planta-
tions. A pair of well broken oxen
costs inside of slo0 against $500 for
pair of good sugar mules The ra-
ions of the working OK cost probably
one-fourth the amount of the varied
and comparatively sumptuous diet OF
the mule. We may "muzzle not the
OK that treadeth out the corn" and re-
ward him for his toll in the rolling
season with 'cane-tops as his chief sus-
tenance with an extra bait of molasses
he-sprinkled hay at night. On this
provender which would quickly lead a
mule to the bone yard the ruminative
OK would remain strong and grow fat.
Now oxen cannot navigate our up
to.date agricultural implements neces-
sAlN " titt ldpil tullNtllOn OF our
cane crops; nor can they be used ad-
Naniageousiy in hauling cane to the
shed OF the active central factory
where enough backing and filing and
"geeing' and having" are necessary
for the close delivery of the cane to
distract any other aqlmal in the world
than the understanding mule and the
expert darkey driver. But the horned
beasts can do big loo OF work which
is now allotted to the more expensive
mule and do 1t mucn cheaper than
the creature Of uncloven hoofs and
largely cloven head.
Oxen might be economically used for
fall and winter plowing in place Of
the speedier mule engaged in more
pressing work.
In hauling cane to railroad derricks
In outlying fields, where no backing
and filling is necessary. but only q
straight run with the load and the
empty, and stoppage long enough
to lift the load out Of the wagon, prob.
ably ox-power would be cheaper In
the long run than mule-pover con.