The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1908-10-22
oEoI


Missouri or his oId henu-Hy nome
we pay a price IaugiAs LON SOU "
1915. A four mule pos team OF TINS
imported animal costs the Louisiana
planters from S4OUO to sllUV A Jour
mule wagon team 10 maui cane 10 Tue
mill in winter the same pour man
fortune" "a III. ee' mHIe cart team III
proportioni and 20 pull tae patent eu''
tiyators that uckle the gIUdLa IN lhe
spring to nour.sh the sta, '.s cane
shoots they have QUAD 10! Tue
double team concerned SOW 70 S6OO ID
cold cash or interest bua.ing p.omis'
sorry notes. linen ~ iced tnls AM
mated adjunct OF cahe eur-aie jhey
have TO use about half a busncl OF SJ-
cents corn a day or about the same
amount Of 60-cents oats Tor a daily
diet with a libe. al films OF hay and
gallon Of molasses thrown IN Tor Ges'
sert at meals watch long swcetenlns
should be worth about 20 cents a gai-
lon, but as a by-product, commands
about 10 cents or less in our leading
mercantile exchanges
Since the BoerBritish war in South
Africa the market price for American
mules has advanced so much as 10
make investments in their purchase
one Of the heaviest items in the eX-
pense account Of our Louisiana sugar
planting industry, and to th.eaten the
possibility Of a movement toward gen
eral mule-emancipat.on from preyi-
GUS condition of sesNltude by any mum.
Der Of fanatical asinCphol!sts who
have recently had their attention call
ed, by the enormous increase in the
money value of mules, 10 their laborl'
Gus performance in adding to the agri-
cultural productiyeness OF the coun.
try in general and OF the South in par
icular. ..
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 a certain extent IN
conducting their important industry
In few more years they may hops
TO see the muleless plow turning its
deep and straight loaniy burrows, pro.
PEELED by denatured alcohol, manu-.
featured from Louisiana molasses, or
gasoline extracted from Louisiana Pc.
troleum 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 explo-
sive 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 a few years,
or, may be, decade more pay their
big money and depend upon the hybrid
animal power of distant Missouri and
Kentucky to pillow their fields, cult
vate 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 whore practical econ
emy counts for so much in the cost
Of cane culture and sugar manufacture
something might BE- saved in several
lines by tho substitution Of the cheap.
er work of oxen for expensive mule
power on the Louisiana sugar planta.
tons. a pair of well broken oxen
costs inside of 500 against $500 for a
pair of goo6 sugar mules The ra-
tons Of the working OK cost probably
one-fouIth 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
be-sprinkled hay at night. On this
provender which would quickly lead
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.
sary to the rapid cultivation Of our
cane crops; nor can they be used ad-
vantageously in hauling cane to the
shed of the active central factory
where enough backing and filling and
"geeing" and having" are necessary
for the close delivery of the cane to
distract any other animal in the world
than the understanding mule and the
expert darkey driver. But the horned
beasts can do a big Loo of work which
is now allotted TO the more expensive
mule and do It mucn cheaper than
the creature Of uncloven boots and
largely cloven head.
Oxen might be economically used 10.