Back before about 1947 or so, all of the farming in the Mississippi Delta was done with mule power. When my father bought Dry Bayou Plantation (out at Malvina crossroads) he owned 40 mules. I want to repeat that- four zero mules- of both sexes (both ruled by God to be incapable of propagation), and a variety of sizes and colors. Now, of course, one man cannot handle 40 mules by himself. Daddy had 12 or 13 tenants on Dry Bayou to help with the work. The mules were kept in a barn and Daddy had a 'hosler' whose sole duty was to look after the feeding and caring of those mules.

I can remember in the late fall or early spring, the guys would hook up teams of 4 mules to a turning plow which would throw dirt in both directions to break up the soil for the coming year's crop. They would run the plow down the center of the row to throw the soil to the old middles on each side, thus making the center of each last year's row a middle for the coming year, and visa-versa. I can remember six or eight of these rigs (each with 4 mules, one turning plow, and one driver) going thru a field one after the other.

For later work, like cultivating, it was only one or two mules per team. Most of the time it was one mule with a cultivator called a double shovel which would handle 1/2 of a row. Sometimes it was two mules with a bigger cultivator called a gang plow which would handle a whole row at a time. It was composed of two wheels connected to two floating plow shafts that held a compliment of two to four sweeps each of which dug into the soil a few inches to destroy the weeds. Handles were attached to each gang which the operator would skillfully manipulate by hand to cause the dirt to be thrown underneath the cotton plant to smother out small weeds but leave the cotton unharmed.

A sweep was the part of a cultivator that dug into the soil to break up the upper soil crust and destroy the small weeds. It was a replaceable part that was attached to a shaft that came downward from the cultivator body. Sweeps were roughly the shape of an arrow, with a point and wings. It came in various sizes which were specified as the distance between the ends of the points. The smallest were about 5 to 6 inches and the largest were about 16 to 18 inches (known for obvious reasons as 'Buzzard Wings'). I remember a special rectangular sweep that had no wings. It was know as a 'shovel.' Frictional action with the soil wore out sweeps. Since they were not inexpensive items, they were refurbished by blacksmiths. The old sweep would be heated to a red hot condition, beat out till the edges were thin, then annealed and sharpened.

Mule Harness:
Following are terms I remember associated with the mule harness. A Single Tree was a wood bar about 3 feet long, strengthened with metal, located to the rear of a single mule and was one of a number of items used to connect the mule to the item being pulled. If two mules were to be utilized together, the Single Tree would connect at its middle to the end of a Double Tree which was also made of wood. It was slightly longer than twice as long as a Single Tree. The Double Tree would connect at its middle to a Tongue which would connect to the item being pulled, extend in between two mules, and connect by chains to the mules, collars. The Single Trees would connect at each end to metal Trace Chains which went up each side of the mule. The ends of the trace chains would connect to the Horse Collar that was around the mule's neck. The trace chains also would connect to a Back Strap across the mules back.

The horse collar was made of several parts that I can remember many times being placed around a mules neck. There was a soft padded inner part used to protect the mule's neck. The horse collar padding was held around the neck by a device called the Hames. The Hames is made of two parts, wood and metal, built to conform to the shape of the neck and was held across the top and bottom by short adjustable leather belts called Hames straps. Each trace chain was connected to the metal part of the Hames by special, quick attache, hooks I seem to remember were called Hames Hooks.

There are several fond memory items I have associated with those mules. The laborers had no watches then and we had a bell that the hosler would ring to indicate the beginning and end of the lunch hour.

I can remember that bell being rung for the beginning of lunch and hearing way across the farm a mule in the field braying because he knew the bell meant he would get a rest. I can also remember, after going to bed, hearing a knocking sound from the barn. I learned that it was a mule kicking the wooden side of the barn with one of his front hoofs. Feed-grain was stored in one of the rooms of the barn and the mules had learned that they could kick the side of the barn and cause a little of the grain to leak onto the ground. So they would kick three or four times, then eat a few grains from the ground and kick some more until they either had enough or were tired of the kicking.

Each of those mules was named. As example, Daddy could tell one of the guys to go get 'old blue' to perform some task and everyone would know who Old Blue was including Old Blue who would try to make himself scarce. I remember one mule in particular whose rear end would swing way to the left and then way to the right as if he were DRUNK as observed by the guy following down a row. So, of course, they called him 'Whiskey'. As time went by, Whiskey got older and turned grey like people do. He then became 'Old Whiskey.' And then sadly, one day Old Whiskey died. The guys tied a trace chain to Whiskey and hooked two mules to the other end of the trace chain and drug him off to the edge of some woods to let nature take its course.

[Now, I need to tell you that everything I have told you so far is 100% truthful and accurate. But I need to confess that the following paragraphs do not conform to that strict moral practice. In places below, I have exaggerated a little. But it makes a good story, and I'll leave it up to the reader to decide what has been slightly expanded.]

It was late in the fall when Whiskey expired, and that year we got an early snow. Some of the guys on the place asked me to go rabbit hunting, which, with guns, was strictly against the rules. One could hunt with sticks and stones and dogs in the snow all he wanted to, but game wardens took a dim view of hunting in the snow with guns. However, we did and this time got away with it.

Now I need to tell you a little about rabbits and rabbit hunting. When the dogs jumped a rabbit, you didn't go dashing after the rabbit and dogs. Rabbits tend to run in circles--in the Delta anyway. So if you patiently waited, the rabbit with the dogs behind it would eventually circle back around and you would get another shot.

To get a better shot, it paid to be situated a few feet up on something. I saw a pile of snow near me and climbed aboard. So picture me on the pile of snow with my shotgun at the ready waiting for the rabbit to come back by. And then suddenly, SWUMP, my snow mound gave away, and in a few seconds I realized that I was on a first name basis with Old Whiskey's inner self.

It was obvious that I would have to leave something out there but could save a few things. First, I handed my shotgun to one of the guys. Next I wanted to save a fancy belt buckle I had, so I took off my belt and handed it to another guy. I then reached in my pockets to retrieve my wallet and other valuables and handed them to someone. Finally I slipped out of my boots and my bluejeans and left them. One of the guys took my left arm and another my right arm, and they lifted me out of Old Whiskey, and set me on the shoulders of a third. Thusly, I rode home.

This represents my complete knowledge of mules.