Mule South to tractor South : mules, machines, and the transformation of the cotton South / George B. Ellenberg.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ellenberg, George B., 1958-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mules--Southern States--History.

Mules.

Farm tractors--Southern States--History.

Farm tractors.

Agricultural innovations--Southern States--History.

Agricultural innovations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (236 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The author describes the adoption of the mule as the major agricultural resource in the American South and its later displacement by the mechanical tractor. After describing the surprising slowness of southern farmers to realize the superiority of the mule over the horse for agricultural labor, Ellenberg strives to capture the symbiosis that emerged between animal and man to illuminate why and how the mule became a standard feature in Southern folk culture. Having been slow to adopt the mule, southern farmers were then reluctant to set it aside in favor of the

Contents:

Contents; List of Illustrations; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. The Mule Ascendant: Oxen, Horses, and Mules; 2. Supplying the South: Mule Breeding and Mule Trading; 3. An Unrealized Dream: Local Mule Production; 4. Debating Farm Power: The USDA, the Midwest, Mules, and Tractors; 5. Successful Farming Defined: The Tractor Triumphant; 6. The Transitional South: Mules, Metaphors, and Modernization; Conclusion; Abbreviations; Notes; Note on Sources; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [169]-200) and index.

ISBN:

0-8173-8038-8

OCLC:

425968227