RESULTS OF COTTON EXPERIMENTS IN 1911. 19 



EGYPTIAN COTTON AS A FAMILY CROP. 



The Ei^yptian cotton is also superior to the Upland type from the 

 standpoint of what may be called domestic or household production; 

 that is, by the work of the settler and his own family. It is much 

 lighter work to pic-k Egyptian cotton than to pick a short-staple crop 

 of equal value. This is because the actual weight is less with the 

 Egyptian cotton and because more careful methods of picking must 

 be used. The Egyptian plants are taller and more erect, so that the 

 picker stands in an upright position. This makes the work easier 

 and lessens the exposure to the sun. There is also more shade in 

 the Egyptian fields, on account of the larger size of the plants. With 

 the small or prostrate Upland plants most of the work must be done 

 with the body in a stooping position or while kneeling on the ground, 

 with the back exposed to the sun. At the same time the movements 

 of the body are impeded by a large picking sack, which pickers of 

 Upland have to drag tlu-ough the field. Large sacks will not be used 

 with the Egyptian cotton because they admit too much "trash" or 

 broken leaves. 



It takes longer to pick the Egj^^tian cotton because of the smaller 

 size of the bolls and the need of greater care to keep the fiber clean. 

 The greater care takes more time, of course, but hghtens the physical 

 exertion. Indeed, it would be difficult to mention any other form 

 of outdoor work m wliicli women and children can assist to better 

 advantage. 



Another feature that adapts Egj^^tian cotton to household pro- 

 duction is that it is easier to pick the cotton clean in the morning 

 and afternoon when the bracts and dead leaves are not so brittle 

 as in the middle of the day. With hired labor it is scarcely feasible 

 to interrupt picking for several hours in the middle of the day, but 

 this is an advantage if the housewife and children are to do a share 

 of the work. The prejudice against outdoor work for women and 

 children is giving way before a realization of the superior healthful- 

 ness of activity in the open air. Children make better educational 

 progress when they are allowed a share in the acti^^ties of their 

 parents. Town children spend most of their wakmg hours \\ath 

 other school chOdren of their owai age and have only slight contacts 

 vnth parents or wdth practical affairs of life. For children to help 

 their parents with such farm operations as picking cotton is also 

 entirely different from having them work in gangs or in factories. 



UnUke perishable fruits and truck crops, the cotton does not spoil 

 if picking has to be interrupted for a day or even for a week, nor does 

 it have to be packed and shipped as soon as gathered. Many families 

 could pick two or three bales of Eg>'ptian cotton without serious 

 dilliculty, for the harvest season is very long, three months or jnore. 

 Even a single bale of Eg}T)tian cotton, worth about SI 00, would be a 

 welcome addition to the income of many a pioneer family. The 



[Cir. 96] 



