420 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1957 



Table 1. — Estimated number and percentage of mechanical cotton harvesters on 

 farms, and percentage of cotton mechanically harvested, by States, 1955-56 season 



' Estimates compiled by National Cotton Council of America, Memphis. 



* U. S. Agricultural Marketing Service, Charges for ginning cotton, costs of selected services incident to 

 marketing, and related information, season 1955-56 (mimeographed), May 1956, p. 2. 



» Estimate either not requested or insignificant number reported. 

 « Less than 0.5 percent. 



• Percentage of total United States crop harvested by respective method. 



Campbell showed great persistence and personal sacrifice in his 

 efforts to perfect his machine over a period of 37 years. 14 Each harvest 

 season for over 20 years he used his vacation time to journey from his 

 place of employment in Chicago to Texas, Louisiana, or Mississippi, 

 where he would try out his latest model. In 1910, after trying out 

 some 55 designs, he was so confident of success that he put five ma- 

 chines into the field in a widely publicized demonstration at Waxa- 

 hatchie, Tex. Evidently his optimism was premature, since few 

 farmers bought machines. 



The same year Campbell joined forces with Theodore H. Price, 

 who had independently devised a cotton harvester which he patented 



14 For contemporary accounts of Campbell's activities, see Page, op. cit., pp. 13, 

 748-760; Day, William, Picking cotton by machine, Sci. Amer., vol. 104, p. 231, 

 March 4, 1911 ; A machine that is philanthropist, Outlook, vol. 97, pp. 484-485, 

 March 4, 1911. 



