426 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 195 7 



ing and thinning — would also have to be eliminated before growers 

 could rely on a completely mechanized crop. 



In the face of these uncertainties, the International Harvester Co. 

 under the leadership of R. P. Messenger, an executive vice president, 

 proceeded with the construction of a new plant in Memphis. In 1948 

 this plant turned out over 1,100 machines, priced at $7,600 when 

 mounted on a large model-M tractor. Professor Gilbert C. Fite com- 

 mented, "This is an astronomical sum for over half of the cotton 

 growers who produce less than four bales of cotton a year and farm 

 less than thirty acres of cropland." 22 



Nevertheless, a commercial market for the machines was developing 

 among the larger growers and custom operators. By 1952 the Inter- 

 national Harvester plant had produced more than 8,000 machines, 

 including both high- and low-drum models. In 1956 it added a new 

 2-row picker, also available in sizes suited to different growths of cot- 

 ton. In the meantime the Allis- Chalmers Co. acquired a new plant 

 at Gadsden, Ala., and turned out 1,200 pickers between 1949 and 1952. 

 These included a 2-row machine and a small single-unit attachment 

 that was priced under $2,500 (exclusive of tractor) to bring it within 

 the reach of a greatly increased number of users. 



During the same period Deere and Co. produced about 750 1- and 

 2-row pickers, and a new entrant to the field, Ben Pearson, Inc., at 

 Pine Bluff, Ark., built 1,500 1- and 2-row machines based on Rust 

 patents. In addition, this company is now constructing picking at- 

 tachments which are mounted on the respective tractors of the J. I. 

 Case Co. and Massey-Harris-Ferguson, Inc., and the assembled ma- 

 chines are being marketed by those companies. Versions of Rust 

 cotton pickers are thus being sold by four companies. Until his death 

 in 1954 John Rust continued to make improvements in his invention, 

 and he was at last able to realize his goal of an educational and charita- 

 ble foundation financed by patent royalties. 



The growing acceptance of the cotton harvester as a successful farm 

 tool, although it has not yet been widely adopted in some portions 

 of the Cotton Belt, is clearly indicated in table 1. It is estimated 

 that over 18,000 spindle pickers and 23,000 strippers were available 

 for the 1955-56 harvest, most of them concentrated in the western 

 cotton States and the Mississippi Valley. In other areas the pre- 

 dominantly small farms, broken terrain, and relative abundance of 

 hand labor still pose obstacles, but research is under way to adapt the 

 machines for more effective use under such conditions. 



B Fite, Gilbert C, Recent progress in the mechanization of cotton production in 

 the United States, Agr. Hist., vol. 24, pp. 19-28, January 1950. 



