COTTON. 



397 



amount is open and ready to be harvested, the rule being with many, to commence picking as 

 soon as one laborer can pick a hundred pounds per day. 



The ripening of the bolls is indicated by their turning a dark brown, and expanding, 

 which causes the cotton to protrude. The picking is performed by hand. Heavy rains at 

 this season sometimes cause considerable loss in the crop. It may be ginned as the picking 

 progresses, or be first dried, and afterwards ginned. One of the most successful planters at 

 the South says that it should first be dried until the seed will crack when pressed between the 

 teeth, being frequently turned over and stirred so as to facilitate the drying process; after 

 which it should be packed away to remain until ready for the ginning process, or it may be 

 ginned as soon as dried. The same authority also says: 



&quot; Having all things ready for picking cotton, I commence as usual, early, as soon as the 

 hands can gather even twenty pounds each. This is advisable, not only in saving a portion 

 of that from being destroyed, if rains should fall, which often do at this season (about the 

 middle of August), but for another reason; passing through the cotton has a tendency to open 

 out to sun and air the limbs that have interlocked across the rows, and hastens the early 

 opening. On low grounds, especially, much loss is incurred in some seasons from the want 

 of the sun to produce an expansion of the fiber within the boll, so as to cause it to open. 



If the cotton seed is not wanted, pack the seed-cotton away into the house, to remain 

 until a gentle heat is discovered, or until sufficient for ginning; after it has heated until it has 

 a feeling of warmth to the hand, and looks as if pressed together, open out and scatter it to 

 cool. The cotton will gin faster, have a softer feel, is not so brittle, therefore not so liable to 

 break by rapidity of gin, and has a creamy color. The wool has imbibed a part of the oil 

 that has exuded by warmth of seed, and is in fact restored o the original color; for the oil, 

 being vegetable, is dissipated by sun and air, and the color by moisture (of rain and dews) 

 and light. I have known of 

 a number of sales made of 

 this description of cotton, and 

 even those who are most stren 

 uous against the heating, ad 

 mit it bore a better price.&quot; 



The cotton should never 

 be left on the field after being 

 picked, and thus exposed to 

 the weather, as is the practice 

 in some sections. Such a 

 course not only involves loss 

 by an injury to the quality of 

 the cotton, but large quanti 

 ties of the product often rot THE &quot;MOLINE&quot; ELLIPTIC SPRING STALK-CUTTER. 



and becomes entirely Worth- For cutting Corn and Cotton Stalks in the field. 



less by such exposure. When not ginned at once, it should be housed, and thus protected 

 from the heavy dews and rains. After cotton is all harvested the stalks are usually left 

 standing in the field until the time of plowing for the succeeding crop, when they are either 

 pulled up and burned, or broken down and plowed under. 



An easier method of clearing the field is to cut them with a stalk-cutter, when they can 

 quickly be disposed of by burning, or other methods, as the judgment and circumstances of 

 the planter may dictate. Various implements of this kind are in use for both corn and cotton 

 fields, and are a great saving of labor. The above illustration represents an implement 

 manufactured by Deere, Mansur & Co., St. Louis, Mo. It may be used with one or two 

 horses, as desired. 



