162 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



in the South, women and children working in the field 

 come to be accepted as part of the natural order of 

 things. The women and children carry their hoes and 

 files out to the field; the mother leaves the baby on a 

 "pallet" under a shade tree, and occasionally stops to 

 nurse it. Just an hour before dinner she leaves for the 

 house to prepare a "snack." After dinner the family re- 

 turns to the field and works until dark. This description 

 applies equally well to large groups of black and white 

 farm families. 



It is hard to say just when the crop is ready to lay 

 by, because the farmer never knows the amount of culti- 

 vation his crop is going to require. A wet April or May 

 will keep the weeds growing as fast as the cotton plants, 

 and one chopping is hardly finished before another is 

 necessary to "get the cotton out of the grass." Continu- 

 ous cultivation forces the growth of the cotton. Since 

 the advent of the boll weevil it has accordingly become 

 the practice in many localities to continue cultivation 

 "till the last moment in order to keep the plant making 

 as many squares as possible." 12 Since weevils attack them 

 first, the late squares serve as a protection to the bolls 

 already formed. 



In normal years the crop has begun to look well by 

 June. Everybody expects a good yield. The Department's 

 forecasts are likely to be high. Hubbard cites an old say- 

 ing of the cotton trade that "The man who can once sell 

 the June prospect at the August price will never have to 

 work again." 13 By the middle of July the cotton plant 

 has begun its fruitage. First appear the squares, three 

 leaves folded together with the bud inside. Given fair 



12 Hubbard, Cotton and the Cotton Market, p. 29. 

 " Ibid., p. 31. 



