CHAPTER VI. 



COTTON: WHAT IT MEANS AND WILL MEAN TO THE 

 SOUTHERN STATES 



Cotton! 



To every boy born and bred in the Southern 

 States it is a magical word from the time Jie is big 

 enough to roll in its billowy heaps in the "cotton 

 house" or go out into the June cotton field to find 

 the first white bloom for his father, or ride to the gin 

 on the big two-horse wagon-bed which the hands 

 have packed with the snowy fleece new-gathered 

 from the autumn fields. White or black, if his 

 father is not of unusual wealth, he early learns to 

 labor with his own hands in making the crop; and 

 the entire process of cultivation is familiar to him. 



EVERY SOUTHERN BOY KNOWS COTTON FARMING 



Long before he leaves off knee pants he learns 

 to plow the cool, fresh earth in early spring; helps 

 haul out the great loads of manure from the barn; 

 brings in the malodorous loads of fertilizer from the 

 nearest village; helps "roll" the planting seed in 

 wet ashes, so that the dry lint may not hold them 

 together in bunches. For planting time is now at 

 hand: the dogwoods are blossoming; the first "tur- 

 tle-dove" has been heard; the fisherman has begun 

 to tell of satisfactory catches in the nearby streams ; 

 "Uncle Isaac" and "Black Bob" dispute wisely 

 as to whether this phase of the moon portends warm 



(53) 



