COTTON 195 



to gather cotton from the lower bolls. The lugging 

 of the load as picked is inconsiderable, since large 

 baskets are kept at the ends of the rows into which 

 the pickers empty their sacks as often as they wish. 



Cotton is picked largely by colored labor; and 

 with the negro's careless, "happy-go-lucky" na- 

 ture, some loss is but a natural result. This loss 

 principally comes from cotton falling out; from its 

 being soiled by dirt; and from small locks being 

 left in the bolls. 



The quantity that each picker will gather in a 

 day naturally varies, since people of both sexes and 

 all ages do this work. Some hands gather less 

 than 100 pounds a day, while others, where condi- 

 tions are favorable, gather as much as 300 to 350 

 as their day's work. 



HOW LARGE A CROP CAN OUR PICKERS GATHER ? 



The picking season extends through a period of 

 from 90 to 100 days. This is an important advan- 

 tage in cotton production. With wheat, a few 

 days only may be devoted to the harvest, and if 

 the harvest period is extended, the loss will be 

 great. With our hay crops, with corn, with tobac- 

 co, the same thing is true: inevitable loss if the 

 harvest work is not promptly done and done within 

 narrow limits indeed. 



But with cotton it is different. Some loss, of 

 course, follows, should picking be unreasonably 

 postponed. Some of the cotton may be beaten into 

 the ground by rains and the rest may be injured 

 slightly in quality; still the work may be long de- 

 layed without very serious damage. We have 

 known crops in which the picking was not quite 

 completed until the following spring, when the 



