CHAPTER IX 



HARVESTING AND MARKETING COTTON 



UNDER harvesting comes cotton picking, 

 ginning, and baling. Picking is the 

 most expensive item in the production 

 of the crop. No machine has yet been per- 

 fected that will satisfactorily do this work, and 

 it must necessarily be performed by hand. The 

 prices for picking cotton range from thirty-five 

 cents to a dollar per hundred pounds of seed cot- 

 ton, varying with the localities and the season in 

 which the picking is done. Hence, the cost of 

 picking a bale of 1500 pounds of seed cotton 

 ranges from $5.25 to $15. Picking begins usu- 

 ally in the latter part of August and extends to 

 the first of December, and in some instances to 

 the first of January. At least three pickings 

 should be made to gather crop in the best 

 condition. The heaviest picking comes in 

 October. One man can cultivate from twenty 

 to thirty acres of cotton very readily, but it 



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