122 KNAPP METHOD OF GROWING COTTON 



will take four to five good pickers to gather the 

 crop fast enough to keep it from being damaged 

 by the weather. An experienced picker can 

 pick from 150 to 200 pounds per day. The 

 average, however, is much less than this. 

 Under favorable conditions and with some 

 special inducements, a few pickers have gone 

 as high as four or five hundred pounds a day. 

 Cotton is seldom gathered under the most 

 favorable conditions. It should be picked as 

 soon as enough bolls open to justify going over 

 the field. From three to five bolls per stalk 

 make a fairly good picking. If the crop is 

 kept up with closely and never allowed to take 

 the weather, the standard of the grades is much 

 higher and commands better prices. Fre- 

 quently, faulty, yellow locks, or dirty cotton is 

 picked and thrown in with the good. A few 

 bolls of this damaged cotton will injure the 

 grade of the entire bale and lessen the value 

 from one half to one and one half cents per 

 pound. Cotton should not be picked when too 

 green as the lint continues to grow and mature 

 until the seed have fully dried out. Cotton 

 that is blown out on the ground and damaged 

 by dirt, if picked should be put in separate 



