HARVESTING AND MARKETING COTTON 123 



bags and ginned separately. This will insure 

 not getting mixed cotton in the bales. The 

 exercise of more care in this direction would 

 result in an annual saving of many thousands of 

 dollars to the farmers of the South. Until 

 recent years the common practice was to 

 pick almost the entire crop and store it in the 

 house for several weeks and haul it to the gin 

 after the rush of picking season was over. 

 In many respects this custom was a good one 

 from the fact that it allowed the cotton to ripen 

 up and become thoroughly dry, thus improving 

 the staple. It is true that there is some loss in 

 the weight of the seed, but this is more than 

 made up by the increased price from the im- 

 proved quality of the cotton. 



There have been many machines patented 

 for the mechanical harvesting of the cotton 

 crop, none of which have as yet been entirely 

 satisfactory. It is possible that a machine may 

 be perfected that will harvest the crop on fields 

 favorably situated; but on small farms and 

 rough lands it is doubtful whether it will 

 be practicable to ever use mechanical contriv- 

 ances for gathering the crop. A light ma- 

 chine, of moderate cost, adjustable to small 



