COTTON. 



creamy colour ; llic wool has im- 

 bibed a part of the oil that has ex- 

 uded by the warmth of seed, and 

 is, in fact, restored to the original 

 colour ; for the oil being vegetable, 

 it is dissipated by sun and air, and 

 the colour by moisture (of rain and 

 dews) and light. 1 have known of a 

 number of sales made of this descrip- 

 tion of cotton, and even those who 

 are most strenuous against the heat- 

 ing admit it bore a better price. No 

 one supposes if cotton be put up wet, 

 dirty, trashy, with rotton pods, that 

 it is benefited. Having all things 

 ready for picking cotton, I com- 

 mence, as usual, early, as soon as 

 the hands can gather even twenty 

 pounds each. This is advisable, not 

 only in saving a portion of that from 

 being destroyed if rains should fall, 

 which often do at this season (about 

 the middle of August), but for anoth- ; 

 er reason : passing through the cotton 

 has a tendency to open out to sun 

 and air the limbs that have interlock- 

 ed across the rows, and hastens the 

 early opening. On low grounds, es- 

 pecially, much loss is incurred in 

 some seasons from the want of the 

 sun to cause an expansion of the 

 fibre within the bowl, so as to cause 

 it to open. The bowl is composed 

 of five divisions, in each of which 

 there is a parcel of cotton wool sur- 

 rounding each seed, there being sev- 

 eral in each lock of cotton. When 

 green, these fibres lie close to the 

 seed, and as it ripens, the fibres be- 

 come elastic, the bowl becoming hard 

 and brownish. The Sea Island has 

 only three divisions, as also the Egyp- 

 tian, which is only the Sea Island of 

 the best variety, with black seed, 

 smooth, and a yellowish tuft of fibres 

 on the small end ; they are both from 

 Pernambuco. Some of the cotton 

 we plant has only four divisions, but 

 I think five generally. 



" There is a peculiar art in gathering 

 the cotton from the bowl, which, like 

 handling stock, can only be acquired 

 by practice ; many gather equally fast 

 with either hand. The left hand 

 seizes the stem near the open bowl, 

 or the bowl between the two mid- 

 200 



die fingorp, the palm of the ham 

 up ; the fingers of the right hand are 

 inserted tolerably low down in the 

 bowl, a finger on each lock of cotton ; 

 then, as the fingers grasp it, there is 

 a slight twisting motion, and a quick 

 pull, which, if done well, will extract 

 the contents, the bowl being open, 

 and the bottom of the locks not gum- 

 my to adhere. There is a vast differ- 

 ence in hands, not the quickest ma- 

 king the best pickers ; a steady, clock- 

 like motion, with some quickness, is 

 necessary to gather fast. A neigh- 

 bour of mine, when a young man, 

 some ten years since, gathered 400 

 lbs., which was at that time the best 

 I had known ; this has been beaten 

 since, by aiding the hand in emptying 

 his sacks, and almost feeding and 

 w'atering him while at work. 



" After weighing, if the weather be 

 fair, the cotton is consigned to the 

 scaffold, to the care of those who pick 

 out what trash and rotten parts are 

 left. After being dried as said, it is 

 taken into the upper part of the house, 

 and placed over the gin-stand, ready 

 to be turned into the hopper that leads 

 from this place to the gin-stand. My 

 gin-house is 32 by 62, framed, with 

 two floors. Below the first floor is 

 the running gear, where the horses 

 work ; in the second story we weigh ; 

 on a level is the shed for sunning, 

 fronting the south, in which is the 

 gin-stand at one end, at the other the 

 press. In the garret is carried the 

 seed ; cotton over the gin-stand, and 

 the ginned cotton over the press. 



" I never pick cotton if wet with 

 rain, but attend to other matters. 

 When the weather is good, I strive to 

 keep every one busy that can gather 

 anything like even a half hand's work. 

 All go out after daylight, but not long, 

 I assure you. 



" When I commence ginning, there 

 is a small boy to drive each team, 

 there being four horses or mules, to 

 work in pairs -, one hand at the gin- 

 stand, who is kept pretty busy in put- 

 ting the seed-cotton on to the saws ; 

 another hand is reeiuired to push the 

 cotton back from the flue of the gin- 

 stand, rake cotton into the hopper, 



