50 COTTON CULTURE 



red loam prairies of Texas; and September i5th in north- 

 ern Arkansas. 



Picking commences about July loth in southern Texas; 

 August ist in southern Louisiana and central Texas; 

 August 1 5th in the pine hills of South Carolina and coast 

 of Georgia and South Carolina, and Mississippi uplands; 

 August 25th in northwestern Louisiana and Mississippi 

 bottoms; September ist in northern Texas, coast of North 

 Carolina, and northwest Georgia; and October ist in north- 

 western Texas and northern Arkansas. 



The cotton field is usually picked over three times; in 

 the Gulf States the first picking takes place in August 

 and September, the second in October, and the third in 

 November and December. In Georgia, North and South 

 Carolina, Texas, and Arkansas, the first picking usually 

 takes place in September, the second in October, and the 

 third in November. As cotton gins badly when wet, 

 picking is not commenced in the morning until after the 

 dew is off the bolls, nor should it commence soon after 

 a rain. 



Picking has thus far been entirely a hand process. No 

 satisfactory picking machine has yet been widely adopted. 

 The price paid for picking ranges from thirty to fifty cents 

 per hundred pounds. A fairly expert picker should har- 

 vest three hundred pounds per day, but in practice the 

 average is little over one hundred pounds. The planter 

 should prepare beforehand for harvesting his crop, as the 

 cotton must be picked as soon as properly opened, to 

 prevent losses from soiling, falling out, etc. Cotton left 



