COTTON 



127 



from 100 to 500 pounds in a day. All the pods do not 

 ripen at once, and it usually requires about four 

 months to harvest the crop. 



The fiber and the seed. After the cotton is picked, 

 it is hauled to the gin and compress. The cotton gin 

 removes the seeds from the fibers and the cotton is 

 pressed into bales of about 500 

 pounds each. A good yield of 

 cotton is from one to one and 

 one half bales per acre. Before 

 the cotton gin was made, women 



i , ., , . COTTON PRODUCTS OF UNITED 



and Children Spent their eve- STATES AND REST OF THE 



nings picking the cotton off the 



seeds by hand ; and between supper and bedtime, each 

 was expected to pick enough to fill one of his shoes with 

 the seeds. This would give about four pounds of 

 separated cotton. The cotton gin made possible the 

 growing of this crop on a large scale, just as the reaper 

 made it possible to grow large crops of wheat, oats, 

 and other cereals. 



Blinds. - - There are two kinds of cotton grown in 

 the United States. The sea-island cotton has the 

 longest, toughest, and finest fiber ; while the upland 

 cotton has shorter fibers, but the bolls are larger and 

 produce more cotton. There are two kinds of upland 

 cotton, the long staple and short staple varieties. 

 The upland cotton is the kind more generally cultivated, 

 while the sea-island cotton is grown on the coast plain 

 of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. 



