CHAPTER X 

 HARVESTING AND MARKETING COTTON 



HARVESTING and preparing cotton for the market 

 involve at least four important operations. These are 

 (1) picking, (2) ginning, (3) baling, and (4) compressing 

 into very compact bales for long distance shipping. A 

 brief discussion of each of these operations and also a 

 discussion of commercial grades follow. 



138. Picking. Practically all of the cotton crop is 

 still picked by hand. This laborious operation limits the 

 acreage that can be produced and handled by a unit of 

 labor and adds greatly to the cost of cotton production. 

 Picking begins in August and continues until the middle of 

 December. The greater part of the crop is picked in Sep- 

 tember, October, and November. As a usual thing the best 

 quality of lint is secured at the first and second pickings. 



An amount varying from 175 to 225 pounds of seed 

 cotton represents an average day's work for an experi- 

 enced picker. The price paid for picking varies from 

 40 cents to 80 cents a 100 pounds, depending on labor 

 conditions. In sections where labor is exceptionally scarce, 

 even more than 80 cents a 100 pounds is paid. In picking 

 cotton one should be careful to see that no trash is in- 

 cluded. Diseased locks should not be picked, and stained 

 or discolored locks should not be mixed with the general 

 lot; otherwise the selling price will be reduced. 



139. Cotton-picking machines. Many attempts have 

 been made to invent mechanical cotton-pickers. Pre- 

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