CHAPTER VI. 
COTTON: WHAT IT MEANS AND WILL MEAN TO THE 
SOUTHERN STATES 
Cotton! 
To every boy born and bred in the Southern 
States it is a magical word from the time he is big 
enough to roll in its billowy heaps in the “cotton 
house” or go out into the June cotton field to find 
the first white bloom for his father, or ride to the gin 
on the big two-horse wagon-bed which the hands 
have packed with the snowy fleece new-gathered 
from the autumn fields. White or black, if his 
father is not of unusual wealth, he early learns to 
labor with his own hands in making the crop; and 
the entire process of cultivation is familiar to him. 
EVERY SOUTHERN BOY KNOWS COTTON FARMING 
Long before he leaves off knee pants he learns 
to plow the cool, fresh earth in early spring; helps 
haul out the great loads of manure from the barn; 
brings in the malodorous loads of fertilizer from the 
nearest village; helps “roll” the planting seed in 
wet ashes, so that the dry lint may not hold them 
together in bunches. For planting time is now at 
hand: the dogwoods are blossoming; the first “tur- 
tle-dove” has been heard; the fisherman has begun 
to tell of satisfactory catches in the nearby streams; 
“Uncle Isaac” and “Black Bob” dispute wisely 
as to whether this phase of the moon portends warm 
(53) 
