126 



Harvesting. — In some varieties the cotton fibre adheres only slightly 

 to the pod, and must be picked within a few days from the bursting of 

 the pod, in those varieties in which the fibre adheres firmly, picking 

 may be deferred longer according to the convenience of the planter. 

 Women and children pick the fibre and seeds from the pod as it hangs 

 on the bush. 



To pick cotton carefully and expeditiously requires a good deal of 

 practice. The fingers should grasp lightly the five sections comprising 

 the ball, and withdraw at one pull the whole of the cotton without any 

 particle of leaf or foreign matter adhering to it. Cotton should never 

 be gathered while wet from rain or dew. 



The pickers put the cotton into bags tied round the waist, and when 

 these are full, they empty them on a good sized "cotton-sheet" to dry 

 whilst they refill their bags. When the sheet is full, it is carried to the 

 weighing house. An average picker will collect 100 lbs of seed cotton 

 in a day. 



After the pickers have been through the whole field, it will be 4 or 5 

 days, and possibly 10 days before more pods are ripe, but careful watch 

 must be kept so as to set the pickers to work immediately on the ripen- 

 ing of the pods. 



Drying. — As soon as the cotton is gathered, it is exposed to the su 11 

 on wooden platforms for 3 days until the fibre is quite dry and the seed 81 

 are hardened. It is not put out until the sun is up, and is taken in be" 

 fore sunset. If the weather be wet, it is kept under cover, and spread 

 out in thin layers. 



The great object is to get rid of any superfluous moisture it may con- 

 tain, without drying it too much. When dry, it is carefully picked over 

 to get rid of any foreign matter or discoloured particles of cotton. It is 

 then piled in heaps, 5ft. high, 4 or 5ft broad, and 20ft long, and 

 covered over with cloths. This is to preserve the oiliness, strength and 

 gloss of the fibre, which a lengthened exposure to the air would destroy. 

 The tendency to heat, however, must be guarded against, and whenever 

 the cotton gets too warm, it should be spread out on the clean-swept 

 floor of the cotton house until it cools If the heating is allowed to go 

 on, the oil oozes from the seeds, and discolours the cotton. But many 

 planters allow the heaps to become very slightly heated, thinking that 

 thereby the fibre extracts a very small portion of the oil from the seeds, 

 becoming stronger, softer, and more silky, and at the same time acquir- 

 ing a very delicate shade of yellow so much sought after by experienced 

 buyers. 



Yield. — In the valley of the Mississippi the average yield of ginned 

 cotton per acre is 400 lbs , whereas in South Carolina, (xeorgia, etc., 

 200lbs. is considered a good return, and much of the land yields only 

 lOOlbs. In India the average yield from native cultivation is 50 or 

 601bs. 



Ginning. — The separation of the fibre from the seed is always done 

 on the estate by machinery, called a gin. There are several kinds of 

 gin, the Whitney, Macarthy, &c. A modification of the Macarthy and 

 the double action knife-roller gin has lately been manufactured by 

 Dobson & Barlow. One of these gins is capable of cleaning 300 to 800 

 lbs of seed cotton in an hour, yielding 75 to 150 lbs of clean cotton. 



