July, 1909,] 



15 



Fibres. 



For some years past it has been my 

 object to lay before growers the import- 

 ance of economically handling this 3rop 

 so as better to meet local labour coudi- 

 tions, and generally expedite the picking 

 operations. The cultural methods in 

 vogue in Queensland, for the most part, 

 call for little attention, the cotton crop 

 requiring little, if any, more tillage or 

 experience than what is demanded for 

 ordinary field crops. 



In the picking, however, we are 

 lamentably lacking in that celerity 

 common to the American cotton-grower. 

 It will best serve my purpose to give, in 

 as brief a manner as possible, the 

 manner in which the farmer in the 

 United States handles his great crop. 



The American planter to-day, by reason 

 of labour conditions, has little or no 

 advantage over the Queensland grower, 

 The day of abundance of negro field 

 labour is now a matter of histroy ; the 

 negro, although once largely in evidence 

 as a help in the cotton fields, has now, 

 by reason of his advanced education, 

 drifted into other, and, to him, more 

 congenial fields of activity than that of 

 the ordinary farm hand. 



So it happens that a large percentage 

 of American farms have no coloured or 

 cheap labour whatever employed. Thus 

 Queensland farmers are under no dis- 

 ability in the matter of low-priced 

 labour. The secret of American superi- 

 ority lies in the fact that their simple 

 and methodical handling of the crop 

 gives them a very material advantage. 



In Queensland a picker, if, at the end 

 of a day's toil he has gathered 100 lb. of 

 fibre in the seed, it is regarded as a good 

 evidence of brisk effort, while an increase 

 of 20 to 80 lb. constitutes a record, 

 working on Upland varieties. With the 

 American this quantity represents a 

 very poor day's work, three and even 

 four times this amount being frequently 

 gathered for periods of time. 



The Washington Department of Agri- 

 culture makes the official statement 

 "that first-class pickers can pick, by 

 hand, an average of 500 to 600 lb, of seed 

 cotton per day, and as much as 800 lb. 

 occasionally. A white hand was timed 

 in 1894, and he picked 00 lb. in an hour, 

 or 1 lb. par minute." Tliis, of course, is 

 not possible unless there is a good blow 

 of cotton out, and in the process a more 

 than ordinary amount of leaf-trash is 

 collected with the fibre. 



As evidence in substantiation of the 

 claim here made on behalf of the 

 American picker, I may give my personal 

 experience at Capella, in Central Queens- 

 land, in June last, on the farm of Mr. 



Willis Hargrove, an American grower 

 recently settled in that locality, and 

 who is chieliy engaged in this vocation, 

 beginning in a small way with a few 

 acres. Mr. Hargrove then had employed 

 a young American, a Mr. Rowan, who 

 has since gone into cotton-growing on 

 his own account, and, at the present 

 time, has HO acres looking well and 

 nearly ready for harvesting in the same 

 district. This person elected to prove 

 that American claims were genuine, and, 

 in my presence, in two hours he gathered 

 58 lb. cotton, 27 lb. in the first hour, and 

 31 in the second, which, at the pi ice of 

 |d. per lb. for picking (the rate allowed) 

 shows his earnings to be a fraction under 

 Is. 3d. per hour. It may be said this 

 was an exceptional spurt, but as it was 

 done in but a half-crop of cotton, it is 

 easy to realise that an average of 250 to 

 300 lb. a day woidd be no extraordinary 

 result for an active experienced picker. 



In handling such cotton as Sea Island, 

 Egyptian, Mascotte, or Caravonica 

 varieties, equally good results will not 

 be attained, by reason of the character 

 of the cotton bolls, which are not free in 

 parting with the fibre, and not as large 

 in pod. 



The person here referred to claimed to 

 have picked, in the States, 500 lb. a day 

 on many occasions. To enable this to be 

 done, very expert handling must be 

 acquired, especially the ability to gather 

 equally as well with the left as with the 

 right hand, using both simultaneously. 

 This training is acquired by degrees, 

 and it is always impressed on the young 

 picker that both hands must be trained 

 to acquire the ability to pull the fibre 

 with equal facility. This once mastered, 

 solves the problem of economically and 

 profitably handling a large cotton crop, 

 without which the Americans would 

 often lose a large portion of their annual 

 14,000,000-bale harvest, and ensures for 

 the pickers, even at a much lower scale 

 of payment than our growers are 

 satisfied to pay, a fair remuneration for 

 his service. 



To enable the picker to best carry on 

 his woik without impediments the 

 Americans use a different picking bag to 

 ours, being in every way much easier on 

 the pickers. It is made of strong calico, 

 and is about 7 or 8 ft. long, with shoulder 

 straps made so as to allow the bag to 

 swing on the left side, and, for the most 

 part, trailing on the ground behind the 

 picker. This bag is thus constructed to 

 permit the free use of both hands, and 

 avoid loading the picker with the weight 

 of fibre gathered which lies in the bag 

 trailing behind him. This bag when 

 full is emptied on a sheet placed in a 



