278 
LETTERS FROM ALABAMA, 
picked if possible on the next day, or it will be 
lost. 
In the evening the negroes, — men, women, and 
children, — bring in the produce of their picking, in 
large deep baskets, to the gin-house, when the over- 
seer weighs each one’s lot. As every negro has an 
allotted task, differing according to the ability of 
the individual, it is a matter of anxiety to see 
whether this is accomplished or not ; if it falls 
short, the whip may pretty certainly be expected, 
especially if the overseer is a rigorous discipli- 
narian. The cries of the poor wretches proceed- 
ing nightly from the gin-house, “Oh! Mas’r! 
Pray, Mas’r! ” the low plaintive tones of the men, 
and the shriller wails of the women and children, 
are very painful to hear. 
The cotton has now to undergo a very interesting 
process. In the picking, the workpeople pull out 
the whole bunch from the pod, and drop it into the 
basket. If we examine one of these bunches, we 
shall see that it consists of several oval seeds 
densely clothed with fine long white hairs, which 
are the cotton. In the variety chiefly grown here, 
the seeds are black, but are covered with a very 
short underclothing of green silky down, among 
the bases of the white fibres. The latter adhere 
to the seed with considerable force, but must of 
course be removed before they are fit for the manu- 
facturer. This separation of the fibre from the 
seed is accomplished by an eflective and inge- 
nious machine, the cotton-gin. 
The following description will give you an idea 
of this valuable machine, and of its operation. 
The hopper is a long box with one side per- 
pendicular and the other diagonal : the latter is of 
