Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-27

peared, and tenement houses have taken
their place, which are erected at different
points on the outskirts of the forest adjoin-
ing the cotton fields that the laborers may
have chickens, pigs and sometimes COW,
without mixing with those of other tenants.
At sunrise the plantation bell rings for
work, and the darkies can be seen coming
in every direction to the Toulouse" for i'm
plements and instructions for the day Is labor,
Sometimes half dozen bells can be heard
ringing on as many plantations at this hour
calling the laborers together. No human
being on the face of the earth is happier
than a plantation darkey. And il he is to
plow a young mule he scarcely waits for the
bell to ring, but comes skipping and sing
ing to his task. He startles the lark from
her dewy nest with his song and as she.
scars aloft on quivering wing to kiss the
first beams of the rising sun, caroling
her notes of praise for another joyous day to
be spent in fitting from field to field, she is
no happier than the humble negro above
whom she flies and whose melody will rival
hers through the long, warm purs. though
they be
SPENT IN TOLL.
The colored people take to the cotton field
as naturally as duck to the water. They
seem to evince more interest in its cultiva-
ton than any other crop, and when the
crops are pitched" they are not satisfied
unless the usual number of acres for cotton
are allotted to each tenant. Indeed those
planters raising" no cotton experience the
greatest difficulties in obtaining help. The
more cotton planted the easier to procure
labor. The planter running from 10 to 20
plows can keep his crop CLEAN, while the one
turn n hn
grass" Don't ask darkey to 60 where
there aren't other darkies-it's no use. In
speaking of it afterward he'll say: "I'se
want'er gwine 'mong dem po' white trash,
no sab !"
Perhaps the most picturesque scene pre-
sented by the cotton field during the year is
"cotton picking" In the early morning
the pickers assemble at the ginhouse where
baskets and sacks are given them in which
to pick the cotton. These they place upon
their heads and start for the field, where
they remain all day long gathering the
snowy staple. Staid old aunties dressed in
cheap, plain gowns with their heads encased
in blood-red handkerchiefs, tottering old
men whose woolly scalps have been whitened
by 60 winters, mothers of families not yet
past 30, with their husbands, robust young
men and buxom girls just budding into
children beginning to work in the cotton
field. Little fellows not half as high as the
cotton plant will run along ahead of their
mothers and pick the open balls from the
lower branches until fatigued, then crawl
in huge, partly filled basket at the end of
the row and go to sleep like tired kitten.
Nor do they leave the fields at noon, but
gather along the pathways to eat the mid
day meal. 1t over, then Immediately back
to work, which is continued until the sun
Is sinking low in the west. Now the
wagons come rattling through the roadways
after the filled baskets-the drivers crack
ing their whips and shouting at the mules.
The evening shadows are creeping over the
landscape, and the tired pickers collect the
sacks and baskets, for the days work is
Ger. The wagons, loaded with baskets sew
eral tiers high, start for the ginhouse, the
long line of pickers of every age following
behind. With manya ''gee, ''haw, ""back"
and 'go'long" the wagons are at last gotten
under the crane at the ginhouse door and
weighed. When all are weighed and each
picker properly credited with the number of
pounds picked, the darkies disperse to their
different homes. 1t is amusing to hear them
chatter on the way about the weights: ''Tildy
picked five pounds mo- n john" one will
exclaim; and ''Milly got ten pounds mo- n
Rosella," another will gay. dat gal
worked ter-day, she didl She didn't play
none, tell youP' And away they will 60,
happy, light-hearted creatures, laughing
and calling to each other until the sound of
their voices is lost in the distance and their
sable, forms disappear in the deepening
gloom. As soon as the ginhouse is filled
with cotton from the fields four good mules
are geared to the gin (some planters use
steam power) and ginning the cotton COM
mences. To do this the seed cotton is
placed in hopper, or "feeder," above the
gin, q set of revolving cylinders convey it
to the saws of the gin, which separates the
seed from the lint or staple. The seed falls
to the floor in front of the machine, while
the lint passes through a condenser at the
rea~, and comes out in the form of batting,
which is taken by hand as fast as it falls
from the condenser and thrown in the press.
Fifteen hundred pounds of seed cotton are
allowed to the bale, then the press is run
down, the bagging and ties placed around
the bale, the bale taken out and "headed
up" and, after being weighed Git should
weigh 500 pounds), the planters name and
that of his commission merchant are marked
upon it, and it is ready for shipment If
the crop is good each acre will yield one of
these 500 pound bales, which is worth in
market from 81 to 10c per pound. Pick
ing and ginning continue till the last of
December, and often the fields are white
W. GOTTEN DOWNING.