The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-11-20
FARMER AND PLANTER.
HARVESTING COTTON.
Some Further Hints in Regard to the
Great Southern staple.


! crop is the most engrossing work for
September. 1t should not be the only
work, however. The sowing of grain
and grass should receive good share of
attention, even on cotton farm. OF
these we will speak after awhile. OF
the gathering of cotton, the first thing
to be said is, that it should be picked as
fast as it opens The reasons are many.
The first is, that exposure after it opens
subjects cotton to risk of being blown
out by storms, of being soiled by rains,
and sometimes of the seed sprouting
and the lint mildewing in long,
rainy spells. Again, early-picked cot
ton weighs heavy, and the farmer who
desires to place his 60tton on the
/ market early in the season, gains de-
cidedly. Twelve hundred pounds OF
seed cotton of the early pickings will
make as heavy a bale as fifteen hun
/ dred pounds of seed cotton will do when
I picked after it has been open a long
! time and the season is much advanced
/ Another reason is, that cotton picked
! before the leaves have been killed by
! frost, is cleaner, that is, freer from
trash than that picked after the leaves
have become dry and brittle. Another,
still, is, that when one gets behind in
cotton picking, it is very hard to catch
up again. and all the evils mentioned
above increase and multiply upon him.
But whilst there are many advan-
tages in picking cotton as soon as it
opens, there is one point connected with
it that should be very carefully guard
ed. Such cotton is usually damp-greeh,
as it is called-gins badly, and is apt to
make a poor sample. Much of the lint
remains on the seed when ginned; that
which Is taken of is knapped, and
sometimes badly cut, and hence much
of the early picked cotton that is placed
on the market is of very poor quality.
Now there are several ways of obviating
this trouble. One is to pick ard spread
on the cloths as it is being picked, so
7 that it may have opportunity to dry
Il that is, substitute cloths for baskets.
D Another is to provide scaffolds or
sheets upon which to spread the cotton
and give it the needed airing and sun
ming before it is ginned. One rarely
has houseroom enough to spread out
any quantity of cotton sufficiently thin
TO get 1t dried in a reasonably short
time. Another is to bulk the cotton as
1t is picked let it pass through a de-
sided heat, and then open up and
spread out. When thus managed it
dries off quite rapidly, but the heating
must be watched closely, as the lint is
liable to be discolored by the oil of
the seed if the heat is too great The
seed must be sacrificed, so far as plant
ing purposes go, when this plan is pur-
sued. Their value for Banure will
not, however, be at all impaired. In
the olden time the practice of bulk
ing cotton was quite general,
the object being to give the lint shade
Of cream color; this increased the price
in the market Some one of the above
plans for drying cotton should be
adopted by every farmer. 1t is becom-
ing more and more important every
year that the crop be nicely handled.
Cottons are being much more strictly
classified than they used to be and
prices graded correspondingly. We
hope the small bale, say $50 pounds,
will be soon adopted. so that it may be
more neatly packed and more easily
handled. The imperfect mode of COW
ering and the careless handling and ex-
posture to mud and dirt, has given rise to
the heavy tare heretofore demanded by
manufacturers. Now that the question
of tare is being discussed, in connection
with the kind and weight of bagging
used, let US attempt to reduce it il
every way by careful handling.
With the present prevalent practice
of having cotton picked by the hun,
bred, it is quite difficult to get it picked
free from trash, Clean picking might be
encouraged by offering little higher
price for that which is picked free from
trash. But the most practicable ant
available plan is to pick out as much
of the crop as possible before frost
and before the calyx or leaf, which sur
rounds the boil, gets brittle and adher
ing to the lint comes off with it wher
the latter is picked. Good ginning il
equally important with clean picking
Too rapid movement of the saws will
cut and KNAPP the lint 1t does not pay
to be in too big hurry about ginning
Custom-gins should be pledged not tt
run beyond certain speed-the temp
! tation with them is to gin too rapidly
Good brushes are also very essential il
preventing knapping-by keeping tn,
lint uniformly taken from the saws ant
not allowing it to gather in wads Oh
them. Attention should be CONSTANT,
given to the problem of procuring
very cheap covering for cotton. What
ever the covering of bale of cotto1
costs, it is practically lost to tn
farmer. Even if the manufacturer cal
sell the covering for something, he viii
not place it to the credit of the farmer
but pocket it himself, and at the sam
time claim full tare for the weight o
covering. 1t is not clear to our mint
that cotton is the best material for bag
ging, though it may be wise to use
temporarily in putting down the Jut
Trust Something cheaper, and We
equally available for rendering farmer
independent of monopolies and comb
nations can surely be found, if atten
| ti0U ic oOuctout11y furnnd fouyo~do ~