Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-06-11
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE HARVEST PROBLEM.
Some of the Difficulties of Harvesting the
Cotton Crop Discussed.

NOIh qulchly, lneH lnc cottuh lhuusNJ
would be u golden one for the farmer.
For the present there is not much en-
couragement for him to exert himself
and turn his labor into extra bales of
the heecy staple. Suppose he does
make eighteen bales instead of twelve
by his individual labor, twelve bales
are all he can possibly pick out in the
season of ninety-siX days, granting that
he can pick 200 pounds a day, which
is more than the average man can do.
Then there are always days among the
ninety-siX which are unservceable as
contemplating days; there are days
when he has his bursting headaches, or
when the fence is down, or there are
other things of a no less exacting char
acter to prevent him from gathering,
and even for the man with the little
family twelve bales, easy enough to
raise, are very hard to get picked out
So that when he eXerts himself or the
weather has been propitious, and he
raises eighteen, he must either see the
extra six rot in the field or go to the
expense of hiring the.piclling done, and
by the time he has paid for the picking
which, after all, is about the best-paid
work on the farm paid for the baling
and done the hauling, his good fortune
has dwindled to an uncertain little tritle.
Time and again vague rumors of the
success of some efficient machine have
come, but just as often they have
proved to be naught, and the problem
of gathering cotton continues in just
about the condition set forth in the pre-
ceding paragraph.
The latest story comes from a ma
chine at Waco, that may or may not be
forgotten within the year. In either
case it is well enough to look about for
some more practicable method of get
ting over the difficulty than machine.
For it certainly looks impossible for
anything less perfect in mechanism,
less instinct with human intelligence
than human fingers to pick clean cot
ton. Machines are all too impartial.
They would be just as well pleased to
put the wood, the dirt and the woody
fiber of the stalk into the sack as they
would be to put the cotton, 1t seems
as if the problem is to remain within
human fingers and be solved there, if
solved at all.
There is a possibility that cotton
picking may be made IA craft at which
skillfull artisans, working for less even
than the rates now paid, can make
good wages. There are men who can
do it now, but they are regarded as ac'
cidents of creation, and they excite lit.
tie curiosity as to their methods
among the very people who could emu
late them with profit Some of them
can pick 600 pounds of cotton in a day
They are simply masters of the craft, &
craft that is yet in its infancy. There
is no reason why all men who raise
cotton should not learn to gather it il
skillful way. They must learn it by
fast practice and by watching the
methods of those who are already
sl1illful, There is no intel
ligent reason why there should
be so much difference between
the abilities of two active men il
cotton field as that one should picl
six hundred day and the other on,
hundred The mere fact of the case il
that one has applied himself with a de
sire to acquire skill and the other il
either novice or has never though
there was anything to be studied o
learned about the matter in hand
There is no such differenc in the spec,
of other artisans. OF two typewriter
of equal practice and training one will
probably write "A thousand words Will
another writes nine hundred. OF tw
hat makers, of two sail makers, of tw
timers, the work of one may be to tina
of the other as ten to nine in a give
time, but never as two to one. If
should ever happen so, the slow work
man would be told that he was only a
apprentice and set to learn new lessons
AN EXPERT INTERVIEWED.
Some time ago half dozen men wer
sitting in the upholstered wagonette a
the depot waiting for the train whe
the subject turned on cotton picking.
81 can pick hundred and fit
pounds day" said one.
"And have gone as high as two hur
bred" said number two,
81 was reared on a farm and hav
done my share of grabbing at tn
staple, but | couldn't get over sixt
pounds if siXty-one were needed to saw
my neck, said the third.
MIR Ran McCalla can pick that niue
in an hour. He can pick pound
minute and hold out at it for weeks
working ten hours and more ever
day" rejoined some one.
This statement fingered in the min
of Chronicle scribe who heard it, an
Mr. McCalla being an intelligent youn
lawyer, it was hoped that he could Civ
some explanation of the methods whic
enabled him to so far outstrip the a.
erage as a cotton picker. He was foun
in the midst of some legal bushes
Monday, but stopped with characteri
tic courtesy when approached on I'll
subject of cotton picking. The reporte
to whom Mr.. McCalla is a familii
sight, could not help but wonder that
man of such delicate and refined a
pearance and manner and such evidel
intellectual character should have a
tanned so great superiority at thir
like cotton picking, commonly regardt
as purely physical.
"The statement is true" Mr.. MEGA
la SAID. II have not picked any cote
since the fall of 1882, however. WI
studying law here and needed some Gas
to keep me going The season for &C
ton picking was on, and l went at it.
managed to make about four dollars
day while the crop lasted, and got bat
some of the strength that | had let
in the activity of study. could pick
the rate of pound minute, and p
in more than ten hours at that rate.
is tiresome and painful at first, but "
train M to il after few DAYS, and it