The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-09
IN SOUTHERN COTTON FIELDS.
Fun for the Darkies In Picking Time.
Ginning the Snowy Harvest.
From the New York Tribune.


From Sept. / until after Christmas
fires are lighted on the hearth, cotton is
the absorbing topic OF the plantation.
Early in the morning the pickers assem-
BILE; little and big. young and old. light
and dark, and arming themselves with
bags, baskets and sheets. take their way
to the fields. chattering as they go. merry
and light-hearted.
Gus went to de moonlight pickin' last
night to Abe Whetstone's; dey had a
heap O. frolickin' ober dere," one tall
girl remarks to the short girl by her
side.
Nobody neber went from us house."
announces the short girl; people low he
neber aim to hab no gedderin' to his
place for no cotton-pickin' and he don't
tend for us to mix up wild none He say
de people get to frolickin' and grab cen
trash and dead leaf and ebry sort OBJ
something tryin' so hard to git ahead OBJ
one anudder.
pat dey does" agreed the tall girl,
but by habin' a pickin' desc moonlight
nights dey gifts a sight o. cotton took cen
out de fep for nuthin'. Don't cost 'em
nuthin scusin de supper"
What did dey gle you all for SUPERB
asked her companion.
AUNT Manda gle 'em a very good lay
out, billed greens, wild dumplin's, corn
dumplin's cen 'em, and dey had rice and
bacon, and later tarts. Everybody most
git help twice around; leastways / know !
did and all dem gals from de New Hope
place"
''Who dance for 'em arter dey git done
pickin'?" asked the short girl.
"Boysie Zatum. And Son Geidrick git
out cen de middle and low to dance Boysie
down, but he neber touch him, and de peo-
pie list shout and shout and laugh at Son
undertekin' to down de head dancer"
"Boysie is a powerful hand to play on de
mouth organ" said the listener. II neber
did hear a Niger wild SIGH good pull to
his lip Us goin' to hab good pickin' to-
day." she continued, as they entered the
field; dis piece OBJ cotton open awful
purity"
At u o'clock, and again at nightfall.
on every big plantation and little farm
throughout the south, they are weighing
the cotton that has been picked. II the
hands are not hired by the month they
have been paid off at the rate of 50 cents
a hundred pounds. Fifty cents IS the uni
form price, though occasionally the farm
ers club together and all agree that they
will not give over 40 cents, and again the
pickers band together and declare that
hundred. A good average days work
for an adult is to pick $50 pounds, but one
colored girl is known to pick from $50 to
800 pounds and not work the entire day.
Instances where $50 and even 400 pounds
are gathered by one person in day are
not rare by any means, but such result
requires the closest application with no
cessation of labor. Some wise planters
refuse to have these exceptionally ex-
pert pickers in the fields, because 1t is
supposed that they gather in the cot
ton so hastily that they grab dead leaves
and half opened bolls and all sorts OF
trash in their hurry. This foreign matter
would not only injure the gin-saws, but
materially lower the grade Of the bale
in which it happened to be packed.
A great deal depends on the special crop
cotton that is being gathered; IL the bolls
are nearly all opened at the same time
fully blown-in thick clusters, much more
can be picked in the same space of time
than in a field where only few bolls
were opened on each stalk. farmer
running what is called "twoEhorse"
farm, say of fifty acres, most Of which
is planted in cotton, can make expenses
by having the picking done by his family.
Young women, and sometimes those no
longer young, in the family of a well-to-
do farmer, have what they call a side
CROP chat is, a small acreage indepen-
dent of the general fund.- of cotton
planted I'm some spot near their dwelling,
under the orchard trees, perhaps, and
they pick this themselves. BY thus saw
ing the expense of having It gathered,
they realize a little sum for pin money.
Few pickers of this sort ever become
very expert; it takes nimble fingers and
a certain knack to pick rapidly. There is