News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1916-06-14

dreds Of others cracking, ready to
burst with the beautiful snow white
mass of fiber.
Joe remembered reading that the alb
sence of trash, grit or discolorations in
cotton was worth several dollars
bale. He recalled how his father and
the other farmers would do-wait until
nearly the whole crop had opened be-
fore starting the picking. The lowest
limbs of the cotton stalk matured their
fruit first, and often the wind or rain
would cause the cotton to fall to the
ground, to be beaten into the dirt, dis
colored, filed with grit and sticks and
leaves.
Then the picking would go forward
in rush. The sacks the pickers car
ried would be emptied right on the
ground at the ends Of the rows and the
cotton scooped up from there with a
shovel, pitchfOrk or in armfuls and
thrown into an open wagon bed. Then
some one, often with muddy feet, would
tramp the loose cotton in the wagon,
tnficting more dirt and discolorations.
Joe determined his cutton should be
abandoned negro cabin near the field.
He swept it out twice, then with a
pine top busted 1t thoroughly. He col
lected all the empty oat, corn and meal
sacks about the place, turned them in
side out and shook them until there
was no dirt or dust left in them. These
he piled in the cabin ready for use.
He got Mrs. Weston to sew a strip
of stout bedticking across the mouth
Of a fifty pound meal sack so he could
sling it across his shoulders, the open
mouth Of the sack at his left side ready
to receive the cotton as he picked it.
Then he waited for more cotton to
open.
He went through the prize acre of
corn and pulled the fodder off as high
as he could reach. 1t was rather dry by
this time, but he thought a dollar or
two could be made in that way to cut
down the expense of the acre. He got
200 good bundles of fodder, which Mr.. [
Somerville sold for him at 2 cents a |
bundle-that meant 81 clipped from the |
expense account.
By this time enough open bolls gleam-
ed white among the cotton plants to |
make it worth while to start picking. |
Singing his sack over his shoulder, Joe |
began Systematically going down one |
row and up another When he came to |
an open boil he grasped it near the |
stem with his left hand, then with |
thumb and first three fingers of his
right pulled the fluffy cotton from the
faring mouth Of the boil.
He had never noticed before how
much a green cotton boil was like a
green hickory nut husk, only larger,
and the boil opened at the outer end
when ripe very similar to a chestnut
burr after the frost had fallen upon it.
When he filled the sack he carried it
was emptied directly into one of the
oat sacks he had provided, and the cot
ton never touched the ground. Each
bit of dead leaf or stem or hull of the
dried boil was picked out, and nothing
marred the Wilderness of his product.
AS each oat sack was filed he tied the
mouth of it with stout Irvine and stow
ed It away in the dry cabin.
In week he had picked enough to
make a bale. The sacks were loaded
into the wagon, and neighborhood
gin owner was induced to raise steam
and gin the cotton for him.
The cotton was dumped into a hop
per; then it was conveyed to the gin,
an arrangement of round small saws
with fine teeth, set so closely together {
on revolving shaft that the seed could |
not pass between the saws A roller
kept throwing the cotton against the {
battery OF saws, about five feet long.
and the swiftly revolving saws would
catch the lint growing to each cotton I
seed. The result was that the seed
could not pass the saws, but the lint 6
was yanked off in jiffy, and the seed !
fell into trough below. Behind the :
saws was brush" which collected :
The lint from the saws. and it passed
over a set of rollers in a continuous ,
web or "bat" and fell in loose folds into !,
great box below the gin stand.
When all had been ginned a big lid !,
with screw above was let down into
the box where the fluffy bat, Law
told upon fold. The screw was tight
eueu uHlu the COTTON was mashed to
about one-tenth of it's loose size, rough
lutte bagging was wrapped about it and
SIX thin iron bands or ties placed :
lbout the bale to hold it in shape. The
press" was opened-and out rolled
Toes bale of cotton.
"By jinks, that's the earliest bale I've
.ver seen in this county, and I've been q
ginning here twenty-five years." re-
marked the owner of the gin. The I
BALE was weighed.
mighty near standard-49O pounds.
only ten more and you would have q
lad standard bale"
Joe sacked his cotton seed and. re.
using an offer from the ginner at the v
ate of SIS a ton for them to sell to
ottonseed oil mill for crushing pur- y
oses, took them back home to sell for S
eed and for his own use.
The new bale of cotton was hurried
o town. At the cotton warehouse a ! a
ole was cut in the side of the bale by