Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-08-18
COTTON BY SUCTION
TOLD OF BY Mr.. HASKIN
DAILY Letter by Frederic }. HaskIn

WASHINGTON, Aug. lS:-TNe
same mechanical principle that is
used so successfully in cleaning rugs,
carpets, walls, draperies, n SO
forth-air suction, has at last solv-
ed the problem of picking cotton by
machine, And that has been some
problem.
For years mans ingenuity has been
directed toward it's solution and
from time to time numerous cotton
picking devices have been brought
forward with the statement that at
last the impossible had been ae-
lcomplished. But, one after another,
those same machines have gone to
the scrap heap-none of them would
do the work. No longer thar last
January it was declared authoritative
ny that no machine had been perfect
ed for picking cotton successfully,
Now, however, if the claims for
the newest device are to be credited,
the cotton grower will simply go
out and vacuum-clean his plants,
once, twice. thrice-as often as Is
necessary-and he will get his crop
gathered with one-sixth the labor 1t
has heretofore required.
This means great things for the
South, by no means the least of
which is that it promises relief from
the labor shortage threatened that
section by the migration of negroes
to the North. Where 100000
people were required to harvest a
cotton crop, $4,000 workers can do
the trick, provided the new machine
Is in general use. Not all the cotton
plckers are negroes, however, it be-
Ing estimated that 65 per cen of
the crop is handled by whites.
The difficulties to be overcome by
a successful contemplating machine
are numerous. In the first place,
the cotton boil exudes a gum that
speedily clogs and disables all the in
tricate parts of the apparatus used.
Second, the long white fbers must
be picked out of their nest in a clus-
ter of dried sepals, and 1t was next
to impossible to devise a machine
that would do a clean job of this.
Third, the cotton does not ripen at
a uniform height from the ground;
sometimes it is only a few inches off
the ground, and again it may be all
OF six or seven feet.
Last Of all, the cotton does not all
lripen at once. but ripens continuous
ly from July to mid-winter and the
plants must be picked over three
and sometimes four times. When
the fields are ready for the first pick
ling the plants are ALLIED with young
tender bolls of all stages of growth
that are likely to be irreparably
damaged by a machine.
Biggest Item OF Production Cost
Under the old tedious process of
hand picking 1T is readily apparent
that harvesting the crop is by far
the biggest item in the cost of cot
ton culture. The hands, men, women
land children-often every available
one in the community is employed
go into the field as soon as the dew
is off the plant, each taking a row of
lection and picking the lint from the
bolls until the sack strapped across
the shoulder is filled.
The workers are paid by the loo
pounds, and the expert hands will
pick from ESQ to 500 pounds a day,
although the average for the entire
lection belt will not exceed 125
pounds. There is a record Of a six
teen year old Texas girl who picked
SOB pounds In n day, and two
Oklahoma boys are said to have
averaged 1,l09 pounds a day, bu
that sort of work is like that Of the
lstenegFapher who wins speed medals
-it means nothing in the genera
leverage.
An investigation by the Depart
ment of Agriculture INTO the com;
paratiye efficiency of white and negro
labor in the cotton field gives pre-
eminence to the whites. 1t showed
that in 152 counties with a negro
population amounting to rs per cen
Of the whole the average picking pc
day was III pounds, while in 10;
counties with a corresponding pFe
dominance of white population tn
average was 14s pounds per day.
The wage paid ranges from 81
, cents 10 81 or more per hundred
, When the total crop may run an.
where from ten to fifteen or ever
sixteen million bales Of 500 pound
) each it is obvious what a big item
The picking amounts 10 in the az
lgFegate and what a saving may b.
effected IL the new machine viii d.
the wonders claimed for it.
New Machine Described
With the new machine, as whel
the negro or other laborer move
lslewly through the eottQn Geld aEss